Bullshit alert. 1985 is one of the worst years ever for the Academy Awards. If you ever wanted to get a first hand look at just how racist the Academy was/is, just look at this year. (And also, this year. But that’s a story for another day.) The Color Purple is clearly the best film up for Best Picture. It’s not even a question. The film sweeps the Golden Globes and most other awards. Then, for the Oscars, Steven Spielberg isn’t even nominated for Best Director (despite winning the DGA award), and the film is shut out from 11 Oscars in favor of Out of Africa, a film that’s basically about Meryl Streep having an extra-marital affair with Robert Redford and also having a farm in Africa.

As for the rest of the year, Sydney Pollack wins Best Director for Africa, which is sort of okay since he’s a great director, but, Akira Kurosawa was nominated too. Out of those two, which would you pick? And then Best Actor was William Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was actually a great decision. Best Supporting Actor was Don Ameche for Cocoon, which was cool. Nice veteran Oscar. And Best Supporting Actress was Anjelica Huston for Prizzi’s Honor, which, all respect for her aside, was a terrible decision. There were two better choices there.

And then there’s this category, which is just so fucking terrible it’s beyond words. Whoopi Goldberg so clearly deserved this award it’s sickening. And they give the Oscar to Geraldine Page for a film that’s basically Baby’s Day Out, but if the baby were an old woman. I’m exaggerating, but I’m not that far off. What the fuck, Academy? Does your racism know no bounds? (Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.)

BEST ACTRESS – 1985

And the nominees were…

Anne Bancroft, Agnes of God

Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple

Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams

Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful

Meryl Streep, Out of Africa Read the rest of this page »

I hate 1984. It’s just so boring. And so weak. Not that they didn’t make a good decision. Amadeus was clearly the best film of the year and should have won Best Picture. Milos Forman also winning Best Director (talked about here) was the only good choice they could have made, and F. Murray Abraham totally deserved Best Actor for the film (as did Tom Hulce. Too bad they didn’t tie. That would have been awesome).

But outside of those awards, Best Supporting Actor going to Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields I don’t like (explained why here), and Best Supporting Actress going to Peggy Ashcroft for A Passage to India makes a little sense, but it’s just boring. The film and the decision. And then there’s this category. I don’t know what it is about this year, but they really liked “strong woman helps keep farm afloat” stories. Three of them got nominated in this category. Three. And the one that won had the woman doing it without a husband. She had a black man and a blind man instead. Technically I guess that does make it a “stronger” performance.

But, wow, do I disagree with three nominees here. At least three. Possibly even all five. But I can accept two. I can accept the Sally Field and Judy Davis nominations. The others just felt like filler. Stature noms. “Who are we going to nominate?” “Well, we like Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange. Let’s go with them.” (Don’t even get me started on the Redgrave nomination.) So, let’s see if we can find any alternatives.

I’d say the actress who played Mozart’s wife in Amadeus, but that’s supporting at best. Would the Academy nominate Frances McDormand for Blood Simple? I doubt it. I liked Micki + Maude a lot, but that’s a comedy. Most people would say The Terminator, but I know the Academy. That would never happen. Uhh — Apollonia in Purple Rain? Wow, what the fuck, 1984? You sucked for good female performances.

BEST ACTRESS – 1984

And the nominees were…

Judy Davis, A Passage to India

Sally Field, Places in the Heart

Jessica Lange, Country

Vanessa Redgrave, The Bostonians

Sissy Spacek, The River Read the rest of this page »

I love 1979 and hate 1979 at the same time. One of the greatest films ever made, Apocalypse Now, is nominated for Best Picture, as is one of my five favorite films of all time, All That Jazz. And neither wins Best Picture. Now, Kramer vs. Kramer — I think it’s a good film. I think it’s a great film, even. But I do not think this film should have won Best Picture at all. I think that was a terrible decision. And I might have been able to live with it had they not also given Best Director to Robert Benton. Did they see the directorial efforts of those other two films?

And then, Best Actor this year was Dustin Hoffman for Kramer, which is absolutely perfect. He was way overdue by this point, and gave the best performance of his career. It’s a shame he beat Roy Scheider and Peter Sellers, but it’s fine. Then Meryl Streep wins Best Supporting Actress as the other Kramer, which is one of the best decisions ever made in that category (whenever Meryl wins an Oscar, it’s pretty much automatically one of the best decisions in that category). Then, Best Supporting Actor was Melvyn Douglas for Being There, which, if you didn’t know, was the WORST DECISION OF ALL TIME IN THAT CATEGORY. Worst. Ever. Know why? He beat Robert Duvall for Apocalypse Now. I’ll ask you, dear reader — which performance do you remember? Charlie don’t surf, but it seems he votes in the Academy.

