1992 was a very Oscar-bait year which is weird because they gave Best Picture to the least Oscar-bait movie. Unforgiven wins, along with Clint Eastwood for Best Director. Outside of that you have movies like Howards End (Merchant-Ivory costume drama), Scent Of A Woman (disabled man overcomes adversity), biopics like Chaplin and Malcolm X and just downright boring movies like Lorenzo's Oil, Mr. Saturday Night and Damage. This was a tough year to get through. I repeatedly fast forwarded during a lot of these movies.
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
Best Picture
2. Unforgiven - I saw this movie shortly after it came out and haven't seen it since. I was surprised by how uninterested I was in the story on second viewing. It's still a good movie but I was never sure what the stakes were. A guy cuts up a whore's face and the sheriff of the town lets it slide. The guy gets punished but the rest of the whores pool their money together to hire a gunman to invoke justice. Clint Eastwood is a retired gun fighter living his life on his ranch with his children. He travels to the town and shoots a bunch of people. I feel like they are commenting on the western genre while they are making a western. Everyone is both a good guy and a bad guy. Gene Hackman plays the sheriff and we keep cutting back to him building his house or looking after people in his jail cells. Then Clint comes into town and shoots them all up and instead of a triumphant moment we are left with the question of who was right and who was wrong. It's a little bit of both. There's a lot of good stuff here but it never came together for me. It's also overlong and a lot of scenes could have been cut. Richard Harris shows up in the town before Clint ever gets there and then leaves and I was wondering why I ever saw him in the first place.
1. The Crying Game - I always forget how much I like this movie. I would say spoiler alert but if you don't know the twist to The Crying Game then you probably don't know a lot about movies, it would be like not knowing Rosebud was the name of the sled. The lady is a dude. But the movie is so good that I think knowing the twist ahead of time is better. Stephen Rea plays a member of the IRA (I really don't know a lot about the politics surrounding this so I'll skip talking about it) who takes a man hostage. He is a very caring man so instead of threatening his hostage, he talks to him. Things go wrong and the hostage ends up dead. Racked by guilt, Rea goes to the hostage's lover to apologize and ends up striking up a relationship. Then you get the twist, she's a man, baby. This all happens in the first half hour and there is more movie to come and it's just an amazing story. Every time I see this movie I get reminded of just how good it is.
My favorite of the 5 is The Crying Game. Howards End and Scent Of A Woman shouldn't be in this category. A Few Good Men is missing a Director and a Screenplay nomination. Rob Reiner got bent out of shape that he wasn't nominated but the real travesty is that Aaron Sorkin's script was left off in favor of Scent Of A Woman, Enchanted April and A River Runs Through It. So that leaves The Crying Game and Unforgiven and I'm glad Unforgiven won even though I like The Crying Game better. Not only is it a good film but it was kind of a career achievement award for Clint Eastwood. I don't think anyone expected that he would be putting out a Woody Allen level amount of work well into his 80s. He could have died shortly after this and he was a Hollywood legend who did good movies, give the guy an Oscar. 20 years later and we're still saying the same thing. So Unforgiven is an awesome choice, the movie is not perfect but it is a really fun watch.
Oscar Winner: Unforgiven
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
Best Picture
5. Howards End - These types of movies are not for me. It's hard to explain why, I just don't like them. Maybe you love them, maybe your favorite actor is Pauley Shore, we are allowed to disagree. Full disclosure, I didn't think I would be able to sit through this again so I prepared myself by getting into a chemically altered state. It didn't help, I got about 45 minutes in and started watching My Cousin Vinny instead. That might explain why I'm voting for Marisa Tomei. Oh crap, I figured it out, I know how Marisa Tomei won the Oscar, the Academy was all high, man.
4. Scent Of A Woman - Hoo-ah! Chris O'Donnell is a college student on academic probation who takes a job looking after a blind man played by Al Pacino. The blind guy is a retired army colonel who is also an alcoholic and suicidal. They learn things from each other in a 2 1/2 hour film. This movie is way too long and also kind of silly. At one point Pacino leases a Ferrari and drives it through the streets of New York City at 70 miles per hour. Somehow they managed to find the 20 city blocks in New York where there would be no traffic. Also, that whole academic probation thing is settled because Al Pacino comes into the kid's school and makes a speech.
"I was going to expel this student but a blind, alcoholic army colonel vouched for him so I guess everything is okay."
Then the whole school cheers like it's the end of Rudy. Also, it's only the second best movie of the year featuring a blind guy driving. Watch Sneakers instead.
3. A Few Good Men - Rob Reiner directs this courtroom drama written by Aaron Sorkin. Tom Cruise stars as a lawyer who would rather play softball than step foot in a courtroom. Two marines are accused of murdering a fellow marine during a hazing ritual. The men were just following orders so the movie is about how Cruise gets them proven innocent. It's a really solid courtroom drama which, for some reason, I always like. Jack Nicholson shows up for 3 scenes and steals the movie, Cruise is really good in the lead and it also has a very good ensemble featuring Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland. It's a good movie, not quite Best Picture of the Year good, but good.
