Norlanderon February 25 2009 23:47:54
Somehow while looking over this list I find the reviewer to be an idiot...and thinks that the biggest mistakes were all done in the '90s and '00s.
On page four he puts down Cuba Golding Jr. for his win in Jerry Maguire, with the lines "The love of a narrative usually trumps the recognition of real merit during awards season. Don't believe me? Watch all five films again tonight and see for yourself."
Then he turns around and dismisses Sam Mendes and American Beauty, but the problem here is that when reviewing the competition this still is an well made movie that, that has stood well over time. We can argue if it deserves to win v. "The Insider", but it's not a total shock. It's like he takes his own dislike against Sam Mendes instead of viewing this as a close call: He could have picked Kevin Costner for Dances with Wolves...
Or actually going a bit back in time and taking forgettable performances like Redford's "Ordinary People" who won against Scorsese's "Raging Bull" in 1980. Warren Betty's "Reds" which won against Spielberg's "Raider's of the Lost Ark" in 1981. Point is he could have picked a lot of stupid mistakes, but ran with American Beauty...
Laluuon February 26 2009 00:27:31
I agree with your points. I shared the sentiment expressed in your first paragraph. The main reason I posted the link was to see if you guys agreed with that guy. I'm not even sure if I agree with a single one of his choices - and I certainly disagree with many of his "dishonorable mentions".
I also feel that in the category of best song, he could have adressed the issue that in recent years most of the nominations have been either appalling or boring.
On reflection, I think it may have been written by the same guy who wrote an article I read about this year's Oscar nominations. In it he also devoted a quite a lot of column space to slag off Sam Mendes, saying something like that the fact that the Academy hadn't given many nominations to "Revolutionary Road" was proof or indication that they had seen through Sam Mendes and realised what a worthless hack he really was (or words to that effect).
Norlanderon February 28 2009 16:06:26
Another possibility he could have taken was to highlight the 1977 awards:
Best Director
Winner:
* Rocky (1976) - John G. Avildsen
Other Nominees:
# All the President's Men (1976) - Alan J. Pakula
# Ansikte mot ansikte (1976) - Ingmar Bergman
# Network (1976) - Sidney Lumet
# Pasqualino Settebellezze (1975) - Lina Wertmüller
Interest
