Best Picture: 2001

[Damien]

Don't mistake my vote for Fellowship of the Ring as a vote against Moulin Rouge.

I love the film. It's truly an auteur work. Luhrmann's style is unmistakable

And a recent example of the Cecil B. DeMille Principle: Just because a movie has a distinctive directorial vision behind doesn't mean it's not going to suck.

[Damien]

For me, A.I. was the best film of the year (and still the best American picture of this decade). Among the nominees, Gosford Park is the finest, although the first Lord of the Rings would not have been a bad choice.

Moulin Rouge, on the other hand, is among the worst BP nominees ever -- just the thought of that thing gives me nausea. The ludicrous and embarrassingly simplistic Beautiful Mind.

In The Bedroom -- a Playhouse 90-style mediocrity, which fel apart as it veered into absurd melodrama.

[criddic3]

I'm so glad people on this site aren't moulin rouge crazy like they are at other places...i thought it was a 2 star film myself.

I voted for a beautiful mind...i think its terribly underrated and it was wonderfully done. Close second was gosford park.

Criddic...would like to see a copy of your awards for all the years

gladly! have not had anyone so enthused by my choices in a while. When I first started posting them, there was some interest but of course everyone here lists their favorites from past years, so it was no big deal. I must advise, though, that these picks, with extremely rare exceptions, were made during the years they were released. In 1989, for instance, I was not yet a teenager. 1990-1992 will eventually be revised I think, as I was too young to see many of the films and I was not as active about viewing as I have become over the years. I use these "awards" as a guide to my tastes over time. It's fun to do, but I try not to tinker too much with past nominees so as to preserve my original assessments as well as possible.

I'll make a post of my top nominees from each year, if nobody minds. I've already listed several near-complete years in Oscar Shouldabeens. Because of this, my post will only contain top categories, like picture and director, etc. and stop at screenplays. Then if you want more detail, I'll e-mail them to you if you're still interested by that point.

[Bruce_Lavigne]

I don't "like" Moulin Rouge! in any traditional sense of the term, but I find myself forced to admire the hell out of the sheer ballsiness of the thing. Fellowship of the Ring is my #1 film of the year, and thus gets my vote of this crowd, but had it been an option I'd have given the Oscar to Mulholland Drive in the interest of waiting out the trilogy, lest the next two installments be crashing disappointments (which, thankfully, they were not; I'm one of the few here who holds to the opinion that the series got better with each installment).

[OscarGuy]

I'm so glad people on this site aren't moulin rouge crazy like they are at other places...i thought it was a 2 star film myself.

I voted for a beautiful mind...i think its terribly underrated and it was wonderfully done. Close second was gosford park.

Criddic...would like to see a copy of your awards for all the years

Don't mistake my vote for Fellowship of the Ring as a vote against Moulin Rouge.

I love the film. It's truly an auteur work. Luhrmann's style is unmistakable and Moulin Rouge is as entertaining a production as any other I saw that year. I don't think it was the best film of the year, I would say I liked The Others better, also. However, Moulin Rouge is a very enjoyable film. It takes a bizarre and intriguing twist on the musical genre but plays it to the hilt. You don't have to worry about be upset by a "sad" ending because they play it out at the beginning yet you still feel emotionally charged in the finally. The arrangements are all spectacular, spectacular.

[dylanfan23]

I'm so glad people on this site aren't moulin rouge crazy like they are at other places...i thought it was a 2 star film myself.

I voted for a beautiful mind...i think its terribly underrated and it was wonderfully done. Close second was gosford park.

Criddic...would like to see a copy of your awards for all the years

[Sabin]

'Gosford Park'.

[Eric]

Perhaps. Just bear in mind that I have a much higher tolerance (and even affinity for) cinematic flamboyance and irresponsibility than you, Dan.

[flipp525]

Gosford Park. Mirren is masterful, Smith is a hoot, and even Phillipe holds his own. My first introduction to Clive Owen as well. Simply put, it's Altman at his best.

[dws1982]

Maybe I should give Moulin Rouge another chance myself.

I voted for Gosford Park here.

[Eric]

Moulin Rouge

Say it ain't so, Eric.

I thought that would get someone's attention.

In any case, the only other movie I could consider awarding from this line-up, Gosford Park, doesn't hold up in retrospect as one of Altman's better movies (in other words, I like even Quintet better). Some distance has given me the chance to forget all the can-canning rah-rah cheerleaders that were initially what pushed me over the edge upon the film's release -- that, and enough worthless musicals in the "traditional" sense have been made in its wake, reminding me that genre refurbishment isn't in itself something to be derided. And, sort of what Sonic mentioned about The Notebook awhile back, it's strange how completely anti-ironic the entire film's tone is, especially when it's using cheap, obvious pop songs as karaoke. But it's completely committed to whatever the hell it's doing.

Lord of the Rings was then and still remains one of the most endless screenings of my life (and I've seen La Commune and Grin Without a Cat since then). As for In the Bedroom ... well, I didn't like it at all then, but it took Little Children for me to realize that Todd Field is an anti-stylist of the Bennett Miller variety. Still haven't seen Beautiful Mind.

So, yeah, I'll come out of the closet and say I think Moulin Rouge is a more significant film than its competition here. But, if you'd rather, take a trip down memory lane. There you will find poor predictions (one in the top six!!), poor writing, and poor attempts to force myself into liking stuff I didn't really like much. But at least I only reluctantly gave one award to Moulin Rouge.

[Franz Ferdinand]

The Fellowship of the Ring and my first viewing of it was one of the most sublime and memorable movie-going experiences of my young life. It is a superior film in a terrible year, and I have no doubt they did not give it the award because they wanted to wait for the rest.
VanHelsing, I think another reason Crowe lost was because he had won the previous year, and his temper (though hardly up there with chucking phones) sealed his fate: the Academy would not rush to make him a prestigious back-to-back winner.

[criddic3]

I'm giving a boost to the way underappreciated A Beautiful Mind, which was a nominee also for Criddics Award that year.

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring was wonderful, and also a nominee for me, as was In the Bedroom.

Gosford Park was a directing nominee, but not best picture.

My list included Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

The winner: Spielberg's A. I.--Artificial Intelligence.

But Ron Howard's Oscar was as deserved as any of the actual nominees in their director list that year, doing some of his best work on the film and getting Crowe and Connolly to give terrific performances.

[Reza]

Gosford Park among the nominees, but I would have preferred Mulholland Drive.

Ditto

[rudam]

gosford park