LotR:FotR Academy Awards Part 2

[Droogie]

Ok. My thoughts.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, LotR is much more critically acclaimed: 96% compared to BM's 70% last time I looked.

So why did LOTR lose? Well, the geek factor for one. The Academy hates geeks. No fantasy films ever win. Ok, we have that one established.

Perhaps because the three films are being made all at once? If you award LotR best pic then award TT best pic the following year, isn't this like awarding the same film twice? Might be a question the academy didn't wanna touch with a ten-foot pole.

Finally, the Oscars are not about the best films. Its all about politics, politics, politics. Some awards are given just because the award was due, not because the performance or directing was better than the other nominees. Dreamworks has a lot of clout; they've won the last three best pic awards. Ron Howard won because he's in with "the family", and maybe because of New Line's dirty tactics.

 

[Shadowdancer]

As a long-time Oscar watcher and someone who pays attention to the movie industry as part of my job, I have to disagree with some of the comments on this thread.

First, FOTR was a very good movie, one deserving of all the nominations it received. And it should have won best picture. Of the five nominated films, A Beautiful Mind was the least-deserving winner.

Of all the movies released last year, there were only two which received more positive reviews from more critics than FOTR and those were Shrek and In the Bedroom. FOTR was a critical success and a box office success.

Moulin Rouge was a great movie, too. Of the nominated films, I thought is was second behind FOTR.

The reason Beautiful Mind won was partly because of politics and partly because the academy voters consider it a safer, less controversional, less radical choice. It deals with a more "serious" subject than FOTR (in their opinion).

The film didn't win because of Ron Howard, and Howard didn't win because of being a member of the Hollywood family. Up until now, Howard has been disliked by Hollywood. Why? Because his movies are too successful. Steven Spielberg used to suffer from the same problem back in the 1970s and '80s. He was nominated for best director several times, and his movies were nominated for best picture, but never won. Not until he made Schindler's List, and the academy voters felt he had finally made a serious movie worthy of an award. Same thing with Howard. This year was his first nomination for best director. He should have won for Apollo 13, which -- much like FOTR -- was a great piece of filmmaking. But the academy thought it wasn't serious enough and relied too much on special effects. They had the same problems with FOTR.

As far as the girl who had the system to predict all the winners: I've heard of that system, and others like it, over the years. It doesn't always work. Hell, it didn't work this year. Best soundtrack winner was not from the most popular animated movie this year -- the winner was FOTR. The best songs wasn't from the most popular animated movie. The best song was from "Monster's, Inc.," the most popular animated movie was "Shrek." Last year, the best song wasn't from an animated movie at all. As far as the best picture winner either being historical, war or about a middle-aged man's midlife crisis, that doesn't explain wins for The Silence of the Lambs, Terms of Endearment or Ordinary People, just to name three off the top of my head. Or the Godfather, Parts I or II. Unless you're calling the Godfather historical or a mid-life crisis, which would really be stretching it. And best actor and actress don't always go to who is most popular. Hilary Swank wasn't that popular when she won best actress -- she was a virtual unknown. Same for Marlee Matlin, and others when they've won. Russell Crowe wasn't that popular last year when he won. That's one reason he didn't win this year -- too many people in Hollywood don't like him. Popularity does come into play, but it's not the only factor in the voting.

In the nine categories in which I predicted the winners in stories I wrote for the newspaper where I work, I was correct in seven categories. It doesn't take a system, just some common sense about the academy and how they vote.

There are several tried-and-true Oscar prediction systems that indicated FOTR was going to win this year.

 

[Squire James]

Well, it was pretty obvious the awards ABM got were directed toward Ron Howard and nobody else. So apparently any dislike they may have had of him in the past is over. I still think there's a lot of Lifetime Achievement Awards being given out besides the ones that were actually called that.

All those who got nominated "deserve" to get an Oscar, but since the Oscars is a competition rather than a celebration, only one in each category is going to get one. So some strange movie about a schizophenic mathematician won Best Picture over our favorite movie. All that means is that there's stranger people than geeks in the world!

 

[King_Stannis]

....Moulin Rouge was a great movie, too. Of the nominated films, I thought is was second behind FOTR...

don't take this personally, please, but i thought moulin rouge was the most overhyped piece of crap i've ever seen. i kept getting a nagging feeling while i watched it......something inside of me just said that the whole thing was just all wrong. i got the same feeling when i watched "faces of death" as a young teenager and watched a monkey getting his brains beat in. moulin rouge was a jumbled mess. it came and went without much fanfare at the theaters. only after nicole kidman's separation/divorce did it start to get some attention.

there's just something wrong about ewen mcgregor singing elton john songs. something insidious, in fact.

and no way in hell did nicole kidman deserve an oscar nomination for that performance. even my wife, who loved moulin rouge, conceded that.

 

[Shadowdancer]

No offense taken. My wife hated Moulin Rouge, and she ususally loves movies with lots of dance numbers and choreography. And she's still mad at me for buying the DVD. It is one of those movies that people either loved or hated.

I disagree about Nicole deserving to be nominated. I thought her performance was very good, and showed a lot of range.

But her seperation and divorce had already happened by the time the movie came out. She and Tom Cruise seperated during the filming of the movie. The divorce might not have been final when it was released, but it had already been filed.

And although the movie didn't do blockbuster business at theaters, it did a respectable $57 million. And the DVD-video release has been selling very well.

 

[maddman75]

Personally, it doesn't suprise me at all. I despise all award shows. On the rare occasion that I watch one, movies, music - it doesn't matter. I have a tried and true method of determining the winner. Whichever nominee makes me cringe with distaste will win. Any truly good show on television seems destined to be canceled midseason. Most recent example: the Tick.

 

[CRGreathouse]

I've never had much faith in the Oscars. Still, when I saw so many nominations for LotR, I hoped they would finally manage to change my mind. They didn't. I still have no faith in the Oscars.

'took ther words right out of my mouth.

 

[Storminator]

I'm guessing Two Towers will also get nominated and lose, then RotK will get nominated and win, as a sort of award for the trilogy.

Not that I'm any sort of expert or anything.

PS

 

[Droogie]

The reason Beautiful Mind won was partly because of politics and partly because the academy voters consider it a safer, less controversional, less radical choice. It deals with a more "serious" subject than FOTR (in their opinion).

Ok, I will concede that the "family" thing was a little off-base (cue "Godfather" music), but at least we can agree that oscar is all about politics, politics, politics.

And your point that Oscar likes more "serious" fare goes nicely with my point about the geek factor. Like peas and carrots.