These are 10 Oscar mistakes in no particular order.
1. Memento losing Best Original Screenplay to Gosford Park in 2001. This was a no-brainer to me. Christopher Nolan's incredibly original and ground-breaking screenplay was so progressive that no other screenplay that year should have even been nominated. I was extremely disappointed by the Academy.
2. Gone With the Wind winning Best Picture in 1939. First of all this is a ridiculously over-rated movie with below-average writing and bad acting. The lone standout in this film is the direction which is amazingly well executed for what the script given to the director. Secondly, it beat out films such as The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Stagecoach. All of these were far better and had depth and a purpose.
3. Goodfellas losing to Dances With Wolves for Best Picture in 1990. Simply a joke! How could Kevin Costner out do Martin Scorsese. Costner sucks (except JFK and The Untouchables)!
4. City of God in 2004. Wasn't nominated for Best Foreign Film or Best Picture which it should have. Also, I know The Return of the King was unbelievably good, but Cinematography should have gone to City to God. But at least that one was understandable.
5. Shakespeare in Love winning Best Picture in 1998. Although I really liked this movie I loved another movie this year. And, no its not Saving Private Ryan (I did like this though). It was The Thin Red Line. This slow-moving WW2 epic was a masterpiece. I can't remember a movie that has dialog and monologues so well written. Terrence Malik is a genius and proves so with The This Red Line.
6. John Ford winning Best Director over Orson Welles in 1941. Don't get me wrong, John Ford may be the greatest director of all time, but Citizen Kane is the most well-directed film in history with progressive techniques that took years to be replicated by anyone else.
7. Jim Carrey not even being nominated in 1997. In 1997 Jim Carrey gave a performance of a lifetime, even winning Best Actor in a Drama for the Golden Globes. Then the Academy skips him completely, when he was the for-sure winner in the Golden Globes. Big Disappointment!
8. Tom Hanks Oscar Career. Tom Hanks deservedly won the Oscar for Best Leading Actor in 1994 for Forest Gump, but he also won for Philadelphia the year before. In 1993 Liam Neeson should have won Best Actor over Tom Hanks for Schindler's List for Neeson's amazing portrayal of Oskar Schindler. However, Tom Hanks should have won for Cast Away in 2000 when Russell Crowe won for Gladiator. Gladiator was a better film, but not superior acting.
9. Chicago winning Best Picture in 2003. Chicago was the worst movie nominated that year. The Oscar should have gone to The Pianist, which won Best Actor, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The Hours, The Two Towers, and Gangs of New York were also better choices, although The Pianist was the best option.
10. The non-winning of Taxi Driver in 1977. Taxi Driver should have won Best Picture (Rocky won), Robert De Niro for Best Actor (Peter Finch for Network won), Best Director for Martin Scorsese (John G. Avildsen won for Rocky), and it didn't even get a writing nomination. This is one of the greatest and most boundary-breaking movies of the 70's. The Academy missed big this year.
