# Oscars should be cancelled — there are no Best Pictures anymore! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520 "2018-01-26T14:05:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/41 "2018-01-27T13:44:08Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > [I exaggerate \*slightly\* hoping to make a clearer impression.] > > I’ve not been keeping up with recent movies. I haven’t even heard of eight of the 2013 Best Picture nominees. Trying to make amends I watched most of the 2014 Best Picture nominees. Only _Selma_ and _Imitation Game_ appealed much, and that was mainly because they replayed historic events that interested me. 2015 was even worse. Among the 2016 nominees I watched only _Manchester by the Sea_. It made such little impression I’d have to watch it again to comment on it. > > And now 2017. I’ve seen two nominees. _Dunkirk_ ? — one of the most boring war films ever. _Three Billboards_ ? — a brand new genre: slapstick noir. > > In the old days, there were only five nominees for the Best Picture Oscar. At some point this was increased to nine — I guess the hope was that with _nine_ films to choose from, one might appear that was qualified to be called ‘Best Picture.’ But this was a forlorn hope. > > Compare recent nominees with some of the slates from a half-century ago: > > 1957 > _The Bridge on the River Kwai > 12 Angry Men > Peyton Place > Sayonara > Witness for the Prosecution_ > > 1962 > \*Lawrence of Arabia > The Longest Day > The Music Man > Mutiny on the Bounty > To Kill a Mockingbird \* > > 1964 > _My Fair Lady > Becket > Dr. Strangelove > Mary Poppins > Zorba the Greek_ > > 1966 > _A Man for All Seasons > Alfie > The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming > The Sand Pebbles > Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?_ > > Twenty films: Twenty great classics. > > Am I right or am I right? Or am I a fuddly oldtimer acting like Norma Desmond from _Sunset Boulevard_? (“I’m still a big movie fan — it’s the movies that got small!”) > > **Mods** — I expect my viewpoint to be highly unpopular; please wait a day or two and then move the thread to the BBQ Pit You cherry-picked four years in a ten-year spread, and even then you didn’t really make a case. These are not “twenty great classics”. mmm ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/42 "2018-01-27T15:32:35Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I think all the fuss over HOW a movie is made, i.e. camera angles, special effects, arresting visuals, etc. is meant to cover up the fact that nobody can write a decent script anymore. Agreed, but shooting in all natural light weirdly does seem to fool the eye into believing they’re seeing real actors and bear attacks. > [@septimus](#): > > +++. _Fargo_ had **great dialog**. Does anyone claim _Three Billboards_ is in the same class? WTF? If it wins the Oscar it was nominated for will you finally believe some do consider it in the same class? You’re also straying from your ostensible point, the Coens clearly study and love their old-timey movies, but Fargo was 1996. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/43 "2018-01-27T15:43:25Z")
**Moonlight** was an ok film. It won because it was a film that touched current social issues. Like earlier films. It was almost an apology for **Brokeback Mountain** losing. Same reason **The Hurt Locker** won. And **Argo**. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/44 "2018-01-28T00:45:04Z")
I found Moonlight deeply moving and a wonderful movie, worth winning on its own merits. Just saw The Post. An important movie on many levels, well written, and superbly executed. I adored Get Out, but this was superior. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/45 "2018-01-29T06:12:30Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Moonlight won because of how well it was made, not because it was “about” a young black man struggling with his sexuality. The writing, the acting, the cinematography, the pacing, the score, the color palette choices. > > All that said, yes, there are many films nominated over the years that probably weren’t the best 5, or 9 or 10, as there is some level of celebrating the successful and familiar in Hollywood. But they also weren’t abject stinkers either. I don’t think the purpose of the Oscars ever was to pin an award on the year’s best movie. It was supposed to be a 4-hour commercial for the idea of Hollywood, in which the industry parades it’s best-looking stars across the stage and assures folks that they’re making pretty good choices about what movies to see. Hence Best Picture used to go to whatever movie straddled quality filmmaking and box office success: _Titanic_ (1997), _Gladiator_ (2000), _Chicago_ (2002). No one would honestly argue that these are the best movies made in their years, but they might have been the best successful movies in those years. In the past few years, somehow they’ve stopped caring about the successful part. Maybe _Moonlight_ is a great movie. I wouldn’t know. I haven’t see it. I haven’t seen any winner since _Million Dollar Baby_ in 2004. But I’m not alone. _Moonlight_ made only $27 million at the U.S. box office and did even worse in other countries. Almost certainly the worst performance by a Best Picture winner ever, once inflation is accounted for. _Spotlight_ also did unimpressively at the box office. So did _Birdman_. And _The Artist_. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/46 "2018-01-29T12:45:04Z")
