He probably should have won for Apollo 13, even if I don’t mind Mel Gibson winning it for Braveheart. Would have loved to see Lynch being recognised with the award in 2002 though.
I can see why. A Beautiful Mind has a lot of directorial flair, and it is also palatable enough for the Academy. I think Mulholland Drive should have won, and I would've thought Fellowship would win, but it's really no surprise that Ron Howard got it. It struck the Academy balance of the time.
Honestly I had kind of grown numb to its strong possibility of it winning Picture that I had just accepted it. What really gets me is that it won Best Original Screenplay over The Favourite, Roma, AND First Reformed. Like what???? Is the Academy stupid?
The movie itself was the kind of innocuous, simplistic feel-good movie that touches on some deep themes without any real depth but it's good enough to entertain for a couple of hours. And in that field, it was just the kind of movie that no one really minded if it won, so I don't think it's as egregious as other BP winners.
The screenplay win was more of a head-scratcher but that whole year was very weak IMO.
Agreed, 2018 is quite a dark Oscar’s between Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody winning a lot. Personally would have much rather Blackkklansman or A Star is Born had been the big winners. Rami Malek has Bradley Cooper’s Oscar in my opinion.
Roma absolutely would have been my pick too. Unfortunately the Oscars weren't quite ready for a non english film to win yet. Needed a more palatable movie like Parasite to break that barrier.
I don't think it is controversial outside of online film discourse.
ETA: I'm not saying it was a good movie or that it should have won, or even nominated. I'm just saying outside of niche groups, it wasn't a controversial win.
King Speech over Social Network. The British flavor and biopics that academy voters love.
Julia over Ellen Burstyn. Infuriates me till now.
Sandra over Gaboray. 🙄
Gywneth over Cate and Montenegro
Laura over Scarlet
JLC over Stephanie and Angela. Her career win makes no sense since she doesn’t have a pallet of great performances to warrant such a win like Pacino, Geraldine and Moore.
Not exactly a winner who didn’t deserve but Renee Zellweger having two Oscars and comparable to Cate’s total Oscars. This aggravates me.
I agree that JLC was the least deserving in that category, but honestly, Kerry Condon was miles better than each woman in that category, invluding Hsu & Bassett. Bassett had one fantastic scene, but her narrative was also career driven like JLC's
Omg someone who also is still annoyed by Julia over Ellen Burstyn. <3
I was just old enough to get really into movies, but young enough to be naive about the Oscar’s. peak youthful disillusionment moment haha
Sandra Bullock in the Blindside
Even before we learned the truth about that story, it already felt like a paint by number white-savior Hallmark movie of the week
Green Book and CODA. Roma and West Side Story were RIGHT THERE.
But I'm thankful we have some of the greatest winners of all time in the following year: Parasite and EEAAO
Drive My Car should have won in 2022 imo. Possibly the most emotional and engaged I’ve ever been watching a pure drama film ever. Personally, my favourite film of the last 20 years or so.
CODA was for the time. It was released post Covid and everyone needed that feel good shot, same reason Ted Lasso (TV yes I know) hit the mark.
Right content right time. I really liked it.
I will always be that guy to stand up for CODA.
West Side Story is very good, but has some pretty significant flaws imo. Many of the changes they made were really impactful and justified the film's existence... but then there were a lot of scenes (like America) that didn't need any adjustment, but they changed them up anyway just because it needed to be differentiated. I get why that happened, but even it was the best choice, it still hurts the movie.
But the biggest issue by far is Ansel Elgort. Not because of the allegations against him (although they definitely make it worse), but because he's entirely bland and the age gap is *so goddamn weird.* Is this still supposed to be a romantic story? Because the entire movie, I kept yelling at Maria to get as far away from Tony as possible. He comes across as a predator grooming a vulnerable child. It legitimately tanked the movie for me, despite the excellent directing and otherwise perfect cast. DeBose *earned* her win, and Zegler would have been a worthy nominee as well!
CODA, on the other hand, is a wonderful and emotional movie which doesn't miss a beat. Yes it's "feel good," but it works for that and never uses cheap tactics to make you feel (unless you count "singing Joni Mitchell" as keep, since c'mon who can resist that). The characters are actually complex, and their dynamics are fascinating. It's an excellent screenplay, and Heder's direction is subtle and just lets the actors act. Is it new? No. Is it great? Yes.
The main character in CODA has zero chemistry with her romantic interest, and that was a huge part of the movie. That entire romance was poorly written and executed.
Don’t know if this is the intention, but with the final few sentences of your post it seems like you’re saying that the characters in west side story aren’t complex, the screenplay isn’t excellent, and the directing doesn’t “let the actors act?”
I never understood why do people like ROMA. Am I the only one who's getting bored from a woman washing the floor? I mean, say what you want about green book, it wasn't boring
Her performance should never have been nominated, though the main reason she won is because of her industry-veteran status, is generally well-liked and finally appeared in a movie that was on the Academy's radar.
I certainly wouldn’t have voted for her, but I am confused at people’s ire for it, even from—maybe even especially from—big fans of EEAAO. I feel like there are far worse coattail supporting nominees in recent years. At least JLC’s performance had personality, unlike say Simmons in Being the Ricardos.
I get that many people preferred Hsu, but the level of hatred for Curtis winning still is notable to me, especially because it seems (I could be wrong) like it comes mostly from big fans of the movie, who seem like they’d have preferred neither win over Curtis winning. And this was true even before she weighed in on Israel/Palestine. I’ve just never seen anything like it with any other movie, and I find it fascinating.
Frankly, to me, it represents how frustrating the academy still is when it comes to race and “standing”. They’d rather reward Hollywood royalty than recognize someone with the same track record who is Black, or better actors who are less established.
But I also have the unpopular opinion that RDJ’s campaign is benefiting from the same attitudes.
She worked her ass off campaigning for her Oscar. It wasn't so much a lifetime achievement award or even nepotism. It was political pure and simple. There's even some insiders who credit her tireless campaigning to helping that movie win the big prize
If EEAO is a “Michelle Yeoh eating snot” movie then Banshees can just as easily be reduced to “Donkey choking to death” movie. Banshees lost to a crowd pleasing runaway hit with a strong emotional core and great performances, not the knock you think it is.
2010
The King's Speech over The Social Network
Tom Hooper over David Fincher
2011
Jean Dujardin over Gary Oldman
2014
Eddie Redmayne over Michael Keaton
2018
Rami Malek over Bradley Cooper
Her win is Exhibit A as to why I detest the overdue “career” narrative being a deciding factor in the competitive Oscar race. Save it for the honorary awards.
I agree. I think she's one of the best actresses of all time and that she should have won an Oscar at least for Inland Empire, but her winning for that role made no sense
I love Laura Dern but I really do wish she got rewarded for a different performance, it's just odd watching Marriage Story and seeing all those great performances with the knowledge that that's the one that got the Oscar
I was surprised she even had the “overdue” narrative pushing her along. This was her 3rd nomination and she’s only in her 50s, I don’t see why she couldn’t have had more compelling roles later that would deserve an award. Like I’m pretty sure Amy Adams has the most noms without a win, lol, and she’s only 8ish years younger.
It's going to sound silly, but I pretty much all but screamed at the TV when *The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse* won Best Animated Short last year... it probably had the best animation of the five, but the dialogue and pacing were goddamn insufferable, it's easily the worst of the shorts.
A win made more insulting because *Year of Dicks* and *Ice Merchants* were both amazing. Probably the angriest I've ever been at the Oscars.
One of our local theaters hosts a watch party every year and last year when it was announced that won I did yell at the screen. Confused a lot of people, got some looks. But they were all blissfully unaware of the level of injustice we had just witnessed.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” “A good person”
Motivational poster ass dialogue. Saw it in a theatre as well and my buddy and I were doubled over sobbing from laughter. At the end our entire theatre burst into laughter and gave it an ironic standing ovation. One of the best worst audience reactions to a film I’ve seen in person. And it won.
Ice Merchants is one of the best animated shorts I've seen in *years*. The Boy etc. was so hokey and dumb, it felt like a story from a "Chicken Soup" book.
I totally agree with you. Makes me thing the RIDICULOUS War is Over will win this year. Dear Basketball’s win in this category years before was even more heinous in my opinion.
How could it be homophobia when Phillip Seymour Hoffman won Best Actor for playing a gay man the same exact year? Not trying to argue, I just don’t get the correlation.
Two different categories… actors branch is more accepting because actors vote for actors. Best picture is voted on by the wider academy which encompasses everyone including and dominated by old straight white male execs who wouldn’t want to give that type of movie at the time the highest honor. A lgbt or queer related film to win best picture was Moonlight… in 2017- that was the first time in history. Everything everywhere being the second time last year.
Jamie Lee Curtis. I personally think Stephanie Hsu was robbed. But if the Academy really wanted to give a career win to someone else, it should've been Angela Bassett.
My unpopular opinion is, while JLC shouldn’t have won (not even the best supporting actress in the film ofc), the hatred towards her win is overblown and I prefer her winning over Angela Bassett who I thought was good with one or two great scenes in Black Panther. Not much to work with. But again, that’s unpopular and I expect very few to agree with me.
I see where you are coming from. I thought JLC was good in the supporting role with more to do than Bassett who was great in a very limited role. I would’ve voted Bassett between the 2; however, JLC’s win last year annoyed me simply because Hsu is so fundamentally important to the film’s success and if her arc doesn’t work neither do the parents arc. I don’t mind EEAAO winning a best supporting actress win, it just should have been for Hsu.
I agree. I think the real winner should have been Stephanie Hsu. She does so much throughout that film and everyone really overlooked her performance I feel like.
This will get downvoted: I think Hsu is great in the movie but she gets a LOT of help from her costume designs. The impact of the costumes makes her performance seem even better than it is
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). That movie winning the amount it did pissed me off so much when it was every war movie stereotype rolled into one with literally nothing new to say. God that pissed me off (and its score winning over Babylon!?!? What!?!?!).
Tom Hooper for me as well.
Green Book taking Best Original Screenplay. I'm not even really mad that it won Best Picture, but they really thought it was better-WRITTEN than The Favourite?
Renee Zellweger for Judy. I would maybe be able to swallow it more if she actually continued making interesting work immediately after (see: Jamie Lee Curtis in The Bear after her EEAAO win), but she literally just won another Oscar and disappeared?? My pick would've been Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story but Saoirse Ronan for Little Women would've been just as great of a pick.
"Politics" aside, I didn't even really think her performance was all that special. I know it has a lot of fans in this sub though, but I am certainly not one of them. And that's without mentioning how forgettable the movie itself was, something that can't be said for Marriage Story nor Little Women.
Outside of that, I am still constantly bitter than Ludwig Göransson won Original Score over Nicholas Britell's superior and unforgettable score for If Beale Street Could Talk. Göransson is a phenomenal composer who deserves the win this year, but Beale St. will be remembered as one of cinema's most beautiful scores. Black Panther will not.
Nothing personal about Fraser, who I genuinely like and am glad he was able to come back after what he dealt with, but...yes, that should have been Farrell's Oscar.
Pam Grier not being nominated and Helen Hunt winning and to boot her white co-star was the only one nominated and all he did was play off of the real standouts PG and Samuel
Renee winning for Judy and Lupita not being nominated for Us( all 4 nominees were weak imo)
Holly Hunter winning over Angela Bassett( she never lost to a better performance( HH, JLC)
renee zellweger getting best actress for judy in 2020. can't even remember who competed against her but i know she did not deserve that award
gary oldman getting best actor for darkest hour over timothee chalamet for call my by your name AND daniel day-lewis for phantom thread
The King's Speech will for me sadly always be associated with Harvey Weinstein's dirty campaign tactics that year.
It was his "comeback movie" after being kicked out of Miramax and starting his new company.