1. The Crying Game - I always forget how much I like this movie. I would say spoiler alert but if you don't know the twist to The Crying Game then you probably don't know a lot about movies, it would be like not knowing Rosebud was the name of the sled. The lady is a dude. But the movie is so good that I think knowing the twist ahead of time is better. Stephen Rea plays a member of the IRA (I really don't know a lot about the politics surrounding this so I'll skip talking about it) who takes a man hostage. He is a very caring man so instead of threatening his hostage, he talks to him. Things go wrong and the hostage ends up dead. Racked by guilt, Rea goes to the hostage's lover to apologize and ends up striking up a relationship. Then you get the twist, she's a man, baby. This all happens in the first half hour and there is more movie to come and it's just an amazing story. Every time I see this movie I get reminded of just how good it is.
My favorite of the 5 is The Crying Game. Howards End and Scent Of A Woman shouldn't be in this category. A Few Good Men is missing a Director and a Screenplay nomination. Rob Reiner got bent out of shape that he wasn't nominated but the real travesty is that Aaron Sorkin's script was left off in favor of Scent Of A Woman, Enchanted April and A River Runs Through It. So that leaves The Crying Game and Unforgiven and I'm glad Unforgiven won even though I like The Crying Game better. Not only is it a good film but it was kind of a career achievement award for Clint Eastwood. I don't think anyone expected that he would be putting out a Woody Allen level amount of work well into his 80s. He could have died shortly after this and he was a Hollywood legend who did good movies, give the guy an Oscar. 20 years later and we're still saying the same thing. So Unforgiven is an awesome choice, the movie is not perfect but it is a really fun watch.
Oscar Winner: Unforgiven
My Vote: The Crying Game
GABBY Winner: Delicatessen
Best Actor
4. Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven - The climax to Unforgiven is one of the greatest scenes in any movie and turns the movie from good to great and it's mostly due to Eastwood's performance. He's really good at playing a guy that you root for but then you find out that he's not really a good guy at all. Now there is no doubt that he's great here because he directed the movie and tailored the role for himself, he actually waited years to make it until he was age appropriate. This is kind of like Woody Allen getting a nomination for Annie Hall, he's Clint Eastwood playing Clint Eastwood.
3. Denzel Washington - Malcolm X - Denzel is fantastic playing Malcolm X through many years of his life, were you expecting something else? The problem with this movie is that it is 3 1/2 hours long. I generally don't like biopics, I really don't like a biopic over 3 hours. I think Spike Lee was making this movie to be an event like Gandhi but no matter how important of a historical figure a person was, a movie about their life needs to have a story. This is merely a collection of events in Malcolm X's life. Washington is great and most people think he should have won for this but I can never seem to make it through this film in one sitting.
2. Robert Downey, Jr. - Chaplin - Speaking of Gandhi and biopics that are unnecessarily long, I give you Richard Attenborough's Chaplin. This movie is unbearable in its structure. We go through Chaplin's life and sometimes see him talking to a fictional biographer and it is 2 1/2 hours long. The only saving grace to the film is Robert Downey, Jr. He is simply incredible in his performance. Sometimes when an actor plays a real life person they play the public persona. Jim Carrey in Man On The Moon is a good example. He plays Andy Kaufman they way we saw him on TV but did he really act like that in real life? Downey here takes all of Chaplin's mannerisms and incorporates them in his performance. The way he walks, the way he eats, the way he smiles, it's all Chaplin but it's not an impression, he just plays the guy pitch perfect. There's also a few Chaplin film recreations where Downey can demonstrate his amazing physical skills. If this movie were any good he should have won this hands down, but the movie stinks so I don't want to vote for it.
1. Stephen Rea - The Crying Game - So we have a blind loudmouth, an angry gunfighter, Malcolm X, Charlie Chaplin and this guy. This is the least flashy role of the 5 nominated but Rea is incredible. Most of his performance is quiet reactions. He listens to his hostage, he listens to the woman he's infatuated with, he listens so well that he seems to be really listening to the other actor. He also doesn't say a whole lot so by the time we get to the end of the movie, we still don't know a lot about this guy but we care about him almost exclusively because of Rea's performance.
I'm voting for Rea based on performance and process of elimination. Washington and Downey are excellent performances in mediocre movies, Pacino's performance and movie aren't that great, Eastwood has played this part many times before. That leaves only Rea for my vote and he's my favorite performance in my favorite movie. I don't mind at all that Pacino won though, in fact I'm really cool with it. If he doesn't win here then he probably wins for a lesser performance down the road. Washington already had an Oscar at this point, Eastwood is going to win Best Director, Downey should have more opportunities and Rea never had another role that matched this so Pacino winning makes perfect sense even though he's my least favorite of the 5.
