Instead of going out to review Hitch or the 68 minute long Heffalump movie, Lindsay and I have decided to write about some of our favorite films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar only to lose out to some other film. Im going back 20 years because I was 10 in 1985 and thats when I started occasionally viewing a higher class of film.
I may not have seen it the year it was nominated but I do remember watching The Color Purple (1985) and being blown away. It was a story that I had never heard before about a time that I knew very little about. I was impressed with all of the performances, especially Whoopi Goldbergs. The film also featured a woman that many people would come to love later on, Oprah Winfrey. The Color Purple is not a movie that one can watch over and over again, but if you havent viewed it since the mid 80s, give it a look.
The year of 1987 was an interesting one for Oscar as three fantastic movies lost to another very good film. Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction and Moonstruck all lost to The Last Emperor. Perhaps the other movies were not considered as weighty and therefore as important as Emperor but all three featured wonderful performances and memorable moments. I always crack up when I see Albert Brooks character in News have a case of flop sweat and I can rarely pass a giant pot on a stove without thinking there is a rabbit inside. Moonstruck was also a gem of a comedy that featured great performances from both Cher and Nicolas Cage. The Last Emperor is a beautiful film and Peter OToole is marvelous in it but if I had to choose one of those four films to watch this weekend, that would be last on my list.
In 1989, I had my first real taste of Oscar disappointment. I was allowed to watch Born on the Fourth of July and it had an amazing impact on both my friend and me. I remember that we stayed in the theater after the credits rolled, allowing what we just witnessed to sink in. Not only did the film lose to Driving Miss Daisy but Tom Cruise lost the Best Actor nod to Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot. I was devastated. How could such a powerful movie and performance be overlooked like that? Other great films that year that didnt win the Oscar were the utterly enjoyable and still beloved films Field of Dreams and Dead Poets Society.
I was bummed the next year when Goodfellas lost to Dances With Wolves, which I liked but not as much as Scorceses mobster classic.
There would be more disappointments to come, even though their losses said nothing about how good these films were, nor did they make me like them any less. Among the movies that were nominated from 1992 through 1996 that failed to take home the trophy but I enjoyed immensely anyway were The Crying Game and A Few Good Men in 1992; Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption, which both lost to Forrest Gump in 1994; Apollo 13 in 1995 and Fargo and Jerry Maguire, which lost to The English Patient in 1996.
I mean, come on! Fargo was awesome. It was completely original, had a great script, exceptional performances and was beautifully written and directed. The English Patient was good, but not Fargo good.
Sheesh!
Then we get to 1997, the year of Titanic. Among the other nominees were L.A. Confidential, Good Will Hunting and As Good As It Gets. I never got the whole Titanic juggernaut thing. In hindsight, Titanic was basically Twister without the tornadoes or Armageddon without the asteroid. It was a technical marvel but it was also a melodrama at its heart. L.A. Confidential should have won.
It might have been then that I promised myself that I would see all five nominees, have my opinion on Best Picture, and stop caring what won or lost. It seemed whatever I liked was doomed to lose anyway.
The next year had Saving Private Ryan, Elizabeth and Life is Beautiful, all very well-done and effective films, losing to Shakespeare in Love, which I liked but I havent seen since. The Green Mile and The Sixth Sense were both nominated in 1999 and were both terrific, but American Beauty which was my pick that year won. The next year had Traffic and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon among my favorites in 2000, but I picked Gladiator, which won.
Had the tides turned?
No.
Starting in 2001, the Lord of the Rings movies were released and nominated and were always among my favorites at the end of the year. They didnt win until last year. My pick in 2001 was In the Bedroom, which was another tour de force of acting, writing and directing. I liked A Beautiful Mind, which won, but not as much. In 2002, I pulled for Gangs of New York and The Two Towers, which was my favorite among the three Lord of the Rings films, and Chicago, a film I enjoyed won. Last year, my pick was for Mystic River and they gave the trophy to Return of the King. I knew it was coming but I didnt feel it deserved it. The series as a whole deserves recognition, but that was not the best film in the series.
So, here we are, closing in on this years Oscars. Im pulling for Million Dollar Baby but would be just as happy if Sideways ekes out a win.
Well just have to wait and see what happens and even if both of them lose, theyll still be among my all time favorites and will end up in another column someday down the line.