lifestyles
And the nominees are ...
"Forrest Gump" leads the field with13 Oscar nominations; "Pulp Fiction garners seven.
By John Horn Associated Press Writer
Knight-Ridder Tribune
Here are some of this year's Academy Award nominees:
PICTURE
"Forrest Gump"
"四 Weddings and a Funeral"
"Pulp Fiction"
"Quiz Show"
"The Shawshank Redemption"
Morgan Freeman, "The Shawshank Redemption"
Tom Hanks, "Forrest Gump"
Nigel Hawthorne, "The Madness of King George"
Paul Newman, "Nobody's Fool"
John Travolta, "Pulp Fiction"
ACTOR
ACTRESS
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jodie Foster, "Nell"
Jessica Lange, "Blue Sky"
Miranda Richardson, "Tom & Viv"
Winona Ryder, "Little Women"
Susan Sarandon, "The Client"
Samuel L. Jackson, "Pulp Fiction"
Martin Landau, "Ed Wood"
Chazz Palminteri, "Bullets Over Broadway"
Paul Scofield, "Quiz Show"
Gary Sinise, "Forrest Gump"
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Rosemary Harris, "Tom & Viv"
Helen Mirren, "The Madness of King George"
Uma Thurman, "Pulp Fiction"
Jennifer Tilly, "Bullets Over Broadway"
Dianne Wiest, "Bullets Over Broadway"
DIRECTOR
Woody Allen, "Bullets Over Broadway"
Robert Zemeckis, "Forrest Gump"
Quentin Tarantino, "Pulp Fiction"
Robert Redford, "Quiz Show"
Krzyszt沃 Kieslowski, "Red"
Forrest Gump" the feel-good hit about a simpleton who triumphs in the end, received 13 Academy Award nominations Monday, the most for any movie in nearly three decades. Its star, Tom Hanks, got a shot at a second consecutive Oscar.
Hanks, got a shot at a second consecutive Oscar for best actor.
The 13 nominations are the most for any movie since 1966's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" The record is 14 nominations, captured by "All About Eve" in 1950; the record for actual wins is the 1959 "Ben-Hur" with 11.
Also nominated for the best picture award were "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Pulp Fiction," "Quiz Show"
The winners will be announced March 27 in a ceremony broadcast live by ABC. David Letterman will be the host.
Quentin Tarantino Best Film nominee "Pulp Fiction"
and "The Shawshank Redemption."
"it's been 17 years since my last nomination," said Travolta, whose previous bid was for "Saturday Night Fever." "I never dreamed it would take so long to get another one."
Besides Hanks, who won the award last year for his work in "Philadelphia," the best actor nominees were Morgan Freeman in "The Shawshank Redemption," Nigel Hawthorne in "The Madness of King George," Paul Newman in "Nobody's Fool" and John Travolta in "Pulp Fiction."
In a statement, Hanks said, "We're very proud of our movie and are pleased to see it nominated amongst such a surprisingly diverse group of films."
Two-time winner Jodie Foster was nominated for best actress for her starring role in "Nell." She will face Jessica Lange in "Blue Sky," Miranda Richardson in "Tom and Viv," Winona Ryder in "Little Women" and Susan Sarandon in "The Client."
"Forrest Gump" co-producer Steve Tisch, whose birthday was yesterday, watched the televised nominations at home with his birthday present, a puppy named Forrest. "When he heard his name, he woke up," Tisch said. "It was all thrilling."
Trailing "Gump" with seven nominations apiece were "Bullets Over Broadway," "Pulp Fiction" and the Shawshank Redemption."
"Pulp Fiction's"
Pup Fiction's Samuel L. Jackson was nominated for best supporting actor, as were Martin Landau in "Ed Wood," Chaz Palminteri in "Bullets Over Broadway," Paul Scofield in "Quiz Show" and Gary Sinise in "Forrest Gump."
