I actually found the 2006 Oscar telecast to be the first watchable one in years. Celebrating the old-time glamour of the cinema the set evoked the image of the interior of an old movie house (kind of reminiscent of the old Eglinton theatre in Toronto) with a marquee above it. The set blended in with the theme of the night as did much of the proceedings. Hollywood is clearly getting desperate in trying to sell this retro-image of the deluxe movie-going experience. What it did not touch upon was that which made the magic of the silver screen so special: it used to be affordable to go to the movies. No amount of nostalgia can bring back audiences when the prices to see first-run feature films are what they are now.
I thought Jon Stewart did a good job as host inspite of what some are saying. The same criticism still apllies to the Oscar telecast: millions of people around the world are not tuning in to see who for Best Art Direction or Best Make-Up or Best-Sound Editing. Yes, these are very important awards given to important people that make the movies the memorable experiences that they are. But no one watches the Oscars to see them and the broadcast could be cut down to a reasonable length if they (as many technical awards already are) were handed out before the ceremony). Most people don't understand what goes into the science of moviemaking and they shouldn't. It will impede their ability to suspend disbelief for the duration of a movie. Again, the telecast ran about 22 minutes over its slotted time.
As for the actual awards the shock of the night was of course CRASH beating out BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for Best Picture. This critic was dead wrong. I figured Hollywood wanted to send another message about gay rights when they actually wanted to do it about race relations. Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Best Actor and Reese Witherspoon as Best Actress were very predictable as was Ang Lee for best Director. George Clooney was shockingly frank in accepting the Best Supporting Actor Oscar saying "I guess this means I am not going to win for best director" (he was nominated for best director for GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK). Hollywood loves it's hunky actor/directors (going back through Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Warren Beatty and Robert Redford) because all actors want the option of directing and it thus fosters that ambition when one of them does it well. Sadly, for Clooney the Best Supporting Actor nod was his consolation prize. It was a bit of surprise that Rachel Weisz won for Best Supporting Actress. Not sure what factors served her in winning. Its not like anybody actually saw her movie.
Ryan Philippe once again treated audiences to his discomfort over the fact that his wife Reese Witherspoon is so much more successful than he is. It was very uncomfortable watching him squirm in his seat while his wife gave her acceptance speech and almost forgot to thank him. The tension was relieved when Philippe's movie CRASH upset BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for Best Picture and he spontaneously celebrated with his castmates.
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PROFILE-PETER SARSGAARD by Jason Daniel Baker
Producers don't usually ask for actor Peter Sarsgaard. His type of actor is generally beyond their understanding. Try even spelling his name on a marquee.
Directors ask for him for the sublety his understated style offers. His unhandsome face, dead eyed stare and soft nasal cadences lead some to compare him with John Malkovich (who played his father Athos in MAN IN THE IRON MASK). One can only hope Sarsgaard's career doesnt tank the way Malkovich's has.
Sarsgaard seems like he came out of nowhere. He had a minor role on an episode of LAW & ORDER back in 1995 then seemed to build a career upon a series of scene-stealing turns in feature films. Even with the impressive body of work this guy has he is not a movie star in the conventional sense. It took me a few years before I could spell his name right and shake myself out of the notion that he was the talented younger brother of Danish actor Stellan Skarsgaard.
The originality of his approach to roles make his name worth the effort of learning how to spell. No actor today is better at communicating with the audience without saying anything.
SHATTERED GLASS was a prime example of Sarsgaard displaying the internal stress of a man who has taken on a great responsibility and all at once feels the walls caving in on his watch. This one shows Sarsgaard doing his patented "slow boil" as the pressure builds. It's like a commercial for TUMS or Pepto bismal.
THE SALTON SEA had Sarsgaard portraying a type of clingy, puppy dog best friend to Val Kilmers protaganist who is there for him when it matters most. Viewers may remember this as the last role in which Sarsgaard was thin.
CENTRE OF THE WORLD had Sarsgaard as wealthy computer geek Richard Longman who falls for a cold fish stripper played Canadian phenom Molly Parker. That was one of his rare extroverted performances. He derives the nerdiness of his character from the naivete and childlike whineyness letting Parker steal the show as she pulls a Sarsgaard and almost underplays him off the screen.
