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The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1980

Oh I hate 1980. What a dumb “Academy” decision. Ordinary People wins Best Picture and Best Director for Robert Redford (talked about here), beating out Raging Bull. Yeah. There’s no one that can defend that decision.

Best Actor this year (thank god) was Robert De Niro for Raging Bull, so at least some justice was has. Best Actress was Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner’s Daughter, which I really like as a decision, despite how good Mary Tyler Moore was in Ordinary People. And Best Supporting Actress was Mary Steenburgen for Melvin and Howard, which, to me, makes absolutely no goddamn sense at all. But, meh, it’s pretty irrelevant historically.

So that’s 1980. Two, maybe three good decisions, and two horrendously bad decisions. But we all know how badly Martin Scorsese should have won Best Director here, so there wasn’t really anything this year could have done to overcome that.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1980

And the nominees were…

Judd Hirsch, Ordinary People

Timothy Hutton, Ordinary People

Michael O’Keefe, The Great Santini

Jason Robards, Melvin and Howard

Joe Pesci, Raging Bull Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  September 24, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pic of the Day

Posted by  |  September 24, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1952

Ah, the big fuck up. Which isn’t really a fuck up in hindsight, because they fixed their mistake in post. But, in this category, it’s a fuck up.

Actually, 1952 in general is a fuck up year. The Greatest Show on Earth wins Best Picture in a copout decision because the Academy didn’t want to vote for High Noon. Terrible decision, but despite what you may have heard, the film really isn’t that bad. It’s just not a Best Picture winner. Then Gary Cooper wins Best Actor for High Noon (talked about here), which really makes you wonder why they bothered to not vote for it in the first place. Why not just make it uniform, like you did with Citizen Kane? Either way, Krik Douglas should have won here.

Then Shirley Booth wins Best Actress for Come Back, Little Sheba (talked about here), which I don’t like as a decision at all. At best it’s a forgettable choice. Best Supporting Actor was Anthony Quinn for Viva Zapata! (talked about here), which I’ve come to accept as an okay decision, but is one I wouldn’t have made. And Best Supporting Actress was Gloria Grahame for The Bad and the Beautiful, which, as I discussed here, I’m sort of okay with, because the film got some attention, but she really wasn’t the best performance in the category, and the whole thing is just kind of fucked up and confusing.

That’s what 1952 is. A year that’s fucked up and confusing. Nothing makes sense, none of the decisions are all that great, and everyone just kind of walks away from it going, “What happened?” Kind of like a party at my house.

BEST DIRECTOR – 1952

And the nominees were…

Cecil B. DeMille, The Greatest Show on Earth

John Ford, The Quiet Man

John Huston, Moulin Rouge

Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 5 Fingers

Fred Zinnemann, High Noon Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  September 23, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments

Pic of the Day: “How can you do it?” “What?” “How can you see me and still love me?” “That’s what it’s about, preppy.”

Posted by  |  September 23, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1978

I love 1978. Such great films, topped with my favorite film of the year, The Deer Hunter, winning Best Picture. That, to me, is a great year.

The film also won Best Director for Michael Cimino (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken (talked about here). I love both of these decisions. Then, Best Actress was Jane Fonda for Coming Home. I don’t like this decision at all, because she had an Oscar already. And I know she’s Jane Fonda and all, but, Jill Clayburgh gave a much better performance in An Unmarried Woman and should have won there. And Best Supporting Actress was Maggie Smith in California Suite, which, as I said here, wasn’t my favorite performance (that would be Meryl Streep), but I understand why she won and actually really like the decision.

And now, this category — this is a category where, I don’t think the best performance won, but, historically, this has proven to be a very good decision. So it’s one of those where, while I still won’t vote for the winner, I’m totally cool (and even happy) with the fact that he won.

BEST ACTOR – 1978

And the nominees were…

Warren Beatty, Heaven Can Wait

Gary Busey, The Buddy Holly Story

Robert De Niro, The Deer Hunter

Laurence Olivier, The Boys from Brazil

Jon Voight, Coming Home Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  September 22, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pic of the Day: “There’s a whole ocean of oil under our feet! No one can get at it except for me!”

Posted by  |  September 22, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1993

As I’m sure I said every other time I talked about 1993, I love how easy it is to recap. Schindler’s List. Done. No commotion. Nothing. Just, Schindler’s List. And then we all nod, like, “Yeah, uh huh.” It’s great.

The film wins Best Picture and Best Director for Steven Spielberg (talked about here). The two awards the film didn’t win that it should have were Best Actor, which went to Tom Hanks for Philadelphia (which I talked about here, about how it was such a terrible decision), and Best Supporting Actor, which went to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive (which I talked about here, about how, as much as I love Tommy Lee Jones, this was also a terrible decision). And then the other two awards went to The Piano. The first was Best Supporting Actress, which went to Anna Paquin, and, as I said here, I consider that a pretty bad decision. And the other was this category, which I won’t waste any time setting up. Let’s just get into it.

BEST ACTRESS – 1993

And the nominees were…

Angela Bassett, What’s Love Got to Do with It

Stockard Channing, Six Degrees of Separation

Holly Hunter, The Piano

Emma Thompson, The Remains of the Day

Debra Winger, Shadowlands Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  September 21, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pic of the Day: “With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.”

Posted by  |  September 21, 2011 | Categories: Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1985

I hate 1985 so much. Out of Africa is just not a film that should win Best Picture. Not over The Color Purple. And Steven Spielberg not winning Best Director — okay, not even being nominated for Best Director, despite winning the DGA for the film! — for it is also terrible. Sydney Pollack is a great director, and him winning Best Director is sort of okay, but, come on. Out of Africa? Really?

Best Actor this year was William Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman. It was by far the best decisions they could have made. He was awesome, and this was the best year for him to win. He didn’t have any competition. Then Best Actress was Geraldine Page for The Trip to Bountiful (talked about here), which is one of the worst Best Actress decisions of all time. Top five worst. Because Whoopi Goldberg really should have won that. I don’t even think people contest that fact. Then Best Supporting Actor was Don Ameche for Cocoon, which is cool. This, unlike Best Actress, was a good opportunity to reward a veteran.

So, in all, of the six decisions this year, I like — two of them. And even of the two, they’re not resoundingly good. Like, William Hurt winning is great, but the category is weak so it’s just, “Yeah it’s good, but, one in a decade of shit…” You appreciate them more than you love them. I like them and all, but it’s not like these were the 1987 decisions. Those are great decisions. So I hate 1985. Like most of the 80s, they fucked up.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1985

And the nominees were…

Margaret Avery, The Color Purple

Anjelica Huston, Prizzi’s Honor

Amy Madigan, Twice in a Lifetime

Meg Tilly, Agnes of God

Oprah Winfrey, The Color Purple Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  September 20, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pic of the Day: “Sorry don’t get it done, Dude.”

Posted by  |  September 20, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment