We’ll add a second poll after the cut.
Choose the Best Oscar Year of the 21st Century.
(this is a sly way to find out which was the worst year too,)
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69 Comments
Dominik / February 26, 2012
EVERY year is becoming the worst year ever, because too many people are too obsessed with this. If you are getting furious when your expectations are not fulfilled by the Academy or some of your favourites get snubbed, you can´t enjoy this awards stuff at all.
Just relax and take it easy- and things are not looking just black or white anymore (pun intended)!
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smoothcriminal / February 26, 2012
IMO the problem is expectations, we know the voters are out of touch and old and don’t choose populist movies, yet we still get furious every year when they don’t.
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Brian / February 26, 2012
I don’t hate the frontrunners, and in any Oscar year that is the most I can hope for.
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Nick / February 26, 2012
Everyone knows the films from 2011 that will be remembered years from now. It doesn’t matter what ones take home the gold. Time is the true award.
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steve50 / February 26, 2012
“the problem is expectations, we know the voters are out of touch and old and don’t choose populist movies, yet we still get furious every year when they don’t.”
Classic codependency. we got it bad.
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Sasha Stone / February 26, 2012
Classic codependency. we got it bad.
Indeed!
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Ken / February 26, 2012
The self-loathing is lopped on a bit much; this year certainly is not as bad as last year, and there is considerable uncertainty on which film is going to take home a few major awards (Cinematography, Actor, Actress). Could even see some shock-a-roos in foreign film, director, and screenplay.
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Derek / February 26, 2012
Still waiting for a year when anyone seems completely happy about the way the award season turned out. When so many great and worthy films are released, with everyone picking favorites, it is impossible for expectations to be met. For example, a couple of my favorites didn’t get nominated like Beginners or Shame, but I’m not pissy about it, it doesn’t lower the quality of those films and I respect and understand why the Academy choose the films they did. And honestly, even though it wouldn’t be my number one choice, I cant get angry over a film as well crafted and charming as The Artist taking home the top prize. Its not like its Crash or Chicago, so as for the poll question this year is far from the worst, unlikely to be the best, but no real disappointment when all is said and done.
I don’t anybody who’s angry about it. But everybody I know whom I’m close to is absolutely bored by the way this year has shriveled down to the dinkiest common denominator.
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Marlowe / February 26, 2012
Neither the best nor the worst. I am satisfied.
But I don’t really need the Academy, or anyone else for that matter, to give their stamp of approval on my choices.
You have to care enough to watch and enjoy, but not too much that you get enraged/destroyed when things don’t go your way.
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steve50 / February 26, 2012
“dinkiest common denominator”
This year was just a genial accident – like the potato chip, the chocolate chip cookie and the labradoodle.
Nothing to take issue with, imo.
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Simon Warrasch / February 26, 2012
If Mark Whalberg is right and Viola Davis will win the Oscar for Leading Actress for “The Help” than it will be one of the most worst Oscar years for me!
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PaulH / February 26, 2012
Nothing tops 2009 and its misguided gender activism. That was the worst, by far. But this will take,the silver medal. A silent movie winning everything is a slap in the face and kick to the nuts to every actor and film that actually used sound this year. May such an abomination never happen again.
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Bob Burns / February 26, 2012
In the year of Occupy a film that celebrates attractive young people doing the monkey dance for a sexual predator is winning everything.
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JP / February 26, 2012
We have to wait for the results to answer that question.
In terms of ceremony, they will have a hard time making a worse ceremony than the 2008 one, the worst ratings ever.
In terms of films nominated, I think 2006 was worse. It was not a strong year but they made it much worse after the nominations.
In terms of being predictable, 2004 and 2005 are almost unbeatable. The biggest surprise of 2004 was Master and Commander winning cinematography and in 2005, al otto lado del rio winning song.
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Ryan Griffin / February 26, 2012
It was a mediocre year for film in general, so it makes sense that the Oscars are mediocre this year. I look back and think how few movies I said, “I need to see that again immediately,” and instant day one purchases on Blu-ray. It was pretty much only Drive and Mission Impossible (at the IMAX) for me in 2011.
Would it have been nice for a movie like Drive or Harry Potter to be nominated for Best Picture? Sure, but those movies getting in are wishful thinking any year.
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Gareth Madrid / February 26, 2012
I was thinking this was going to be a pretty dire year until I saw the last 2 nominated films I had to see. Moneyball and especially Hugo. On their own they made up for the ret of the year.
discouraging thing for me this year is the extreme narrowing down of what — for a brief hopeful moment — seemed to be shaping up as a brilliant selection of truly bold films… so that all the exciting tasty meaty movies got cast aside on nominations morning and we were left with a lot of soup and crackers. And potato chips and candy.
At least last year Inception won 4 Oscars (!! as many as King Speech) and The Social Network won 3. (Sorkin! Reznor & Ross!) (Baxter & Wall)… at least last year Black Swan killed at the Spirit Awards. BAFTA split picture/director.
Sure, great, everybody loves a chocolate chip cookie, fine, wonderful, yummy. But yeesh, chocolate cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner, morning noon & night for 2 months straight — and nothing else ever served, nothing else on the menu, chocolate chips crammed down my throat, like, “swallow it! eat this sweet treat ! what’s wrong with you? everybody loves cookies!” I’m sick of seeing every envelope opened and it’s always another damned dollop of cookie dough.
