Crash for Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain in 2005 – the worst Best Picture nod ever (and quite possibly, the worst self-serious Hollywood film ever).
and yes, I’m factoring in that Forrest Gump was the Best Picture winner in 1994.
The academy would have never awarded pulp fiction and now that you look back all the films aged rather nicely. I guess my only bias is that i’m a sap and i actually love forrest gump, i have to admit it got me and i attribute that to my liking Tom Hanks who to me is this generations jimmy stewart. Big steps to fill that i think that man has filled admirably. Film after film he delivers even clunkers like the ladykillers show how he is always looking to expand his range to any field. Once he decided to tackle philadephia something inside him must of clicked and he must of come to terms with something inside of him that told him he could portray andrew beckett the way he does in that film.(which denzel gives an equaling very under the radar performnance as his attorney joe miller. Denzel is my next robbery as iw oudl call it. The performance although controversial (based on facts that are omitted from the film, which in turn of taking as a film alone should not affect the independent thoughts of the filmmakers including the actors portrayal of subject) is Denzel for playing rubin carter and losing to Kevin Spacey for his performance of lester burnham. A good film that hasnt aged as well as other great best pictures and actually beat out films that have actually aged better (the sixth sense and my pick the insider).
Chicago over The Pianist and The Hours. The latter didn’t age that much either but at least it isn’t a totally ridiculous choice compared to Rob Marshall’s crapfest. I mean seriously who casts Richard Gere as a song and dance man?
The nominees were dumb too.. that year there was About Schmidt, Far From Heaven, Catch Me If You Can, Adaptation, and Frida which I personally consider finer Hollywood pictures. Aside from The Pianist which was totally robbed.
You all make excellent points. What about “Gladiator”? I can hear the collective groan…
Absolutely, Gladiator is a blatant rip off of all the great roman epics and although not a bad picture, it cant hold it’s own jock against the films that came before it. Plus Russell Crowe winning for Maximus was out right ridiculous Tom Hanks in cast away was the clear winner. I mean he is onscreen for close to 2 1/2 hours and to me the movie does not drag one bit. 2 1/2 hours of one guy and one guy alone. How can you not reward that guy. As for Chicago wining well that is exactly i brought this up, is why in the hell is that movie beating out films like lord of the rings and the pianist. Two clearly better films and then they get beat by a clear lesser film. By far one of the worst nights in the oscar’s history. I will also bring up another robbery, how the hell does Shakespeare in love beat out saving private ryan i know i know politics. But damn thats a shame.
The year The Pianist was robbed was also a travesty.
Gladiator is a really bad film. I liked it when it first came out, thought is was an average modern Roman epic film. I’ve seen it twice in the theater and 3 times on dvd and every time I watch it it is less compelling, slower, more boring. The filmmaking is really middlebrow – It does not hold up.
Really bad film maybe not, but i agree with you in the fact that it does not hold up very well when viewed multiple times. Another thing that i must mention is that Joaquim Phoenix was nominated for best supporting actor and his performance quite frankly sucked. And yes outside of american gangster this was one of Scott’s weaker directing efforts funny that they nominated him for this clunker.
I didn’t not like “Gladiator”, but there’s is no way that it is Best Picture material. The same goes for “Chicago” and “Shakespeare in Love”. The 1998 award would have been much better suited to “Saving Private Ryan” or “The Thin Red Line”, both of which are masterpieces.
I’m quite surprised that nobody has touched on Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” or the fast that Stanley Kubrick never won an Oscar other than the special effects award for “2001”. And finally, I’ll never forgive the Academy for not honouring “Fargo” as it deseverved.
Well it did win best original screenplay for that year, so it was rewarded. And the english patient is a beauty of a film. So i have to argue that fargo gets the credit that it deserves. I’ll also note that fargo is better than no country for old men saying that it would not have won that year(no country) Fargo has aged wonderfully always fun and sad to watch. Short and sweet. My pick for this year and please go easy on me was michael clayton.
Totally agree with Dave re the Brokeback / Crash fiasco. Crash has one great sequence (the car rescue) and one alone. Without that it would be a preachy, smug bore-fest. Perfect Oscar material then…
Also agree with the comments Chicago, but then it was obvious that there was a general attempt within the industry to revive the big screen musical and the Academy is one big marketing franchise.
How Heath Ledger didn’t win for Brokeback Mountain is beyond me. I love Philip Seymour Hoffman and he did a fine job as Truman Capote, but I do get heartily sick of the amount of people who get nominated (and usually win) because they can do a good impersonation of someone. Having said that, I have to eat my own words ‘cause I was well chuffed that Marion Cotillard won for ’La Vie En Rose’…
Totally agree with Dave re the Brokeback / Crash fiasco. Crash has one great sequence (the car rescue) and one alone. Without that it would be a preachy, smug bore-fest. Perfect Oscar material then…
Also agree with the comments re Chicago, but then it was obvious that there was a general attempt within the industry to revive the big screen musical and the Academy is one big marketing franchise after all.
How Heath Ledger didn’t win for Brokeback Mountain is beyond me. I love Philip Seymour Hoffman and he did a fine job as Truman Capote, but I do get heartily sick of the amount of people who get nominated (and usually win) because they can do a good impersonation of someone. Having said that, I have to eat my own words ‘cause I was well chuffed that Marion Cotillard won for ’La Vie En Rose’…
Despite its status as a Cinderella story – and regardless of its release in America’s bicentennial year – I still have a hard time swallowing the Oscar for “Rocky” in a field of “All the President’s Men,” “Bound for Glory,” “Taxi Driver” and “Network.”
