As most of us know, The Academy often gets things very wrong. So I want to take a random year, and see if we can form some sort of consensus, in hindsight, about what movies should have been nominated for best picture. Let’s try this for the year 2000. If we have fun with it, maybe we’ll try other years.
The movies actually nominated for Best Picture in 2000:
O Brother, Where Art Thou? <-- Best Picture
Gladiator
Erin Brockovich
Memento
Snatch
I really wanted to give the best picture to “Snatch” as it’s one of my favorite movies of all time, but O Brother has such a greater mass appeal, amazing music, and had a delightful style all it’s own.
etv78, I agree with you that All the Pretty Horses is an underappreciated film.
twickster, define your terms. What, in your view, makes a film “Best Picture caliber”?
For me, it is amovie that bears many repeat viewings (which is part of the reason I think hindsight of a few years is helpful in this exercise). Several of the actual nominees just don’t hold up by that standard, IMHO.
Agreed. I love Best in Show, but it’s not really a Best Picture quality film. Best Picture isn’t just about being an enjoyable movie… It’s about the sum of its various parts, the editing, the acting, the writing, etc. When you have a movie that excels in multiple areas, you have a BP caliber film. I’m willing to be proven wrong here, but I don’t think you could give me very many examples of a BP winner or nominee that wasn’t also lauded for its various components.
Traffic (winner)
Gladiator
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Requiem for a Dream
Memento
Sort of an odd year, in my opinion; after Traffic and Gladiator, you could probably talk me into choosing from at least six films for those last three spots (the three above, Erin Brockovich, O Brother, and Almost Famous), and possibly a couple more.