A Waste of an Academy Award

Marlee Matlin had a career.

Dr. Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields, 1984) ostensibly played himself, though it was a performance by any definition. He also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. I still would have voted for Ralph Richardson. The same goes for Harold Russell (The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946) , though I would have voted for Clifton Webb or Claude Rains. Russell's was a performance by someone who had no movie career to speak of before or after (except for the underrated Inside Moves).

Giving limited actors more than one, makes them appear much better than they are.

Sally Field, Jodie Foster, Hillary Swank, etc

Why no, OP, I don't know what you mean.

r3 = Annette Bening

Heath Ledger. Because by that time he was dead 'n all.

Jennifer Hudson?

(re a [italic]movie[/italic] career?)

Rex Reed shouldn’t be allowed to have opinions, as he also doesn’t have a brain or s career.

Why would it be a waste? Isn't it for the best performance of the year in a certain category?

Why would it matter to Rex Reed or to anyone if Marlee Matlin or Dr. Haing S. Ngor gave more film performances if their performance was truly the best that year?

I can think of a potential waste, happily avoided so far.

Rex Reed was robbed of his Oscar for "Myra Breckinridge."

Lady Gaga

I don't agree at all. I'd agree more, for argument's sake, with the opposite - if an actor has a great career and everything that goes along with that, don't waste an Oscar on them - give it to great performances from random actors that might otherwise go unnoticed.

The best way, IMO, is to just give Oscars to whomever is deserving - substantial career or not.

The main focus of the Oscars should be either to reward a respected actor who hasn't won after a long career OR a new actor with a future. The point of 'best performance' died years ago. It's insulting when an old actor gets one of this 'lifetime achievement things' -- it means their career is over. An Oscar to an elder gives them a few more jobs before it's over. Don Ameche, Ruth Gordon, Don Ameche come to mind.

The only Oscar that seems to have retained it's luster is Best Director.

They're [italic]all[/italic] a waste – and losers! Hollywood is nothing but booze and dope!

Time for Don Ameche your Don Ameche meds, R14 Don Ameche…

Matlin has actually had a pretty good career. Tons of TV shows.

R12, Gaga totally deserved that Oscar. Shallow is one of the biggest Oscar winning songs of all time at this point.

For those old biddies like Geraldine Paige or Jessica Randy Tandy who promptly croak.

You don't like me? You don't really [italic]like[/italic] me, R3?

[quote] The main focus of the Oscars should be either to reward a respected actor who hasn't won after a long career OR a new actor with a future.

Why should it be that? Please explain.

R20 Because the idea of honest voting for a great performance is dead. Studios promote mediocre performances and buy awards.

Rex Reed is an odious old cum dump.

I think Reed thought an award for an actor with limited appeal or ability limited by some factor wouldn’t have a career that an Oscar can potentially guarantee.

It's funny because these days your career actually goes downhill after you win an Oscar.

R24 it be er has for ME!

Rex Reed was once caught shoplifting CD’s from a Goodys music store uptown in NYC. He’s a complete asshole.

2015: #OscarsSoWhite

2020: #OscarsSoIrrelevant

Many actors don't deserve 2.

Jodie's first Oscar should have gone to Glenn for Dangerous Liaisons

Hillary Swank's second Oscar belonged to Imelda Staunton for Vera Drake

Sally Firld's second should have gone to Judy Davis for A Passage to India.

Luise Rainer's first should have gone to Carole Lombard for My Man Godfrey

Olivia DH's first to Celia Johnson for Brief Encounter

Liz T's first to Deb Kerr for The Sundowners

Jane Fonda's second to either Ingrid for Autumn Sonata or Jill C for An Unmarried Woman.

Of the double winners, the only actresses I think merit 2 BA trophies are Vivien, Ingrid and Meryl.

R29, you honestly think Meryl deserved the Oscar for The Iron Lady?

Sorry I meant to say Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Frances McDormand all are worthy double winners

Marlee Matlin saying Dionne Warwick had good money management skills with a straight face deserved an Academy Award.

[quote][R29], you honestly think Meryl deserved the Oscar for The Iron Lady?

Yes.

R30 I thought her performance as Maggie T was spot on and very impressive. She should have just demanded that the shite Director and Writer were sacked and the movie wouldn't have been such a stinker.

