1961- West Side Story- Okay, but The Hustler was another good nominee.
1962- Lawrence of Arabia- Great film, Oscar nailed it.
1963- Tom Jones- Good
1964- My Fair Lady- Good
1965- The Sound of Music- Great film.
1966- A Man For All Seasons- Very Good.
1967- In The Heat Of The Night- Good.
1968- Oliver!- Until 2002's Chicago this was the last musical to win Best Picture and although it is a good movie the film that should have won was NOT even nominated (has this become a pattern or what?)...
2001: A Space Odyssey
1969- Midnight Cowboy- The first and only X-rated film to win Best Picture although it was changed to an R-rating later. I prefer Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid for that year. By the way, this was the first of three Best Pictures Dustin Hoffman starred in.
1970- Patton- Very good film for which George C. Scott refused to accept his Best Actor Oscar.
1971- The French Connection- Good
1972- The Godfather- Once again Oscar nails it! Other than 1943, 1962, and 1993 this is their proudest moment.
1973- The Sting- Great film.
1974- The Godfather Part II- Now they're on a roll.
1975- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest- Great film and the first film since 1934's It Happened One Night to win the "big five"- Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, Screenplay. It has happened only one other time since.
1976- Rocky- Good
1977- Annie Hall- Great film. Some still feel that Star Wars should have won, but Annie Hall is probably the greatest comedy of all time so I don't have a problem with it.
1978- The Deer Hunter- One of my least favorite winners, very depressing and long, but unfortunately there weren't many other worthy contenders that year. The only one I really like is Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait.
1979- Kramer vs. Kramer- Dustin Hoffman's second film to win Best Picture is okay but there were a few that were much better including Woody Allen's Manhattan, Peter Sellers' classic Being There and the big one which should have won the award...
Apocalypse Now
So the Academy didn't end the decade strong but the 1970s were their best decade overall for getting it right.
1980- Ordinary People- So much for getting things right. They start off the new decade by bombing big time! They chose a boring melodrama over one of cinemas greatest films, although DeNiro did get the award for his performance...
Raging Bull
1981- Chariots of Fire- Good, but in retrospect Raiders of the Lost Ark should have won!
1982- Ghandi- Good although E.T. was another worthy nominee. But what an injustice that Blade Runner wasn't nominated!
1983- Terms of Endearment- Good
1984- Amadeus- Great film.
1985- Out of Africa- Boring movie. The Best film that year was The Color Purple by a long shot! It was nominated for 11 awards and won none! Ridiculous.
1986- Platoon- Okay, but I prefer Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters or my pick for Best picture (not nominated)...
Hoosiers
1987- The Last Emperor- Okay, but for me it was Spielberg's Empire of the Sun which wasn't nominated.
1988- Rain Man- Good, and Dustin Hoffman's third Best Picture.
1989- Driving Miss Daisy- Okay but other films like Henry V could have won. Many were upset that year when Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing didn't get a nomination. Funny because that credo is one Spike Lee would never follow being so committed to the "wrong thing":neo-marxism! Sorry, but the Academy Awards always shoves politics down our throat so I thought I'd play along.
Anyway, my pick for Best Picture (which wasn't nominated) would have been...
Glory
1990- Dances With Wolves- Good film but much better ones were Miller's Crossing which wasn't nominated and one of the best films of the decade, Goodfellas.
1991- Silence of the Lambs- The last film to win the "big five".
1992- Unforgiven- Good
1993- Schindler's List- Among the greatest films. Oscar gets it right again!
1994- Forrest Gump- Good. Many felt that Pulp Fiction should have won but not me.
1995- Braveheart- Good, but I would have picked Appollo 13 or 12 Monkeys which was NOT nominated!
1996- The English Patient- Good, but I would have chosen either Fargo or one of my personal favorites which of course wasn't nominated...
Bottle Rocket
1997-Titanic- Obviously this is the type of film the Academy loves to pick: big, broad, melodramatic. But, it was completely outclassed by L.A. Confidential which should have won or Amistad which wasn't even nominated!
1998- Shakespeare In Love- One of Oscars darkest moments. It is a good film but nobody knows to this day how it beat Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture!
And neither The Big Lebowski or Rushmore were even nominated for Best Picture that year! Huh?
1999- American Beauty- I hate this movie. I can't recommend Being John Malkovich but it was clearly a better film.
2000- Gladiator- Good film but Almost Famous and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were just as good if not better. But, surprise, the film I cherish most was predictably not nominated...
O, Brother Where Art Thou?
2001- A Beautiful Mind- Good, but I would have picked The Royal Tennenbaums which wasn't nominated.
2002- Chicago- Good but two films that were better, Adaptation and About Schmidt , weren't nominated.
2003- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King- Great.
2004- Million Dollar Baby- No way. The best films of the year, The Passion of the Christ and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind were NOT NOMINATED! Shameful!
2005- Crash- Sorry, but Cinderella Man should have won or The Incredibles.
2006- The Departed- Good
2007- No Country For Old Men- Good but I was also very impressed with Atonement.
Odds are they screw up 2008, too. We will soon see.
7 comments:
the Royal Tennenbaums .... speachless.... I know we have different tastes in movies but seriously... that is one of the movies that I hated more then O Brother........... UGH!!!!!
I you hate O, Brother, I'm seriously reconsidering our friendship! Talk about speechless...
I am not as surprised about Tennenbaums since few seem to see its value. After Bottle Rocket it is my favorite Wes Anderson film and it definitely grew on me. I saw it at least three times before I really appreciated it.
3 times???????? How could you torture yourself 3 times. The first 6 minutes are very funny and then the movie explodes into where fun goes to die.
I think it's safe to say you don't "get it"
I think it safe to say that I have better things to do with my time then to watch a crap movie more times to see if it will become magically delicious.... sheesh. You just don't get it.
Usually "crap" movies aren't nominated for Best Screenplay. Usually. Like I said though, I'm not surprised since many don't seem to see it's value. Leonard Maltin basically said it's a movie about nothing. The redemption of a self-absorbed jerk and a black comedy to boot are hardly about nothing in my book. Plus some of my favorite comedic lines: "It's written in an obsolete vernacular" "Stop belittling me!" and my favorite "You wanna talk some jive. I'll talk some jive you ain't ever heard. Right on!" But then I am much smarter than Leonard Maltin and apparently you. Teehee. Remember this is my blog so don't think you will get off easy....especially when it comes to "taking time" to watch movies.
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