The Oscars Got It Wrong Every Year, Tell Me a Year and I'll Fix It (1 Viewer)

[bryhamm]

 

[Ilov80s]

I’m sure there’s a year or 2 posted that I haven’t got to yet but throw another year out and when I get a chance, I’ll make my case.

 

[bryhamm]

might be a pain, but a recap in the OP of the years you've done with the actual winner and your preferred winner would be awesome.

 

[bryhamm]

Don't recall you doing 1979 yet. you say the got it wrong, but struggling to think of one better than The Deer Hunter. Maybe Midnight Express, but I still prefer TDH.

 

[Keith R]

1994 should have been The Shawshank Redemption.

Tell me you don't always watch it when it's on tv vs Forrest Gump which I never watch over and over and over.

They blew this badly.

Pulp Fiction set a course for cinema for the next three decade.

I agree with this comment about Pulp Fiction.
But it's also so maddingly inconsistent in quality.
The Butch/Marsellus story is phenomenal.
The Mr. Wolf story is really good, too.
The mix up of time periods was very well done.
But the Vince/Mia story is weak.
And the last 10 minutes in the coffee shop is painfully bad...
That's why I called it overrated. It's very good but not the all time great it's made out to be.
I think that Jackie Brown and IB are both better.

I will never understand the bolded. I think that is a weak link of the movie along with Butch's girlfriend. Also if not for Butch/Mia, we don't get the fantastic Eric Stoltz scene.

Mr. Wolf is so compelling in large part because we know so little about him. He's a fixer. He appears when needed, does what he does, and leaves, yet he does create a presence and drops a little humor in the process. Plus, although he doesn't state it directly, he subscribes to one of my philosophies - don't use a thousand words when nine will do. An anomaly in that regard among this cast

 

[Ilov80s]

might be a pain, but a recap in the OP of the years you've done with the actual winner and your preferred winner would be awesome.

I’ll do that maybe tomorrow when I have sometime, it’s a good idea to organize the mess. And I will also do 1979 because I’ve got one. Just need the time to sit down and flesh out my thoughts.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

1994 should have been The Shawshank Redemption.

Tell me you don't always watch it when it's on tv vs Forrest Gump which I never watch over and over and over.

They blew this badly.

Pulp Fiction set a course for cinema for the next three decade.

I agree with this comment about Pulp Fiction.
But it's also so maddingly inconsistent in quality.
The Butch/Marsellus story is phenomenal.
The Mr. Wolf story is really good, too.
The mix up of time periods was very well done.
But the Vince/Mia story is weak.
And the last 10 minutes in the coffee shop is painfully bad...
That's why I called it overrated. It's very good but not the all time great it's made out to be.
I think that Jackie Brown and IB are both better.

I will never understand the bolded. I think that is a weak link of the movie along with Butch's girlfriend. Also if not for Butch/Mia, we don't get the fantastic Eric Stoltz scene.

Mr. Wolf is so compelling in large part because we know so little about him. He's a fixer. He appears when needed, does what he does, and leaves, yet he does create a presence and drops a little humor in the process. Plus, although he doesn't state it directly, he subscribes to one of my philosophies - don't use a thousand words when nine will do. An anomaly in that regard among this cast

He’s like the A-Team, except only one person and much less talking

(“If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them…….”)

 

[Marauder]

We havent done the Godfather yet

1973

This is a pretty easy one for me though probably not a big crowd pleasing answer here. You don't have to look too hard. The Godfather didn't win the most awards at the 1973 show. There is a movie that won best director, actress, supporting actor, music, sound, art direction, cinematography and editing. It is the only movie to ever win 8 awards and not get Best Picture. So it was kind of an anomaly that Bob Fosse's Cabaret didn't win Best Picture in the actual show. This is the musical I recommend to people who don't think they like musicals. It's got a kind of messy 70s independent drama going on about young somewhat wayward people trying to find their way through life and relationships- lots of sex, drugs and bad decisions. All but 1 one of the musical numbers are set inside the club so this isn't a movie where people at the grocery store just start singing and dancing. Then the final and key element is that this all takes place in early 1930s Germany as the Weimar Republic is crumbling and the NAZIs are taking control of the country. This movie will entertain you but it will also terrify you. It is a dark dark movie and one that has unfortunately aged all too well.

Sorry Godfather, I love you but the 1973 Best Picture was Cabaret.

Cabaret was on TMC last night. Because of this thread I watched it again. I hadn't seen it in decades. I still can't say it's better than The Godfather but I can appreciate your argument. Great movie.

 

[Ilov80s]

We havent done the Godfather yet

1973

This is a pretty easy one for me though probably not a big crowd pleasing answer here. You don't have to look too hard. The Godfather didn't win the most awards at the 1973 show. There is a movie that won best director, actress, supporting actor, music, sound, art direction, cinematography and editing. It is the only movie to ever win 8 awards and not get Best Picture. So it was kind of an anomaly that Bob Fosse's Cabaret didn't win Best Picture in the actual show. This is the musical I recommend to people who don't think they like musicals. It's got a kind of messy 70s independent drama going on about young somewhat wayward people trying to find their way through life and relationships- lots of sex, drugs and bad decisions. All but 1 one of the musical numbers are set inside the club so this isn't a movie where people at the grocery store just start singing and dancing. Then the final and key element is that this all takes place in early 1930s Germany as the Weimar Republic is crumbling and the NAZIs are taking control of the country. This movie will entertain you but it will also terrify you. It is a dark dark movie and one that has unfortunately aged all too well.

Sorry Godfather, I love you but the 1973 Best Picture was Cabaret.

Cabaret was on TMC last night. Because of this thread I watched it again. I hadn't seen it in decades. I still can't say it's better than The Godfather but I can appreciate your argument. Great movie.

Glad you thought it was great. I feel like I get some awkward looks/responses when I sing its praises.

 

[bryhamm]

We havent done the Godfather yet

1973

This is a pretty easy one for me though probably not a big crowd pleasing answer here. You don't have to look too hard. The Godfather didn't win the most awards at the 1973 show. There is a movie that won best director, actress, supporting actor, music, sound, art direction, cinematography and editing. It is the only movie to ever win 8 awards and not get Best Picture. So it was kind of an anomaly that Bob Fosse's Cabaret didn't win Best Picture in the actual show. This is the musical I recommend to people who don't think they like musicals. It's got a kind of messy 70s independent drama going on about young somewhat wayward people trying to find their way through life and relationships- lots of sex, drugs and bad decisions. All but 1 one of the musical numbers are set inside the club so this isn't a movie where people at the grocery store just start singing and dancing. Then the final and key element is that this all takes place in early 1930s Germany as the Weimar Republic is crumbling and the NAZIs are taking control of the country. This movie will entertain you but it will also terrify you. It is a dark dark movie and one that has unfortunately aged all too well.

