# Bad Academy award movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031 "2003-02-10T04:39:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/21 "2003-02-10T14:29:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by widdershins \* > \*\* > _A Beautiful Mind_ - A stupid TV movie plot shot with a Hollywood feature budget. > > \*\* Well, which of the following nominees would you have picked? (not that I’ve even seen the first 2. I’m just curious because I thought it was brilliantly done). Gosford Park (2001) In the Bedroom (2001) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) Moulin Rouge! (2001) And on the subject of _A beautiful Mind_, I have to wonder what Denzel did with _Training Day_ (which i also haven’t seen) to steal the best actor award because I truly found Crowe’s performance to be one of the most masterfully executed performances I’ve ever seen in any movie by anyone, and for such an incredibly complex role as well. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/22 "2003-02-10T14:43:40Z")
Well, the worst “best picture” in my experience was The English Patient. The worst injustices in the recent past that come to mind: Shakespeare in Love winning over the far superior Saving Private Ryan A Beautiful Mind winning over Lord of the Rings. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/23 "2003-02-10T16:56:08Z")
You know that “somebody’s law” that says all internet discussions will eventually wind up with somebody being called a Nazi? There should be a corollary: any mention of undeserving Academy Award winners will, within 30 posts, devolve into a rant about Forrest Gump and Braveheart. Posters with longer memories will bring up How Green Was My Valley/Citizen Kane. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/24 "2003-02-10T17:08:57Z")
I think all I remember seeing of **The English Patient** was some plane crashing into a desert… then I fell asleep. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/25 "2003-02-10T19:39:05Z")
“You know that “somebody’s law” that says all internet discussions will eventually wind up with somebody being called a Nazi?” Godwin’s Law. ---
**Author:** ![InTransit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@InTransit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InTransit)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/26 "2003-02-10T19:42:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by headshok \* > \*\*IANA Movie Critic, but the schmaltzy tear-jerker **Forrest Gump** (which won Best Picture over **Pulp Fiction** ) springs to mind immediately. I honestly tried to like it, _wanted_ to like it, but it just got on my nerves more than anything else. \*\* Oh my goodness, someone else who didn’t like _Forrest Gump_! I was beginning to think that I was the only one who thought the movie … it got really repetitive after a while. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/27 "2003-02-10T20:24:34Z")
I thought Gary Cooper was EXCELLENT in High Noon. I also agree with the sentiment that even though they may not be the best picture, very few BPs are BAD films. Boring, maybe, but not bad. Does boring necessarily mean bad? English Patient made me want to rip my eyes out and shove them up my ear canals: but it sure was a pretty film. The acting was very good, but the story was just boring. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/28 "2003-02-10T20:55:45Z")
I would say the biggest pan is 2001: A Space Odyssey not even being nominated. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/29 "2003-02-11T03:25:41Z")
I don’t fault the actors in _A Beautiful Mind_, especially the leads who did great characterizations in a bad movie. I blame the director and screenwriter. They never sold me on the point that John Nash was doing anything other than scribbling on chalkboards and windows. Then someone would walk up and see what he was doing and be amazed by his brillance. The way mathematics and science were treated in the film, he might as well have been a visual artist who created beautiful, but quite meanless, artworks using only mathematic symbols. Yes, there was some throwaway dialog about uses for his work, but nothing really that explained how what he was writing related to what he was recognized for. Telegraphing that the roommate, the government agent played by Ed Harris, and the covert codebreaking he was working on only existed in his head robbed all of these elements of any dramatic or emotional intensity. It was so obvious that all of these things were not real, except to him, that big dramatic moment when the audience is _supposed_ to find this out is flat and quite pointless. The movie had to play catch-up with the viewer. I’ll overlook the factual inaccuracies of the film because I expect a certain degree of that for the sake of the narrative in an film biography. But when the moment comes where Nash realizes that all he has to is ignore his mental creations and they will go away, with very little emphasis placed on medication, the film takes on a “Little Engine That Could” bearing. Ugh. The movie implied, IIRC, that over time they went away. Nash has said that he still hears voices to this day (he said he never saw people), but with medication and effort he is able to tune them out, but they do not go away. As to which film should have won, I don’t know, I just know which film shouldn’t have won. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/30 "2003-02-11T04:05:47Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by RikWriter_ > Shakespeare in Love winning over the far superior Saving Private Ryan Quite possibly the only time in its history the Academy got it right. **Shakespeare in Love** was original, interesting, and well-acted. Everything the bloated, sentimental **Private Ryan** was not. Spielberg blew his load in the first twenty minutes. After they get off the beach, it’s a third rate war picture with good production values. Of course, **SiL** didn’t win because it was the better movie, it won because Harvey Weinstein is better at politicking than Steven Spielburg. Even when the Academy gets it right, they do it for the wrong reasons. And I’ll go out on a limb here to highlight **Titanic** as a genuinely bad movie that won an Oscar. MST3K bad. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/31 "2003-02-11T04:09:28Z")
