Controversial Oscar Wins You Defend (Part 2)

[Jeffrey Kare]

#1204330381

I previously started a thread on this topic, but it appears to have been deleted. So I decided to start a new one. Throughout all of Oscar history, what are some wins that you happen to agree with despite them received much debate and/or controversies from people? Mine are…

Humphrey Bogart winning Best Actor for The African Queen
Grace Kelly winning Best Actress for The Country Girl
My Fair Lady winning Best Picture
Paul Newman winning Best Actor for The Color of Money
Al Pacino winning Best Actor for Scent of a Woman
‘When You Believe’ from The Prince of Egypt winning Best Original Song
A Beautiful Mind winning Best Picture
Halle Berry winning Best Actress for Monster’s Ball
Jim Broadbent winning Best Supporting Actor for Iris
Chicago winning Best Picture
Nicole Kidman winning Best Actress for The Hours
Renée Zellweger winning Best Supporting Actress for Cold Mountain
Kate Winslet winning Best Actress for The Reader
Meryl Streep winning Best Actress for The Iron Lady
Jennifer Lawrence winning Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook
Eddie Redmayne winning Best Actor for The Theory of Everything
Birdman winning Best Original Screenplay
The Revenant winning Best Director and Best Actor
Both 2017 lead acting winners
Mahershala Ali winning Best Supporting Actor for Green Book
Three of the four 2019 acting winners (with Brad Pitt being the exception)
Mank winning Best Cinematography

• This topic was modified 12 months ago by Jeffrey Kare.
• This topic was modified 11 months, 4 weeks ago by Jeffrey Kare.
• This topic was modified 11 months, 4 weeks ago by Jeffrey Kare.
• This topic was modified 11 months, 3 weeks ago by Jeffrey Kare.

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[braydenfitzsimmons Joined: May 3rd, 2015 Topics: 89 Posts: 7694 View Predictions]

#1204330386

“The Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre winning Original Song.

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[Shrek Superslam Joined: Feb 7th, 2019 Topics: 3 Posts: 789 View Predictions]

#1204330393

Rocky winning in 1976, with a set of films that I think are pretty much all overrated…

Out Of Africa is actually pretty good, as is Dances With Wolves.

Whilst I don’t think it deserved Best Picture, Crash is nowhere near as bad as a Best Picture Winner as others have made it out to be. Taken on it’s own, it’s a pretty good film.

Birdman is a masterpiece and is worthy of the Best Picture Win, although, maybe, The Grand Budapest Hotel is marginally better.

Green Book is actually a very good film. It’s not as good as A Star Is Born or BlacKKKlansman, but I actually really enjoy it.

Roman Polanski’s Win for The Pianist is deserved, especially when you look at the others in the category. 2002 is full of great films that didn’t get nominated for Best Picture or Best Director.

Damien Chazelle’s Win for Best Director is pretty deserved. It’s the best film in the category and might be the best director (Jenkins does come close, though).

Whoopi Goldberg’s Oscar win isn’t that bad.

Lupita Nyong’o deserved that Oscar.

Laura Dern is great in Marriage Story. Only Johansson comes close to being as good as her in this category.

Jared Leto is great in Dallas Buyers Club. I still think Bradley Cooper and Michael Fassbender were a bit better, but I was almost as impressed by Leto as I was by McConaughey!

Mahershala Ali is phenomenal in Green Book and I hope it opens him up to get more leading roles. In fact, he probably should have been nominated for Lead and, if he won there, I wouldn’t have complained – especially considering who won that year…

Jodie Foster is still probably better than Susan Sarandon. Sorry.

Julia Roberts is pretty good in Erin Brockovich and I can see why she won.

Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone are phenomenal in their Oscar-winning roles and I really don’t get the backlash for them winning.

Denzel Washington in Training Day is easily an Oscar-Worthy performance and he’s significantly better than everyone else in that category in 2001.

I think the same probably applies for Adrien Brody in The Pianist.

I genuinely think Sean Penn is better than Bill Murray in 2003 and gives one of cinema’s great performances in Mystic River. He’s not quite as good as Mickey Rourke in 2008, but the difference is pretty small, so it’s easily tolerable.

