'crash'-ing into the big picture!

So every year there are a few movies that actually make an impact on me and break my cold critic heart (I rarely like any movie that was made after the mid-1950s -- pretty much back when movies were actually made with a plot and didn't completely rely on sex, violence, and computer graphics). In 2004 Mystic River was the one that did it for me. That was such an amazing and well written, acted, and especially directed movie. There were quite a few movies this past year that I really connected with. The main three were -- Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, The Constant Gardener, and Crash. Crash just had the great honor of winner Best Picture of the year at the Academy Awards this past night (the Oscars) and I am beaming for the recognition! It was really a movie that was almost overlooked by many people when it first came out but gathered steam as the months went on and word of mouth spead. It actually played at AFI for months on end (probably about 5 months straight) -- which is kind of ridiculous for a new movie (but it was just that damn good). I actually got to meet Brendan Frasier (whom I thought couldn't act his way out of Encino Man until I saw his performance in The Quiet American and, naturally, Crash) and Paul Haggis (who also won an Oscar for best Screenplay!!) at AFI back in August when they stopped by to talk about Crash. If you haven't seen this movie yet then you need to just go buy it and watch it several times over and over. It's a keeper.