The thing about "Rocky", is that it wasn't mundane and stereotypical when it came out. It kind of seems that way now, due to the fact it's been imitated and parodied so many times. Also, the sequels it spawned took away from how powerful the original was. I agree that there were more deserving pictures for the Best Pic oscar, but I have a hard time thinking of a winner in recent times that I thought was actually the best movie of the year ("American Beauty" maybe).

If you watch Rocky right after you watch Somebody Up There Likes Me, you can see where Stallone got about 70% of his story/scenes. I enjoy both films though.

Over the last 20-25 years I think the worst movies to win Best Picture are Ordinary People, Gandhi, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, A Beautiful Mind, and LOTR number 45. Movies like Shakespeare in Love and Forrest Gump probably didn't deserve to win because they were up against such superior competition (Saving Private Ryan and Pulp Fiction). That doesn't make them bad movies though, they just happened to win during a year with tough competition.

quote:

paxsoprano posted:

Over the last 20-25 years I think the worst movies to win Best Picture are Ordinary People, Gandhi, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, A Beautiful Mind, and LOTR number 45. Movies like Shakespeare in Love and Forrest Gump probably didn't deserve to win because they were up against such superior competition (Saving Private Ryan and Pulp Fiction). That doesn't make them bad movies though, they just happened to win during a year with tough competition.

Fortunately or unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity or inclination to see either Ordinary People (1980) or Out of Africa(1985) though I've heard good things about the first movie and some of the controversy about the second movie. But it's really not my place to discuss either since I wouldn't know what I'm talking about. When it comes to the other movies, I find it difficult to consider them "worst films" to win Best Picture as all of them had serious Oscar credentials for their subject matter, their photography, their solid acting. I won't say that they all deserved the win, such is the subjective nature of the business. Yet I would dispute that any of these pictures, except for Forest Gump (1994) where at least three other movies had solid Oscar credentials namely Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, or The Shawshank Redemption the last movie is one that has been repeatedly rebroadcast on network television over the years) are really deficient in such a way as to be terrible, worst. I enjoyed of these movies that I saw.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying those movies are bad (well in the case of LOTR I am), but I just didn't think they were best picture quality, and by rewarding them I felt the Academy was in turn rewarding mediocrity. I would rank all those movies (Quiz Show, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank) over Forest Gump as well, but I think that just speaks for how good a year 1994 was. The other recent year that I think stounds out as particularly strong is 1998 where Shakepeare in Love, Life is Beautiful, and Saving Private Ryan all could have won, and I'm sure there were movies that didn't get nominated that deserved to win as well.

quote:

Originally posted by asc85:
Wong828 said,

"When Driving Miss Daisy won, it won over Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing."

Not sure if wong828 has remembered it right. "Do the Right Thing" wasn't even nominated for Best Picture that year. The film's that were nominated along with "Driving Miss Daisy" were

"Born on the 4th of July"
"Dead Poets Society"
"Field of Dreams"
"My Left Foot"

Personally, I would have given it to "Field of Dreams". Although Spike Lee still thinks his "Do the Right Thing" was a masterpiece, I still think that it wasn't.

I recently watched DO THE RIGHT THING again for the third or fourth time and it is a film that blew me away when I first caught it on original but I must report is starting to show its age and is not holding up very well.

On the other hand, another film from that year that does hold up very well is MY LEFT FOOT. (I wonder what Jim Sheridan, that film's director, must have thought directing 50 Cent in that recent film after working with Daniel Day Lewis numerous times?).

And I haven't seen DRIVING MISS DAISY since its original release, but suspect it won't hold up very well. I remember that Dan Ackroyd was terrific in that film.

I'm not sure of the worst, but two of my least favorite to win in the last 10 years are Titanic and Chicago. Titanic is visually and technically stunning, but the upstairs/downstairs love story is a tired one, and the tin ear dialogue has been much discussed. Chicago was utterly bland. There was no panache to it at all. Sure the songbook in great, but my wife already owned the soundtrack. The movie added nothing to it.

PS...I still cry my eyes out at the end of Ordinary People.

The self-indulgent, obvious, heavy-handed, overracted, mistake-laden, preachy, unintentionally funny, unintentionally racist, simplistic piece of crap Crash is the WORST film to ever win. What makes matters worse is that it beat one of the finest to ever lose, Brokeback Mountain, a true filmmaking masterpiece - man, I wish the bigots could put politics aside. But any of the other nominees for either the Oscar or Golden Globe (for which Crash was rightfully not nominated - History of Violence, Match Point and Constant Gardner were instead) were better. Much, much better. Like many, I'm done with the Oscars.

