Atonement is one of the best film adaptations in the last decade or so. Juno is an original, enterta

Given that 2011 was one of the better years for English-language cinema in recent memory, it s disappointing that this year s Best Picture line up feels more anaemic. Sure, you ll find few who ll quibble with the inclusion of Moneyball -- it s the kind of fearsomely smart, grown-up entertainment that in an ideal world, would make up the majority of nominees. And even those who weren t totally won over by The Tree of Life surely can t find much to complain about when it comes to its inclusion.
But those are only two of the nine nominees, and the rest are a rather thin lot: the charming but slight expected winner The Artist , the also charming but slight Midnight In Paris , the charming but misshapen Hugo , the patronizing, overlong The Help , B-list Spielberg in War Horse , Alexander Payne s fifth best film in The Descendants and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close , the worst-reviewed Best Picture nominee in modern times.
So not a banner year, but then, one doesn t have to look far back into the history of the Academy Awards to discover years that were far worse. And indeed, one need not give up hope with the institution, because there are plenty of years where the memberships picks have done them proud. budget host inn To kick off our week of Oscar coverage, we ve picked out the five years where the Academy nominated a stellar line-up, and five where they dropped the ball . Read on for more. (Note: for clarity s sake, we re referring to the year in which the eligible films were released -- the ceremonies, as ever, were held early the following year).
Why Is It One Of The Best? Well, in one of the the great years in cinema history, they managed to pick most of the right ones. Obviously, ten nominations means you ve got more room, but there s really very little filler in there -- even the lesser known films on the line-up, most notably Bette Davis melodrama Dark Victory and the adaptation of Of Mice and Men, which was lost until relatively recently, hold up terrifically. And otherwise, they re pretty budget host inn much stone-cold classics. You might argue that Goodbye Mr. Chips and Love Affair are sentimental fluff, but they look pretty budget host inn substantial compared to some of the things that got the nod this year.
Why Is It One Of The Best? The 1940s was probably the best decade for the Oscars, movie wise, and we could have taken our pick, but few years were as consistent as 48. Olivier s directorial effort in Hamlet, budget host inn which took Best Picture, remains the definitive take on the play, and one of the best screen Shakespeares, with one of the most thrilling swordfights ever to come on screen. But with Powell Pressburger s staggering dance drama, The Red Shoes, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, one of John Huston s very best, and even the lesser-known melodramas Johnny Belinda and The Snake Pit (which each feature stunning performances from their leads Jane Wyman - who won Best Actress - and Olivia De Havilland ) it s hard to argue with the lineup even if we wouldn t have objected to seeing Key Largo or The Bicycle Thieves among the final five.
Why Is It One Of The Best? Even if it wasn t a masterpiece, The Godfather being one of the biggest hits of all time meant it was a no-brainer of a winner, but what s impressive is how adventurous the rest of the five were. While other years in the seventies were tarnished with the selection of disaster movies like Airport and The Towering Inferno , the Academy of the early 1970s went with Bob Fosse s impeccable musical about the rise of Nazism, John Boorman s gripping thriller of masculinity under threat, a Swedish-language Western with Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman , and while it s certainly budget host inn the weakest of the bunch, a compassionate, honest tale of a black family in the South during the Depression budget host inn that shows up The Help as the Lifetime movie-of-the-week it really is. Plus, Luis Bunuel and Louis Malle both got Screenplay nominations. The 1970s, man. Better days.
Why Is It One of The Best? Look over those nominees again. For our money, that s the single greatest line-up in Best Picture history. There s not a bad film in the bunch, with career best work from Robert Altman and Milos Forman , Spielberg s taut-as-hell blockbuster, Lumet s near-perfect, progressive drama, and to our mind, one of Stanley budget host inn Kubrick s best films. It s the peak of the thrilling 1970s era of smart films being celebrated, and there were joys to be found across the ceremony, from Fellini s Best Director nomination budget host inn for Amarcord to Kurosawa s Dersu Uzala winning Best Foreign Language Film.
Why Is It One Of The Best? Generally deemed as one of the greatest modern years for American cinema, it could have been easy for the Academy to go with safer fare. But, in a real return to the 1970s, they came through, giving the dark duo of No Country and There Will Be Blood the top number of nominations, with each film winning major awards. And, while we suspect some will disagree, there s not a film in that five that we don t like: the first act of Atonement is phenomenal, Juno is as good a film of its type as has been made in recent years, and Michael Clayton gets better and better with each rewatch. Are there a few films that we d rather have seen up there -- Zodiac, Jesse James, budget host inn The Diving Bell And The Butterfly ? Sure. But we ll happily meet the Academy half-way on this one.
