2004 Oscars Madness!

Well holy hell in a hand basket, America, looks like it's time for another swing at the Oscar piñata. Doesn't it seem like we just did this? Well, that's because we did, apparently the sun is collapsing so our earth years are getting exponentially shorter. You may have heard the rumors that they moved the Oscar ceremony up this year to try and fake out yours truly, but the discerning nose knows that's bullshit of the highest degree. The day they can sneak the Academy Awards past Roland McShyster is the day the music dies, or something like that.

All right, let's take a look at the nominees and who will come out of the Oscar pie stuck to the Academy's thumb this year!


Best Picture

The Lords of the Ring: Rerun of the King
-read EP review-

Few would have ever guessed that an Elvis movie would end up with an Oscar nomination, but it turns out in the end that the problem was never the wooden, acting-free star himself, but rather the fact that they never thought to pair him with any boxing midgets, druids, or any other fancy mystical crap like that. What they couldn't get right during his life they've done just fine after his death, creating a magical film that makes you believe you can do anything, if you're a southern boxing promoter and former rock star the world thought had died on his toilet. Cynics may laugh, but the film's central theme that no one's too hideous to be loved is a message that rings true for fat white drug addicts everywhere.

Lost in Translation

You can tell Hollywood's tired of throwing their yearly Oscar bone to some sad-sack foreign turd of a movie just to keep the European press off their backs, and frankly the contempt is hard to miss when they didn't even bother to translate the title of this year's quota-filler. Lazily suggesting that the title wouldn't make sense in English anyway, Hollywood has delivered yet another deserving bitch-slap to the spoiled little girl of foreign cinema. Nice try, rest of the world, why don't you come back when you learn how to make a real movie? It's so embarrassing when some little European shithole makes a movie they think is good because their neighboring countries pretended to like it out of politeness, and then we have to be the ones to point out that it sucks big dick. But I guess that's just our unappreciated role in world affairs.

Bastard Commander: The Far Side of the World
-read EP review-

Though undoubtably the best movie ever made about the Cobra Commander, and one of the best to combine live-action with animated Far Side characters, this film still somehow manages to be a confusing mess, a product of the troubled mind of a beaten man-machine hybrid cop. Though I might have lauded this same film years ago, out of fear that Weller might stuff me through an ATM cash slot if I panned his movie, I'm afraid that the failing cyborg just doesn't carry the same weight in this town anymore. So come after me if you must, Mr. Weller, but let me warn you I've got a new universal remote that I think I could use to make you kick your own ass.

Miss Tick River
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A shoe-in to win the Best Picture trophy and matching tumbler set, director Clint Eastwood's tender story of a yuppie getting ass-raped by his new wife's redneck family really makes you think about why you go to the movies and how you could stop. Not a pleasant affair by any measure, the film is still the front-runner due to the Academy's terror at appearing insensitive to male rape victims and their deep desire not to hear Sean Penn whine any more.

Seabiscuit
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Yet another classic example of the Academy nominating a film just because they couldn't stop laughing about the title. Though this aptly-titled film, named after that floating turd left in the swimming pool after a party, might seem like a real dark-horse candidate for Best Picture, its chances of winning the big prize hinge precisely on how funny Academy members think it would be to hear Michael Caine say "Seabiscuit."


Best Director

Sophia Loren, Lost in Translation

Who knew she was still alive, let alone directing films? Well, whatever bumpkinville foreign land they exiled her to needs to let her know it ain't Hollywood, honey. Maybe they forgot to bring her back from Canada or wherever the hell they shot that Crusty Old Shits movie. Put down that camera and call your travel agent toots, you missed the van. In all likelihood the Oscar nomination was just a ploy by her family to try to get her to come out into the open so the wranglers could throw a net over her and bring the poor woman home.

Clint Eastwood, Miss Tick River
-read EP review-

Thanks to Peter Weller's deteriorating mechanical state, Eastwood is the only director in town able to motivate his actors with the threat of being gutshot, and he uses it to admirable effect in Miss Tick River. Though some have suggested he only made the film because he doesn't like Sean Penn, and others insist the shooting script was just an online review of Straw Dogs, Eastwood still made the best of a bad situation and created a picture few are likely to forget or remember.

Peter, Paul & Mary Jackson, The Lords of the Ring: Rerun of the King
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That 60's troubadour family is back, giving that cash tit one more squeeze in the third installment of their epic "we took three random movies and called them a trilogy" trilogy. Though some think they've overstayed their welcome, outlasting possibly more talented pop-star directors like the enigmatic Stephen Daldry or the self-destructive Terrence Trent D'Arby, I've always argued that there's pie enough for all, even the hacks, as long as they're good-looking. And PP&M qualify, though Mary's really the one carrying the other two on her back. Personally, I could do without Peter or Paul, but if they only came as an all-or-nothing trio package deal I imagine I could close my eyes and imagine those two were just homely girls without too much trouble.

Fernando Minnelli, Sex in the City of God

Like the Confucian proverb says, just because you're Liza Minnelli's kid doesn't mean you can direct a lighthearted comedy about nuns dishing straight talk about blowjobs and bikini waxes. At least not well.