Morgan Freeman
Best Actor nominee
"The Shawshank Redemption"
Two performers from "Bullets Over Broadway" — Jennifer Tilly and Diane Wiest — were named for best supporting actress. The other three selections were Rosemary Harris in "Tom and Viv," Helen Mirren in "The Madness
orping George and Ella Hatham in *Pulp Fiction*. The news caught Harris by surprise during lunch at London's Royal National Theater, where she is rehearsing a role in "Women of Troy."
of King George" and Uma Thurman in "Pulp Fiction."
"I was eating some cabbage in the canteen, and it got quite stuck in my throat," she said. "... It's rather hard to concentrate at the moment. I'm supposed to be back 2,000 years ago, and suddenly everything's whirling around."
in the documentary feature category, "Hoop Dreams" failed to get nominated despite some of the best reviews of the year.
"Someone please explain that to me because I'd like to
OSCAR CONTROVERSY: "Hoo Dreams" failed to make the Best Picture List. Page 6B
know," said a disap- pointed Catherine Allan of St. Paul, Minn., public television station KTCA-TV, which co-produced the story of two high school basketball stars.
Woody Allen was nominated for both co-writing and directing "Bullets Over Broadway." Also nominated for directing were Robert Zemeckis for "Forrest Gump," Quentin Tarantino for "Pulp Fiction," Robert Redford for "Quiz
Jodie Foster
Best Actress nominee
"Neil"
Show" and Krzysztof Kieslowski for "Red."
Macedonia's "Before the Rain" was picked as one of the five top foreign-language films. It will compete against Russia's "Burnt By the Sun," Taiwan's "Eat Drink Man Woman," Belgium's "Farinelli: II Castrato" and Cuba's "Strawberry and Chocolate."
It was the first nomination for Cuba and Macedonia. The 13 nominations for "Forrest Gump" tie it with 1939's "Gone With The Wind," 1953's "From Here to Eternity," 1964's "Mary Poppins" and 1966's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
The film also was nominated for art direction, cinematography, film editing, makeup, original score, sound, sound-effects editing, visual effects and adapted screenplay.
More than 600 journalists and scores of producers attended the traditional predawn reading of the nominations.
Martin Landau
Best Supporting Actor nominee
"Ed Wood"
Noteworthy among the nominations were bids earned by "Tom and Viv." "The Madness of King George" and "Blue Skye." The first
two have appeared in limited release in art houses; the latter sat on the shelf for three years. "Blue Sky" was the last film of the late Tony Richardson, an Oscar winner for "Tom Jones."
But the sweep by "Forrest Gump" came as no surprise. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave it Golden Globes for best dramatic movie and dramatic actor. It was also the winner last year at the box office.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, on the other hand, picked "Pulp Fiction" as film of the year, with Travolta honored as best actor. The National Society of Film Critics also chose "Pulp Fiction" as best picture.
In the Oscars, approximately 5,000 Academy members
vote on the best pictu selections. Nominations in other categories are done by specific academy branches; the nearly 1,300 members of the acting branch, for example, vote on the acting nominations Special committees nominate the foreign language, documentary and short films.
Two hundred and forty-eight feature-length films from 1994 were eligible for consideration, from 247 releases a year ago.
Woody Allen Best Director nominee "Bullets over Broadway"
'Pulp Fiction,' a soon-to-be classic
Some folks just don't like "Pulp Fiction."
It wasn't the writing, production or dialogue that bugged them. It wasn't the acting or the fact that it single-handedly rejuvenated John Travolta's acting career. That's the part of the movie that scared me.
This argument has two logical flaws. One, that any art form needs a moral center to be effective and evocative. Two, that Pulp Fiction lacks this moral center.
No, these folks don't like "Pulp Fiction" because, they say, it lacks a moral center. The cast of "Fiction" is populated with drug dealers, murderers, gangsters, thieves and other unsavory forms of life. It lacks a moral center and provides no guide to a healthy and morally balanced existence. For this reason, many newspaper editors and columnists have said "Pulp Fiction" does not deserve its seven Oscar nominations.
Much of the worshiped art of American culture has no moral
STAFF
COLUMNIST
feel sorry for any of the characters? Just about every one of them was a Southern slave owner, who mourned the loss of their Southern dream — a dream built by the hands of their slaves.
center. My favorite example is "Gone With the Wind." Moral center, you say? The characters are either naive, like Ashley Wilkes, or opportunistic, like Scarlett O'Hara. And how to.