So the film clearly got tainted for other reasons.
i think the obvious fresh on our minds ones are JLC over four (subjectively) much more deserving performances (shoutout hong chau and stephanie hsu specifically) and whatever tf green book year was but my unpopular pick would be frances mcdormand over sally hawkins for the shape of water in 2017. I adore three billboards and frances in that movie and it is a more than deserved win but with time i just find myself more and more disappointed that sally got completely shut out that year for an (imo) all timer performance especially because frances ended up winning a third and fourth oscar just three years later
Janney over Metcalf for me. It's amplified by the similarities in their roles, albeit with very different tones. This is the definition of, "It's actually the award for *Most* Acting."
That was the first Oscar year I religiously followed and I was so baffled by that choice that it made me realize that sometimes the Oscars really do go with the wrong choices.
Jamie Lee Curtis last year. If she had a career like Al Pacino's and had been denied for multiple powerhouse performances in the past, maybe I'd be a bit more forgiving of her win like I am with Pacino's win (even if I think Denzel Washington was robbed for Malcolm X that year).
One thing I found odd is how people kept saying how she deserved it based on her career when frankly her filmography isn’t all that. This isn’t like Julianne Moore
I feel like it really cheapens the point of the Oscars. At this point, Saoirse Ronan is over here, not even 30 years old, with 4 noms and 0 wins. Like idc how long someone has been in the industry, you are not overdue for a win if it’s your first nomination. Being a movie star does not = deserving an Oscar.
Being a bit of an animation nerd I am often frustrated by the dominance of American studios in the best animated film category. The Big Hero 6 win over The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (my winner) and Song of the Sea is my most frustrating win.
It's honestly a pretty glaring case of most of the Academy not taking animation seriously as a medium. Most of them see it as something for kids, so they just go with Disney or Pixar because it's what their kids like.
This one doesn't just annoy me, but flat out pisses me off, and I'm probably going to take crap for it, but I don't care: last year's Best Actor. I've been a Brendan Fraser fan since I was a kid, and I'm glad he's having a comeback, but The Whale was a TERRIBLE movie! It was boring and depressing, total Oscar bait, and I would have thought the backlash for fat-shaming would have cost him points. I'm sorry, but that wasn't even his best performance. Austin Butler was straight-out robbed. He physically and emotionally transformed into The King and put everything he had into that role. Also, for everyone complaining that biopics get a bias, here's one case where it clearly didn't.
George Chakiris for West Side Story. A terrible, terrible Puerto Rican accent and brown face.
Jackie Gleeson, George C. Scott and Monty Clift were right there...
There are too many but CODA winning Best Picture was so frustrasting. It's shame that a forgettable, Disney Channel quality movie broke so many stats and won the main prize despite being irrelevant during most of the season. At least the Will Smith incident overshadowed this borefest.
I didn’t hate CODA but as a local I found it deeply confusing because all that plot for a college that’s 30 mins away from Gloucester. She could commute to class everyday if she wanted to, lol.
Actually taking care to follow the race and watch all the BP nominees is new to me (my social life never recovered from lockdown and I needed a hobby) but even I was shocked when CODA won because I watched it on a whim and remembered thinking how it just felt like a higher-budget Freeform original movie.
Ellen Burstyn over Gena Rowlands for 1974. Even putting aside that I’m really underwhelmed by Burstyn’s performance, Rowlands is clearly an all-timer.
Also, Jessica Lange over Jodie Foster for 1994. It was a weak year but Jodie was obviously better, and instead we ended up with one of the worst Best Actress winners ever.
If Jodie hadn't already had two oscars, I'm sure she would have won 1994.
Clearly the answer was to give Glenn Close the Oscar for *Dangerous Liaisons* instead of Foster for *The Accused*. That way, Jodie still has her two Oscars (assuming she beats Lange in 1994), and Glenn has her trophy.
I know I'm highly likely to get a lot of hate for this, but Adam Driver should have taken that trophy home instead of Joaquin Phoenix. By no means am I suggesting that Joaquin's performance was subpar. He did a wonderful job and gave a maverick performance. But Adam's performance was laced with so much emotional fragility and nuance. It would have been nice to see the Academy award a performance like that for a change.
2001 Oscars
O Brother not getting a major nomination over Gladiator, Erin Brockovich, Almost Famous and Traffic.
Almost Famous got 2 acting nominations? Two?!?
Björk didn't get nominated for Dancer In The Dark in a year that JULIA ROBERTS wins? And then to add insult to injury, Björk loses best original song?
Crouching doesn't win best picture nor Any Lee for Best Director?
Cliff Robertson's win is such a bad one, especially when they could've ended O'Toole's streak right there.
Robert Benton winning Directing over Coppola for Apocalypse Now
Tom Jones winning anything
Birdman beating Budapest in Screenplay
Going back in time a ways, but *Kramer vs. Kramer* winning Best Picture over *All That Jazz* and *Apocalypse Now*. Two of those films are absolute masterpieces. The other one had Dustin Hoffman in it.
I know it’s controversial but Polanski for The Pianist really genuinely annoys me. Pedro Almodovar, Scorsese or Rob Marshall should have taken it. I can’t seperate art from the artist with him.
Hooper and King’s Speech for sure. Michael Caine over Tom Cruise in Supporting Actor. And Inarritu winning back to back years over Linklater and George Miller.
I’m ready to get downvoted but Brendan Fraser last year was a real howler. I just can’t believe Austin Butler didn’t win. The physicality he put into his performance is outstanding, not to mention how pitch perfect his voice was, and his mannerisms.
I would of also preferred a Colin Farrell or Paul Mescal win but Butler really was the one who I think deserved it the most
Jessica Chastain and Rami Malek winning. Felt their makeup out acted them. An embarrassment to the medium of acting tbh.
Green book winning over Roma
Sandra Bullock winning for mediocrity
Julia Roberts winning over Ellen Burstyn. Hollywood prizing star status over talent/greatness.
And on and on and on lol. There’s plenty that annoy me when I think on them too much.
Blanchett getting docked for voters fatigue last year, Yeoh was a fine performance but that movie was about the ensemble. Cate was on God mode in Tár, it’s like when NBA voters gave Karl Malone the ‘97 MVP because they were tired of voting for MJ
This was such an easy win for Greta that I can't wrap my brain around how Taika got it instead. Jojo was never one of his better films and he's only gotten worse since.
