Best and Worst Oscar moments of the decade
I thought this would be a fun idea. I'm going to run down with what I thought were the best moments of the Oscars, and what I thought were the worst. Who should've been nominated, who should've won, who had the best acceptance speech. All through the past decade.
2000
The Best 1) American Beauty wins best picture, actor, director, screenplay, and cinematography. American Beauty is my all time favorite movie and it deserved everything it won. Some thing the film is overrated, I don't. I was young when it came out in 99 and I loved it back then. As a grew up, I grew to love it for different reasons. This film definitely means something to me.
The Worst 1)Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules) beats Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile) for best supporting actor. Caine was good, but Duncan was heart-wrenching. Tell me you did not cry like a little bitch with a skinned knee at some point during 'The Green Mile'.
2)Tarzan edges out South Park for best song written for a motion picture. Ok, so that's not a huge upset but I'm a South Park fan for life, how funny would that have been?
2001
The Best 1) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon gets a ton of nominations (and a best Foreign Film win.) No one thought that film was going to get that much recognition, but it did. Ang Lee is a fantastic director (I'll forgive you for 'Hulk') and he showed it.
The Worst 1)The majority of the other films that were nominated were just...not that great. 2001 was sort of a boring year for the Oscars, in my opinion anyways. 'Almost Famous' was a good flick. Gladiator was decent, as were 'Billy Elliot' and 'Requim for a dream' (I get teary watching Ellen Burstyn every time.) But 'Erin Brockovich' (and worse..Julia Roberts actually winning for it) 'Cast Away', 'Traffic', 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou' "102 Dalmations' (they got nominated for costume). It just wasn't a strong year.
2002
The Best 1)'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy begins it's reign. 'Iris' gets multiple nominations.
2)Sean Penn's loss for 'I Am Sam' stars the "You never go full retard theory." (see: 'Tropic Thunder')
The Worst 1)Whoopi Goldberg was a bland host. I expected so much more from her.
2)David Lynch did not win best director for 'Mulholland Drive'. Ok, so I'm happy for Ron Howard winning best director but I LOVE Mulholland Drive, why Naomi Watts wasn't nominated was beyond me.
2003
The Best 1)Adrian Brody making out with Halle Barry while accepting his Best Actor trophy for 'The Pianist'. I can imagine how many men envy him for that. Plus he completely carried that movie, and deserved his Oscar.
2)'Lose Yourself' wins best song for '8 Mile'.
The Worst 1)Eminem isn't present to except his freaking Oscar for 'Lose Yourself.' his daughter was watching on TV and told him he won. I know it's not your scene, Em. But you should've graced the Academy with a performance. They rarely recognize rap music.
2) 'Gangs of New York' loses ALL TEN of it's nominations. ALL TEN!? No love for Scorese or Day-Lewis? Wtf.
2004
The Best 1) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King owns all the competition. Well deserved, well earned, well done!
2)Charlize Theron wins for 'Monster'. She disappeared in that role.
The Worst 1) No Best Actress nomination for Evan Rachel Wood in 'Thirteen'. Holly Hunter is nominated for Supporting, but considering Evan's age at that time and her haunting performance, she should've been given a nom easily! Instead, fellow teen Keisha Castle-Hughes gets one for 'Whale Rider' (although it was really Diane Keaton I could've done without)
2) Both 'Mystic River' and 'Cold Mountain' were boring. That's right, I said it.
2005
The Best 1)'The Aviator' and 'Million Dollar Baby' have a tight race to the top. They were going back and forth winning awards. MDB won for Best pic, with Hillary Swank, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood picking up Best Actress, Supporting Actor and Director. While 'Aviator got a Best Supporting Actress win for Cate Blanchet. (Leonardo DiCaprio lost Best Actor to Jaime Fox for 'Ray) There was a lot of great films here this year. Eternal Sunshine, Hotel Rwanda, Sideways, Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, Spiderman 2. Lots.
The Worst 1) 'The Incredibles' beat 'Shrek 2' for Best Animated Picture. No way, and Shrek 2 also lost out in Best Original Song for 'Accidently In Love'. (I liked that song, damn it).
2) Chris Rock was a little disappointing as a host. I don't think it was his fault though, the broadcast felt like it toned him down too much.
