Best Picture: 1993

[flipp525]

I hate it when the board gets flooded with all these damn polls. It's just obnoxious, really.

[Archie Leach]

I went with Schindler's List. For me, 1993 was one of those years of recent times (much like 1999) that had a strong line-up of films on offer.

[Akash]

Add me to the Six Degrees fanclub. The play is a well written, self conscious thing of beauty and the film managed to translate its text wonderfully to the screen. That one year could include lovely performances by Bassett, Channing and Hunter - and then actually reward the BEST of them (Hunter), makes recent Best Actress years look silly by comparison.

As for Best Picture, I know this is heresy but I've always found Schindler's List to be ridiculously overrated. The Piano is superior in almost every way and easily gets my vote.

[Franz Ferdinand]

This was a great year for movies, but I think Schindler would have won regardless of the lineup.

[Big Magilla]

Hunter, Bassett, Thompson and Winger easily made my list with Pfeiffer and Juliette Binoche in Blue in a tough call for my fifth slot. Channing would never had entered my mind had she not been nominated for what was probably a tour de force on stage but comes across as extremely mannered to me on film.

I have watched Six Degrees several times trying to figure out what the hell is so great about Channing in this. I much preferred her in Smoke, for which she won a SAG nod and should've won an Oscar nod two years later.

[Mister Tee]

Six Degrees was very entertaining, with exceptional performances, but there was more competition that year in most categories than usual. The exception was best actress, which is how I think Channing managed a nod.

I totally disagree. Angela Basset and Holly Hunter's performances are easily two of the best of the 90's. Channing, Thompson, and Winger were all deservingly cited as well.

Thompson gave another excellent performance in Much Ado About Nothing; Winger was pretty good in A Dangerous Woman; and Michelle Pfeiffer was skipped over for The Age of Innocence. It was the most competitive year for actresses in the first half of the decade.

Count me in as a Six Degrees fan, and a Channing rooter. I liked her best of the nominees (though would have voted for Thompson's Much Ado work).

[flipp525]

Six Degrees was very entertaining, with exceptional performances, but there was more competition that year in most categories than usual. The exception was best actress, which is how I think Channing managed a nod.

I totally disagree. Angela Basset and Holly Hunter's performances are easily two of the best of the 90's. Channing, Thompson, and Winger were all deservingly cited as well.

[criddic3]

Six Degrees was very entertaining, with exceptional performances, but there was more competition that year in most categories than usual. The exception was best actress, which is how I think Channing managed a nod.

[Sabin]

Love 'Six Degrees'.

[rudeboy]

I love Six Degrees too. It's smart, sophisticated, funny and so stylish - the art direction and writing also richly deserved nominations. I suppose we should be thankful that Channing managed a nod for such a little seen film.

[FilmFan720]

Damien, whenever we talk about these past Oscar years, I am always reminded how happy I am that there is someone else out there who shares my love of Six Degrees of Separation. My second favorite film of the year (after Schinler's List), it is one of the most underrated films of the 1990s, and has one of the most perfect ensembles of the decade. Channing, Sutherland and Will Smith all deserved nominations, and Channing losing is a travesty. Need to see The Piano again.

[Damien]

Six Degrees Of Separation is my favorite picture of the year, but The Piano is not far behind. Jane Campion's film has such originality, artistry, audacity, and passion that the other nominees seem like wallflowers.

It ain't The Fugitive if it doesn't have David Janssen in it. Remains of the Day got the tome of the material all wrong and thus squandered great source material. In The Name Of The Father's intensity was both affecting and slightly naive. And Schindler's List was a totally misguided, mis-conceived effort, a film that got everything wrong -- from the horrors of the Holocaust to the complexities of its title character. Sentimental claptrap.

[criddic3]

To be fair, not everybody realized how good Groundhog Day was. It was taken for granted as a Bill Murray comedy, instead of the treasure it truly is. I nominated the screenplay alongside Dave because I loved it, but I still regret not nominating Murray for best actor. There really were many terrific films in 1993.

[rudeboy]

At least the Brits dug Grounghog Day - it won both the BAFTA and London Critics screenplay awards. But, yes, it was clearly far superior to any of oscar's writing nominees, and it's lack of even a single Globe nomination despits wonderful reviews and box office is astounding, and maybe doesn't bode well for Borat.

[Mister Tee]

I'm with you totally on the Groundhog Day thing, Sabin. It did figure in the NY critics' voting for screenplay -- tying for second with Schindler's List (The Piano finished first). Why it didn't score with the writers at WGA and AMPAS I have no idea -- especially over Dave, which was not only way inferior, but didn't even make as much money (Sleepless in Seattle was a commercial juggernaut). The ultimate explanation may be that old favorite, "opened too early" -- Groundhog Day was a March release, and the summer movies (Dave, Seattle and Fire) were just fresher in people's minds. (Actually, I really like In the Line of Fire; I thought it was screwed in bigger categories by the enjoyable but less hefty Fugitive)

As for best picture, Schindler's List. Sometimes the obvious is the best.