Looking back over the previous Oscar winners for Best Picture since 2000, the start of a new century (and a new millennium), I find myself wondering sometimes what the hell the Academy was thinking. It’s no secret I disagree with the Academy a lot, but I can also admit that when they get it right, they get it right.
But since 2000, their Best Pic choices have run the gamut from incredibly ridiculous, “Gladiator” and “A Beautiful Mind” being just goofy, to bang on, with “The Departed” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” I am told the Academy is moving in a more progressive direction, willing to take more risks, and I suppose some of these winners do just that. But they could have gone further.
Year by year, here’s a quick look, with some thoughts about who might have won, and who should have at least been nominated…
2000: “Gladiator”
A shock to me when Steven Soderbergh had already won Best Director for “Traffic” earlier in the evening and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” won so many other awards. For me, the film of the year was “Requiem for a Dream,” but of the nominated films, “Traffic” was the best. I was also a huge fan of “Cast Away,” “Almost Famous,” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
2001: “A Beautiful Mind”
Though Ron Howard should have won Best Picture and Best Director for “Apollo 13” six years prioer, did the Academy have to make it up to him with “A Beauitful Mind?” Sure, Russell Crowe is terrific (when is he not?) but really, best of the year? Over “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” or the non-nominated “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence” and “The Royal Tanenbaums?”
2002: “Chicago”
One of the most problematic years for me. While “Chicago” was superbly directed and edited, I do not feel for a moment it should have won Best Pic. But I cannot for the life of me decide what, of the nominees, should have. “Gangs of New York” has its moments, most of them with Daniel Day-Lewis, and “The Pianist” is undoubtedly powerful, along with “About Schmidt” (which wasn’t in the mix). For me, “Far from Heaven” was among the best of the year, and I loved both of Steven Spielbergs offerings: “Minority Report” and “Catch Me If You Can.” However, my #1 film that year was the Canadian masterpiece “Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner,” an Innuit film that is simply one of the most extraordinary, surreal film experiences you will ever have.
2003: “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”
No argument from me on this year’s victor. I loved the trilogy. “Lost in Translation” would have also been a worthy winner along with “Mystic River” and the Canadian film, which won the foreign language film Oscar, “The Barbarian Invasions.”
2004: “Million Dollar Baby”
I admired “Million Dollar Baby” very much, as well as Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” but there is a special place in my heart for “Sideways,” the finest American comedy since “Tootsie.” Ditto “The Passion of the Christ,” which was criminally under-appreciated by the Academy. Mel Gibson deserved the Best Director honor in 2004 for his harrowing work.
2005: “Crash”
I liked “Crash,” but I cannot believe it won Best Picture over “Brokeback Mountain.” Nor can I believe that “King Kong” was not nominated.
2006: “The Departed”
Again, no argument. The best film of the year…period.
2007: “No Country for Old Men”
While I admire the work of the Coens very much, I did not think “No Country for Old Men” was superior to “There Will Be Blood,” which is simply one of the finest films ever made. And to not even nominate “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford?” Wow.
There you go, a fast trip through the new millennium so far. What are your picks for the best of the last eight years?
Comments
98 responses to “The new millennium Oscars?”
John, we agree 100% about Sideways. I re-watch the movie probably once a year, and I’m still blown away by it. In the realm of best supporting actor performances, I maintain that Thomas Haden Church belongs in any discussion, even if he’s a bit behind the traditional folk … like Ledger.
I like your choices. Lost in Translation and Sideways are superb films, and they will be talked about much longer than the likes of A Beautiful Mind and Chicago.
And we agree 100 percent on 2007. There Will Be Blood was the best of the nominated, but the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was the best of the year.
Scratch that, The Passion of the Christ? It was pornography.
The Academy has always had conservative tastes, and loves the old heartstrings being tugged.
A Beautiful Mind, Finding Neverland, Crash, Cider House Rules, Good Will Hunting, Life is Beautiful. They all have a shallow, manipulative touch that appeals to AMPAS. Now and again they will give a nod to some breathtaking piece of cinema that is destined to become a classic (There Will Be Blood, Brokeback, Lost in Translation), but they tend to go with the easily accessible fare. Why else would Slumdog be the odds on favourite?
Traffic, Moulin Rouge!, Lost in Translation, Brokeback Mountain and There Will Be Blood are the only great movies to get nominated this decade.
The fact that you think A.I. should have been nominated makes all your opinions null and void to me. :p
Brokeback Mountain should have won instead of Crash. Without a doubt.
I agree about 2007. I don’t understand why Jesse James wasn’t nominated. ESPECIALLY the score! That is one of the best scores I’ve heard in any movie this decade. Movie got snubbed in lots of ways. I also thought it deserved to win best cinematography.
I also find There Will Be Blood better than No Country For Old Men.
I can’t complain about Million Dollar Baby winning in 2004, I loved that movie, but my second pick would have been Sideways. I love them both and were my two favorites of that year.
And, as most people tend to agree on, Brokeback Mountain should have won in 2005, not Crash. And I liked Crash, but it didn’t deserve to win.
I was upset when “King Kong” wasn’t nominated (same for Naomi Watts), but I still think that the right movie won. I know I’m in the minority by saying that “Crash” was the best picture of 2005, but it’s a statement that I stand by firmly.
There’s no way Gladiator should have won over Traffic.
I believe the Fellowship of the Rings was the best of the Lord of the Rings movies and is better than A Beautiful Mind.
Chicago is another undeserving movie. Some people don’t like Gangs of New York because of the violence but I still think it was the best film of 2002
There was no stopping Return of the King in 2003 but I would have chosen Lost in Translation, and especially Mystic River over it.
The Aviator was my favorite film of 2004 but I too believe a win for Sideways would have been escellent.
Brokeback Mountain will never be forgotten and is one of the best films made, and therefore there is no reason Crash should ever have won.
There Will Be Blood was ambitious and genious. Iconic and depressing. It was the best film of 2007 and along with Brokeback Mountain it will never be forgotten. It is the ultimate character study with beautiful cinematography and score.
2007: was a tricky year. Many great movies were made. My favorite films of that year were.
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
The Bourn Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
The Darjeeling Limited
I forgot to mention 2006. The academy got it right that year. The Departed was the easily the best movie of the year. It would be a tragedy if babel had one.
2000-Replace Chocolat with Requiem for a Dream and make Requiem or Traffic the winner.
2001-Memento, Amelie, The Royal Tenebaums and Mullholand Dr. all have an argument for a nomination but the Best Picture 5 was pretty good this year with the exception of the winner choice which should have went to Fellowship of the Ring or Moulin Rouge.
2002-Replace The Hours with Catch me if you can (horribly underrated), Adaptation, or Far From Heaven and make The Pianist the winner.
2003-City of God should have been nominated instead of Seabiscuit or Master and Comander but the award was ROTK’s all the way.
2004-Give the win to Sideways and replace Ray and Finding Neverland with Hotel Rwanda, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Incredibles, Kill Bill Volume 2 or even Collateral… any of them would have been better choices then Ray or Finding Neverland
2005- Brokeback Mountain, Goodnight and Good Luck, King Kong, Syriana, A History of Violence should have been the 5 and brokeback should have taken it home.
2006- The Departed was a deserving winner and should have been nominated with…
-Pan’s Labyrinth
-Children of Men
-Little Miss Sunshine
-The Queen
2007- There will be blood, there will be blood, there will be blood, i still can’t see how it didnt win. Oh well. All five that were nominated deserved it but there was a lot of other good choices as well, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Once, Ratatouille, 3:10 to Yuma, Into the Wild, The Assasination of Jesse James…this may have been the best year of the the decade.
