Hey! Where’s my Oscar?!?
January 24th, 2008 at 11:22am Will Pfeifer
The thing to remember during this season of Oscar fever is that the movie that wins Best Picture is almost never the actual best picture. Usually it’s a pretty-good, fairly safe mainstream movie that either captures the mood of the moment or rewards someone who’s been in the business a long time and has (according to the Academy) earned the honor for previous work. A few recent examples:
Clive Owen stars in “Children of Men,” the real best picture of 2006.
2006: Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” won both Best Picture and Best Director. It’s solid, don’t get me wrong, but it’s nowhere near Scorsese’s best work. Too bad “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas” were beaten by “Rocky,” “Ordinary People” and “Dances With Wolves,” respectively. For my money, last year’s best movie was “Children of Men,” a pretty amazing piece of cinema that combined powerful themes with jaw-dropping filmmaking.
2004: “Million Dollar Baby”? Really? I love Clint Eastwood, and I’m glad he’s still making interesting movies in his autumn years, but this cliched boxing drama wasn’t one of them. With cardboard characters, a by-the-numbers plot and a “controversial” ending few would find controversial, all it needed was warm, homey narration from Morgan Freeman to cement its mediocre status. Oh, wait. It had that, too. The real shame is that two truly excellent movies came out the same year: “The Incredibles” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” I know the academy won’t give the statue to an animated film (that’s why they created the “Best Animated Feature” category), but “The Incredibles,” animated or not, was exciting and complex in a way few live-action moves are. And “Eternal Sunshine,” with direction by Michel Gondry and a truly brilliant script by Charlie Kaufman, was — no kidding — the best love story of the last 25 years. (At least it won the screenplay Oscar.)
1999: This was the best year for films in recent memory, but “American Beauty” — 1999’s Oscar winner — was far from the year’s best film. Too pleased with itself for its supposedly “edgy” plot, “Beauty” wasted strong performances from Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening in its quest to be both hip and heartwarming. Meanwhile, truly edgy movies like “Fight Club,” “Being John Malkovich” and “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut” were ignored, along with just-plain-good movies like “The Limey,” “The Matrix,” “Office Space,” “American Movie,” “Toy Story 2,” “Iron Giant” and the list goes on … and on. All of them better than “American Beauty” by a long shot.
I could say more — Â and probably will in a later post — but I’d like to hear your take. Agree? Disagree? Have examples of your own? Share ‘em with us!
Entry Filed under: Oscars
16 Comments Add your own
1. Adam | January 24th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Will I couldn’t agree with you more on 2004. Eternal Sunshine is my absolute favorite film. Jim Carrey should have gotten a nomination and Kate Winslet should have won over Hilary Swank. Like you said in your post of Zodiac I wonder if Eternal Sunshine had been released later in the year rather than way back in March (same as Zodiac) it would have gotten my attention. Some other recent ones that would be 1997 Titanic won over L.A. Confidential and the following year, when Shakespeare in Love won over Saving Private Ryan. Also just look at Citizen Kane AFI’s #1 film and widely considered the best film ever made did not even win best picture in 1941. John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley. Also the Academy is the same group that never gave Hitchcock or Cary Grant competitive Oscars.
2. elDizzle | January 24th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I’d like to give a shout to Garden State for one fo the best of 2004 as well. I think it’s only award nod was a nomination at Sundance.
3. elDizzle | January 24th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Amores Perros should have won best foreign language film in 2000. It was beat out by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
4. Jen Sensible | January 24th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
The Incredibles is absolutely the worst Pixar film of all time. I can’t believe you think it was one of the year’s best. It doesn’t hold a candle to Monsters Inc.
5. Anna Voelker | January 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Will,
I’ll have to see Children of Men now. I am curious.
I loved “The Departed.” Of all the nominated best films for 2006, I saw all but “Letters from Iwo Jima.” I loved “Little Miss Sunshine.” Did not like “Babel” at all.
And I agree with you on “The Incredibles.” It’s excellent. The best animated films of recent years are “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters Inc.” and “Ratatouille.” And I wouldn’t be against it if the animated films could compete with live-action movies.
