Well, I was very happy when No Country For Old Men won its prize. It is, I think, easily one of the best movies of the 00’s and even more enjoyable than the novel it is based on.
I thought The Hours and GoNY were good but overrated films - I honestly don’t understand how DDL’s scenery chewing was considered great acting (and I consider him a talented actor in general). The Pianist was very good indeed but by the end of the film you’ve developed a deep loathing for all humanity. By comparison a little song-and-dance looks pretty appealing.
Sometimes you want a character that’s a little over the top. I liked Bill the Butcher because he was so theatrical and fun to watch, if not completely believable as a real human being.
Now that others have mentioned some overrated ‘actors and their roles’, I must get this off my chest:
The single greatest Oscar travesty EVER occurred in 1969. That John Wayne (in True Grit) beat out Dustin Hoffman (and, for that matter, Jon Voight) (both in Midnight Cowboy) was unconscionable.
Of course, Wayne apologists will state that his Oscar was really a ‘lifetime award’ type of thing. If so, then the Oscars are even more of a sham than they seem.
You must think they don’t seem to be much of a sham if you think it’s possible for them to be more of a sham. They are a sham, it’s a subjective opinion from others in the business. People are going to vote for their friends or for other sentimental reasons, such as Wayne’s award and Scorcese’s for The Departed (my vote for worst). And even when sentimentality doesn’t come into it you get situations where you’ve got a couple excellent films that split the vote and something not quite as good wins over them.
Yet Hollywood still puts a lot of money and effort into promoting Oscar winners, it makes stars, directors, writers and anyone else who wins one (or just gets nominated) more bankable. So everyone knows it’s a sham but no one really cares due to the chance it could one day work in their favor.
As I’ve always said, Hollywood loves movies about Hollywood. (Or about show business in general.) Movies about “the business” automatically stand a better chance of getting Oscar nominations.
Now KG, don’t be a Wayne-hater. 
As a proud Wayne apologist, I will say that Wayne’s performance in True Grit was fully worthy of an Oscar, prior career notwithstanding. Furthermore, his subsequent performances in The Cowboys and in The Shootist were also Oscar-worthy (or at least worthy of a nomination), but were overlooked.
I couldn’t understand why American Beauty won all of those Oscars. When it came out, it didn’t do anything for me. Later, after becoming a fan of Six Feet Under, I went back and watched it again. With that second viewing, I think I “got it”–so it qualifies as both most disappointing AND most rewarding for me.
Agreed - as opposed to Jack Palance’s star turn in City Slickers, for which he received an “oh shit, he’s going to die soon and we haven’t given him anything yet” award.
Most rewarding?
Casablanca, because it has everything – espionage, spies, a love story, a war story, and a stellar cast including Bogie. I would even say that Casablanca is much better than Citizen Kane. The latter tends to plod along, while Casablanca is so full of twists in comparison.
Most disappointing?
*Terms of Endearment *-- it had to be the worst movie I’ve ever seen that won best picture. The storyline is horrid – woman’s husband has affairs, she gets cancer and dies. Wow. Definite chick flick material, sure, but too melodramatic to be taken seriously.
Post 1970 pictures I thought were worthy:
1972, The Godfather
1974, GF pt. 2
1983, Terms of Endearment
1984, Amadeus
1991, Silence of the Lambs (I would’ve been happy with a JFK or Beauty and the Beast win as well).
1992, Unforgiven
1993, Schindler’s List
1994, Forrest Gump Yeah, Pulp Fiction was the cool choice, but FG is a fine movie as well. This year just had some great movies competing for the top spot.
1997, Titanic
2007, No Country for Old Men
Winners of the “I’m not worthy!” prize:
1976, Rocky. Should’ve lost to Network or Taxi Driver.
1977, Annie Hall. There was some sort of sci-fi film released that year that dramatically changed Hollywood… something about warring stars. Anybody remember it?
1979, Kramer vs. Kramer. Apocalypse Now is a much more worthy film. KvK, released today, would be shown on Lifetime.
1980, Ordinary People. Apparently the Academy was in Movie-Of-The-Week mode as yet another film about domestic issues took the top nod. Both Raging Bull and The Elephant Man were far better films.
1982, Gandhi. ET should have won that year.