Sorry Godfather, I love you but the 1973 Best Picture was Cabaret.

Cabaret was on TMC last night. Because of this thread I watched it again. I hadn't seen it in decades. I still can't say it's better than The Godfather but I can appreciate your argument. Great movie.

Never seen it. Might have to check it out. I have a handful of old classics that I've never seen that I slowly check off my list. I just saw Dr Strangelove for the first time a couple years ago.

 

[Joey Wright]

So I set up an in-house Footballguys Oscar Pool on Google Forms for team building, however I can clone the survey and make a pool for the Shark Pool.

Would you guys be interested in that? If so, I'll get on that today and start a new thread. I checked and didn't see a pool already. I am sure we can make the prize a FBG Tshirt for the winner or something!

 

[DocHolliday]

1994 should have been The Shawshank Redemption.

Tell me you don't always watch it when it's on tv vs Forrest Gump which I never watch over and over and over.

They blew this badly.

Pulp Fiction set a course for cinema for the next three decade.

I agree with this comment about Pulp Fiction.
But it's also so maddingly inconsistent in quality.
The Butch/Marsellus story is phenomenal.
The Mr. Wolf story is really good, too.
The mix up of time periods was very well done.
But the Vince/Mia story is weak.
And the last 10 minutes in the coffee shop is painfully bad...
That's why I called it overrated. It's very good but not the all time great it's made out to be.
I think that Jackie Brown and IB are both better.

Hmmm not sure I’ve ever heard someone r say Vince-Mia was weak. That’s one of my favorite parts. I also agree that it’s not my favorite QT. But it was the right movie at the time.

The use of the intro leading into **** Dale and the non-temporal aspect of the movie made it so forward-thinking in 1994 that those things became commonplace (attention to soundtrack, pacing of the movie, and the sequencing of events being messed with by a very present director). It's hard to overestimate how groundbreaking that film was in numerous ways.

That it didn't win the Oscar is such a mistake.

Is it a better story than Shawshank? Probably not. It is, after all, pulpy Pulp Fiction. Dime store novels vs. Stephen King's five dollar paperbacks. But it's a better movie experience.

Quiz Show. I do not understand the love and I think it's because they play up the Van Doren-as-establishment part that it becomes compelling. " The Uncle Tom of the Jews," the investigator's girlfriend calls him. It plays up the identity politics of it, which is why I think it gets so much credit in retrospect. I saw it in theatres and it was compelling, but it was a bit of a snooze fest.

Only a portion of that is what I found compelling about Quiz Show. It’s based on - and decently true to - something that really happened. Jack Barry was chased out of television because of this scandal - that really happened. It took decades for him to make a comeback…..and Joker’s Wild IS one of the greatest game shows of all time!!

“Reality TV”, starting with when The Real World was scripted and phony, is the moment when the quiz show cheating scandals basically became acceptable again. People no longer care if the whole thing is rigged — if a quiz show was rigged today, Gen Z idiots like my kids wouldn’t care at all. As long as it was on TikTok, it’s all just entertainment.

I do think your point about the anti-establishment aspect as relates to Van Doren vs Stempel, is part of the allure of how the story was told in the movie. It’s good moviemaking.

As mentioned previously, Quiz Show was my least favorite of the 4 good nominees that year. But compared to Gump? Quiz Show is a really good movie. Gump is mediocre at best. I will never watch that movie again.

This was a thoughtful reply to my kvetching. I did like Quiz Show, I just think it's gotten way too much love after the affair was over, you know? It's one of those things that got a re-evaluation that I don't think needed one. It was pretty well-received at the time and that's how I remember the movie. Good movie.

Anyway, that's an interesting post you made.

Thx rock. Btw, I can definitely appreciate anyone who thinks it is overrated and shouldn’t have been nominated at all. Totally fair point of view — but I still think it is more deserving than Gump.

Other movies that could have been deserving of nomination:

The Lion King
Dumb and Dumber
Ace Ventura (love this movie!!!)
Ed Wood
Clerks

Etc

I would watch any of those movies over Gump, no questions asked.

PS - I’m going off what IMDB says were movies from that year. Apologies if I’m getting any release dates wrong

I get the possibility of Shawshank over Gump but none of the others stand a chance. Gump was the right choice. It has it all. Humor, a love story, underdog struggles, and touches on a bunch of society issues including handicaps, drug addiction, suicide, racism, incest/child abuse, poverty, religion, war, bullying, etc.

 

[northern exposure]

It’s actually A Serious Man

Tough movie to watch. Up and The Hurt Locker and Avatar are movies you can really get with. A Serious Man is the Book of Job come to the screen. That's an awfully heady, depressing concept about God and man. What do you like about A Serious Man?

Been awhile since I’ve seen it but i remember really liking it, also a big fan of Michael Stuhlbarg, he’s also great as Arnold Rothstein in Boardwalk Empire

Schrödinger's cat also a big theme

Stuhlbarg is great in Dopesick too.

 

[Joey Wright]

It’s actually A Serious Man

Tough movie to watch. Up and The Hurt Locker and Avatar are movies you can really get with. A Serious Man is the Book of Job come to the screen. That's an awfully heady, depressing concept about God and man. What do you like about A Serious Man?

Been awhile since I’ve seen it but i remember really liking it, also a big fan of Michael Stuhlbarg, he’s also great as Arnold Rothstein in Boardwalk Empire

Schrödinger's cat also a big theme

Stuhlbarg is great in Dopesick too.

I cherish greatly his monologue at the end of Call Me By Your Name. My wife and I were walking out the theater and we had I want to say a nine month old at home. I remember saying to her, "That is how we need to be as parents." A very powerful scene about unconditional love among other things.

 

[Sand]

Alright, I know you love Amadeus. Tell me why it did not deserve to win.

1985

Funny Amadeus and A Passage to India both got 11 nominations. The Academy sure does love a period drama. But what about comedy? Not so much. 1984 gave us the movie that changed comedy forever with the mockumentry send up of England's loudest bamd, This is Spinal Tap. The genius of it is that if you didn't know what you were watching, you very well may have never realized it was about a fake band. They said Ozzy saw it and had no idea Spinal Tap wasn't real. He didn't get the joke and hated the movie. This is the perfect send up of rock's first 20 years. Great songs, tons of awesome guest appearances and some of the most memorable bits of any comedy. The Oscars handling of comedies has been a joke but an award for Spinal Tap would have helped fix that record. It's pretty much a flawless comedy and has held up perfectly. That's almost impossible to do.

and the 1985 Oscar should have gone to This is Spinal Tap

I can see a lot of these, but man, this is way off. Amadeus all the way.

By this standard Grumpy Old Men should have won in '94.

 

[Ilov80s]

Alright, I know you love Amadeus. Tell me why it did not deserve to win.

