The Quadrangle

Issue date: 3/9/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment

The 77th annual Academy Awards were held on Sunday, February 27, 2005.  This year's host was Chris Rock.  When the decision as to who would host the Oscars was announced, there was much speculation as to whether or not Chris Rock is too risqué of a comedian to host such an important awards ceremony.  While there was some controversy, overall Rock gave a very watered down performance.

During his opening monologue, Chris Rock talked about how the Oscars are the only award show where the audience does not see the actors perform.  At the Grammys, the singers perform, but at the Oscars the audience does not witness any acting.  He stated that there is only one exception.   The only acting you see at the Oscars is when actors pretend not to be mad they lost. The only comment that seemed at all inappropriate was when Chris Rock introduced Gwenyth Paltrow as the only woman who has ever breast fed an Apple. Another joke that Chris Rock went on about is the amount of bad movies that are  released every year.  He stated that the reason for this is because the movie studios do not wait to get quality actors.  If they want to get Russell Crow, do not settle on Jude Law.  If they want Denzel Washington do not settle on Chris Rock.    

The two big movies of the year were The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby.  Speculation was made as to which film would win Best Picture.  Roger Ebert said in an interview that Million Dollar Baby would win.  He was in fact correct. Million Dollar Baby won a total of three Oscars.  While that may not seem like many, they were very important Oscars.  Morgan Freeman won for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Hillary Swank won for Best Actress and Clint Eastwood won for Best Director.  These are some of the top awards at the Oscars.  

The Aviator won a total of four Oscars.  Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Sandy Powell won for Best Costumes, Thelma Schoonmaker won for Editing and Robert Richardson won for Cinematography.  

The Incredibles won two Oscars, Best Animated Feature Film and Sound Editing.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind won for Best Original Screenplay and Spiderman 2 won for Best Visual Effects.  Also, Jorge Drexler won Best Song for The Motorcycle Diaries.  The song was Al Otros Lado Del Rio.  It is the first Spanish song to ever win an Oscar for Best Song.  Antonio Bandaras sang the song during the awards show while Carlos Santana accompanied on the guitar.  

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