I actually this Meryl deserved the Oscar a few times when she didn't win so don't begrudge her a0 win for this.

Blaim the industry for Marlee Matlin not having more rolls, not herself.

Rex Reed once said in his GAY voice- Molly Ringwald and her CHEEZE DOODLE hair.

R35 I blame Kraft Services for Marlee Matlin not having more rolls

Norma Shearer for The Divorcee.

Susan Sarandon. Bitch.

What a bizarre concept. "You were the best in your category but I personally don't see a future for you in this industry so I'm going to give the "Best Performance" award to someone who didn't provide the best performance but is instead young and pretty and has connections in Hollywood, so....."

Just create a new award and call it "Young and Pretty with Connections" and leave the Oscars alone. Goop would have an armful as would Goldie Hawn's daughter.

I think we all sleep easier for Barkhad Abdi losing the year he was nominated for Captain Phillips.

[quote]Rex Reed thought . . .

Given Rex Reed isn't a real film critic, he has no thoughts.

Lupita. God she’s annoying.

[R29} agree with all...I would have given Field a second Oscar for Lincoln...

R24 Not just these days...

All 3 of Walter Brennan's

Titanic for sure. And fuck that wrinkled old bitch for throwing that diamond in the ocean at the end. She could've donated it to the exploration team that found the Titanic.

I'm laughing about the poster on here who had an unnatural hatred of poor old "piece of wood" Gloria Stuart because "She robbed Olivia DeHavilland of her last great role".

I watched The Iron Lady for the first time the other night and I can’t believe Streep won an Oscar for THAT. I’m a fan but that’s my least favorite Streep performance.

Jennifer Lawrence for everything

"The true shame is that Olivia deHavilland should have played the part of Rose in Titanic. It would have been a full circle moment for her illustrious career that began with the blockbuster of that time, Gone With the Wind. NAd she certainly would have won the Academy Award. Instead, that asswipe James Cameron foisted that Stuart amateur on an unsuspecting public and sold her as some long-forgotten treasure of the Golden Age of Hollywood. No one even knew who the hell she was when she was sporadically and pathetically working in B movies in the 1930s. Ridiculous really."

R35, R37: Her requests for better craft services went unspoken; her desire for more roles fell on deaf ears.

I used to be a "purist" like that. Rex Reed would have a coronary if he still cared about that today. It's even more prevalent (in some ways, I think Robert Benigni, Jennifer Hudson, qualify; there's even an argument for Alicia Vikander who went against Reed's theory completely, yet has she really had a career better than Matlin's?)). Who cares anyway. The Oscars are slowly sliding into obscurity. Quality content is being made moreso these days in "TV." And with the advent of streaming, one would think the Oscars and the Emmys are going to consolidate at some point. I'm thinking by 20 year or so years from now.

Potatum O'Neal

Such a bitchy queeny move. Not surprised to hear him say that.

You shouldn’t give awards for longevity but rather the best performance in that year. But he does have a point.

I originally read this as Rex Harrison and I thought, "Did he really hate Julie Andrews that much?"

Smelly Shelley Winters having two anf Thelma Ritter at 0

Donna Reed really didn't deserve an Oscar for playing a bland hooker; all she did was dye her hair black and say "bitch" once.

Tom Hanks didn't need two although it's not as egregious as pretentious turd Sean Penn having two too.

[r54] that belonged to Madeline Kahn.

Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda. It was just a 90 min cocaine freak-out.

Olivia and Fay Wray were both asked through intermediaries if they would like to be considered. They both replied no. Each was quite infirm and neither had any interest in a weeks-long location shoot at sea. Wray, in fact, passed away before shooting began.

Helen Hunt

R62 here correcting myself. Fay Wray died just a few years after Titanic was released. But both she and Olivia were informally contacted and both declined to be involved.

Olivia was a dreadful ham.

Kathleen "tits" Turner should have won in steal of Matlin in 1986 but she was on the outs with the powerful men of Hollywood as she refused to Part her lovely legs for them..

Maggie McNamara was a Best Actress nominee for The Moon is Blue but she was part of a nominating sweep for that movie. Best Picture, Director, Actor and probably screenplay, too if I could be bothered to look that up. There’s lots of movies in the past that garnered a lot of nominations and no wins: The Color Purple, The Turning Point, Some Came Running. Probably more.

