Monday, January 23, 2006
Double Team
I'm falling behind here...didn't post last week. So to make up for it, I'll cover TWO years of Oscar ceremonies here, 1987 and 1988.
In 1987, the Academy gave a big giant hand job to "The Last Emperor," giving it 9 awards, including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. Not to take anything away from "Emperor," but '87 had a pretty large selection of quality films to choose from, and it seems they could have spread the wealth around a little. Hell, classics like "Full Metal Jacket," "Wall Street," "The Untouchables," and "Good Morning, Vietnam" weren't even nominated for Best Picture. For the record, the other 4 noms were "Broadcast News," "Hope and Glory," "Fatal Attraction," and "Moonstruck." I would have taken out all of those and replaced them with my picks. To be fair, Michael Douglas won Best Actor for "Wall Street," Sean Connery won Best Supporting for "Untouchables," Robin Williams got nominated for "Vietnam," and "Jacket" was up for Screenplay, so those films weren't exactly ignored.
Other notable films from '87 that I love (and freely admit are not Academy material): "Lethal Weapon," "Predator," and "RoboCop." And in the wishful thinking department, it would have been great to see Mandy Patinkin get a nod for his performance as Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride." Great stuff.
1988 was the year of "Rain Man," taking home Picture, Director (Barry Levinson), Actor (Dustin Hoffman), and Screenplay. Great film, not much to complain about there. One of Oscar's greatest moments in my eyes came when Kevin Kline won Best Supporting Actor for "A Fish Called Wanda." Kline's performance was absolutely masterful; kudos to the Academy for recognizing it. Notable mis-step: Tom Hanks was rightly nominated for "Big," a role which changed the trajectory of his career, but the film itself was shut out from the big one. I think it deserved a slot in the Best Picture race (the other spots were filled with "The Accidental Tourist," "Dangerous Liaisons," "Mississippi Burning," and "Working Girl").
Another non-Academy worthy release from this year that is a personal fave: "Die Hard."
I may double-dip again next time and cover 1989 and 1990.
In 1987, the Academy gave a big giant hand job to "The Last Emperor," giving it 9 awards, including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. Not to take anything away from "Emperor," but '87 had a pretty large selection of quality films to choose from, and it seems they could have spread the wealth around a little. Hell, classics like "Full Metal Jacket," "Wall Street," "The Untouchables," and "Good Morning, Vietnam" weren't even nominated for Best Picture. For the record, the other 4 noms were "Broadcast News," "Hope and Glory," "Fatal Attraction," and "Moonstruck." I would have taken out all of those and replaced them with my picks. To be fair, Michael Douglas won Best Actor for "Wall Street," Sean Connery won Best Supporting for "Untouchables," Robin Williams got nominated for "Vietnam," and "Jacket" was up for Screenplay, so those films weren't exactly ignored.
Other notable films from '87 that I love (and freely admit are not Academy material): "Lethal Weapon," "Predator," and "RoboCop." And in the wishful thinking department, it would have been great to see Mandy Patinkin get a nod for his performance as Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride." Great stuff.
1988 was the year of "Rain Man," taking home Picture, Director (Barry Levinson), Actor (Dustin Hoffman), and Screenplay. Great film, not much to complain about there. One of Oscar's greatest moments in my eyes came when Kevin Kline won Best Supporting Actor for "A Fish Called Wanda." Kline's performance was absolutely masterful; kudos to the Academy for recognizing it. Notable mis-step: Tom Hanks was rightly nominated for "Big," a role which changed the trajectory of his career, but the film itself was shut out from the big one. I think it deserved a slot in the Best Picture race (the other spots were filled with "The Accidental Tourist," "Dangerous Liaisons," "Mississippi Burning," and "Working Girl").
Another non-Academy worthy release from this year that is a personal fave: "Die Hard."