“Best Picture” is really just the “Best Producer” award with a more socially acceptable label slapped on it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/47 "2018-01-29T13:47:04Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > In the past few years, somehow they’ve stopped caring about the successful part. Maybe _Moonlight_ is a great movie. I wouldn’t know. I haven’t see it. I haven’t seen any winner since _Million Dollar Baby_ in 2004. But I’m not alone. _Moonlight_ made only $27 million at the U.S. box office and did even worse in other countries. Almost certainly the worst performance by a Best Picture winner ever, once inflation is accounted for. _Spotlight_ also did unimpressively at the box office. So did _Birdman_. And _The Artist_. I think The Hurt Locker was the lowest grossing Best Picture winner, beating Moonlight. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/48 "2018-01-29T15:15:52Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think The Hurt Locker was the lowest grossing Best Picture winner, beating Moonlight. And one of the biggest head-scratchers of them all IMHO, considering how badly it represented reality. I hypothesize that the Academy wanted to tip their collective hat to recent wars, but this wasn’t the film they were looking for. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/49 "2018-01-29T16:19:12Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I don’t think ANYTHING can top last year’s odd pick for Best Picture: ‘Moonlight’. I admit I haven’t seen it (NO, I HAVE NOT SEEN IT. SUE ME), and I don’t know anyone who has, and it must be of some merit to win Best Picture, but…REALLY? That was the cream of the crop? Just reading the synopsis makes me scratch my head. I suppose in an ongoing tsunami of superhero remakes, it’s a struggle for any old school films to even be made. Talk about limping in clown shoes! “Moonlight” was a masterpiece, one of the best movies I have ever seen. It was better than _at least_ two thirds of all the movies ever to win Best Picture in the history of the award. In my opinion is it very safety the best movie of this decade so far. They will be using “Moonlight” in film schools to show how to make movies for the next century. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/50 "2018-01-29T16:39:14Z")
_Moonlighting_ wasn’t my _favorite_ movie last year, but I’ll readily admit is was probably the best. I enjoyed _La La Land_ and _Hidden Figures_ more, but I think _Moonlighting_ was a more impressive achievement. I still have some BP nominees to see for this year, but so far _Get Out_ is probably my favorite, with _Ladybird_ a close second. I was less wowed by _Dunkirk_ or _The Post_, probably because I had high expectations going into both of them. I also found _Baby Driver_ super enjoyable, but it would be a stretch to put it up for an award in any of the major categories. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/51 "2018-01-29T17:01:43Z")
I’ve seen none of the nominated pictures, and after watching the trailers I became thoroughly absorbed in all the stories. They are so very different and yet each offers some _je ne sais quoi_ that (at least from this surface perusal) makes each compelling — and at least potentially Oscar-worthy. Also, I adored _Moonlight_. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/52 "2018-01-29T17:19:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > See, that’s where preferences come into the picture; I liked La La Land quite a bit. More so than Moonlight, actually. Same here. Though Manchester By the Sea was better than both, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/53 "2018-01-29T17:35:24Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > _Moonlighting_ wasn’t my _favorite_ movie last year, but I’ll readily admit is was probably the best. I enjoyed _La La Land_ and _Hidden Figures_ more, but I think _Moonlighting_ was a more impressive achievement. I didn’t know they rebooted “Moonlighting” as a movie! I love Bruce Willis. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/54 "2018-01-29T20:21:37Z")
There will always be a Best Picture Oscar - and, barring a rare tie, one Best Picture per year - because people want it that way. The Emmys tried something strange in 1965 or so, where, instead of requiring one winner, it was possible for multiple shows or actors to win if enough voters thought they deserved it. Too many people responded, “Yes, but **who won?** ” that they got rid of it in most categories the following year. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/55 "2018-01-29T21:04:38Z")