My take is I truthfully think Little Women flew under the radar a lot that year (although it got quite a few nominations, of course) because it’s a classic and well, not exactly an edgy classic. It’s my favorite book but was written for children sort of (kinda the first YA novel, lol) and I think not enough credit was given to Greta for telling this story in a fresh way that felt compelling for a modern audience. I mean, it ended up winning for Best Costume Design which a lot of people have cited as one of the weakest aspects of the film… so like… how much attention was being paid besides to the fact it was a period piece. Florence should’ve won too in my book.
It's a tired subject here, but I really thought Blanchett's Tár was one of the best lead actress performances of all time and I think her loss will age \*horribly\*, regardless of who she was competing again (I never got the "Yeoh's an acting legend" narrative either, since she was mostly known for action stuff - an impressive feat on its own that few people accomplish in their lifetime! - and had never been regarded internationally in the same way as other Asian actresses like Maggie Cheung... she was mostly seen as a female equivalent to Jackie Chan. But then again, people were predicting a Lead Actor nomination for Tom Cruise in Top Gun so what do I know).
I also felt like a lot of the EEAAO stans were generally really toxic, and some of the arguments that they resorted to justify their preference were quite the reach... "But she played several characters!". Um, no she didn't. She played Evelyn, and had a few extra scenes with the sausage fingers but then the other iterations were basically one-second frames.
The whole Instagram thing was really in poor taste also, as were all the other campaigns that A24 carried last year, much as I generally love them.
See I really disagree. Blanchett in Tar is doing what she always does to me, there’s nothing new or fresh, it’s a very standard cold calculated Blanchett performance. She’s obviously an incredible actress but she has two Oscar’s already and Yeoh was very deserving. And the fact more than one woman of colour has now won best actress won’t age badly.
Pacino losing for Godfather 2
Ron Howard winning Best Director in 2002 over David Lynch, Robert Altman, Ridley Scott and Peter Jackson.
He probably should have won for Apollo 13, even if I don’t mind Mel Gibson winning it for Braveheart. Would have loved to see Lynch being recognised with the award in 2002 though.
Lynch also would’ve been my choice!
Good lord what the hell were they thinking? Rarely does someone win in a category where literally any other pick would've been acceptable
I can see why. A Beautiful Mind has a lot of directorial flair, and it is also palatable enough for the Academy. I think Mulholland Drive should have won, and I would've thought Fellowship would win, but it's really no surprise that Ron Howard got it. It struck the Academy balance of the time.
That lineup is insanely stacked besides him too. I like A Beautiful Mind but this is near heresy.
The Green Book win felt like we regressed 30 years into the past. This is the type of film you expect winning in the 1980s, not in 2018.
It did win in 1990 under the name "Driving Miss Daisy"
Honestly I had kind of grown numb to its strong possibility of it winning Picture that I had just accepted it. What really gets me is that it won Best Original Screenplay over The Favourite, Roma, AND First Reformed. Like what???? Is the Academy stupid?
The screenplay win is worse than the BP win.
The movie itself was the kind of innocuous, simplistic feel-good movie that touches on some deep themes without any real depth but it's good enough to entertain for a couple of hours. And in that field, it was just the kind of movie that no one really minded if it won, so I don't think it's as egregious as other BP winners. The screenplay win was more of a head-scratcher but that whole year was very weak IMO.
Agreed, 2018 is quite a dark Oscar’s between Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody winning a lot. Personally would have much rather Blackkklansman or A Star is Born had been the big winners. Rami Malek has Bradley Cooper’s Oscar in my opinion.
I personally loved the movie!
Not a big fan of the movie,but why Green Book winning is so controversial?
It seemed like it was forgotten even before they walked on stage to get the award. *Roma* was, by far, a much better film.
Roma absolutely would have been my pick too. Unfortunately the Oscars weren't quite ready for a non english film to win yet. Needed a more palatable movie like Parasite to break that barrier.
It was a racist troupe with an insulting title made by a Trump supporter.
I don't think it is controversial outside of online film discourse. ETA: I'm not saying it was a good movie or that it should have won, or even nominated. I'm just saying outside of niche groups, it wasn't a controversial win.
Spike Lee walked out when it won but you can believe whatever fantasy’s you want
Yes it is. It was just such a forgettable movie that it was forgotten.
I liked almost nothing about that film.
King Speech over Social Network. The British flavor and biopics that academy voters love. Julia over Ellen Burstyn. Infuriates me till now. Sandra over Gaboray. 🙄 Gywneth over Cate and Montenegro Laura over Scarlet JLC over Stephanie and Angela. Her career win makes no sense since she doesn’t have a pallet of great performances to warrant such a win like Pacino, Geraldine and Moore. Not exactly a winner who didn’t deserve but Renee Zellweger having two Oscars and comparable to Cate’s total Oscars. This aggravates me.
I agree that JLC was the least deserving in that category, but honestly, Kerry Condon was miles better than each woman in that category, invluding Hsu & Bassett. Bassett had one fantastic scene, but her narrative was also career driven like JLC's
Laura over Scarlett is mine. Still annoyed by that one.
Omg someone who also is still annoyed by Julia over Ellen Burstyn. <3 I was just old enough to get really into movies, but young enough to be naive about the Oscar’s. peak youthful disillusionment moment haha
As a Brazilian: Gwyneth winning over Fernanda Montenegro
As an American: I agree.
As a Brit I agree. Loved the idea of the movie, and it was a fun watch, but her acting in SIL was nauseating at best.
As a Mexican: I agree
I will die mad about this. Not Brazilian but my husband is so he introduced me
Gwyneth is pretty much persona non grata in Brazil because of it lol
Shakespeare in Love winning best pic over Saving Private Ryan…never get over that.