1985

Funny Amadeus and A Passage to India both got 11 nominations. The Academy sure does love a period drama. But what about comedy? Not so much. 1984 gave us the movie that changed comedy forever with the mockumentry send up of England's loudest bamd, This is Spinal Tap. The genius of it is that if you didn't know what you were watching, you very well may have never realized it was about a fake band. They said Ozzy saw it and had no idea Spinal Tap wasn't real. He didn't get the joke and hated the movie. This is the perfect send up of rock's first 20 years. Great songs, tons of awesome guest appearances and some of the most memorable bits of any comedy. The Oscars handling of comedies has been a joke but an award for Spinal Tap would have helped fix that record. It's pretty much a flawless comedy and has held up perfectly. That's almost impossible to do.

and the 1985 Oscar should have gone to This is Spinal Tap

I can see a lot of these, but man, this is way off. Amadeus all the way.

By this standard Grumpy Old Men should have won in '94.

Grumpy Old Men was ok. This is Spinal Tap redefined comedy and was so far ahead of its time in the mockumentary style that’s everywhere today. Most comedies aren’t very smart, Spinal Tap is extremely intelligent. It’s not just a satire of rock but documentaries as well. In doing so it also created a movie that’s closer to what any real life on the road of a rock band movie ever has. It’s the best movie about rock ever made. And maybe the best comedy ever made. I love Amadeus though, no shade on that.

 

[Eephus]

And maybe the best comedy ever made

Oscar doesn't get what's funny. There have only been a handful of comedies that have won best picture (It Happened One Night, You Can't Take It With You, The Apartment, Annie Hall and The Artist) in nearly a century. There are others with comedic elements like Terms of Endearment and Rain Man but I don't know if they're really comedies. There have been more musicals that have won best picture than comedies.

 

[AAABatteries]

1994 should have been The Shawshank Redemption.

Tell me you don't always watch it when it's on tv vs Forrest Gump which I never watch over and over and over.

They blew this badly.

Pulp Fiction set a course for cinema for the next three decade.

I agree with this comment about Pulp Fiction.
But it's also so maddingly inconsistent in quality.
The Butch/Marsellus story is phenomenal.
The Mr. Wolf story is really good, too.
The mix up of time periods was very well done.
But the Vince/Mia story is weak.
And the last 10 minutes in the coffee shop is painfully bad...
That's why I called it overrated. It's very good but not the all time great it's made out to be.
I think that Jackie Brown and IB are both better.

Hmmm not sure I’ve ever heard someone r say Vince-Mia was weak. That’s one of my favorite parts. I also agree that it’s not my favorite QT. But it was the right movie at the time.

The use of the intro leading into **** Dale and the non-temporal aspect of the movie made it so forward-thinking in 1994 that those things became commonplace (attention to soundtrack, pacing of the movie, and the sequencing of events being messed with by a very present director). It's hard to overestimate how groundbreaking that film was in numerous ways.

That it didn't win the Oscar is such a mistake.

Is it a better story than Shawshank? Probably not. It is, after all, pulpy Pulp Fiction. Dime store novels vs. Stephen King's five dollar paperbacks. But it's a better movie experience.

Quiz Show. I do not understand the love and I think it's because they play up the Van Doren-as-establishment part that it becomes compelling. " The Uncle Tom of the Jews," the investigator's girlfriend calls him. It plays up the identity politics of it, which is why I think it gets so much credit in retrospect. I saw it in theatres and it was compelling, but it was a bit of a snooze fest.

Only a portion of that is what I found compelling about Quiz Show. It’s based on - and decently true to - something that really happened. Jack Barry was chased out of television because of this scandal - that really happened. It took decades for him to make a comeback…..and Joker’s Wild IS one of the greatest game shows of all time!!

“Reality TV”, starting with when The Real World was scripted and phony, is the moment when the quiz show cheating scandals basically became acceptable again. People no longer care if the whole thing is rigged — if a quiz show was rigged today, Gen Z idiots like my kids wouldn’t care at all. As long as it was on TikTok, it’s all just entertainment.

I do think your point about the anti-establishment aspect as relates to Van Doren vs Stempel, is part of the allure of how the story was told in the movie. It’s good moviemaking.

As mentioned previously, Quiz Show was my least favorite of the 4 good nominees that year. But compared to Gump? Quiz Show is a really good movie. Gump is mediocre at best. I will never watch that movie again.

This was a thoughtful reply to my kvetching. I did like Quiz Show, I just think it's gotten way too much love after the affair was over, you know? It's one of those things that got a re-evaluation that I don't think needed one. It was pretty well-received at the time and that's how I remember the movie. Good movie.

Anyway, that's an interesting post you made.

Thx rock. Btw, I can definitely appreciate anyone who thinks it is overrated and shouldn’t have been nominated at all. Totally fair point of view — but I still think it is more deserving than Gump.

Other movies that could have been deserving of nomination:

The Lion King
Dumb and Dumber
Ace Ventura (love this movie!!!)
Ed Wood
Clerks

Etc

I would watch any of those movies over Gump, no questions asked.

PS - I’m going off what IMDB says were movies from that year. Apologies if I’m getting any release dates wrong

I get the possibility of Shawshank over Gump but none of the others stand a chance. Gump was the right choice. It has it all. Humor, a love story, underdog struggles, and touches on a bunch of society issues including handicaps, drug addiction, suicide, racism, incest/child abuse, poverty, religion, war, bullying, etc.

Shawshank for me is the winner but I’ve never understood the Gump hate.

 

[Sand]

Alright, I know you love Amadeus. Tell me why it did not deserve to win.

1985

Funny Amadeus and A Passage to India both got 11 nominations. The Academy sure does love a period drama. But what about comedy? Not so much. 1984 gave us the movie that changed comedy forever with the mockumentry send up of England's loudest bamd, This is Spinal Tap. The genius of it is that if you didn't know what you were watching, you very well may have never realized it was about a fake band. They said Ozzy saw it and had no idea Spinal Tap wasn't real. He didn't get the joke and hated the movie. This is the perfect send up of rock's first 20 years. Great songs, tons of awesome guest appearances and some of the most memorable bits of any comedy. The Oscars handling of comedies has been a joke but an award for Spinal Tap would have helped fix that record. It's pretty much a flawless comedy and has held up perfectly. That's almost impossible to do.

and the 1985 Oscar should have gone to This is Spinal Tap

I can see a lot of these, but man, this is way off. Amadeus all the way.

By this standard Grumpy Old Men should have won in '94.

Grumpy Old Men was ok. This is Spinal Tap redefined comedy and was so far ahead of its time in the mockumentary style that’s everywhere today. Most comedies aren’t very smart, Spinal Tap is extremely intelligent. It’s not just a satire of rock but documentaries as well. In doing so it also created a movie that’s closer to what any real life on the road of a rock band movie ever has. It’s the best movie about rock ever made. And maybe the best comedy ever made. I love Amadeus though, no shade on that.

