Best Picture and Director 1996

[Big Magilla]

Thanks for the catch, guys.

The problem is that the threads don't update unless someone posts a comment. Checking for totals changes after several months is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

[Heksagon]

I was already on my way to break that tie for 1950, but then I noticed it's a tie no more. The master list isn't up to date.

[Greg]

Your list also has a tie in 1950 between All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard.

[Big Magilla]

Ah, so. With Heksagon's vote we have our first tie in the polling for Best Picture.

http://uaadb.cinemasight.com/viewtopic. ... 76#p122476

[Heksagon]

I think that this a pretty good year.

Fargo is one of my favourite films of the decade, and gets my votes, easily. I hardly need to say anything else about it.

Of the rest of the films, Shine is a good biopic that can't be mistaken for a television movie, even if the source material could be. It's true that many of the elements in the film have been recycled a lot, but I feel these elements connect quite well here.

The English Patient is a solid film, even if it is a bit obvious for an Oscar Winner as a historical romance. I feel like not much needs to be said about it.

Secrets & Lies is one of Mike Leigh's best films, and one of the best social films of the decade. I'm not a huge fan of Leigh's filmmaking style, which has probably produced more misses than hits, but with this film it came out right.

Jerry Maguire is one of the best romantic comedies of the decade, although it has its weaknesses also, especially towards the ending.

[FilmFan720]

Among the films that got overlooked, I completely agree about Lone Star being the hardest exclusion. I also fully endorse Sling Blade and Woody Allen's overlooked Everyone Says I Love You, perhaps the most joyful film of the year.

First off my list goes Shine, which I think may be one of the worst Best Picture nominees of the decade.

Jerry Maguire has a lot of good things going for it, including Renee Zellwegger. The film goes on way too long, though, and has too much going on in it. There's a good film in there somewhere, though.

Milos Forman has to be one of the most bizarre lone director nominees in the past few decades. The film is very good, but not really a great directorial achievements and all of the other branches completely ignored it. I'm happy he picked up the acknowledgment, though.

The English Patient is a very strong romantic epic, and one I have no problem winning these two awards...in fact, I probably prefer it to most of the big epic wins of the 1980s. There are other films I like a lot more, and I think the film goes on a little too long, but its a completely respectable winner.

I like Mike Leigh a lot more than many of the others around here, and I think Secrets and Lies remains one of his strongest films. As someone here already said, it does a tremendous job of handling a sensitive subject without ever falling back on sentimentality, and also without preaching at the least. Yet, it also doesn't shy away from the ugly truths of how these characters are feelings. It lands in my Top 5 of the year, and I completely endorse its inclusion here.

To me, though, there is no other choice than Fargo and the Coen Brothers. I think this may be the greatest film of the decade, a funny, chilling character study, thriller, noir adventure and black comedy all rolled into one. I was 14 when I saw this in the theatres, and it blew my mind for exactly what a perfectly constructed film could manage. I still think it is that good of an achievement.

[The Original BJ]

I would definitely disagree with Magilla's take that this was another year of major screw-ups. This lineup is a lot more representative of the best of mainstream cinema than 1995's slate was, with Oscar erring on the cool side with the on-the-bubble candidates.

I agree with Eric that Breaking the Waves is the year's best film. Like a lot of von Trier movies, the premise is borderline insane, but the filmmaker (and his completely game leading lady) just run with this ambitious concept and reach, for me, overwhelmingly powerful heights. I also would cite Lone Star, for me the peak of John Sayles's regional ensemble dramas.

Shine is the nominee I'd ditch first. I think it's pretty much in Beautiful Mind territory, hitting a lot of Oscar's preferred buttons -- biography, disability, overcoming obstacles -- with maximum cloy, and little in the way of invention. I understand Geoffrey Rush pretty quickly emerged as the Best Actor frontrunner, and Shine seems like the classic case of a film buoyed along by enthusiasm for its lead performance, but even there I wasn't overly impressed, with Rush resorting to a lot of his hammier tendencies that, even in such a central role, didn't always seem appropriate. As for Scott Hicks...well, I had to look up his IMDb profile to see what he'd done after that prime post-Oscar Snow Falling on Cedars gig, and the answer is pretty much nothing, which is precisely what I'd expect for a nonentity who basically got lucky this once.

