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…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1992
I like 1992 a lot. Because this could have turned into a really bad year. But the Academy rallied. I say that because, based on the precursors, it seems like The Crying Game or Scent of a Woman were possibly favorites to win here. Though, Unforgiven did have the most nominations (along with Howards End), so maybe it was always gonna win. Either way, I’m glad they went the way they did.
Clint Eastwood won Best Director for the film (talked about here), which is nice. He deserved it (plus the other nominees were so weak). Gene Hackman also won Best Supporting Actor for the film (talked about here), which was a good decision. They were gonna give it to either him or Nicholson, and while I liked Nicholson’s performance better, I’m glad they gave it to Hackman. Best Actor this year was Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman (talked about here), which, just logistically, was a good decision. The man was so horrendously overdue by this point, it was best to just give him something. Of course, the win came at the expense of a brilliant Denzel Washington in Malcolm X and Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin, but sometimes it’s best to just correct mistakes. Denzel got his second Oscar anyway. It worked out as well as it could have. Best Actress was Emma Thompson for Howards End (talked about here). The performance wasn’t particularly good (nor was the film), but it was just her time. It also allowed Holly Hunter to win after this, and the category wasn’t that strong. So it’s fine. And Best Supporting Actress was Marisa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny (talked about here). I don’t care what anyone says, I think this is a terrific decision. The category was one of the worst in history. It was between her and Judy Davis, and I think Tomei’s been more of a lasting actress than Davis, having given more awards-worthy performances over her career. (I also liked her performance better and didn’t despise her film, so that also helped.)
Overall, this is a year that could have turned out very sour, and instead, turned out all right. I don’t disagree with the winners (just the films two of them won for). And then we get Unforgiven as a Best Picture, which is amazing. It’s really the film on here that’s held up the best. Chalk up another great decision to the 90s (making up for those awful 80s).
BEST PICTURE – 1992
And the nominees were…
The Crying Game (Miramax)
A Few Good Men (Columbia, Castle Rock Entertainment)
Howards End (Sony Pictures Classics)
Scent of a Woman (Universal)
Unforgiven (Warner Bros.) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1993
1993 is a real easy one to recap, since one of the consensus best films of the Oscars was up this year — Schindler’s List. I doubt there are many people who would argue with this choice.
Steven Spielberg also (finally) wins Best Director for the film (talked about here). Unfortunately, the film does not also win Best Actor for Liam Neeson, because they decided to give the award to Tom Hanks for Philadelphia (talked about here), which I think is a terrible decision. Not only should Liam Neeson have won here, but Daniel Day-Lewis, Anthony Hopkins (and even Laurence Fishburne) gave better performances than Hanks did. I rank this as one of the worst Best Actor decisions of all time. Then, Holly Hunter won Best Actress for The Piano (talked about here). This is because the Academy was stupid and gave Cher an Oscar over her in 1987 and because the Academy couldn’t contain themselves the year before this and gave Emma Thompson an Oscar for a lesser performance than this one. But, Holly got an Oscar, so it works out, even if I don’t like the film all that much. Anna Paquin also won Best Supporting Actress for the film (talked about here), which I consider one of the worst decisions of all time in the category. Nearly everyone else in the category gave a better performance than she did. Speaking of everyone else giving a better performance than the winner, Tommy Lee Jones won Best Supporting Actor for The Fugitive (talked about here). It’s pretty clear they were voting for the man and not the performance, because Ralph Fiennes, Pete Postlethwaite and Leonardo DiCaprio were all better than Jones was. But I grudgingly accept this because I love Tommy Lee Jones. Still, he shouldn’t have won.
But these questionable middle decisions are all pushed aside because of a strong Best Picture choice. That’s how these work. A great Best Picture choice hides all other terrible ones. But at least we got a strong Best Picture choice. That’s nice. That’s not always a guaranteed.
BEST PICTURE – 1993
And the nominees were…
The Fugitive (Warner Bros.)
In the Name of the Father (Universal)
The Piano (Miramax)
The Remains of the Day (Columbia)
Schindler’s List (Universal) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1994
Ah, 1994. I love seeing people get upset at this. This year gives me no trouble whatsoever. Yet when everyone points to questionable decisions in recent years, this and 1998 are almost always the first two to come up (2005 has also crept into that conversation). Yet to me — it makes perfect sense. The Academy will always be the Academy.