And to throw another one out there, so hear me out here while we're talking comedies and movies with comedic elements - maybe Princess Bride should have won in 1988? IMO, way better movie than the Last Emperor (meh). At the least Fatal Attraction was robbed in '88.

 

[Ilov80s]

Alright, I know you love Amadeus. Tell me why it did not deserve to win.

1985

Funny Amadeus and A Passage to India both got 11 nominations. The Academy sure does love a period drama. But what about comedy? Not so much. 1984 gave us the movie that changed comedy forever with the mockumentry send up of England's loudest bamd, This is Spinal Tap. The genius of it is that if you didn't know what you were watching, you very well may have never realized it was about a fake band. They said Ozzy saw it and had no idea Spinal Tap wasn't real. He didn't get the joke and hated the movie. This is the perfect send up of rock's first 20 years. Great songs, tons of awesome guest appearances and some of the most memorable bits of any comedy. The Oscars handling of comedies has been a joke but an award for Spinal Tap would have helped fix that record. It's pretty much a flawless comedy and has held up perfectly. That's almost impossible to do.

and the 1985 Oscar should have gone to This is Spinal Tap

I can see a lot of these, but man, this is way off. Amadeus all the way.

By this standard Grumpy Old Men should have won in '94.

Grumpy Old Men was ok. This is Spinal Tap redefined comedy and was so far ahead of its time in the mockumentary style that’s everywhere today. Most comedies aren’t very smart, Spinal Tap is extremely intelligent. It’s not just a satire of rock but documentaries as well. In doing so it also created a movie that’s closer to what any real life on the road of a rock band movie ever has. It’s the best movie about rock ever made. And maybe the best comedy ever made. I love Amadeus though, no shade on that.

And to throw another one out there, so hear me out here while we're talking comedies and movies with comedic elements - maybe Princess Bride should have won in 1988? IMO, way better movie than the Last Emperor (meh). At the least Fatal Attraction was robbed in '88.

Ok so sounds like 1988 is on my list to look at. Princess Bride is a strong thought.

 

[Ilov80s]

And maybe the best comedy ever made

Oscar doesn't get what's funny. There have only been a handful of comedies that have won best picture (It Happened One Night, You Can't Take It With You, The Apartment, Annie Hall and The Artist) in nearly a century. There are others with comedic elements like Terms of Endearment and Rain Man but I don't know if they're really comedies. There have been more musicals that have won best picture than comedies.

100% agree and I am trying to fix that a little bit or at least be more open minded

 

[Sand]

Alright, I know you love Amadeus. Tell me why it did not deserve to win.

1985

Funny Amadeus and A Passage to India both got 11 nominations. The Academy sure does love a period drama. But what about comedy? Not so much. 1984 gave us the movie that changed comedy forever with the mockumentry send up of England's loudest bamd, This is Spinal Tap. The genius of it is that if you didn't know what you were watching, you very well may have never realized it was about a fake band. They said Ozzy saw it and had no idea Spinal Tap wasn't real. He didn't get the joke and hated the movie. This is the perfect send up of rock's first 20 years. Great songs, tons of awesome guest appearances and some of the most memorable bits of any comedy. The Oscars handling of comedies has been a joke but an award for Spinal Tap would have helped fix that record. It's pretty much a flawless comedy and has held up perfectly. That's almost impossible to do.

and the 1985 Oscar should have gone to This is Spinal Tap

I can see a lot of these, but man, this is way off. Amadeus all the way.

By this standard Grumpy Old Men should have won in '94.

Grumpy Old Men was ok. This is Spinal Tap redefined comedy and was so far ahead of its time in the mockumentary style that’s everywhere today. Most comedies aren’t very smart, Spinal Tap is extremely intelligent. It’s not just a satire of rock but documentaries as well. In doing so it also created a movie that’s closer to what any real life on the road of a rock band movie ever has. It’s the best movie about rock ever made. And maybe the best comedy ever made. I love Amadeus though, no shade on that.

And to throw another one out there, so hear me out here while we're talking comedies and movies with comedic elements - maybe Princess Bride should have won in 1988? IMO, way better movie than the Last Emperor (meh). At the least Fatal Attraction was robbed in '88.

Ok so sounds like 1988 is on my list to look at. Princess Bride is a strong thought.

While you're at it add 2001. Stacked year - A Beautiful Mind won, but Moulin Rouge, LoTR 1, and even Shrek is in there. I'm really split because all four of those are fantastic films. Probably LoTR, but damn that's hard.

 

[Don Quixote]

So I set up an in-house Footballguys Oscar Pool on Google Forms for team building, however I can clone the survey and make a pool for the Shark Pool.

Would you guys be interested in that? If so, I'll get on that today and start a new thread. I checked and didn't see a pool already. I am sure we can make the prize a FBG Tshirt for the winner or something!

I might be down for entering that. There is this basic Academy Awards discussion thread here that have been carrying over year to year, but never done a pool.

Thread '***Official Academy Awards Discussion Thread*** - Anora is the Big Winner'

Apr 25, 2021

I did not see a thread and thought I’d get one going. Who are your picks, and who are you wearing?

• Don Quixote
• Replies: 2,203
• Forum: Footballguys Free For All

 

[Mr. Mojo]

I’ll answer some more inquiries this evening

Im still waiting for 2010 (the year that Hurt Locker won)

Actual Winner: The Hurt Locker

Interesting fact: The Hurt Locker is the lowest grossing Best Picture winner of all time (excluding the COVID year for Nomadland). Avatar was the goliath it defeated- it would have been the highest grossing winner ever. I like both movies. I was very late to the Avatar game but I saw it in 3D when it was re- released before the sequel. It legitmately was good IMO and would represent an interesting choice for the Academy. But there is a better and more interesting choice to be made: Up. No animated movie has won but they are movies too. Beautifully crafted with all the things we love about any other film: great imagination, music, visuals and performances. Comedy, drama, action, sadness. The ideas and themes converyed in Pixar's Up are ones we rarely see put to screen. Aging isn't an idea that usually gets on the big screen and espcially not to appeal to such a mass audience. Carl and the balloon have fully entered the culture. Up has made people of all ages laugh and cry and experience so many real human thoughts and feelings, all in a 96 minutes. It converys more in that time than most 160 minute epic dramas. It's the best movie of the year and honoring a category of movie that rarely gets the level of respect it deserves. Why can't beloved movies made for all ages also be the best?