I wouldn't have nominated Jerry Maguire, but I agree completely with Mister Tee: at least one big-budget hit was bound to make the lineup, so why not this one? It's pretty easy to see why this movie became such a success -- in totally reductive terms, it had sports for the guys, and romance for the girls, so there was something for everyone. I do think that this caused the movie to feel a little overstuffed -- it's definitely too long, and I don't think all of the subplots are treated as economically as they could be. But it has a lot of laughs, pretty winning characters well-embodied by the cast, and a lot of memorable one-liners, a couple of which became genuine pop cultural catchphrases. It doesn't contend for my votes, but it's an enjoyable piece of entertainment.

I first saw The People vs. Larry Flynt WITH Larry Flynt (by which I mean, he was a guest speaker, not that I was hanging out with him), so perhaps that unique element added to my enthusiasm, but I genuinely enjoyed the movie a lot. I thought it had a dry sense of humor to it (which, judging from Larry Flynt's words following the screening, seemed utterly appropriate) that made the film a lot more lively than your average biopic. It also sidestepped my chief problem with biographies, which usually aren't ABOUT anything -- this one seemed to have a whole bunch of interesting ideas about sex, religions, and freedom of speech (and whether or not limitations should be placed upon it). And I don't have the problem Mister Tee does with Harrelson here -- he didn't really recall Larry Flynt, but I liked his energy -- and Courtney Love's piercing work was even better. But I will say that Milos Forman's nomination was, in a way, somewhat curious. This movie pretty much flamed out as an Oscar candidate, with Courtney Love and the Golden Globe-winning screenplay missing out, when they were elements I thought were much more crucial to the film's success than the direction. And yet, Forman survived, for his typically intelligent but mostly un-flashy style. I'm glad the movie was recognized as much as it was, but I've already voted for Forman, and he's not anyone I'm dying to vote for a second time.

I think the remaining three movies are all very strong candidates. A directing teacher in film school showed my class the first lunch meeting scene between Blethyn and Jean-Baptiste as sterling example of a certain kind of directing -- it's entirely one take, and the camera doesn't move, but the interplay between the two actors is so stellar, so full of backstory and feeling, and so seemingly natural, that it HAD to be the product of a director who was completely in control of his film. This is generally my take on Mike Leigh's work -- every moment feels so lived-in, and the actors have such fully realized interpretations of their characters, that Leigh's famous process of directing/writing his films reveals consistently unique rewards. Secrets & Lies is my favorite of his films -- very powerful, often quite funny, terrifically acted (I generally fall on the "way too much" side with Brenda Blethyn, but here I think she's wonderful), and full of interesting themes about family, class, and race. (I particularly like how the movie never becomes "a story of a white woman who meets her black daughter," and yet, it doesn't try to ignore racial differences either.) I'm glad the movie has gotten a good handful of votes, because I think it's such a strong film, but in the end, it feels a bit small for me to choose.

I once had someone tell me they could never trust my opinion on any movie ever again because of my enthusiasm for The English Patient. This pretty much sums up how easy it's become for people to treat the movie with derision these days. I'm sure the nine Oscars only encouraged detractors (to say nothing of that Seinfeld episode), but I'll agree with Mister Tee's opinion that The English Patient an unusually thoughtful literary adaptation, and one whose merits shouldn't require tremendous defense. I read Ondaatje's novel in high school, and wondered HOW this novel could ever work as a movie, but Anthony Minghella pulled it off splendidly, finding a structure that brought out the story's mystery (and worked beautifully cinematically, so that it began with that gorgeously photographed desert plane crash, a stunning opening sequence). For me, The English Patient embodies the best elements of epic filmmaking -- beautiful landscapes, meticulously detailed production design, an achingly romantic score, a narrative that spans years and countries, and characters struggling with life-changing conflicts that still only seem to amount to a hill of beans against the wider backdrop of history. It's strange that Minghella's later films biffed with Oscar the way they did -- the director made such compelling versions of a type of film the Academy usually went hog-wild for, even when the movies weren't as strong -- but perhaps voters felt he had been amply rewarded here. I think The English Patient is a strong Best Picture choice, and its director worthy of praise not only for the massive size of his project but also for the intimate delicacy he brings to it, making the film far more than a bloated white elephant.