It is of course inevitably true that some years have stronger fields than others. If you want to believe 1994 had several movies better than anything in 1987, fair enough. But I really can’t see the OP’s argument that movies are worse than they used to be. I honestly don’t understand that at all. There are all kinds of terrific movies these days. In 2016 in addition to “Moonlight,” there were “Hell or High Water,” “Arrival,” “La La Land,” “Rogue One,” “Moana,” “Hidden Figures,” “The Edge of Seventeen,” “The Nice Guys,” “Deadpool,” “Manchester By The Sea,” and a dozen more I’m forgetting. Then in 2017, they rolled out “Get Out,” “Lady Bird,” “The Big Sick,” “Mudbound,” “War for the Planet of the Apes,” “Baby Driver,” “Wonder,” “Dunkirk,” and more. Want fun for your kids? Go see “Jumanji,” it was terrific. Sci fi? See “Blade Runner 2049.” Wanna see Hugh Jackman kill folks? “Logan.” There’s always a good movie coming out. The fact that the Best Picture nominees are sometimes a bit obscure is simply reflective of the fact that the Oscar voters are spending more time thinking about who they nominate. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/56 "2018-01-29T22:04:38Z")
Looking at movies through historical glasses and comparing to current movies is tough. However this is were I have to spout my opinion that there should be an academy award for best movie; but the nominations all have to be exactly X number of years old. i.e. in 2018 Oscars we’d vote on movies that up for their Oscars in 2008. If you limited to 2008’s candidates you’d have: Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, and There Will Be Blood. Personally I think There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton stand the test of time a lot better than No Country for Old Men. and wtf is Juno doing there? :). ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/57 "2018-01-30T17:22:30Z")
> [@eunoia](#): > > WTF? If it wins the Oscar it was nominated for will you finally believe some do consider it in the same class? > > You’re also straying from your ostensible point, the Coens clearly study and love their old-timey movies, but Fargo was 1996. 😕 The fact that _Three Billboards_’ dialog is nowhere near the same high class as _Fargo_’s will not be changed by an Oscar. And (double 😕 ) 1996 was _21_ years ago! Time is flashing by fast for me, but even I knew that a “2017 anymore” need not encompass dates in the 20th century! I just finished _Get Out_. Not too bad (though I’m not a horror fan) but wasn’t there a better way to end it than a bunch of random violence? (“Get 'em, Grandpa!”) And, perhaps since Catherine Keener played in both movies, _The Interpreter_ (2005) popped into my mind. Excellent movie, no? _And far better than any of the three 2017 nominees I’ve seen so far_, yet it didn’t get a single nomination. TL;DR: OP was right! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/58 "2018-02-01T19:21:38Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > 😕 The fact that _Three Billboards_’ dialog is nowhere near the same high class as _Fargo_’s will not be changed by an Oscar. I don’t even have to argue that. I just need you to admit that some people think that it is. Your claim: “Does anyone claim Three Billboards is in the same class?” My claim. “Yes, several.” > [@septimus](#): > > And (double 😕 ) 1996 was _21_ years ago! Time is flashing by fast for me, but even I knew that a “2017 anymore” need not encompass dates in the 20th century! So even if Fargo is your last worthy Best Picture, then you have to defend all the duds up to 1996. The kids in the smarter forums probably have a fancy schmancy name for the type of argument you’re trying to build here. You’ll say movies were only good back in the day, but successively claim the Coens, Jarmusch, Iñárritu, Lynch, Soderbergh, Van Sant, Tarantino, both Andersons, Jonze, Haneke, Linklater, Weir, Lanthimos, and somehow I’ll end up having to defend Gerwig, Franco and Villeneuve as luminaries. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/59 "2018-02-01T19:50:14Z")
“Fargo” didn’t win Best Picture. If one agrees Fargo was a better movie than Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri, well, so what? This movie’s better than that one. “12 Years A Slave” (2014) was a better movie than “Ordinary People” (1980). What does that prove? ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520/60 "2018-02-01T20:51:25Z")
The comments here, while ostensibly about movies, remind me of general “I long for the much Whiter, straighter times of the 1950s (or insert whatever era)” from there are no good films post Jim Crow era to the comments that a movie with a black (and queer) cast can’t possibly be worthy of awards, even if the commenter hasn’t seen it, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscars-should-be-cancelled-there-are-no-best-pictures-anymore/807520.md?page=2)