In Contention

Tag: Cast Away

  • THE LISTS: Top 10 highest grossing films of the decade derived from original material

    Russell Crowe in GladiatorBehold! I give to you the very first edition of The Lists to be based on fact and not opinion — unless you count box office data as the ultimate opinion of the masses.

    The decade is drawing to a close and unless something miraculous happens, the top 10 highest grossing films of the aughts is probably set in stone. At first I thought that would be a fun list to compile, but it turns out to be extremely boring and exactly what you’d expect it to be. If ever there was a doubt that this decade would be defined by anything but franchises, then let me put it to rest here. Number of sequels in the top 10 highest grossing movies of the 1990s: 1. Number of sequels in the top 10 highest grossing movies of the 2000s: 7.

    Audiences have overwhelmingly turned against original product in favor of something, anything with some sort of pre-existing source material, and it has happened over the last 10 years. Of course, I think audiences have always depended on something familiar to get them into the multiplex.  It used to be the reputation of an actor or director that provided that comfort. Now, star power is a thing of the past and brand recognition is the wave of the future. Of course, there are always a few exceptions to the rules, and so I’ve compiled this list to celebrate some of the films that were able to permeate the public consciousness and earn the right to be called a blockbuster the hard way: by being original (relatively speaking).

    First, some caveats. A film like “The Passion of the Christ” is technically an original screenplay but obviously is based on stories from the Bible and carries an enormous built-in “fanbase,” so it was not considered for this list. I also decided to exclude animated films because if I didn’t, 50% of the list would be dominated by Pixar titles and that’s no fun either. In the interest of fairness, though, I will post the top 10 including animated films in the comments section.

    One final note. If I did a similar chart for the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the number one film would also actually be the highest grossing film of the decade. For the 2000s, the number one film on this chart is the 32nd highest grossing overall film.

    Oh, and all the numbers are adjusted to today’s figures, as always.

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  • The new millennium Oscars?

    Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingLooking 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…

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  • Best actor contenders join an eclectic list of recent winners

    Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Frank Langella seem to be the names bandied about for Oscar consideration this year, which would place them in some impressive company of nominees and winners these last 20 years. Of course, that said, there have also been some bizarre choices for the Best Actor award, which has often left me shaking my head in disgust and wondering what these voters were actually seeing.

    Since 1988, there have been 10 winners that perhaps should not have been, the award arguably deserved by another of the nominees, or worse, an actor not nominated! Consider Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man,” a widely acclaimed performance that asked that he not connect with anyone in the film, never make eye contact, rock back and forth and speak in a nasally voice.

    Stop what you are doing right now and try what he did in the film, and trust me it is very easy to do. Now do you deserve an Oscar for doing what Hoffman did in that film? The real perfortmance in “Rain Man” was that of Tom Cruise, who we watched evolve over the course of the film, and of course the best performance of that year was Gene Hackman as the tough investigator in “Mississippi Burning.” Hackman was nominated, but he stood no chance in the wake of the juggernaut of support for Hoffman, who in fact should have won years before for his miraculous work in “Tootsie!”

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