Fay Wray was more than just a beautiful face.. She held her own opposite Erich von Stroheim in "The Wedding March" and Claude Rains in "The Clairvoyant." Compare to Gloria Stuart's performance opposite Rains in "The Invisible Man." Invisible woman.

Was Gloria a big star in the 40s?

Yes, R60! Trixie was a Delight!

Fuck Reed. It’s a performance award, lightning in a bottle. It’s not a career award.

Would have gone for Siggy (first ever win for lead Actress in Si-fi) for Aliens in 1986 over Marlee.

Not only did Marlee Matlin have a career R1, I (somewhat jokingly) would bet that many an actor would give up their hearing to have hers.

R59: Sean Penn is a pretentious turd. Does that mean he's not a good actor and deserve two Oscars. I would never take away any of Jon Voight's Oscars even though he's clearly a nut job these days.

[quote]Was Gloria a big star in the 40s?

She was "a star" in the early 30s though early 40s but never a major one. She was a WAMPUS Baby Star the same year as Ginger Rogers! She co-founded The Screen Actors Guild.

She had a variety of careers over the years as an actress of screen, stage and television, visual artist with works in major museums, and a political activist. She led a very interesting life worth reading about below.

Katharine Hepburn [italic]should[/italic] have won for "Long Day's Journey Into Night." But tough call/tough competition: winner was Anne Bancroft ("The Miracle Worker"); contenders were Bette Davis ("Baby Jane"), Geraldine Page ("Sweet Bird of Youth"), and Lee Remick ("Days of Wine and Roses").

(The year Blanche Hudson/Mommie Dearest accepted the award for Bancroft blatantly, delightedly in front of Davis!)

Aren’t they all wasteful insofar as they’re totally meaningless? Have we still not passed the point of realizing industry awards are just like high school homecoming king & queen bullshit but for grownups (which makes it worse?)? All this fawning and ooh-ing and aah-ing over actors? Ask yourselves why you care (you shouldn’t). Why would you rank them against each other? How does this affect your life (it doesn’t)? If you’re not feeling second hand embarrassment for yourself at this stage get help.

R62 Wray indeed turned down the role in Titanic, but as to the other part of the story I think you’re remembering that Wray was approached about a cameo in Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake, declined, and died before filming began.

You are entirely correct, r77, and I started to add that to my correction of my original post but thought that I had run my mouth enough.

Amy "flaaack jaaacket" Adams

Jennifer "smirking bitch" Lawrence

And Princess fucking Grace sure as hell did not deserve that Oscar!

Most actors play some version of themselves.

Many can only play themselves.

R73 I agree that even if the person is repugnant they still deserve their awards and recognition if they were stunning and the most outstanding among their peers.

I do not believe in either year that Sean Penn won he was the MOST outstanding. Neither of his Oscar wins were cut and dry in his favor before Oscar night.

I'm the person who suggested many double Oscar winners were a waste of a second award because one is sufficient to recognise their talent and achievement. Elevating them to being a double winner makes them appear as the best of the best, which few of them are.

There are exceptions to this, such as Vivien Leigh. She wasn't consistently great in everything and had lots to average performances yet she undeniably gave two STUNNING performances which will never be forgotten and therefore, entirely deserved to be a double winner on this alone.

R61, the issue wasn't so much that Kevin Kline won for A Fish Called Wanda, it's that River Phoenix lost. His performance in Running on Empty was near perfection.

Though River really was the lead in that film.

I hate the SVU episodes with Matlin. That goddamn Amy Solway “I’m a saint on dialysis” performance makes me want to shoot my tv.

Team r84. Agreed. She sucked the energy out of the show when she was on it.

Barbara Stanwyck should have won for STELLA DALLAS over Louise Rainer’s odious yellowface turn in THE GOOD EARTH.

And I hate to say this, but Jennifer Hudson and Halle Berry. Halle’s career has turned into 💩 post Oscar. She’s been in a career freefall ever since. Part of it has been her own fault. She didn’t push hard enough for good scripts. Did she even form a production company? Why didn’t she and Denzel Washington join forces? Do they dislike one another or something. I also blame Hollywood’s reluctance to seriously promote her and put her in big budget projects. She definitely didn’t get the same respect as Denzel Washington did after he wore his first Oscar in GLORY. And that was a supporting role.

Louise Fletcher, Best Actress for ‘Cuckoo’s Nest.’ It was a supporting role and most of the actresses who turned it down could have played the part just as well.