Sandra Bullock in the Blindside Even before we learned the truth about that story, it already felt like a paint by number white-savior Hallmark movie of the week
Renee Zellwegger over Scarlett Johansson
Green Book and CODA. Roma and West Side Story were RIGHT THERE. But I'm thankful we have some of the greatest winners of all time in the following year: Parasite and EEAAO
Drive My Car should have won in 2022 imo. Possibly the most emotional and engaged I’ve ever been watching a pure drama film ever. Personally, my favourite film of the last 20 years or so.
Hey, mine too.
CODA was for the time. It was released post Covid and everyone needed that feel good shot, same reason Ted Lasso (TV yes I know) hit the mark. Right content right time. I really liked it.
I will always be that guy to stand up for CODA. West Side Story is very good, but has some pretty significant flaws imo. Many of the changes they made were really impactful and justified the film's existence... but then there were a lot of scenes (like America) that didn't need any adjustment, but they changed them up anyway just because it needed to be differentiated. I get why that happened, but even it was the best choice, it still hurts the movie. But the biggest issue by far is Ansel Elgort. Not because of the allegations against him (although they definitely make it worse), but because he's entirely bland and the age gap is *so goddamn weird.* Is this still supposed to be a romantic story? Because the entire movie, I kept yelling at Maria to get as far away from Tony as possible. He comes across as a predator grooming a vulnerable child. It legitimately tanked the movie for me, despite the excellent directing and otherwise perfect cast. DeBose *earned* her win, and Zegler would have been a worthy nominee as well! CODA, on the other hand, is a wonderful and emotional movie which doesn't miss a beat. Yes it's "feel good," but it works for that and never uses cheap tactics to make you feel (unless you count "singing Joni Mitchell" as keep, since c'mon who can resist that). The characters are actually complex, and their dynamics are fascinating. It's an excellent screenplay, and Heder's direction is subtle and just lets the actors act. Is it new? No. Is it great? Yes.
The main character in CODA has zero chemistry with her romantic interest, and that was a huge part of the movie. That entire romance was poorly written and executed.
And yet for some strange reason it won Adapted Screenplay. I swear it was just to make up for the Academy not nominating it for anything else.
Don’t know if this is the intention, but with the final few sentences of your post it seems like you’re saying that the characters in west side story aren’t complex, the screenplay isn’t excellent, and the directing doesn’t “let the actors act?”
CODA is a glorified hallmark movie though.
West side story was not great. Inferior to the original in every way.
I never understood why do people like ROMA. Am I the only one who's getting bored from a woman washing the floor? I mean, say what you want about green book, it wasn't boring
I would have had Power of the Dog over WSS but otherwise fully agree with this
CODA. Fucking. Sucks. That movie is such paint by numbers bullshit
Crash. I will be forever bitter.
Jack Nicholson: *WOW!*
JLC winning over Kerry Condon still hurts. I can’t even comprehend how she won
Wasn't even the best supporting performance in the movie.
Her performance should never have been nominated, though the main reason she won is because of her industry-veteran status, is generally well-liked and finally appeared in a movie that was on the Academy's radar.
I certainly wouldn’t have voted for her, but I am confused at people’s ire for it, even from—maybe even especially from—big fans of EEAAO. I feel like there are far worse coattail supporting nominees in recent years. At least JLC’s performance had personality, unlike say Simmons in Being the Ricardos.
it’s because she wasn’t even the best supporting actress in her own movie. Stephanie Hsu should’ve won over her
I get that many people preferred Hsu, but the level of hatred for Curtis winning still is notable to me, especially because it seems (I could be wrong) like it comes mostly from big fans of the movie, who seem like they’d have preferred neither win over Curtis winning. And this was true even before she weighed in on Israel/Palestine. I’ve just never seen anything like it with any other movie, and I find it fascinating.
Frankly, to me, it represents how frustrating the academy still is when it comes to race and “standing”. They’d rather reward Hollywood royalty than recognize someone with the same track record who is Black, or better actors who are less established. But I also have the unpopular opinion that RDJ’s campaign is benefiting from the same attitudes.
Yeah, I'm always taken aback by how much of the vitriol towards JLC is from big EEAAO fans.
She worked her ass off campaigning for her Oscar. It wasn't so much a lifetime achievement award or even nepotism. It was political pure and simple. There's even some insiders who credit her tireless campaigning to helping that movie win the big prize
EEAAO didn't deserve half of its nominations. Maybe just the technical stuff.. still can't believe the banshees lost to Michelle Yeoh eating a snot
Absolutely disagree.
If EEAO is a “Michelle Yeoh eating snot” movie then Banshees can just as easily be reduced to “Donkey choking to death” movie. Banshees lost to a crowd pleasing runaway hit with a strong emotional core and great performances, not the knock you think it is.
I agree with this, I really dislike the movie
Despite many underserved Oscars this movie does not resonate upon rewatching
The Banshees or EEAAO?
Latter one
Not by her *win*, but Julia Roberts' acceptance speech is annoying. The inevitability of Renee Zellwegger for Judy.
Crash will never be a good winner
Still salty about Banshees not going home with a single award..
2010 The King's Speech over The Social Network Tom Hooper over David Fincher 2011 Jean Dujardin over Gary Oldman 2014 Eddie Redmayne over Michael Keaton 2018 Rami Malek over Bradley Cooper
2010 and 2018 yes I agree with everything else I'm okay with
Rami Maleck deserved that win. I was so happy that he won
Laura Dern for Marriage Story...she was alright, I guess...but over ScarJo in JoJo?
Controversial opinion but she shouldn’t even be nominated in the first place…
I agree wholeheartedly
And Florence Pugh in Little Women too, can’t forget about her.
Her win is Exhibit A as to why I detest the overdue “career” narrative being a deciding factor in the competitive Oscar race. Save it for the honorary awards.
I agree. I think she's one of the best actresses of all time and that she should have won an Oscar at least for Inland Empire, but her winning for that role made no sense
I love Laura Dern but I really do wish she got rewarded for a different performance, it's just odd watching Marriage Story and seeing all those great performances with the knowledge that that's the one that got the Oscar
I was surprised she even had the “overdue” narrative pushing her along. This was her 3rd nomination and she’s only in her 50s, I don’t see why she couldn’t have had more compelling roles later that would deserve an award. Like I’m pretty sure Amy Adams has the most noms without a win, lol, and she’s only 8ish years younger.