Oscar Winner: Al Pacino
Oscar Winner: Emma Thompson
Best Actor
5. Al Pacino - Scent Of A Woman - Pacino plays an old, drunk, suicidal, blind, retired army colonel. He's loud and crass and unabashedly loves pussy and tits. It's a pretty good role to get an Oscar. This is the start of Pacino going full Pacino. He is hammy as all hell in this film and ever since this movie he has never gone for subtlety again, here and there he delivers a more quiet role like Insomnia but for the most part it is all yelling all the time. This is not his greatest work but the guy had earned an Oscar by this point with The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and Dog Day Afternoon. He's enjoyable and I did believe him as a blind man but the movie is silly and so is his performance.
4. Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven - The climax to Unforgiven is one of the greatest scenes in any movie and turns the movie from good to great and it's mostly due to Eastwood's performance. He's really good at playing a guy that you root for but then you find out that he's not really a good guy at all. Now there is no doubt that he's great here because he directed the movie and tailored the role for himself, he actually waited years to make it until he was age appropriate. This is kind of like Woody Allen getting a nomination for Annie Hall, he's Clint Eastwood playing Clint Eastwood.
3. Denzel Washington - Malcolm X - Denzel is fantastic playing Malcolm X through many years of his life, were you expecting something else? The problem with this movie is that it is 3 1/2 hours long. I generally don't like biopics, I really don't like a biopic over 3 hours. I think Spike Lee was making this movie to be an event like Gandhi but no matter how important of a historical figure a person was, a movie about their life needs to have a story. This is merely a collection of events in Malcolm X's life. Washington is great and most people think he should have won for this but I can never seem to make it through this film in one sitting.
2. Robert Downey, Jr. - Chaplin - Speaking of Gandhi and biopics that are unnecessarily long, I give you Richard Attenborough's Chaplin. This movie is unbearable in its structure. We go through Chaplin's life and sometimes see him talking to a fictional biographer and it is 2 1/2 hours long. The only saving grace to the film is Robert Downey, Jr. He is simply incredible in his performance. Sometimes when an actor plays a real life person they play the public persona. Jim Carrey in Man On The Moon is a good example. He plays Andy Kaufman they way we saw him on TV but did he really act like that in real life? Downey here takes all of Chaplin's mannerisms and incorporates them in his performance. The way he walks, the way he eats, the way he smiles, it's all Chaplin but it's not an impression, he just plays the guy pitch perfect. There's also a few Chaplin film recreations where Downey can demonstrate his amazing physical skills. If this movie were any good he should have won this hands down, but the movie stinks so I don't want to vote for it.
1. Stephen Rea - The Crying Game - So we have a blind loudmouth, an angry gunfighter, Malcolm X, Charlie Chaplin and this guy. This is the least flashy role of the 5 nominated but Rea is incredible. Most of his performance is quiet reactions. He listens to his hostage, he listens to the woman he's infatuated with, he listens so well that he seems to be really listening to the other actor. He also doesn't say a whole lot so by the time we get to the end of the movie, we still don't know a lot about this guy but we care about him almost exclusively because of Rea's performance.
I'm voting for Rea based on performance and process of elimination. Washington and Downey are excellent performances in mediocre movies, Pacino's performance and movie aren't that great, Eastwood has played this part many times before. That leaves only Rea for my vote and he's my favorite performance in my favorite movie. I don't mind at all that Pacino won though, in fact I'm really cool with it. If he doesn't win here then he probably wins for a lesser performance down the road. Washington already had an Oscar at this point, Eastwood is going to win Best Director, Downey should have more opportunities and Rea never had another role that matched this so Pacino winning makes perfect sense even though he's my least favorite of the 5.
Oscar Winner: Al Pacino
My Vote: Stephen Rea
GABBY Winner: Harvey Keitel for Reservoir Dogs
Best Actress
4. Emma Thompson - Howard's End - I love Emma Thompson but I don't get this movie. It's a stuffy British drama that I couldn't sit through. She's fine but I'm not voting for this unless there were absolutely no other options.
3. Susan Sarandon - Lorenzo's Oil - This is one of the most heavy handed movies ever made. Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte are parents of a kid with an unidentified disease and they spend the whole movie looking for a cause and a cure. Nolte is doing some kind of accent and the whole thing feels like a Lifetime movie. I just hated how this movie looked. It's hard to explain but it's very darkly lit and has weird camera angles and the whole thing just turned me off. As for Sarandon, she doesn't even have much of a part. She just reacts to stuff and never really has a moment that made me want to vote for. She got this nomination because the movie is pure Oscar bait and she's a respected actress and in this weak category she almost gets my vote based on that.