2008- Here’s my opinion…
-The Dark Knight (Winner)
-Wall-E
-The Wrestler
-Slumdog Millionaire
-Let the Right One In
I find I completely disagree with everything John Foote says.
2000
He thinks Gladiator “goofy.” I love it (although Traffic is 10/10 A+ stuff as well. I am also a huge fan of Cast Away and You Can Count on Me deserved a mention.
2001
A Beautiful Mind is the worst Best Picture winner I have ever seen so I agree it should have won, but to claim Apollo 13 is good??? It’s woeful. Gosford Park of the nominees was lightyears ahead of the others, although I liked In the Bedroom and Mulin Rouge.
2002
Fine with Chicago winning although I’m a Road to Perdition man.
2003
I have serious concerns over anyone who likes anything Peter Jackson has ever directed. Lord of the Rings is simply unbearable – so much so that I hated the first, was suicidal after the second and the very thought of watching the third made me so ill I didn’t go through with it. I take it Foote is Canadian since he keeps mentioning rather underwhelming Canadian films that belong nowhere near a Best Picture line up (although Invasions is pretty good I guess)
2004
Rubbish line up but I like Sideways.
2005
King Kong? Ha! Awful film. Crash was just okay – Brokeback was better. Downfall was the best of the year though by a distance.
2006
The Departed wasn’t even in my top 20. HUGE plot holes that I can’t believe people forgave. Where did Mark Wahlberg’s character disappear to? Awful change from the original.
2007
No Country was amazing. Except those last 20 minutes or so. But still amazing.
With the years I changed my mind, and I really think that Crash is in fact a better movie then BB.
what about “road to perdition”? one of the most underappreciated movies ever!
last year “jesse james” and “zodiac” were better than “juno” and “clayton” but i think it is the awful promotions they got to blame, “jesse james” was the best movie of the year.
in case of crash, i think “munich” was the best movie of the year, although i know it’s not a popular idea.
Crash winning was the biggest catastrophe in Oscars history. Just rediculous.
There Will Be Blood was good but not anywhere near as good as No Country.
Mystic River should’ve won but as Eastwood said “It got Hobbit-ized”.
i think this decade has been very strange. started with some odd selections and now it appears to be as legitimate and accurate as ever (with notable exceptions). in 2000 I can’t believe Almost Famous and O Brother were ignored so harshly. I wouldn’t expect American Psycho, my #3 of 2000, to have gained any attraction because of its “content” but its really disheartening that people couldn’t look past the violence etc to at least recognize Bale’s performance. I think its the best of the decade and will go down will the best ever, De Niro’s Taxi Driver and Brando’s On the Waterfront. The Royal Tenenbaums is actually in my top 5 favorite films ever so you know I wish it could have pulled in all kinds of awards. Hackman’s snub was unforgivable. I believe it to be his best performance. in 2004 I think The Incredibes was the best film and actually think it fits in my top 5 of the decade. it works on so many levels for me that I don’t quite understand others’ criticisms of it. so if you weren’t a fan of it I really would like an explanation. I find it funny that even in years in which the academy did quite well they still felt the need to add in some lame-o picks. the BP lineup in 2006 featured my #2 film of the decade, The Departed, as well as 2 great films, Little Miss Sunshine and Letters From Iwo Jima, possibly Clint’s best work. But did anyone really love The Queen or did everyone just respect it? I thought it was a smart script and well acted but ultimately forgettable. and Babel was just ridiculous IMO. preachy uselessness that we can award to try to seem artistic. I loved Juno and No Country last year, so on the whole I was happy with the results, but its a true shame that Jesse James got no traction. film of the year for sure. it shouldve had nominations in 10 or so categories
2000
Of the films nominated I would give it to ‘Traffic,’ though I can’t believe that ‘Almost Famous’ got snubbed. ‘Gladiator’ deserves zilch.
2001
One of the weakest group of Best Picture Nominations ever. I would have loved to seen ‘Royal Tenenbaums’ get in or ‘Spirited Away,’ ‘Amelie,’ ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ or ‘Monsters Inc’…*sigh* Of the nominess ‘Lord of the Rings’ should have won.