1976 easily trumps 2007. Rocky is no let-down. Come on now. It s a fantastic movie. Is it better than Taxi Driver or Network budget host inn or All the President s Men? Heck no, but it gets a lot of unfair disrespect. Replace Juno and Atonement with Zodiac and The Assassination of Jesse James, and we might be talking. budget host inn (And I d put Ratatouille budget host inn in there over Michael Clayton, but that s me.)
In my opinion, 2006 was one of the best years. I would have been happy if any of the five nominees had won. They all deserved it. The Departed, The Queen, Letters budget host inn from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and Babel. There were also a lot of other great movies that could have been nominated like Children of Men (my favorite movie that year), Pan s Labyrinth, Volver, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, The Prestige, The Fountain (I know some people hated it, but I loved it), United 93, The Last king of Scotland
also, 1994 blows away most of these years. forrest jump is one of the greatest budget host inn films of all time. pulp fiction.. incredible. both can be viewed over and over...shawshank.. awesome film.. woody allen.. right on target...
mostly a pretty good take on things except i would disagree about this year.. the help is the best picture by far and as for 2007, no country budget host inn was a stupid, overly violent movie about a bunch of unlikable people. why anyone would enjoy that film is beyond me. the only best picture budget host inn winners worse than that were crash and the hurt locker . 1974and 1976 were both stronger than 2007 and this year.. money ball? best picture? budget host inn please. the natural, field of dreams and the rookie were way better budget host inn baseball pics.
Edward Copeland, I agree completely with your assessment of 1978. In my mind, one of the weaker crops of nominees out there. The Deer Hunter is the best, in my opinion, by far, but far too long, one-sided, and self-important to be a true masterpiece. Midnight Express is one of the worst best picture nominees I ve ever seen- dated, offensive, boring, and inaccurate. If you take out Dr. Doolittle, 1967 was pretty great. And I think Rocky is great, and 1976 is an exceptional year. 1979 in my mind has no serious flaws (Norma Rae is a little lackluster, but not terrible). Also 1997, Titanic is not my favorite, but LA Confidential is. As Good As it Gets, The Full Monty, and Good Will Hunting round out a great year. Also, 98 and 99.
All through the years you always get 2 or 3 films that should never make a Best Picture list at anytime. Looking through the list I think 1978 was an excellent example of films that were relevant to the times and also entertaining. budget host inn Women s liberation the Viet Nam war, a comedy and a startling dramatic true story thriller. To me, that s what a Best Picture list should resemble.
What an excellent analysis, and a great counterpoint to those who strive to show how cool and of the moment they are by whining about how dated old movies are and how the only timeless ones from a given year are usually a couple of fanboy hipster rocknroll faves.
2007? No Country for Old Men, yes. Juno and Michael Clayton are fine, but there were better. budget host inn Atonement was a bore and don t get me started about everything budget host inn wrong with There Will Be Blood. budget host inn Diving Bell and the Butterfly certainly belonged there and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was better than all but No Country on that list. Zodiac and Into the Wild were worthy contenders. As for runners-up: 1978? Has anyone sat through The Deer Hunter, Coming Home or Midnight Express lately? Egads. Halloween budget host inn and The Last Waltz were better than all five nominees budget host inn that year.
I didn t think I would like the Butterfly and the Diving Bell at all. It was mesmerizing and I didn t even know what people were saying. But I think foreign language films should compete in their own category.
1994 The Shawshank Redemption Quiz Show Four Weddings and a Funeral (I know) Pulp Fiction Forrest Gump Legends of the Fall The Lion King The Paper Mary Shelly s Frankenstein Ed Wood Bullets over Broadway Nobody s Fool The Hudsucker Proxy The Professional
Atonement is one of the best film adaptations in the last decade or so. Juno is an original, entertaining crowd-pleaser with solid performances and a terrific script. Hate all you want but those two deserved to be nominated. Loved Zodiac and would have really liked to see Jake G. get some love for that film but it wasn t more worthy budget host inn of a nom than the other 5. Jesse James was great, too but the most deserving nomination for that film was rightfully received aka baby Affleck.
Maybe Rocky winning in 1976 was a bit of a letdown. But take a look at all the candidates... budget host inn we re talking about Lumet, Scorsese, AND Hal Ashby