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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1416 Posts |
 Posted - 02/22/2010 : 01:36:26 AM
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Er... maybe not.
http://www.screenjunkies.com/movienews/10-worst-oscar-best-pictures-all-time
Their picks:
10. Ordinary People
9. Shakespeare in Love
8. Around The World In 80 Days
7. How Green Was My Valley
6. Rebecca
5. Crash
4. Chariots of Fire
3. Forrest Gump
2. The English Patient
1. A Beautiful Mind
Overrated? Many of them, yes. But worst? I can think of a few more deserving films... um... that is, less deserving... oh, h-e-double tooth picks, you know what I mean.
How about Oliver!, Midnight Cowboy, or Mrs. Miniver? And maybe I'm alone in this, but I found American Beauty excruciating.
And lastly, though this is almost Hollywood blasphemy, I really hated Gone With the Wind.
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TVsGrady
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2010 : 5:42:03 PM
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I'm surprised they left off Titanic.
***
"If you really want to irritate a flaming screaming skull, turn him toward something highly unpleasant, like, say, a Rob Schneider movie. He has no eyelids and no way to turn away. It's fun!"-Michael J. Nelson
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http://tvsgrady.livejournal.com |
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RossM
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
424 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2010 : 5:06:02 PM
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While I agree with a number of the picks I have to say that sometimes the Oscar voters do indeed know what they are doing. How Green was My Valley is absolutely great from start to finish and in every way. Chariots of Fire is also great possibly the best sports movie of all.
I fell asleep after about 8 minutes of The English Patient. All I remember is that there was a lot of sand. Probably an awful movie or pure chick flick. Has to be the worst movie to have won the award.
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
628 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2010 : 6:10:08 PM
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To me, part of the problem is that tastes and acting styles have changed over the decades. Something that seems ridiculous now was considered cutting edge back then. On the other hand, the Academy seems to pick a lot of flash-in-the-pan type films. That leads to people realizing, about 5-10 years later, that the film chosen was at best only decent.
While I don't like Gone with the Wind, I can see why some people like it and why it won Best Picture.
Does anyone even watch The English Patient anymore?
The sad thing is is that looking at the years for some of the ones they listed in the top/bottom 10 is that the competition isn't any better. This year's expanded nomination list hasn't helped matters.
I summon Bigger Fish! |
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Ken HPoJ
Supreme Potentate
USA
1527 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2010 : 07:29:58 AM
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Yeah, Chariots of Fire is one of my probably two favorite films of the '80s, along with The Right Stuff. Religion is such an important part of being human, and so few films even attempt to deal with it, much less as successfully as this one.
And Forrest Gump? What the hell does 9/11 have to do with it?
I think the reason the list is so heavily weighted towards recent films (and probably should be moreso) is because, let's admit it, films just aren't as good as they used to be. TV is where it's at right now. Hollywood makes few 'serious' films, and when they do, they inevitably pander to Hollywood's generally flawed ideas of society. Good grief, Hollywood is still making films to beat up on Nixon, and nominating them for best picture. That's some cutting edge stuff right there.
Hank Hill, perusing a waiting room magazine: "I'll tell you what, this Goofus fella is a dumbass."
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niccolom
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Canada
114 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2010 : 2:59:49 PM
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I had sat down and had all my thoughts ordered, what I was going to write, everything. Then I decided to check out the Screen Junkies homepage and related stories. That's when I found out that the Coen brothers are remaking True Grit starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin as the bad guy.
This is just getting ridiculous. Is nothing sacred these days? Can't these guys find something original out there without desecrating masterpieces?
Here's an idea.. go down to the local bookstore, do some research (its called reading) and I'm sure you could find a story or two that could be turned into a movie. Is that calling for too much??
Now I'm going off to cry in my beer.
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo" |
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The Bog Man
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
41 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2010 : 6:17:25 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
...maybe I'm alone in this, but I found American Beauty excruciating.
Second, my friend, and I'll add Platoon. (And Avatar, of course. Cripes, just name a film We hate you real America, but please keep buying our crap! and be done with it.)
Titanic isn't awful, but it's BP win makes confetti out of the Academy's arguments against nominating popular v. "important" films.
www.hauntedbog.com
That is not dead which can eternal lie, I'm just not a morning person. |
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RVHorror
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
531 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2010 : 5:59:40 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by niccolom
Here's an idea.. go down to the local bookstore, do some research (its called reading) and I'm sure you could find a story or two that could be turned into a movie. Is that calling for too much??
