With the 82nd Annual Academy Awards only a few months away, I got to thinking about the last 10 years at the Oscars, reminiscing about the choices the Academy members got right – and some, in my opinion, they got oh-so-wrong. Here’s what I came up with:
73rd Academy Awards (2000)
The Roman sword-fest Gladiator deservedly won the Best Picture award this year, beating out the likes of Chocolat, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (which won the Best Foreign Language award anyway) Erin Brockovich – and the other big favorite: Traffic. Russell Crowe also won for Best Actor for his turn as the Gladiator Maximus, and Julia Roberts picked up the Best Actress award for playing the title character in Erin Brockovich. But in those few occasions when the Academy splits their votes between the film and its director, Gladiator helmer Ridley Scott lost his Oscar to Steven Soderbergh for Traffic. The better man won, I think, but it does prove the Academy loves to spread the wealth – and screw up the Oscar pools.
74th Academy Awards (2001)
As expected, director Ron Howard and his film A Beautiful Mind took the top honors that year, besting other nominees Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Moulin Rouge. Sort of an uneventful year, in my opinion, except for the fact this was the same year TWO African-Americans won the top acting prizes: Best Actor Denzel Washington for his turn as a bad guy in Training Day and Best Actress Halle Berry for her tortured single mom in Monster’s Ball, a first in the Academy’s history. This was also the first year they handed out Oscars in the new Best Animated Feature category, which was awarded to Shrek.
As a side note, it was rumored that Russell Crowe was the favorite to win Best Actor for A Beautiful Mind, which would have been his second consecutive win, but turned voters off with his arrogant behavior at the BAFTA ceremony several weeks earlier. I don’t necessarily believe that – Washington won that thing fair and square.
75th Academy Awards (2002)
A lot of prognosticators thought this might finally be Martin Scorsese’s year to win, with his powerful Gangs of New York, but they were wrong. Instead, the musical trend Moulin Rouge started the previous year came to a head with Chicago winning the Oscar for Best Picture, the first time a musical has won that honor since Oliver! in 1968. The other nominees were The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Pianist. In a move reminiscent of 2000, they also gave the Oscar to The Pianist director Roman Polanski instead of Chicago director Rob Marshall. Polanski, of course, was not in attendance.
The other minor surprise this year was youngster Adrien Brody winning Best Actor for his role as the Jewish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist, over such heavy weights as Nicolas Cage for Adaptation, Michael Caine for The Quiet American, Daniel Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York and Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt. I certainly didn’t see Brody’s win coming (or the big smooch he gave presenter Halle Berry but who did?) – especially not over Daniel Day-Lewis – but Brody did lose a ton of weight for the role and had the Holocaust factor going for him, a subject which has historically been an Academy favorite. I was happy to see Michael Moore win the Best Documentary Feature award for Bowling for Columbine, though, which, of course, gave him the forum to bash President Bush, just as we were entering into the second Iraqi war. Love Michael Moore.
76th Academy Awards (2003)
As if ANYONE had any doubts, The Lord of the Rings finally got its due. The Return of the King, the final and most affecting in the LOTR trilogy, swept the awards, winning in every single category it was nominated in, 11 Oscars in all. Really, the other Best Pic nominees paled in comparison, including Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River and Seabiscuit.
The big race was in the Best Actor category. There was some strong competition. Johnny Depp got a nod for his quirky turn as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates of the Caribbean, while Ben Kingsley deservedly earned a spot with this haunting portrayal in House of Sand and Fog and Jude Law for his role in Cold Mountain. But it was Bill Murray’s to lose, who, going into the Oscar race, seemed to be the frontrunner for his achingly touching performance in Lost in Translation. And lost it he did: to Sean Penn for his revengeful father in Mystic River, Penn’s first win after three previous nominations. Murray looked pretty peeved when he he didn’t win – and so was I. Sure, Penn was terrific, but I really wanted Murray to get it because basically, it would probably be his only chance for an Oscar.
77th Academy Awards (2004)
Martin Scorsese had another shot at the gold with The Aviator, but the Academy members showed all their love for their darling Clint Eastwood, whose boxing film Million Dollar Baby won the Oscar, as did Eastwood for director, Hilary Swank for Best Actress and Morgan Freeman for Best Supporting Actor. Others in the Best Pic field included Finding Neverland, Ray and Sideways. Jamie Foxx also befittingly won Best Actor for his turn as Ray Charles in Ray.