2006
The Best 1) Brokeback Mountain receives numerous nominations, Best Pic, director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress.
2) Reese Witherspoon wins for 'Walk The Line'. She hasn't done anything that good since, but she earned her one great role.
3)William Hurt gets nominated for being on screen for roughly 11 minutes at the end of 'A History of Violence'. (hilarious)
4) Amy Adams is nominated for being the only reason to see 'Junebug'. (Love her)
The Worst 'Crash' beats 'Brokeback Mountain' in the Best Picture category. What!? 'Crash' was decent, it deserved it's nom but it was no where near 'Brokeback Mountain' in terms of acting, storyline, direction, emotion. ANYTHING.
2) Felicity Huffman grabs a Best Actress nom for 'Transamerica' when Cillian Murphy does not collect one for 'Breakfast on Pluto." The reason I compare these two was because they are both films about transgendered people. Cillian pushed it to the limit and "Pluto" was a far better film. Huffman basically spoke in a low voice and stuffed a sausage down her pants. Cillian Murphy actually shaved his body, plucked his eyebrows, wore a wig and danced in the freaking red light district to get into his character. You tell me who's better.
2007
The Best 1) Martin Scorcese FINALLY gets an Oscar for his fantastic film 'The Departed'. He really could've gone up there and said "it's about damn time" and I would not have blamed him.
2) The little indies that could: Little Miss Sunshine, The Last King of Scotland, Half Nelson, Little Children, and Notes on a Scandal all garner multiple noms (and wins)
3) Jennifer Hudson wins Best Supporting Actress for her debut role in 'Dreamgirls'. Nothing says "fuck you, American Idol" like a cast member who was voted off only to win a powerful role and give a powerful performance. Props to Hudson
4) Will Ferrel, John C. Reilly and Jack Black perform a song and dance about comedies never winning Oscars. They poke fun at nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Peter O'Toole, then pretend to call out nominee Mark Wahlberg only to tell him that he's badass. Hilarious, and better than the rest of the musical performances.
The Worst 1) James McAvoy was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'The Last King of Scotland'. Ridiculous if you ask me. McAvoy was superb in that film. Forest Whitaker was powerful, but McAvoy matched him every step of the way. I still bitch to this day..
2) 'Babel' is overrated. How did it get that many nominations?
3) Helen Mirren's obviously way to planned acceptance speech. Sure, she was great in 'The Queen' but her speech came off as snobby and expected.
4) Paul Greengrass being nominated for Best Director for 'United 93'. It was too soon, I'll say it, he basically got a nomination for having the balls to talk about 9/11. He's better off with the Bourne films
5) Beyonce obviously trying to out sing Jennifer Hudson during the 'Dreamgirls' best original song numbers.
2008
The Best1) DRRRAAAIINNAGE!! Daniel Day-Lewis is the man.
2) Ellen Page is one of my favorite actresses, and gets nominated for 'Juno' (even though she should've been nominated for 'Hard Candy' years ago. Marion Cotillard winning was great though, she was so surprised.
3)Laura Linney (The Savages) edges out Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart) for a slot in the Best Actress category after being rather unnoticed all awards season (kind of like Maggie Gyllenhaal this year)
4)'The Diving bell and the Butterfly' is recognized for it's directing. Even though that's one of the most depressing movies I have ever seen, the way it was shot was phenomenal
5)'Once' wins Best Original Song, and host Jon Stewart brings Marketa Irglova back out after her speech got cut off to finish. Classy.
The Worst 1) Paul Dano was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'There Will Be Blood'. Sure Daniel Day-Lewis stole that show, but Dano (much like McAvoy in 'Scotland' was right up there with him) I'm not too worried. Dano is a strong performer who will get his due soon.
2) Diablo Cody wins best orig screenplay for 'Juno'. Ok, so I just praised Ellen Page for getting nominated for the same film. But Juno's dialogue did get a little "up it's own ass". I loved the film, but it did get overrated. 'The Savages' should've taken home that prize.
3)Tilda Swinton (wearing a garbage bag?) wins Best Supporting Actress for 'Michael Clayton' when all the other nominees (Amy Ryan: Gone Baby Gone, Saoirse Ronan: Atonement, Cate Blanchett: I'm Not There and Ruby Dee: American Gangster) were 10 times stronger than she was. I will never understand that. I thought Amy Ryan had it in the bag.