I may double-dip again next time and cover 1989 and 1990.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
1986- Platoon
The 1986 Academy Awards ended with "Platoon" winning Best Picture, beating out "Children Of A Lesser God," "The Mission," "Hannah And Her Sisters," and "A Room With A View." "Platoon" is an absolutely fantastic film, and this marks the first occasion that I have 100% agreed with the Academy's choice since I started this little project. Oliver Stone also took home a statue for directing.
Not to keep jerking off to "Platoon" here, but I do think the Academy should have given Best Supporting Actor to either Tom Berenger or Willem Dafoe, who both lost out to Michael Caine for "Hannah And Her Sisters." Another favorite of mine, "Stand By Me," was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay but lost to "A Room With A View," which is a great miscarriage of justice in my eyes, as well as those of Gorilla Monsoon (two of you will get that, and that's all I care about).
Not much else to say about 1986. Coming soon, 1987.
P.S. Apropos of nothing, but I went to the movies last week ("Chronicles of Narnia," which was great) and noticed that the pre-previews "infotainment" show is no longer called "The Twenty." Kudos to Regal Theatres, as I always thought that name kind of sucked. Of course, I can't remember now what they changed it to, so maybe they had something there after all.
Not to keep jerking off to "Platoon" here, but I do think the Academy should have given Best Supporting Actor to either Tom Berenger or Willem Dafoe, who both lost out to Michael Caine for "Hannah And Her Sisters." Another favorite of mine, "Stand By Me," was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay but lost to "A Room With A View," which is a great miscarriage of justice in my eyes, as well as those of Gorilla Monsoon (two of you will get that, and that's all I care about).
Not much else to say about 1986. Coming soon, 1987.
P.S. Apropos of nothing, but I went to the movies last week ("Chronicles of Narnia," which was great) and noticed that the pre-previews "infotainment" show is no longer called "The Twenty." Kudos to Regal Theatres, as I always thought that name kind of sucked. Of course, I can't remember now what they changed it to, so maybe they had something there after all.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Back To...1985
The most fun part about looking back at all the old Academy Awards is seeing that some of my favorite films were nominated for awards that I either don't remember or never knew about. Example: Did you know that "Back To The Future" was nominated for 4 Oscars? Me neither (for the record: Sound, Sound Effects Editing, Song, and Original Screenplay). To be fair, two of those are technical, and one is really for Huey Lewis, but it's still not bad. One of these days Thomas F. Wilson will get an honorary Oscar for his portrayal of Biff Tannen, since he got ripped off in '85.
"Out Of Africa" won the big one this year, beating out "Witness," "Prizzi's Honor," "Kiss Of The Spider Woman," and "The Color Purple." I never have and never will see "Out Of Africa," so I can't comment on it. "Witness" was pretty fantastic, though. While looking over the other categories, I noticed "Mask" came out this year also. I really can't believe that didn't get more attention from the Academy. Cher and Eric Stoltz were both phenomenal, and I certainly think it should have at least been nominated for Best Picture.
The only other thing I remember from this year is that the Burger King by my school had a contest where if you picked the most Oscar winners you won a prize. I don't remember the details or what the prize was, but I know I didn't win. Anybody who's been paying attention to these last few posts shouldn't be surprised by my complete failure to predict the Oscar winners.
For all those who performed poorly in math class, next time out we'll be in 1986.
"Out Of Africa" won the big one this year, beating out "Witness," "Prizzi's Honor," "Kiss Of The Spider Woman," and "The Color Purple." I never have and never will see "Out Of Africa," so I can't comment on it. "Witness" was pretty fantastic, though. While looking over the other categories, I noticed "Mask" came out this year also. I really can't believe that didn't get more attention from the Academy. Cher and Eric Stoltz were both phenomenal, and I certainly think it should have at least been nominated for Best Picture.
The only other thing I remember from this year is that the Burger King by my school had a contest where if you picked the most Oscar winners you won a prize. I don't remember the details or what the prize was, but I know I didn't win. Anybody who's been paying attention to these last few posts shouldn't be surprised by my complete failure to predict the Oscar winners.
For all those who performed poorly in math class, next time out we'll be in 1986.
