Absolutely Ordinary People is a fine film, but nobody remembers that film. i mean timothy hutton won an oscar and people rarely talk about that film. As for Raging Bull,Scorsese at top form, he should have at least two best director oscars on top of the departed. The other being for his true masterpiece Goodfellas. Shit the more i think about it even Casino is him continuing his top form. A great scorsese triple feature goodfellas, casino, and the departed.
I totally agree about the comments being said about the Oscars being BS, and being all about how and who you dine in Hollywood. I think my biggest problem with the Oscar’s is their choices in "Best Foreign Film " Category… For instance, I still don’t get how come a movie like “Amelie” didn’t get the Oscar for Best Foreign Film is something that is beyond me. Given that it was one of the rare films that pleased both the art house auidences as well as the main stream auidences… That said, there are also thousands of amazing foreign films that were never ever nominated for Oscars, and this list contains incredibly significant Foreign Films that are already considered as Film Classics… I think the biggest robbery here is that Hollywood has a category titled “Best Foreign Films” and yet do not that this section seriously. At all…
Another of the weakest categories, outside of the errors for best picture this category has dropped the ball many times. (although pans labyrinth was fairly beaten out by “the lives of others”.)
The thing with the “best foreign film” category is that each country pre-selects one film to send to the Academy.
Most of the time, this is as beaurocratic as the Oscars.
Perhaps you consider that such and such film should have been there, but then the country didn’t select it.
Unless, the film gets distribution by a major.
But in this case, the film wouldn’t be eligible for the best foreign film category, but would in all the other categories.
…at the end of the day it’s all BS.
Nuff Said! Now back to the movies!
Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Stanley Kubrick(honorary oscar my ass), Peter O’toole, no oscar but eminem has one. What the f!@k?
Oscar nominations that should have been in a perfect world:
Best Actor – John Heard, Cutter’s Way; Jeremy Irons, Dead Ringers; Tony Leung, 2046; Hugh Jackman, The Fountain; Paul Giamatti, American Splendor; Christopher Walken, The Dead Zone; Harvey Keitel, The Bad Lieutenant; John Hurt, 1984
Best Actress – Maggie Gyllenhall, Secretary; Maggie Cheung, Clean; Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar; Theresa Russell, Bad Timing; Laura Dern, INLAND EMPIRE; Isabelle Adjani, Possession
Best Foreign Film – 2046, Possession, Querelle
Best Picture – The Fountain, Last Tango in Paris, INLAND EMPIRE
Best Special FX/ Visual FX – any or all of the 3 X-Men films
Best Director – any nod at all for Alejandro Jodorowsky, Pier Paolo Pasolini, or Dusan Makavejev
and many editors & cinematographers have been neglected. i could go on & on… but since i feel the Oscars are a joke anyway..
anyone please feel free to correct me if any of the above were nominated & i’m in error.
Oscar nominations that should have been in a perfect world:
Best Actor – John Heard, Cutter’s Way; Jeremy Irons, Dead Ringers; Tony Leung, 2046; Hugh Jackman, The Fountain; Paul Giamatti, American Splendor; Christopher Walken, The Dead Zone; Harvey Keitel, The Bad Lieutenant; John Hurt, 1984
Best Actress – Maggie Gyllenhall, Secretary; Maggie Cheung, Clean; Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar; Theresa Russell, Bad Timing; Laura Dern, INLAND EMPIRE; Isabelle Adjani, Possession
Best Foreign Film – 2046, Possession, Querelle
Best Picture – The Fountain, Last Tango in Paris, INLAND EMPIRE
Best Special FX/ Visual FX – any or all of the 3 X-Men films
Best Director – any nod at all for Alejandro Jodorowsky, Pier Paolo Pasolini, or Dusan Makavejev
and many editors & cinematographers have been neglected. i could go on & on… but since i feel the Oscars are a joke anyway..
anyone please feel free to correct me if any of the above were nominated & i’m in error.
Oscar nominations that should have been in a perfect world:
Best Actor – John Heard, Cutter’s Way; Jeremy Irons, Dead Ringers; Tony Leung, 2046; Hugh Jackman, The Fountain; Paul Giamatti, American Splendor; Christopher Walken, The Dead Zone; Harvey Keitel, The Bad Lieutenant; John Hurt, 1984
Best Actress – Maggie Gyllenhall, Secretary; Maggie Cheung, Clean; Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar; Theresa Russell, Bad Timing; Laura Dern, INLAND EMPIRE; Isabelle Adjani, Possession
Best Foreign Film – 2046, Possession, Querelle
Best Picture – The Fountain, Last Tango in Paris, INLAND EMPIRE
Best Special FX/ Visual FX – any or all of the 3 X-Men films
Best Director – any nod at all for Alejandro Jodorowsky, Pier Paolo Pasolini, or Dusan Makavejev
and many editors & cinematographers have been neglected. i could go on & on… but since i feel the Oscars are a joke anyway..
anyone please feel free to correct me if any of the above were nominated & i’m in error.
In a perfect world some of those could’ve happened.
Someone brought up to me that million dollar baby was higly overrated. What do you guys think? I’m biased a bit because i am a big eastwood fan!
I didn’t like it that much Luis. I’m a HUGE Unforgiven fan (it’s actually one of the first movies I ever bought used at a Blockbuster store in Mexico, and watched over and over again).. but personally, I think Million Dollar baby, Letters from Iwo jima and mystic river are hallmark channel movies… they’re not bad at all, but I do think that overrated is the right word, which is strange considering that I usually like melodramatic films.