But, as with Pulp Fiction/Forrest Gump, I'm drawn to the edgier effort over the more traditional one, and I cast my votes for Fargo and the Coens (in this case, literally Joel). I think what appeals to so many about the movie is the strange hybrid between the elements that form it. There's its suspenseful noir plot, in which things keep going from bad to worse. There's the environment, not the big city we typically see in crime films, but the snow-filled, rural Midwest, evocatively photographed by Roger Deakins. There's the wacky sense of humor, which pops up in surprising, often shocking moments. And, above all, there's Frances McDormand's glorious character, Marge Gunderson, one of the most deeply good and kind-hearted characters to ever appear in a film of this genre. I guess I see McDormand's optimist as the key to the film's meaning -- in a world with so much cruelty and heartlessness, there's something ultimately poignant about the fact that the film's criminals are undone by a woman who still tries to see the best in everything and everyone, who can wrap up a crime scene by remembering that she's alive and it's a beautiful day. I will say that I'm surprised by the Roger Ebert take on the movie -- that it was some kind of all-time great landmark -- when I think it's still a bit of a smallish effort. But I think the movie's mix of elements is completely unique and wholly entertaining, and this is a great place to honor the very specific voice of a pair of filmmakers who have made so many terrific contributions to American film over the years.

[Cinemanolis]

Voted for English Patient and Minghella

BEST PICTURE
1. The English Patient
2. Secrets and Lies
3. Trainspotting
4. Jude
5. Hamlet

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Anthony Minghella – The English Patient
2. Danny Boyle - Trainspotting
3. Mike Leigh – Secrets and Lies
4. Ken Loach – Land and Freedom
5. Buz Luhrmann – Romeo+Juliet

[Mister Tee]

The best movies missing from both the film and director categories were, as so often happens, noted by the writers' branch. Trainspotting is still Danny Boyle's finest achievement: a film that started out like a bolt of lightning and never let up; a movie equally in love with words and images, that reinforced the urgency of cinema at a point in late summer where one had begun to doubt its survival.

I'm also with Magilla in highly rating Lone Star…though I can't quite sign on to his overall high evaluation of John Sayles. For me, Sayles is a filmmaker who obviously wants to make good, ambitious, intelligent movies, but doesn’t really have the director's gene -- there's never a moment in his films that suggest the ease of creation one finds in, for example, Boyle, Scorsese, Cuaron. I do think Lone Star is his best film, but only because it's his best worked-out script -- I still don't see any visual distinction. However, I love that script enough that I'd have easily placed the film among the year's top five. It was a shame that, in what was called the Year of the Indie, such an indie stalwart couldn't get recognition beyond another writing nod. If Harvey Weinstein rather than Sony Classics had been behind the film, I bet it'd have made the best picture list.

On a somewhat lower level, I also endorse Doug McGrath's Emma, a worthy addition to the era's slew of successful Austen adaptations.

Milos Forman's nod for The People vs. Larry Flynt was in a way a classic lone director, in that his film had been very well reviewed but a box-office disappointment. But I didn't think it was all that special a film to deserve the slot. It was intelligent enough (a rarity among Hollywood efforts that year), but not engaging beyond the perfunctory. And I found the narrative, even while based on fact, to be startlingly reminiscent of Fosse's Lenny: introducing its heroine in a strip number, watching the couple spiral in some level of self-destruction, and wrapping its legal encounters in 1st amendment fervor (there was at least one courtroom rant that felt lifted almost bodily from Fosse's film). I liked Courtney Love's performance a lot, but found Woody Harrelson's bizarre -- it felt like he was doing an impression, but of god knows who; certainly not Larry Flynt.