Peter Weller, Bastard Commander: The Far Side of the World
-read EP review-

Former Robocop Peter Weller was once the bright, shining hope of Hollywood, and not just because of the way the sun glints impressively off his chrome exoskeleton. When he was at the helm of the Truman Capote masterpiece The Truman Show, Weller was a beautiful sight to behold: a top-slot director at the height of his powers, cutting a bold swath straight to the heart of his story and pouring delicious fresh-brewed coffee out of his dick hose. But after his warranty ran out Weller fell on hard times, with many of his most-impressive gadgets malfunctioning and his left leg jamming and getting stuck in the highly-embarrassing "dog peeing" position. Now the director is back and seemingly on top again, but sadly it's a pity nomination for Weller's mess of a film, a gift from an Academy that remembers back when Weller was cool and could pop a basketball between his knees.


Best Actor

Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean The Ride The Movie: The Curse of the Black Pearl Harbor
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Rising to the challenge of playing an animatronic puppet at Disneyland has earned Depp his first Oscar nomination, though many believe in their hearts he was robbed in not being nominated for his role as an ocean liner in the underappreciated Depp Rising in 1998. But will he take home the golden statue? I don't know, maybe he'll steal the thing. Why doesn't anybody ever think of that? It's not like they don't have a bunch of them, no way their inventory control's so good you couldn't make off with a couple without being noticed. They probably just have a whole trunk full of them in the back somewhere, and they'd make great stocking stuffers come next Christmas.

Ben Kingsley, House of the Sandy Frog
-read EP review-

Let's just do away with the acting subterfuge for a moment here and make it clear that Ben Kinglsey IS the horny retired baseball mascot he plays in this film. Kingsley pulls off a transformation so complete that when Jennifer Connelly blows his head off with an Uzi at the end, I actually called friends from the theater to break the news that Ben Kinglsey was dead. They were understandably heartbroken, but it later turned out they thought I meant the guy who sang "Stand By Me." A wonderful performance.

Jude Law, Cold Mountain
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Rewarded again for his uncanny ability to act exactly like Jude Law, Jude Law receives his first Oscar nod for his turn as a bored civil war soldier who has to grapple with the harsh reality of how slow trains were back in civil war days. Law sparkles in the role as he excels at acting really really bored, and once again he provides the emotional core to a film that's basically Planes, Trains and Automobiles with funny accents.

Bill Mummy, Lost in Translation

You know a flick's an especially large dog when the biggest hunk of talent they can dig up for the lead is former Lost in Space star Billy Mummy. And I'm not talking about the quasi-hip recent remake, either. Mummy hasn't graced the silver screen since the 1999 hacksploitation epic The Mummy and for good reason. This former kid doesn't have the star power to fart out a candle. So, I'm sure you're wondering, how did he get nominated for an Oscar? Pure fear ladies and gentlemen, fear of being turned into one of those freaky Jack-in-the-Box things with a golden Oscar head. Hell, who needs that? I'd vote for him too. You hear that, you little monster?

Sean Penn, Miss Tick River  -read EP review-

Sean Penn won't go away until we look at his presents and have a slice of cake, so the Academy is playing along in hopes that he'll stop sending out those annoying handmade cards with the crimped edges and star-shaped cutouts. Though Penn is fine in the film, it's not much of an stretch for an actor of his caliber to pretend like his ass hurts for two hours.


Best Actress

Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider
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I was beginning to think the Academy was going humorless on us this year but as usual they've come through with some gems in the Best Actress category. I only wish I "got" this one. Maybe it's a pun, give me some time.

Diane Keaton, Something's Gotta Give Jack Nicholson a Heart Attack
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Kudos to Keaton for being naked and old. Hey, somebody's got to do it.

Samantha Morton, In America

The rare Best Actress nomination that's not actually attached to any film, but rather a recognition of how well-behaved Miss Morton has been all around the country lately. Way to go, Samantha.

Charlize Theron, Monster
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Theron is a lock to win the prize for her lifelong role as an eerie Xerox copy of Ashley Judd, finally addressed head-on in this brave Stephen King adaptation. Some question if she's acting at all, or if she was just born into the role, but either way Academy voters are mesmerized like cavemen staring at a fire and are too superstitious not to huck the statue Theron's way.

Naomi Watts, 21 Grams of Fat
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Hell hath no fury like a woman made fat by a gyro-meat sub sandwich, or at least that's the tag line running through the heads of Academy voters who are unaware they made the colossal blunder of nominating a woman who wasn't even in the movie. Go back and watch the film frame-by-frame and you'll see it too, that's Cuban heartthrob Mauricio Del Toro under all that subway flab, not the pixieish Watts. Rumors that the actress gained over 100 pounds for the role were yet another mean Hollywood rumor taken seriously, though this is the rare instance when a cruel hoax may actually help a young actress's career.


And that's a wrap! So, who will win come Oscar night? Nobody knows, except the guys writing the script for the show. And they're real dicks, so don't even think about asking them. Glad you all could make it America, drive home safe and I'll be seeing you on Oscar night!

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