2. Michelle Pfeiffer - Love Field - This is another movie that seems like it was designed to get Oscar nominations. Pfeiffer plays a housewife who idolizes Jackie O. When JFK gets shot she travels to the funeral and befriends a black man on the bus. He's being hunted by the police because they think he kidnapped his daughter but he actually just rescued her from an orphanage. They go on a road trip and learn about each other and themselves (so many plot descriptions seem to be summed up like that when we're talking Oscar movies). Pfeiffer is fine in the movie, she elevates the material. I place her so high here because she also played Catwoman this year in Batman Returns and should have been nominated for that and this category is pretty weak.
1. Mary McDonnell - Passion Fish - Now here's an Oscar bait role, McDonnell plays a temperamental soap opera star who gets paralyzed in a car accident. She returns to her family home to recoup and is mean to all her nurses. Finally she gets a no-nonsense nurse played by Alfre Woodard and, you guessed it, they learn about themselves and each other. This movie was destined to be mediocre based on the plot but it's written and directed by John Sayles, he makes good movies and writes good dialogue. McDonnell is really good here and I'll explain further why she gets my vote.
As far as I'm concerned the only performance I liked was McDonnell's so she gets my vote based on that. When you take stature into account, all 5 warrant consideration. Pfeiffer deserved an Oscar, Sarandon deserved an Oscar, Deneuve is a respected international star, McDonnell and Thompson are fairly new to the Hollywood scene though. I don't really know why Thompson won this category, except for the fact that people really seemed to like and respect Howards End. I'm only considering Pfeiffer, Sarandon and McDonnell and all 3 of them are worthy just based on who they are but McDonnell gave the best performance. I really don't like that Emma Thompson won because she's gonna get nominated twice the next year. If she loses here then she probably wins for In The Name Of The Father (a better performance).
Best Actress
5. Catherine Deneuve - Indochine - Normally I just instinctively put foreign performances in the 5th slot but this is a movie I simply could not get in to. It's about a French woman and her adopted Vietnamese daughter. It's one of those movies that is beautiful to look at but doesn't have much going for it other than that.
4. Emma Thompson - Howard's End - I love Emma Thompson but I don't get this movie. It's a stuffy British drama that I couldn't sit through. She's fine but I'm not voting for this unless there were absolutely no other options.
3. Susan Sarandon - Lorenzo's Oil - This is one of the most heavy handed movies ever made. Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte are parents of a kid with an unidentified disease and they spend the whole movie looking for a cause and a cure. Nolte is doing some kind of accent and the whole thing feels like a Lifetime movie. I just hated how this movie looked. It's hard to explain but it's very darkly lit and has weird camera angles and the whole thing just turned me off. As for Sarandon, she doesn't even have much of a part. She just reacts to stuff and never really has a moment that made me want to vote for. She got this nomination because the movie is pure Oscar bait and she's a respected actress and in this weak category she almost gets my vote based on that.
2. Michelle Pfeiffer - Love Field - This is another movie that seems like it was designed to get Oscar nominations. Pfeiffer plays a housewife who idolizes Jackie O. When JFK gets shot she travels to the funeral and befriends a black man on the bus. He's being hunted by the police because they think he kidnapped his daughter but he actually just rescued her from an orphanage. They go on a road trip and learn about each other and themselves (so many plot descriptions seem to be summed up like that when we're talking Oscar movies). Pfeiffer is fine in the movie, she elevates the material. I place her so high here because she also played Catwoman this year in Batman Returns and should have been nominated for that and this category is pretty weak.
1. Mary McDonnell - Passion Fish - Now here's an Oscar bait role, McDonnell plays a temperamental soap opera star who gets paralyzed in a car accident. She returns to her family home to recoup and is mean to all her nurses. Finally she gets a no-nonsense nurse played by Alfre Woodard and, you guessed it, they learn about themselves and each other. This movie was destined to be mediocre based on the plot but it's written and directed by John Sayles, he makes good movies and writes good dialogue. McDonnell is really good here and I'll explain further why she gets my vote.
As far as I'm concerned the only performance I liked was McDonnell's so she gets my vote based on that. When you take stature into account, all 5 warrant consideration. Pfeiffer deserved an Oscar, Sarandon deserved an Oscar, Deneuve is a respected international star, McDonnell and Thompson are fairly new to the Hollywood scene though. I don't really know why Thompson won this category, except for the fact that people really seemed to like and respect Howards End. I'm only considering Pfeiffer, Sarandon and McDonnell and all 3 of them are worthy just based on who they are but McDonnell gave the best performance. I really don't like that Emma Thompson won because she's gonna get nominated twice the next year. If she loses here then she probably wins for In The Name Of The Father (a better performance).