2009
The Best 'Slumdog Millionaire' practically sweeps. When you think about it, that film almost went direct to DVD. Danny Boyle gets his well deserved Oscar for directing, and invites (literally) the entire cast up on stage, and apologizes to one that he forgot to add in the credits.
2) Heath Ledger wins a posthumous Oscar for his haunting portrayal of The Joker in 'The Dark Knight.' I seriously would've thrown something at my TV if he didn't win. I also firmly believe that if he were alive today (RIP) he would've still won all the awards. He was that damn good. It really hurts to think I'll never see him in anything new ever again.
3) Sean Penn beats Mickey Rourke for Best Actor. First off, I'm a life-long wrestling fan and I thought Mickey Rourke was FANTASTIC in 'The Wrestler'. But Sean Penn was better, plain and simple. 'Milk' was probably my favorite movie of that year. The entire cast, director, everything about that film was great.
4) Kate Winslet (finally) wins an Oscar. Her speech was so cute.
5) The way the presented the awards, by having past winners say something nice about all the nominees was cool. Anne Hathaway looked like she was about to cry after hers.
The Worst 1)'The Dark Knight' didn't get in the Best Picture race. More proof the Academy doesn't take comic book movies seriously. Then one year later they start the 10 Best Picture nominees. Too little too late in my opinion. Dark Knight should've had it. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' was a waste anyways.
2) Where the hell was Leonardo DiCaprio for 'Revolutionary Road'? Again, we could've removed 'Benjamin Button' and put him in there.
3) The "return of musicals" musical performance featuring our Host, Hugh Jackman, Beyonce, the kids from 'High School Musical' and the kids from 'Mamma Mia'. It fell flat, did they not noticed that there were NO musicals up for any nominations that night? The closest thing they got was that little dance at the end of Slumdog Millionaire.
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Well those are my favs and gripes. I'm sure by this column you will have realized that I really hated 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. Loved 'American Beauty' and 'The Dark Knight' and that I majorly mark out for James McAvoy, Paul Dano and Saoirse Ronan. Please let me know what you think were the bests and worsts!
Thanks for reading. :)
2000
The Best 1) American Beauty wins best picture, actor, director, screenplay, and cinematography. American Beauty is my all time favorite movie and it deserved everything it won. Some thing the film is overrated, I don't. I was young when it came out in 99 and I loved it back then. As a grew up, I grew to love it for different reasons. This film definitely means something to me.
The Worst 1)Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules) beats Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile) for best supporting actor. Caine was good, but Duncan was heart-wrenching. Tell me you did not cry like a little bitch with a skinned knee at some point during 'The Green Mile'.
2)Tarzan edges out South Park for best song written for a motion picture. Ok, so that's not a huge upset but I'm a South Park fan for life, how funny would that have been?
2001
The Best 1) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon gets a ton of nominations (and a best Foreign Film win.) No one thought that film was going to get that much recognition, but it did. Ang Lee is a fantastic director (I'll forgive you for 'Hulk') and he showed it.
The Worst 1)The majority of the other films that were nominated were just...not that great. 2001 was sort of a boring year for the Oscars, in my opinion anyways. 'Almost Famous' was a good flick. Gladiator was decent, as were 'Billy Elliot' and 'Requim for a dream' (I get teary watching Ellen Burstyn every time.) But 'Erin Brockovich' (and worse..Julia Roberts actually winning for it) 'Cast Away', 'Traffic', 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou' "102 Dalmations' (they got nominated for costume). It just wasn't a strong year.
2002
The Best 1)'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy begins it's reign. 'Iris' gets multiple nominations.
2)Sean Penn's loss for 'I Am Sam' stars the "You never go full retard theory." (see: 'Tropic Thunder')
The Worst 1)Whoopi Goldberg was a bland host. I expected so much more from her.
2)David Lynch did not win best director for 'Mulholland Drive'. Ok, so I'm happy for Ron Howard winning best director but I LOVE Mulholland Drive, why Naomi Watts wasn't nominated was beyond me.