Anna
6. Anna Voelker | January 24th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
“L.A. Confidential” was way better than “Titanic” in 1997.
7. Bob Schaper - Assistant Metro Editor | January 24th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I agree that many Best Pictures aren’t really “best.” Silence of the Lambs is another example, in my humble.
Having said that, however, I don’t believe the Oscars are a complete sham, as some people say. I mean, mostly they reward pretentiousness and pre-existing ideas of what an Oscar film should look like.
But it’s not like completely BAD movies are routinely nominated for top awards. The worst movie I’ve seen in years was The Wicker Man, and it was properly ignored by Oscar. Same with The Village, Lady in the Water, etc.
Oscar has SOME standards.
8. Jen Sensible | January 24th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Movie Man, who you working with over there? This Anna likes … Ratatouille? Has she never heard of a little film called … Shrek? Finding Nemo? A Bug’s Life? And Toy Story 2 was a wreck. Come on.
9. Will Pfeifer | January 24th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I have to step up and defend “The Incredibles.” Forget the fact that it’s beautifully animated (which it is) or that it’s one of the best super-hero movies ever made (which it also is), In the midst of all the action and comedy, it manages to address some real issues, and not in the usual slick Hollywood way. How many other movies of 2004 — or any year, for that matter — dare to suggest that a tide of mediocrity threatens to bring down everything that’s different or special? And that’s just one of the questions “The Incredibles” raises. I’m a big fan of every Pixar film, mostly because they prize writing as much as they prize animation. That makes all the difference.
I second the praise for “L.A. Confidential.” A great movie (and based on a great book, incidentally) But with “Titanic” being the most popular movie EVER MADE, there’s no way the Oscars would ignore it.
Bob, you’re right — the Oscars rarely reward a truly bad film. Instead, they reward the same sort of film — one with that distinctive “Oscar” feel. That said, the original “Wicker Man” is a pretty great film. Rent it sometime.
Adam hits the nail on the head — greatness is rarely rewarded by the Oscars. All you need to know is Whoopi Goldberg has one more Oscar than Alfred Hitchcock. (His is honorary, so it doesn’t really count.)
10. Wolveman | January 24th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Jen Sensible, please listen to the Movie Man. He knows what he is talking about. He has a lot of experience that you don’t. While you are working, he is watching movies. While you are sleeping, he is watching movies. The Incredibles is a wonderful film. Great writing. Interesting special effects. The Movie Man knows his stuff.
11. Will Pfeifer | January 24th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
While I humbly agree that I know my stuff, I’m glad to hear Jen’s arguments — that’s what’ll keep this blog lively (and just plain alive) — people talking about the movies they love and hate.
“Finding Nemo” is my daughter’s favorite movie, so I’ve seen parts of it several dozen times in the past few months. And you know what? Even with all that repear viewing, it’s still a fine film!
12. Bob Schaper - Assistant Metro Editor | January 24th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Oh, and I forgot to add my complete agreement that “Children of Men” was a fabulous movie, highly deserving of at least a nomination.
13. Jen Sensible | January 25th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Movie Man,
You rock. Thanks for defending me from that attack. I heard today they are making a Toy Story 3 in 3D and re-releasing TS1 and TS2 in 3D as well. What do you think about this? And do you think they might make an Incredibles2? I hope not.
14. Will Pfeifer | January 25th, 2008 at 9:22 am
No problem, Jen. I’ve heard about the 3-D TOY STORY, and think it sounds interesting — I just hope if it does get made it plays in Rockford (in 3-D). And personally, I’ve love to see a sequel to INCREDIBLES.
15. Jen Sensible | January 28th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Movie Man, I see that “Ratatouille” got an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. Can you say the same about “The Incredibles”?
16. Will Pfeifer | January 28th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Jen, as a matter of fact, I can.
And here’s the link to prove it:
http://www.oscars.org/77academyawards/nomswins.html
Though I will admit that in this case, the best film definitely won. THE INCREDIBLES is a great movie with a great screenplay, but it’s not in the same league as ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, one of the best screenplays (and movies) of recent years.
Still, RATATOUILLE is very good, too. (Both written by Brad Bird, incidentally)
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