Oscar Winner: Emma Thompson
My Vote: Mary McDonnell
GABBY Winner: Sheryl Lee for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Best Supporting Actor
4. Al Pacino - Glengarry Glen Ross - This movie is awesome. It's an adaptation of a David Mamet play where a bunch of salesman are trying to make their quota and we see a few different side stories about the different men. Kevin Spacey runs the agency, Alec Baldwin comes in at the beginning to give a motivational speech, Ed Harris plots breaking into the office to steal some leads, Alan Arkin almost goes along with it, Jack Lemmon is the over the hill salesman who constantly brags about how good he used to be and Al Pacino is a really good salesman who is working on selling a guy, Jonathan Pryce, some stuff he doesn't need. With such a great ensemble they could have given it to anyone. Pacino would be third in line for me behind Lemmon and Baldwin. Pacino is really good and he's better here than he is in Scent Of A Woman.
3. Jaye Davidson - The Crying Game - Spoiler alert, the girl in The Crying Game is a guy. You could probably figure that out because the man playing the woman was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Davidson is so good at playing Dill, the mysterious woman who was involved with Forest Whitaker before he was murdered, that even after seeing the movie multiple times and knowing the twist I still see her as a woman. Dill lives her life as a woman so I buy it just as much as Stephen Rea does. She is also hypnotically beautiful and when Mr. Happy shows up I still get surprised.
2. Gene Hackman - Unforgiven - Hackman does what a good actor should do, he makes the movie all about him. He thinks he is the lead in a movie about a sheriff trying to keep law and order in his town. He's the villain in Clint Eastwood's story but the hero of his own story. The movie mainly focuses on Clint as he tracks down Hackman and some other guys to get paid to enact some frontier revenge. Hackman is shown building a house and looking after prisoners in his jail cell, not knowing that Clint is coming for him. His final scene is incredible where he basically puts everything into perspective. He doesn't deserve to die like this.
1. Jack Nicholson - A Few Good Men - Jack is a big fish in a small pond here. He shows up in A Few Good Men for like 3 scenes but seems to own the film. His performance is so good that you don't notice that he's not in the film all that much. His character disappears for about 45 minutes and that's when the movie starts to suffer. He's powerful and villainous and authentic. He's playing a marine and every moment in his performance feels like how a marine would act. Then there's the big "You can't handle the truth" scene at the end that solidifies his performance.
Well I ain't voting for David Paymer because he's in an awful movie. I can't vote for Pacino because he's winning Best Actor this year. If he hadn't have been nominated for Scent Of A Woman he could have won this category and nobody would cry foul. I can't vote for Davidson simply because this is his first movie role, I don't like voting for untested talent especially when you're up against Jack, Gene and Al. That leaves Hackman who has won once and Jack who has won twice. Based on performance alone I gotta go with Jack. Normally I would vote for Gene just for fairness, they would both have 2 Oscars this way. The only hitch to voting for Jack is that he's a damn movie star and this would have given him one lead Oscar and two supporting Oscars. This category should be reserved for the David Paymers of Hollywood, the guys who would normally not get a shot at a lead role that wins an Oscar. But if Jack's gonna win a 3rd Oscar I would rather it be for this than As Good As It Gets and him winning here doesn't steal an Oscar from anyone like it did in 1997 when Robert Duvall really should have won. Really any of these performances would have held up. Even if Jaye Davidson won it would be good in that Linda Hunt kinda way where you have the trivia aspect.
Oscar Winner: Gene Hackman
Best Supporting Actor
5. David Paymer - Mr. Saturday Night - This movie is just plain bad. It goes through all the cliche biopic tropes but the subject is not a real person but rather a Billy Crystal character from his SNL days. We follow the rise and fall of Buddy Young Jr., an insult comic who started in the Catskills, found minor success but fame always alluded him. Here's an example of a scene I hated: Young Buddy is on stage and not getting laughs, a fat guy in the audience heckles him, Buddy starts making fat jokes at the guy's expense, the music swells, a tear rolls down his brother's face and the fat guy respects him. Scenes like that are just cloyingly irritating. As for Paymer, he plays Crystal's brother who has stood by his side his whole life and acted as his manager for the majority of it. A huge chunk of the movie is them as old men and Paymer is effective in these scenes, he's much more believable than Crystal. I love David Paymer, he's one of those actors who shows up in a lot of stuff, always seems genuine but never gets to be the lead. I'm glad he got a nomination but he is the best part of a bad movie here and I can't vote for a movie this bad.
4. Al Pacino - Glengarry Glen Ross - This movie is awesome. It's an adaptation of a David Mamet play where a bunch of salesman are trying to make their quota and we see a few different side stories about the different men. Kevin Spacey runs the agency, Alec Baldwin comes in at the beginning to give a motivational speech, Ed Harris plots breaking into the office to steal some leads, Alan Arkin almost goes along with it, Jack Lemmon is the over the hill salesman who constantly brags about how good he used to be and Al Pacino is a really good salesman who is working on selling a guy, Jonathan Pryce, some stuff he doesn't need. With such a great ensemble they could have given it to anyone. Pacino would be third in line for me behind Lemmon and Baldwin. Pacino is really good and he's better here than he is in Scent Of A Woman.