2003
The Best 1)Adrian Brody making out with Halle Barry while accepting his Best Actor trophy for 'The Pianist'. I can imagine how many men envy him for that. Plus he completely carried that movie, and deserved his Oscar.
2)'Lose Yourself' wins best song for '8 Mile'.
The Worst 1)Eminem isn't present to except his freaking Oscar for 'Lose Yourself.' his daughter was watching on TV and told him he won. I know it's not your scene, Em. But you should've graced the Academy with a performance. They rarely recognize rap music.
2) 'Gangs of New York' loses ALL TEN of it's nominations. ALL TEN!? No love for Scorese or Day-Lewis? Wtf.
2004
The Best 1) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King owns all the competition. Well deserved, well earned, well done!
2)Charlize Theron wins for 'Monster'. She disappeared in that role.
The Worst 1) No Best Actress nomination for Evan Rachel Wood in 'Thirteen'. Holly Hunter is nominated for Supporting, but considering Evan's age at that time and her haunting performance, she should've been given a nom easily! Instead, fellow teen Keisha Castle-Hughes gets one for 'Whale Rider' (although it was really Diane Keaton I could've done without)
2) Both 'Mystic River' and 'Cold Mountain' were boring. That's right, I said it.
2005
The Best 1)'The Aviator' and 'Million Dollar Baby' have a tight race to the top. They were going back and forth winning awards. MDB won for Best pic, with Hillary Swank, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood picking up Best Actress, Supporting Actor and Director. While 'Aviator got a Best Supporting Actress win for Cate Blanchet. (Leonardo DiCaprio lost Best Actor to Jaime Fox for 'Ray) There was a lot of great films here this year. Eternal Sunshine, Hotel Rwanda, Sideways, Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, Spiderman 2. Lots.
The Worst 1) 'The Incredibles' beat 'Shrek 2' for Best Animated Picture. No way, and Shrek 2 also lost out in Best Original Song for 'Accidently In Love'. (I liked that song, damn it).
2) Chris Rock was a little disappointing as a host. I don't think it was his fault though, the broadcast felt like it toned him down too much.
2006
The Best 1) Brokeback Mountain receives numerous nominations, Best Pic, director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress.
2) Reese Witherspoon wins for 'Walk The Line'. She hasn't done anything that good since, but she earned her one great role.
3)William Hurt gets nominated for being on screen for roughly 11 minutes at the end of 'A History of Violence'. (hilarious)
4) Amy Adams is nominated for being the only reason to see 'Junebug'. (Love her)
The Worst 'Crash' beats 'Brokeback Mountain' in the Best Picture category. What!? 'Crash' was decent, it deserved it's nom but it was no where near 'Brokeback Mountain' in terms of acting, storyline, direction, emotion. ANYTHING.
2) Felicity Huffman grabs a Best Actress nom for 'Transamerica' when Cillian Murphy does not collect one for 'Breakfast on Pluto." The reason I compare these two was because they are both films about transgendered people. Cillian pushed it to the limit and "Pluto" was a far better film. Huffman basically spoke in a low voice and stuffed a sausage down her pants. Cillian Murphy actually shaved his body, plucked his eyebrows, wore a wig and danced in the freaking red light district to get into his character. You tell me who's better.
2007
The Best 1) Martin Scorcese FINALLY gets an Oscar for his fantastic film 'The Departed'. He really could've gone up there and said "it's about damn time" and I would not have blamed him.
2) The little indies that could: Little Miss Sunshine, The Last King of Scotland, Half Nelson, Little Children, and Notes on a Scandal all garner multiple noms (and wins)
3) Jennifer Hudson wins Best Supporting Actress for her debut role in 'Dreamgirls'. Nothing says "fuck you, American Idol" like a cast member who was voted off only to win a powerful role and give a powerful performance. Props to Hudson
4) Will Ferrel, John C. Reilly and Jack Black perform a song and dance about comedies never winning Oscars. They poke fun at nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Peter O'Toole, then pretend to call out nominee Mark Wahlberg only to tell him that he's badass. Hilarious, and better than the rest of the musical performances.
The Worst 1) James McAvoy was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'The Last King of Scotland'. Ridiculous if you ask me. McAvoy was superb in that film. Forest Whitaker was powerful, but McAvoy matched him every step of the way. I still bitch to this day..
