Why bother watching the Oscars when we have RGirl?
Did you notice that the ladies wearing those "Barbie" dresses actually looked like life-sized Oscars themselves?
The women just look so emaciated--it's just wrong on so many levels. I'm planning on having a little talk with RG Jr.--a curvy pre-teen--thank heavens--on this subject. I agree about Kate Winslet--she's gorgeous and radiant. That girl has been around a plate or two of lasagne--good for her!
Actually, Charlize Theron's dress looks exactly like my mothers Sr Prom dress from 1964. LOL I still have it bagged in my attic. Maybe its worth a fortune! lol
Originally Posted by equestrianguy
I didn't have a problem with Halle Berry winning the Oscar for "Monster's Ball." For my taste, it's one of the most subtle and sexually courageous performances I've ever seen. But on the other hand, Spacek's portrayal of the mother in "In the Bedroom" was also one of the most subtle and emotionally courageous performances I've ever seen. I really had it as a tie. Had I been a voting member of the Academy, I think I would have really agonized over this one.
I wouldn't have wanted to give the edge to Berry because she was black, which ironically is only because she got her father's pigmentation genes rather than her mother's. She just as easily could have the skin tone of Nicole Richie, whose father is black and mother is white. Sorry if I'm not using the PC nomenclature. Black and white is just more succinct--and you know how I love to be succinct., that the info in the previous sentence is ding dong wrong! So, as you'll see in Post #20, I must change my argument to the following: OTOH, since Spacek had already won a Best Actress Oscar for 1980's 'Coal Miner's Daughter,' that would have broken the tie for me in favor of Berry--fair or unfair.
In the end, I think I would have voted for Berry for reasons that sadly have nothing to do with Berry and Spacek's acting, but rather for the racism against African-American actors have been subjected to since plays on film began. Think "Birth of a Nation." The reason should be the acting and acting only (or whatever category), but in the case of a tie, which it was between Berry and Spacek in my mind, I have no problem using social justice as a reason to break the tie. As Berry said herself in her tearful acceptance speech (paraphrasing from memory), "This moment is so much bigger than me."
Perhaps Spacek's emotional courage merited the Oscar more than Berry's sexual courage, but IMO there are times when factors combine to make a certain time and place the right time and place to break down a longstanding barrier. I felt those factors came together for Berry's performance in "Monster's Ball" to blast through the wall of racism in Hollywood and thus change, at least a little bit, racism in the whole country. I'm sorry Sissy Spacek lost for a deserving performance, but from what I know about Spacek and her husband, artist and scenic designer Jack Fisk, I think she would have known there was a much larger issue at stake than an acting award. JMO.
But man-O-man, do I ever agree with you 100% that Ellen Burstyn wuz ROBBED!!! for her '00 performance in "Requiem for a Dream." Personally, I've never "gotten" Julia Roberts' superstar status. Her best work to date is still "Pretty Woman," which was 80% director Garry Marshall fighting to get her to do every funny bit people remember, 19% Richard Gere's true skill at romantic comedy, and 1% Roberts. Roberts didn't even want to blow her nose for the scene when she was crying to Hector Elizondo's concierge character when the snobby Rodeo Drive saleswomen wouldn't wait on somebody who looked like a Sunset Strip hooker. Couldn't they see that heart of gold beating in her chest?
Anyway, I thought "Erin Brokovich" was a well-directed mainstream film and Roberts certainly brought in the audience to a movie that otherwise would have probably gone unnoticed. But I think there are many more actresses with true sex appeal who could have hit that role out of the park if not the galaxy compared to Roberts' dress-up doll interpretation. Plus, Brokovich is a very street savvy woman, very intelligent, and the plaintiffs she was working with implicitly trusted her. These are not qualites Roberts has as an actor and doesn't seem to have as a person. What she does have in Hollywood is popularity. She makes a lot of money for a lot of people, she's pretty and pleasant, very uncomplicated, and in Hollywood, that gets you an Oscar, baby.
Ellen Burstyn, OTOH, was a wonder to behold in "Requiem for a Dream." Even people I know who didn't like the movie (okay, they're my relatives) still say things like, "But boy, the woman who played the mother was really something! At the end, she just broke my heart." I can only think of a couple of British actresses-- Brenda Blethyn and Miranda Richardson--who could possibly even come close to what Burstyn did in this role, which I think requires the actress to let herself become completely emotionally naked and relinquish all her deeply held mechanisms of dignity. IMO, it's one of the most difficult roles for an actress since film began. Burstyn losing the Oscar to "Pretty Brokovich" (nothing against Roberts personally) was a huge, shoot-the-TV, Hollywood heist.