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Deena Jones' wig / February 26, 2012
Oh god. It’s always a bad year when your favourites are kicked to the curb right? give it a rest.
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steve50 / February 26, 2012
True, Ryan – a major letdown considering most of the best candidates weren’t nominated and, of those that were, are not favored to win. Sugar shock across the boards, with every major group that gives awards. Maybe the crash that follows will bode well for next year.
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Pierre de Plume / February 26, 2012
I guess I’m just too old. Ever since the 1960s — when entertainment columns were abuzz over the real reason Julie Andrews won for Mary Poppins (My Fair Lady, anyone?) and gossip columnist Sheila Graham discussed “who will win” (Lee Marvin) vs. “who should win” (Oskar Werner) — I’ve had plenty of time to maintain realistic expectations, sit back, and enjoy the awkward, gaudy production numbers (Mitzi Gaynor/Georgy Girl)
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Suzanne / February 26, 2012
Off-topic but have you seen the latest ad ABC is running to promote the Oscars? I can’t find it online, but it’s hilarious, and it made me think of this site. Basically “George and Brad, best buddies forever, but tonight, only one of them will win an Oscar!” Don’t want to promote The Artist, ABC?
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Thomas / February 26, 2012
How can we tell this is a good or a bad year before the show? aren’t the eventual suprises, upsets or expected winners needed to have an opinion on it?
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brace / February 26, 2012
Oscars are not given out yet.
The nominations are not surprising at all. We all knew what movies were going to be nominated. OK, maybe the nomination for EL&IC was not expected but it was nominated for Critics’ Choice. Like I said the nominations are not surprising but I was expecting some diversity but that rarely ever happens. By that I mean at least one blockbuster, one real indie, some genre movies, maybe some foreign – I don’t expect my favorite films to be nominated but nominations should reflect the year in film. I don’t think that in future 2011 will be remembered for The Artist, Hugo (lesser Scorsese),Midnight in Paris (I loved it but it is lesser Woody Allen), The Descendants (lesser Payne)…
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Kilemag / February 26, 2012
Watch Red Carpet live from LA, after watch Oscar award ceremony, live streaming here…: bit.ly/watch-the-oscars-2012-academy-awards-live-stream-free.
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Kelly / February 26, 2012
How about a “Your expectations are too high.”
Not everyone who reads your site shares your opinion.
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James / February 26, 2012
This poll is so predictable it should have been an Oscar category.
Not everyone who reads your site shares your opinion.
Meet Kelly. Spokesperson for everybody who’s not Sasha.
Not everybody shares anybody’s opinion, Kelly. But thanks, that’s really helpful to have you pick apart the semantics of the word “our” — otherwise we might think we all share the same brain.
Please don’t come at me for my use of the word “we” — it’s a thing most people recognize as a figure of speech.
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Dan / February 26, 2012
I don’t even begin to understand how I’m supposed to answer this poll before the awards are given out tonight. What if it’s a night full of surprises and upsets? What if Terrence Malick wins best director? What if Money Ball wins best picture? Or War Horse?
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Luke / February 26, 2012
Secretly I want to see Extremely Close winning Best Picture just to see an explosion of anger from everyone. Maybe even worse than BBM losing to Crash.
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JP / February 26, 2012
@ Luke
I actually liked ELIC. The critics were a bit of aggressive in trashing this film. And the comments about the kid performance I read many places were extremely disrespectful.
There are some upsets (even unpleasant ones for the majority) that keep the Oscars system alive. Crash, probably the worst best picture winner ever with The Greatest Show on Earth, helped the system. The ELIC nomination too. It`s the biggest nomination upset since City of God got directing and writing in 2004.
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Jake G.! / February 26, 2012
Honestly the worst! Especially when you leave out films like the girl with the dragon tattoo, drive, and young adult! Midnight in Paris, The Help, EL&IC are all just mediocre films! Moneyball is a little better, Hugo is good, The Artist is pretty good, War Horse is amazing, and The Tree of life is pretty good, and The Descendants is alright! They would have been better with five bp nods! It could have went:
The Artist
War Horse
Hugo
The Tree of Life
The Descendants
And
TGWTDT
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James Rosenzweig / February 26, 2012
My only comment — I found it amusing that, in the poll of the last 10 years, you typed “Brokeback Mountain” in for 2005, when of course for every other year you’ve typed the eventual Best Picture winner. It’s like your fingers were reviled at the thought of having to type “Crash” and they ad-libbed.
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MikeQ. / February 26, 2012
It won’t let me vote in the second poll. “After the cut”, or when I click “read more”, it brings me to the results of each poll. There’s no way for me to actually vote in the second poll.
Cheers.
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MikeQ. / February 26, 2012
Fixed now, thank you.
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GoOnNow / February 26, 2012
Shouldn’t we wait for after the ACTUAL ceremony has ended???
James Rosenzweig… yikes, that’s kinda scary, yeah? What’s wrong with me?
Same sort of self-protective mental condition DiCaprio had in Shutter Island.
