In Contention

Tag: Albert Finney

  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: 1959 and 1960

    Catch up with the idea behind this series here.

    The epics kept rolling at the turn of the decade with “Ben-Hur” taking the 1959 Best Picture prize, picking up a record 11 wins in the process, yet to be eclipsed but matched twice by “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”

    That year also saw “Pillow Talk” walk away with the Best Screenplay award under the nose of Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” and Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries.” Painfully embarrassing, the Academy almost pulled the exact same stunt in 2002 with “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” competing against “Talk to Her” and “Y tu Mama Tambien.” Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed that time.

    “The Apartment” started the swinging 60’s off on a winning note, and remains one of the Academy’s most atypical Best Picture winners. The decade’s winners would be almost evenly split amongst epics, musicals and socially conscious drama, making Wilder’s light hearted comedy stick out like a sore thumb.

    As for this column, we’ve hit an unwelcome first. No eligible film I’ve seen from 1959 has really wowed me in a way that usually merits inclusion. It’s especially frustrating since 1960 has no less than seven Oscar ignored masterpieces giving me a veritable Sophie’s choice on that front.

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  • The Great Performances: 2003

    Sean Penn in Mystic RiverThere is little doubt in my mind I am going to take some heat this week, so let’s kick it off right away with my belief that Sean Penn deserved his Best Actor Oscar for “Mystic River,” a performance of overwhelming ferocity and staggering emotional power.

    Yes, I too loved Bill Murray in “Lost in Translation,” and would have loved to have seen him win, but he didn’t, and frankly he lost to a stronger performance (in my opinion). I know it is a cliche to say the nomination is the reward, but I would hope that Murray would be happy with that.

    But there were so many great male performances in 2003!

    Robert Duvall was superb in “Open Range” as the wily old rancher who ends up in a gunfight for his life with his friend, played by the also fantastic Kevin Costner, by his side. Tom Cruise gave a great performance in “The Last Samurai” for director Edward Zwick, while Russell Crowe was again brilliant in “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” adding to his string of stunning performances.

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  • The Great Performances: 2000

    Tom Hanks in Cast AwayMichael Douglas was robbed.

    The already Oscar-christened actor gave a career-best performance in 2000 in Curtis Hanson’s “Wonder Boys,” but he got no love from the Academy. Worse, his performance was easily among the five best of the year and won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actor prize.

    That having been said, I don’t think Douglas actually deserved the Oscar in 2000.  That honor belonged to Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” for a performance that was nothing less than astounding. For two and a half hours Hanks commands the screeen, moving into silent film territory for a stretch, the actor using strictly his body and face for the performance. Anyone who has ever, and I mean ever, doubted his range needs to take a hard look at this film.

    The five nominees for Best Actor in 2000 were Hanks, Russell Crowe for “Gladiator,” Ed Harris in “Pollock,” Geoffrey Rush in “Quills” and Javier Bardem in “Before Night Falls.” For me, Douglas was the most glaring omission, followed by George Clooney’s Gable-esque work in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” which I think remains one of the actor’s very best pieces of work.

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