Despite this lack of moral center, the book remains an indelible piece of American art. No, the book doesn't provide redeeming characters or a guide to good, clean living. Instead, it brings us realistic characters who portray and
Now, back to "Pulp Fiction." No moral center? Hardly. True, Quentin Tarantino doesn't beat us over the head with it the way "Forrest Gump" did, but it's there nonetheless.
personify the best and worst elements of humanity. It evokes, which is the real purpose of art.
The finding of the moral center begins when the Samuel L. Jackson character, Jules, and the John Travolta character, Vincent, are carrying out a hit for their boss. At one unexpected moment, an armed man leaps from the bathroom and fires six point-blank shots at the two. Neither man was hit.
Later that day, the event causes Jules to think twice about his way of life. He tells Vincent he thinks those six missed shots are a sign from God that he must give up his life of violence and walk the earth. Vincent doesn't understand, but Jules is steadfast in his belief.
restaurant in which the conversation is taking place. All the other customers hit the ground and whimper, except Jules. In just a few moments, he takes control of the situation with his own pistol.
At just that moment, two professional robbers hold up the
The old Jules would have killed the two. Instead, he proceeds to lecture them. He tells them about his change of heart. He tells them how the passage from Ezekiel he used to recite before wasting somebody had meaning for him now. Then he gives the flabbergasted robbers his money and lets them go.
How about Vincent, who stays in that life? Because of Tarantino's topsy-turvy narrative style, the audience already knows. Days after Jules' conversion, Vincent gets killed by his own machine gun. That's the fate of the people who stay in Tarantino's crime-ridden world.
No moral center? Hardly. Perhaps those who criticized it for that should have paid $5 to actually watch it.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Cultural Calendar
Exhibition—"Shared Dreams: Images of the Asian and Pacific-American Experience in Washington State." through March 4 at the Kansas Union Gallery.
Exhibition—"Design Department Faculty Exhibition," through Feb. 24 at the Art and Design Gallery.
Lecture—"The Art of Love: Nineteenth-Century Valentines from the Thayer Collection," by Kate Battles, 12:15 p.m. tomorrow at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Lecture—"Making and Meaning in English Art," by John Wilson, 2 p.m. Sunday at the Spencer Museum Auditorium.
**Lecture**—students from East Middle School in Leavenworth, about their book, *Buffalo Soldiers*, 1:30 p.m. Saturday, at Borders Book Shop, 9108 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park.
**Lecture**— Don Coldsmith, on his book,
Child of the Dead, at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Borders
Book Shop, 9108 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park.
Lecture—"Archaeology in China Today," by Robert Thorp, 2 p.m. Saturday, at Atkins Auditorium in Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo.
PERFORMANCES
KU Swarthout Chamber Music Series presents the Shanghai Quartet, 3:30 p.m.
Sunday at the Lied Center. Tickets $6-$15.
KU Symphony Orchestra presents a Winter Concert, 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Lied Center. Tickets $3-$6.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Faculty Recital, 7:30 p.m. Monday at Swarthout Recital Hall.
Department of Music and Dance presents Visiting Artists Series, featuring Amy Knoles. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, at Swarthout Recital Hall.
Municipal Auditorium presents "A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline," 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Municipal Auditorium, Third and Hickory streets, Ottawa. Tickets $7-15.50.
Kansas City Symphony presents Joseph Silverstein, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, at Lytic Theatre, 11th and Central streets, Kansas City, Mo. Tickets $14-$32.
Theater League presents "A Chorus Line," Tuesday through Feb. 26 at the Music Hall, 13th and Central streets, Kansas City, Mo. Tickets $20.50-$29.50.
UMKC Theater Department presents "The Changeling," Thursday through Sunday, at Grant Hall Theater, 52nd and Holmes streets, Kansas City, M. Tracks $3-$5.
Missouri Repertory Theatre presents "The Imaginary Invalid," Friday through March 12, at Center for Performing Arts, 50th and Cherry Streets, Kansas City, Mo. Tickets $14-$30.