It’s about 10:25pm EST right now, and so far it’s been a good night for The Lord of the Rings, which, given the way its installments have absorbed my movie-going budget for the past three years, is really the only dog I have in this race. I think The Return of the King is four for four right now, and I’m just ecstatic. I think only life-long Tolkien fans can know what I’m talking about: “My God–Alan Lee is onstage at the Oscars!” “A big famous actress just said the words ‘Middle-earth’ in front of a worldwide audience of one billion people!” It’s amazing.
Am I 100% happy? I guess not. I don’t understand why the movie was nominated for Best Sound and not Best Sound Editing, and why it was nominated for every visual award and Best Director and Best Picture but not Best Cinematography, and obviously the cast (especially Sean Astin) was completely robbed. But so far we’ve got a sweep going, and that’s really nice. If by the end of the evening I can truthfully refer to the Academy Award-winning director of Meet the Feebles, I’ll be very happy indeed.