3. Jaye Davidson - The Crying Game - Spoiler alert, the girl in The Crying Game is a guy. You could probably figure that out because the man playing the woman was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Davidson is so good at playing Dill, the mysterious woman who was involved with Forest Whitaker before he was murdered, that even after seeing the movie multiple times and knowing the twist I still see her as a woman. Dill lives her life as a woman so I buy it just as much as Stephen Rea does. She is also hypnotically beautiful and when Mr. Happy shows up I still get surprised.
2. Gene Hackman - Unforgiven - Hackman does what a good actor should do, he makes the movie all about him. He thinks he is the lead in a movie about a sheriff trying to keep law and order in his town. He's the villain in Clint Eastwood's story but the hero of his own story. The movie mainly focuses on Clint as he tracks down Hackman and some other guys to get paid to enact some frontier revenge. Hackman is shown building a house and looking after prisoners in his jail cell, not knowing that Clint is coming for him. His final scene is incredible where he basically puts everything into perspective. He doesn't deserve to die like this.
1. Jack Nicholson - A Few Good Men - Jack is a big fish in a small pond here. He shows up in A Few Good Men for like 3 scenes but seems to own the film. His performance is so good that you don't notice that he's not in the film all that much. His character disappears for about 45 minutes and that's when the movie starts to suffer. He's powerful and villainous and authentic. He's playing a marine and every moment in his performance feels like how a marine would act. Then there's the big "You can't handle the truth" scene at the end that solidifies his performance.
Well I ain't voting for David Paymer because he's in an awful movie. I can't vote for Pacino because he's winning Best Actor this year. If he hadn't have been nominated for Scent Of A Woman he could have won this category and nobody would cry foul. I can't vote for Davidson simply because this is his first movie role, I don't like voting for untested talent especially when you're up against Jack, Gene and Al. That leaves Hackman who has won once and Jack who has won twice. Based on performance alone I gotta go with Jack. Normally I would vote for Gene just for fairness, they would both have 2 Oscars this way. The only hitch to voting for Jack is that he's a damn movie star and this would have given him one lead Oscar and two supporting Oscars. This category should be reserved for the David Paymers of Hollywood, the guys who would normally not get a shot at a lead role that wins an Oscar. But if Jack's gonna win a 3rd Oscar I would rather it be for this than As Good As It Gets and him winning here doesn't steal an Oscar from anyone like it did in 1997 when Robert Duvall really should have won. Really any of these performances would have held up. Even if Jaye Davidson won it would be good in that Linda Hunt kinda way where you have the trivia aspect.
Oscar Winner: Gene Hackman
My Vote: Jack Nicholson
GABBY Winner: Tom Hanks for A League Of Their Own
Best Supporting Actress
5. Vanessa Redgrave - Howard's End - Well, she certainly was old.
4. Joan Plowright - Enchanted April - This movie seems like an episode of Masterpiece Theater that got a theatrical release. The costumes and cinematography looks a little cheap. The sets look fine but that's probably because they shot on location. The movie is about 4 ladies on holiday and, say it with me, they learn about themselves and each other. Plowright is like the Margaret Dumont of the group, she's a wealthy old woman who is kind of stuffy. She knows what kind of character she's playing and she's effective but I can't vote for this.
3. Judy Davis - Husbands And Wives - This is a Woody Allen movie that gets way more acclaim than it deserves. It's a fascinatingly interesting movie to watch because it's all about Woody and Mia Farrow questioning their relationship when he becomes infatuated with a younger woman, sound familiar? This movie came out while Woody was in a huge custody battle because he started dating Mia's adopted daughter. Davis plays a friend of Woody and Mia's she's in a seemingly happy marriage but they come over for dinner and announce their divorce. She pretends to be cool with everything but as the movie goes along you find out that she is not okay with this at all. She starts to unravel as she begins to date another man. The academy seems to love actresses in Woody Allen movies so it's a little weird that she didn't win. Her performance is fine, but that's it. She almost gets lost in the ensemble and her character is missing that one scene that pushes it to Oscar level.
2. Miranda Richardson - Damage - I'm not sure at all why Richardson was nominated for Damage and not for The Crying Game. Had she been nominated for the latter she almost assuredly would have won. The Academy would have probably leaped at the chance to honor a performance from that movie. Instead she got nominated for this movie where she plays a woman whose husband is having an affair. Jeremy Irons is married to Richardson and starts having sex with Juliette Binoche, a lot, almost every other scene is a sex scene. Richardson doesn't do a whole lot in the movie until the very end where she has a killer scene where she confronts Irons. I remember watching the Oscars this year when I was a kid and when they played that scene I thought she should have won. I watched the movie years later and was bored out of my mind.
