MHS83
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May 1, 2021 at 3:30 pm #1204238486
I know I joined before I got married, so maybe 2006 or 2007, maybe sooner. So many users had a broad knowledge of film history and the discussions were very exciting. Now you’re lucky if someone even mentions films from the 20th century. Can you imagine a thread including a discussion of the merits of Koyaanisquatsi? We used to have months-long threads about who merits an Honorary Oscar and you would see pitches for Jeanne Moreau and Max von Sydow. Now you’re lucky to find someone who has even heard of them. I miss those days, and yes, I do remember Sean Flynn/Scott Ferguson fondly.
ReplyApril 22, 2021 at 2:57 pm #1204215609Gerda Weissmann Klein
I remember watching it live and still get chills thinking of it. Maybe it was not technically an acceptance speech since she was the subject of the doc and not the producer, but I don’t care. It is by far the best. Nothing else is close.
ReplyFebruary 24, 2021 at 12:25 pm #1204059290Random thoughts:
I will preface by saying that I don’t care if anyone’s foolproof algorithm thinks that I am an idiot. If it will raise your self esteem by telling me I am stupid, knock yourself out.
1. A GD user with connections to actual voters in the past argued that from speaking to these voters he learned that one of the reasons Glenn Close did not win for Fatal Attraction is that the role hit a little too close to home for many of the middle aged men voters at the time. Wondering if the middle aged men of today might feel the same way about PYW.
2. In the absence of an undeniable frontrunner (think Shirley MacLaine undeniable) and not just a “she won the Greater Terre Haute Film Critics Circle Award therefore she’s going to take it all”, I wonder if Viola Davis could pull a Katherine Hepburn (1967 or 1981). She gets some votes on her own and also gets the votes of those who did not vote for her co-star and feel bad about it and emerges a winner.
February 17, 2021 at 6:15 am #1204046125Cavalcade, The Greatest Show On Earth, Forrest Gump, The English Patient, Driving Miss Daisy, Green Book for starters!
I know it is goofy and it is not exactly great cinema, but The Greatest Show on Earth is actually growing on me. Along with Rocky, they came along when the U.S. was in a bad place (McCarthyism, post-Watergate malaise) and Oscar voters were looking for positivity. I am even willing to overlook Cornel Wilde’s accent and Betty Hutton’s obnoxiousness. 🙂
Agree with you on Cavalcade. Not horrible, but not a classic for the ages either. Rewatching those early winners recently was really uncomfortable. Made me appreciate The Life of Emile Zola more.
ReplyFebruary 17, 2021 at 4:07 am #1204045910I’ve actually seen every Oscar winning film from “Wings” to “Parasite,” as well as every winner in the acting categories. The one film that doesn’t hold up at all is “Going My Way.” It’s saccharine and stereotyped. The moment when those street thugs suddenly sing as as an angelic choir is the worst scene in an Oscar winning film.
I can’t stand the mumbling. Or the lazy writing. Don’t know what to say? Just ask a question, have the other person chuckle, “Oh-ho…well…” and then get interrupted before they can answer. Ugh that was painful.
Also, I appreciate your reference to a film made in the 20th century. You will notice how many users only refer to recent films.
ReplyFebruary 17, 2021 at 3:55 am #1204045906Since people frequently say how many Oscars a film has won (eg, no one says “Return of the King” won one Oscar), and films are promoted with “Winner of X Oscars!”, I think it is fair to include all films that have an Oscar of any type.
But going with Best Picture only, I have been rewatching all Best Picture winners in order recently, and so far I have to go with The Broadway Melody. Even by the standard of the day it was dreadful. I will also throw in Going My Way. I have seen it several times over the last fifty years and it gets worse and worse each year.
ReplyFebruary 16, 2021 at 7:28 pm #1204045491You Light Up My Life
I remember Thank God It’s Friday being pretty horrible, too, but at least it has kitsch value 40 years later.
ReplyMay 22, 2020 at 2:01 pm #12034959171975 was a notoriously bad year for Best Actress. They were worried they wouldn’t be able to find five nominees. I’d guess Fletcher and the film saw an opportunity and went for it.
Hopkins himself decided he wanted to go lead. It was a risky move. He’d have been a sure bet as supporting but in lead I was actually a surprise winner. Nick Nolte was the favorite.
The oddest one to me is Patricia Neal as Best Actress in Hud. I expected the film to be about her and Paul Newman. Nope. I saw it on broadcast TV with commercials when I was a teen. I thought they must have edited out a lot of her scenes. I think I’ve read that that was the same situation as Fletcher. Not very strong year so they put her in lead.
