74th Annual Academy Awards (2002) Reviews

• Woody Allen makes the night Hollywood history!

  ScottAdams2003-04-11

  No awards show can please all the people. Clearly if your favorite movies didn't win, you will say the show wasn't very good. That's understandable. However, the 74th Annual Academy Awards will be remembered for one magical moment of Hollywood history: Woody Allen's first appearance ever at the Academy Awards. Allen has often shunned the awards as being self-aggrandizing and pointless, and has never attended -- even though he has won several of the coveted awards. When the 74th Academy Awards were held, the nation was still mourning the loss of life in the collapse of the World Trade Centers in New York. When it came time to pay tribute to the city of New York, they decided to show a video of the great movie moments form the city of cities. Then the announcer simply said: "Ladies and gentleman, Oscar Award winning Director Woody Allen." The place erupted in an extremely long standing ovation. The entertainment industry finally got to give their applause to the Man from New York who usually avoids the Hollywood scene. As the applause died down, Woody applied some of his legendary wit to the situation. SOME HIGHLIGHTS: "Thank you very much - that makes up for the strip search." "I thought they wanted their Oscars back," he joked. "I panicked because the pawn shop has been out of business for ages and I had no way of retrieving anything. " "But that wasn't it. I couldn't work it out because my movie wasn't nominated for anything this year. Then it hit me - maybe they were calling to apologise." Allen also disclosed why he had overlooked his lifelong Oscar-aversion for this one special night. "For New York City, I'd do anything. So I got my tux on and came down here," said Allen. "It's a great, great movie town. It's been a great, moving and exciting backdrop for movies and it remains a great, great city."

• good year

  duckmanfanatic2007-07-05

  This year was pretty good. I liked the surprise performance of Cirque du Soleil. I'm glad Jim Broadbent won best supporting actor. I haven't seen Iris yet, but I know he's always a terrific actor in all his movies. Plus, it's good to see Woody Allen finely made it, in person, to the Oscars this year. But there are some things that I didn't like. Sean Penn should've got the Oscar for Best Actor, not Denzel. The Monsters INC song shouldn't have won Best Original Song. Plus, A Beautiful Mind winning the Oscar for Best Picture?!! Lord of the Rings should have won. That is one of the best adventure films ever. Overall, this year was good.

• Wrong best actor award

  mvaiden2002-07-08

  As much as I admire and always see any movie that Denzel Washington is in, and agree that his portrayal of the "cop gone bad" in "Training Day" was EXCELLENT, and totally different for Mr. Washington, proving his incredible acting skills, I have to say that Russell Crowe deserved that Oscar more. It's not because of Russell's "looks". Russell Crowe delivered an INCOMPARABLE performance of the portrayal of Dr. John Nash. All you have to do is watch the movie and see the acting skill that Russell Crowe tapped into to deliver such a realistic and unbelievable character. It was out of Russell Crowe's normal type of role, too, just as it was for Denzel. I wish they both could've received Oscars, but, having to choose only one, I would've chosen Russell Crowe's acting performance in "A Beautiful Mind" as much as I love any move Denzel Washington is in. I wish this email could be sent to the Academy Awards, and to Russell Crowe. Thank you.

• Great Show!

  flyswat16@aol.com2002-10-13

  Although the 74th Awards was the longest in history, literally, it was the best of them all. I found Whoopi Goldberg a great host, mainly because I didn't like Steve Martin and I was sick of Billy Crystal. I found the winners debatable, especially for Best Actor. I was rooting for Russell Crowe, even though he won the previous year for Gladiator. The highpoint of the evening was the surprise performance by Cirque du Soleil. What an incredible segment! Overall, I enjoyed the show a lot.

• Facetious Whoopi, Zingers, Emotion!

  pikespeak2002-04-28

  The 74th Oscars was a very good one. Whoopi's work as EmCee was very funny, and light. I personally loved her last apperance, which garnered some frigid reviews due to coarse language and salacious jokes, but that's fine. The audience seemed to like it. Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Ron Howard, Woody Allen, and Sidney Poitier made this an Oscar telecast to remember.