Oscar Best picture do overs. . .

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AndyDursin
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#16 Post by AndyDursin »

It's funny looking at so many weak Best Picture nominees over the last 10 years.

It makes SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE the kind of film I REALLY hope wins the Oscar, because it's one of the best movies that's been nominated over the last decade; an original movie that's just spectacularly made and fully deserving of its critical kudos.

It being nominated will make me watch this year's ceremony a lot more than recent years as it's one of the few BP nominees I've really, really had an affection for since the late '90s.

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#17 Post by JSWalsh »

1950 Winner:All About Eve // My Pick: Sunset Boulevard

1951 An American in Paris//A Streetcar Named Desire-A huge impact on acting and taboo subjects, long before the somewhat overrated Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff?

1952 The Greatest Show on Earth//No Award from those nominated

1953 From Here to Eternity //Agree

1954 On the Waterfront//Agree

1955 Marty//No Award

1956 Around the World in Eighty Days //The Ten Commandments-It's kind of like the Wizard of Oz for slightly older kids.

1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai //Agree, reluctantly

1958 Gigi//None

1959 Ben-Hur //Agreed, though in another year I might choose Anatomy of a Murder, which is a great contrast with the previous year's nominee Witness for the Prosecution.
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#18 Post by JSWalsh »

1960 Winner: The Apartment//My pick from the nominees:The Sundowners - A fine movie that's kind of an Australian How Green Was My Valley.

1961 West Side Story//The Guns of Navarone - While I can't argue with the choice of WSS, considering its impact on the culture, this is just such a well-executed adventure that is the epitome of the "gang that goes on a mission" movies; The Wild Bunch is kind of its evil opposite, and together these two show how much room you have in this genre.

1962 Lawrence of Arabia//Agree

1963 Tom Jones //Agree

1964 My Fair Lady//Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

1965 The Sound of Music//Doctor Zhivago - It's far from perfect, and Lean's tendency towards artifice is in full flower (pun intended). But while I loathe some of the toadying Lean did to the Communists, this is an attempt to do something different with an epic. And Julie Christie is just stunning to look at, and that ending on the street is a real kick in the head.

1966 A Man for All Seasons//Agreed

1967 In the Heat of the Night//Bonnie and Clyde, with The Graduate a close runner-up.

1968 Oliver!//Agree

1969 Midnight Cowboy//Agree, reluctantly
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#19 Post by AndyDursin »

Never been a huge ZHIVAGO fan.

Actually I'm not an avid SOUND OF MUSIC viewer either, but...I can see how the latter won the Best Picture award.

ZHIVAGO is gorgeous but it's so long and drawn out...

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#20 Post by JSWalsh »

1970 Patton// Five Easy Pieces

1971 The French Connection //A Clockwork Orange - I think I would prefer The Last Picture Show, but Orange made such an impact. And I don't even like it very much. But I do think it deserved the award for its audacity.

1972 The Godfather //Agree

1973 The Sting//American Graffiti - Kind of a no-brainer to me. The Sting now looks like an extended shaggy dog story, while Graffiti can be looked on as a cultural moment that caused a sea-changed towards nostalgia we've never gotten past. Unfortunately.

1974 The Godfather Part II //Agree

1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest//Agree, substituting Jaws or Nashville, depending on my mood. What a good year for nominations.


1976 Rocky //Taxi Driver - Another no-brainer for me.


1977 Annie Hall //Agree because I think it's one of the very few grown up romantic comedies, but this might very well be the only time I ever would award a tie, with Star Wars, again due to the incredible cultural impact.


1978 The Deer Hunter//Agree

1979 Kramer vs. Kramer//Apocalypse Now - People these days forget that Apocalypse was treated as a confused and failed attempt at greatness, while today I think we can put it in perspective as the best Vietnam movie, and one that treats that war as a journey into the heart of darkness, druggy and dark.
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#21 Post by JSWalsh »

AndyDursin wrote:Never been a huge ZHIVAGO fan.

Actually I'm not an avid SOUND OF MUSIC viewer either, but...I can see how the latter won the Best Picture award.

ZHIVAGO is gorgeous but it's so long and drawn out...
It's far from perfect--Lean is a movie maker I always thought needed to go out and get drunk now and then--but I think there's a great deal of interesting stuff in there that I don't usually find in these kind of big epics. The sheer beauty of some of it and the attempt to set a romance during such a period made it worthwhile to me.

I never got beyond the first few minutes of SOUND.
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#22 Post by JSWalsh »

Jebdu may regret getting me on this, but I'm on a roll and reluctant to start work, so.... :P
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#23 Post by AndyDursin »

'73 was a very good year.

'71...personally I would stick with THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Filmmaking wise that movie was kind of a breakthrough for its day -- and I still find it hugely compelling in its documentary-like, straight-ahead approach. Friedkin was a great filmmaker at times, and his approach suited that movie perfectly.

