2015 Academy Awards Discussion

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Hitchcock, Gibson and Cameron all deserved oscars. The case for Cameron is shakiest, but only because he was going up against L.A. Confidential.

This

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Cameron's dialogue is awful, but I don't think any other big budget director is better at creating a seamless, tightly plotted action movie. I think he's classic case of being called overrated to the point where he's underrated.

Terminator 1 and 2 and Aliens is a great resume by itself.  The problem is that he got overly praised by the media for Titanic and Avatar, despite the fact those are more works of film technology than storytelling.

In fairness, Avatar was pretty awful.  However, I agree with the rest of your post.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

If we want to talk about questionable awards of the nineties let's talk about 1994. One can make an argument for Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, and The Shawshank Redemption all being very good films, but twenty years on it's hard to seriously argue that Forrest Gump is the best of the three. (Does anyone remember Four Weddings and a Funeral or Quiz Show any more?)

Quiz Show was better than Forrest Gump although both were good (but not great).  The Shawshank Redemption should've won that year although Pulp Fiction would've also been a worthy winner.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Very interesting theory, but it would surprise me. Boyhood voters seems to be the type to go BH 1, BM 2 or 3, whereas Birdman voters are more likely to keep BH low, like 6 or lower. It's hard not to enjoy Birdman, but if you enjoy both, I'd imagine Boyhood is more likely to get the nod. If not, you probably disliked it pretty strongly.

It's highly likely everyone knows the politics involved and all the BH and BM voters are intentionally putting the other at 7th. Whiplash and Grand Budapest Hotel voters are likely going to second place Boyhood in support of independent filmmaking. Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein is apparently on a tour to white guilt people to vote for Selma as their 2nd choice, which could change things.

Selma isn't even a Weinstein film

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I generally agree with realisticidealist. These are good dramas. Do we have The Godfather here? No. Not close.

(I admit that I'm not a fan of Wes Anderson).

The most staying power might be The Theory of Everything because it concerns an individual for whom there is much interest and fascination. Also Interstellar, yeah, because of the publicity and the name recognition behind it.

People don't remember The Departed?

The Artist might have been a better recent example to cite, but The Departed is surely not on the same level as Goodfellas or even Raging Bull, movies that did not win best picture. To me, at least. It's anecdotal, but the last time I heard someone talk about The Departed was a few years ago. Like 2010. The last time I heard someone talk about Goodfellas, a twenty-five year old movie, was last week, actually.

The Departed is at the about same level as Goodfellas (not quite as good, but it's definitely up there).