I don’t even want to fix it…
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BBBerlin / February 26, 2012
Best year was 2011, by far:
’127 Hours’ and ‘Fighter’ and ‘Winter’s Bone’ and ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Inception’ and ‘Social Network’ – still exhausted by this g.r.e.a.t. outcome
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mdb / February 26, 2012
“Bad” is such an ambiguous adjective. What do we mean by bad?
Nothing can top 2005 in terms of disappointment. I think it’s really sad when people let their political beliefs cloud their ability to judge art. I think it’s especially disappointing that the beneficiary of this prejudice was unquestionably the least deserving nominee, and possibly the least deserving nominee in Academy history.
That said, 2005 did have one film most people really liked (Brokeback), plus one really good acting performance (Capote).
2011 had nothing. I loved The Help, but I loved it because of the emotions it drew out of me, not because it was a work of art. Meryl was great in Iron Lady, but she probably won’t win and didn’t put up a legendary performance. Spencer was good, but not as good as Mo’nique. We didn’t have any awesome performances in Supporting Actor.
Basically, this year was incredibly mediocre. I can’t say it was the worst ever because I wasn’t alive for the entire history of the Oscars and haven’t seen the older movies. I can say it was the worst year of the past 10, in my opinion.
I went with 2006 because of The De-Pah-Ted and Scorsese landing wins, but the No Country year was great as well. Last year’s films were outstanding, but I still think Another Year and Lesley Manville got robbed and The King’s Speech obviously pissed a lot of people off.
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KJBacon / February 26, 2012
My vote for worst year: 1968 – only three or four films you’d watch today
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mdb / February 26, 2012
@Luke,
I don’t think ELIC winning would cause quite the backlash that occurred when Crash won, simply because Crash’s win stemmed from bigotry. I don’t see how ELIC’s win could stem from bigotry. I don’t even think it would be as bad as Shakespeare beating Ryan, because everyone loved Ryan and no one really loves Artist. I just don’t think I sense any real passion this year. Even look at Sasha. Sasha always has her treasured movie that she promotes to no end. She tried to get excited about Dragon Tattoo and The Descendants this year, but ultimately couldn’t do it.
How could this – or any – year be worse than Crash beating Brokeback Mountain? That decision alone ruined all respect I had for the Academy, and that was in only my second year watching the Oscar race.
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Epic / February 26, 2012
How I break down the Picture category:
MOST ESSENTIAL:
1. The Tree of Life
2. Hugo
GOOD, NOT GREAT:
3. The Artist
4. The Descendants
5. Moneyball
6. Midnight in Paris
DECENT, but no business being nominated in this category:
7. The Help
8. War Horse
WTF??
9. Extremely Loud blah blah blah
Films that should’ve been nominated:
Drive, Shame, Melancholia, A Separation
I know Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets mentioned a lot, but this film left no impression on me. And I’m a David Fincher fan. I wasn’t a fan of the Swedish films either, so there. Looking forward to more Fincher though.
Anyway, this film year was weak…
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Philipp / February 26, 2012
The real problem is that every awards group goes for the same film. Why? There’s no need for that. Even the nomination line-up is pretty much the same.
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Minority within a Minority / February 26, 2012
2006 was supposed to be “the gay Oscars,” but the major award did not go to “Brokeback Mountain,” the runaway favorite.
I think 2012 will be remembered as “the black Oscars,” with Oprah Winfrey getting the Hersholt Humanitarian award, James Earl Jones the lifetime achievement award, and both Viola Davis and Olivia Spencer taking the lead and supporting actress awards.
This would make Ms. Davis the second black actor to win Best Actress in a decade, Ms. Spencer the third to win Best Supporting Actress. Three black actors have won Best Actor in the past decade, so this year has to be a cause for particular celebration for African-Americans.
That said, I for one am disappointed that no (openly) gay actor or actress has ever won. Or that no Asian-American has ever been nominated in a lead acting category, much less win. They seem to be the most “invisible” minority within Hollywood, Hispanics less so.
Hollywood still seems to think that race is black-and-white (even in “Crash,” there was no Asian-American even in a really identifiable supporting role). It will be a love-feast for black Americans tonight. I’m not sure at all that I have a reason to celebrate, as the “lessons” contained in a film such as “The Help” do not seem to extend to others, i.e., other minorities, at least in my experience.
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mecid / February 26, 2012
It is the best year in years-probably since 2003. Crash, Slumdog, Hurt locker all are craps.
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mecid / February 26, 2012
Probably the worst year of all Oscar history is 1998 when Shakespeare beat Ryan and I do not think we will see such year in upcoming years.
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JP / February 26, 2012
“The best Oscar“
There should be some criteria for this.
- The ceremony itself (the host, the handling of the awards, the surprises, etc.)
- The quality of the films
If it`s the quality of the films, 2010 is by far the best. Just take a look at the reviews. All the films delivered well with the critics.
