Top Guy:
1) Forrest Gump (1994)
I’ll throw this out there right from the start: I hate Forrest Gump. It’s trite. It’s as stupid as its central character. And its underlying theme—that walking the straight and narrow will bring you fame and fortune while flaunting authority will bring you an early death by AIDS—makes me want to vomit.
Even defenders of Forrest have to admit that it wasn’t 1994’s best picture. Pulp Fiction had the buzz going into the Oscars, and it saved John Travolta’s career while establishing Quentin Tarantino as a legitimate director and Samuel L. Jackson as a legitimate badass. The Oscar, however, should have gone to The Shawshank Redemption, which is simply one of the best films ever made. (It gets extra props for being filmed in Ohio.)
2) How Green Was My Valley (1941)
I admittedly know nothing about this movie. I’ve never seen it. I barely even knew it existed. So why is it on the list? The movie that’s generally considered the greatest ever made, Citizen Kane, was up for the award.
3) Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Does anyone else have a problem with a film based around an old white woman bossing around her black driver in the American South? Does anyone else have a problem that this crap-tastic snoozer beat out Field of Dreams, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society and My Left Foot?
4) Shakespeare in Love (1998)
There were many good things in the ’90s. Peace. Grunge. Economic prosperity. Michael Jordan. But the Oscars penchant for handing out Best Picture awards to period pieces featuring love stories wasn’t one of them. This capped off a three-year period in which The English Patient and Titanic also took home the top prize.
Anyone who can argue that Shakespeare in Love—which also took home the Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay Oscars—was better than Life is Beautiful, Elizabeth and Saving Private Ryan is a better debater than me.
5) Rocky (1976)
I have no quarrel with Rocky as a picture or as an icon. Along with Hoosiers and the original The Longest Yard, it’s arguably the best sports movie ever made.
In any other year, Rocky might have been the best picture. But it was a distant fourth in 1976 after All the President’s Men, Network and Taxi Driver, which should have won Martin Scorsese his first Oscar 30 years before The Departed.
1) Forrest Gump (1994)
I’ll throw this out there right from the start: I hate Forrest Gump. It’s trite. It’s as stupid as its central character. And its underlying theme—that walking the straight and narrow will bring you fame and fortune while flaunting authority will bring you an early death by AIDS—makes me want to vomit.
Even defenders of Forrest have to admit that it wasn’t 1994’s best picture. Pulp Fiction had the buzz going into the Oscars, and it saved John Travolta’s career while establishing Quentin Tarantino as a legitimate director and Samuel L. Jackson as a legitimate badass. The Oscar, however, should have gone to The Shawshank Redemption, which is simply one of the best films ever made. (It gets extra props for being filmed in Ohio.)
2) How Green Was My Valley (1941)
I admittedly know nothing about this movie. I’ve never seen it. I barely even knew it existed. So why is it on the list? The movie that’s generally considered the greatest ever made, Citizen Kane, was up for the award.
3) Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Does anyone else have a problem with a film based around an old white woman bossing around her black driver in the American South? Does anyone else have a problem that this crap-tastic snoozer beat out Field of Dreams, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society and My Left Foot?
4) Shakespeare in Love (1998)
There were many good things in the ’90s. Peace. Grunge. Economic prosperity. Michael Jordan. But the Oscars penchant for handing out Best Picture awards to period pieces featuring love stories wasn’t one of them. This capped off a three-year period in which The English Patient and Titanic also took home the top prize.
Anyone who can argue that Shakespeare in Love—which also took home the Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay Oscars—was better than Life is Beautiful, Elizabeth and Saving Private Ryan is a better debater than me.
5) Rocky (1976)
I have no quarrel with Rocky as a picture or as an icon. Along with Hoosiers and the original The Longest Yard, it’s arguably the best sports movie ever made.
In any other year, Rocky might have been the best picture. But it was a distant fourth in 1976 after All the President’s Men, Network and Taxi Driver, which should have won Martin Scorsese his first Oscar 30 years before The Departed.
Top Lady:
1941 Winner: How Green Was My Valley
Shoulda Won: Citizen Kane
It’s easy to look at the winners of the ‘40s and ‘50s and claim that Hollywood still had a lot to learn from the French about appreciating good movies. But you really have to wonder…who sat through Citizen Kane and then thought “Well, I guess it was pretty good, but Best Picture? ….Nah!”
1944 Winner: Going My Way
Shoulda Won: Double Indemnity
See above. Hey—I’m all for Bing Crosby/Bob Hope sing-a-longs, but against the greatest film noir flick of all time?
1956 Winner: Around the World in 80 Days
Shoulda Won: The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments was the Lord of the Rings of its era—without the aid of CGI. Instead, they gave it to the Shrek of its era.
1985 Winner: Out of Africa
Shoulda Won: The Color Purple
Two great books (seriously, I recommend them both). But Out of Africa is 3 hours of two beautiful white people who somehow make Africa boring. Can you think of another film in the past 25 years that gave such great roles to African-American actresses as The Color Purple? Add this to the list of snubs that made Halle Berry’s Oscar a too little, too late gesture.
1994 Winner: Forrest. Forrest Gump
Shoulda Won: The Shawshank Redemption
The three hours of Boomer self-love that is Forrest Gump rubbed everyone born after 1970 the wrong way. Too bad most of the Academy was born waaaaaay before then. The one Stephen King movie I can actually watch has writing and acting more impressive than a reanimated Lyndon Johnson any day.
1941 Winner: How Green Was My Valley
Shoulda Won: Citizen Kane
It’s easy to look at the winners of the ‘40s and ‘50s and claim that Hollywood still had a lot to learn from the French about appreciating good movies. But you really have to wonder…who sat through Citizen Kane and then thought “Well, I guess it was pretty good, but Best Picture? ….Nah!”
1944 Winner: Going My Way
Shoulda Won: Double Indemnity
See above. Hey—I’m all for Bing Crosby/Bob Hope sing-a-longs, but against the greatest film noir flick of all time?
1956 Winner: Around the World in 80 Days
Shoulda Won: The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments was the Lord of the Rings of its era—without the aid of CGI. Instead, they gave it to the Shrek of its era.
1985 Winner: Out of Africa
Shoulda Won: The Color Purple
Two great books (seriously, I recommend them both). But Out of Africa is 3 hours of two beautiful white people who somehow make Africa boring. Can you think of another film in the past 25 years that gave such great roles to African-American actresses as The Color Purple? Add this to the list of snubs that made Halle Berry’s Oscar a too little, too late gesture.
1994 Winner: Forrest. Forrest Gump
Shoulda Won: The Shawshank Redemption
The three hours of Boomer self-love that is Forrest Gump rubbed everyone born after 1970 the wrong way. Too bad most of the Academy was born waaaaaay before then. The one Stephen King movie I can actually watch has writing and acting more impressive than a reanimated Lyndon Johnson any day.
Top Lady Rebuttal:
I originally had Driving Miss Daisy on my list, too. But the performances are so good, I let it slide. Besides, it's not an epic, historical epic, fantasy epic, colonial epic, war epic, or about Los Angeles, so it's kind of a break from the usual pattern.
Top Guy Rebuttal:
Seeing as how we agreed on 40 percent of the films, I don't have much of a rebuttal. You're right, Out of Africa was dreadfully boring--although there was a scene where Meryl Streep gets charged by a lion. If you want to make the case for The Ten Commandments, maybe you shouldn't compare it to The Lord of the Rings, which didn't deserve the Best Picture Oscar but won it because the Academy wanted to give the trilogy some props.
1 comment:
Titanic?
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