Isabelle Adjani was robbed for ‘The Story of Adele H.’

WON, not WORE his first Oscar. Damned iPad.

Roberto Benigni.

Thread closed.

[quote] I originally read this as Rex Harrison and I thought, "Did he really hate Julie Andrews that much?"

No, but she didn’t deserve the Oscar then and she especially doesn’t deserve it after she pissed away her last chance for a Tony.

Why are the Emmy awards never scrutinized this much?

That one that Mira Sorvino in 1996 instead of Joan Allen for Nixon. Allen has gone on to give many excellent performances whereas Mira was shamelessly fellating a big cock in a movie not 4 years later!

Yes, Benigni, more than anyone else in the history of film.

Some one-off awards were given for reasons considered important socially at the time. Matlin fell into that category but has proven herself in her career.

An example of someone who couldn't was Harold Russell, the double amputee who received his supporting actor award for "Best Years of Our Lives." If not for the post-war need to celebrate a soldier's sacrifice, Claude Rains should have won for "Notorious."

[R93] How Benigni one will always be a mystery; it's truly an awful performance, Ian McKellen was robbed.

And thanks for reminding me that Rains was sublime in a difficult role.

Maybe Fletcher should’ve won the Supporting Actress Award for Cuckoo’s Nest but I’ve never forgotten her acceptance speech and “signing” for her deaf parents that winning the award was like finding water on the moon.

Remember when Jane Fonda cribbed that sign language shit when she won a couple of years later, R95?

I misquoted the Fletcher acceptance speech. I can’t remember who made that remark when they won their award.

Linda Hunt made the moon/ water speech.

[quote] Rains was sublime in a difficult role.

Poor Claude had to wear 3 inch high heels.

R95 that would have cost our lovely Lee Grant her award for Shampoo!

Wasted.

R91, it...it’s only television...snicker

Rex Reed has always been a horse's ass fairy.

Rex did not deserve an Oscar either. Didn't he drive a former partner to suicide?

Thanks, r98, misremembering that was really bugging me!

[quote] Rex Reed has always been a horse's ass fairy.

Hey, that's horseophobic!

Oh, plenty of people have won Academy Awards who shouldn't have won one. It happens all the time. In fact, most of the time.

I think it’s a waste to award an Oscar to a dead actor like P. Finch or H. Ledger. A family member has to make a very public appearance to collect the statue and their acceptance speech isn’t very good. Does the estate have to return the Oscar when the winner dies? That would look nice on a tribute wall. The Academy has a museum, don’t they?

The estate doesn't have to return it but when winners accept they they sign legal papers that neither they nor their heirs can sell the statuette without giving the Academy right of first refusal. The Academy will pay one dollar. This is to help cut down on what used to be a big black market. It doesn't apply to older statuettes given before the current rules went into effect.

Trivia: Hattie acDaniel's award is missing. She left it to a college which lost track of it years ago. And her award is actually a plaque, not a statuette. In the early years only lead actors got statuettes. Supporting actors and technical award winners received small wall plaques.

The Ass Fairy is the mythical creature who gives new buttocks to the Kardashians.

I thought Heath Ledger deserved his Oscar. Peter Finch, not so much. I though his performance was rather hammy. Robert De Niro should have won that year, for "Taxi Driver."

I thought Finch should have gone Supporting. Holden was the lead in that film and should have won. He gave a fantastic performance.

Helen Hunt

John Wayne and other limited actors who may have a handful of really good work in a career of mediocrity.

Sandra Bullock did not deserve hers either.

An Academy Award goes to "Best Actor (or Actress) in a Leading (or Supporting) Role" for that particular year.

They should go to the Best Actor (or Actress) in a Leading (or Supporting) Role for that particular year. That should be the only criterion.

The End.

I remember seeing a picture of Mary Astor at the Academy Award presentation and she’s holding her 1941 Best Supporting Actress Award. It resembles the plaque my brother won as city- wide junior chess champ in 1973.

Are there any current nominees for the Academy Award who shouldn’t win?

"Are there any current nominees for the Academy Award who shouldn’t win?"

Yes. All of them.

Why anyone listens to this fucking boozebag I don't know...Oh, wait a second, no one has listened to him in thirty years, that's right.

