The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1985
If there ever was a year that epitomizes the entire history of the Academy Awards in a nutshell — this is that year. You could use 1985 as a singular example for everything that has come before and after it. Let me explain:
Out of Africa wins Best Picture. A classical Oscar film if there ever was one. Big, sweeping, epic, a romance. And it epitomizes the Academy because they vote for this things blindly. Out of Africa is not a good film. It’s just a compiling of things the Academy loves. I bet if there’s one film Harvey Weinstein has learned from the most, it’s this one. Not to mention the added bonus of racism, since the vastly superior The Color Purple was deliberately shut out this year. It also wins Best Director for Sydney Pollack (talked about here). This marks one of the six times the DGA winner (Steven Spielberg) did not win the Oscar (hell, he wasn’t even nominated). Best Actor this year was William Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman (talked about here). Not a particularly strong performance, but he played gay (and in a very weak category). They love that. Best Actress was Geraldine Page for The Trip to Bountiful (talked about here). One of the single worst Best Actress decisions ever. Whoopi Goldberg was better in every way, and the Academy went with a veteran just because she was old. Okay. Best Supporting Actor was Don Ameche for Cocoon (talked about here), which — veteran Oscar, but also a terribly weak category (kinda like 2011). And Best Supporting Actress was Anjelica Huston for Prizzi’s Honor (talked about here). She was good in the movie, but how she beat Oprah Winfrey for The Color Purple or Meg Tilly for Agnes of God is beyond me.
But, when you boil down all of these decisions, you get what the Academy likes in each one — Best Actor, man playing gay. Best Actress — a white woman (either a star whose “time” it is, or in this case, a veteran they want to reward). Best Supporting Actor — a veteran. Best Supporting Actress — an up-and-comer. And Best Picture — just watch Out of Africa, you’ll see what I mean. I truly think this might be the lowest point of the 80s, this year. It’s so bad.
BEST PICTURE – 1985
And the nominees were…
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Island Alive)
Out of Africa (Universal)
Prizzi’s Honor (20th Century Fox, ABC Motion Pictures)
Witness (Paramount) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1986
1986 is a breath of fresh air in the hell hole that is the 80s. Platoon is one of the sole good decisions the Academy made in the 80s.
Oliver Stone won Best Director for the film (talked about here), which was a great decision. Best Actor was Paul Newman for The Color of Money (talked about here), which was twenty-five years overdue. Best Actress was Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God (talked about here), which was really the only decision in the category (no, not Sigourney Weaver). Good choice. Best Supporting Actor was Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters (talked about here), and Dianne Wiest also won Best Supporting Actress for the film (talked about here). I don’t particularly like either decision. The Wiest one — okay, category was weak, so it’s okay. The Caine one — sure he deserved one, but Tom Berenger and Dennis Hopper were so damn good this year. So — don’t like it.
But, overall — good year. I like it a lot. Amazing what a good decision can do to a category (because this one is not good).
BEST PICTURE – 1986
And the nominees were…
Children of a Lesser God (Paramount)
Hannah and Her Sisters (Orion)
The Mission (Warner Bros.)
Platoon (Orion)
A Room With a View (Cinecom) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1987
1987 is by far one of the most boring years in Academy history (Best Picture-wise).
The Last Emperor wins Best Picture and Best Director for Bernardo Bertolucci (talked about here). Terrific film, just — yawn. Michael Douglas wins Best Actor for Wall Street (talked about here). Great film, great performance, but I don’t see him winning this in many other years. Best Actress was Cher for Moonstruck (talked about here). I dislike that decision so much. (Seriously, no Glenn Close for Fatal Attraction or Holly Hunter for Broadcast News?) Olympia Dukakis also won Best Supporting Actress for the film (talked about here). Which is okay, only because the category is the single weakest Best Supporting Actress category in the history of the Oscars. Ever. And Sean Connery wins Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables (talked about here). Sure, a veteran Oscar. But an awesome one. (Shame though, about Morgan Freeman, Albert Brooks and Denzel.) So, overall — yeah, a pretty boring year.
This Best Picture category is basically a flatliner. Really only one film was ever going to win. Fortunately, though, one of the nominees has become one of my favorite films, so that’s a huge plus. Otherwise — it was pretty obvious what was winning this all the way. Which makes it easier for us to vote for what we want to without worrying about the result. Go nuts, children, there are no consequences.
BEST PICTURE – 1987
And the nominees were…
Broadcast News (20th Century Fox)
Fatal Attraction (Paramount)
Hope and Glory (Columbia)
The Last Emperor (Columbia)
Moonstruck (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1988
1988 is another weak 80s year. They all seem to be weak, don’t they? Though, here, they made the best with what they had to work with. So that’s admirable.
Rain Man is a terrific film (if not a particularly strong Best Picture winner, historically), and is the film most people would choose among the nominees. Dustin Hoffman wins Best Actor for it (talked about here), and I think we can all agree he was terrific and deserved it very much (doubly so when you see his competition). And Barry Levinson won Best Director for the film as well (talked about here), which was gonna happen, since in a year like this — it’s gonna match. Best Actress was Jodie Foster for The Accused (talked about here), which was so richly deserved. Best Supporting Actor was Kevin Kline for A Fish Called Wanda (talked about here), which was a fun decision. Not terribly great historically, but when you see the category he was up against, you’ll be glad he won. Trust me. And Best Supporting Actress was Geena Davis for The Accidental Tourist (talked about here), which doesn’t hold up very well at all (Michelle Pfeiffer probably should have won instead).
