10 Worst Oscar Winners of the Decade
Two of the Academy's biggest Best Picture mistakes occurred this century, which films were they?
Nobody's perfect, especially the Academy Awards
Looking back over the past decade, no awards show gained more credibility in this period than...the Oscars? Yes, it's true. The venerable organization expanded its membership base, got younger (relatively) and returned to embracing films that would have been unthinkable even ten years prior such as "Brokeback Mountain," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Juno" and "Slumdog Millionaire." Unfortunately, even a entity of 6,000 members has its share of foibles and disappointing decisions. In fact, when cinema historians judges the Academy's worst Best Picture choices they may surprised to discover two were made since the turn of the century. Can you guess which ones they are? Peruse through the following "mistakes" and see if you agree with these Oscar choices...or not.
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupmaria
December 13, 2009 at 9:48AM EST Reply to Commentum.. what about Jennifer Hudson? she was a way worse win than Swank
First you mention that Traffic winning best screenplay was unfair since the strenght laid in the directing and not the script itself, and then you kind of go against your own argument mentioning that noone stayed awake during 'compass'. The award was for the EFFECTS. not the movie, or the directing etc. so I don't see how awarding 'compass' being unworty should be argued with the argument that noone stayed awake during the movie.
I agree with your original thought regarding Traffic though. Too often we see different parts of a movie getting nominations because of the strenght of the movie itself and not because of that particular part. A great movie shouldn't have to be awarded in every category, just best picture. And a bad movie shouldn't get snubbed for partcular achievements just because the picture itself was bad (I'm thinking Australia not getting a nomination for cinematography)
Guest
December 13, 2009 at 9:55AM EST Reply to CommentThe number of typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors in this list is incredible. Can you not afford a copy editor?
honk_mahfah
December 13, 2009 at 10:18AM EST Reply to CommentBoth Swank and Roberts deserved their Oscars, in my opinion. So did "March of the Penguins," for that matter. This list ought to have included Gustavo Santoalalla's win for his execrable "Brokeback Mountain" score, which was in every possible way inferior to John Williams' music for "Memoirs of a Geisha."
Martin
December 13, 2009 at 10:19AM EST Reply to CommentHum... Considering that tastes are (obviously) a very subjective matter, this article should have found his way in a personal blog, instead of a mainstream site...
Should I say that I seriously disagree with some of your so called "worst oscar winners", but what can I say... ;)
Timbob
December 13, 2009 at 11:15AM EST Reply to CommentYou may be right about A Beautiful Mind and Departures, but this is otherwise a terrible list!
John
December 13, 2009 at 11:24AM EST Reply to CommentBrokeback, Brokeback, Brokeback. Is it just because Crash won or would we get this reaction if anything else won over Brokeback Mountain. Honestly, I felt Munich, which won practically nothing all year, was more deserving than all of the films. Now the elitist film community can know how mainstream audiences felt when Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan.
Brokeback's triumph was in it's acting, but that's about it. The story is weak, the pacing is wrong and the dialog is laughable. Don't believe me? Try imagining the dialog being spoken by a man and a woman. Brokeback is dry and overrated when really looked back on.
And as far as the Visual Effects category, no, the Academy's technical branches generally don't see the movies as a whole as much as they see a 15 minute demo reel, showcasing the effects of the film. That would explain why the last three Costume Design winners have been The Duchess, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Marie Antoinette. Another factor is exactly what you touched on in that while The Golden Compass may have been a snooze fest, the Academy, in now way, wants to reward the disappointing third installment of Pirates of the Caribbean or the vacuous and embarrassing Michael Bay, which is how The Bourne Ultimatum won Sound Mixing and Sound Effects over Transformers.
And Swank deserved her second Oscar. I didn't believe she deserved her first (ironically, I felt Bening for American Beauty was more deserving that year), but this time around, she was in a very powerful film where most of the power centered around her performance, both emotionally and physically. While Winslet's performance in Eternal was phenomenal, 2004 was a stand out year where any of the actresses were deserving. To say one was more deserving than the other is just wrong.
As opposed to Roberts, where you hit the hammer on the head with the "box office = Oscar". Her performance was nothing more than a more vulgar version of her typical sweet and sassy character she's played in all of her movies. Burstyn was easily the more daring and powerful of the performances that year and should have won.