[quote]Rex Reed was robbed of his Oscar for "Myra Breckinridge."

Perhaps he can shoplift one.

It will happen this year if the best actor award is given to Chadwick Boseman.

R20 as long as they're not giving awards out based on best performance (which they're clearly not) they might as well give them to actors who have had several great performances throughout their career.

Cicely Tyson’s special Oscar confused me. They love to call her Queen but well over 60% of her 93 credits on IMDB were on television. Marsha Hunt is still without her recognition, something she richly deserves.

Just so I can type Potatum O’Neal.

There have been countless undeserving Oscar winners. But what does it matter anymore? The Oscars are totally irrelevant.

R104, Where did he drive him to?

Jodie Foster was one of the finest young actors ever in that she understood characters from a young age. That is not normal. To call her limited is absurd. Few good child actors are even aware they're acting much less ever turn out to be successful adult actors.

Sophia Loren's honorary Oscar in 1991.

I mean, why?

I recall Rex Reed criticizing Miyoshi Umeki's Oscar win on a talk show.

Cher

Jessica Tandy, croaked not long after.

R101, have to disagree. I thought Adrian Brody was sublime... but his career since? Disaster.

Most winners continue to work long after they win. Work is work. The Oscars are really an anomaly in the scope of ones career. The roles an actor chooses are going to be more misses than hits. Brody and Matlin have received Emmy nominations after their wins so the talent is there. Unless you’re a total acting whore like Nicolas Cage who takes anything to pay off taxes, if you can hold your head up with roughly half the roles on your IMDb and make a living that’s most of the battle.

Posthumous Oscars and child winners are such a waste. I want my Oscar winners alive, adult and ready to meet the big moment. Some obviously do this better than others...

Maybe they should actually give it to the actor who did the best in a movie THAT year.

You know, like it claims it does

Grace Kelly was a wasted award, she buggered off to never act again shortly after she stole it from Judy

I read this entire thread, and was shocked to see that no one mentioned Goop. So: GOOP.

Who is Marsha Hunt? And Adrien Brody is a hip hop loving hip to the bone NY Jew stud. He can do genre all day. He’ll never not be an excellent Oscar winning actor. He’s still relatively young too.

What's best and not best is so arbitrary. I think the person's career as a whole should be looked at otherwise you get winners like Brenda Fricker who was never heard from again practically.

Adrian Brody

I eauwn this thread.

Louise Fletcher deserved it. The performance is iconic and people talk about it 45 years later. She got 40 years of steady work out of it.

Fletcher’s year was considered a bad year for good parts for actresses and Ellen butstyn said they shouldn’t award a best actress Oscar to which fletcher politely told Ellen to go fuck herself.

Patricia Neal was in a similar situation in 1963 with hud. The field was weak that year and the studio started campaigning Neal in supporting but she started winning critics awards as best actress and the studio changed her campaign.

Talia shire would’ve walked away with the supporting actress Oscar for rocky but wanted to be placed in the best actress spot.

[quote] Remember when Jane Fonda cribbed that sign language shit when she won a couple of years later, [R95]?

Remember when that godawful "You Light Up My Life" song won with all those deaf kids signing what ASL experts later revealed to be gibberish?

Jennifer Hudson.

She’s an awful actress who’s only career at this point is to sing on award shows.

R28 Agree entirely!

As much as I love Jodie in The Accused, Sally in Places of the Heart & Hilary in Million Dollar Baby their respective careers are only worth one Oscar.

Kevin Spacey should have both revoked - that lead he wrongly won for American Beauty belongs to Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story.

R128 I've long wondered why did they both giving Sophia Loren an Honorary Oscar when she had already won a well deserved competitive Oscar for Two Women.

I suppose it was because she is so beloved and by all accounts a really nice lady much loved by the industry and audiences. The Academy should have given that Honorary Oscar to her frequent 3 time nominated co-star the great Marcello Mastroianni.

R22 And he is a shoplifter.

R146 agreed. Loren really didn’t need an honorary Oscar. The Board of Governors who award the honorary awards is really cliqueish. It’s ten times worse now. They give honorary ones to the likes of Jackie Chan nowadays.

Julia Roberts for Erin Brokovich. The award should have been taken from her the minute she started complaining about the conductor. Ungrateful woman.

Just to add to the actresses who didn't deserve two Oscars, the love should have been spread wider:

1936 Luise Rainer: should have been Carole Lombard for "My Man Godfrey"

1946 Olivia DeHavilland: should have been Celia Johnson for "Brief Encounter"

1960 Elizabeth Taylor: should have been Deborah Kerr for "The Sundowners"

1978 Jane Fonda: should have been Jill Clayburgh for "An Unmarried Woman"

Poor Deborah Kerr...the Glennie of her time.

But far more easier on the eyes than Glennie, r151, 🤭

Judy Davis never stood a chance for A Passage to India. She was a surprise nominee. Her reviews were quite mixed to negative. People felt she was completely miscast in the role. (too sophisticated and intellectual.) The character was supposed to be a highly sheltered simple woman. It should have been the British version of Meg Tilly whoever that was at the time.

Sally won because everyone else except Davis had won before recently and Sally was in the biggest hit film of the nominees.

Three wasted on M. not to mention 20 nominations.

Marlee Matlin.

When she won I thought, 'Shit, now she's gonna have a career in television'

Kathleen ( or Siggy) should've had that Oscar.

Lay off, M. They finally gave me a Daytime Emmy maybe someday she'll finally get her Oscar.

R156 I've never heard of you.

Agree with Reed in this case. To me it seems that it's an industry thing, rewarding recognition to art directors measured against their peers, cinematographers weighed against other cinematographers, and actors against actors.

The problem is that there will be exceptions.

Is the actor who becomes a director ineligible for his first directorial effort? He shouldn't be, no more than an unknown actor whose first big role in film stuns everyone with his performance should be disqualified.

If someone clearly a non-actor, and less a professional, gives a string one-time performance and then returns to his life as a dairy farmer or physician, it's more up to a nominating committee to decide against him for that reason. A written rule won't work because there will always be too broad or too specific.

Just to add again to the double Oscar winners who did not need two awards, share the wealth with other deserving nominees:

1941 Gary Cooper: should have won - Orson Wells "Citizen Kane"

1993 Tom Hanks: should have won, Liam Neeson "Schindler's List"

1997 Jack Novholson: should have won, Peter Fonda "Ulee's Gold"

2003 Sean Penn: should have won, Bill Murray "Lost In Translation"

Sally Hawkins should have won for The Shape of Water. McDormand doing her usual schtick was not worth a second Oscar.

Big Frances McD had momentum playing the avenging, angry female in 3 Billboards, the year of #metoo

R157: Likewise, bitch!

Well, what does everyone think of McDirmand’s third Oscar win? She seems to inhabit a lonely niche.

R163 I don’t think anyone wanted Viola to have it but they felt guilty voting for Mulligan instead so they gave it to the most unadorned and elegant performance from a real pro.

Take away St Viola's BSA Oscar for Fences too. We know this entitled bitch still complains constantly and won't stop talking about how much she has suffered even after winning an Oscar. Take away the Oscar and she would at least have something legitimate to rant about.

r16: Don Ameche! I'm still laughing. And I met Don Ameche, at St Thomas More, during the sign of peace at mass. He had a nephew named Ron Ameche who lived in town. (Iowa City, gem of...the big ten?)

Cher in MOONSTRUCK. Even if Glenn was robbed, had it gone to anyone else, it would have been better than Cher.

Yeah, I always wondered why Cher won an Oscar. As an actress she is VERY limited. And her performance in "Moonstruck" was just a piece of fluff. Maybe the Academy members thought it would be cute to give her one, seeing as how she always showed up at the Oscars in outrageous get ups that amused everybody.

I don't think Frances McDormand deserved ANY of her Oscars. She is one of the most overrated actresses in the history of film.

The only performance of McDormand’s I remember, and not in a good way, is her turn as the German-Jewish doctor in the women POW camp in PARADISE ROAD. Her accent and hair color was straight from Natasha of the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon...

Harold Russell won the Best Supporting Actor Award for The Best Years of Our Lives AND another Oscar for raising awareness of disabled veterans. Surely the latter award was honor enough? If you watch his scenes everyone is acting their ass off to distract from his ineptitude.

That closet lesbo Sandy B didn't deserve the Oscar for that Lifetime movie of the week.

I think people who are dead should be disqualified

r168 Cher was on a real roll in the eighties and the Oscar seemed deserved, timely and earned. (they didn't know she'd pretty much give up acting as soon as she got it.)

She really proved herself. First took a Broadway role in Jimmy Dean etc. and though the play flopped she got good notices. Then the film got better reviews than the play and she got a Globe nomination. The next year she did Silkwood and really shocked people with her work. Won the Globe and then the Cannes Film Fesitval for Mask which was a big deal at the time.

Then in 87 she had three movies come out all well received. It seemed like she was going to be a major actress and it was a bit of a Cinderella story of her transformation.

Glenn was never going to win. Fatal Attraction was too controversial. Holly Hunter was brand new, Sally Kirkland too odd and Meryl was a surprise nominee.

Pity Cher did continue working as an actress. Turned down some good roles in the next few years (The War of the Roses, Thelma and Louise)

Cher was very limited as an actress, which is why her film career didn't last very long. With her over the top, specific looks what could she play? Only exotic or sleazy characters.

Jodie Foster does not need 2. Frances M does not need 4.

Halle Berry absolutely did NOT deserve an Oscar for "Monster's. Ball." I don't know who she ever got nominated for it, with what one critic called her "Hee Haw accent" and that awful "make me feeel ghuuud, make me FEEEELLL GHUUUUD!" sex scene, which was not sexy but gross and laughable.

R174, Cher did manage, within the limited range you see, to create several memorable roles for which her unique talents were particularly well-suited.

If you can fault her best five performances, perhaps you can tell us about every other actress since 1987 or so who has five roles people remember and we'll see how many there are.

Olivia de Havilland had made 16 films before GWTW so it's not accurate to say she began her career with a blockbuster.

R21, when did "honest voting" ever exist? The studio execs used to tell their employees who to vote for

DL old biddies want to pretend everything was better in the past, without actually understanding the past

Only datalounge (or at least the racist Milo clones) thinks Carey Mulligan is a better actress than Viola Davis

I disagree r174. She's not sleazy or exotic in Moonstruck, Suspect, The Witches of Eastwick, Mermaids, Jimmy Dean...

She did turn down an exotic character in The Adams Family. Odd how she lost interest in films. (Sonny's analysis of it was that she had a short attention span and also didn't like being directed by men since the all triggered memories of how he would tell her what to do. Singing and concerts put her more in control so she went back to them.)

Brokeback Mountain should have won Best Picture and not goddamn Crash.

I remember my shock as a kid when Peter Finch, dead, won the Best Actor Academy Award. I thought that the nom was pulled if the actor was dead. It’s a complete waste of an Award because, firstly, they can’t actually accept it and, secondly, the award can’t further their career.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote. He was absolutely terrible in the role. Toby Jones was much better than him in INFAMOUS.

"Odd how she lost interest in films."

She didn't "lose interest in films," Films lost interest in HER. What parts could she play looking as strange as she did, with all the plastic surgery and wigs? Not many.

Renee Zellwegger won for Cold Mountain. No more words are required.

That like Kiwi bitch Anna Paquin

How did Sissy win playing Loretta “Nell” Lynn when I played Kira, a greek muse? I was robbed!

Linda Hunt for playing a man in a rather unmemorable part, 1984. Cher, Glenn Close, Alfre Woodard and Amy Irving lost to manface! But Linda was great in Dune and Kindergarten Cop.

Linda Hunt would be cancelled nowadays for wearing yellowface.

r185 that was later on in the 90s

in the late 80s post Moonstruck she still looked normal. She looks good in Mermaids. It was 4 years after the Oscar that she did another film. She wasted all her momentum.

R192 wasn’t she sick?

She had Epstein's Bar or that illness Dorothy had on Golden Girls

Gwyneth Paltrow...it was her high point too, as undeserved as it was?

Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, Renee Zellwegger...all completely undeserved.

“ Well, it’s not like anybody’s ever looked back and said that I didn’t deserve it.“

-Gwyneth Paltrow on Howard Stern

I mean, do you ever just stop and think to yourself Julia Roberts has an Academy Award as best actress?!! Anything is possible.

Marlee Matlin is starring in a highly praised film CODA which is coming out this year.

Michael Caine won two Academy Awards and didn't deserve either of them.

Whoopi Goldberg didn't deserve to win an Oscar. Neither did Cher. Or Tatum O'Neal. Or Anna Paquin. Or Gwyneth Paltrow, Helen Hunt, Julia Roberts, Marlee Matlin, Sandra Bullock, Renee Zellweger (both times), Roberto Benigni, Halle Berry, Frances McDormand (all three times), Jennifer Hudson, Cuba Gooding Jr....the list just goes on and on. Best director winners who never should have won include Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, Warren Beatty and Robert Redford. What Academy Awards are a crock. But who doesn't know that by now?

R187 is that you Winona?

We'll always love you as Veronica Sawyer.

There was a period of about 10 years in which the best actress Oscar was awarded to whoever was deemed America's sweetheart at the time. This began with Helen Hunt in 1998 and continued until Helen Mirren broke the trend in 2007.

R201 what are you saying? There is and will ALWAYS be ONE and only ONE America's Sweetheart. And that's me, I, myself. MEEEEEEEE!!!

Maybe the winners of the Best Supporting Actress Award is usually up for debate? The Best Supporting Actor winners don’t get that scrutiny.

Alan Arkin. For r203.

Eddie Murphy was so mad that Alan Arkin won the Oscar instead of him that he left the awards show right after Arkin won. A really sore loser.

in the 90s Best supporting actress was the really unpredictable category.

Anna Paquin, Marisa Tomei, Juliette Binoche and Marcia Gay Harden were all shocking winners nobody saw coming.

I did love Anna Paquin in The Piano but I was shocked she could beat such an overwhelming favorite that was just coming off her giant stardom. At least Winona got the Daniel Day cock that night which had dickmatized so many before her (they attended together).

Would it have been a waste of an award if Ned Beatty had one an Oscar? I remember thinking he was a sure bet when he was nominated for Network. I think his scene was a minute longer than Beatrice Straight’s in the same movie.

Months later and I'm still convinced R42 is Glenn Kenny.

"At least Winona got the Daniel Day cock that night which had dickmatized so many before her (they attended together)."

I don't think there was anything spectacular about "Daniel Day cock." He's weird and hell and always looks like he never bathes.

R210 danny boy ‘s pipe is very average. He went to the Y on 14th. One of the few actors that showered post workout (so he bathes) boney but in shape, handsome. Al roucker (sp?) also naked: nothing to report. Ed Burns also went but he worked out & left sweaty. No ed cock to report & his was the one I wanted to see. An old gay dude (the 14th Y is filled with them) said his best cock sighting was the blonde Dukes of Hazzard.

"Why exactly is it horrible to have posed in those photos?"

Nobody would have given a fuck about them if the person in them hadn't been Miss America. Miss America is supposed to be a shining example of young womanhood, not some dumb slut.

Oops, wrong thread. R212 belongs in the Vanessa Williams thread.

Chariots of Fire's Best Picture Oscar in 1981

Titanic's BP Oscar. Parts of it simply don't hold up.

I’ve never seen it. I know the story!

[italic]Titanic's[/italic] a contradiction. Superb special effects but a hackneyed screenplay. Great performances by Kate Winslet and Kathy Bates, but awful ones by Billy Zane and that overacting Danny Nucci as Fabrizio. Beautiful sets and costumes but atrocious dialogue. And that song made me hate Celine Dion for a long time.

"Titanic" had great special effects. It had a lovely performance by Victor Garber (he should have been nominated for the Oscar, not Gloria Stuart) as Thomas Andrews. But it really was a shitty movie: terrible dialogue, hackneyed, sappy love story, cardboard characters. DiCaprio and and Winslet were indeed a mismatched couple. She was bigger than he was! The red hair on Winslet looked fake and didn't become her at all. And there was the way Jack and Rose were running around and getting submerged in freezing water, even before the ship sank (Rose is wearing what looks like a gossamer nightgown at the time). They would have been incapacitated by it fairly quickly and would have not had the strength or energy to be running around in it up to their waists. Silly, dumb movie.

Rami FUCKING Malek.

Thread closed.

I predict another Oscar nomination for Jessica Chastain. I thought she would win for Zero Dark Thirty and I was surprised when she said in an interview that she didn’t like that role.

I see the Ned Beatty Fan Club is here.

We all know he should have gotten an Oscar for squealing like a pig and taking it up the bumhole in "Deliverance." Not to mention standing there in his massive untighty whiteys.

Jessica Chastain looks fantastic in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. It looks like she negotiated the pitfalls of falling into absolute camp and delivers a sympathetic portrait of the subject.