1. Marisa Tomei - My Cousin Vinny - Two guys get picked up in a small southern town and are charged for a murder they didn't commit. They call their cousin who just graduated law school to defend them. Their cousin is Joe Pesci, playing a Joe Pesci character, he's uncouth and loud. He also brings along his girlfriend played by Marisa Tomei and she is even more loud and uncouth. It's not the most original character in the world but Tomei is really funny in the movie. She steals every scene she's in without being intrusive. She's actually the definition of support. Pesci is trying to win his case and Tomei is the one who finds the piece of evidence that makes the difference.
Marisa Tomei wins the Oscar. What a ridiculous decision, right? It's a comedy, comedies don't win Oscars. She's also playing a stock "New Yawk" character that's been done hundreds of time. I don't know why the Academy picked Tomei but I can tell you why I did. I just watched two stuffy British dramas, a movie about Jeremy Irons having a lot of sex that I didn't like and Woody Allen's confession that he wants to commit statutory rape. My Cousin Vinny was the only movie here I enjoyed. I remember at the time there was some talk of nationalism and people thought Tomei won because she was the only American nominated. I can't agree with that as the Oscars have always loved the British. I think she won on her own merits. It was a joke for a while because she was up against 4 "Oscar fare" films and won for a Joe Pesci comedy but in hindsight, I'm glad she won, she's turned out to be a fantastic actress in her own right.
Oscar Winner: Marisa Tomei
Best Supporting Actress
5. Vanessa Redgrave - Howard's End - Well, she certainly was old.
4. Joan Plowright - Enchanted April - This movie seems like an episode of Masterpiece Theater that got a theatrical release. The costumes and cinematography looks a little cheap. The sets look fine but that's probably because they shot on location. The movie is about 4 ladies on holiday and, say it with me, they learn about themselves and each other. Plowright is like the Margaret Dumont of the group, she's a wealthy old woman who is kind of stuffy. She knows what kind of character she's playing and she's effective but I can't vote for this.
3. Judy Davis - Husbands And Wives - This is a Woody Allen movie that gets way more acclaim than it deserves. It's a fascinatingly interesting movie to watch because it's all about Woody and Mia Farrow questioning their relationship when he becomes infatuated with a younger woman, sound familiar? This movie came out while Woody was in a huge custody battle because he started dating Mia's adopted daughter. Davis plays a friend of Woody and Mia's she's in a seemingly happy marriage but they come over for dinner and announce their divorce. She pretends to be cool with everything but as the movie goes along you find out that she is not okay with this at all. She starts to unravel as she begins to date another man. The academy seems to love actresses in Woody Allen movies so it's a little weird that she didn't win. Her performance is fine, but that's it. She almost gets lost in the ensemble and her character is missing that one scene that pushes it to Oscar level.
2. Miranda Richardson - Damage - I'm not sure at all why Richardson was nominated for Damage and not for The Crying Game. Had she been nominated for the latter she almost assuredly would have won. The Academy would have probably leaped at the chance to honor a performance from that movie. Instead she got nominated for this movie where she plays a woman whose husband is having an affair. Jeremy Irons is married to Richardson and starts having sex with Juliette Binoche, a lot, almost every other scene is a sex scene. Richardson doesn't do a whole lot in the movie until the very end where she has a killer scene where she confronts Irons. I remember watching the Oscars this year when I was a kid and when they played that scene I thought she should have won. I watched the movie years later and was bored out of my mind.
1. Marisa Tomei - My Cousin Vinny - Two guys get picked up in a small southern town and are charged for a murder they didn't commit. They call their cousin who just graduated law school to defend them. Their cousin is Joe Pesci, playing a Joe Pesci character, he's uncouth and loud. He also brings along his girlfriend played by Marisa Tomei and she is even more loud and uncouth. It's not the most original character in the world but Tomei is really funny in the movie. She steals every scene she's in without being intrusive. She's actually the definition of support. Pesci is trying to win his case and Tomei is the one who finds the piece of evidence that makes the difference.
Marisa Tomei wins the Oscar. What a ridiculous decision, right? It's a comedy, comedies don't win Oscars. She's also playing a stock "New Yawk" character that's been done hundreds of time. I don't know why the Academy picked Tomei but I can tell you why I did. I just watched two stuffy British dramas, a movie about Jeremy Irons having a lot of sex that I didn't like and Woody Allen's confession that he wants to commit statutory rape. My Cousin Vinny was the only movie here I enjoyed. I remember at the time there was some talk of nationalism and people thought Tomei won because she was the only American nominated. I can't agree with that as the Oscars have always loved the British. I think she won on her own merits. It was a joke for a while because she was up against 4 "Oscar fare" films and won for a Joe Pesci comedy but in hindsight, I'm glad she won, she's turned out to be a fantastic actress in her own right.