If it`s for the telecast itself, 2007 (No Country) is the worse. 2003 is a close runner-up. And the ratings help to prove that. They made a really poor 80-year-anniversary ceremony. I was very disappointed. Same for the year LOTR won. A very boring ceremony and the most predictable of all of those. In contrast, 2008 (Slumdog) was also a predictable but a very good ceremony with a great host, a new way of handling the acting awards, the division of the awards in blocks. I also find the 2001 (A Beautiful Mind) a fantastic show full of upsets, with great performances… from songs to john williams to cirque du soleil, legends receiving honorary Oscars and it had Woody Allen. It was a long ceremony but a very good one for me.
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JP / February 26, 2012
2009 and 2003 were not very good ceremonies but the fact that there was a big blockbuster nominated helped a lot the ratings.
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Daveylow / February 26, 2012
Epic, I agree with your assessment of the films this year. Though ELAIC is actually better than Crash.
There are numerous terrible choices for the “Best Picture” Oscar winner throughout the years (i.e., Oliver, Around the World in 80 Days, The Greatest Show on Earth, Titanic).
But to truly determine the worst “Best Picture”, I think you have to look seriously at the other competitors for the award of a particular year.
So for me, that’s an easy clear choice.
In 1976 ROCKY won the Best Picture Oscar. Any of the other four nominees that year were clearly superior to the eventual sappy winner:
Network (did win four other Oscars)
All The President’s Men (did win four other Oscars)
Taxi Driver (went home empty handed)
Bound for Glory (did win one Oscar)
. . . which made me think that that year the ballots were probably VERY close indeed (especially when the wealth is spread around to other films). I bet Rocky won by just a very few votes that year.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if these tabulations were announced publicly?
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Rob Y / February 26, 2012
This poll will not indirectly reveal the worst of last year. It will only reveal the one that has the least amount of support. Crash is the worst year, and yet it still has support. I vaguely remember A Beautiful Mind, and it appears that many others don’t remember it either.
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Jesus Alonso / February 26, 2012
A Beautiful Mind was the winner the year of Moulin Rouge!, Mulholland Drive, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Gosford Park, The Others and plenty of excellent films.
A decade later, I think only a few people would pick A Beautiful Mind as “Best Picture” over any of the ones I mentioned. And there were more…
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JP / February 26, 2012
A Beautiful Mind`s year was saved by a very good ceremony produced by the late Laura Ziskin.
- The first year of the Kodak Theater.
- The black year with the upsets from Berry, Danzel and the honorary for Poitier.
- Honorary Oscar for other legend: Robert Redford.
- Fantastic John Williams tribute to scores.
- Cirque du Soleil.
- My favorite song lineup ever: Sting, Enya, Sir Paul McCartney, Faith Hill and Randy Newman performing.
- Very good films: Lord of the Rings, Moulin Rouge, Shrek, Monsters Inc., Harry Potter, Gosford Park, Mulholland Drive…
- 3 acting category upsets, what`s unthinkable nowadays.
- One of the best speeches ever: Halle Berry.
- Woody Allen. This says a lot about the ceremony.
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JP / February 26, 2012
- Also the first year with the animated feature category.
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John / February 26, 2012
“Wouldn’t it be interesting if these tabulations were announced publicly?”
It would and I wish they were. Not right after the winners are announced, for obvious reasons, but maybe a few years after the awards. Too bad it will never happen.
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tombeet / February 26, 2012
Actually 2001′s line-up was great (A Beautiful Mind, The Fellowships of the King, Gosford Park, Moulin Rouge, In the Bedroom), but the Oscar ruined it by choosing A Beautiful Mind for BP and worst of all, Ron Howard for Best Director.
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Paul Voorhies / February 26, 2012
I know how much management loves The Descendants, but, honestly, I believe it to be one of the most overrated movie of all-time. It’s scary to think that, but for The Artist, that TD might have won the Oscar for Best Picture. Truly frightening stuff.
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SallyinChicago / February 26, 2012
There’s George Clooney and Stacey. I am convinced they are so NOT doing it….and you can tell what type of woman he had by the man the woman is with after George.
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Paul Voorhies / February 26, 2012
I voted for 2002, primarily because I’m such a huge Julianne Moore fan. I absolutely believe that she deserved to win out over Nicole Kidman, even though I knew from Day 1 that Nicole’s star wattage would be too much for the Academy to resist.
Anyway, yeah. Far From Heaven, The Hours, Chicago, and The Pianist. Good stuff!!
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SallyinChicago / February 26, 2012
Oh I love Viola’s hair and the color green!
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SallyinChicago / February 26, 2012
Every woman is looking very chic so far.
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SallyinChicago / February 26, 2012
A lot of green this year with the dresses.
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Tone / February 26, 2012
Some of you are right about the 2001 Oscars being more exciting than others. The only true frontrunner to win in the acting categories that year was Jennifer Connelly.
