So it appears that in just ONE short summer TWO of my beloved movie series will disappoint and embarrass me.
As you know, I'm still recovering from the travesty that was/is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Chrystal Skull and now, this Friday, George Lucas releases Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated feature film that can easily be confused for a video game when you see the trailer on TV.
My friend, Matt, who rivals my brother, Gerard, in argumentativeness (it can get ugly when they are in the same room together) recently saw this trailer and decided to include me on an email in which he questioned which series has become more embarrassing: Rocky or Star Wars. (If you were part of this email then you will find this post repetitive.) For those of you who do not know Matt, Rocky is to him what Star Wars is to me (what can I say...it's a family thing).
The very first point that Matt made in his email is that while Star Wars won more Oscars, OVERALL, Rocky won more QUALITY Oscars (e.g. Best Picture, Best Director).
Naturally, this got me thinking.
For as much as I love the Oscars, betting on the Oscars and attending Oscar parties (Stuff White People Like!), simply winning an Oscar does not necessarily make a movie great and, in my opinion, doesn't give it any more credibility.
Yes, maybe I AM bitter about Star Wars losing out to Annie Hall for the Best Picture Oscar in 1977 (P.S. I wasn't even born yet), however, I have to remind myself that there is a long list of terrible, forgettable movies that have won Oscars for Best Picture.
Honestly, I can't go back all that far because I'm not a huge fan of old movies. I've tried to be (that should be Stuff White People Like) but I just don't think that many of them have stood the test of time.
So let's review, shall we? In non-chronological order...
Topping my list is a little movie called The English Patient which won Best Picture in 1996. This is a movie that after a few attempts, I am still unable to watch in its entirety. In fact, if I ever have trouble getting my kids to fall asleep in the future, I'm going to threaten them with this movie. In my opinion, The English Patient just might be the WORST movie ever made. And let me say that I had this opinion long before Elaine Benes did.
If there is an award for the cheesiest movie ever made then it should easily go to Titanic, which somehow beat out Good Will Hunting and L.A. Confidential in 1997.
But apparently Hollywood likes its cheesy movies...especially cheesy EPICS...
Gladiator won Best Pic over Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000?
Ghandi over E.T. in 1982? Ok, maybe that one was legit, but I was 4.
1995 was a tough year for nominees. Usual Suspects somehow went UNNOMINATED thus paving the way for the most overrated movie of all time, Braveheart, to win Best Pic.
There was also Dances with Wolves over Goodfellas in 1990.
The cheesy "romantic comedy" Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan in 1998.
How about Chicago over Gangs of New York in 2002? Ok, so Gangs wasn't that great, but it did have Hollywood's ever-precious Daniel Day Lewis in it. Not to mention there should be a law that states that a musical cannot win a Best Picture Oscar...isn't that what the Tony Awards are for? And I just noticed that The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was also nominated that year. I guess the Academy missed the entire hour in which 2 hobbits were riding around on talking trees.
Crash should never have been nominated yet it beat out Brokeback Mountain in 2005.
And Chariots of Fire over Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981? Ok, so maybe I'm cheating on this one because I've never actually seen Chariots, but I had to throw it in there because Raiders is another binkie of mine.
The farthest I will go back is to 1975; I'm sorry but Jaws should have beat out One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Driving Miss Daisy, which rivals The English Patient in bore factor (although I did make it all the way through DMD), beat out Field of Dreams, Dead Poet's Society AND Born on the Fourth of July in 1989????
Forrest Gump, although a great movie, should not have beat out Pulp Fiction OR Shawshank Redemption in 1994. Seriously, have you ever watched Gump a 2nd time all the way through? No. But you've definitely seen Pulp Fiction at least 5 times (I saw it twice in the theater) and you definitely stop to watch Shawshank every time you stumble across it when you're flipping through the channels on a random weeknight.
I think I've made my point.
My friend, Matt, who rivals my brother, Gerard, in argumentativeness (it can get ugly when they are in the same room together) recently saw this trailer and decided to include me on an email in which he questioned which series has become more embarrassing: Rocky or Star Wars. (If you were part of this email then you will find this post repetitive.) For those of you who do not know Matt, Rocky is to him what Star Wars is to me (what can I say...it's a family thing).
The very first point that Matt made in his email is that while Star Wars won more Oscars, OVERALL, Rocky won more QUALITY Oscars (e.g. Best Picture, Best Director).
Naturally, this got me thinking.
For as much as I love the Oscars, betting on the Oscars and attending Oscar parties (Stuff White People Like!), simply winning an Oscar does not necessarily make a movie great and, in my opinion, doesn't give it any more credibility.
Yes, maybe I AM bitter about Star Wars losing out to Annie Hall for the Best Picture Oscar in 1977 (P.S. I wasn't even born yet), however, I have to remind myself that there is a long list of terrible, forgettable movies that have won Oscars for Best Picture.
Honestly, I can't go back all that far because I'm not a huge fan of old movies. I've tried to be (that should be Stuff White People Like) but I just don't think that many of them have stood the test of time.
So let's review, shall we? In non-chronological order...
Topping my list is a little movie called The English Patient which won Best Picture in 1996. This is a movie that after a few attempts, I am still unable to watch in its entirety. In fact, if I ever have trouble getting my kids to fall asleep in the future, I'm going to threaten them with this movie. In my opinion, The English Patient just might be the WORST movie ever made. And let me say that I had this opinion long before Elaine Benes did.
If there is an award for the cheesiest movie ever made then it should easily go to Titanic, which somehow beat out Good Will Hunting and L.A. Confidential in 1997.
But apparently Hollywood likes its cheesy movies...especially cheesy EPICS...
Gladiator won Best Pic over Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000?
Ghandi over E.T. in 1982? Ok, maybe that one was legit, but I was 4.
1995 was a tough year for nominees. Usual Suspects somehow went UNNOMINATED thus paving the way for the most overrated movie of all time, Braveheart, to win Best Pic.
There was also Dances with Wolves over Goodfellas in 1990.
The cheesy "romantic comedy" Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan in 1998.
How about Chicago over Gangs of New York in 2002? Ok, so Gangs wasn't that great, but it did have Hollywood's ever-precious Daniel Day Lewis in it. Not to mention there should be a law that states that a musical cannot win a Best Picture Oscar...isn't that what the Tony Awards are for? And I just noticed that The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was also nominated that year. I guess the Academy missed the entire hour in which 2 hobbits were riding around on talking trees.
Crash should never have been nominated yet it beat out Brokeback Mountain in 2005.
And Chariots of Fire over Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981? Ok, so maybe I'm cheating on this one because I've never actually seen Chariots, but I had to throw it in there because Raiders is another binkie of mine.
The farthest I will go back is to 1975; I'm sorry but Jaws should have beat out One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Driving Miss Daisy, which rivals The English Patient in bore factor (although I did make it all the way through DMD), beat out Field of Dreams, Dead Poet's Society AND Born on the Fourth of July in 1989????
Forrest Gump, although a great movie, should not have beat out Pulp Fiction OR Shawshank Redemption in 1994. Seriously, have you ever watched Gump a 2nd time all the way through? No. But you've definitely seen Pulp Fiction at least 5 times (I saw it twice in the theater) and you definitely stop to watch Shawshank every time you stumble across it when you're flipping through the channels on a random weeknight.
I think I've made my point.
1 comment:
so Lucas finally got to make (or a least approve of) a whole Star Wars movie after his love for CGI... looks sortof fun though
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