THE FANTASTIC 1970s…
48th ACADEMY AWARD
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Milos Forman
Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick
Dog Day Afternoon, Sidney Lumet
Jaws, Steven Spielberg
Nashville, Robert Altman
The Mistake: The only mistake is that all of these films came out in the same year…
49th ACADEMY AWARD
Rocky, John G. Avildsen
All The President’s Men, Alan J. Pakula
Bound for Glory, Hal Ashby
Network, Sidney Lumet
Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese
The Mistake: Well, like in the previous one there is no mistake…Hal Ashby, Lumet, Pakula, Scorsese with films like Bound for Glory, Network, absolutely fantastic All The President’s Men and Taxi Driver all in one year! This will not repeat until my favorite film year, 1999 that was bursting from talent of the new generation we have the pleasure to watch in cinema….
AND THE OSCAR SHOULD GO TO…
75th ACADEMY AWARD
Chicago, Rob Marshall
Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsese
The Hours, Stephen Daldry
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, Peter Jackson
The Pianist, Roman Polanski
The Mistake: Anyone BUT Chicago! My heart is with Gangs…
69th ACADEMY AWARD
The English Patient, Anthony Minghella
Fargo, Ethan and Joel Johen
Jerry Maguire, Cameron Crowe
Secrets & Lies, Mike Leigh
Shine, Scott Hicks
The Mistake: Fargo, obviously
63rd ACADEMY AWARD
Dances with Wolves, Kevin Kostner
Awakening, Penny Marshall
Ghost, Jerry Zucker
The Godfather Part III, Francis Ford Copolla
Godfellas, Martin Scorsese
The Mistake: Again, obviously, Godfellas
71st ACADEMY AWARD
Shakespeare in Love, John Madden
Elizabeth, Shekhar Kapur
Life is Beautiful, Roberto Benigni
Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg
The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick
The Mistake: People are putting Spielberg in front. Perhaps they have never seen Malick’s Thin Red Line (1998). Those who have seen it know that this is the obvious choice.
83rd ACADEMY AWARD
The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper
127 Hours, Danny Boyle
Black Sawn, Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter, David O. Russell
Inception, Christopher Nolan
The Kids are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko
The Social Network, David Fincher
Toy Story 3, John Lassiter
True Grit, Eathan And Joel Cohen
Winters Bone, Debra Granik
The Mistake: Social Network (2010) by David Fincher. I have written and talked about this ever since this film came out. There is nothing more I can say. Social Network is a small masterpiece and on multiple levels whereas The King Speech is…well, nothing special and nothing new. Furthermore, all of the other nominees are a class above the King’s Speech…but fine.
14th ACADEMY AWARD
How Green is My Valley, John Ford
Blossoms in the Dust, Mervyn LeRoy
Citizen Kane, Orson Welles
Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Alexander Hall
Hold Back the Dawn, Mitchell Leisen
The Little Foxes, William Wyler
The Maltese Falcon, John Huston
One Foot in Heaven, Irving Rapper
Sergeant York, Howard Hawkes
Suspicion, Alfred Hitchcock
The mistake: Citizen Kane by (at the time 26 years old) Orson Welles. If it weren’t for this film, God only knows what would film look like today.
67th ACADEMY AWARD
Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis
Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mike Newell
Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino
Quiz Show, Robert Redford
The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont
The Mistake: Two words, PULP and FICTION. I understand that people are in love with Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption and I agree these films are nice, smart, and good… although I personally prefer Quiz Show over these two. However, the best film of this year if not even the decade is without a doubt Tarantino’s masterpiece Pulp Fiction. And if anyone deserved the Oscar this year, it was Tarantino and Lawrence Bender, the film’s producer.
WHERE IS…?
55th ACADEMY AWARD
Gandhi, Richard Attenborough
E.T.:The Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg
Missing, Costa Gavras
Tootsie, Sydney Pollack
The Verdict, Sidney Lumet
The Mistake: Where is Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982)?!?
41st ACADEMY AWARD
Oliver!, Carol Reed
Funny Girl, William Wyler
The Lion in Winter, Anthony Harvey
Rachel, Rachel, Paul Newman
Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli
The mistake: Where is Stanley Kubrick with 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)?!
72nd ACADEMY AWARD
American Beauty, Sam Mendes
The Cider House Rules, Lasse Hallstrom
The Green Mile, Frank Darabont
The Insider, Michael Mann
The Sixt Sense, M. Night Shyamalan
The Mistake: American Beauty (1999) is the last time I saw a fair Academy Award decision, however, the fact that Being John Malkowich (although Jonze was nominated for Best Direction), Fight Club, Magnolia and The Matrix were overlooked in favor of films like The Cider House Rules or The Green Mile just gave us the glimpse of what will the 21st century look like.
81st ACADEMY AWARD
Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher
Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard
Milk, Gus van Sant
The Reader, Stephen Daldry
The Mistake: The fact that the Academy failed to nominate The Dark Knight (2008) by Christopher Nolan was such a huge mistake, which influenced the decision for expanding the list from 5 to 10 nominees for Best Picture, immediately the following year.
85th ACADEMY AWARD
Amour, Michael Haneke
Argo, Ben Affleck
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Les Miserables, Tom Hooper
Life of Pi, Ang Lee
Lincoln, Steven Spielberg
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell
Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow
The Mistake: In the choice for 10 films, the Academy wittingly chose only 9 films leaving the obvious candidate and the best films of 2012 not just according to me, but also according to many leading film critics out there. Leaving Paul Thomas Anderson and his wonderful The Master (2012), is such a terrible decision….but to each his own.
Well Lackadaddy Aaron I drink your milkshake! 