Oscar nominations are out

Just trends man, not an ironclad fact. And besides, the Oscars have gotten it right plenty of times too. (Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, the Godfathers 1 and 2, RotK, etc.) And there are always anomalies, like when Driving Miss Daisy took home the big award without even being nominated for Best Director (only happened one other time, with Cimmaron in the 1930s).

Like you mentioned, it looks like it's starting to shift. Hollywood has gotten much more politicized, and that's shown in the Academy in the past 10 years or so. There's also been a movement where big epics have generally NOT be Oscar-caliber. The last truly epic movie to take it home was RotK. In the 1950s, studios were throwing money at movies they thought would win Oscars. In the last 30 years, studios have shown they are much more interested in making a hugely profitable turd than an acclaimed flop.

oh man, I think we strongly disagree about ROTK. i LOVED that movie but I didn't see any way that movie could win best Picture over Mystic River. It seemed IMPOSSIBLE. But because it was the 3rd and final and Jackson needed a nod, I think that's why ROTK won. That's my opinion.

Arguments about the relative merits of RotK aside, the academy always gives lifetime awards and make-up awards to people. There's a surprising trend of an actor winning the award the year AFTER many people thought they should have won. It happened twice in a row back in 2000 and 2001. Many people thought Russel Crowe should have won for the Insider, but he got it the next year for Gladiator, where he beat out Denzel Washington in The Hurricane. People thought Denzel should have won that time, and he did the next year when he took home the award for Training Day.

And yeah, RotK definitely owed at least part of its success to being the final part of the trilogy.

Denzel winning for Training Day was one of the more ridiculous Oscar choices. I thought Mystic River losing to ROTK was brutal.

I don't think ROTK was the best of the 3 tho. It would have been cool to see Fellowship win.

Black Barney wrote: I don't think ROTK was the best of the 3 tho. It would have been cool to see Fellowship win.

I think at the time I would have disagreed, but now I think Fellowship is my favorite too.

It always confuses me when this is announced. Why would you want to be nominated to be an otherwise unremarkable fish?

Must have been a shit year for movies.

THE TWO TOWERS is the best of the three by far, for my dollar. RotK won because a $250M movie got made and actually turned massive profits. Hollywood clapped itself on the back for that achievement.

Denzel winning for TRAINING DAY is well deserved--you are crazy to pick that one as an outlier when you have turds like HoooAW Pacino and ErpDerp Hanks winning awards.

Music (Original Song)

"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets".

"Real in Rio" from "Rio"

jeb, i agree that Pacino is overrated (I wonder if in this movie he'll make some sort of speech! What RANGE!) but Hanks has his moments. Gump wss a good performance, Philadelphia was REALLY good. Did he win for Cast Away cuz that would be lame. i can't believe he got nominated for Apollo 13.

but no way Denzel should be nominated for Training Day. COME ON. Glory was a spectacular performance, this was not

Pacino overated??? Dude has some stellar performances:

Godfather
Godfather II
Serpico
Panic in Needle Park
Heat
Donnie Brasco

and he was outstanding in

You Don't Know Jack

I personally liked him as the Devil in

Devil's Advocate

It's all so subjective who fucking cares. I watch the Oscars for fun but I treat it like a reality tv show. Just a mindless popularity contest with all kinds of behind the scene stories for why what was chosen.

The only year I've agreed with best film was the year they gave it to No Country for Old Men. But then Juno got best script?? They loved that film and yet ignored Superbad (both of which are not that great) even though they are practically the same film. But because Diablo Cody is an ex-stripper and her lame coming of age tale is through the eyes of a pregnant girl the academy loved it.. well that and some great acting.

They've ignored everything Gilliam has ever made and there are several years he deserved a shot at it. But he's one of my favorites so I'm biased.

You have to be a part of some stupid union to even be considered so right off the bat you know they don't actually care what film is best at this or that.

They always ignore comedies and cartoons. Not to mention horror movies. They're trying to get better at it by giving the odd nomination to cartoons you know will lose.

They treat foreign films like second class citizens. Once in awhile a foreign film gets some breaks, like this year (I figure the artist has it wrapped up). But really? Do you actually believe that American Drama's are the best films year in year out 39 years out of 40? There is no fucking way.

Aguirre ignored? WTF. But worse than that. Daniel Day Lewis didn't win for the Bill the Butcher. Instead Adrian Brody got it for the Pianist. You can find weird shit like this every year.

That's a lousy track record.

RotK definitely won just because it was part three. They're all just one film anyway so it's pointless to argue about which one is best. No point in watching one without seeing the others. It's just one long film. I think that was the right choice (waiting I mean, it didn't deserve best film).

So, I'll watch them for fun (mostly because of my wife) but I have no faith in what they choose and I have no faith that what they ignore is any worse. I would bet that my favorite film each year isn't even nominated.

... and Paccino is definitely over-rated. He's ok but there are several people as good and yet he's constantly brought up as one of the best ever. Alec Guiness gets less respect. Al loves punching tables and screaming, the end of Scent of a Woman is classic over acting Paccino. Serpico is so surprisingly subtle compared to his post Godfather 2 work. It seems after G2 he was playing a caricature of himself.

Guys, stop straw manning me. Pacino is a great actor as cited by Space Ghost. I note, however, that SCENT OF A WOMAN does not appear on his list. The film he won Best Actor for.

Tom Hanks winning for FORREST GUMP is a travesty. PHILADELPHIA, maaaaybe. FORREST GUMP--no fucking way. He was better than Travolta in PULP FICTION? Better than Robbins or Freeman in SHAWSHANK? Newman ("I guess he does have a pretty big dick,") in NOBODY'S FOOL?

And you don't Washington should even have been nominated for TRAINING DAY? I suppose you were pulling for Russell Crowe? Cripes.

Black Barney wrote: i can't believe he got nominated for Apollo 13.

He didn't. Although that was a good movie.

I never go into the Oscars actually expecting to agree with what they do. Like JonJacob said, it's more about the spectacle and just seeing what happens. It happens way too often that people get emotionally attached to some movie in the running, and when it doesn't win everything they want it to it's a travesty.

And I thought Tom Hanks was pretty great in Forrest Gump, although who knows if "best actor" is the way to go there.

You could write a book on good writers, actors, and directors who deserved an Oscar at some point, then won it for the weirdest stuff. The Departed is Scorceses's Oscar? John Wayne in True Grit? And the awards shows don't have the benefit of hindsight that we have now. I'm sure that in 1968 is seemed that Oliver would be the more timeless and important movie than 2001. We all know how that turned out.