2002
‘Gangs of New York’ hands down.
2003
‘City of God’ should have been nominated/won. I would have been happy with ‘Lost in Translation’ or (if nominated) ’21 Grams.’
2004
‘Eternal Sunshine’ or ‘The Incredibles.’ But since neither was nominated I’ll say ‘Sideways’
2005
‘Brokeback Mountain’ should have trumped ‘Crash’ big time. I would loved to have seen ‘The Proposition’ or ‘The Squid and the Whale’ get in.
2006
‘Children of Men’ or ‘Half Nelson,’ though I’m pleased that ‘The Departed’ won.
2007
I’m happy with ‘No Country For Old Men,’ but ‘There Will Be Blood’ should have won over it. My vote for best picture of the year would be the wonderful documentary ‘King of Kong.’
@ AdamL – I to like Gladiator (i think you were saying you did) and I think A Beautiful Mind was horrible. Crowe’s worst work imo. I think Ron Howard is a middling director but who i actually like a lot. Apollo 13 was very good, his best, but I happen to think 95 was an excellent year and Howard and the film wouldn’t quite make my ballot
2003? Easy. In America will stand the test of time and become a modern classic.
I completely agree with you on last year, John. There Will Be Blood is one of the best films I’ve ever seen, absolutely incredible, and it definetly should have taken Best Picture. PTA should have won best director as well. What a shame.
2004 Eternal Sunshine should have won. Once again, that’s an extraordinary film. And 2006 Children of Men was hands down my favorite film.
My personal favorites among the nominees:
2000 -Traffic
2001 – The Fellowship of the Ring (I haven’t seen In the Bedroom)
2002 – The Two Towers
2003 – Master and Commander
2004 – Ray
2005 – Munich
2006 – The Departed
2007 – Michael Clayton
As you can see, I wouldn’t have picked the winner very often.
My pics for best movies that weren’t nominated:
2000 – Almost Famous
2001 – Spirited Away, Amelie
2002 – About Schmidt, Adaptation, Minority Report
2003 – City of God
2004 – Shaolin Soccer, Collateral
2005 – King Kong, Match Point, Kung Fu Hustle, A History of Violence, Walk the Line
2006 – Thank You For Smoking, Dreamgirls
2007 – The Bourne Ultimatum, Ratatouille, The Assassination…, Superbad
Oh yeah, and Eternal Sunshine in 2004
AdamL — cheap shots man — yep I am Canadian (and proud of it) — have you seen any of the Canadian films I champion because without seeing them your credibility is zippo dude — see them then bitch at me, but without seeing them, you have no base for argument — and to attack me for being Canadian??? Wow, my friend, wow…a new low.
Over the years there has always been mistakes
and surprises that’s why i’m hoping they don’t make the mistake of leaving The Dark Knight out
of the top 5 and surprise us with it winning Best
Picture – which it clearly was for 2008. If the
Academy wants to move on then a realistic
comic-book adaption will get it’s just rewards,
if not now when?
Chicago over Gangs Of NY? no way, Scorsese
created a period class and Day-Lewis should
have won Best Actor.
Bad snubs for Chris Nolan have included
Batman Begins in 2005 and The Prestige in
2006, two great films that deserved so
much more so hopefully this time will be better
to Chris – solid director and great storyteller.
I personally think that The Lord of the Rings trilogy should have had three Best Picture wins in a row, but I can sort of see the logic in waiting until the last film to reward the trilogy essentially as a whole with 11 Oscars. At the time, I preferred No Country for Old Men to There Will Be Blood, but now I seem to have shifted in the opposite direction. I think Sweeney Todd should have been nominated last year and was criminally unrecognized, especially in terms of at least a Best Director nod for Tim Burton. 2004 was problematic for me because I didn’t really love anything that year besides Collateral. Brokeback Mountain should have won. Crash was garbage. Other than that, you bring up good points. Let’s just hope that the Academy gets it right this year and at least nominates The Dark Knight.