So, overall, 1988 is a very successful year. That’s nice. I was born this year. You know what else came out this year? Moonwalker. So I like the Oscar year and all, and this decision, but seriously — Moonwalker
BEST PICTURE – 1988
And the nominees were…
The Accidental Tourist (Warner Bros.)
Dangerous Liaisons (Warner Bros.)
Mississippi Burning (Orion)
Rain Man (United Artists)
Working Girl (20th Century Fox) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1989
Everyone hates 1989. I am perplexed by 1989. Because I don’t know what to do with it. Sure, Driving Miss Daisy is not a good choice, but none of the other choices are particularly win-worthy. (Now, if Do the Right Thing were nominated…)
It seems Driving Miss Daisy wasn’t a choice the Academy loved — despite it winning Best Actress for Jessica Tandy (talked about here), which was a nice veteran Oscar — since it wasn’t even nominated for Best Director. I’d love to see the percentage of votes there. Must have been close all around. Best Director, instead, went to Oliver Stone for Born on the Fourth of July (talked about here). His second. Not a terrible decision. Best Actor was Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot (talked about here). Brenda Blethyn also won Best Supporting Actress for the film (talked about here). Both were perfect decisions. And Best Supporting Actor was Denzel Washington for Glory (talked about here). I don’t like the decision at all. Danny Aiello was better, and if Denzel didn’t win here, maybe he could have won (laughable, I know, but one can hope) in 1992.
So that’s 1989. Really, I only like the My Left Foot wins. I’m cool with Tandy winning, though. And Stone is okay. But overall, the year just feels pretty weak. It stars with the Best Picture nominees, and all of these feel like #2s at best with no #1 in the bunch.
BEST PICTURE – 1989
And the nominees were…
Born on the Fourth of July (Universal)
Dead Poet’s Society (Touchstone Pictures)
Driving Miss Daisy (Warner Bros.)
Field of Dreams (Universal)
My Left Foot (Miramax) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1990
The 90s to me, Oscar-wise, are the opposite of the 80s. The 80s had two legitimately great Best Picture decisions, and the rest were either okay based on the categories, acceptable because they’re big epics, or just outright terrible. The 90s, however, really only have two out and out bad decisions. Most of the choices they made in the 90s are either great, acceptable, or we just disagree with the choice, even though we agree they were good films. This, to me, is one of the two terrible decisions (the other being The English Patient).
Dances with Wolves simply should not have beaten Goodfellas. Kevin Costner should not have won Best Director over Martin Scorsese (talked about here). It’s a universally accepted fact. Outside of that, the rest of the year is also pretty weak. Jeremy Irons wins Best Actor for Reversal of Fortune (talked about here). It was one of the weakest Best Actor categories of all time, and most acknowledge he won for a performance he gave two years earlier (in Dead Ringers, which he wasn’t nominated for). Best Actress was Kathy Bates for Misery (talked about here), which was a good decision based on the category. Not particularly strong historically, though. Best Supporting Actor was Joe Pesci for Goodfellas (talked about here), which, as we all know, is perfect. And Best Supporting Actress was Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost (talked about here), in which she played a literal magical negro. The fact that she won for this and not The Color Purple is laughable.
So that’s 1990 — terrible, ain’t it?
BEST PICTURE – 1990
And the nominees were…
Awakenings (Columbia)
Dances with Wolves (Orion)
Ghost (Paramount)
The Godfather Part III (Paramount)
Goodfellas (Warner Bros.) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1991
Oh god, what a year. Look at those five (okay… four) nominees. They’re terrific. And then the decisions they made — not really a weak one in the bunch. I may disagree with one of them, but outside of that, they’re great. This also feels a bit like an underdog year. Since Bugsy was obviously the classy film in contention, and JFK being what it is — it just seems surprising that The Silence of the Lambs won the way it did. But I’m not complaining.
The Silence of the Lambs is the third and most recent film to win the big five — Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director for Jonathan Demme (talked about here), Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins (talked about here) and Best Actress for Jodie Foster (talked about here). Perfect decisions, the lot of them. Maybe the Demme and Foster wins could have gone differently, but I like the big five win. It’s nice. (Also, fun fact: All three films to win the big five (you better know which three they are) only won those five awards and nothing else. Weird, huh? The rest of the year is simple: Mercedes Ruehl won Best Supporting Actress for The Fisher King (talked about here). The category was terribly weak and she was really the only choice. And Best Supporting Actor was Jack Palance for City Slickers (talked about here). Not a great choice based on performance by any stretch (Michael Lerner (and for that matter, an un-nominated John Goodman) was so much better in Barton Fink), but it’s a veteran Oscar, and Palance is awesome. So it’s okay.
1991 is a very simple year, punctuated by great films. Seriously, if you haven’t seen at least three of the films on this list (though really, four), you probably don’t really like movies.
BEST PICTURE – 1991
And the nominees were…
Beauty and the Beast (Walt Disney Pictures)
Bugsy (TriStar)
JFK (Warner Bros.)
The Prince of Tides (Columbia)
The Silence of the Lambs (Orion) (more…)
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