1988, Rain Man. Yet another Movie-of-the-Week. Myself, I thought Dangerous Liaisons was the best of the 5 noms.
1990, Dances With Wolves. Like Ordinary People, you have an actor making his directorial debut winning B. Picture over Martin Scorcese (Goodfellas). Damned shame, that. Good thing MS wasn’t nominated in 1995 or he would’ve hit the trifecta (Gibson and Braveheart).
2000, Gladiator. I don’t like this film, have no idea why it won - the only thing I can figure is that (a) Somebody felt guilty about voting for Shakespeare in Love two years earlier, or (b), Money, drink and drugs were dispensed in massive quantities, or (c) Dreamworks SKG put the Fear of Katzenberg in everybody.
2001, A Beautiful Mind. LOTR: FOTR and Moulin Rouge! are much better films.
2005, Crash. I liked Crash, I just think that Brokeback Mountain was the better film.
2006, The Departed. Yeah, Scorcese was long overdue, but Letters from Iwo Jima was a better movie.
2008, Slumdog Millionaire. Possibly the first B. Picture to win primarily for its setting. Place the story of boy meets girl in LA or London and you’ve got a yawner. I think half of the people who voted for this one was thinking “Oh, those poor people! Let’s give them an Oscar so they can forget their misery!”
BTW, a list of all B. Pic nominees can be found at: Academy Award for Best Picture - Wikipedia
Oh, Gawd, don’t get me started on Titanic.
I liked the special effects and the depiction of the ship and life onboard it, but as a movie about the disaster itself, it falls way behind the 1958 British A Night to Remember. The latter which was much better, even though it was in black and white, and Cameron “borrowed” from it liberally, as it did from the 1953 movie Titanic, which starred Robert Wagner.
The only addition to Cameron’s version was a sappy love story with prettyboy Leonardo DiCaprio, but even as a love story it falls flat. The “respectible girl in love with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks” storyline itself had been done much better in other places.
Funny story regarding the Cameron version:
When I was in University, I lived about a block from a “cheap” theatre, and Titanic showed up there. I hadn’t yet seen it, but had heard a lot about how good it was even discounting the love story, so I decided to check it out. Hey, what the heck, I thought, it was only costing me two bucks to see it on the big screen, and I had no classes that afternoon anyway.
A friend of mine decided to go too, so here we are, practically the only two guys in a theatre full of women, sitting in the only seats we could find, about a quarter way back from the screen.
The movie was fine, even discounting the sappy love story; the special effects were indeed a treat, the grandeur of the ship perfectly communicated.
And then it hit the iceburg and started to sink. As things got more intense, I swear that every woman in the place was bawling. This builds to a crescendo when DiCaprio falls off the floating wreckage and sinks, at which time my buddy stands up and says, “Now, come, come ladies…it’s actual history, you all knew the ship would sink, didn’t you?”
I think “asshole” was the mildest name he got called in response.
I would have preferred to see either E.T. or Tootsie win over Gandhi, which seemed to get the award for the nobility of its story and main character. Much as the Academy tends to award the prize to anyone portraying a disabled character, or someone in a Holocaust picture.
I’ve seen and enjoyed both E.T. and Tootsie several times since then, but have yet to sit through Gandhi again.
For disappointing: Crash, hands down.
Not simply an undeserving winner but, in my opinion, a poor film. As didactic and predictable as a public service announcement. I was really looking forward to seeing it, but at the end my wife and i just sat there dumbfounded that this piece of shit had won the Oscar for best film. Even more depressing because the competition that year was really quite strong.
My top ten Oscar BP winners:
Casablanca
All about Eve
On the waterfront
The Apartment
Lawrence of Arabia
A Man for All Seasons
Godfather 1
Godfather 2
Annie Hall
Chariots of Fire
Weak BP winners:
Life of Emile Zola
Mrs Miniver
From here to eternity
Sound of Music
Amadeus
Braveheart
Million Dollar Baby
Oscar BP winners that are often criticized which I like quite a bit:
The English Patient
Crash
I would say 70-77 was the strongest period. I don’t care too much for Cuckoo’s Nest and I don’t really remember much about Rocky but the other six winners are either very good or great films IMO.