In which I rhapsodise on the subject of hobbits and Kings and golden statues.

I've only seen The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King once. I keep meaning to go back a second time and chickening out for a variety of reasons, including laziness and a lack of interest in crying for four straight hours again. The only time I can recall ever crying as hard as I did after seeing that movie was about four and a half years ago, right after my cat who I'd had since the age of five died. I am still not sure if I was crying over the cat or not, much like I am uncertain of what, exactly, it was about Return of the King that hit me so hard. Heroism in the face of impossible odds, I suppose. Beauty. See? I don't know.

On Saturday evening and again on Sunday I emphatically announced that I would be happy if ROTK's only award was for Best Director. Peter Jackson deserved that award more than anyone has ever deserved it. Well, that isn't true, but he really deserved it. A lot of folks have been going around saying that Best Picture was sort of a token for all three films. I think that Best Director is that, only more.

Roundabout the second award that the movie picked up, I turned to Will and said, "They're going to sweep." By the third award, I was loudly lamenting the fact that I hadn't entered any Oscar Pools, because ever single award was going the way I thought it would. Granted, it was a fairly predictable year, but still...

When the song from The Triplets of Belleview was performed, I whispered that I hoped it would win. When Annie Lenox and Howard Shore and darling Fran Walsh were announced winners, I whispered again that I didn't care which song was better, I'd really wanted them to win.

I must wholeheartedly agree with whichever Hobbit-lad it was who suggested that the Academy ought to adopt an award for Ensemble Cast. I could not in all honesty have chosen any single Supporting Actor from the group, though Sean Astin stands out a bit. If you ask me (and you don't have to - my blog!) Samwise is the hero of the story. Frodo may be the ringbearer, but Sam is the hero.

When I predicted a sweep, I impressed Will by telling him that such an event would tie the picture with Ben Hur and Titanic for the most Oscars. (Frankly, I thought everyone knew that.) When the ceremony was over, I decided to check out whether any other films had ever won every single award they were nominated for. Two have, but each for a 'mere' nine awards - Gigi and The Last Emperor.

In addition to tying/breaking those records, it is only the second picture ever to bring in over a billion dollars in worldwide box office. I am somewhat skeptical of that "honor," though, as it does not take inflation into account.

If I am not mistaken, the Oscar for Art Direction went to The Lord of the Rings all three years.

...Oopsie, no it didn't. Chicago beat The Two Towers and Moulin Rouge beat The Fellowship of the Ring. I was thinking of Visual Effects.

I lost my train of thought.

In totally unrelated news, I can't believe that Gunga Din wasn't nominated for a single award. I'm so shocked that I actually just checked to make sure it really was released in the year I thought it was (1939, which it was). Of course, I'm wrong once again - it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Black and White.

Now I've really lost my train of thought. I had lots of stuff to say about how anti-Oscar I've always been, and why I'm not a gigantic hypocrite for allowing this year to matter to me so much, but I don't know. I think I'm done for now.

Sources: my brain, Yahoo! Movies, IMDB.com, Greatest Films