Ah yes, the old "I don't see people quoting dialogue from this movie around the clock so it must be bad or forgotten" logic
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Lets Talk the last 5 years of Best Picture Oscar winners and where they stand now
- Thread starter Anthony Mooch
- Start date
Saving Private Ryan losing has already been mentioned, but how can you forget Forrest Gump beating both Pulp Fiction AND Shawshank Redemption?
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Movies that make more cash don't deserve an oscar because they made more cash. That's like rewarding a michelin star to a chef because he manages to get the most customer's in a day.
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Hoop Dreams not even being nominated for Best Documentary was the real travesty of the '94 awards.
But yeah Forrest Gump definitely shouldn't have won BP imo.
people have been dunking on that ever since it came out. i've never understood it, fantastic film
ah just a lame troll thread after all
it's only funny if the OP is really into it
What a colossaly bad OP
I mean, all of those BP winners are objectively better crafted than the top grossers. Even Birdman, a steaming pile of shit, had a great deal or artistic intentions behind it. The Oscars are not meant to acknowledge the Most Enjoyable Movie, they're trying to evaluate movies as works of art. I love my fair share of MCU movies but I'd be kidding myself if I said most of them were exploring any particularly interesting themes. Giving Best Picture to The Avengers would be like giving a top photography prize to a picture of a cat because people thought it was cute.
Interestingly enough, the only top grosser you mention that is actually trying to explore something thematically is TLJ
I mean, all of those BP winners are objectively better crafted than the top grossers. Even Birdman, a steaming pile of shit, had a great deal or artistic intentions behind it. The Oscars are not meant to acknowledge the Most Enjoyable Movie, they're trying to evaluate movies as works of art. I love my fair share of MCU movies but I'd be kidding myself if I said most of them were exploring any particularly interesting themes. Giving Best Picture to The Avengers would be like giving a top photography prize to a picture of a cat because people thought it was cute.
Interestingly enough, the only top grosser you mention that is actually trying to explore something thematically is TLJ
Birdman is probably the closest a superhero film has gotten to winning BP and it's precisely about a deluded fading superhero actor wanting to be taken seriously and comment on critics. I mean, the film isn't far from what this thread is discussing.
TBH I'm not really bothered despite being much more focused on cinema as art vs blockbuster entertainment. I guess you could argue this spot is filled by the populist awards already kicking around servinging such films but I can also see if they want the Oscars to have a more populist reach then it needs to find a way to show some recognition to the big money makers (which let's be honest is what this is about).
I'm always more interested in Bafta/Globes than Oscars anyway so to be fair this has zero impact for me. Historically I'd have had no issue with Jaws, Raiders, Star Wars (A New Hope), etc. winning an award like this. That said today I'd still put them ahead of recent blockbusters in terms of still being fine films by the standards of the medium as well as enormously successfully blockbusters.
It does feel a little like having an award for best fast food chain among a bunch of awards for best in class restaurants but whatever.
The majority of actors/directors etc are probably going to hate it though and see it as devaluing what they see the Oscar's as representing which is best of the best for the craft not what audiences like.
I'm always more interested in Bafta/Globes than Oscars anyway so to be fair this has zero impact for me. Historically I'd have had no issue with Jaws, Raiders, Star Wars (A New Hope), etc. winning an award like this. That said today I'd still put them ahead of recent blockbusters in terms of still being fine films by the standards of the medium as well as enormously successfully blockbusters.
It does feel a little like having an award for best fast food chain among a bunch of awards for best in class restaurants but whatever.
The majority of actors/directors etc are probably going to hate it though and see it as devaluing what they see the Oscar's as representing which is best of the best for the craft not what audiences like.
By OPs logic:
Home Alone 2 would be more deserving than Silence of the Lambs
Mrs. Doubtfire would be more deserving than Unforgiven
Batman Forever would be more deserving than Forest Gump
Home Alone 2 would be more deserving than Silence of the Lambs
Mrs. Doubtfire would be more deserving than Unforgiven
Batman Forever would be more deserving than Forest Gump
Birdman is also funny (now) considering Michael Keaton's history of playing Batman, along with him now playing the villain "Vulture," a literal Bird Man.
The OP sounds really bitter, which I get, but Moonlight will 1000% be more revered over time than the fucking Hunger Games or Rogue One
Well people still reference Mrs Doubtfire while majority of the population has no idea what Unforgiven is, nor nobody quotes it or makes meme of it
So by op's logic Mrs Doubtfire is obviously much more deserving
Forrest Gump winning over Pulp Fiction
How Green Was My Valley winning over Citizen Kane
Shakespeare in Love winning over literally anything
The award is for peers in the industry to recognize each other. Money or public reception doesn't matter because we're the audience and not a peer. Because they're Hollywood they make a spectacle of it, but when it boils down to it, we're watching the equivalent of a yearly company award banquet.
Can't argue with the truth.
Box office has little to do with quality. It's all about generally inoffensive and undemanding appeal. Nobody has to love and truly admire a blockbuster and its cinematic achievements, as long as it looks just cool enough to drag enough asses into seats.
And the Academia is too entrenched in itself to recognize quality on anything that escapes the norm they usually follow. It's almost always the same types of movies chasing the same types of audiences that get the nods.
But there are exceptions to the latter. Moonlight and The Shape of Water actually surprised me.
Between Avatar and The Hurt Locker, which one's lead actor has had the better career in the past decade?