K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER was the result of producers coming up with the kind of money Harrison Ford requires to do a role, and the type of a role a geriatric action film star like him or Sean Connery could plausibly play. The prospect of it being a blockbuster was enough to lure Liam Neeson but whats Sarsgaard doing here? Sarsgaard plays a reactor engineer aboard a Soviet nuclear sub burdened with the kind of incompetence an unrealistic expectations that hints how Chernobyl might have happened. After a meltdown, Sarsgaard does more of an external boil and melts onscreen. Other than sicken the audience the role does little. K-19 was a faux blockbuster ripoff of DAS BOOT,the HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, CRIMSON TIDE & DESTINATION:TOKYO. With Neeson and Ford it seemed cast like an action adventure extravaganza but thoroughly disappointed the meagre audience it was able to deliver.
BOYS DON'T CRY featured Sarsgaard as sniveling homophobiac bully John Lotter. Since I absolutely wanted to strangle him at times during the movie I imagine the performance was quite adequate.
EMPIRE cast Sarsgaard as slick, duplicitous Wall Street investment banker Jack Wimmer in a performance that was one-dimensional until the final scene. A throughly amateurish production right down to the casting of the extras one wonders why Sarsgaard would have let himself get talked into doing something like this.
SKELETON KEY actually marked Sarsgaard's worst performance. The Illinois native's portrayal of southern gentleman/attorney Luke Marshall was hindered by his use of an accent that, at times actually sounded rural New England. The part called for a charming romantic lead with a touch of Bayou je ne sais quoi and no visible sense of threat. Harry Connick jr would have been perfect. They did not need a heavyweight actor to play the role. In fact merely casting an actor of Sarsgaard's calibre tips off too much to the audience. One hopes Sarsgaard invested the salary wisely since the only other things the role accomplished were to help typecast him as a weirdo and show how bad he can make even the nicest 3-piece suits look.This dude is no magazine cover even if he ends up on one.
KINSEY-Showcased Sarsgaard as Clyde Martin, pioneering sexologist Alfred Kinsey's surveyor/research assistant and supposed one-time lover. The portrayal is the most tasteful one done so far by an actor of a sensitive, nurturing, priapic since Murray Head in SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY and adequately serves as a bookend on the opposite side of his role in BOYS DON'T CRY.
GARDEN STATE-Sarsgaard's role as sleazo ditchdigger buddy to Zach Braff's lead is almost completeley superfluous. The performance is passable but nothing special. The film itself however is a revelation and its quirky subtlety are giving it a huge following. Quite frankly, when Natalie Portman is on screen in a role that is equal to her capabilities one can hardly pay much attention to her co-stars. One suspects that Sarsgaard coveted the lead role in this but settled for the supporting role because he liked the script so much. See the movie and you wont be able to blame him for it.
FLIGHTPLAN-Next to the petite Jodie Foster, the over 6-foot, 200 plus pound Sarsgaard looks as physically imposing onscreen as Forrest Whitaker so often has. You don't usually think of him as a big man but here he looks huge. Playing the role of air marshall Gene Carson, friendly and low-key early on in the movie, we are perhaps meant to think of his character as the nurturing Clyde of KINSEY. As the film goes he more resembles the stand-up guy under pressure Chuck from SHATTERED GLASS but the red herrings in the plot are not effective enough to draw us away from the real villain. The hideous Kate Beahan (probably a terrific lady but gross here) stewardess role shouldve been played by ex-Sarsgaard galpal Shalom Harlow. The movie grossed $200 million worldwide so his prowess as a bankable star may one day meet that of his acting.
JARHEAD-Sarsgaard's Troy character becomes a victim of combat fatigue in the Gulf War (the first one). His U.S. Marine (Jarhead) is nothing if not fascinating and consistent with most stories about combat fatigue I have heard of. Real servicepeople who have seen the phenomenon up close might not agree with the notion of its authenticity. Sarsgaard was born on an Air Force base so you might figure he got a chance to research the role somewhat from any early age.
Sarsgaard's choices of roles lately seem intent upon proving that he is leading man material. This indicates he aspires to more than simply challenging Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the most riveting, and original screen performer of his generation. Sadly, the roles he is choosing are of the variety Ben Affleck would normally play which are rapidly handing Affleck the title of this generation's worst actor (sorry Ben, there is no question in my mind that you've got talent but its not without its flaws and sometimes them flaws is pretty glaring).