REALLY, well sorry to hear that. i unfortunately have to disagree. The patience that eastwood has is extremely evident in every shot and each cue hit. Something that most filmmaker can’ do and don’t know how to do. Don’t get me wrong i see some of his films as a bit overrated, but making movies is not easy and this man has deft skill and extreme amoutns of talent. Talent that he has learned too hone for many years, but still man i mean shit the guy’s clint fucking eastwood.“Go ahead make my day:)”
Check out Eastwood’s White Hunter Black Heart, his finest directed film by far. Worst Oscar beat in recent memory has to be Julia Roberts versus Ellen Burstyn.
Wow, I’m surprised no one mentioned Roberto Benigni’s win for “Life is Beautiful” over Ian McKellan’s incredible job in “Gods and Monsters.” That one immediately came to mind for me.
That was the same year that saving private ryan lost the best picture oscar to shakespeare in love. And let me ask you this you don’t think that tom hanks was more worthy than ian mckellen though i do side with either of them winning over roberto benigni, by the way life is beautiful has not aged well.
Don’t you mean when The Thin Red Line lost to Shakespeare in Love? That was a robbery.
Nice try Dkaz, but you’re telling me that the thin red line (a fine film) is better than saving private ryan. notch that one up as a difference of opinion my friend:)
I will tell you that most assuredly Luis! Private Ryan is a technically astounding film, but in terms of artistry it’s a crock! We’ll have to agree to disagree, I guess!
Overlooked:
Jeff Goldblum’s moving performance as Seth Brundle in Cronenberg’s “The Fly,” and Paul Newman’s Frank Galvin in “The Verdict”
I mentioned Goldblum once and got ripped , but yes that is one very good performance!:)
I have to disagree with Luis A.‘s earlier comment that the year Marisa Tomei won was a weak year for supporting actress – I think it was one of the strongest ever for great actresses (lead or supporting): Judy Davis, Miranda Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave and Joan Plowright – powerhouses all of them. Can’t help but think Tomei benefited from being the only American actress on the list…
Good call on Newman, Armand. That was a powerhouse year for “Best Actor” nominees: Kingsley, Hoffman, Newman, Lemmon and O’Toole. I suppose there’s some consolation in that.
There are way too many to call.
When George Stevens won his first directing Oscar in 1952 for A PLACE IN THE SUN, he was to have said, “We’ll know how good this picture is in 25 years.”
For me that sums up ‘The Oscars.’ Rarely are they given for genuine cinematic merit. Most of the time they are popularity contests, and even then those become suspect. Most films have to age to see the full impact of their merit.
Hitchcock never got a directing Oscar. Nor did Kubrick, Hawks, Bergman, Fellini, Malle, Truffaut, Kurosawa, or Godard. But John G. Avildsen has his, as does Kevin Costner, Norman Taurog, and two each for Frank Lloyd and Leo McCarey.
RAGING BULL, CHINATOWN, THE RIGHT STUFF, DR. STRANGELOVE, HIGH NOON, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, PULP FICTION, THE WIZARD OF OZ, APOCALYPSE NOW, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and CITIZEN KANE … CITIZEN KANE!!!! … didn’t win the ‘Best Picture’ awards in their respective years.
And …
SINGIN IN THE RAIN, LAURA, RED RIVER, MANHATTAN, THE SEARCHERS, THE SEVENTH SEAL, THE 400 BLOWS, LA DOLCE VITA, DO THE RIGHT THING, and 2001: A SPACE ODDYSEY … all films which are now considered SEMINAL in the history of cinema … were not even nominated.
Keep that in mind whenever discussing ‘Oscars.’
All I have to Say is – “Shakespeare in Love”
A few random musings….
Bill Moseley was astounding in The Devil’s Rejects and deserved to be, at the very least, nominated for his work. Laura Dern’s turn in Citizen Ruth is another that was criminally shut-out, as was Julianne Moore for Safe. Edward G. Robinson and Warren Oates were never even nominated. Gary Oldman hasn’t been nominated yet. Cary Grant and Barbara Stanwyck never won the damn thing. Lee Marvin won for Cat Ballou rather than for, say, The Big Red One or Point Blank. Half of Katharine Hepburn’s haul came from performances that aren’t exactly among her best work. And the less said about the Directors division the better. But those snubbed by Oscar tend to get their revenge by being the films that are actually relevant to society.
my whole problem was when julia roberts and gwyneth paltrow both won academy awards for best actress. I was so glad when the french actress who portrayed edith Piaf won that award last year.
The Academy Awards. Sigh …
Gwyneth winning left me scratching my head
Julia left me disgusted.
Hillary swank over annette benning in American Beauty
Tom Hanks in Phildelphia over Liam Neeson in Schindler’s List.
Shakespeare in Love ? What the F*** ?
The Shawshank Redemption not getting any Oscars.
Annie Hall over Star Wars
Anytime Scorsese was robbed. Gangs, Aviator, Goodfellas, Raging Bull
I never have gotten the separation of BP and BD at the Oscars.
“How Green Was My Valley?” over “Citizen Kane” for 1941’s Best Picture. “Oliver” over “2001: A Space Odyssey” for 1968’s Best Picture. Neither Welles nor Kubrick ever won a Best Director Oscar.
Rollie Schott
What beat Raging Bull in ’80? Cuz my vote goes there.