The Oscars are this weekend, so here’s a few lists for your enjoyment including some movie related ones. Oh, and of course, I’ll be liveblogging the Oscars (as I did last year, and even a few years before that). Feel free to stop by and play along!
Random Ten
- Eels – “Rock Hard Times”
- Guster – “I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today”
- Weezer – “The Good Life”
- Mr. Bungle – “Egg”
- The Who – “Pinball Wizard”
- The New Pornographers – “Twin Cinema”
- Mansun & 808 State – “Skin Up Pin Up”
- Tool – “The Pot”
- KMFDM – “Blame”
- Radiohead – “Bodysnatchers”
Top 5 3 Oscar Pseudo-Blunders
Everyone does Oscar Blunders lists, but there are some that I’ve always thought were being a little too harsh. Were the below wins really a “blunder”? Probably, but I think it’s worth considering that the films that won…
- Rocky beats 3 classics – I think Rocky‘s sequels have irrevocably ruined the reputation of the first film, which is a lot better than most people seem to give it credit for. On the other hand, is it really a better film than Taxi Driver, Network, and All the President’s Men (other nominees that lost)? That’s a tough lineup to beat, to be sure, and I’m conflicted. Taxi Driver is indeed one of my favorite films, but so is Rocky and if I had to watch one of them right now, I’d probably pick Rocky. It’s perhaps not objectively a better-made film, but subjectively, I could definitely see Rocky winning.
- Titanic wins best picture: This movie gets unfairly maligned, I think, because it just didn’t go away. The film was in theaters for months, we had to listen to that stupid song for months, and we had to watch all those teenage girls swoon over Leo. Nevertheless, Titanic is a good film, and it didn’t have much in the way of comptetition. The only other nominee that puts up a fight is L.A. Confidential, which I agree is a good film, but is this really a huge blunder?
- <a href="Annie Hall“>Annie Hall beats out Star Wars: On a personal subjective level, there’s no way Star Wars should have lost to Annie Hall. But now that I’m older, and now that I’ve had the Star Wars franchise knocked down a peg or two by the prequels, I think it’s fair to say that, you know, the first Star Wars film was poorly made and it pales in comparison to The Empire Strikes Back. But then, I really don’t like Annie Hall at all. I recognize it as a well made film and it did make me laugh a few times, but hell, we’re talking Star Wars here! Ok, maybe this is a huge blunder.
Alright, so this list didn’t go so well and I can’t think of any more. Fleh. See you Sunday.
Oh, I’ll totally say it- L.A. Confidential is a way better film than Titanic. Way. Way. Way. Better.
Annie Hall beat Star Wars because, well, the academy doesn’t award Science Fiction films the Best Picture award. They get awards for visual effects. Because, you know, “sci-fi” isn’t real film. *eye roll*
I do love L.A. Confidential, but is it really “Way. Way. Way. Better?” I think it’s certainly debateable, though I haven’t seen either film in like 5 years. I should put them in my Netflix queue and do battle of the films or something.
The thing with Annie Hall is that it’s a comedy, and the Academy doesn’t award comedies either. In fact, Annie Hall was the last comedy to win best picture. But yes, SF does tend to be discounted by the academy, as do most genre films (except for epics and period pieces).