The Oscar Quest: Best Picture & Best Director – 2003
Was there really any surprise here?
Best Picture – 2003
And the nominees were…
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (New Line Cinema)
Lost in Translation (Focus Features)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Fox, Miramax, Universal)
Mystic River (Warner Bros.)
Seabiscuit (Universal, DreamWorks)
Return of the King — Clearly worth it. The entire trilogy gets one big Oscar. That’s absolutely fine, because it is a brilliant piece(s) of filmmaking. Sure, the CG is dated, but it’s still a great feat that deserved some recognition. No one can really disagree with this one.
Lost in Translation — A great, great film, but not one anyone can vote for knowing Rings is also involved. It deserved the Screenplay win and all the good will people have toward it. It is a great movie, but never a Best Picture winner. This is exactly how it should have ended up. (more…)