There's enough alternative award shows that base it on popularity, I like that Oscars focuses on quality, controversy and flaws to the show aside. Hunger Games stealing a spot from a more qualified movie would be ridiculous.
One of the flaws of the Oscars is that winning the best picture is a detriment to the future opinion of a movie. I've never seen anyone dunk on Birdman so frequently until it won Best Picture. Best picture winners will always be considered overrated.
One of the flaws of the Oscars is that winning the best picture is a detriment to the future opinion of a movie. I've never seen anyone dunk on Birdman so frequently until it won Best Picture. Best picture winners will always be considered overrated.
Fury Road deserved it over Spotlight.
But beyond that, yeah more people will talk about movies that are more popular. Far more people are discussing and will remember Fortnite over Celeste but that doesn't make it better if that's what you're getting at.
Votes to determine the single best piece of entertainment shouldn't be left up to the popular vote because most haven't seen those movies, played those games, etc. People can't reasonably vote for The Last Jedi as a better movie than Shape of Water if they haven't ever seen Shape of Water.
But beyond that, yeah more people will talk about movies that are more popular. Far more people are discussing and will remember Fortnite over Celeste but that doesn't make it better if that's what you're getting at.
Votes to determine the single best piece of entertainment shouldn't be left up to the popular vote because most haven't seen those movies, played those games, etc. People can't reasonably vote for The Last Jedi as a better movie than Shape of Water if they haven't ever seen Shape of Water.
The OP is literally the reason why they are doing a most Popular Film Oscar. I also love when people bitch about movies that "no one watched" including themselves. Yet, they shit on the movie anyways.
Best Picture doesn't mean who made the most money, who got the best RT score, most Youtube likes, or best survey scores. It's literally a group of voters watching a shit load of movies and picking their favorite. Is there sometimes head scratching winners? Of course. But to be butt hurt over Star Wars or Avengers not winning is ridiculous. Sounds like the MTV movie awards is more up your ally.
TDK is still the one and only nerd movie that got snubbed a nomination (no chance of winning though). Even the Academy knew they fucked up hence changed the category to add more nominations.
Best Picture doesn't mean who made the most money, who got the best RT score, most Youtube likes, or best survey scores. It's literally a group of voters watching a shit load of movies and picking their favorite. Is there sometimes head scratching winners? Of course. But to be butt hurt over Star Wars or Avengers not winning is ridiculous. Sounds like the MTV movie awards is more up your ally.
TDK is still the one and only nerd movie that got snubbed a nomination (no chance of winning though). Even the Academy knew they fucked up hence changed the category to add more nominations.
Listen, your OP examples are bad. Yes, it's undeniable that the Academy thumbs their noses up at blockbuster pictures and often cater to Oscar bait. I personally think most biopic movies should just be ostracized by the Academy as they follow the same formula and are shot the same way, the thing they criticize blockbuster movies for. Yet, they are nominated because A) no one would ever see them otherwise and B) it allows actors to jerk themselves off.
The King's Speech is not an Oscar worthy picture nor is The Darkest Hour. But, movies like Moonlight, Get Out, the Florida Project, Pulp Fiction, etc. are obviously deserving. The Academy will turn down TDK or Inception but then nominate Dunkirk. Like, come on.
They don't need to dilute the quality required for Best Picture, but they do need to stop ignoring popular movies unless James Cameron forces them to.
The King's Speech is not an Oscar worthy picture nor is The Darkest Hour. But, movies like Moonlight, Get Out, the Florida Project, Pulp Fiction, etc. are obviously deserving. The Academy will turn down TDK or Inception but then nominate Dunkirk. Like, come on.
They don't need to dilute the quality required for Best Picture, but they do need to stop ignoring popular movies unless James Cameron forces them to.
Yeah. But going by op's logic it wouldn't have even been nominated since money=everything.
Reminds me of gamers and how they despised and wanted to be loved by Ebert.
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I really liked Hurt Locker. It is also the movie that put Renner on the map. I would certainly rather rewatch that then Avatar.
Out of Africa over The Color Purple will always piss me off.
I teach a film studies elective for high school students and have had students complete analyses of Moonlight (focusing on color theory) and Birdman (focusing on editing and music). They haven't chosen any of the top box office films you've listed as topics.
Yeah. There was no way mockingjay part1 was the movie that earned the most, lmao.
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To be fair cultural relevance is hard to predict in many ways and neither awards or box office are good indicators for something like Blade Runner and the impact it had. It'll have to be historians that sort that stuff out.
I taught them the about the four fundamental categories of filmmaking (cinematography, editing, mis-en-scene, and sound) and how to analyze them to determine how they help create meaning and theme in films. They then independently evaluated films in order to decide what films excelled at using these techniques and thus would make good subjects for an analysis.
My students also picked some "blockbuster" films like Mad Max: Fury Road, Baby Driver, etc., because they also found them worthy of analysis.
Birdman is the only one of those Oscar winners I've seen. I liked it, but I doubt I'd ever watch it again. I heard... uhh... things about Shape of Water and wouldn't go out of my way to watch it, but I do still have interest in it thanks to Del Toro. No interest in the rest and I'd definitely watch Infinity War again over any of them.
Fury Road not winning all the awards and not making all the money is criminal, though.
Fury Road not winning all the awards and not making all the money is criminal, though.
If any cape shit ever wins an award I'm writing off the entire show more than I already have. Already bad enough shape of water won last year. Moonlight winning was awesome.