Oscar Winner: Marisa Tomei
My Vote: Marisa Tomei
GABBY Winner: Rosie Perez for White Men Can't Jump
Best Director
Clint Eastwood wins for Unforgiven which was the best choice in the category really. Martin Brest for Scent Of A Woman and James Ivory for Howards End shouldn't have been nominated. Robert Altman got nominated on veteran status mostly. His main competition would have been Neil Jordan for The Crying Game but I say give it to Clint. The guy's a legend.
Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay
The Crying Game wins its only Oscar for Original Screenplay. Best choice in the category. Howards End wins a fairly horrible category for Adapted Screenplay. It was up against Enchanted April, A River Runs Through It and Scent Of A Woman. The Player was the best nominee but I have no idea why A Few Good Men couldn't get a nomination here.
Best Original Score/Original Song
Aladdin wins the score category which was to be expected. It was up against Basic Instinct and Chaplin. It also wins for Best Song for A Whole New World. It beat out another song from the same movie, two songs from The Bodyguard and a tune from The Mambo Kings.
Best Sound/Sound Effects Editing
Aladdin gets nominated in both categories but loses both. Seeing as how they had to create all the sounds in the movie from scratch, including running lava and elephants marching, it gets my vote. Instead The Last Of The Mohicans wins for Sound and Bram Stoker's Dracula wins for Sound Effects Editing.
Best Art Direction
Howards End wins. Whatever. Bram Stoker's Dracula and Toys (a horrible movie with beautiful sets) would have been better but there must be something about these Merchant/Ivory movies that I am missing. I've seen so many of them, critics love them and I hate them. What do they see that I don't?
Best Makeup
Bram Stoker's Dracula wins. It's a toss up between Gary Oldman's Dracula and Danny DeVito's Penguin in Batman Returns as to which one is more impressive. Hoffa was inexplicably the third nominee.
Best Costume Design
Bram Stoker's Dracula wins another technical Oscar. I'm glad Enchanted April and Howards End must have cancelled each other out.
Best Cinematography
A River Runs Through It is a rather dull film with beautiful cinematography.
Best Film Editing
Basic Instinct is a pretty terrible film but somehow managed a nomination in this category. So did The Player where the most impressive shot is a scene with no editing. The Crying Game and A Few Good Men are legitimate nominees. They went with the right choice in Unforgiven, the final scene is cut together incredibly well.
Best Visual Effects
Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn die and come back as mutilated corpses in Death Becomes Her which wins over a bunch of creatures in Alien 3 and Batman Returns.
Up Next
1982
Best Director
Clint Eastwood wins for Unforgiven which was the best choice in the category really. Martin Brest for Scent Of A Woman and James Ivory for Howards End shouldn't have been nominated. Robert Altman got nominated on veteran status mostly. His main competition would have been Neil Jordan for The Crying Game but I say give it to Clint. The guy's a legend.
Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay
The Crying Game wins its only Oscar for Original Screenplay. Best choice in the category. Howards End wins a fairly horrible category for Adapted Screenplay. It was up against Enchanted April, A River Runs Through It and Scent Of A Woman. The Player was the best nominee but I have no idea why A Few Good Men couldn't get a nomination here.
Best Original Score/Original Song
Aladdin wins the score category which was to be expected. It was up against Basic Instinct and Chaplin. It also wins for Best Song for A Whole New World. It beat out another song from the same movie, two songs from The Bodyguard and a tune from The Mambo Kings.
Best Sound/Sound Effects Editing
Aladdin gets nominated in both categories but loses both. Seeing as how they had to create all the sounds in the movie from scratch, including running lava and elephants marching, it gets my vote. Instead The Last Of The Mohicans wins for Sound and Bram Stoker's Dracula wins for Sound Effects Editing.
Best Art Direction
Howards End wins. Whatever. Bram Stoker's Dracula and Toys (a horrible movie with beautiful sets) would have been better but there must be something about these Merchant/Ivory movies that I am missing. I've seen so many of them, critics love them and I hate them. What do they see that I don't?
Best Makeup
Bram Stoker's Dracula wins. It's a toss up between Gary Oldman's Dracula and Danny DeVito's Penguin in Batman Returns as to which one is more impressive. Hoffa was inexplicably the third nominee.
Best Costume Design
Bram Stoker's Dracula wins another technical Oscar. I'm glad Enchanted April and Howards End must have cancelled each other out.
Best Cinematography
A River Runs Through It is a rather dull film with beautiful cinematography.
Best Film Editing
Basic Instinct is a pretty terrible film but somehow managed a nomination in this category. So did The Player where the most impressive shot is a scene with no editing. The Crying Game and A Few Good Men are legitimate nominees. They went with the right choice in Unforgiven, the final scene is cut together incredibly well.
Best Visual Effects
Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn die and come back as mutilated corpses in Death Becomes Her which wins over a bunch of creatures in Alien 3 and Batman Returns.
Up Next
1982
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