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Bill Bach / February 26, 2012
Billy Crystal’s pathetic comment about the Republican candidates was out of place, unnecessary, alienating, provoking of negative outlooks to about half of the audience of this fine show. Bad Bad Billy
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zazou / February 26, 2012
As I recall the 2001 Oscars,the Beautiful Mind win was a year of a very nasty Oscar campaign. Dr.Nash was accused of anti-semitism and not admitting to his gayness. The L.A.Times ran an article about the anti Beautiful Mind campaign and there was a 60 Minutes interview with Nash and his wife,suddenly these people were pulled into some bad Hollywood nightmare.Then too Hollywood decided that 2001 was a good year to correct past errors and award Oscars to an African-American actor and actress,which they did. For the record Crowe won the Golden Globe, the SAG and the Bafta. Goldsman won the WGA and Howard won the DGA.Now did all those guilds, and individuals fail to see their mistake in the making?Beautiful Mind boxoffice was something like 310 millions worldwide and it sold a lot of DVDS.It was a very successful drama.Does that count in the long run? It should.Crowe gave a great Oscar nominated performance,a Bafta winner,a SAG winner and a GG winner.So do these acknowledgements carry meaning only when attached to some film/films approved by posters here? The Artist isn’t a Coen Bros./Scorsese/Fincher film and yet it is successful. Well not as successful as A Beautiful Mind.
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Jesus Alonso / February 27, 2012
“Billy Crystal’s pathetic comment about the Republican candidates was out of place, unnecessary, alienating, provoking of negative outlooks to about half of the audience of this fine show. Bad Bad Billy”
Thank God it was Billy and not me, hosting.
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david lindsey / February 27, 2012
None of those choices really expressed how I felt about this year’s films. I felt like there was a tremendous variety of films this year. While the Academy made some good choices for the most part, overall they played it safe.
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EVERY year is becoming the worst year ever, because too many people are too obsessed with this. If you are getting furious when your expectations are not fulfilled by the Academy or some of your favourites get snubbed, you can´t enjoy this awards stuff at all.
Just relax and take it easy- and things are not looking just black or white anymore (pun intended)!
IMO the problem is expectations, we know the voters are out of touch and old and don’t choose populist movies, yet we still get furious every year when they don’t.
I don’t hate the frontrunners, and in any Oscar year that is the most I can hope for.
Everyone knows the films from 2011 that will be remembered years from now. It doesn’t matter what ones take home the gold. Time is the true award.
“the problem is expectations, we know the voters are out of touch and old and don’t choose populist movies, yet we still get furious every year when they don’t.”
Classic codependency. we got it bad.
Classic codependency. we got it bad.
Indeed!
The self-loathing is lopped on a bit much; this year certainly is not as bad as last year, and there is considerable uncertainty on which film is going to take home a few major awards (Cinematography, Actor, Actress). Could even see some shock-a-roos in foreign film, director, and screenplay.
Still waiting for a year when anyone seems completely happy about the way the award season turned out. When so many great and worthy films are released, with everyone picking favorites, it is impossible for expectations to be met. For example, a couple of my favorites didn’t get nominated like Beginners or Shame, but I’m not pissy about it, it doesn’t lower the quality of those films and I respect and understand why the Academy choose the films they did. And honestly, even though it wouldn’t be my number one choice, I cant get angry over a film as well crafted and charming as The Artist taking home the top prize. Its not like its Crash or Chicago, so as for the poll question this year is far from the worst, unlikely to be the best, but no real disappointment when all is said and done.
“Can’t get angry over a well-crafted film…”
I don’t anybody who’s angry about it. But everybody I know whom I’m close to is absolutely bored by the way this year has shriveled down to the dinkiest common denominator.
Neither the best nor the worst. I am satisfied.
But I don’t really need the Academy, or anyone else for that matter, to give their stamp of approval on my choices.
You have to care enough to watch and enjoy, but not too much that you get enraged/destroyed when things don’t go your way.
“dinkiest common denominator”
This year was just a genial accident – like the potato chip, the chocolate chip cookie and the labradoodle.
Nothing to take issue with, imo.
If Mark Whalberg is right and Viola Davis will win the Oscar for Leading Actress for “The Help” than it will be one of the most worst Oscar years for me!
Nothing tops 2009 and its misguided gender activism. That was the worst, by far. But this will take,the silver medal. A silent movie winning everything is a slap in the face and kick to the nuts to every actor and film that actually used sound this year. May such an abomination never happen again.
In the year of Occupy a film that celebrates attractive young people doing the monkey dance for a sexual predator is winning everything.
We have to wait for the results to answer that question.
In terms of ceremony, they will have a hard time making a worse ceremony than the 2008 one, the worst ratings ever.
In terms of films nominated, I think 2006 was worse. It was not a strong year but they made it much worse after the nominations.
In terms of being predictable, 2004 and 2005 are almost unbeatable. The biggest surprise of 2004 was Master and Commander winning cinematography and in 2005, al otto lado del rio winning song.
It was a mediocre year for film in general, so it makes sense that the Oscars are mediocre this year. I look back and think how few movies I said, “I need to see that again immediately,” and instant day one purchases on Blu-ray. It was pretty much only Drive and Mission Impossible (at the IMAX) for me in 2011.
Would it have been nice for a movie like Drive or Harry Potter to be nominated for Best Picture? Sure, but those movies getting in are wishful thinking any year.
I was thinking this was going to be a pretty dire year until I saw the last 2 nominated films I had to see. Moneyball and especially Hugo. On their own they made up for the ret of the year.
steve50,
discouraging thing for me this year is the extreme narrowing down of what — for a brief hopeful moment — seemed to be shaping up as a brilliant selection of truly bold films… so that all the exciting tasty meaty movies got cast aside on nominations morning and we were left with a lot of soup and crackers. And potato chips and candy.
