Category: Academy Awards History

The winner of practically every precursor and no Best Picture Oscar, who said AMPAS members don’t have a mind of their own, or don’t they after all? Did Brokeback Mountain lose because Hollywood denizens genuinely preferred a film about contemporary Los Angles to one they euphemistically dismissed as one about “gay cowboys” or was it…

Warner Bros.’ last minute decision to open Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby in December, 2004 instead of February, 2005 threw a monkey wrench in everyone’s Oscar forecast this year. Up to that point, the front-runners had been Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator; Marc Foster’s Finding Neverland and Alexander Payne’s Sideways with some prognosticators even predicting unlikely…

There was never much doubt that the third episode of Peter Jackson’s monumental filming of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy would win 2003’s Best Picture Oscar.   The only real suspense was in guessing what the other nominees would be. Three of the major precursors, the New York Film Critics, the Broadcast Film Critics…

If Moulin Rouge! provided a hopeful sign that the musical was back, 2002’s Chicago seemed to cement that hope.  In its wake came announcements of all kinds of plans to make or remake old Broadway musicals into new films.  Alas, few of those plans have come to fruition and none of those that have been…

There was something for everyone in 2001. There was Baz Luhrmann’s anachronistic musical, Moulin Rouge! as well as  Peter Jackson’s first installment of the J.R.R.  Tolkian Lord of the Rings trilogy; Steven Spielberg’s version of the science fiction film Stanley Kubrick left behind, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and Ridley Scott’s look at modern warfare, Black Hawk…

2000 was one of those years where just about any film could have won an Oscar. The National Board of Review got things started by giving their Best Picture prize to a film that most critics found wanting – Philip Kaufman’s Quills about the life of the Maquis de Sade.  They gave their Best Director…

Sex sells and in 1999 it sold big time, both at the box-office and at awards time.  From sex in the suburbs in American Beauty to sex in Italy in The Talented Mr. Ripley to sex with misery in Magnolia to sex leads to death in Boys Don’t Cry, sex was everywhere. The National Board…

Early Oscar favorite, Saving Private Ryan was knocked off its pedestal by the National Board of Review, not once, but twice, when it came in second best to Gods and Monsters in the Best Picture balloting and Steven Spielberg lost Best Director to Elizabeth’s Shekhar Kapur. Several days later Spielberg could smile once more when…

The big story of 1997 was, of course, Titanic.  It didn’t matter whether or not it was the best film of the year or simply one of the best.  Its hold on the imagination and the box office was enough.  It was good for the industry.  Prior to the Golden Globes, however, Titanic was an…

1996 was the perfect Oscar season for those who like to be kept guessing until the last moment. There was no clear front-runner among the year’s top contenders.  The National Board of Review got things going with a split vote for the Australian made Shine as Best Picture while Fargo’s Joan Coen took the Best…

It’s difficult to fully comprehend what happened in 1995.  Early speculation focused on possible Oscar wins for Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking, the true story of a nun who acts as spiritual advisor to death row inmates; Leaving Las Vegas, Mike Figgis’ account of an alcoholic’s descent into hell; Ang Lee’s much admired adaptation of…

A good movie is a good movie and will appeal to almost anyone of any age, but there are degrees of appeal that age sometimes plays a part in. In 1994 most people were either in the Forrest Gump camp or the Pulp Fiction camp.  The former appealed primarily to the baby boomer generation, which…

For the first time in ten years, Oscar’s Best Picture winner was a foregone conclusion. Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, his most serious film to date, a true story about the Holocaust featuring a coda with real life survivors of Auschwitz, was a highly acclaimed work that swept all the precursors.  The only question was what…

1992 was a year in which everyone agreed Emma Thompson was the year’s best actress in James Ivory’s film of E.M. Forster’s Howards End, but agreements on the other categories, particularly the year’s Best Picture and Director were difficult to come by. The L.A. Film Critics were the first to announce his year.  Those chose…

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde couldn’t do it.  Psycho couldn’t do it.  Rosemary’s Baby couldn’t do it.  The Exorcist couldn’t do it.  Finally, in 1991, a horror film won the year’s Best Picture Oscar.  It was, of course, The Silence of the Lambs. The film, which opened in February, was considered a clear front-runner for…