But enough about that -- let's talking about what's really important: namely, the Los Angeles Times's inability to tell the difference between movies with sword-wielding guys in them. This particular gaffe was in their web feature, The Best and Worst of the Oscars '08, and the offending entry, Most Overwrought Montage. Let's peruse, shall we?
Every year we’re treated to at least three of these movie clip-a-thons, usually accompanied by bombastic movie score music from either “E.T.,” “Dragonheart” or “Apollo 13.” This year, the most unbearable was the chronological rundown of best picture winners from Oscar’s 80 years. And yes, the music of “E.T.” and “Dragonheart” was used extensively. Again.Dragonheart? Wow, I never knew that mediocre paean to burgeoning digital technology got so much love from the Academy! But then look at the picture, and it all makes sense:
Ah! So, not so much Dragonheart. More Braveheart, really, which makes better sense: unlike Dragonheart, it actually won 5 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. (Dragonheart did get one nomination -- Best Visual Effects -- but didn't win.) But I can see where the LAT got confused: Mel Gibson and Dennis Quaid are practically interchangeable.And, just in case they fix the page, here's the screwup preserved for all time as a screen capture!
UPDATE! -- I checked the link above again, to see if they'd corrected it. What I found was this:
"Ha ha!" I thought, "They're halfway to a surreptitious correction!" But my smug heart was shaken. What if they were correct, and there really had been Dragonheart music played at the Oscars? But surely not! Surely the Academy wouldn't rip off the music of a second-rate summer blockbuster!Turns out, surely they would -- which I'd have known if I'd just consulted the Wikipedia article on Dragonheart:
The music for the film was composed by Randy Edelman, and the main theme song, "To The Stars," was used in the film Two Brothers as well as several movie trailers, such as Mulan and Seven Years in Tibet and also used in clip montages at the Academy Awards, making it a very common film score. (Bolding mine)Who knew? Not me, obviously. Also -- and I take comfort in this -- enough readers to motivate the LAT writers to update their story and so prevent the misapprehension that they don't know the difference between Braveheart and Dragonheart.
Yummy, yummy crow.
1 comment:
First off, I think the majority of awards given (if not by their very nature) are self-congratulatory. But out of all the "selfish" awards out there, I can think of none more prestigious than the Oscar.
Secondly, I think you would be very surprised about which movies provided the best/most-often used music. My personal favorite overused movie score comes from "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story." "WHY?" you must be screaming to yourself. Just watch the trailers for "Forrest Gump" and the first "Harry Potter" movie for your answer. And let's not forget where the epic Two Towers' trailer music comes from. Simply a little indie artfilm about teens addicted to drugs ("Requiem For A Dream") currently being overused by amateur trailer makers everywhere.
And finally, I congratulate your eye for finding the Dragonheart/Braveheart misplacement. Nice!
Btw, you happened to watch a ceremony put together in less than 15 days (the time between broadcast and the end of the writer's strike). On top of that, you happened to watch the least viewed Oscars since 1974. I'm actually a little surprised you complemented Jon Stewart. He's one of the shows weakest hosts imo.
Sorry for the delayed response, but I'm just reading your article now. And sorry for the length, but there's a lot I wanted to share with you. Lemme know if ya read this, 'cause I'm not sure how comments work on Blogger.
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