The Film Pie - Matt's Columns

In terms of the gambling, I can't complain. I know Lord Of The Rings missed the top prize (sorry to those who lost money - I'll buy you a drink) but thanks to the lovely Halle Berry, I won $480 on the night to take my career Oscar profit to $1,440 for the last 7 years. Of my two tips, it seems most were on Rings although I know Michael Elliot in England did have 20 pounds on Berry at 6-1. He owes me a drink I think.

In an Oscars first, the winning envelope had a small note that said the race was very close which A Beautiful Mind producer Brian Grazer read on air. This basically says there was only a handful of votes between A Beautiful Mind and The Lord Of The Rings which confirms what I've been saying all along in that both films had a 50/50 chance and the value was with Rings. So despite being disappointed, I can take some satisfaction away from the Rings loss.

In terms of the Oscars contest, we had a clear winner. It was a tough year all around but Matt McDonough picked 4 out of the 5 correctly only missing out on Gosford Park for best original screenplay. 5 people were runners up with 3 correct - David King, Matt Gordon, Judy Graham, Hung Tran and Sam Dagan.

As for the night itself, it was certainly a tough one. I picked just 10 of the 24 winners but as I mentioned above, Berry was the one I wanted and thank god for her.

The telecast was solid. The tributes didn't drag on and I felt they added much to the night. Whoopi didn't do much and the best appearance for me was that of Woody Allen. Coincidentally, his new film opens at the Palace Centro on Thursday. Yay!

Surprises were everywhere so where do I start. After 16 nominations, Randy Newman finally cracked it for a win in the song category. Black Hawk Down picked up 2 technical awards after being snubbed in the bigger categories. Amelie shockingly lost the best foreign film category to No Man's Land from Bosnia. Jim Broadbent snuck ahead of Ian McKellan to win best supporting actor. And what about Denzel Washington beating Russell Crowe? Washington's performance was mediocre in a very ordinary film. Crowe can consider himself very unfortunate and Washington very lucky.

As I did last year, I've attached photos of my reactions just a split second after the major awards were announced. They're pretty embarassing but hey, who cares - it's what the Oscars are all about.

So that's it for another year. More feedback on the Oscars washup will feature in next week's issue plus some reviews of the Easter viewings. Have a great long weekend and see you all at the movies!!!