I'm convinced that no one in Hollywood reads any more. The idea of picking up something made out of paper and trying to decipher the weird symbols therein (unless they contain dollar signs or their own name) is just too foreign to them. Read a book to make a movie? That'll take days! Easier just to pop something in the DVD player and have someone write down the cool scenes for you.
If there's a book that gets attention, well, Hollywood has "readers" for that sort of thing, who can summarize the book for you. And if you read Nicholas Meyer's "The View from the Bridge" you see they're really not interested in stories, just audience-triggers (Meyer worked as a reader for a while). |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
628 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2010 : 8:02:20 PM
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Sometimes they read but they don't comprehend. That's even worse. Starship Troopers is a perfect example. It follows the plot in fairly decent form, but it didn't capture the essence of the book. My theory is that movies should conform to the essence of the book and only to the plot as meets the needs of the movie medium.
I summon Bigger Fish! |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1569 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2010 : 11:09:07 AM
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I don't think that was the problem with Starship Troopers. Like other Heinlein works, it's hard to say wether he was writing it with his tongue firmly put in his cheek or (more likely) he was really advocating for a militaristic society. Rather than trying to replicate the ambiguity, Verhoeven and Neumeier opted to further explore the tone they used in Robocop and provide both plot and commentary at the same time.
Starship Troopers could have been even better had Verhoeven opten for ambiguity, I agree. After all, he managed to do that in Total Recall. Still, I can't blame him for going the easy path this time. It was a very tough novel to adapt. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1416 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2010 : 12:13:24 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Terrahawk
To me, part of the problem is that tastes and acting styles have changed over the decades. Something that seems ridiculous now was considered cutting edge back then. On the other hand, the Academy seems to pick a lot of flash-in-the-pan type films. That leads to people realizing, about 5-10 years later, that the film chosen was at best only decent.
OK, following up on that point, here is a list of recent Best Picture winners from recent years, 1998-2008 (current year exempted):
Shakespeare in Love
American Beauty
Gladiator
A Beautiful Mind
Chicago
LOTR: The Return of the King
Million Dollar Baby
Crash
The Departed
No Country For Old Men
Slumdog Millionaire
In hindsight, which ones do you guys think have "stood the test of time" and deserved their Oscar wins? |
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RVHorror
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
531 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2010 : 1:34:59 PM
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| Of the ones I've seen (about half) I'd say none. "Return of the King" was nod from the Academy to Peter Jackson for being successful. "Slumdog Millionaire" I thought was a baffling win; the movie had no substance to it (IMHO). |
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BT
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
167 Posts |
Posted - 03/31/2010 : 09:18:55 AM
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| No country for Old men? Maybe? Otherwise, not a particularly impressive list. |
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BT
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
167 Posts |
Posted - 03/31/2010 : 09:22:57 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by niccolom
I had sat down and had all my thoughts ordered, what I was going to write, everything. Then I decided to check out the Screen Junkies homepage and related stories. That's when I found out that the Coen brothers are remaking True Grit starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin as the bad guy.
This is just getting ridiculous. Is nothing sacred these days? Can't these guys find something original out there without desecrating masterpieces?
Here's an idea.. go down to the local bookstore, do some research (its called reading) and I'm sure you could find a story or two that could be turned into a movie. Is that calling for too much??
Now I'm going off to cry in my beer.
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo"
You might have a point, but I think singling out the Coen brothers may hurt your case. Say what you'd like about films like Barton Fink, Hudsucker Proxy, and Miller's Crossing (perhaps my favorite film of all time), but if nothing else, they were unique. |
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hentai_wolf
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
137 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 9:06:13 PM
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quote:
Miller's Crossing (perhaps my favorite film of all time)
Heh. Mine too. There's something about that film that just clicks for me. Great story, great cinematography, great acting. |
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BT
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
167 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 10:08:34 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hentai_wolf
quote:
Miller's Crossing (perhaps my favorite film of all time)
Heh. Mine too. There's something about that film that just clicks for me. Great story, great cinematography, great acting.
I can't explain it. The first time I saw it, I liked it a lot, but wasn't overwhelmed. Then I watched it again a few years later, and loved it quite a bit more. Now I'm borderline obsessed with it. I literally can't turn the channel when I find it on cable. The language, the look, the characters, EVERYTHING clicked for me. |
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Bobby-G
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
903 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 12:39:27 PM
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That is an interesting thing about the Coen Brother's flicks -- they do seem the "get better" after repeated viewings.
As for Oscar Best Pictures, even in the year a particular flick wins, there are many who believe there was something better. |
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Topic |
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The 10 Worst "Best Pictures" Of All Time?