So that’s 1979. I love it, because great films are involved, and because, while I know they made the wrong decision, Kramer vs. Kramer is a better film than a lot of other films that have won Best Picture (looking at you, Ordinary People). And yet — I really only agree with three of the six decisions this year, and two of them I consider to be two of the worst all time. So this year is a big sore spot for me.

BEST ACTRESS – 1979

And the nominees were…

Jill Clayburgh, Starting Over

Sally Field, Norma Rae

Jane Fonda, The China Syndrome

Marsha Mason, Chapter Two

Bette Midler, The Rose Read the rest of this page »

History was made here. You hear that? History, I tellz ya! But before we get into that, let’s recap the year.

Oliver! wins Best Picture, the best choice among a weak set of films. Almost all of them are good films, but none is really a “Best Picture.” Carol Reed won Best Director for the film, which, is a good decision based on the fact that him not winning for The Third Man is the worst Best Director snub of all time, according to me. Which, humorously enough, makes this the second biggest Best Director snub. Reed winning his well-deserved Oscar deprived Stanley Kubrick of his well-deserved Oscar for 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s oddly poetic.

Cliff Robertson wins Best Actor for Charly, which is a good film and a decent performance, but not one that should have won, especially with Peter O’Toole never having won an Oscar (for amazing work in Lawrence of Arabia and Becket before this) and being so fucking great in The Lion in Winter. The choice is baffling. Then Best Supporting Actor was Jack Albertson for The Subject was Roses (which I talked about here), and Best Supporting Actress (which I talked about here) was Ruth Gordon for Rosemary’s Baby.

As for this category, it’s the only exact tie in Academy history. (The other acting tie was within 3 votes.) And since the two that tied were the #1 and #2 in the category, the only side effect was an extra Best Actress winner and Katharine Hepburn eventually having four Oscars. Which, as I’ve discovered, isn’t so bad. None of her wins is egregious. Even here, she managed to tie with the person who should have won.

BEST ACTRESS – 1968

And the nominees were…

Katharine Hepburn, The Lion in Winter

Patricia Neal, The Subject Was Roses

Vanessa Redgrave, Isadora

Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl

Joanne Woodward, Rachel, Rachel Read the rest of this page »

This is one of the more infamous categories in Academy history. It’s widely regarded that the only reason Elizabeth Taylor won here was because she was going through a serious health scare at the time (not uncommon for her, sadly) and had a tracheotomy done. And the Academy, fearing that she’d die, gave this to her as sort of a tribute in case she’d never have the chance to win one again. It’s possible she’d have won anyway, but when even Shirley MacLaine publicly talks shit about the decision (everyone else does too), I think we can safely say that’s why she won. I felt we needed to get that out of the way now. It’s pretty open and shut, how this category should have gone.

As for the rest of the year, The Apartment wins Best Picture, a decision I love, Billy Wilder wins Best Director, a decision I like because I love the film, but don’t like based on who he beat (Hitchcock for Psycho. I talked about it here). Burt Lancaster wins his well-deserved Best Actor award for Elmer Gantry, and Shirley Jones also wins Best Supporting Actress for the film (which, is kind of okay, but, I’d have went with Janet Leigh here. But that’s just me). And Peter Ustinov wins Best Supporting Actor for Spartacus, which, considering he’s one of the premier character actors of all time (and was also in The Sundowners this year), this was without a doubt a great decision.

As for this category, it was always going to come down to Shirley MacLaine and Elizabeth Taylor. They were clearly the two best. Liz’s performance may have been a bit — much — maybe, for a win, but, she was good, so her winning isn’t that terrible a decision. And since Shirley MacLaine eventually got her Oscar, this isn’t as bad a decision as it could have been. So, ultimately, things worked out. But I think we can all agree that Shirley MacLaine should have won here. But, still, isn’t Liz just gorgeous in her movie?

BEST ACTRESS – 1960

And the nominees were…

Greer Garson, Sunrise at Campobello

Deborah Kerr, The Sundowners

Shirley MacLaine, The Apartment

Melina Mercouri, Never on Sunday

Elizabeth Taylor, BUtterfield 8 Read the rest of this page »