Thanks for your comments.BTW, ROFL re your comment that Charlize Theron's dress is exactly like your mom's 1964 prom dress. And "Entertainment Tonight" had her as #1 Best Dressed. And that's why I keep my butt in New York.
PIEL!
I have no idea what Spike Lee is doing EVER with the crap he wears, but your "I couldn't decide if he was going for the Shriner or Scarlett O'Hara's drapes look?" comment had me laughing so hard I almost hurt myself.
RGAL: Why bother watching the Oscars when we have RGirl?
RGIRL: Well, everybody [B]could[/B[ watch the Oscars, but why doesn't "Entertainment Tonight" hire me (actually YOU and me) to do the play-by-play and the Monday-morning garter-belting and pays us Hollywood-sized bucks. We'd be great! I'd run my mouth off and you'd hit the nail on the head with perfect one-liners.
RGAL: Did you notice that the ladies wearing those "Barbie" dresses actually looked like life-sized Oscars themselves?
RGIRL: Yep, no genitals on them either.
RGAL: The women just look so emaciated--it's just wrong on so many levels. I'm planning on having a little talk with RG Jr.--a curvy pre-teen--thank heavens--on this subject. I agree about Kate Winslet--she's gorgeous and radiant. That girl has been around a plate or two of lasagne--good for her!
RGIRL: "So wrong on so many levels"--so true. Good for you for talking to RG Jr., though naturally it doesn't surprise me that you would, knowing the mom that you are. If only more mothers would (a) talk to their pre-teen daughters at all, I mean about more than what time they have to pick them up from whatever practice or lesson, and (b) talk to them about how life has nothing to do with trying to weigh less than 100 lbs. your whole life. Sadly, too many mothers whose weight is perfectly fine and whose daughters' weights are perfectly fine, thin even, who "bond" by dieting together.
I'm not talking about the clearly obese parents whose children are also on their way to obesity because of eating a dozen bags of Cheetos a day with a dozen packs of Twinkies for dessert. Nor am I talking about people with diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, or other medical condition that tend to make people overweight. I mean women who are miserable because they're 45 years old, 5'6", weigh 140 lbs., and think they should weigh 110 lbs.--and who pass such notions on to their daughters. Encouraging healthy food choices and staying physically fit is great, but looking at Lara Flynn Boyle on TV (she wore the pink ballet tutu dress a few years ago and looked like a stick in it) and saying to their daughters, or sons for that matter, "Oh, I'd kill to be that thin!" is child abuse, in my strident opinion.
Although actually, I thought more women celebs looked less emaciated this year than in years past. Examples: Halle Berry with her round tummy and fully formed backside and thighs; Salma Hayek and Catalina Sandino Moreno ("Maria Full of Grace") with their curvaceous Latina bodies; Beyonce with her beautiful booty; and a couple of other "I spy with my little eye" sightings of actresses in double digit dress sizes. Though still, sickly thin rules in film, TV, print, and advertising of all kinds.
BTW, if you want to know what Rgirl looked like 31 years ago at age 18, look at Catalina Sandino Moreno as she is in "Maria Full of Grace." My hair was a chestnut brown rather than black, but other than that--let's just say I got a lot of emails from people who've known me since then saying, "Spooooky." Though I sure as hell don't look like her now!
Oh, well. Now we can focus on other important world events, like "American Idol." Two rockers this year--YES!!!
Rgirl
Last edited by Rgirl; 03-01-2005 at 02:46 AM.
She won for "Coal Miner's Daughter".On the other hand, I wouldn't have wanted to give the edge to Spacek because she was 52 years old and had never won an Oscar
Well, good-bye to another pile of brain cells. And to think (if I could), I used to know that stuff cold.
But this time I have no excuse. I even had the Academy Award site up on the sidebar so I could check such things.
Seriously, now I'll have to change my argument. So instead of "On the other hand, I wouldn't have wanted to give the edge to Spacek because she was 52 years old and had never won an Oscar," it will have to be, "Since Spacek had already won a Best Actress Oscar for 1980's 'Coal Miner's Daughter,' that would have broken the tie for me--fair or unfair."
Thanks for the correction -- smarty-pants.
Rgirl
Honorary Oskate (remember those?) to Piel for reading two long-winded Rgirl posts in a row -- and I mean reading them, not just skimming.
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