Whenever this subject comes up my brain immediately goes to Hud.
This is my shorthand definition: If you had to say what the movie is *about* (not just a plot summary) in two or three sentences, would the character be significant, or even mentioned? If not, they are probably not a lead. Was Hud *about* Hud and Alma? Or was it about Hud and his relationships with everyone around him?
Despite the ubiquitous beach scene, From Here to Eternity was not *about* Sgt Warden and Mrs. Holmes. She is barely in the story.
Being the most prominent character of the opposite sex does not automatically make you the lead.
With that in mind, I need to remind myself that in those days the studios submitted the category placement, so any “big star” went lead, regardless of the size of the part. Rosalind Russell could have easily won BSA 1955 for Picnic but refused to let the studio submit her that way, even though it was clearly a supporting role.
ReplyJanuary 2, 2019 at 8:27 am #1202716356Anna May Wong, a prominent Chinese-American actress during the silent film era – played by Constance Wu (or Gemma Chan)
You beat me to it. I was going to pitch her and James Wong Howe, the innovative cinematographer (and second Asian Oscar winner, first Asian winner for an English language film).
For Anna May Wong I can see them condensing her early and later life and concentrating on the 1930’s and her struggle to be cast as O-Lan.
For James Wong Howe, his early innovations would make for fascinating viewing, culminating in his 1955 Oscar win.
ReplySeptember 22, 2017 at 7:22 am #1202220940I need to rewatch Chariots of Fire
I know a lot of people don’t get into Chariots of Fire, but it’s one of my favorite BP wins. I was in high school and saw it in the theater with my two best friends who were both runners. Fond movie-going memory for me.
ReplySeptember 22, 2017 at 7:16 am #1202220939All of the ones I have missed are recent:
The Artist (Have on DVD, just haven’t watched it yet.)
Argo (Have on DVD, just haven’t watched it yet.)
12 Years a Slave
Birdman
Moonlight (I watched the first 10 minutes on Amazon Prime and didn’t get into it. I’ll return to is sometime.)It’s amazing what getting married and having a child did to my social life. I used to see all of the nominees before awards night. <sigh>
I try to periodically re-watch old BP winners that I haven’t seen in years. A few years ago I re-watched The Life of Emile Zola and recently saw All the King’s Men again and was surprised that even though they’re not as well known as others, they’re actually quite good.
ReplyJuly 7, 2015 at 12:59 pm #188922Bette Davis, Dangerous, Davis is as sacred of a cow as any Great Actress but this performance (and movie) stinks to high heavan; every beat of this role is played in a screechy tone and even worse its all played to the rafters; only later would Davis learn the value of nuance
Without a doubt the worst Best Actress win ever by a wide margin. It’s jaw droppingly, mind bogglingly bad. You can’t believe that this is the same woman who gave some of the greatest performances in movie history. The very nadir of acting wins.
I do wish people would stop saying that a win is bad because of who they beat. The question is ‘Who gave the worst best actress performance’ not ‘Who didn’t deserve to win’. Many of the performances mentioned above are great just maybe not the best of the year.
Shirley MacLaine, Kathy Bates, Cher, Hilary Swank etc don’t deserve to be anywhere near a list of bad performances.
Amen to that. These threads become very tiresome when they become
“She gave such a terrible performance.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because she beat the person I thought should win.”
Huh?It’s also refreshing to see references to films made before the year 2000.
ReplyJuly 23, 2014 at 6:46 am #156082One of my minor pet peaves is when a thread asks for a specific number and then people respond with more than the question asks. What part of “top 5” did you not understand?? Well, everyone on this thread has been great about following the rules and I’m going to be the dork who can’t comprehend what “top 5” means.
Like Babypook, I find it so hard to limit myself to 5. Unlike Babypook, I am not disciplined enough to edit my llist down. I tried to break them into tiers but I just like these 10 so much I couldn’t do it. There are many others that I enjoy that didn’t make this list. There are some winners that I think “meh” but I don’t begrudge them their wins even if they beat something I like much better (looking at you Babette’s Feast) and there are some winners (usually eastern European) that I just..don’t…get.
Here are by 10 favorite:
The Bicycle Thief
Reply
Mon Oncle
Black Orpheus
The Shop on Main Street
Z
Dersu Uzala
Fanny and Alexander
Cinema Paradiso
Life is Beautiful
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