At least last year Inception won 4 Oscars (!! as many as King Speech) and The Social Network won 3. (Sorkin! Reznor & Ross!) (Baxter & Wall)… at least last year Black Swan killed at the Spirit Awards. BAFTA split picture/director.
Sure, great, everybody loves a chocolate chip cookie, fine, wonderful, yummy. But yeesh, chocolate cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner, morning noon & night for 2 months straight — and nothing else ever served, nothing else on the menu, chocolate chips crammed down my throat, like, “swallow it! eat this sweet treat ! what’s wrong with you? everybody loves cookies!” I’m sick of seeing every envelope opened and it’s always another damned dollop of cookie dough.
Oh god. It’s always a bad year when your favourites are kicked to the curb right? give it a rest.
True, Ryan – a major letdown considering most of the best candidates weren’t nominated and, of those that were, are not favored to win. Sugar shock across the boards, with every major group that gives awards. Maybe the crash that follows will bode well for next year.
I guess I’m just too old. Ever since the 1960s — when entertainment columns were abuzz over the real reason Julie Andrews won for Mary Poppins (My Fair Lady, anyone?) and gossip columnist Sheila Graham discussed “who will win” (Lee Marvin) vs. “who should win” (Oskar Werner) — I’ve had plenty of time to maintain realistic expectations, sit back, and enjoy the awkward, gaudy production numbers (Mitzi Gaynor/Georgy Girl)
Off-topic but have you seen the latest ad ABC is running to promote the Oscars? I can’t find it online, but it’s hilarious, and it made me think of this site. Basically “George and Brad, best buddies forever, but tonight, only one of them will win an Oscar!” Don’t want to promote The Artist, ABC?
How can we tell this is a good or a bad year before the show? aren’t the eventual suprises, upsets or expected winners needed to have an opinion on it?
Oscars are not given out yet.
The nominations are not surprising at all. We all knew what movies were going to be nominated. OK, maybe the nomination for EL&IC was not expected but it was nominated for Critics’ Choice. Like I said the nominations are not surprising but I was expecting some diversity but that rarely ever happens. By that I mean at least one blockbuster, one real indie, some genre movies, maybe some foreign – I don’t expect my favorite films to be nominated but nominations should reflect the year in film. I don’t think that in future 2011 will be remembered for The Artist, Hugo (lesser Scorsese),Midnight in Paris (I loved it but it is lesser Woody Allen), The Descendants (lesser Payne)…
Watch Red Carpet live from LA, after watch Oscar award ceremony, live streaming here…: bit.ly/watch-the-oscars-2012-academy-awards-live-stream-free.
How about a “Your expectations are too high.”
Not everyone who reads your site shares your opinion.
This poll is so predictable it should have been an Oscar category.
Not everyone who reads your site shares your opinion.
Meet Kelly. Spokesperson for everybody who’s not Sasha.
Not everybody shares anybody’s opinion, Kelly. But thanks, that’s really helpful to have you pick apart the semantics of the word “our” — otherwise we might think we all share the same brain.
Please don’t come at me for my use of the word “we” — it’s a thing most people recognize as a figure of speech.
I don’t even begin to understand how I’m supposed to answer this poll before the awards are given out tonight. What if it’s a night full of surprises and upsets? What if Terrence Malick wins best director? What if Money Ball wins best picture? Or War Horse?
Secretly I want to see Extremely Close winning Best Picture just to see an explosion of anger from everyone. Maybe even worse than BBM losing to Crash.
@ Luke
I actually liked ELIC. The critics were a bit of aggressive in trashing this film. And the comments about the kid performance I read many places were extremely disrespectful.
There are some upsets (even unpleasant ones for the majority) that keep the Oscars system alive. Crash, probably the worst best picture winner ever with The Greatest Show on Earth, helped the system. The ELIC nomination too. It`s the biggest nomination upset since City of God got directing and writing in 2004.
Honestly the worst! Especially when you leave out films like the girl with the dragon tattoo, drive, and young adult! Midnight in Paris, The Help, EL&IC are all just mediocre films! Moneyball is a little better, Hugo is good, The Artist is pretty good, War Horse is amazing, and The Tree of life is pretty good, and The Descendants is alright! They would have been better with five bp nods! It could have went:
The Artist
War Horse
Hugo
The Tree of Life
The Descendants
And
TGWTDT
My only comment — I found it amusing that, in the poll of the last 10 years, you typed “Brokeback Mountain” in for 2005, when of course for every other year you’ve typed the eventual Best Picture winner. It’s like your fingers were reviled at the thought of having to type “Crash” and they ad-libbed.
It won’t let me vote in the second poll. “After the cut”, or when I click “read more”, it brings me to the results of each poll. There’s no way for me to actually vote in the second poll.
Cheers.
Fixed now, thank you.
Shouldn’t we wait for after the ACTUAL ceremony has ended???
James Rosenzweig… yikes, that’s kinda scary, yeah? What’s wrong with me?
Same sort of self-protective mental condition DiCaprio had in Shutter Island.
