A Look Back At Best Picture Races Part II

Here's a look at the Best Picture races over the last decade. Were there any particular years where you were extremely disappointed by the winner?

2000:

Gladiator
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Tiger
Erin Brockovich
Traffic

Best Picture In Retrospect: Traffic
I did not see Gladiator but based on the general consensus, the Academy would like to have this one back. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a bigger critical success, but Traffic is the film that had the more realistic chance of winning. In fact, Gladiator’s win must have been a shock after Steven Soderbergh accepted his award for Best Director. Ralph Cifaretto must have fixed the votes this year.

2001:
A Beautiful Mind
Gosford Park
In the Bedroom
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge

Best Picture In Retrospect: A Beautiful Mind
Russell Crowe was in position to own the decade after Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind won Best Picture. I did not see Gosford Park, but I felt A Beautiful Mind was better than the rest of the competition. It may not have been fair, but it seemed obvious that the Academy was going to wait until the final Lord of the Rings film to award it Best Picture.

2002:
Chicago
Gangs of New York
The Hours
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist

Best Picture In Retrospect: Chicago
At the decade’s end, I didn’t see anyone include Chicago on the list of best films for the past ten years. Representing the peak of the brief movie musical comeback, Chicago was extremely entertaining and contained better singing than the vastly overrated Moulin Rouge.

2003:
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Mystic River
Seabiscuit

Best Picture In Retrospect: Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King

Although Lost in Translation was my favorite movie of the decade, I cannot say Lord of the Rings was the wrong decision if I didn’t see the movie. I didn’t see Gladiator either but in that film’s case, enough public dissent over the film led me to believe that the movie was initially overrated. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is revered as one of the most successful and ambitious undertakings in cinema history. While I think each film should be judged on its own merit, it would have caused a riot if none of these films was recognized by the Academy.

2004:
Million Dollar Baby
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Ray
Sideways

Best Picture In Retrospect: Sideways

The Academy is notorious for its refusal to give comedies their due. In fact, the last comedy to win the award is Annie Hall in 1977. Million Dollar Baby was a very good movie, but it veered too much in the world of melodrama towards the end. Sideways was perfect from the first knock on the door to the last. I think the Academy missed its chance to give the comedy genre its day in the sun.

2005:
Crash
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Good Night, and Good Luck
Munich

Best Picture In Retrospect: Brokeback Mountain

Speaking of melodrama, I’ve always felt Crash was over praised for its portrayal of racism in America. The examples given in this movie are as subtle as Celine Dion ballad. Ironically, the Academy’s decision to award a movie that preaches social acceptance showed the Academy was not ready to fully accept an honest portrayal of a homosexual romance. The snub would have been understandable if Brokeback Mountain was a happy to be nominated type of movie. However, Brokeback Mountain became the first movie to lose the Best Picture award after winning the Writer’s Guild, Director’s Guild, and Producer’s Guild awards.

2006:
The Departed
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Best Picture In Retrospect: The Departed

Some complained that The Departed’s victory was more of a lifetime achievement award for Martin Scorsese than an award for the movie itself. Those people are wrong! Although not as good as most of his earlier classics including Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, The Departed was a flawed yet fiercely entertaining and well- made movie.

2007:
No Country For Old Men
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood

Best Picture In Retrospect: There Will Be Blood

This was the best collection of nominees since 1994’s incredible group. Although No Country For Old Men is an incredible movie, There Will Be Blood has proven more memorable in this short amount of time. I will forever link these two movies to each other. Both films were anchored by performances (Javier Bardem and Daniel Day-Lewis) that will go down as two of the greatest ever.

2008:
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader

Best Picture In Retrospect: Milk

Count me in the minority who felt Slumdog Millionaire was overrated. One of several problems I had with the movie was the lead performance. I thought Dev Patel was too stiff as Jamal. As a result, I was surprisingly unaffected emotionally by the heart of the story. Milk, on the other hand, featured a predictably amazing Sean Penn performance. Sadly, with Gay Rights still being an issue instead of a given, the movie is more timely than ever. Milk is a biopic that won’t necessarily live as a classic film, but in subpar year of nominees, it deserved to win the award.



Final Thoughts:
In my humble opinion, the Academy got the Best Picture correct in only 7 out the last 15 years. Out of the eight times the Academy has been wrong, most people would consider 1998’s decision to be the most egregious. While I agree that Saving Private Ryan should have won, I think 1996(The English Patient) and 2005 (Crash) were worse. It’s funny how most years come down to a race between two films. That’s why in the long run, it makes no difference how many movies are nominated for Best Picture. The Hurt Locker is the right choice for Best Picture, but Avatar would not be a disastrous pick on the level of some of the previously mentioned years. Christina and I will have a more in depth look at this year’s big awards later in the week.