The only problem I had was with Swank’s Best Actress win. I do think she gave a great performance as the tough female boxer, who gets a bad break and ends up paralyzed, but I was really rooting for Annette Bening for her turn as an aging diva in Being Julia. The two actresses had already squared off once before, in 1999, when Swank’s androgynous role in Boys Don’t Cry won the award over Bening’s uptight housewife in American Beauty. Swank earned that one, hands down, but when they competed again in 2004, I thought the Academy would surely give Bening her much deserved due since it seemed like Swank was playing another version of her Boys Don’t Cry character. But alas, no. I’m sure Bening will win that career award at some point; those who are multi-nominated eventually do.
78th Academy Awards (2005)
This was the one year I thought the Academy got it completely wrong with Best Picture – and I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. The heart-wrenching gay-themed love story Brokeback Mountain had all the right buzz and accolades going into the Academy Awards, but a strong last-minute marketing push placed the ensemble drama Crash in the Academy voters’ minds, and they picked it for Best Pic, also beating out Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck and Munich. In fact, the Academy totally messed with our heads when they awarded Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee the Oscar and then a half hour later gave the Best Pic to Crash. It was like, “Psych!”
Some said it won because the film was based in L.A. and therefore had a biased advantage and others commented on the fact the Academy voters weren’t all that comfortable with the homosexuality in Brokeback. I’m not sure, but I do feel choosing Crash over the other stronger contenders just seemed hollow and superficial (kind of how I felt about Slumdog Millionaire, too, but more on that later). At least the acting categories were all deserved, especially Rachel Weisz winning the Best Supporting Actress prize for her tremendous turn as the activist wife in The Constant Gardener. Oh, and March of the Penguins winning Best Documentary Feature – good call.
79th Academy Awards (2006)
I have to say in the past 10 years, 2006 was perhaps my favorite year for movies. Sooo many fantastic films came out, evident in the five Best Picture nominees: The Departed, Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen. Still, it was FINALLY Martin Scorsese’s turn with The Departed, earning him his career Oscar and a Best Picture win. Is it his best film of all time? Probably not, but it is close enough.
The Best Supporting Actor race had an interesting twist. Eddie Murphy was the favorite to win for his role as the strung-out singer in Dreamgirls, but the Academy decided to give Alan Arkin the career Oscar for his brief but hilarious turn as the grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine. Like Bill Murray, that may have been Murphy’s only shot at the gold (especially if he currently keeps making all those poor choices). Personally, I would have given it to Jackie Earle Haley for his creepy turn in “Little Children.”
80th Academy Awards (2007)
2007 was another really good year for movies, and all five Best Pic nominees could have easily won the prize. No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton and There Will Be Blood were all stellar candidates. No Country emerged 
victorious, however, giving directors/brothers Joel and Ethan Coen their moment in the spotlight. Daniel Day-Lewis was a shoo-in to win Best Actor for his searing portrayal of a man obsessed with greed in There Will Be Blood, as well as Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor, playing the truly cold-blooded assassin in No Country.
The bigger surprises were in the actress categories: French actress Marion Cottilard’s Best Actress win for her Edith Piaf performance in La Vie En Rose was unexpected since most thought Julie Christie would win for her role as an Alzheimer patient in Away From Her. And Best Supporting Actress Tilda Swinton stole the thunder from the likes of Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There) for her turn as the corrupt corporate exec way over her head in Michael Clayton. At least screenwriter Diablo Cody won her Oscar for penning Juno.
81st Academy Awards (2008)
Last year’s Best Picture lineup – Slumdog Millionaire, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk and The Reader – was perhaps the most underwhelming I’ve ever seen. It had been about four years running in which nary a blockbuster graced the Best Picture list, so many believed The Dark Knight might get a nod. No go. Now, while I’m not knocking the movies nominated – they are all very good movies — none of them inspired Best Picture quality, in my opinion, especially the winner Slumdog Millionaire. If I had to pick ANY of them, I’d have chosen Frost/Nixon, but that was far too cerebral to win the big prize.
And dammit if Sean Penn didn’t steal another Best Actor prize away from the underdog! He, of course, deserved to win it for his wonderfully upbeat portrayal of the late Harvey Milk in Milk, but I and everyone I knew wanted Mickey Rourke to win for his almost heroic comeback performance in The Wrestler. Oh well.
The show’s ratings, which had been seriously declining over the last five years, actually improved a little, due mostly to host Hugh Jackman and his Broadway show style, but I think the Academy learned some hard lessons last year, hence the expansion to 10 nominees for the upcoming 82nd Academy Awards. Let’s see what kind of mix of quality indies and blockbusters they’ll come up with. Avatar anyone?