Fall of the Academy Awards

THE DEATH OF THE ACADEMY AWARDS

While sitting around late one night with a friend we had this idea that movie nominations have fallen in value recently, but not necessarily the overall quality of all movies. Good movies are out there its just that people are dumber and don't want to acknowledge them they would rather say that Seabiscuit or Chicago is a great movie. Please. Here is a list of academy award nominated movies since 1980, with the winner in bold. My comments follow.

1980: "ORDINARY PEOPLE", "Coal Miner's Daughter", "The Elephant Man",
"Raging Bull", "Tess"
1981: "CHARIOTS OF FIRE", "Atlantic City", "On Golden Pond", "Raiders of
the Lost Ark", "Reds"
1982: "GANDHI", "E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial", "Missing", "Tootsie", "The
Verdict"
1983: "TERMS OF ENDEARMENT", "The Big Chill", "The Dresser", "The Right
Stuff", "Tender Mercies"
1984: AMADEUS", "The Killing Fields", "A Passage to India", "Places in the
Heart", "A Soldier's Story"
1985: OUT OF AFRICA", "The Color Purple", "Kiss of the Spider Woman",
"Prizzi's Honor", "Witness"
1986: "PLATOON", "Children of a Lesser God", "Hannah and Her Sisters", "The
Mission", "A Room with a View"
1987: "THE LAST EMPEROR", "Broadcast News", "Fatal Attraction", "Hope and
Glory", "Moonstruck"
1988: RAIN MAN", "The Accidental Tourist", "Dangerous Liaisons",
"Mississippi Burning", "Working Girl"
1989: DRIVING MISS DAISY", "Born on the Fourth of July", "Dead Poets
Society", "Field of Dreams", "My Left Foot"

The 1980s are filled with usually of five films being of quality, no fluffy
picks any year. Winners like Oridinary People, Gandhi, Rain Man,
Amadeau,really have omething to say and hit you hard. None of the nominees
are really "talking animal movies" or family "Escape" movies.

1990: "DANCES WITH WOLVES", "Awakenings", "Ghost", "The Godfather, Part
III", "GoodFellas"
1991: "THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS", "Beauty and the Beast", "Bugsy", "JFK",
"The Prince of Tides"
1992: "UNFORGIVEN", "The Crying Game", "A Few Good Men", "Howards End",
"Scent of a Woman"
1993: "SCHINDLER'S LIST", "The Fugitive", "In the Name of the Father", "The
Piano", "The Remains of the Day"
1994: "FORREST GUMP", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Pulp Fiction", "Quiz
Show", "The Shawshank Redemption"
1995: "BRAVEHEART", "Apollo 13", "Babe", "Il Postino", "Sense and
Sensibility"
1996: "THE ENGLISH PATIENT", "Fargo", "Jerry Maguire", "Secrets and Lies",
"Shine"
1997: "TITANIC", "L.A. Confidential", "As Good As It Gets", "Good Will
Hunting", "The Full Monty"
1998: SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, "Elizabeth", "Life is Beautiful" (Best Foreign
Language Film winner), "Saving Private Ryan", "The Thin Red Line"
1999: "AMERICAN BEAUTY", "The Cider House Rules", "The Green Mile", "The
Insider", "The Sixth Sense"

You can see a steady decline in this era of movies being nominated, but
still usually the best movie wins. But come on The Full Monty, Jerry
Maguire, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Babe are not best picture
nominees; they’re fluffy crap. Even Sixth Sense and As Good as it Gets,
come on are not great films, maybe good but not great. Would argue
Shakespeare in Love wasn’t best picture that year, the academy just wanted
it to win because it was easy and every housewife in America loved it;
Saving Private Ryan and Life is Beautiful were better but dealt with heavy
subjects of the cons of war. Movies that should have won: Shawshank
Redemption, Saving Private Ryan, Good Will Hunting, Fargo, SLing Blade (in 1996 wasn't even nominated) Goodfellas, and
maybe even Green Mile over American Beauty (I do like American Beauty but
something about Green Mile is really good).

2000: "GLADIATOR," "Chocolat," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Erin
Brockovich," "Traffic"
2001: A BEAUTIFUL MIND," "Gosford Park," "In the Bedroom," "The Lord of the
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "Moulin Rouge"
2002: "CHICAGO," "Gangs of New York," "The Hours," "The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers," "The Pianist"
2003: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING," "Lost In
Translation," "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," "Mystic
River," "Seabiscuit"
2004: "MILLION DOLLAR BABY," "The Aviator," "Finding Neverland," "Ray,"
"Sideways"
2005: "CRASH," "Brokeback Mountain," "Capote," "Good Night, and Good
Luck," "Munich"
2006: "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss
Sunshine," "The Queen"

Now the majority of these films have no right being best picture nominee
category. It may be because writing sucks and no better films came out but
I own movies from these years that are better but were not nominated.
Gladiator ( I liked it the first time when it was Braveheart), Chicago,
Million Dollar Baby, and Crash are not the best films that year. I think
they probably all deserved to be nominated that year but shouldn’t have won.
Erin Brockovich, Moulan Rouge, The Hours, Seabiscuit (come on), Master and
Commander, Finding Neverland have no right being on the list at all, those
are terrible movies. In 2003 21 Grams wasn't even nominated, its a hell of a lot better than Toby Maguire riding a horse. But then again it makes you think and who wants to think when watching a good movie. I’m sorry but the third Lord of the Rings was not the
best they gave it best picture because they forgot to give it to it the year
before when the second one was released, and that is the best one. Movies
that should have won: Traffic, Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, Lost in
Translation, Capote, Babel. 2004 was a bad year for movies but Kill Bill,
Garden State, and Closer were all better than those nominated. And why was
Ray nominated but not Walk the Line, same topic but walk the line is better.
Ray was the “feel-good” nomination. Everyone in America (except me)
wanted it nominated.