I love Forest Whitaker in The Last King Of Scotland. (Not sure if this is controversial, actually – lol)

Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix both deserved their Oscars. Sorry.

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[ReddWhite Joined: Mar 20th, 2021 Topics: 0 Posts: 361 View Predictions]

#1204330401

Nicole Kidman deserved her win in 2002, and she has proven to be a far better actress than any of her co-nominees other than Moore (who was the only one who came close to Kidman in that category)

Impossachievable

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[Joined: Jan 1st, 1970 Topics: 0 Posts: 265 View Predictions]

#1204330424

This post was found to be inappropriate by the moderators and has been removed.

[braydenfitzsimmons Joined: May 3rd, 2015 Topics: 89 Posts: 7694 View Predictions]

#1204330435

Shrek Superslam wrote:

Laura Dern is great in Marriage Story. Only Johansson comes close to being as good as her in this category.

I agree. She’s the best of the nominated five by a country mile, especially without any of Lopez, Shuzhen, Park, Cho, Serrano, Cruz, Lourd, McKinnon, Qualley, Spencer or Blake in there.

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[Rachel615 Joined: Sep 20th, 2018 Topics: 3 Posts: 1459 View Predictions]

#1204330481

Shrek Superslam wrote:

Lupita Nyong’o deserved that Oscar.

I was unaware that this was a controversial opinion.

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[ReddWhite Joined: Mar 20th, 2021 Topics: 0 Posts: 361 View Predictions]

#1204330525

Rachel615 wrote:

I was unaware that this was a controversial opinion.

Yeah, I mean, who did people think should’ve won out of that weak line-up? JLaw?

Impossachievable

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[CuriousHedgehog Joined: Mar 15th, 2018 Topics: 2 Posts: 518 View Predictions]

#1204330527

I’ll third the Jennifer Lawrence pick. Her performance in SLP is great and she absolutely deserved the award.

I’d agree that Casey Affleck was great in Manchester by the Sea, too bad he’s an ass, but he was very deserving of the win.

Mahershala Ali was great in Green Book, it’s just the movie was bad.

I don’t hate that Suicide Squad won for make-up, there I said it. It’s not like the make-up was bad.

 

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[keithw Joined: Aug 17th, 2012 Topics: 1 Posts: 113 View Predictions]

#1204330530

Art Carney for “Harry and Tonto”
Glenda Jackson for “A Touch of Class”
Laura Dern for “Marriage Story”

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[Barbra Please Joined: Oct 21st, 2018 Topics: 42 Posts: 1557 View Predictions]

#1204330549

<p style=”text-align: left;”>The English Patient.</p>

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[FairWeatherAffair Joined: May 11th, 2018 Topics: 4 Posts: 489 View Predictions]

#1204330631

Shrek Superslam wrote:

Roman Polanski’s Win for The Pianist is deserved, especially when you look at the others in the category. 2002 is full of great films that didn’t get nominated for Best Picture or Best Director.

I agree Polanski’s win is a good one, but Almodóvar was nominated that year, as well…not sure how you can’t like that!

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[Diamond Tier Joined: Aug 14th, 2020 Topics: 0 Posts: 5519 View Predictions]

#1204330672

Crash’s Best Picture win.

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[Butz Joined: Oct 15th, 2020 Topics: 0 Posts: 1287 View Predictions]

#1204330678

Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards (and I’m still shocked that this is even controversial)

Writing’s on the Wall in Original Song

Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody

Letterboxd: Ray_In_Bruges

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[ReddWhite Joined: Mar 20th, 2021 Topics: 0 Posts: 361 View Predictions]

#1204330686

Green Book  in BP is not a bad win, just a terribly average and safe one, and the movie is just fine. There were way worse wins that same year (namely its win for Screenplay and all of BoRhap‘s).

Ali would’ve made a better winner in Lead than Malek, and then Grant or Elliott (preferably the former) could’ve won for actual supporting performances.

Impossachievable

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