In the 2010 the envelope should have read Up

It’s actually A Serious Man but Up was really good and definitely better than Hurt Locker

A Serious Man was one of my least favorite films this century.
Maybe I expected too much since it was the Coen Brothers.
But watching a bunch of jerks take advantage of a complete schmuck was miserable and I must have missed whatever humor was supposed to be there.
Then it abruptly ended... (and none too soon)

 

[Ilov80s]

I updated the first post to have the years and winners. Formatting kind of sucks but I tried table and said it was too many characters so this is what we got.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

1994 should have been The Shawshank Redemption.

Tell me you don't always watch it when it's on tv vs Forrest Gump which I never watch over and over and over.

They blew this badly.

Pulp Fiction set a course for cinema for the next three decade.

I agree with this comment about Pulp Fiction.
But it's also so maddingly inconsistent in quality.
The Butch/Marsellus story is phenomenal.
The Mr. Wolf story is really good, too.
The mix up of time periods was very well done.
But the Vince/Mia story is weak.
And the last 10 minutes in the coffee shop is painfully bad...
That's why I called it overrated. It's very good but not the all time great it's made out to be.
I think that Jackie Brown and IB are both better.

Hmmm not sure I’ve ever heard someone r say Vince-Mia was weak. That’s one of my favorite parts. I also agree that it’s not my favorite QT. But it was the right movie at the time.

The use of the intro leading into **** Dale and the non-temporal aspect of the movie made it so forward-thinking in 1994 that those things became commonplace (attention to soundtrack, pacing of the movie, and the sequencing of events being messed with by a very present director). It's hard to overestimate how groundbreaking that film was in numerous ways.

That it didn't win the Oscar is such a mistake.

Is it a better story than Shawshank? Probably not. It is, after all, pulpy Pulp Fiction. Dime store novels vs. Stephen King's five dollar paperbacks. But it's a better movie experience.

Quiz Show. I do not understand the love and I think it's because they play up the Van Doren-as-establishment part that it becomes compelling. " The Uncle Tom of the Jews," the investigator's girlfriend calls him. It plays up the identity politics of it, which is why I think it gets so much credit in retrospect. I saw it in theatres and it was compelling, but it was a bit of a snooze fest.

Only a portion of that is what I found compelling about Quiz Show. It’s based on - and decently true to - something that really happened. Jack Barry was chased out of television because of this scandal - that really happened. It took decades for him to make a comeback…..and Joker’s Wild IS one of the greatest game shows of all time!!

“Reality TV”, starting with when The Real World was scripted and phony, is the moment when the quiz show cheating scandals basically became acceptable again. People no longer care if the whole thing is rigged — if a quiz show was rigged today, Gen Z idiots like my kids wouldn’t care at all. As long as it was on TikTok, it’s all just entertainment.

I do think your point about the anti-establishment aspect as relates to Van Doren vs Stempel, is part of the allure of how the story was told in the movie. It’s good moviemaking.

As mentioned previously, Quiz Show was my least favorite of the 4 good nominees that year. But compared to Gump? Quiz Show is a really good movie. Gump is mediocre at best. I will never watch that movie again.

This was a thoughtful reply to my kvetching. I did like Quiz Show, I just think it's gotten way too much love after the affair was over, you know? It's one of those things that got a re-evaluation that I don't think needed one. It was pretty well-received at the time and that's how I remember the movie. Good movie.

Anyway, that's an interesting post you made.

Thx rock. Btw, I can definitely appreciate anyone who thinks it is overrated and shouldn’t have been nominated at all. Totally fair point of view — but I still think it is more deserving than Gump.

Other movies that could have been deserving of nomination:

The Lion King
Dumb and Dumber
Ace Ventura (love this movie!!!)
Ed Wood
Clerks

Etc

I would watch any of those movies over Gump, no questions asked.

PS - I’m going off what IMDB says were movies from that year. Apologies if I’m getting any release dates wrong

I get the possibility of Shawshank over Gump but none of the others stand a chance. Gump was the right choice. It has it all. Humor, a love story, underdog struggles, and touches on a bunch of society issues including handicaps, drug addiction, suicide, racism, incest/child abuse, poverty, religion, war, bullying, etc.

Shawshank for me is the winner but I’ve never understood the Gump hate.

It’s a hack movie version of Candide. Nostalgia porn for boomers.

 

[Ilov80s]

Since you fixed the first Academy Awards, let’s go with the 2nd (ceremony held in 1930). (I have a couple of foreign films in mind myself, but unsure how they qualify.)

1930

Actual Winner: The Broadway Melody

The years for the early awards were a little wonky. This covers basically summer of 1928- summer 1929. The winner should not have been The Broadway Melody. It's got songs, lots of repetitive songs. This made it innovative for the time but there is almost nothing else there. It's just a gimmick. Gimmicks shouldn't win best picture. I consider The Passion of Joan of Arc to be hands down the best movie made during this time period but it's a foreign art movie. The Academy Awards were built by the major Hollywood studios to celebrate themselves. So for that, I think the proper winner as a kind farewell to the silent era is one of the last classic silent American films, Josef Von Sternberg's The Docks of New York. It featured gorgeous cinematography and an elaborate dock set built on the Paranmount lot. The story is simple in set-up but has some twists. A strong but dull blue collar worker is out drinking one night when he discovers a prostitute trying to kill herself. He intervenes and it sets off a chain of events that alter the rest of their lives.

The winner in 1930 should have been The Docks of New York

 

[Ilov80s]

Layup for you… fix the year 1942.

ETA: Meant 1942 awards. 1941 movies.

1942

Actual Winner: How Green Was My Valley

Pearl Harbor caused the 1942 Oscar ceremony to be delayed. What movie spoke more to that moment than Howard Hawk's Sgt. York? The Gary Cooper movie was nominated for 11 Oscars and was the highest grossing movie of the year. It's the true story of a backwoods sharpshooter turned religious pacifist turned American war hero. This intelligent but deeply patriotic look back on one of American's great heroes of World War 1 was the kind of rallying cry the country needed at the time. It's a good movie. But there is a serious contender for best movie ever made that also was nominated in 1942. The story of Charles Foster Kane is sadly timeless, easily repurposed era after era. As much as things change, they sure do stay the same.

And the 1942 Oscar should have gone to Citizen Kane

 

[Ilov80s]

Don't recall you doing 1979 yet. you say the got it wrong, but struggling to think of one better than The Deer Hunter. Maybe Midnight Express, but I still prefer TDH.

1979

Actual Winner: The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter is trying to tell the story of how Vietnam impacted both young Americans who deployed and those that stayed behind. It does this with a maximilist approach. However, Hal Ashby's Coming Home took a much more grounded look at the issue. No Russian roulette. Just a sensitive story about what war can do to people's lives physically and emotionally. Jane Fonda, Jon Voight and Bruce Dern are all excellent. I do feel like the 70s has to have at least 1 winner that reckons with Vietnam. Coming Home does it with much more sensitivity than The Deer Hunter.