The best Best Picture winner this century is Million Dollar Baby. It is really heartening to see that the Academy awarded that unheralded film the way it did. In recent years Eastwood’s opinion has probably gone down as an Oscar sucker but that film stands as 1 of the finest achievements of cinema in recent times.
2000 One of the 2 or 3 worst Oscar winners in history. You can barely believe that the Academy did not do a double take even after nominating it but went the whole way and actually awarded it.
2001 Probably Fellowship or Amelie but Best Director would go to Mulholland Dr. & if not Memento.
2002 Adaptation. One of the most brilliant screenplays I have ever seen. I like Chicago a lot and it is truly a dazzling movie but probably not Best Pic winner but a very creditable nominee.
2003 Return Of the King while a very good movie was lesser than the first part but still a very good winner. Lost In Translation & Mystic River probably deserved it too. Though I most certainly wouldn’t have given Peter Jackson Best Director.
2004 Million Dollar Baby – my vote. Or Eternal Sunshine.
2005 Brokeback Mountain
2006 Letters From Iwo Jima – my vote. Or The Queen. I would not even nominate The Departed though its a good film.
2007 Zodiac – my vote. Or There Will Be Blood. Or I’m Not There. Or 4 Months. Or Ratatouille. Though No Country is an excellent winner and is the 2nd best Best picture winner this century after Million Dollar Baby.
2008 Wall-E – no contest. Or Milk. I would not even think about nominating Slumdog or Frost/Nixon or Doubt or Benjamin Button.
In the Bedroom!!!
Favourites among the nominees/ should have won:
2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2001: The Lord of the Rings/ Amelie
2002: The Pianist/ City of God
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Sideways/ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Brokeback Mountain/ Match Point
2006: Little Miss Sunshine
2007: Atonement
Films I would have nominated:
2000: Crouching Tiger, Almost Famous, In the Mood for Love, In July (Fatih Akin), Together (Lukas Moodysson)
2001: Amelie, LOTR, Royal Tenenbaums, Gosford Park, No Man’s Land
2002: City of God, Talk to Her, Punch-Drunk Love, The Pianist, Spider-Man
2003: LiT, ROTK, Elephant, Goodbye Lenin, Finding Nemo
2004: Eternal Sunshine, Head On, Sideways, 2046, Spider-Man 2
2005: Match Point, Brokeback Mountain, The Squid and the Whale, Pride & Prejudice, Capote
2006: LMS, Little Children, Children of Men, The Departed, Volver
2007: Atonement, There Will Be Blood, Jesse James, Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Zodiac
I’m glad NCFOM won last year…to me, it was the first time this decade that they picked the correct film. I like, and own, TWWB, but felt it lost its way a bit once the False Prophet took center stage; I find the quiet first half much more engrossing, and that Dano’s character was a caricature, which is only really effective in satire, not psychological drama. As it stands, he was a straw man…not very interesting. Day-Lewis was great, though.
As for previous years, I would’ve chosen Almost Famous or Crouching Tiger in 2000, Memento or Amelie in 2001, I can’t even remember in 2002, Lost In Translation in 2003 (though I’m fine with Jackson being rewarded for his ambitious trilogy), Eternal Sunshine or The Incredibles (though Sideways was strong) in 2004, (of the choices) Brokeback Mountain in 2005, Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006 (though I’m fine with Marty finally winning), and my faves in 2007 were the previously mentioned No Country For Old Men, and Ratatouille.
This year, I’d rather see TDK, WALL-E, or The Wrestler win, but I’d be OK with Milk or Slumdog. Hey, the latter has some scale and makes people awfully happy, so why be a grinch about it? It’s better than having Oscar bait like The Reader win.
Borat should have been nominated.
I agree with almost everything you say especially about King Kong. It was spectacular.
