The Oscars rarely get it right. I’ve been scrolling through every single one of the 21st century’s Best Picture winners and couldn’t find more than 2 or 3 instances when they actually awarded the best movie of the year:
1) Joel Coen’s “No Country For Old Men”
2) Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed”
3) Steve McQueen’s “12 Years A Slave”
Then there’s the highly respectable winners, movies that may not have been my first choice, but deserved the recognition:
4) Peter Jackson’s “The Return of the King”
5) Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman”
6) Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker”
7) Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite”
The next category is the admirable crowd-pleasers:
8) Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator”
9) Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire”
10) Tom McCarthy’s “Spotlight”
11) Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water”
12) Ron Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind”
13) Peter Farrely’s “Green Book”
A special category should go to (14) Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” which didn’t deserve the top prize. Yes, it's a solid movie, but mired by a lacklustre and forced finale. Jenkins and his film were products of being unleashed to the public at the right place and right time. The Trump era really skewed many people’s perceptions of what an actual great movie was (but that’s a story for a whole other piece worth writing about).
15) Speaking of a movie that has a flawed third act, I loved the first 3/4 of (16) Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby,” but never got on-board with its final 20 or so minutes. I’ve seen it three or four times, and the non-boxing drama just didn’t work as well for me as the first 90 or so minutes.
The worst Best Picture winners were (16) Chicago” (17) “The Artist,” (18) “The King’s Speech,” (19) “Crash”, (20) “Argo”, (21) and “Nomadland” (Yes, Chloe Zhao’s recent winner will age like bad cheese).
Which of this year’s nominees truly deserves to win?