Gotta agree that CRASH was a real stinker. I was flabbergasted that film was even nominated, let alone win a Best Picture. Oy!

Gotta disagree about ORDINARY PEOPLE, though. I kinda like that one and think it holds up fairly well and Robert Redford has a pretty good track record behind the camera.

Gotta agree about ROCKY. I didn't see that one on original release and didn't catch up with until 1988 when I caught it on video (it was the first video I watched when I finally broke down and bought a VCR). I've seen it again and it is real maudlin. Even though the latest sequel (what it is ROCKY VI?) has received a good score on metacritics.com, I have no interest in seeing it.

I also think TITANIC and CHICAGO were overrated. I didn't care for either of those films.

quote:

Originally posted by jayiijay:
The self-indulgent, obvious, heavy-handed, overracted, mistake-laden, preachy, unintentionally funny, unintentionally racist, simplistic piece of crap Crash is the WORST film to ever win. What makes matters worse is that it beat one of the finest to ever lose, Brokeback Mountain, a true filmmaking masterpiece - man, I wish the bigots could put politics aside. But any of the other nominees for either the Oscar or Golden Globe (for which Crash was rightfully not nominated - History of Violence, Match Point and Constant Gardner were instead) were better. Much, much better. Like many, I'm done with the Oscars.

Matt Dillon deserved to receive his Oscar for his Supporting Role, since he is the sole actor that approached the movie (Crash) with density. There are 27 films (English & Foreign) released in 2005 that clearly surpass the quality of the superficial, preachy Crash. The majority of these films were not nominated in any category.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: j26,

Do you mean that Matt Dillon should have won an Oscar over the actual winner, George Clooney? I liked Dillon more, but I liked Paul Giamatti in Cinderella Man more than either.

I apologize for not clarifying my intentions. My intention is to say he should have received his Oscar because he deserved it for his portrayal. There are five: Mr. Clooney, Mr. Giamatti, Mr. Hurt, Mr. Dillon, and Mr. Gyllenhal. I observed each actor in their role, excluding Mr. Giamatti, and none displayed any dimensions to their character aside from Matt Dillon.

Cinderella Man is a movie that was not available for my viewing. I watched Sideways, and in that, Paul Giamatti deserved to receive a Best Actor trophy.

i just found this thread as well but boy do I have some picks here. I apologize beforehand if this is too long-winded:

1951: A Streetcar Named Desire should have won over An American in Paris. Not only that but Marlon Brando heavily deserved a Best Actor win that was questionably given to Humphrey Bogart.
1953: Roman Holiday is such a better film than From Here to Eternity.
1961: Breakfast at Tiffany's should have at least been nominated for Best Picture.
1965: Doctor Zhivago over The Sound of Music.
1971: One of my biggest ones in that A Clockwork Orange is one of the most obvious snubs in Best Picture history.
1973: In another baffling choice, The Exorcist was by far the best film that year, but no win for best picture.
1976: Taxi Driver over Rocky is an obvious one.
1980: Raging Bull over Ordninary People.
1981: Reds is an excellent film, far better than Chariots of Fire.
1985: Prizzi's Honor easily over Out of Africa
1989: Do the Right Thing should have won Best Picture! Oh wait, it wasn't even nominated?!
1990: Goodfellas over that horrible Costner film, heck I'd even take Misery over that one--oh wait, that wasn't nominated either.
1991: You know, I am torn on this one because I simply adore Bugsy so I will leave it here. And boy, how was Boyz N the Hood not nominated for Best Picture?
1992: No best picture nomination for Reservoir Dogs?
1994: OK, Forrest Gump isn't a bad movie at all, it is pretty good, but does it compare to Pulp Fiction? Nope, not even on the same side of the spectrum. Quiz Show is even much better than Gump.
1995: Although I should catch flack for this, I will gladly, gladly take Babe over Braveheart any day.
1996: Fargo is one the best American films we are blessed to have, why it lost is beyond me.
1997: I could go on for days about this one...As Good As It Gets in a landslide.
1998: Now this is too much. Everyone will agree with me that Shakespeare in Love should have never won, let alone had been nominated. But the film that should have won is Life is Beautiful, without a doubt. A simply beautiful film that encompasses everything that means "Best Picture."
1999: The Insider. On the subject of everyone's distaste towards Russell Crowe, he is a fine actor and this role is my favorite of his. I think he should have also won Best Actor here.
2001: Amélie. Oh wait, not nominated? Well it should have been...wait, it didn't even win Foreign Language Film? But it had 5 whole nominations!!
2002: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
2003: Mystic River.
2004: The excellent Sideways with Paul Giamatti's brilliant performance. He is one of our finest actors working today.