Shine was the movie I feared might win in the end that year; it had the painless uplift so many Oscar voters seemed to gravitate toward, and of course it had that attention-getting performance that made Geoffrey Rush a star. It isn't a bad movie; just an utterly minor one. And it comes as no surprise to me that its undistinguished director has slipped back into oblivion in the years since.

A lot of people I knew were very dismissive of Jerry Maguire, and I've never quit understood why. Yes, it was a commercial Hollywood creation, but Hollywood at nearer the top than bottom level. It was quite funny and sporadically insightful, introduced an actress who at least for a time seemed promising, and saw Tom Cruise give as human a performance as he's ever managed. In a year where mainstream Hollywood output was so dire that films like Ransom were actively touted as best picture candidates, Jerry Maguire seemed a perfectly reasonable candidate to fill out the best picture ballot. I'm not voting for it, but it seems to me if you so violently oppose its placement on the ballot, you're as much as saying Hollywood films are blackballed from the slate in toto.

BJ wrote at some point that he liked the Coen brothers' crime films more than their comedies. Fargo seems to me an attempt to wed the two, which may explain why I'm mixed in my reaction to it. I was blissfully happy with nearly every moment Frances McDormand was on-screen. But the rest of the film just seemed silly (until it turned grisly in the end). And the film as a complete work seemed to me to just have no meaning -- or, anyway, no more meaning than Burn After Reading. So many people have reacted to this film with delirious joy that I've tried to watch and see what these folk are seeing…but it's just not there for me. (In my nastiest moments, I could think of it as just two hours of people speakin with funny Minnesota accents) So, no votes from me.

I don't take the Damien "Never-never" position on Milke Leigh, but I have to say that, prior to Secrets and Lies (that is to say, with Life is Sweet and Naked), I'd been baffled by the critical praise he typically attracted. But Secrets and Lies, despite an obstreperous performance from Brenda Blethyn, worked for me. I found its central situation interesting enough, liked the range the film covered with various family members, and thought the final backyard scene -- which sat and watched its characters stew -- enormously effective. It's not Leigh's finest effort (that would come in the decade following), but it was a worthy enough nominee.

My choice in both categories, though (which should come as no surprise to anyone who's heard me speak of it over the years), is The English Patient. I think Minghella's adaptation of Ondaatje is one of the best films of the 90s -- visually like a later-Lean spectacle (those opening shots of the desert!), and, in terms of sensibility, on a par with The Unbearable Lightness of Being. This is an adult love story -- multiple love stories, actually -- grounded in time and place, but infused with poetic universality. I thought the film deserved every one of its nine Oscars, plus one (screenplay) it was ludicrously denied. It's a very rare thing for me to be as in sync with the Academy as I am on this one, and I celebrate that by giving the film both my votes.

[Reza]

Voted for The English Patient and Anthony Minghella.

My picks for 1996:

Best Picture
1. The English Patient
2. Trainspotting
3. The People vs Larry Flynt
4. The Bandit Queen
5. Lone Star

The 6th Spot: Fargo

Best Director
1. Anthony Minghella, The English Patient
2. Danny Boyle, Trainspotting
3. Joel Coen, Fargo
4. Milos Forman, The People vs Larry Flynt
5. John Sayles, Lone Star

The 6th Spot: Mike Leigh, Secrets and Lies

[Eric]

01. Breaking the Waves
02. Crash
03. Fargo
07. Waiting For Guffman
04. Conspirators of Pleasure
05. A Moment of Innocence
06. Dead Man
08. Beautiful Thing
09. The Funeral
10. Mission: Impossible

[mlrg]

The English Patient still remains one of my all time favourite films, and it gets my vote for picure and directo.r

[MovieFan]

I think Fargo is one of the best films of the decade. It gets my vote for Picture and Director.

[Precious Doll]

You can keep your Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell's best film to date is still Flirting With Disaster as far as I'm concerned and John Sayles remains the most under-rated writer/director of the last three or four decades, although he did receive a writing nomination for Lone Star as well as a previous one for Passion Fish.

Ditto.

I voted for Secrets and Lies & Mike Leigh.

[mojoe92]

Secrets & Lies, and Milos Forman