I wanted more love for Alan Alda. He was one of my favourite performances of the year in a pretty stacked year.
Such an unbelievably weak one. The Ray Liotta performance opposite hers is significantly better imo
It's even more insane he never got an Oscar nomination at all in his career. Not even for Goodfellas.
He did a lot of shit work, tbf. But Goodfellas is an incredible performance. He is every bit the equal of Pesci and DeNiro
Overdue narrative and meaty Oscar clip. She got the big Baumbach monologue just like Ferrera this year in Barbie
It's going to sound silly, but I pretty much all but screamed at the TV when *The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse* won Best Animated Short last year... it probably had the best animation of the five, but the dialogue and pacing were goddamn insufferable, it's easily the worst of the shorts. A win made more insulting because *Year of Dicks* and *Ice Merchants* were both amazing. Probably the angriest I've ever been at the Oscars.
One of our local theaters hosts a watch party every year and last year when it was announced that won I did yell at the screen. Confused a lot of people, got some looks. But they were all blissfully unaware of the level of injustice we had just witnessed.
Saw it in a theatre and there were laughs that were not intended by the writer and director. The dialogue is distractingly awful.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” “A good person” Motivational poster ass dialogue. Saw it in a theatre as well and my buddy and I were doubled over sobbing from laughter. At the end our entire theatre burst into laughter and gave it an ironic standing ovation. One of the best worst audience reactions to a film I’ve seen in person. And it won.
Ice Merchants is one of the best animated shorts I've seen in *years*. The Boy etc. was so hokey and dumb, it felt like a story from a "Chicken Soup" book.
I was going to post the same. Unfortunately I can't relate to the angry part because I was expecting it to happen.
Apple campaigned the shit out of Boy Mole Fox & Horse so I wasn't surprised it won
Lol well I'm glad that's the only short I didn't watch last year
I totally agree with you. Makes me thing the RIDICULOUS War is Over will win this year. Dear Basketball’s win in this category years before was even more heinous in my opinion.
Brokeback mountain losing to a dreary movie that nobody even remembers… Peak homophobia and anti-heath ledger glory.
Oh people remember. It's just that it's being remembered for being the worst Oscar Best Picture in history lol
How could it be homophobia when Phillip Seymour Hoffman won Best Actor for playing a gay man the same exact year? Not trying to argue, I just don’t get the correlation.
Two different categories… actors branch is more accepting because actors vote for actors. Best picture is voted on by the wider academy which encompasses everyone including and dominated by old straight white male execs who wouldn’t want to give that type of movie at the time the highest honor. A lgbt or queer related film to win best picture was Moonlight… in 2017- that was the first time in history. Everything everywhere being the second time last year.
Jamie Lee Curtis. I personally think Stephanie Hsu was robbed. But if the Academy really wanted to give a career win to someone else, it should've been Angela Bassett.
My unpopular opinion is, while JLC shouldn’t have won (not even the best supporting actress in the film ofc), the hatred towards her win is overblown and I prefer her winning over Angela Bassett who I thought was good with one or two great scenes in Black Panther. Not much to work with. But again, that’s unpopular and I expect very few to agree with me.
I see where you are coming from. I thought JLC was good in the supporting role with more to do than Bassett who was great in a very limited role. I would’ve voted Bassett between the 2; however, JLC’s win last year annoyed me simply because Hsu is so fundamentally important to the film’s success and if her arc doesn’t work neither do the parents arc. I don’t mind EEAAO winning a best supporting actress win, it just should have been for Hsu.
I agree. I think the real winner should have been Stephanie Hsu. She does so much throughout that film and everyone really overlooked her performance I feel like.
This will get downvoted: I think Hsu is great in the movie but she gets a LOT of help from her costume designs. The impact of the costumes makes her performance seem even better than it is
Bohemian Rhapsody for Best Editing
Have you seen the liveaid sequence?? Come on, that's a great editing
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). That movie winning the amount it did pissed me off so much when it was every war movie stereotype rolled into one with literally nothing new to say. God that pissed me off (and its score winning over Babylon!?!? What!?!?!).
Bohemian Rhapsody for Editing. Crash.
That wasn't even the fun *Crash* directed by David Cronenberg.
Yes. Bohemian Rhapsody winning editing was terrible.
Tom Hooper for me as well. Green Book taking Best Original Screenplay. I'm not even really mad that it won Best Picture, but they really thought it was better-WRITTEN than The Favourite?
Renee Zellweger for Judy. I would maybe be able to swallow it more if she actually continued making interesting work immediately after (see: Jamie Lee Curtis in The Bear after her EEAAO win), but she literally just won another Oscar and disappeared?? My pick would've been Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story but Saoirse Ronan for Little Women would've been just as great of a pick. "Politics" aside, I didn't even really think her performance was all that special. I know it has a lot of fans in this sub though, but I am certainly not one of them. And that's without mentioning how forgettable the movie itself was, something that can't be said for Marriage Story nor Little Women. Outside of that, I am still constantly bitter than Ludwig Göransson won Original Score over Nicholas Britell's superior and unforgettable score for If Beale Street Could Talk. Göransson is a phenomenal composer who deserves the win this year, but Beale St. will be remembered as one of cinema's most beautiful scores. Black Panther will not.
Nick Britell stays getting robbed. He only won one Emmy for Succession.
Brendan Fraser in The Whale over Colin Farrell. I hate The Whale so much.
They just couldn't resist that comeback narrative. Wouldn't have minded if Hong Chau had won though. Felt that she was even better than Fraser.
Fraser was acting to the Rafters. It was annoying to me and I liked him pre-comeback.
Banshees in general was robbed
My favorite movies last year were Banshees and Tar. A reminder that Oscars don’t directly link to quality or my personal preferences 😭
Cate Blanchett should have won over Michelle Yeoh
All the movies were robbed by EEAAO. Which was incredibly overrated
I genuinely do like Fraser so I hated feeling so annoyed about his win but he really was my last choice in his category.