And the 1979 envelope should have read Coming Home

 

[Don Quixote]

Since you fixed the first Academy Awards, let’s go with the 2nd (ceremony held in 1930). (I have a couple of foreign films in mind myself, but unsure how they qualify.)

1930

Actual Winner: The Broadway Melody

The years for the early awards were a little wonky. This covers basically summer of 1928- summer 1929. The winner should not have been The Broadway Melody. It's got songs, lots of repetitive songs. This made it innovative for the time but there is almost nothing else there. It's just a gimmick. Gimmicks shouldn't win best picture. I consider The Passion of Joan of Arc to be hands down the best movie made during this time period but it's a foreign art movie. The Academy Awards were built by the major Hollywood studios to celebrate themselves. So for that, I think the proper winner as a kind farewell to the silent era is one of the last classic silent American films, Josef Von Sternberg's The Docks of New York. It featured gorgeous cinematography and an incredible dock set built on the Paranmount lot. The story is simple in set-up but has some twists. A strong but dull blue collar worker is out drinking one night when he discovers a prostitute trying to kil herself. He intervenes and it sets off a chain of events that alter the rest of their lives.

The winner in 1930 should have been The Docks of New York

I have not seen that one. Will have to check it out.

In addition to The Passion, the other foreign one I was thinking of released then was Pandora’s Box. (Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman appears eligible too.)

 

[Eephus]

Since you fixed the first Academy Awards, let’s go with the 2nd (ceremony held in 1930). (I have a couple of foreign films in mind myself, but unsure how they qualify.)

1930

Actual Winner: The Broadway Melody

The years for the early awards were a little wonky. This covers basically summer of 1928- summer 1929. The winner should not have been The Broadway Melody. It's got songs, lots of repetitive songs. This made it innovative for the time but there is almost nothing else there. It's just a gimmick. Gimmicks shouldn't win best picture. I consider The Passion of Joan of Arc to be hands down the best movie made during this time period but it's a foreign art movie. The Academy Awards were built by the major Hollywood studios to celebrate themselves. So for that, I think the proper winner as a kind farewell to the silent era is one of the last classic silent American films, Josef Von Sternberg's The Docks of New York. It featured gorgeous cinematography and an incredible dock set built on the Paranmount lot. The story is simple in set-up but has some twists. A strong but dull blue collar worker is out drinking one night when he discovers a prostitute trying to kil herself. He intervenes and it sets off a chain of events that alter the rest of their lives.

The winner in 1930 should have been The Docks of New York

This is why it's better you did it the way you did instead of a chronological reveal.

1930 was the year Gene Hackman was born.

 

[Eephus]

And the 1942 Oscar should have gone to Citizen Kane

Well duh

 

[Dan Lambskin]

How did conclave get nominated this is a snooze fest

 

[Eephus]

And the 1979 envelope should have read Coming Home

A new show with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight would be peak reality TV

 

[Eephus]

How did conclave get nominated this is a snooze fest

Illuminati

 

[Eephus]

And the 1979 envelope should have read Coming Home

A new show with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight would be peak reality TV

Days of Heaven deserves a shout out as well

 

[Ilov80s]

How did conclave get nominated this is a snooze fest

Illuminati

Yeah the Pope is in grave condition in the hospital as we are days from the Oscars. It's pretty obvious this is all being orchstrated by the 'nati

 

[Ilov80s]

Since you fixed the first Academy Awards, let’s go with the 2nd (ceremony held in 1930). (I have a couple of foreign films in mind myself, but unsure how they qualify.)

1930

Actual Winner: The Broadway Melody

The years for the early awards were a little wonky. This covers basically summer of 1928- summer 1929. The winner should not have been The Broadway Melody. It's got songs, lots of repetitive songs. This made it innovative for the time but there is almost nothing else there. It's just a gimmick. Gimmicks shouldn't win best picture. I consider The Passion of Joan of Arc to be hands down the best movie made during this time period but it's a foreign art movie. The Academy Awards were built by the major Hollywood studios to celebrate themselves. So for that, I think the proper winner as a kind farewell to the silent era is one of the last classic silent American films, Josef Von Sternberg's The Docks of New York. It featured gorgeous cinematography and an incredible dock set built on the Paranmount lot. The story is simple in set-up but has some twists. A strong but dull blue collar worker is out drinking one night when he discovers a prostitute trying to kil herself. He intervenes and it sets off a chain of events that alter the rest of their lives.

The winner in 1930 should have been The Docks of New York

I have not seen that one. Will have to check it out.

In addition to The Passion, the other foreign one I was thinking of released then was Pandora’s Box. (Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman appears eligible too.)

Looks the 4k restoration is sreaming free on youtube

 

[Todem]

1994 should have been The Shawshank Redemption.

Tell me you don't always watch it when it's on tv vs Forrest Gump which I never watch over and over and over.

They blew this badly.

Pulp Fiction set a course for cinema for the next three decade.

I agree with this comment about Pulp Fiction.
But it's also so maddingly inconsistent in quality.
The Butch/Marsellus story is phenomenal.
The Mr. Wolf story is really good, too.
The mix up of time periods was very well done.
But the Vince/Mia story is weak.
And the last 10 minutes in the coffee shop is painfully bad...
That's why I called it overrated. It's very good but not the all time great it's made out to be.
I think that Jackie Brown and IB are both better.

Hmmm not sure I’ve ever heard someone r say Vince-Mia was weak. That’s one of my favorite parts. I also agree that it’s not my favorite QT. But it was the right movie at the time.

The use of the intro leading into **** Dale and the non-temporal aspect of the movie made it so forward-thinking in 1994 that those things became commonplace (attention to soundtrack, pacing of the movie, and the sequencing of events being messed with by a very present director). It's hard to overestimate how groundbreaking that film was in numerous ways.

That it didn't win the Oscar is such a mistake.

Is it a better story than Shawshank? Probably not. It is, after all, pulpy Pulp Fiction. Dime store novels vs. Stephen King's five dollar paperbacks. But it's a better movie experience.

Quiz Show. I do not understand the love and I think it's because they play up the Van Doren-as-establishment part that it becomes compelling. " The Uncle Tom of the Jews," the investigator's girlfriend calls him. It plays up the identity politics of it, which is why I think it gets so much credit in retrospect. I saw it in theatres and it was compelling, but it was a bit of a snooze fest.

Only a portion of that is what I found compelling about Quiz Show. It’s based on - and decently true to - something that really happened. Jack Barry was chased out of television because of this scandal - that really happened. It took decades for him to make a comeback…..and Joker’s Wild IS one of the greatest game shows of all time!!

“Reality TV”, starting with when The Real World was scripted and phony, is the moment when the quiz show cheating scandals basically became acceptable again. People no longer care if the whole thing is rigged — if a quiz show was rigged today, Gen Z idiots like my kids wouldn’t care at all. As long as it was on TikTok, it’s all just entertainment.

