Oscar Travesties pt.1

The Oscars are a global phenomenon, where millions of people tune in to see their favourite celebrities and artists (yes there’s a distinction) celebrate the most voted on films of the past year. Few things can be as suspenseful as, “…And the Oscar goes to”. Here are some examples where the Academy, in all of their wisdom, got it wrong:

2005- Crash over Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture.

Director Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, a heartbreaking and poetic film about 2 same sex lovers during the mid 20^th century went into Oscar season as a consensus favourite. Among other accolades, it had already won Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globes, Best Film at the BAFTA’s, and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It had 8 Oscar nominations, and a Best Picture win felt like a formality. Instead, when the night ended, the Oscar went to director Paul Haggis’ Crash, a heavy handed report featuring an ensemble cast lecturing its audience about the dangers of racism. It’s regrettable that Brokeback didn’t win, but its competition also included Munich, Capote, and Good Night and Good Luck, strong films with their unique and respective strengths. Unfortunately, the actual winner, Crash is regarded by some as the worst Best Picture winner of all time. Predictable, heavily saturated with preaching, and seeking recognition for being clumsily fair minded, the Academy gave it top billing for the year. What makes it even more aggravating is it appears that the Academy voters would like a mulligan.

It all proved too little, too late- and in a telling sign the Academy split the vote by giving Ang Lee Best Director (as well as best score and best adapted screenplay) as consolation prizes. The worst ever.

1991- Dances with Wolves over Goodfellas for Best Picture.

While it’s tough to imagine fellow nominee, The Godfather III, winning, Dances with Wolves is another textbook example (see above) of the academy bragging about its self assessed racial equanimity. Kevin Costner’s passion project, about a white saviour living with a Lakota band on the plains of America has its lovely moments- just none matching the timeless brilliance of its competitor, Goodfellas. Director Martin Scorcese had already been screwed by the Academy a decade earlier for, Raging Bull, and in this year ol’ Marty got a double dose. Goodfellas is one of the rare films where it's actually better than the book (Nicholas Pileggi’s Wiseguys), and its kinetic action, scintillating performances (Joe Pesci would win Best Supporting Actor), and riveting narrative make it hopelessly re-watchable- regardless of what part the movie is at, and regardless of what you’re doing at the time. Not only is the excitement tangible, but Scorcese turns in his masterpiece of direction, creating at least a half dozen scenes that could double as film school for cinephiles. From the Copacabanna take, to Henry Hill’s teenage years, to the coffee shop encounter, to the prison dinner, to the longest day ever sequence, Goodfellas is recognized by more than a few as the #1 movie of the 90’s (here, here, here, and here). Scorcese's influence would be copied by subsequent auteurs countless times, but never duplicated.

Costner (and his ego) would go on to create industry jokes such as Waterworld (who’s director, Kevin Reynolds, walked out in post production due to differences with Costner) and Costner’s own, The Postman. Scorcese would go on to (finally) win Best Picture and Director for 2006’s The Departed, in what some referred to as a lifetime achievement award. It was at this point that two time Oscar host Jon Stewart could no longer joke about the rap group, 36 Mafia, having more Oscars than Scorcese.

1999- Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture.

Saving Private Ryan is one of the strongest war movies ever made, while Shakespeare in Love is most certainly without a doubt at least the 65th best romantic comedy drama ever conceived. Like most “winners” in this post, it’s not about how bad (except for Crash) the Best Picture goes to, but how great of a gap there is between the winner and the unfortunates.
Director Steven Spielberg was already a titan of industry when he was making Ryan, and with 2 time Oscar winner Tom Hanks in the lead, and 11 Oscar nominations, it was a can’t miss favourite at awards night. But in Shakespeare, voters felt that the breezy John Madden directed tale of a young, broke, and muse-less Shakespeare (played by Joseph Fiennes, courting Gwyneth Paltrow), was the movie of the year. As each year goes by, Ryan swells in importance, an important tribute to both WWII and the cinema of war itself, while Shakespeare in Love grows in becoming unremembered. As in 2005, voters gave Spielberg the Best Director award as a consolation prize, highlighting the folly of their collective choice.

2011- The King’s Speech over The Social Network for Best Picture.

Throughout history, the Academy has been accused of being stodgy and traditional, and in few places is this as evident as the year King’s Speech won over Social Network. What made it more confounding is the Academy had already (in 2009) expanded the Best Picture nominee field, from a traditional 5 movies to a maximum of 10, with the idea that diversity could be further celebrated, and deserving but less "critical" films (such as The Dark Knight and Wall-E) could make it into the Best Picture race. So imagine my surprise, when the (solid but not spectacular) King’s Speech, a conservative feel good film with a great performance by Colin Firth, beat out Social Network. With writer Aaron Sorkin’s breathlessly energetic script, and director David Fincher’s alienation tinged atmosphere of creeping dread, it truly felt like a product of its time for future generations. It’s tough to not slag on the Academy for going conservative on this one. Instead of a film that acknowledges the current societal impacts of social media, they voted for one that celebrates a member of the monarchy in the mid 20^th century learning how not to stutter.

2016- Ex Machina over the field for Best Visual Effects.

It’s tough to get worked up about the Best Visual Effects Oscar- what is a surefire way to signify a travesty? But the choice of this particular year is the one that I remember guffawing at, its set of characteristics for what separated it from the rest of the field explicably un-latent. Winning over heavy favourite Mad Max: Fury Road, not to mention Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Revenant, and The Martian, Ex Machina is a choice that remains baffling. Director George Miller’s bombastic and way over the top Mad Max wasn’t my favourite movie of the year, but you had to appreciate the sheer ridiculousness of the film’s playing football with cars and actors, with minimal CGI used. Even if that wasn’t going to win, Star Wars was a strong choice (as usual, although the Academy hasn’t recognized the iconic franchise since 1980), and Revenant and The Martian also made a fair amount of sense. Instead, the Academy voters were blown away by Machina’s characters having half human/half machine characteristics, and gave it top prize. Now if they could make the Academy that transparent.