“I’m glad NCFOM won last year…to me, it was the first time this decade that they picked the correct film. I like, and own, TWWB, but felt it lost its way a bit once the False Prophet took center stage; I find the quiet first half much more engrossing, and that Dano’s character was a caricature, which is only really effective in satire, not psychological drama. As it stands, he was a straw man…not very interesting. Day-Lewis was great, though.”
Yeah, No Country is probably my favorite movie of all the films that have won best picture. As for TWBB, the problem I have with the movie is Plainview’s character. Don’t get me wrong, the acting was great, along with all the technical aspects, but the way they had Plainview open up and explain why he is the way he is was ridiculously bad. Loved Dano’s character and acting, though. Definitely doesn’t deserve to be mentioned along with NCFOM, as well as Jesse James imo.
OK: City of God or Talk To Her in 2002.
What should have won (of the nominees) each year, with the actual best film of the year in brackets:
2000: Traffic (Amores Perros)
2001: Moulin Rouge! (Moulin Rouge!)
2002: Gangs of New York (Talk to Her)
2003: Lost in Translation (Kill Bill Vol. 1)
2004: The Aviator (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
2005: Brokeback Mountain (Caché)
2006: The Departed (The Departed)
2007: There Will Be Blood (This is England)
As for 2008, unless “WALL-E” or “The Wrestler” surprise, I’d say “Slumdog” looks to be the best of Best Pic nominees — not that that’s saying much. “The Class” remains my film of the year.
That’s interesting, Troy. I could see some folks being turned off by Plainview simply because he’s a misanthrope, but it seems you were fine with that, until they bothered to explain his reasoning. With regards to Dano’s character (Eli, right?), the actor certainly went for it…I just felt like they positioned this phony religious figure as a foil/parallel to Plainview, and didn’t know what to do with him aside from point out that he’s a fraud, which we knew right from the get-go. Being an atheist, it should be noted, I’m certainly not bothered by any film that has anti-religious elements. But, as I said, I preferred the film when it was in “silent film” mode.
2000 – Traffic
2001 – LOTR
2002 – The Pianist
2003 – LOTR
2004 – Finding Neverland
2005 – Brokeback Mountain
2006 – The Departed
2007 – There Will Be Blood
I believe that 2001 win was tottaly unfair… Just Because a movie does not necessarly gives you a final end, it still is and End, and a hell of an End!! Obviously The Fellowship of The Ring Should Have Won!! Not Wait until the Third to do it… Even if ROTK was the Greatest movie, Fellowship is the one that will Endure in Cinema History! It’s a Gorgeous Epic… I loved Crash, but i’m with you all on that… Brockeback was Riskier and Greater…
2000- Traffic
2001- A Beautiful Mind- I don’t care what anyone else says, this was the best movie in a really weak year. I’m not a LOTRs fan though, I did like the love you showed to A.I. though. AI was easily good enough to be nominated in this awful year.
2002-Chicago
2003-Lost in Translation-One of my all time favorites
2004-The Aviator
2005-Match Point, but I would have been fine with anything except Crash
2006-The Departed
2007-Juno
2000-Requiem for a Dream. Out of the nominess: Gladiator was clearly superior to the rest, sorry. the word overrated suits perfectly to all other 4 contenders, specially Chocolat and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which can only dream of reaching the quality of Zhang Yimou’s “Hero”.
2001 – Mulholland Drive. Out of the Nominees: almost a tie between Gosford Park, Fellowship of the Ring and Moulin Rouge!. A Beautiful Mind is simply one of the most embarrassing winners I can think of.
2002 – Bowling For Columbine. Out of the nominees, they did pick the right one, Chicago. The Pianist was also truly deserving, and Gangs of New York wouldn’t have been bad either.
2003 – Return of the King, they picked the right one. Lost in Translation was awesome too, and I missed Elephant on the top 5.