I do think your point about the anti-establishment aspect as relates to Van Doren vs Stempel, is part of the allure of how the story was told in the movie. It’s good moviemaking.

As mentioned previously, Quiz Show was my least favorite of the 4 good nominees that year. But compared to Gump? Quiz Show is a really good movie. Gump is mediocre at best. I will never watch that movie again.

This was a thoughtful reply to my kvetching. I did like Quiz Show, I just think it's gotten way too much love after the affair was over, you know? It's one of those things that got a re-evaluation that I don't think needed one. It was pretty well-received at the time and that's how I remember the movie. Good movie.

Anyway, that's an interesting post you made.

Thx rock. Btw, I can definitely appreciate anyone who thinks it is overrated and shouldn’t have been nominated at all. Totally fair point of view — but I still think it is more deserving than Gump.

Other movies that could have been deserving of nomination:

The Lion King
Dumb and Dumber
Ace Ventura (love this movie!!!)
Ed Wood
Clerks

Etc

I would watch any of those movies over Gump, no questions asked.

PS - I’m going off what IMDB says were movies from that year. Apologies if I’m getting any release dates wrong

I get the possibility of Shawshank over Gump but none of the others stand a chance. Gump was the right choice. It has it all. Humor, a love story, underdog struggles, and touches on a bunch of society issues including handicaps, drug addiction, suicide, racism, incest/child abuse, poverty, religion, war, bullying, etc.

Shawshank for me is the winner but I’ve never understood the Gump hate.

I certainly don’t hate Gump…..it just ain’t no Shawshank or Pulp Fiction for that matter.

 

[bryhamm]

Don't recall you doing 1979 yet. you say the got it wrong, but struggling to think of one better than The Deer Hunter. Maybe Midnight Express, but I still prefer TDH.

1979

Actual Winner: The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter is trying to tell the story of how Vietnam impacted both young Americans who deployed and those that stayed behind. It does this with a maximilist approach. However, Hal Ashby's Coming Home took a much more grounded look at the issue. No Russian roulette. Just a sensitive story about what war can do to people's lives physically and emotionally. Jane Fonda, Jon Voight and Bruce Dern are all excellent. I do feel like the 70s has to have at least 1 winner that reckons with Vietnam. Coming Home does it with much more sensitivity than The Deer Hunter.

And the 1979 envelope should have read Coming Home

Thanks. Don't know this movie, so no idea how accurate/inaccurate your assessment might be.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

How did conclave get nominated this is a snooze fest

Lengthy article and I'm sure it'll raise some hackles but this is from what could be considered an "insider" so...

Who Killed the Oscars?

Hollywood no longer knows how to celebrate, much less create, art. If you want to know what happened to it, look at what happened to me.

www.tabletmag.com

They’re not all bad movies. Some of them are good. A few may be great. But it’s like Fashion Week in Milan. A lot of money and time is spent on something that only serves an insulated microculture of sophisticates who all share the same values and dine out in the same five restaurants.

 

[AAABatteries]

1994 should have been The Shawshank Redemption.

Tell me you don't always watch it when it's on tv vs Forrest Gump which I never watch over and over and over.

They blew this badly.

Pulp Fiction set a course for cinema for the next three decade.

I agree with this comment about Pulp Fiction.
But it's also so maddingly inconsistent in quality.
The Butch/Marsellus story is phenomenal.
The Mr. Wolf story is really good, too.
The mix up of time periods was very well done.
But the Vince/Mia story is weak.
And the last 10 minutes in the coffee shop is painfully bad...
That's why I called it overrated. It's very good but not the all time great it's made out to be.
I think that Jackie Brown and IB are both better.

Hmmm not sure I’ve ever heard someone r say Vince-Mia was weak. That’s one of my favorite parts. I also agree that it’s not my favorite QT. But it was the right movie at the time.

The use of the intro leading into **** Dale and the non-temporal aspect of the movie made it so forward-thinking in 1994 that those things became commonplace (attention to soundtrack, pacing of the movie, and the sequencing of events being messed with by a very present director). It's hard to overestimate how groundbreaking that film was in numerous ways.

That it didn't win the Oscar is such a mistake.

Is it a better story than Shawshank? Probably not. It is, after all, pulpy Pulp Fiction. Dime store novels vs. Stephen King's five dollar paperbacks. But it's a better movie experience.

Quiz Show. I do not understand the love and I think it's because they play up the Van Doren-as-establishment part that it becomes compelling. " The Uncle Tom of the Jews," the investigator's girlfriend calls him. It plays up the identity politics of it, which is why I think it gets so much credit in retrospect. I saw it in theatres and it was compelling, but it was a bit of a snooze fest.

Only a portion of that is what I found compelling about Quiz Show. It’s based on - and decently true to - something that really happened. Jack Barry was chased out of television because of this scandal - that really happened. It took decades for him to make a comeback…..and Joker’s Wild IS one of the greatest game shows of all time!!

“Reality TV”, starting with when The Real World was scripted and phony, is the moment when the quiz show cheating scandals basically became acceptable again. People no longer care if the whole thing is rigged — if a quiz show was rigged today, Gen Z idiots like my kids wouldn’t care at all. As long as it was on TikTok, it’s all just entertainment.

I do think your point about the anti-establishment aspect as relates to Van Doren vs Stempel, is part of the allure of how the story was told in the movie. It’s good moviemaking.

As mentioned previously, Quiz Show was my least favorite of the 4 good nominees that year. But compared to Gump? Quiz Show is a really good movie. Gump is mediocre at best. I will never watch that movie again.

This was a thoughtful reply to my kvetching. I did like Quiz Show, I just think it's gotten way too much love after the affair was over, you know? It's one of those things that got a re-evaluation that I don't think needed one. It was pretty well-received at the time and that's how I remember the movie. Good movie.

Anyway, that's an interesting post you made.

Thx rock. Btw, I can definitely appreciate anyone who thinks it is overrated and shouldn’t have been nominated at all. Totally fair point of view — but I still think it is more deserving than Gump.

Other movies that could have been deserving of nomination:

The Lion King
Dumb and Dumber
Ace Ventura (love this movie!!!)
Ed Wood
Clerks

Etc

I would watch any of those movies over Gump, no questions asked.

PS - I’m going off what IMDB says were movies from that year. Apologies if I’m getting any release dates wrong

I get the possibility of Shawshank over Gump but none of the others stand a chance. Gump was the right choice. It has it all. Humor, a love story, underdog struggles, and touches on a bunch of society issues including handicaps, drug addiction, suicide, racism, incest/child abuse, poverty, religion, war, bullying, etc.

Shawshank for me is the winner but I’ve never understood the Gump hate.