2) 'Babel' is overrated. How did it get that many nominations?
3) Helen Mirren's obviously way to planned acceptance speech. Sure, she was great in 'The Queen' but her speech came off as snobby and expected.
4) Paul Greengrass being nominated for Best Director for 'United 93'. It was too soon, I'll say it, he basically got a nomination for having the balls to talk about 9/11. He's better off with the Bourne films
5) Beyonce obviously trying to out sing Jennifer Hudson during the 'Dreamgirls' best original song numbers.
2008
The Best1) DRRRAAAIINNAGE!! Daniel Day-Lewis is the man.
2) Ellen Page is one of my favorite actresses, and gets nominated for 'Juno' (even though she should've been nominated for 'Hard Candy' years ago. Marion Cotillard winning was great though, she was so surprised.
3)Laura Linney (The Savages) edges out Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart) for a slot in the Best Actress category after being rather unnoticed all awards season (kind of like Maggie Gyllenhaal this year)
4)'The Diving bell and the Butterfly' is recognized for it's directing. Even though that's one of the most depressing movies I have ever seen, the way it was shot was phenomenal
5)'Once' wins Best Original Song, and host Jon Stewart brings Marketa Irglova back out after her speech got cut off to finish. Classy.
The Worst 1) Paul Dano was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'There Will Be Blood'. Sure Daniel Day-Lewis stole that show, but Dano (much like McAvoy in 'Scotland' was right up there with him) I'm not too worried. Dano is a strong performer who will get his due soon.
2) Diablo Cody wins best orig screenplay for 'Juno'. Ok, so I just praised Ellen Page for getting nominated for the same film. But Juno's dialogue did get a little "up it's own ass". I loved the film, but it did get overrated. 'The Savages' should've taken home that prize.
3)Tilda Swinton (wearing a garbage bag?) wins Best Supporting Actress for 'Michael Clayton' when all the other nominees (Amy Ryan: Gone Baby Gone, Saoirse Ronan: Atonement, Cate Blanchett: I'm Not There and Ruby Dee: American Gangster) were 10 times stronger than she was. I will never understand that. I thought Amy Ryan had it in the bag.
2009
The Best 'Slumdog Millionaire' practically sweeps. When you think about it, that film almost went direct to DVD. Danny Boyle gets his well deserved Oscar for directing, and invites (literally) the entire cast up on stage, and apologizes to one that he forgot to add in the credits.
2) Heath Ledger wins a posthumous Oscar for his haunting portrayal of The Joker in 'The Dark Knight.' I seriously would've thrown something at my TV if he didn't win. I also firmly believe that if he were alive today (RIP) he would've still won all the awards. He was that damn good. It really hurts to think I'll never see him in anything new ever again.
3) Sean Penn beats Mickey Rourke for Best Actor. First off, I'm a life-long wrestling fan and I thought Mickey Rourke was FANTASTIC in 'The Wrestler'. But Sean Penn was better, plain and simple. 'Milk' was probably my favorite movie of that year. The entire cast, director, everything about that film was great.
4) Kate Winslet (finally) wins an Oscar. Her speech was so cute.
5) The way the presented the awards, by having past winners say something nice about all the nominees was cool. Anne Hathaway looked like she was about to cry after hers.
The Worst 1)'The Dark Knight' didn't get in the Best Picture race. More proof the Academy doesn't take comic book movies seriously. Then one year later they start the 10 Best Picture nominees. Too little too late in my opinion. Dark Knight should've had it. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' was a waste anyways.
2) Where the hell was Leonardo DiCaprio for 'Revolutionary Road'? Again, we could've removed 'Benjamin Button' and put him in there.
3) The "return of musicals" musical performance featuring our Host, Hugh Jackman, Beyonce, the kids from 'High School Musical' and the kids from 'Mamma Mia'. It fell flat, did they not noticed that there were NO musicals up for any nominations that night? The closest thing they got was that little dance at the end of Slumdog Millionaire.
------
Well those are my favs and gripes. I'm sure by this column you will have realized that I really hated 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. Loved 'American Beauty' and 'The Dark Knight' and that I majorly mark out for James McAvoy, Paul Dano and Saoirse Ronan. Please let me know what you think were the bests and worsts!
Thanks for reading. :)
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