UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PROFESSOR OF THEATRE AND FILM JOHN TIBBETTS IS IMPRESSED WITH THE VARIETY OF THIS YEAR'S CROP OF NOMINATED FILMS.

TIBBETTS HAS WRITTEN MOVIE REVIEWS FOR THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR RADIO NETWORK AND NEWSPAPER, VOICE OF AMERICA, THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK AND FOR SEVERAL KANSAS CITY RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS.

HE'S ALSO EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF THE "FACTS ON FILE FILM REFERENCE LIBRARY," A COLLECTION THAT INCLUDES "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NOVELS INTO FILM" AND "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF STAGE PLAYS INTO FILM." "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILMMAKERS" WILL BE RELEASED THIS APRIL.

TIBBETTS SAYS HE LIKES BOTH THE "SOLID FORMULA" MOVIES LIKE "THE LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING" AS WELL AS FILMS THAT CONFOUND AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS, LIKE "TRAINING DAY."

TIBBETTS' PERSONAL SELECTION FOR BEST PICTURE IS "GOSFORD PARK," DIRECTED BY ROBERT ALTMAN.
Tibbetts: "'Gosford Park' I respect because of the complicated inter-relationships of the characters, having to keep track of everybody, and in the process Altman totally shows his disregard for the nominal plot: a murder mystery." (12 sec.)

TIBBETS PREDICTS THE OSCAR WILL GO TO "THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING," THE FIRST MOVIE IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, BASED ON THE BOOKS BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN.
Tibbetts: "Any time a movie like that comes up for international acclaim, I'm always happy to see it because it sends a lot of us scurrying back to the shelves to get reacquainted with or to discover great works like the Tolkien books." (12 sec.)

TIBBETTS SAYS RON HOWARD IS THE FAVORITE TO WIN THE OSCAR FOR BEST DIRECTOR FOR HIS WORK ON "A BEAUTIFUL MIND." TIBBETTS' FAVORITE IS RIDLEY SCOTT, DIRECTOR OF "BLACK HAWK DOWN."
Tibbetts: "I think my personal favorite here would be Ridley Scott because of the amazing, mind-boggling logistics of just getting this picture done." (7 sec.)

TIBBETTS SAYS THREE-TIME NOMINEE RUSSELL CROWE WILL LIKELY PICK UP THE OSCAR FOR BEST ACTOR. BUT HE LIKES DENZEL WASHINGTON FOR HIS PERFORMANCE IN "TRAINING DAY."
Tibbetts: "I was amazed by Denzel in 'Training Day.' He obviously had a great time playing a bad man, not without some virtues, but a bad man nonetheless." (9 sec.)

TIBBETTS SAYS SISSY SPACEK DESERVES THE OSCAR FOR BEST ACTRESS FOR HER ROLE IN "IN THE BEDROOM." NICOLE KIDMAN IS ONE FAVORITE TO WIN THE OSCAR IN THE CATEGORY FOR HER PERFORMANCE IN "MOULIN ROUGE." BUT TIBBETTS SAYS THAT WASN'T HER BEST PERFORMANCE OF LAST YEAR.
Tibbetts: "I think that performance is a matter of camera work and editing, it's an aggregation of pieces. If you're going to go for Kidman, go for her in 'The Others.'" (9 sec.)

TIBBETTS LIKES "GOSFORD PARK" AS THE BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY.
Tibbetts: "But I think the original screenplay on this really should go to 'Gosford Park.' A lot of it was improvised, so the screenplay had to be reworked as it went." (8 sec.)

TIBBETTS SAYS THERE WERE SEVERAL OTHER FILMS THE ACADEMY OVERLOOKED BUT THAT ARE WORTH SEEING, NONETHELESS.
Tibbetts: "Notably 'The Others' with Nicole Kidman, a wonderful ghost story. 'The Deep End,' a great suspense thriller. 'The Tailor of Panama,' a marvelous spy thriller that goes against the grain, 'Widow of Saint-Pierre,' a French film, and a wonderful Chinese picture about education in the provinces called 'The Road Home.'" (18 sec.)