I certainly don’t hate Gump…..it just ain’t no Shawshank or Pulp Fiction for that matter.

Agree - there’s a huge gap between Oscar worthy and boomer porn (whatever that is). It’s fine and Hanks is good. I’ll watch Shawshank over it 10/10. That movie never ages for me.

 

[Ilov80s]

How did conclave get nominated this is a snooze fest

Lengthy article and I'm sure it'll raise some hackles but this is from what could be considered an "insider" so...

Who Killed the Oscars?

Hollywood no longer knows how to celebrate, much less create, art. If you want to know what happened to it, look at what happened to me.

www.tabletmag.com

They’re not all bad movies. Some of them are good. A few may be great. But it’s like Fashion Week in Milan. A lot of money and time is spent on something that only serves an insulated microculture of sophisticates who all share the same values and dine out in the same five restaurants.

I liked Conclave. It doesn’t deserve to win but it was pretty good. That kind of movie used to make a lot of money but now are mostly TV shows.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

How did conclave get nominated this is a snooze fest

Lengthy article and I'm sure it'll raise some hackles but this is from what could be considered an "insider" so...

Who Killed the Oscars?

Hollywood no longer knows how to celebrate, much less create, art. If you want to know what happened to it, look at what happened to me.

www.tabletmag.com

They’re not all bad movies. Some of them are good. A few may be great. But it’s like Fashion Week in Milan. A lot of money and time is spent on something that only serves an insulated microculture of sophisticates who all share the same values and dine out in the same five restaurants.

I liked Conclave. It doesn’t deserve to win but it was pretty good. That kind of movie used to make a lot of money but now are mostly TV shows.

I will say it was well acted, directed, whatever, I just found it incredibly boring. Also not being religious I guess the twist doesn’t really move the needle for me

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Currently my vote would go to Anora or Substance but I still need to see a few of them

 

[Ilov80s]

How did conclave get nominated this is a snooze fest

Lengthy article and I'm sure it'll raise some hackles but this is from what could be considered an "insider" so...

Who Killed the Oscars?

Hollywood no longer knows how to celebrate, much less create, art. If you want to know what happened to it, look at what happened to me.

www.tabletmag.com

They’re not all bad movies. Some of them are good. A few may be great. But it’s like Fashion Week in Milan. A lot of money and time is spent on something that only serves an insulated microculture of sophisticates who all share the same values and dine out in the same five restaurants.

I liked Conclave. It doesn’t deserve to win but it was pretty good. That kind of movie used to make a lot of money but now are mostly TV shows.

I will say it was well acted, directed, whatever, I just found it incredibly boring. Also not being religious I guess the twist doesn’t really move the needle for me

I agree. I first liked the ending just because it was a surprising twist but after I thought more it was kind of dumb.

 

[Keith R]

I've only seen two noms this year; Conclave and The Substance. Thought highly of both, although I'd be hard-pressed to think of two more opposite movies. Male centric vs female centric, restrained vs graphic, divine vs earthly and that's just off the top of my head. Pressed for a pick, I do rate The Substance a little higher but both are unique enough to stick with me.

 

[Ilov80s]

Alright, I know you love Amadeus. Tell me why it did not deserve to win.

1985

Funny Amadeus and A Passage to India both got 11 nominations. The Academy sure does love a period drama. But what about comedy? Not so much. 1984 gave us the movie that changed comedy forever with the mockumentry send up of England's loudest bamd, This is Spinal Tap. The genius of it is that if you didn't know what you were watching, you very well may have never realized it was about a fake band. They said Ozzy saw it and had no idea Spinal Tap wasn't real. He didn't get the joke and hated the movie. This is the perfect send up of rock's first 20 years. Great songs, tons of awesome guest appearances and some of the most memorable bits of any comedy. The Oscars handling of comedies has been a joke but an award for Spinal Tap would have helped fix that record. It's pretty much a flawless comedy and has held up perfectly. That's almost impossible to do.

and the 1985 Oscar should have gone to This is Spinal Tap

I can see a lot of these, but man, this is way off. Amadeus all the way.

By this standard Grumpy Old Men should have won in '94.

Grumpy Old Men was ok. This is Spinal Tap redefined comedy and was so far ahead of its time in the mockumentary style that’s everywhere today. Most comedies aren’t very smart, Spinal Tap is extremely intelligent. It’s not just a satire of rock but documentaries as well. In doing so it also created a movie that’s closer to what any real life on the road of a rock band movie ever has. It’s the best movie about rock ever made. And maybe the best comedy ever made. I love Amadeus though, no shade on that.

And to throw another one out there, so hear me out here while we're talking comedies and movies with comedic elements - maybe Princess Bride should have won in 1988? IMO, way better movie than the Last Emperor (meh). At the least Fatal Attraction was robbed in '88.

1988

Actual Winner: The Last Emperor

I don't think The Last Emperor would even have been nominated if I was in charge. Give me The Princess Bride, Raising Arizona, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Moonstruck and my winner, Broadcast News. Such a great romantic comedy that also gives us a Network-like look behind the curtain of the news media and why it was destined to fail us. I would almost go as far as to say this could have swept the Big 5 with awards for Picture, Director, Screenplay and lead performances except who gets the best actor award, William Hurt or Albert Brooks?

The 1988 Most Oustanding Picture should have been Broadcast News

 

[Eephus]

Actual Winner: The Last Emperor

There's nothing Oscar loves better than a good epic. The Last Emperor is that and more for about 2/3rds distance but falls off down the stretch.

It was universally acclaimed when it came out but it's not one of the films that comes up when people talk about Bertolucci today.

 

[Ilov80s]

How about the 1971 Oscars which in retrospect looks like the last hurrah of old Hollywood?

1971

Actual Winner: Patton

Patton is an odd film. I remember really liking it when I saw it as a teenager but upon a revist as an adult, I was actually pretty surprised by what it was. It was kind of boring and I didn't think the production value really held up. Great lead performance and the opening scene is iconic but it was nowhere near as good as I remembered. Definitely from the Old Hollywood as Euphus said. It's the 70s and the Old Hollywood needs to step aside. I can see the argument for MASH except I hate that movie and no way I am picking it. So why not pick something that is neither old nor Hollywood at all? The winner of the best foreign film: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. This Italian satirical crime thriller is poking fun at fascism as it rather stylishly shows a Roman police detective who murders his girlfriend and then heads up the investigation. This sounds interesting but of course you expect that he would use his access and authority to hide the evidence and frame someone else when in fact he does the opposite all but hanging a sign around his neck saying "I did it". Oddly funny, very exciting and a lot to chew on. It was a huge hit with critics and was instantly praised as a classic. While I think the Oscars should be a Hollywood first celebration, great international movies deserve more than just relegation to a single category.

The 1971 winner should have been Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion