Oscar Is Wrong More Often Than Right When Handing Out Best Picture

Sports debates can get heated. Film debates are a bit more complicated. How do you compare a comedy to a historical drama?

As we approach the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday, it’s time to look at the past 40 Best Picture winners and point out where I think the Academy got it wrong.

1980 – Ordinary People, a very fine film, wrongly won over Raging Bull, one of the greatest films ever made.

1981 – Reds should have won instead of the pedestrian Chariots Of Fire.

1982 – Oscar sure loves epic bio-pics. Not surprisingly, Gandhi won Best Picture, but E.T., Tootsie & The Verdict were all more deserving.

1985 – Give me Prizzi’s Honor over Out Of Africa.

1988 – Rain Man was a worthy Best Picture, but Mississippi Burning was more deserving.

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1989 – Oscar really messed this up. My Left Foot, Born On The 4th Of July, and Do The Right Thing were miles and miles better than Driving Miss Daisy.

1990 – GoodFellas, an all-time great film, got whacked by the good, not great, Dances With Wolves.

1994 – Quiz Show, Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption were all superior to Forrest Gump.

1995 – Not a great year, but I would take Apollo 13 and SAFE over Braveheart.

1996 – Much like Elaine Benes, I am not a fan of Best Picture winner The English Patient. Fargo would have been a much better choice.

1997– Titanic sunk the more deserving masterpiece, The Sweet Hereafter.

1998 – Shakespeare In Love over Saving Private Ryan? I doth protest.

2000 – Almost Famous is simply better than winner Gladiator.

2002 – Chicago blew away two superior films: About Schmidt, and Far From Heaven.

2003 – Mystic River is more of my taste over mega-winner, Lord Of The Rings.

2005 – This is not an oxymoron, but the worst Best Picture in Oscar history is Crash. Munich and Brokeback Mountain were both in a different stratosphere.

2006 – This is difficult for me. As the president of the Martin Scorsese fan club, it pains me to say that both Pan’s Labyrinth and The Lives of Others were better than The Departed. Scorsese should have already had two Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for Raging Bull and Goodfellas. Winning in 2006 was an Oscar make-up call. But, it was about damn time that Scorsese finally got the statue.

2010 – Black Swan and The Social Network were better than The King’s Speech.

2011 – While I thoroughly enjoyed The Artist, Terrence Malick’s monumental masterpiece, The Tree Of Life was superior.

2012 – Argo won. Lincoln should have.

2014– Whiplash would have been my choice over Birdman.

2016 – La La Land won Best Picture … for 30 seconds before Moonlight was awarded the statue. The powerful Manchester By The Sea is better than both of these excellent, but not great, films.

2018 – I loved Best Picture winner The Shape Of Water, however, Call Me By Your Name is even greater.

So, I believe that Oscar got Best Picture WRONG 23 of the last 40 years.

We will see on Sunday night if they Do The Right Thing.

Enjoy the show.

John Sapochetti is co-host of three podcasts heard on Full Press Radio:
-The Pick & Roll NBA Podcast With Jet & Sap
-The Sap & Kat Show
-The Get Off My Lawn Podcast With Keegan & Sap

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