Cuba Gooding Jr. --Jerry Maguire
Al Pacino–Scent of a Woman (more of a lifetime acheivement award than an Oscar)
Whoopi Goldberg–Ghost
Don Ameche–Cocoon (see Pacino’s)
John Gielguld–Arthur (ditto)
Goldie Hawn–Cactus Flower (painful performance to watch…all these years and I’ve still never understood this one)
It’s hard to believe we’ve gotten this far without at least a mention of, IMO, the worst movie to win any awards:
Geena Davis in “The Accidental Tourist.”
I think I will request a hot poker up the hoo-hah prior to watching this self-indulgent, self-important piece of ass candy again. At least it will give me something interesting to talk about.
Oh, I’ll probably get flamed for this but:
Denzel Washington - Training Day. Very good movie and I liked Denzel’s work in the movie but not Best Actor.
Halle Berry - Monster’s Ball. First off, I am pre-disposed to disliking Halle Berry and I think she is a very poor actress. Outside of one very provocative sex scene, why did she win this? The movie is crap, her acting is crap, what is the deal?
Fortunately, this kind of topic is 100% IMHO. 
MeanJoe
Not flaming you, I actually agree. This wasn’t my favorite performance. But this brings up an interesting point, because I think Denzel Washington should have won something for Malcolm X…someone else mentioned that Judi Dench’s oscar was probably making-up for not winning the year before. And a lot of people I’ve talked to opine that LOTR’s sweep this year is because they didn’t win the other 2. So why do the Oscar people spend all their time making up for Oscars people should have one by awarding them one that someone else should win, perpetuating an endless cycle of make-up awards.
I do kind of think it was more an acknowledgement of past over-sights, specifically Malcom X, vs. the strength of his performance in Training Day. Again, don’t get me wrong I think he was very good in Training Day, just not Oscar worthy in my opinion. So, although it was one of my ‘least deserved Oscar’ choices Denzel clearly deserved one for past performances.
Halle Barry on the other hand… no.
I think Oscars are turning more into sentimentalism and awarding a body of work as opposed an individual role. The prime example, I think, is Denzel Washington, who could have won for a number of movies, but instead won for “Training Day.” I think it was definitely a “catch up” award.
Russell Crowe also didn’t deserve it for “Gladiator.” He is a fine actor, and deserve it for “The Insider.” Unfortuantely few people saw that movie. I didn’t even realise it was the same actor for a while.
You just know that Tom Cruise is going to get an Oscar one of these days even though all his roles are similar. But he’s one of the biggest box office draws and has been around.
One of the travesties? “A Beautiful Mind” for Best Picture. It was an alright movie, but not Best Picture.
I actually thought his finest work was in “Hurricane.” Otherwise a so-so film, but Denzel Washington’s performance was just astounding; a rare role where he took a character through a dynamic arc with two distinct changes, and he sold me every step of the way. Absolutely phenomenal work, and he should have won the Oscar for it.
Of course, he did win an Oscar before “Training Day” (for “Glory”) so the “lifetime achievement” bit doesn’t quite explain him.
Halle Berry’s win was more of a “what beautiful actress got the most uglied up this year?” deal.
She didn’t. Judi winning the Oscar for Shakespeare in love is a wonderful example of the voter rigged phenomenon of the awards themselves. However she did deserve it for her performance the previous year, when she lost the oscar she deserved to that trollup Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets. They felt sorry for passing her over and gave it to her the next year as some kind of conoslation.
And like most things I say, someone has already said it.
Oddly, I think that scene (“I Can’t Do It Alone” was the song) won her the Oscar. I thought she was okay, but not all that for the movie, but that scene blew me away. I personally cannot stand her period, but she was awesome in that scene. Then again, the Academy has given out awards in the supporting categories for one scene actors before…
Personally I am with alot of other people with the obvious. Dame Judi Dench (who simply got a consolation prize for lossing from “Mrs Brown” which she should of won for).
Which then takes me to Helen Hunt, who should not of won.
Francis McDormand, as much as I like Marge Gunderson, didn’t really deserve Best Actress. Wonderful role, but really “Fargo” was a movie full of supporting actors, no lead actor, and thus her role wasn’t big enough for Best Actress, and should of been Best Supporting Actress.