2004 – Hero – the year that was ellegible for Best Picture. One of the most beautiful and fascinating films I’ve ever seen. Million Dollar Baby was a wrong, wrong pick. The last 20 minutes were simply frustrating and outrageous… Out of the nominees, The Aviator was a Masterpiece.
2005 – Brokeback Mountain. Full Stop.
2006 – United 93. The Departed was great but also The Queen or Little Miss Sunshine were totally deserving of the win. Borat was totally missed out on the quintet, too.
2007 – No Country For Old Men. As in 2003, they did the right thing.
2008 – The Dark Knight seems to be in good position for not only the nom but winning – it’s my bet. Totally and criminally left out: Let The Right One In.
By the way, Kris… Apollo 13 was great and certainly deserving noms for Picture and Director… but on 1995 the films that were total masterpieces, of the ones in the Oscar race were Babe and Se7en. ;)
You know, just for the record.
My favorites of the nominees:
2000: Crouching Tiger
2001: In the Bedroom
2002: The Pianist
2003: Lost in Translation
2005: Sideways
2006: Brokeback Mountain
2007: The Departed
2008: Michael Clayton
Spot on with The Passion of the Christ. Criminally overlooked, IMO, and should have at the very least won the Best Makeup award over Lemony Snicket (for goodness sakes, at one point Jim Caviezel had REAL blood on him!) It was a powerful film that was made to polarize an audience (hence it’s middling RT reviews), when a movie stirs the pot like TPotC, then it should be given serious consideration.
My favorite movie of that year, though, had to have been Hotel Rwanda. Definitely a powerful film that deserved more than a couple (albeit thoroughly deserving) acting nods.
Minority Report? YES.
I think “Pan’s Labyrinth” was better than “The Departed,” actually.
Agree with “Assassination of Jesse James…” and “Brokeback,” but I think “Crouching Tiger…” was better than “Traffic.”
Completely and utterly agree with There Will Be Blood!
What should have won (of the nominees) each year, with the actual best film of the year in brackets:
2000 – Gladiator (Gladiator)
2001 – Moulin Rouge! (Moulin Rouge!)
2002 – Chicago (Chicago)
2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
2004 – The Aviator (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
2005 – Crash (Walk the Line)
2006 – The Departed (Little Miss Sunshine)
2007 – There Will Be Blood (There Will Be Blood)
2008 – Slumdog Millionaire* (The Dark Knight)
*Slumdog Millionaire is pretty much locked in as a nomination anyway
Children of Men was the best film of the year 2006 in my opinion. That film was fracking amazing.
I didn’t see Atanuarjat. I wanted to, and I get it from my library a lot but always fail to watch it. That director’s next film, Journals of Knud Rasmussen or something, premiered the Edmonton Film Festival in Alberta a couple years ago. I missed that too. It’s a pretty crap festival though. We in Edmonton are a small film community.
Children of Men is the best movie of the decade, in my opinion, and probably ten times more solid of a movie than The Departed. Somebody else mentioned the innumerable plot holes from The Departed… it’s impossible to overlook them, and the fact that the film won an oscar for it’s horrendous Editing when a masterpiece like Children of Men was also nominated is just awful. giving Scorsese the Oscar for it is justifiable, though it’s in no way his best work (not even of the decade) but Best Picture?
Who should have won of the nominees (best movie of the year):
2000- Traffic (Almost Famous)
2001- Fellowship of the Ring (Fellowship of the Ring)
2002- The Hours (The Hours)
2003- Mystic River (Mystic River)
2004- Sideways (Sideways)
2005- Brokeback Mountain (Brokeback Mountain)
2006- The Departed (United 93)
2007- There Will Be Blood (There Will Be Blood)
United 93, Zodiac and A.I. are the biggest snubs the Academy has made this century.
One other film that was eligible but not completely seen was the Kingdom of Heaven Director’s Cut. I love Ridley Scott, this was better than Gladiator. Visually stunning, one of the best scores of the decade and simply a great and truly riveting film. Anyone else like that film too?