Outside of Best Picture, Forrest Gump wins Best Actor for Tom Hanks (talked about here), which on its own is a good decision (the category sucked and he was great. The only really questionable part was him having won the year before this, which I feel shouldn’t have happened), and Best Director for Robert Zemeckis (talked about here), which was a given based on the Best Picture win. Best Actress was Jessica Lange for Blue Sky (talked about here), which is a bad decision, but makes sense knowing that Lange was considered heavily overdue, and the Academy didn’t want to give Jodie Foster a (deserved) third Oscar in seven years. Best Supporting Actor was Martin Landau for Ed Wood (talked about here), which was a really good decision. I just had to stand by Sam Jackson there. And Best Supporting Actress was Dianne Wiest for Bullets Over Broadway (talked about here), which I think was a bad decision (Jennifer Tilly was much better in that same film).
As for this category — look, when Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption (let’s also not forget Quiz Show) are nominated for Best Picture, there are going to be strong opinions. Gump is clearly the most Academy-friendly of the bunch, therefore it stands to reason it won. End of discussion. It makes sense. So there’s no point in saying it shouldn’t have won, because it’s a great film, and the Academy will always vote for something like this. Your opinion may be different (as mine is), but it doesn’t make this that terrible a decision.
BEST PICTURE – 1994
And the nominees were…
Forrest Gump (Paramount)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Working Title)
Pulp Fiction (Miramax)
Quiz Show (Hollywood Pictures)
The Shawshank Redemption (Columbia, Castle Rock Entertainment) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1995
1995 is one of the strangest years in recent Academy history. Because seemingly, Apollo 13 was the film this year. It won all the major precursors — the PGA, the DGA (this is one of the only 6 times in history where the DGA and Oscar winner differed), SAG — and yet was almost completely shut out here. Must have been a real interesting race, that’s for sure.
Aside from this category, Braveheart also wins Best Director for Mel Gibson (talked about here), which is a good decision by virtue of the fact that Ron Howard wasn’t even nominated in the category. Then Best Actor was Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas (talked about here), a decision I love. (It was him or Anthony Hopkins, and Hopkins had one already.) Best Actress was Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking (talked about here). I don’t like this decision, I felt Elisabeth Shue was much better in Leaving Las Vegas, but Sarandon was going to win one anyway, so this was as good a time as any. Best Supporting Actor was Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects (talked about here). I can’t be objective on this category, so I just say good for him. And Best Supporting Actress was Mira Sorvino for Mighty Aphrodite (talked about here), which was a perfect decision. She was amazing in that movie.
But this category — I wonder what it is that led to such a drastic change in voting. Was it that Braveheart was more emotional for the voters? Actually, what I bet it was is that people saw Apollo 13 as more of a populist film without any heart, whereas the Academy can never turn down an actor-director. (By the way, I also see this category as directly responsible for what happened in 2001.)
BEST PICTURE – 1995
And the nominees were…
Apollo 13 (Universal, Imagine Entertainment)
Babe (Universal)
Braveheart (Paramount, Icon)
Il Postino (Miramax)
Sense and Sensibility (Columbia) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1996
1996 is one of the years I hate most in Academy history. To me, almost every major decision they made was a bad one. It’s one of those years where you can’t really do anything, because the Academy is always going to be the Academy, so we have to live with it. But at least here, we can all agree that they made a terrible decision, even if it was the one they were always going to make.
Outside of this category, The English Patient wins Best Director for Anthony Minghella (talked about here), a foregone conclusion and Best Supporting Actress for Juliette Binoche (talked about here), a decision I actually really like. I think that even though Lauren Bacall was a very deserving veteran, her performance was decent at best and her film was beyond terrible (and Barbara Hershey’s film/performance was way too on-the-nose). Best Actor this year was Geoffrey Rush for Shine (talked about here), which I hate as a decision. I love Geoffrey Rush, I think he deserves an Oscar (Supporting would be better), but I felt his performance was clearly a supporting one in the film, and that Billy Bob Thornton was so good in Sling Blade (and even Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient) that Rush is one of the most inexplicable winners I’ve ever seen. Best Actress was Frances McDormand for Fargo (talked about here), which I love, because the film’s great and she’s great in it, but she’s really a supporting character, and Emily Watson’s performance in Breaking the Waves is so good that I’m shocked she didn’t win (Brenda Blethyn was also amazing in Secrets & Lies). And then Best Supporting Actor was Cuba Gooding, Jr. for Jerry Maguire (talked about here), which, while I love the performance — William H. Macy really should have won. He really should have.
