Curtis reminded folks that his contemporaries wouldn't have cared for the highly acclaimed Best Picture nominee. "Howard Hughes and John Wayne wouldn't like it," Curtis said. Ya think?!?!?
Anyhow, nobody is pretending that the Oscars are a scientific cross section of America, or of any other country for that matter. It's a total glitterati affair.
To be fair, art is not meant to per se represent the masses. Many the artist was misunderstood in his time, only to be recognized as a genius many years later. That said, the Oscars are industry back-slapping, a box-office boosting mechanism, though certainly some films become iconic of their time, and we all love to watch our favorite movies. But this year in particular, I think Hollywood is unconsciously rewarding films that are an outgrowth of the frustration of Hollywood leftwingnuts, such as George Clooney. These idiots wake up every day and George W. Bush is still President. So they can give each other awards and feel righteous. But I just can't bring myself to see these politically motivated films, such as Clooney's and Spielberg's, just as I know that watching the Oscars is likely to be a very annoying experience for me, because I expect lots of Bush-bashing.
I am glad I saw Crash. It was brilliant IMO, beautifully written, acted and directed. It's enough for me that I saw one near-perfect film this year. And I liked Capote. Great performance by Hoffman, and an interesting exploration of Truman Capote's writing process. Worth seeing.
The Academy had to be shamed into recognizing Pete Jackson and Lord of the Rings. Amazing that they had enough sense to honor it even with their noses pinched or lose any hope of credibility with America. They seem destined to be as hopelessly irrelevant as the UN. And that would really unhinge them.