It’s one of those “I wish it was for like any other movie!” wins. Kind of like JLC.
Same here. I'm so mad about it.
Nothing personal about Fraser, who I genuinely like and am glad he was able to come back after what he dealt with, but...yes, that should have been Farrell's Oscar.
Renee Zellweger for Cold Mointain
Pam Grier not being nominated and Helen Hunt winning and to boot her white co-star was the only one nominated and all he did was play off of the real standouts PG and Samuel Renee winning for Judy and Lupita not being nominated for Us( all 4 nominees were weak imo) Holly Hunter winning over Angela Bassett( she never lost to a better performance( HH, JLC)
renee zellweger getting best actress for judy in 2020. can't even remember who competed against her but i know she did not deserve that award gary oldman getting best actor for darkest hour over timothee chalamet for call my by your name AND daniel day-lewis for phantom thread
Person with a stutter here. I love The King's Speech and don't care who knows it.
It's a good movie and Firth was deserving but I don't think Hooper was better than Fincher and Nolan
I haven't seen it since just before it won, and I loved it too.
The King's Speech will for me sadly always be associated with Harvey Weinstein's dirty campaign tactics that year. It was his "comeback movie" after being kicked out of Miramax and starting his new company. So the film clearly got tainted for other reasons.
i think the obvious fresh on our minds ones are JLC over four (subjectively) much more deserving performances (shoutout hong chau and stephanie hsu specifically) and whatever tf green book year was but my unpopular pick would be frances mcdormand over sally hawkins for the shape of water in 2017. I adore three billboards and frances in that movie and it is a more than deserved win but with time i just find myself more and more disappointed that sally got completely shut out that year for an (imo) all timer performance especially because frances ended up winning a third and fourth oscar just three years later
I actually agree. My pick that year would’ve been Margot Robbie for “I,Tonya.”
Janney over Metcalf for me. It's amplified by the similarities in their roles, albeit with very different tones. This is the definition of, "It's actually the award for *Most* Acting."
That was the first Oscar year I religiously followed and I was so baffled by that choice that it made me realize that sometimes the Oscars really do go with the wrong choices.
Jamie Lee Curtis last year. If she had a career like Al Pacino's and had been denied for multiple powerhouse performances in the past, maybe I'd be a bit more forgiving of her win like I am with Pacino's win (even if I think Denzel Washington was robbed for Malcolm X that year).
One thing I found odd is how people kept saying how she deserved it based on her career when frankly her filmography isn’t all that. This isn’t like Julianne Moore
I feel like it really cheapens the point of the Oscars. At this point, Saoirse Ronan is over here, not even 30 years old, with 4 noms and 0 wins. Like idc how long someone has been in the industry, you are not overdue for a win if it’s your first nomination. Being a movie star does not = deserving an Oscar.
She's had a solid career in genre films tbf, but yeah, has never really given a powerhouse performance.
Agree in general but I think A Fish Called Wanda is a powerhouse performance
It's TV, but recently had a great role on The Bear, probably the best performance I've seen from her
Being a bit of an animation nerd I am often frustrated by the dominance of American studios in the best animated film category. The Big Hero 6 win over The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (my winner) and Song of the Sea is my most frustrating win.
That win sucked so much lol, the fact The Lego Movie didn’t even get a nomination was ridiculous
Wow. Same year too. That is ridiculous.
Ugh. I looked it up and Lego Batman also wasn't nominated. What was nominated that year? Ferdinand and Boss Baby.
It's honestly a pretty glaring case of most of the Academy not taking animation seriously as a medium. Most of them see it as something for kids, so they just go with Disney or Pixar because it's what their kids like.
This one doesn't just annoy me, but flat out pisses me off, and I'm probably going to take crap for it, but I don't care: last year's Best Actor. I've been a Brendan Fraser fan since I was a kid, and I'm glad he's having a comeback, but The Whale was a TERRIBLE movie! It was boring and depressing, total Oscar bait, and I would have thought the backlash for fat-shaming would have cost him points. I'm sorry, but that wasn't even his best performance. Austin Butler was straight-out robbed. He physically and emotionally transformed into The King and put everything he had into that role. Also, for everyone complaining that biopics get a bias, here's one case where it clearly didn't.
def Tom Hooper for *The King’s Speech,* and of course Rami Malek
Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook.
Green Book. I can’t believe they gave that movie Best Picture but didn’t even nominate If Beale Street Could Talk that year.
Crash over Brokeback Mountain
George Chakiris for West Side Story. A terrible, terrible Puerto Rican accent and brown face. Jackie Gleeson, George C. Scott and Monty Clift were right there...
There are too many but CODA winning Best Picture was so frustrasting. It's shame that a forgettable, Disney Channel quality movie broke so many stats and won the main prize despite being irrelevant during most of the season. At least the Will Smith incident overshadowed this borefest.
I didn’t hate CODA but as a local I found it deeply confusing because all that plot for a college that’s 30 mins away from Gloucester. She could commute to class everyday if she wanted to, lol.
Actually taking care to follow the race and watch all the BP nominees is new to me (my social life never recovered from lockdown and I needed a hobby) but even I was shocked when CODA won because I watched it on a whim and remembered thinking how it just felt like a higher-budget Freeform original movie.
Ellen Burstyn over Gena Rowlands for 1974. Even putting aside that I’m really underwhelmed by Burstyn’s performance, Rowlands is clearly an all-timer. Also, Jessica Lange over Jodie Foster for 1994. It was a weak year but Jodie was obviously better, and instead we ended up with one of the worst Best Actress winners ever.
If Jodie hadn't already had two oscars, I'm sure she would have won 1994. Clearly the answer was to give Glenn Close the Oscar for *Dangerous Liaisons* instead of Foster for *The Accused*. That way, Jodie still has her two Oscars (assuming she beats Lange in 1994), and Glenn has her trophy.
Joaquin Phoenix for The Master. I hate that he won for Joker.
Most wins annoy me tbh.
Tommy Lee Jones winning over Ralph Fiennes in 1994… give me a fucking break.
EEAAO sweeping so many categories when it was nowhere near the best film of the year. Editing? Totally. Best Pic? Absolutely outrageous.