So that’s 1996. I like two categories. And one of them — ehh, maybe it’s not the best decision. So overall, I think this is a pretty terrible year. One of my least favorites. And, like most bad years, it all starts at Best Picture.
BEST PICTURE – 1996
And the nominees were…
The English Patient (Miramax)
Fargo (Gramercy Pictures)
Jerry Maguire (TriStar)
Shine (October Films)
Secrets & Lies (Fine Line Features) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1997
Sometimes the Academy is the Academy, and there’s really no other way things can turn out. This is one of those times. When a film like Titanic comes along — no other film has a chance. Big, epic, romantic, makes the cry — it has it all. The quintessential Oscar film. It also having broken every box office record also helps.
Outside of the relative sweep for the film (it won 11/14 Oscars, losing Actress, Supporting Actress and Makeup), which included Best Director for James Cameron (talked about here), Best Actor and Best Actress went to Jack Nicholson (talked about here) and Helen Hunt (talked about here) for As Good as It Gets. These are both generally regarded as weak decisions, given the nature of the film, but I’m okay with them. Titanic was gonna overshadow everything else anyway, and seeing as how Nicholson’s main competition was Robert Duvall (I don’t buy the Fonda thing at all), and Nicholson was gonna win one anyway, I think this was acceptable (unless of course we don’t want Adrien Brody winning in 2002). And Helen Hunt — the category was terrible. I know Judi Dench, but I hate voting for on-the-nose performances (meaning: costume dramas) in this era. Then Best Supporting Actor went to Robin Williams for Good Will Hunting (talked about here), which he was overdue for and makes sense, and Best Supporting Actress went to Kim Basinger for L.A. Confidential (talked about here), which really wasn’t a great performance, but at least the film got recognized. The performance that should have won (Joan Cusack), at least, to me, anyway, was never going to win. So that’s an acceptable substitute, I guess.
I guess I’ll use this space to say, even though Titanic was always going to win, L.A. Confidential is such a great film. Even though we’d all have preferred for it to have won, it’s better that it worked out this way. Sometimes it’s better to think positively about the “what if” than live with the reality of it happening.
BEST PICTURE – 1997
And the nominees were…
As Good As It Gets (TriStar)
The Full Monty (Fox Searchlight)
Good Will Hunting (Miramax)
L.A. Confidential (Warner Bros.)
Titanic (Paramount, 20th Century Fox) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1998
1998 is, as we all know, one of those Oscar years that is brought up as an example of all the bad the Academy represents; “The Academy being the Academy.” And, just like 2010, it’s one of those decisions that makes sense considering who they are and what they like, isn’t as bad as some other decisions because at least they choose a good film (it just might not have been the best film), and at least here (unlike 2010) they gave the other film Best Director. So it’s not that terrible a decision. It’s just not most people’s preferred decision.
As for the rest of the year — it’s filled with other not-so-good decisions, which makes the Best Picture decision feel worse. Shakespeare in Love, outside of this category, won Best Actress for Gwyneth Paltrow (talked about here), which is historically a terrible decision, but honestly, I don’t really know what woud have been a better one. (Yes, I know Cate Blanchett, but that film is just way too on-the-nose to give her an Oscar. It was a terrible category, is what it was.) It also won Best Supporting Actress for Judi Dench (talked about here), which despite all the shit it catches for being so short on screen time, is a good decision.
Best Actor this year was Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful (talked about here), which I think we can all agree is one of, if not the single worst Best Actor decision in the history of the category. (But despite everyone’s opinion, Edward Norton was not the better choice, Ian McKellen was.) Best Supporting Actor was James Coburn for Affliction (talked about here), which is good in the sense that James Coburn is awesome, but terrible in every other way (Billy Bob really should have won this). And Steven Spielberg winning Best Director for Saving Private Ryan (talked about here) is one of the best decisions in that category.
Now, let me just say, before I talk about the films — this is really not that bad. Looking at it historically, there were much, much worse decisions. It’s only bad in context.
BEST PICTURE – 1998
And the nominees were…
Elizabeth (PolyGram Filmed Entertainment)
Life is Beautiful (Miramax)
Saving Private Ryan (DreamWorks, Paramount)
Shakespeare in Love (Miramax/Universal)
The Thin Red Line (20th Century Fox) (more…)
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