Oscar, Schmoskar

[karlhenning]

The annual Academy Awards ceremony has its narcissistic elements (the industry itself, too), and of course there is the We've got to hand out all these prizes this year, no matter what the field is like aspect to the spectacle.

This thread invites nominees for dud Oscars, those occasions when the Academy shot blanks in its effort to pat itself on the back.  What are the least-deserved Oscars to be awarded over the years? . . .

Thank you for taking part . . . .

[snyprrr]

The annual Academy Awards ceremony has its narcissistic elements (the industry itself, too), and of course there is the We've got to hand out all these prizes this year, no matter what the field is like aspect to the spectacle.

This thread invites nominees for dud Oscars, those occasions when the Academy shot blanks in its effort to pat itself on the back.  What are the least-deserved Oscars to be awarded over the years? . . .

Thank you for taking part . . . .

Don't... even... get... me... started ...

Hollywood is the front organization of the military/industrial complex

Oh,... that reminds me,... The Hurt Locker


Look for The Debt to take eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevery award.

[Todd]

I do believe the biggest boo-boo was awarding The Greatest Show on Earth Best Picture.  When's the last time you heard or read someone comment on the greatness of that film?  Titanic fits rather neatly into this category, too, which is ironic given the bloated dimensions of both the boat and the movie.  Dances with Wolves possibly.  It would take more thinking to name the actors, actresses, and directors who may not have been the best choice . . .

Hollywood is the front organization of the military/industrial complex

Never a dull moment here.

[springrite]

The Last Emperer is an average movie at best.

Gandhi is an above average movie.

Braveheart is an average movie.

Well, basically The Academy loves average movies that seem grand and make hollywood look noble.

[Todd]

Braveheart is an average movie.

You are a generous person.

[bwv 1080]

thought this was a great film

http://www.youtube.com/v/5kj78anyCkM

[TheGSMoeller]

This will be a fun thread to partake in, I'm very anti-Oscar, not in the sense that handing out awards in wrong, but more in how the Academy chooses its winners. It seems to be more of a popularity contest or what films are hot at the moment. Also, there is a very good chance that many of the Academy voters haven't seen all the films that are competing.

Thread duty, an Oscar dud? Or more imortantly, what film it beat out...

Ordinary People (dud) won the 1980 Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director (Redford), beating out Raging Bull and Martin Scorsese.

So the Academy decided it was finally time to honor Scorsese in 2006 for The Departed (dud) which is not even close to Scorsese's best, or even the best of that year, sort of a courtesy win.

[Brahmsian]

Shakespeare in Love

That's all I have to say.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Citizen Kane, regularly voted the greatest film ever made, lost in 1941 to How Green Was My Valley.

The Oscars are about as reliable a measure of artistic value as the Nobel Literature Prizes (i.e. not much).

[Brahmsian]

Ordinary People (dud) won the 1980 Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director (Redford), beating out Raging Bull and Martin Scorsese.

So the Academy decided it was finally time to honor Scorsese in 2006 for The Departed (dud) which is not even close to Scorsese's best, or even the best of that year, sort of a courtesy win.

The Oscars are world famous for offering 'pay back' or 'courtesy' awards.  Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Martin Scorsese, just to name a few.

[Brahmsian]

Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey were all up for best picture, and none of them won.  Stanley Kubrick never won for best director.

[Brahmsian]

So the Academy decided it was finally time to honor Scorsese in 2006 for The Departed (dud) which is not even close to Scorsese's best, or even the best of that year, sort of a courtesy win.

Right, there must be at the very least almost a dozen films Scorsese has made that are better than The Departed.

[springrite]

Oscar reminds me of The Grammy Classical Awards for decades. (It is a bit better now). Remember how Solti, Ma, Perlman and Atlanta Symphony was winning all those awards?

[Todd]

Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey were all up for best picture, and none of them won.  Stanley Kubrick never won for best director.

2001 was not nominated.  A Clockwork Orange lost out to The French Connection and Barry Lyndon lost out to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, so in these two cases one may be able to make a case for the winner.  That Kubrick never won shows something is lacking in the voting.  Same is true for Peter O'Toole.

[Todd]

1962: Lawrence of Arabia
beat To Kill a Mockingbird

1994: Forrest Gump
beat The Shawshank Redemption

1962 and 1994 voters got it right.  I've never understood why The Shawshank Redemption is so highly regarded by so many people.  It's boring as hell and not at all compelling.

1995: Braveheart
beat Apollo 13

Like choosing between losing one's left foot and one's right foot.

[Brahmsian]

A Clockwork Orange lost out to The French Connection and Barry Lyndon lost out to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, so in these two cases one may be able to make a case for the winner. 

You are right.  These films came out during stiff competition, which happens in a lot of cases.

Wow, I just automatically assumed 2001 had at the very least been nominated for best picture.   

How Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for best picture is still a major mystery to me.   

[TheGSMoeller]

How Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for best picture is still a major mystery to me.   

Marketing and timing. Voters remember films that are more recent.

Film festivals are more accurate, the voters or comittee actually watch every film in competition in a theater, not copies for your DVD player to watch at home. 

[Brahmsian]

Another one of my favorite films, Magnolia (circa 2000), didn't even get nominated for best picture.

[Brahmsian]

How Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for best picture is still a major mystery to me.   

Actually, any of the other three should have also beat out Shakespeare in Love.  The other three nominees were:  Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful and The Thin Red Line.

[Todd]

Forrest Gump in hindsight is nowhere near as good as Shawshank Redemption

No, it's much better.  In any event, the winner that year should have been Pulp Fiction.  (I initially thought it was nominated and lost the next year.)