I don’t even want to fix it…
Best year was 2011, by far:
’127 Hours’ and ‘Fighter’ and ‘Winter’s Bone’ and ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Inception’ and ‘Social Network’ – still exhausted by this g.r.e.a.t. outcome
“Bad” is such an ambiguous adjective. What do we mean by bad?
Nothing can top 2005 in terms of disappointment. I think it’s really sad when people let their political beliefs cloud their ability to judge art. I think it’s especially disappointing that the beneficiary of this prejudice was unquestionably the least deserving nominee, and possibly the least deserving nominee in Academy history.
That said, 2005 did have one film most people really liked (Brokeback), plus one really good acting performance (Capote).
2011 had nothing. I loved The Help, but I loved it because of the emotions it drew out of me, not because it was a work of art. Meryl was great in Iron Lady, but she probably won’t win and didn’t put up a legendary performance. Spencer was good, but not as good as Mo’nique. We didn’t have any awesome performances in Supporting Actor.
Basically, this year was incredibly mediocre. I can’t say it was the worst ever because I wasn’t alive for the entire history of the Oscars and haven’t seen the older movies. I can say it was the worst year of the past 10, in my opinion.
I went with 2006 because of The De-Pah-Ted and Scorsese landing wins, but the No Country year was great as well. Last year’s films were outstanding, but I still think Another Year and Lesley Manville got robbed and The King’s Speech obviously pissed a lot of people off.
My vote for worst year: 1968 – only three or four films you’d watch today
@Luke,
I don’t think ELIC winning would cause quite the backlash that occurred when Crash won, simply because Crash’s win stemmed from bigotry. I don’t see how ELIC’s win could stem from bigotry. I don’t even think it would be as bad as Shakespeare beating Ryan, because everyone loved Ryan and no one really loves Artist. I just don’t think I sense any real passion this year. Even look at Sasha. Sasha always has her treasured movie that she promotes to no end. She tried to get excited about Dragon Tattoo and The Descendants this year, but ultimately couldn’t do it.
How could this – or any – year be worse than Crash beating Brokeback Mountain? That decision alone ruined all respect I had for the Academy, and that was in only my second year watching the Oscar race.
How I break down the Picture category:
MOST ESSENTIAL:
1. The Tree of Life
2. Hugo
GOOD, NOT GREAT:
3. The Artist
4. The Descendants
5. Moneyball
6. Midnight in Paris
DECENT, but no business being nominated in this category:
7. The Help
8. War Horse
WTF??
9. Extremely Loud blah blah blah
Films that should’ve been nominated:
Drive, Shame, Melancholia, A Separation
I know Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets mentioned a lot, but this film left no impression on me. And I’m a David Fincher fan. I wasn’t a fan of the Swedish films either, so there. Looking forward to more Fincher though.
Anyway, this film year was weak…
The real problem is that every awards group goes for the same film. Why? There’s no need for that. Even the nomination line-up is pretty much the same.
2006 was supposed to be “the gay Oscars,” but the major award did not go to “Brokeback Mountain,” the runaway favorite.
I think 2012 will be remembered as “the black Oscars,” with Oprah Winfrey getting the Hersholt Humanitarian award, James Earl Jones the lifetime achievement award, and both Viola Davis and Olivia Spencer taking the lead and supporting actress awards.
This would make Ms. Davis the second black actor to win Best Actress in a decade, Ms. Spencer the third to win Best Supporting Actress. Three black actors have won Best Actor in the past decade, so this year has to be a cause for particular celebration for African-Americans.
That said, I for one am disappointed that no (openly) gay actor or actress has ever won. Or that no Asian-American has ever been nominated in a lead acting category, much less win. They seem to be the most “invisible” minority within Hollywood, Hispanics less so.
Hollywood still seems to think that race is black-and-white (even in “Crash,” there was no Asian-American even in a really identifiable supporting role). It will be a love-feast for black Americans tonight. I’m not sure at all that I have a reason to celebrate, as the “lessons” contained in a film such as “The Help” do not seem to extend to others, i.e., other minorities, at least in my experience.
It is the best year in years-probably since 2003. Crash, Slumdog, Hurt locker all are craps.
Probably the worst year of all Oscar history is 1998 when Shakespeare beat Ryan and I do not think we will see such year in upcoming years.
“The best Oscar“
There should be some criteria for this.
- The ceremony itself (the host, the handling of the awards, the surprises, etc.)
- The quality of the films
If it`s the quality of the films, 2010 is by far the best. Just take a look at the reviews. All the films delivered well with the critics.
If it`s for the telecast itself, 2007 (No Country) is the worse. 2003 is a close runner-up. And the ratings help to prove that. They made a really poor 80-year-anniversary ceremony. I was very disappointed. Same for the year LOTR won. A very boring ceremony and the most predictable of all of those. In contrast, 2008 (Slumdog) was also a predictable but a very good ceremony with a great host, a new way of handling the acting awards, the division of the awards in blocks. I also find the 2001 (A Beautiful Mind) a fantastic show full of upsets, with great performances… from songs to john williams to cirque du soleil, legends receiving honorary Oscars and it had Woody Allen. It was a long ceremony but a very good one for me.
2009 and 2003 were not very good ceremonies but the fact that there was a big blockbuster nominated helped a lot the ratings.
