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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

In good company

As I continue to reel from my disappointment and frustration at Hollywood's dim-wittedness, here are some other recent Oscar upsets where a good film won over a great one (or even won at all...). These winners will fade into obscurity but it is the runner-ups which will be seared into audience's collective memories and film history.

1979:
Kramer vs. Kramer over Apocalypse Now

1980:
Ordinary People over Raging Bull

1994:
Forrest Gump over The Shawshank Redemption

1995
Braveheart (???)

1998:
Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan

2001:
A Beautiful Mind (???)

2002:
Chicago over The Hours/ The Pianist

It wasn’t buzz or hype that killed “Brokeback Mountain”; rather it was a combination of apathy, contempt, ignorance and timidity that led “The Academy” to confer its highest honor to a film that was remarkable for its mediocrity. However, the “Crash” phenomenon will have its fleeting place in the sun and then die out. True greatness endures and “Brokeback Mountain” will have a lasting legacy. As far as I’m concerned, The Academy Awards are now as negligible as The Grammys.
- From carpetbagger.nytimes.com

4 comments:

Noor said...

how could Chicago beat The Hours?!? You can't even compare the two movies! Aaagggh!

I can't believe Brokeback didn't win either.

Ron said...

I agree with you on most of those for the exception of two:

1) Kramer v Kramer definetly deserved it...it was a fantastic movie and it's too bad Kubrick had to have his movie come out the same year.

2) Brokeback Mountain is a movie that was sensationally over-hyped. It was indeed a good movie but I saw it and one of the main reasons why it was talked about was it's stark subject matter. However, Crash and The Constant Gardener are two movies that easily trump Brokeback as great movies of 2005. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

I can't agree with you on 1998 and 2001 matey! for me, the whimsical and beautiful Shakespeare in Love definitely surpassed a formulaic Spielberg vehicle... and A Beautiful Mind's only competition in 2001 was Moulin Rouge so it was the Best Film for me as well...

A. "Winner" Boey

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I'm throwing my revisionist revisionist history in as well....I have never understood the appeal of "The Pianist". I could never find anything exceptional about that film.

That said, "The Hours" was superb.

A small, nitpicking correction of above comment: "Apocalypse Now" was by Francis Ford Coppola, not Stanley Kubrick.