You may find this thread, on “[Most Outrageous Oscar Winners](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85220&highlight=oscar)”, of interest. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/32 "2003-02-11T05:54:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > **Quite possibly the only time in its history the Academy got it right. Shakespeare in Love was original, interesting, and well-acted. Everything the bloated, sentimental Private Ryan was not. Spielberg blew his load in the first twenty minutes. After they get off the beach, it’s a third rate war picture with good production values.** I totally agree with this. At the time, everyone was saying _Saving Private Ryan_ should win, but their arguments centered around the idea that we should honor our war veterans. But that’s not what the Academy Awards are about–they’re about the “best” pictures and performances of the year. If you analyze the movies AS MOVIES and not according to their historical significance, it’s no contest. Ultimately, _SPR_ is just another war movie–it really had very little plot. We’re fighting here, now we’re walking, now we’re fighting in this village, now walking, fighting on this hill, walking, fighting the final battle in a bombed-out city. _Shakespeare in Love_ was one of the most clever and fun movies I’ve seen in years. I was glad that it won. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/33 "2003-02-11T06:08:15Z")
> [@](#): > > I totally agree with this. At the time, everyone was saying Saving Private Ryan should win, but their arguments centered around the idea that we should honor our war veterans. But that’s not what the Academy Awards are about–they’re about the “best” pictures and performances of the year. If you analyze the movies AS MOVIES and not according to their historical significance, it’s no contest. _Exactly!_ I remember discussing this with a friend who said _Ryan_ should have won because it was more “important.” Important? Whose life did that movie save? What corrupt regimes did it topple? It was about an important _event_, but the movie itself did not liberate Europe. By this logic, _Pearl Harbor_ is a more important movie than _The Godfather_. Sorry, I’ve had that reply sitting in the back of my head ever since I had that discussion and couldn’t think of a good comeback. Had to use it somewhere before it caused an anyeurism or something. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/34 "2003-02-11T06:27:27Z")
One of the first things I did with Netflix was rent all the BP Winners that were then available on DVD. I can now support the statement above that while the BP winner may not have been the best movie, none of them are _bad_ movies. Except for one. Except for the one that took me four separate sittings to get through. That one is 1963’s _Tom Jones_. God it’s horrible. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/35 "2003-02-11T11:48:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*Quite possibly the only time in its history the Academy got it right. **Shakespeare in Love** was original, interesting, and well-acted. Everything the bloated, sentimental **Private Ryan** was not. Spielberg blew his load in the first twenty minutes. After they get off the beach, it’s a third rate war picture with good production values. > \*\* No, it was instead one of the more egregious examples of the Academy getting it wrong. The sappy, light-headed SIL was nowhere near the movie SPR was. You’re totally wrong about SPR, of course…it was the greatest war movie ever made and the definitive WWII movie. The acting was incredible, the cinematography was unbelievable and the picture was simply incredibly moving. ---
**Author:** ![Fish42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@Fish42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish42)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/36 "2003-02-11T17:34:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*I have never seen an movie nominated for “Best Picture” that was actually a BAD MOVIE. \*\* I suspect that means you’ve never seen “Hello Dolly” (Best Pic nominee in 1969), “Doctor Doolittle” (BP nominee in 1967 [or maybe it was 1968]) or “Cleopatra” (BP nominee in 1962). All of them quite bad. ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/37 "2003-02-11T18:22:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RikWriter \* > You’re totally wrong about SPR, of course…\*\*it was the greatest war movie ever made and the definitive WWII movie. \*\* I totally agree. And Jessica Simpson is the finest musician of the rock era. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/38 "2003-02-11T18:26:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fish42 \* > \*\*I suspect that means you’ve never seen “Hello Dolly” (Best Pic > nominee in 1969), “Doctor Doolittle” (BP nominee in 1967 [or > maybe it was 1968]) or “Cleopatra” (BP nominee in 1962). > > All of them quite bad. \*\* Okay, you got me on “Cleopatra.” I would argue the other two are decent movies. As to **Saving Private Ryan** vs. **Shakespeare in Love,** I’d have to argue SPR is getting a bum rap here. It was a terrific movie, not just “another war movie.” “Windtalkers” was just another war movie. “U-571” was just another war movie. “Saving Private Ryan” was way above that level. It was technically magnificent, well-acted, well-directed, and the movie was emotionally and thematically very effective. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/39 "2003-02-11T19:12:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dumbguy \* > \*\*I totally agree. And Jessica Simpson is the finest musician of the rock era. \*\* Who is Jessica Simpson? Any relation to OJ? Anyway, be sarcastic all you want, it doesn’t change my opinion nor the opinions of the others who disagree with you. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031/40 "2003-02-11T21:20:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by senor \* > **What movies do you think that won (or even nominated) for an Academy award that you thought were bad, pointless, or stupid?** [_Driving Miss Daisy_](http://www.hit-n-run.com/cgi/read_review.cgi?review=13107_rogermw). I mean, it was all right, I suppose – but **best picture?!** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-academy-award-movies/154031.md?page=3)