Opinion was FAR more divided on the 90s, with almost all contenders getting a piece of the action. Were there more great movies & performances to choose from or were there just less clear standouts?
Whatever the reason, the early 90s reign supreme! Here are YOUR winners (unless you didn't vote in which case you suck, but you're forgiven) :
The Best Best Picture(s) 1990 - 1999 (TIE)
WHAT a pair!
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Best Best Actress 1990 - 1999
Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
(narrowly edging out Kathy Bates, Hilary Swank & Frances McDormand)
Voting has closed & the results are a landslide victory for 2007 (except Best Director). A great year for cinema indeed, and apparently a year where the Academy chose well. There was really no competition here.
Cast your vote for the Jameson Empire Awards, where Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris & Attack the Block battle it out for Best Comedy; Troll Hunter, Paranormal Activity 3 & Attack the Block go head to head for Best Horror; Drive competes with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo & Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for Best Thriller & there's an award for the Art of 3D! Not to mention their very fine line up for Best Actress line up.
And to demonstrate the extent of Tim Burton's influence - the puppet animation, the gothic look & feel, the gloomy content, the weirdo central character ("You can't be a hero by being normal"): Chris Butler & Sam Fell's Scooby Doo-influenced ParaNorman:
Kinda like an animated Sixth Sense. Not quite for kids then. It seems fun, but doesn't quite have the intimacy or artistic flair of vintage Burton, but nice puppet work, below.
Back in 1984, Tim Burton's live action short, Frankenweenie, about a boy who brings his beloved pet dog back to life, got him fired from Disney for "wasting company resources on a film far too dark for children".
Now, in 2012, and with billions behind his name for Alice in Wonderland, Disney has had Burton back to release Frankenweenie as a full length, black & white claymation feature. Frankenweenie is a full circle moment for Tim Burton and a true vindication for the trail blazer who stuck with his vision from obscurity & disapprovingly shaking heads all the way to creative & commercial success.
Frankenweenie continuesmany elements from Burton's body of work: the signature style animation developed from Nightmare Before Christmas to Corpse Bride; the loving black-and-white evoking the Vincent Price genre horrors he loves so much, as in Vincent, 1984 Frankenweenie & Ed Wood; the themes - a well-meaning Dr Frankenstein, suburban outsiders - visual style - sunny, symmetrical suburbia meets ornate, dilapidated world of outcasts - and sweetly dark humour borrowed from Edward Scissorhands & the roughly sewn-together characters that showed up in Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman Returns (Michelle Pfeiffer's classic costume, if not her character) & Mars Attacks! (Remember Sarah Jessica Parker & her dog?) makes a comeback in Sparky the dog. The doomed return from the dead is also a theme recurring in Beetlejuice (sort of), Corpse Bride &even Sleepy Hollow.
Snow White makes a double comeback (for better or worse) in 2012. First as a fantasy battle epic with Charlize Theron, Kirsten Stewart & Chris Thor Hemsworth, then as a gaudy, colourful, Bollywood-inspired fantasy with Julia Roberts, Lily Collins & Armie Winklevii Hammer.
Snow White and the Huntsman:
Mirror Mirror:
How will they compare to Michael Cohn's gothic 1997 made-for-TV (& Emmy nominated) Snow White: A Tale of Terror, with the lovely Sigourney Weaver playing the evil queen alternately as evil hottie / grotesque goblin.
Jennifer Lawrence is back in tough-older-sister-protecting-younger-siblings at-all-costs mode. Some of those sets & costumes look a bit yech, but all-in-all, this looks like good, intense fun.
The Artist wins Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Score & Best Costume Design
The Artist winners (clockwise from left): Director Michel Hazanavicius, Main Cast & Director with Producer Thomas Langmann, Costume Designer Mark Bridges, Score Composer Ludovic Bource, Lead Actor Jean Dujardin
Hugo (5 wins)
Hugo wins Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction / Set Design, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing & Best Sound Editing
Hugo winners (clockwise from left): Visual Effects crew Robert Legato, Joss Williams & Ben Grossman; Production Designer Dante Ferretti with Set Decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo; Sound Editors Philip Stockton & Eugene Gearty; Sound Mixers Tom Fleischman & John Midgely; Cinematographer Robert Richardson
The Iron Lady (2 wins)
Meryl Streep wins Best Actress & J Roy Helland wins Best Makeup
The Help (1 win)
Octavia Spencer wins Best Supporting Actress
Beginners (1 win)
Christopher Plummer wins Best Supporting Actor
The Descendants (1 win)
L - R: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash & Alexander Paynewin Best Adapted Screenplay.I love that Dean Pelton (i.e. the guy who finds any excuse to wear "his sister's" Lady Gaga /etc outfits on Community)is now a legit Oscar Winner.
Midnight in Paris (1 win)
Woody Allen wins Best Original Screenplay(his 3rd screenplay win)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (1 win)
Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter win Best Film Editing (their 2nd consecutive win on Final Cut Pro)
The Muppets (1 win)
Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie wins Best Original Song for Man or Muppet. How awesome is that?!
A Separation (1 win)
Iran & Asghar Farhadi win Best Foreign Language Film
Rango (1 win)
Gore Pirates of the Caribbean Verbinski wins Best Animated Feature
Undefeated (1 win)
Daniel Lindsay, TJ Martin, Rich Middlemas &, um, P Diddy win Best Documentary
VOTE for the Best of a decade that gave an Oscar to Kevin Costner over Martin Scorsese, ignored Spike Lee entirely & gave top honours to five films that kill off their protagonist. It's the 90s & it's the decade where I started caring about the Oscars, so vote for the Best of the Academy's Best & shake your head in disapproval of their poorer choices.
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I find the Best Actor pattern particularly interesting: two villains, three very sympathetic & physically impaired heroes, two tragic heroes with intense psychological demons & three dramedies, two of which are as tragic as they are funny. Fun stuff.
VOTE! For the Best of the (Academy's) Best of the Noughties!
Sure, the Oscars get it wrong as often as they get it right, and some winners go on to big things while others fade into obscurity, but how would the best of the Academy's best fare if competing against each other? You decide:
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Taking itself lightly enough to be gleefully ludicrous, but also taking itself seriously enough to be thrillingly elaborate. Tim Burton produces, Nightwatch /Wanted's TimurBekmambetov directs, Benjamin Walker (aka Meryl Streep's son-in-law) stars as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Just for fun, Benjamin Walker screen debuted in Bill Condon's Kinsey, playing the 19-year-old version of the titular character who grows up to be the sex researcher played by Liam Neeson. True story.
Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Steven Spielberg - Schindler's List (1993)