Dix Crash deserved the award. Basta.
December 13, 2009 at 11:55AM ESTstormshadow4life
December 13, 2009 at 1:00PM EST Reply to CommentI clicked on this story expecting to walk away very annoyed with the choices.... So I'm very surprised that I agree with every single one of them. One addition I'd like to make...while it wasn't a bad movie (hell, it was really good), The Lives Of Others is nothing but a pimple on Pan's Labyrinth's ass.
stormshadow4life I'd also add The Departed to this list. Soooooo overrated.
December 13, 2009 at 1:01PM ESTAjwad
December 13, 2009 at 3:25PM EST Reply to CommentIf we consider this decade only . . . Oscar is nothing
but accidents. And among them 'Chicago' is the biggest one.
Amanda
December 13, 2009 at 6:47PM EST Reply to CommentYou forgot Oscar's biggest mistake ever made!! Gwyneth Paltrow winning best actress over Cate Blanchett????? Paltrow was so mediocre!! That movie was awful!!!!!!
dan Worst of the *Decade*, Amanda. -Daniel
December 13, 2009 at 7:04PM ESTmatt
December 14, 2009 at 12:28AM EST Reply to CommentEvery one of this guy's picks for Oscar mistakes is totally wrong. What a pathetic piece of excrement. This whole thing is just a petty man trying to still argue his wrong opinions many years later. Sad.
Kat Pot, meet Kettle.
December 14, 2009 at 5:21AM ESTterry Well it's a very, very poor list.
December 14, 2009 at 8:13AM ESTLogan R.
December 18, 2009 at 10:50AM EST Reply to CommentI do agree with the writer's number one choice, though - Crash should not have won Best Picture for the year it was nominated under any circumstances. I mean, I've seen Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, and Brokeback Mountain more than three times each, and I think that says something about their longevity and overall quality as films. Likewise, I've seen Crash once, and didn't really feel like seeing it again. In fact, is anyone going to remember this movie in ten years? Probably not.
Mark
December 19, 2009 at 12:15AM EST Reply to CommentThe only thing more overrated than crash are douchebag armchair critics whining about who overrated it is.
Rudy
December 20, 2009 at 6:06PM EST Reply to CommentThis guy doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about! There's maybe 2 out of 10 he got right!! After seeing articles like this, it always makes me wonder how some of these people got their jobs are writers. I guess this guy's dad probably owns the website or something. Just plain stupid!
Never mind
July 16, 2010 at 1:38AM EST Reply to CommentWhat is wrong with you people? There is just 1 Oscar mistake in a whole Oscar histry. Just 1 mistake is when Denzel Washington didn't win for "Malcolom X." Denzel Washington has 2 Oscars for "Glory" and "Training Day." But Denzel Washington should have 3 Oscars. He should have for "Glory," "Malcolom X," "Training Day." Al Pacino still should have 0 wins. Peter O'Toole was nominated 8 times but he didn't win. Then Al Pacino also can have so much nominations and 0 wins. There is no more mistakes. Everything was correct with best pictures nominations and wins, best actresses nominations and wins, best supporting actresses nominations and wins etc. There is just one mistake in a whole history when Denzel Washington didn't win for "Malcolom X." Denzel Washington is without a doubt greatest actor. What is wrong with you people? Everything other was correct. For example you think Tommy Lee Jones didn't deserve to win for "The Fugitive" over Ralph Fiennes. Tommy Lee Jones deserved Oscar for "The Fugitive" If Ralph Fiennes had won, Tommy Lee Jones would be robbed. And Adrien Brody deserved for "The Pianist." Denzel Washington deserved for "Training Day." If Denzel Washington didn't win for "Training Day" he would be robbed 2nd time. Russel Crowe won for "Gladiator" and he deserved for "Gladiator." That is correct when Daniel Day-Lewis lost for "Gangs of New York." Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't need more than 2 Oscars for "My Left Foot" and There will be Blood." He's great, but nothing special. For example Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, and James Cagney are better than Daniel Day-Lewis but all 3 actors of them have just 1 Oscar. And how a couple of people can say Marlon Brando should have won for "A Streetcar Named Desire?" Humphrey Bogart was better without a doubt in "The African Queen." Humphrey Bogart deserved for "The African Queen." Humphrey Bogart's performance if more Oscar worthy.