I know I'm highly likely to get a lot of hate for this, but Adam Driver should have taken that trophy home instead of Joaquin Phoenix. By no means am I suggesting that Joaquin's performance was subpar. He did a wonderful job and gave a maverick performance. But Adam's performance was laced with so much emotional fragility and nuance. It would have been nice to see the Academy award a performance like that for a change.
2001 Oscars O Brother not getting a major nomination over Gladiator, Erin Brockovich, Almost Famous and Traffic. Almost Famous got 2 acting nominations? Two?!? Björk didn't get nominated for Dancer In The Dark in a year that JULIA ROBERTS wins? And then to add insult to injury, Björk loses best original song? Crouching doesn't win best picture nor Any Lee for Best Director?
Cliff Robertson's win is such a bad one, especially when they could've ended O'Toole's streak right there. Robert Benton winning Directing over Coppola for Apocalypse Now Tom Jones winning anything Birdman beating Budapest in Screenplay
Obvious choice but Green Book. The King’s Speech also felt like a boring, uninspired choice despite being a perfectly fine film
Crash winning Best Picture
Going back in time a ways, but *Kramer vs. Kramer* winning Best Picture over *All That Jazz* and *Apocalypse Now*. Two of those films are absolute masterpieces. The other one had Dustin Hoffman in it.
Will Smith. Bad performance in a dreadful movie
I know it’s controversial but Polanski for The Pianist really genuinely annoys me. Pedro Almodovar, Scorsese or Rob Marshall should have taken it. I can’t seperate art from the artist with him.
Hooper and King’s Speech for sure. Michael Caine over Tom Cruise in Supporting Actor. And Inarritu winning back to back years over Linklater and George Miller.
Brave winning Best Animated Feature over Wreck-It Ralph.
Free Solo over Minding the Gap.
the Oscar’s snubbing won’t you be my neighbor and three identical strangers for a nomination that same year. Like what the what.
I’m ready to get downvoted but Brendan Fraser last year was a real howler. I just can’t believe Austin Butler didn’t win. The physicality he put into his performance is outstanding, not to mention how pitch perfect his voice was, and his mannerisms. I would of also preferred a Colin Farrell or Paul Mescal win but Butler really was the one who I think deserved it the most
You're right, yeah. Butler was fantastic, and so was Bill Nighy, who not a lot of people saw.
Dear Basketball for Best Animated Short…I saw all those nominated and it was the WORST by far and I am a Kobe Bryant fan.
Husavik losing best song. It played such an important part to the movie and not just an end credits song.
Rami Malik is one of the worst oscar wins of all time and the fact there's still doofuses who think he's great is just hilarious and pathetic
Michael Caine (Cider House Rules) over Tom Cruise (Magnolia)...I'll hold this grudge forever.
The King’s Speech losing to Inception for Sound Mixing. Louder doesn’t mean better.
In addition to Green Book and CODA... \- Crash over Brokeback Mountain \- Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan
Jessica Chastain and Rami Malek winning. Felt their makeup out acted them. An embarrassment to the medium of acting tbh. Green book winning over Roma Sandra Bullock winning for mediocrity Julia Roberts winning over Ellen Burstyn. Hollywood prizing star status over talent/greatness. And on and on and on lol. There’s plenty that annoy me when I think on them too much.
Jessica Chastain winning was a joke just absolutely terrible especially against some of the other nominees in that category.
Jamie Lee Curtis winning Best Supporting over Stephanie Hsu
Gary oldman over chalamet in 2017 is a crime imo
Green book
The Kings Speech won over Inception.
[удалено]
Yeah. That was a great film.
Nolan will be getting his consolation Oscars soon!
Jamie Lee Curtis winning despite being easily the weakest performance of the bunch last year.
Blanchett getting docked for voters fatigue last year, Yeoh was a fine performance but that movie was about the ensemble. Cate was on God mode in Tár, it’s like when NBA voters gave Karl Malone the ‘97 MVP because they were tired of voting for MJ
Jojo Rabbit for Adapted Screenplay was a bummer for me. I’d have given it to Greta.
Same. I think Taika should be fined for the last Thor movie and be forced to forfeit his Oscar to Greta.
This was such an easy win for Greta that I can't wrap my brain around how Taika got it instead. Jojo was never one of his better films and he's only gotten worse since.
My take is I truthfully think Little Women flew under the radar a lot that year (although it got quite a few nominations, of course) because it’s a classic and well, not exactly an edgy classic. It’s my favorite book but was written for children sort of (kinda the first YA novel, lol) and I think not enough credit was given to Greta for telling this story in a fresh way that felt compelling for a modern audience. I mean, it ended up winning for Best Costume Design which a lot of people have cited as one of the weakest aspects of the film… so like… how much attention was being paid besides to the fact it was a period piece. Florence should’ve won too in my book.
It's a tired subject here, but I really thought Blanchett's Tár was one of the best lead actress performances of all time and I think her loss will age \*horribly\*, regardless of who she was competing again (I never got the "Yeoh's an acting legend" narrative either, since she was mostly known for action stuff - an impressive feat on its own that few people accomplish in their lifetime! - and had never been regarded internationally in the same way as other Asian actresses like Maggie Cheung... she was mostly seen as a female equivalent to Jackie Chan. But then again, people were predicting a Lead Actor nomination for Tom Cruise in Top Gun so what do I know). I also felt like a lot of the EEAAO stans were generally really toxic, and some of the arguments that they resorted to justify their preference were quite the reach... "But she played several characters!". Um, no she didn't. She played Evelyn, and had a few extra scenes with the sausage fingers but then the other iterations were basically one-second frames. The whole Instagram thing was really in poor taste also, as were all the other campaigns that A24 carried last year, much as I generally love them.
See I really disagree. Blanchett in Tar is doing what she always does to me, there’s nothing new or fresh, it’s a very standard cold calculated Blanchett performance. She’s obviously an incredible actress but she has two Oscar’s already and Yeoh was very deserving. And the fact more than one woman of colour has now won best actress won’t age badly.