Epic, I agree with your assessment of the films this year. Though ELAIC is actually better than Crash.
There are numerous terrible choices for the “Best Picture” Oscar winner throughout the years (i.e., Oliver, Around the World in 80 Days, The Greatest Show on Earth, Titanic).
But to truly determine the worst “Best Picture”, I think you have to look seriously at the other competitors for the award of a particular year.
So for me, that’s an easy clear choice.
In 1976 ROCKY won the Best Picture Oscar. Any of the other four nominees that year were clearly superior to the eventual sappy winner:
Network (did win four other Oscars)
All The President’s Men (did win four other Oscars)
Taxi Driver (went home empty handed)
Bound for Glory (did win one Oscar)
. . . which made me think that that year the ballots were probably VERY close indeed (especially when the wealth is spread around to other films). I bet Rocky won by just a very few votes that year.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if these tabulations were announced publicly?
This poll will not indirectly reveal the worst of last year. It will only reveal the one that has the least amount of support. Crash is the worst year, and yet it still has support. I vaguely remember A Beautiful Mind, and it appears that many others don’t remember it either.
A Beautiful Mind was the winner the year of Moulin Rouge!, Mulholland Drive, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Gosford Park, The Others and plenty of excellent films.
A decade later, I think only a few people would pick A Beautiful Mind as “Best Picture” over any of the ones I mentioned. And there were more…
A Beautiful Mind`s year was saved by a very good ceremony produced by the late Laura Ziskin.
- The first year of the Kodak Theater.
- The black year with the upsets from Berry, Danzel and the honorary for Poitier.
- Honorary Oscar for other legend: Robert Redford.
- Fantastic John Williams tribute to scores.
- Cirque du Soleil.
- My favorite song lineup ever: Sting, Enya, Sir Paul McCartney, Faith Hill and Randy Newman performing.
- Very good films: Lord of the Rings, Moulin Rouge, Shrek, Monsters Inc., Harry Potter, Gosford Park, Mulholland Drive…
- 3 acting category upsets, what`s unthinkable nowadays.
- One of the best speeches ever: Halle Berry.
- Woody Allen. This says a lot about the ceremony.
- Also the first year with the animated feature category.
“Wouldn’t it be interesting if these tabulations were announced publicly?”
It would and I wish they were. Not right after the winners are announced, for obvious reasons, but maybe a few years after the awards. Too bad it will never happen.
Actually 2001′s line-up was great (A Beautiful Mind, The Fellowships of the King, Gosford Park, Moulin Rouge, In the Bedroom), but the Oscar ruined it by choosing A Beautiful Mind for BP and worst of all, Ron Howard for Best Director.
I know how much management loves The Descendants, but, honestly, I believe it to be one of the most overrated movie of all-time. It’s scary to think that, but for The Artist, that TD might have won the Oscar for Best Picture. Truly frightening stuff.
There’s George Clooney and Stacey. I am convinced they are so NOT doing it….and you can tell what type of woman he had by the man the woman is with after George.
I voted for 2002, primarily because I’m such a huge Julianne Moore fan. I absolutely believe that she deserved to win out over Nicole Kidman, even though I knew from Day 1 that Nicole’s star wattage would be too much for the Academy to resist.
Anyway, yeah. Far From Heaven, The Hours, Chicago, and The Pianist. Good stuff!!
Oh I love Viola’s hair and the color green!
Every woman is looking very chic so far.
A lot of green this year with the dresses.
Some of you are right about the 2001 Oscars being more exciting than others. The only true frontrunner to win in the acting categories that year was Jennifer Connelly.
Billy Crystal’s pathetic comment about the Republican candidates was out of place, unnecessary, alienating, provoking of negative outlooks to about half of the audience of this fine show. Bad Bad Billy
As I recall the 2001 Oscars,the Beautiful Mind win was a year of a very nasty Oscar campaign. Dr.Nash was accused of anti-semitism and not admitting to his gayness. The L.A.Times ran an article about the anti Beautiful Mind campaign and there was a 60 Minutes interview with Nash and his wife,suddenly these people were pulled into some bad Hollywood nightmare.Then too Hollywood decided that 2001 was a good year to correct past errors and award Oscars to an African-American actor and actress,which they did. For the record Crowe won the Golden Globe, the SAG and the Bafta. Goldsman won the WGA and Howard won the DGA.Now did all those guilds, and individuals fail to see their mistake in the making?Beautiful Mind boxoffice was something like 310 millions worldwide and it sold a lot of DVDS.It was a very successful drama.Does that count in the long run? It should.Crowe gave a great Oscar nominated performance,a Bafta winner,a SAG winner and a GG winner.So do these acknowledgements carry meaning only when attached to some film/films approved by posters here? The Artist isn’t a Coen Bros./Scorsese/Fincher film and yet it is successful. Well not as successful as A Beautiful Mind.
“Billy Crystal’s pathetic comment about the Republican candidates was out of place, unnecessary, alienating, provoking of negative outlooks to about half of the audience of this fine show. Bad Bad Billy”
Thank God it was Billy and not me, hosting.
None of those choices really expressed how I felt about this year’s films. I felt like there was a tremendous variety of films this year. While the Academy made some good choices for the most part, overall they played it safe.