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#24 Post by JSWalsh »

1980 Ordinary People// Raging Bull--An angry movie that's hard to like, but a kind of character epic.

1981 Chariots of Fire //Reds--Me liking a movie about commies! The end is near!

1982 Gandhi// None--I almost gave it to ET, but these are my picks, not everyone else's.

1983 Terms of Endearment //The Right Stuff

1984 Amadeus//Agree

1985 Out of Africa//None

1986 Platoon//None

1987 The Last Emperor //Hope and Glory

1988 Rain Man//Agree--I think people focus too much on Hoffman and not enough on Cruise, who gives a great performance in a tough role. There is a tone about this movie that is greatly aided by the photography and score, a feeling of regret and opportunities missed that is unique in mainstream movies.

1989 Driving Miss Daisy//Field of Dreams--And I don't even LIKE FOD that much. But it is an original fantasy, and I love the tone of it. It has real problems telling its story...

You know what, I just changed my mind!

1989 Driving Miss Daisy//NONE!
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#25 Post by JSWalsh »

AndyDursin wrote: '71...personally I would stick with THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Filmmaking wise that movie was kind of a breakthrough for its day -- and I still find it hugely compelling in its documentary-like, straight-ahead approach. Friedkin was a great filmmaker at times, and his approach suited that movie perfectly.
I used to feel the same way until I saw the TV show NAKED CITY. I do value FRENCH CONNECTION, it's a movie that was a big part of my past. But it's lost some of its impact, which happens with movies that are controversial in their time.
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#26 Post by JSWalsh »

1990 Dances with Wolves// Goodfellas--No contest.

1991 The Silence of the Lambs//Agree

1992 Unforgiven //Agree

1993 Schindler's List //Agree, though I think it's a missed opportunity in many ways

1994 Forrest Gump //Pulp Fiction - Though it hasn't aged well for me.

1995 Braveheart //None

1996 The English Patient// Jerry Maguire--I think Maguire is underrated, dismissed as a star turn (or two), when it is an interesting look at work vs. personal life, and how the flaws that hurt one in the first emerge in the second.

1997 Titanic //None

1998 Shakespeare in Love //None

1999 American Beauty //None
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#27 Post by JSWalsh »

2000 Gladiator//Agree

2001 A Beautiful Mind//The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2002 Chicago //The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Geez, you'd never know I couldn't get through the books and don't like Tolkienesque fantasy!

2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King//Agree

2004 Million Dollar Baby//Agree

2005 Crash //None

2006 The Departed//Agree

2007 No Country for Old Men // Agree
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#28 Post by Paul MacLean »

JSWalsh wrote:2002 Chicago //The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Geez, you'd never know I couldn't get through the books and don't like Tolkienesque fantasy!
Well the movie was such a tonal departure from Tolkien's style that it doesn't even qualify as "Tolkienesque" to me. There are a lot of decidedly "fairy tale" scenes / elements in LOTR which were not included in the film. Peter Jackson seemed more interested in making an "cool" action/horror movie.

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#29 Post by JSWalsh »

From what I know of the books from my aborted attempts to read them, the only way to do them properly would have required twice the running time and a slower pace, without adding any action scenes in that running time.

How would the fans of the books here have liked to see these movies filmed? Style/visuals, director, cast, music?
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#30 Post by Castile »

1931: Shanghai Express over Grand Hotel. Sinister sheen versus silk. Speedier, a better script and striking visuals. Grand Hotel has star power to spare, but it's sluggish and often uninteresting to look at.

1932/33 I Am a Fugitive From A Chain Gang over Cavalcade. I actually like Cavalcade, but I Am A Fugitive is still, after 70-odd years, a gut-punch. Paul Muni, an actor I usually can take or leave, is superb in this.

1934 is the year there is a tie for best picture: It Happened One Night & The Thin Man. I just can't choose between the two of them.

1936: Dodsworth over Ziegfeld. I don't hate Ziegfeld the way a lot of people do; it's a great example of the kind of show MGM could put on when it went all out. It's entertaining, but Dodsworth, by God, is a movie for adults. The comment above about getting more out of it as one gets older is true, I think. I watch this movie often.

1937: The Good Earth over Zola. An amazing backlot creation, beautifully acted and produced. Zola all but screams "I am an important movie, damnit!" The Good Earth seduces you into the lives of its characters -- at least it did me.

1938: Robin Hood over You Can't Take It With You. Robin Hood is everything a movie should be and this version has never been bettered IMO.

1939: The Wizard of Oz over Gone With The Wind. The difference between a great popular success and fondly-remembered movie and a timeless one. I like GWTW, but love Oz.

1941 Kane over How Green Was My Valley. Well, really

1942: Kings Row over Mrs. Miniver. I've always loved the creepy unease that bubbles under the surface of King's Row; there's alot of subtext about just how screwed up people really are going on in this movie. I think the people that understood that were just too disturbed by it to even consider voting for it. Magnificent score.

1944: Double Indemnity over Going My Way. This is a tough year for me, too, because "Since You Went Away" is one of my favorite movies. I had the opportunity to watch DI a big screen once; Stanwyck is lightning. Despicable characters made fascinating by two fine actors at the top of their game.


I'll stop there for now.

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