I was watching the Goodnight, and Good Luck a few days ago (the first time I had seen it since seeing it at the cinema) and wondered how it failed to win the best picture oscar. With this in mind I decided to revise the My Oscars blog. Back in July last year I compiled a list of the movies I would have given the Oscar to over the last ten years. This is a variation on the same idea limited to the nominated films.
2000: Winner: American Beauty – My Choice: The Insider
Other nominations:
- The Cider House Rules
- The Green Mile
- The Sixth Sense
2001: Winner: Gladiator – My Choice: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Other nominations:
- Chocolat
- Erin Brockovich
- Traffic
2002: Winner: A Beautiful Mind – My Choice: Moulin Rouge
Other nominations:
- Gosford Park
- In the Bedroom
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2003: Winner: Chicago – My Choice: Gangs of New York
Other nominations:
- The Hours
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- The Pianist
2004: Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – My Choice: Lost in Translation
Other nominations:
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the
- Mystic River
- Seabiscuit
2005: Winner: Million Dollar Baby – My Choice: Million Dollar Baby
Other nominations:
- The Aviator
- Finding Neverland
- Ray
- Sideways
2006: Winner: Crash – My Choice: Good Night, and Good Luck
Other nominations:
- Brokeback Mountain
- Capote
- Munich
2007: Winner: The Departed – My Choice: The Departed
Other nominations:
- Babel
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Queen
2008: Winner: No Country for Old Men – My Choice: Juno
Other nominations:
- Atonement
- Michael Clayton
- There Will Be Blood
2009: Winner: Slumdog Millionaire – My Choice: Slumdog Millionaire
Other nominations:
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Frost/Nixon
- Milk
The Reader
Fandango Groovers Movie Blog 
Very interesting post indeed.
1. American Beauty and Gladiator both deserved their wins.
2. Fellowship Of The Ring-HANDS DOWN
3.Anything BUT Chicago. Okay movie but ridiculously overrated.
4.Not going to say Lost In Translation didn’t deserve it, but LOTR deserved a nod at that point. I just wish they would have gotten it for Fellowship instead.
5. 2005 was a weak year-all nominees aren’t choice (haven’t seen Milliondollarbaby though)
6. Munich instead of Crash (awful win)
7.Yes on The Departed
8. Juno or No Country I was okay with
9. I also agree with Slumdog
Nothing wrong with American Beauty, it just feels a bit lightweight in the presence of The Insider.
Gladiator was a good film but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is so much better. To be honest Gladiator would probably been third behind traffic for me.
2002 was a strange year all the nominations were good, none were great but they went for the weakest of the nominations. Whilst The Fellowship was the best of the LOTR movies I just felt Moulin Rouge edged it. But as is so often the case the best film wasn’t nominated Amelie.
2003 was a week year and Chicago was rubbish.
The thing that really stuck in my mind about The Return of the King was that it was far from the best of the trilogy. Lost in Translation is just sublime and beautiful.
As previously discussed you really should see Million Dollar Baby.
Crash is a funny one. It was never good enough to deserve all its early praise and never bad enough to deserve the resulting backlash. Munich was good but Good Night, and Good Luck was just brilliant.
The departed was a tough call for two reasons. Firstly I enjoyed all the nominated movies that year but also couldn’t help thinking none of them were a patch on Pan’s Labyrinth and The Lives of Others.
2008 was a strong year all the nominations where really good and I have no real complaints about No Country for Old Men but Juno was better for me.
Slumdog was a clear winner out of the nominated movies but nowhere near as good as The Dark Knight.
I will get my complaining in early for 2010. The Hurt Locker or Inglorious Bastards really deserve the Oscar that Avatar will win.
disagree with everything. try our new duck sauce
that comment above me put it better than i ever could, but here goes anyway…
have to say Fandango, I agree with a lot of your choices:
The Insider should have won best picture and Crowe should have got best actor. its still his best performance and arguably Mann’s greatest film. (13-year-olds like Heat but you grow out of it a bit when your brain gets bigger)
I agree with you – and Heather – that the first Rings movie is the only one worth rewatching, but Moulin Rouge is a solid choice to beat it to Oscar. if Chicago can get one, why not Moulin Rouge, which is way better.
The Departed gets slagged off as being a pity gong for Scorsese but when you look again at the noms it really was the best film that year. Not without its flaws, but powerful and memorable
I always think 2005 was a weak year, but i know you love MDB so i will give you it. even though its sentimental Channel Five afternoon movie tosh. I wont even retell you what i think of Lost In Translation.
Think you have 2003 wrong though – Gangs of New York is, lets face it, a mess. My fave film of those five is The Hours – real gutwrenching stuff, Julianne Moore should have won best actress for that. pity all the stuff about Nicole’s nose was pushed to the forefront of that campaign
I didn’t mention above, but have done repeatedly; I agree Crowe should have got best actor for The Insider.
I must admit I haven’t seen the Hours. I do have to agree that Julianne Moore tends to be excellent in everything she does and would have no problem if she had been given the Oscar that year for Far from Heaven. Not a great film but she was good in it.
I agree with everything you say about The Departed, that’s why I let it keep its Oscar, I just can’t help thinking Infernal Affairs was better.
Seabiscuit was nominated for Best Picture? ….Really? I found nothing unique about that movie.
I agree with you that Moulin Rouge so should have won against A Beautiful Mind, and also that Good Night and Good Luck is leaps better than Crash.
Great list!
I love games like this…
2000: THE INSIDER
2001: TRAFFIC
2002: MOULIN ROUGE!
2003: THE PIANIST
2004: MYSTIC RIVER
2005: MILLION DOLLAR BABY
2006: GOODNIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
2007: THE DEPARTED
2008: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
2009: MILK
Yet another thought-provoking post, Fandango, you just never cease to amaze me.
2000: Completely agree with you and Ross McG about The Insider for Best Picture and Crowe for Best Actor. I mean, his performance as Wigand was far superior to the one as Maximus, and that’s saying a lot!
2002: Glad to see the love for Moulin Rouge, I certainly would’ve picked either that or The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring before A Beautiful Mind.
As for the rest:
2001: Gladiator
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2004: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2005: Finding Neverland
2006: Crash
2007: Babel
2008: Atonement
2009: Haven’t seen any of the nominated films, but I’d probably agree with Slumdog
Juno over No Country? Crouching Tiger over Gladiator? Yes, crazy, but most of all, Lost in Translation?
The success of Avatar has firmly entrenched me in the “Oscars for real films” category, but I think you can count ROTK as a “real” film (in a mainstream sense). It has a story and characters that go way beyond the special effects.