True, but remember that hollywood loves an underdog story and some people consider that film to be the catalyst that started it in hollywood, i personally prefer good will hunting as more of a story of the struggle to get a movie made the way you envision it and for it to become the phenomenon that the movie became. But really when you list the films that it beat makes you wonder. I also agree with nicky about heath ledger being beat out by hoffman, not to rip to much into his performance while not his fault will always be considered a bit of an impersonation only because of the person he is portraying is such an iconic image and recognizable figure, i mean the same should be said of jamie foxx’s performance. I for one loved heath’s performance it was beautiful in so many ways and in my repeat viewings i have also seen how great gylenhall’s performance is. It would’ve been so sweet to have seen brokeback win both best picture and actor for those performances should be treasured. Heath carries the weight of being what he is so realisticly that you grief with him as he longs for jack at the end of the film.
Sorry, Broncstud07, but I’m gonna have to say Nigel Hawthorne’s performance in The Madness of King George losing out to Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump.
Juanita Moore should have won the oscar for the 1959 Imitation of Life hands down! I don’t know who won that year, but I saw the movie recently and was blown away not only by the themes but also by the way that her character is portrayed on screen, considering the time. It bypasses the stereotype of the time and was ahead of the civil liberties debate. But then again, Halle Berry came back with a vengeance with her oscar worthy performance at the oscars (I still don’t know whether the acting was better in Monsters Ball or at the Oscars). Either way, ballsy.
You’re right about Gyllenhaal being right up there with Ledger, Bronc. They are both performances that reward repeated viewings – it’s all in the details. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve watched the film and I still find new things to enjoy. Ledger submerged himself so sompletely in that role as to be virtually unrecognisable with the speech patterns, body language etc etc. 10 years from now I’ll wager that Brokeback will still be remembered and talked about and Crash will be forgotten – just like the Ordinary People / Raging Bull fiasco all over again.
Anybody with any sense is sceptical about the Academy’s reasons for giving awards in the first place. Now don’t get me wrong, these are all worthy winners, but Halle Berry, Denzel Washington and Sidney Poitier all winning in one year? There’s gotta be some PC Academy agenda going on surely? Not before time, mind you, but bloody hell it’s so calculated.
Titanic? That film did not deserve 11 academy awards.
Sorry but Titanic was deserving. Yes the movie does sap the living cheesyness out of you, but it is still a David Lean type epic that hits every note. Also note the way James Cameron tells a story, here is man who up to this point was more of a visual artist and with this film took his writing style and combined with modern technology to recreate the event and the moment like no other. A masterpiece in every sense of the word. Though i must note that LA confidential would’ve won best picture and best director in any other year.
Marisa Tomei in 1992, when she co-starred as Joe Pesci’s foul-mouthed girlfriend in MY COUSIN VINNY (1992), a performance that won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Really? Who green-lit this?
I think it was a weak year for best supporting actress. It usually is the weakest of the categories. Though i feel that she was deserving and her nomination for in the bedroom solidifies her as a talented actress.
Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan. That was Miramax wining and dining the Academy- Harvey Weinstein bought that Oscar.
Well that year was the defining moment for hollywood power brokers stealing oscars, really they have taken the luster out of the event. It no longer is about what film was clearly put together the best. It’s who was the most popular actor that year or who spent the most on dining you to pick their film. I mean come on shakespeare in love over the life changing saving private ryan. Spielberg still hasn’t gotten over his film losing the title of best picture, weinstein robbed him.
OSCARS ARE BS.
This said, I want one.
The keys to the city. Who wouldn’t want one!
I see Broncstud got thumbed down for showing a bit of respect towards Titanic.
I agree with him, the film is epic.
You might find it too hollywood, too tacky, too overexposed, but it was deserving of an Oscar.
This said, just the thought “my heart will go on” makes me sick to my stomach,
no, seriously, now I have to go see some porn to take it out of my head. Bye.
Has Pacino recovered since he won for scent of a woman.? I know he made heat but righteous kill and 88 minutes and i can’t forget two for the money. Please say something! I’ll take a flame thrower to this place!
How about Roberts beating Ellen Burstyn for Best Actress? C’mon….Roberts’ performance was nowhere as amazing as Burstyn’s work in Requiem for A Dream. I’m still amazed by that decision. As mentioned before…Crash will be forgotten and Brokeback will be remembered forever. I was so displeased by that decision. Pulp Fiction losing to Forest Gump? I love Gump a lot, but Pulp Fiction was more in your face amazing than Gump. And a last thing….Man, was the Academy late for giving Scorsese his Oscar. I was happy for him but the man deserved it a little bit under 30 yrs. ago, and how many other times was he passed up before? Glad he finally got it..
Oh the politics of the Academy. Although i cannot agree with your argument, i must mention that Albert Finney was more deserving than Benicio Del Toro for Traffic. More often than not performances rely on your supporting players. In roberts case Finney and her were dead on and i feel that if she was going to be rewarded then so should he. He was not and our pretty woman got the spotlight all to herself what a travesty. Still her performance was pretty good.
L.A.™
To start things off i will state an obvious one, but not because the film that beat it out is not any good. Rather because the film that it beat has aged much more beautifully than the winner. The film Goodfellas should have been his crowning achievement, and bam not only does a first time director beat him for the prize once, bam Kevin Costner has to go ahead and direct a masterpiece himself. Which i believe it is but when it stands next to Goodfellas the scope, range and filmmaking that scorsese does makes costner’s efforts puny (which they are not). Of course both films are two are from completely different genres and driven by completely different morals. Yet still scorsese’s vision was his destiny and the academy robbed him of the film that should’ve carried the title best picture of 1990. Instead we settled for the departed which is also a part of his many masterpieces but its not goodfellas shit its not even raging bull.