In comparison, the Oscars couldn't have gotten it more right when these movies won: On the Waterfront, The Apartment West Side Story, In the Heat of the Night, Patton, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II although I do love Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest--a film that is head and shoulders above almost everything in all of cinema, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Terms of Endearment, Platoon, Schindler's List, Crash.

That's a big list. I'm glad you're sharing, but you can't believe everybody thinks you're right, right? You didn't even mention (in just your years) Elmer Gantry, The Pawnbroker, The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, In Cold Blood, Cabaret, Jaws(!!), Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Glory, L.A. Confidential, Saving Private Ryan, and a few others, but that's a start and, hopefully, we'll get some reactions.

FKA, I agree with you about '94, '96 and '04.

I also agree that the Academy missed the boat big time by not giving Amelie an award. That film is both beautifully crafted, and pure joy.

In '97, I'd go with L.A. Confidential for best pic.

'99 was one of the few years where I thought the best film actually won. I loved American Beauty, and I think it's a real classic.

'00 was one year I didn't see on your list. Though I like Gladiator, I thought Traffic and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were both far superior films. I would've liked to see either win.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: EricG75,

No mark, I don't believe everybody thinks I am right and the reason why I didn't include those films in my list is because I dont think they belong, except for maybe Bonnie and Clyde and Close Encounters.... I think that As Good As It Gets and Life is Beautiful are far better and superior than L.A. Confidential and Saving Private Ryan. And I will continue to say it, a shark movie delivered from a clunky director that isn't even scary does not compare to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in ANY shape, way or form. No way, now how.

And eric you are absolutely right about 2000. I like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Traffic much more. Must have had a brain fart. Hey, some of Traffic was even shot not 30 minutes from my house on the other side of the border. Pretty cool huh?

Jaws IS MY BEST film ever made! I guess that means, that even though I saw Cuckoo's Nest 16 times at the theatre in 1975, and I love it to death, that it can't ever even compare to a film which has far more to say about the human condition than the more-narrowly-minded Cuckoo's Nest. That latter Oscar winner (one of the best ever) can't even remotely get into why families love each other, why some "heroes" have to overcome their own fears, why Robert Shaw's description of the U.S.S. Indianapolis is perhaps greater than anything Nicholson (my fave actor of his generation) has ever done, why Roy Scheider gives a greater performance than Robert Shaw, and why Richard Dreyfuss is the most-likable character in Jaws. You call Jaws clunky with no evidence. Well, I call it the best-directed flick with the best-acted leads of all time.

Ha!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

Bold statements indeed mark, yes very much so. Ok first of all the acting part, nobody acted better that year than Nicholson and Fletcher, nobody. And talk about an ensemble cast, everyone one from Danny DeVito to Christopher Lloyd to the understated Will Sampson poured their hearts and souls into that film. Not only did Nicholson outperform everyone that year but he single-handedly out-acted the entire cast of Jaws. Yeah I like it but come on, when I mean clunky, I mean clunky. My proof is the constant errors in not only continuity but the continous equipment errors, its like not only did Spielberg barely get the gig but then he made this jambled-up mess? Umm...ok. I mean there is proof all over man. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the story of a man not only battling a crooked, slanted institution but a battle within himself that involves everything that we as humans battle on a daily basis. That doesn't even include the fact that the film is filled with amazing scenes of laughter and comedic genuis. Everything is there. I don't want to fight, Jaws is grand and all, and an achievement in itself, but against one of the top five films of all time, nope.

Ha Ha!

I also forgot that in 2001 Shrek was unreasonably left out of the Best Picture race and in 2003 Finding Nemo should have at least been nominated for Best Picture. That is arguably Disney's best film to date.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
2001: Amélie. Oh wait, not nominated? Well it should have been...wait, it didn't even win Foreign Language Film? But it had 5 whole nominations!!

I've not seen Amélie or most of the other nominations for that matter, but my favorite movie of all time (Memento) did not even get a nomination for Best Picture that year. In fact it didn't even win it's "Best Original Screenplay" nod. (Losing to Gosford Park = Ouch.) I have to say, Memento is much better than A Beautiful Mind.