Ditto Nicole Kidman in “The Hours” and Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of the Lambs”, but roles where to small to justify a leading actor/actress nomination, let alone a win.
Damn, how could I have forgotten about Glory?!? One of the most powerful scenes I’ve ever seen was between Morgan Freeman and Denzel the night before their first taste of combat. That slap and “wake up” speech and the reaction of Denzel’s character… the shame, the growth and maturity, just wow. Can’t believe I forgot all about that.
I positively DETESTED Hopkins’s portrayal of Hannibal Lechter. What made Lechter so convincingly creepy in the book was his urbanity. In one onscreen moment (the infamous “fava beans and a nice Chianti” scene) Hopkins utterly destroyed the nuance of the character. And I say this while noting that, the Lechter role aside, Hopkins has always been one of my favorite actors.
I rarely agree with the Academy’s choices, but I’m also not a huge moviegoer. A lot of the movies I think are spectacular never even get NEAR the Academy.
When John Wayne won for his performance in True Grit.
“By God, little lady, that there’s a Colt Dragoon!”
We probably need to start a separate thread here, but I was appalled by the script for SiL, and I’m a huge fan of Tom Stoppard (and of Willie S., for that matter.) I don’t have specifics right this second, but I remember being amazed that the meticulous researcher Stoppard even allowed his name to go on a script that featured so many fudged or invented or distorted facts. The 16th century isn’t my academic field, but if so many mistakes jumped out at me, I can only imagine how a renaissance specialist would have taken that movie.
I found it overwhelmingly disappointing.
Maybe I’ll start a pit thread on SiL.
It’s been said before, but Gladiator was an awful choice.
I’m going to mention a really obscure one. Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8. She was known as a seductress when she was young, using her body and charm to get coveted acting roles. She then had a health scare that almost turned her reputation around.
I always thought “Butterfield 8” was a sympathy vote since she when she was widowed when Mike Todd was killed in the plane crash and the studio forced her to do the picture against her will.
A previous poster mentioned Goldie Hawn in “Cactus Flower”, and I have to agree, especially when she wasn’t even nominated for “Butterflies are Free” arguably one of her best performances (Though I will admit 1972 properly had the most fiercely contested Best Actress Category ever, with Liza Minnelli in “Caberet”, Diana Ross in “The Lady Sings the Blues” etc.
Talking of 1972, I know it is highly controversial, but I felt “The Godfather” didn’t deserve its award over “Cabaret” (especially in accumlated awards “Cabaret” won 8 that night as opposed to “The Godfather” winning 3.
Yes, “The Godfather” was a great film, and any other year it properly deserved to win. Just not against “Caberet”
Three words: Whitest Female Nigger. There is no doubt in my mind that the Academy decided to do a bit of affirmative action that year - as soon as I saw the nominees I knew that they were going to give both major acting awards to black thesps - but while they probably planned to throw it Denzel’s way one year on the basis that “he’s a great actor no matter how black he is” they would have found themselves coming up short for a credible black female. So they went for the whitest one they could find, to make themselves feel better about sullying the sacred statues with the touch of a negro. :mad:
I also want to state for the record that this is how I believe the Academy thinks, not how I think myself. Washington should have won in 1993 on merit alone, and would have done except that the Academy continued its despicable practice of throwing a Golden Baldy to practically anyone who plays a character with a physical or mental handicap. As for Halle Berry, I can sum up why she should not have won in one sentence: “Do you know what happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning?”
Mike Todd died in 1958, while his wife Elizabeth Taylor was filming Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1959, but didn’t win. Nor did she win the year after that for Suddenly Last Summer. If she didn’t get a sympathy vote because of Todd’s death for those two nominations (both for very good performances), I doubt his death had anything to do with her 1961 win for BUtterfield 8. However, she had been seriously ill before she won that Oscar, so it could have been a “Get Well” vote.
Ack. I should of explained myself a little more clearer. But you are right. I think I just mixed up my Liz Taylor tragedies (She seemed to have more of them then the average Lifetime Movie of the Week). What I was thinking of was she was forced into doing “Butterfield 8” by the studio after Todd’s death and they renegged on their promise to drop the one outstanding movie she had in her contract.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That’s IS a joke, isn’t it?