Worst Oscar Decisions

flipp525
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Post by flipp525 »

Crunchy wrote:LOL, Oscars 2008 Spoof:

(OG: Link removed)

OMG...a spammer! We haven't had one of those in awhile. Quick, someone get out the rat poison.




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Post by Crunchy »

LOL, Oscars 2008 Spoof:

(OG: Link removed)




Edited By OscarGuy on 1203460256
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Post by Steph2 »

Crash winning over Brokeback Mountain was horrible, but equally as bad that year was The New World losing Cinematography to Orientalism. Which I guess is wonderfully ironic, no? Just like Crash, the Academy can only recognize racism when it appears with a capital R.
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Post by FilmFan720 »

Or maybe, it will come from an original screenplay!
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Post by 99-1100896887 »

Holinghurst's Line Of Beauty was my favourite book of last year--my very straight sister-in-law gave it to me. I am sad that BBC made a "tepid" film of it; it deserves more. However,I do not think this book will make it into the mainstream of Hollywood films. It is NOT a beautiful love story like Brokeback. One cannot compare the two.
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Post by flipp525 »

Penelope wrote:
flipp525 wrote:A big-screen adaptation of McEwan's The Line of Beauty?

Alan Holinghurst wrote The Line of Beauty, and it's already been made into a (tepid) TV-movie by the BBC.
Oh, you're totally right, Penelope (I just read it for godsakes and it's on my Top Ten list for the year!) I was actually thinking of the big-screen adaptation of McEwan's Atonement when I typed that, a film I am very much looking forward to.
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Post by Penelope »

flipp525 wrote:A big-screen adaptation of McEwan's The Line of Beauty?
Alan Holinghurst wrote The Line of Beauty, and it's already been made into a (tepid) TV-movie by the BBC.

Perhaps adaptations of: The Charioteer by Mary Renault? The Dreyfus Affair by Peter Lefcourt? At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill? Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg?
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Post by flipp525 »

Big Magilla wrote:I don't think the sting of the bland, forgettable Crash winning over the most honored pre-Oscar film in history, Brokeback Mountain, will go away until another film dealing forthrightly with a homosexual relationship wins, and maybe not even then. As Daryl F. Zanuck said, when he accepted the Best Picture Oscar for Gentleman's Agreement three years after his bitter disappointment at Wilson's loss to Going My Way, "this doesn't make up for past mistakes."

This got me to thinking -- what gay-themed movie could possibly win the Oscar in the future? The upcoming The Mayor of Castro Street about the infamous Harvey Milk tragedy? A big-screen adaptation of Holinghurst's The Line of Beauty? Any prospective film seems to niche to me. For awhile, at least, it doesn't seem to me like there's going to be another such coalescing moment like Brokeback Mountain where the acting, directing, writing, score, etc fit together so well to usher in a new masterpiece. I agree that the sting of Brokeback's loss will take awhile to erase and I'm still pretty disgusted by the homophobic implications of ignoring the most-honored film of the year in favor of, well, "the film which must not be named". To put it in perspective, it'd be like Helen Mirren suddenly losing the Best Actress Oscar next month to surprise nominee Beyonce.




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"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

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Post by Big Magilla »

Okri wrote:
Why are we interested in this horse race every year? There is a question I would like to see someone shed light upon.


I'm curious about this as well. Especially for someone like Damien, when if you compare his top ten lists to the oscar choices, seem to inhabit different planets (I remember in 2001 when his top four had something like ABC Africa, In Praise of Love, Lan Yu...and something else I forgot now).
Love and hate are opposite sides of the same coin. As long as we can feel strongly about Oscar's choices one way or the other, we're hooked. It's only when we're apathetic about the choices that we drift away.
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Post by Hustler »

So much of this is politics, as we know...both national, international and social.
The same reason that avoided Paradise Now´s win.
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Post by Okri »

Why are we interested in this horse race every year? There is a question I would like to see someone shed light upon.


I'm curious about this as well. Especially for someone like Damien, when if you compare his top ten lists to the oscar choices, seem to inhabit different planets (I remember in 2001 when his top four had something like ABC Africa, In Praise of Love, Lan Yu...and something else I forgot now).
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Post by OscarGuy »

I hate to do this to everyone but for some reason all those lists I had in my inbox have disappeared. I don't know what happen, though it does make me mad. I have the following lists from below and from email, but those of you who sent me a list and I haven't mentioned, please resend.

Sorry again.

Mister Tee
Damien
Big Magilla

And please send them by Private Message or email.




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Post by Big Magilla »

I don't think the sting of the bland, forgettable Crash winning over the most honored pre-Oscar film in history, Brokeback Mountain, will go away until another film dealing forthrightly with a homosexual relationship wins, and maybe not even then. As Daryl F. Zanuck said, when he accepted the Best Picture Oscar for Gentleman's Agreement three years after his bitter disappointment at Wilson's loss to Going My Way, "this doesn't make up for past mistakes."
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Post by The Original BJ »

I think Rotten Tomatoes ratings should always be taken with a grain of salt. The yay/nay approach can sometimes lead to bizarre ratings. Case in point: both Mission: Impossible III and Over the Hedge have substantially higher percentages than the (rotten) The New World, neither a good objective measure of the films' respective merits nor an accurate assessment of the level of critical enthusiasm toward them.

And not to beat dead horses, but here we go . . .

I'll hardly be the first to defend Crash, but even I think it's strange that the film couldn't be called one of the year's 100 best. I mean, sheesh, it's not THAT bad!

If Crash's dubious victory can make people care less about the relevance of the Oscars, that's great. The priceless conclusion of the L.A. Times's recent Tony review commented that, "If a Tony can be re-given [to Patricia Neal], can an Oscar be recalled?" That the reviewer didn't even need to mention the obvious film in question provides further evidence that the inanity of the film's prize continues to resonate beyond the (lovable) theatrics of this board.

However, at the same time, I wonder why it's the award for this film this time that has provoked so much continued outrage. Obviously the shock of Crash's win and the likely homophobia that elevated it to Best Picture status leave an incredibly sour aftertaste . . . but the worst decision of all time? I think Gladiator and Braveheart are far more embarrassing recent victors, and even Crash's nomination isn't nearly as dubious as the citations for Chocolat and Seabiscuit. I even question the argument made in that AfterElton article Penelope posted recently that Crash's victory was the most surprising Oscar upset of all time; I can't vouch for this personally, but it seems to me that the history books might suggest otherwise.

To read some of these comments, you'd think the Academy had a stellar reputation for rewarding 77 years of cinematic art . . . and then Crash showed up.
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Post by 99-1100896887 »

I haven't read all these comments, but did everyone know that Crash was NOT in the top 100 movies reviewed last year, according to rottentomatoes? Giving Crash an Oscar had to be the worst decision I can remember, although I could nit-pick and go back to the 50s when Thelma Ritter SHOULD have won something.
So much of this is politics, as we know...both national, international and social. I would wonder about how much a company has to spend to produce an Oscar for their film or actor. It is appalling.
Why are we interested in this horse race every year? There is a question I would like to see someone shed light upon.
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