Cinema Science

Richard Corliss over at Time Magazine has gone back and reevaluated the 1998 Academy Awards. While he makes some convincing arguments I don't agree with all of his choices. It's hard to argue against Titanic winning best picture, that wasn't simply a movie, it was a phenomenon. It wasn't my favorite movie that year but I think it definitely deserved that award. How could you not reward it for the massive success that it was? I remember trying to see it about six weeks after its release and it still being sold out of all shows that night. Below are my revisionist Oscar's (my pick for winners are in bold) for that year, go over here to see Corliss' picks.

BEST ACTOR
Jack Nicholson: As Good As It Gets (Oscar winner)
Matt Damon: Good Will Hunting
Robert Duvall: The Apostle
Peter Fonda: Ulee's Gold
Dustin Hoffman: Wag the Dog

Duvall's performance is one of my favorite of all time. He throws himself head first into this movie and never looks back until the very last credit has appeared onscreen. It's hard to go against Jack, since he is one of my favorites but Duvall reaches another level that is just above all the other actors.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robin Williams: Good Will Hunting (Oscar winner)
Robert Forster: Jackie Brown
Anthony Hopkins: Amistad
Greg Kinnear: As Good as It Gets
Burt Reynolds: Boogie Nights

All of these performances are good and I am a big fan of Robin Williams' work in Good Will Hunting but Reynolds probably deserves it more. As the matriarch of a dysfunctional family he holds the entire film together and it about the only one in the film that can see the whole picture, not just what is in front of their eyes.

BEST ACTRESS
Helen Hunt: As Good as It Gets (Oscar winner)
Helena Bonham Carter: The Wings of the Dove
Julie Christie: Afterglow
Judi Dench: Mrs. Brown
Kate Winslet: Titanic

I'm agreeing with Oscar here, for no other reason than I haven't seen two of these performances and I can't really remember Julie Christie in Afterglow. Not because she was bad but because I think the last time I saw that movie was about 8 years ago.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kim Basinger: L.A. Confidential (Oscar winner)
Joan Cusack: In & Out
Minnie Driver: Good Will Hunting
Julianne Moore: Boogie Nights
Gloria Stuart: Titanic

There is one moment I absolutely love from Good Will Hunting. It is when Minnie Driver and Matt Damon are laying in bed and she tells him she says "I can be in the NBA. I'm tall, I like to wear shorts. Hook! Hook! Dunk! Dunk! Baby, I'm all about three points." That isn't enough to get my vote though. I think I am going with Moore here because that is my favorite film out of the five nominees.

BEST PICTURE
Titanic (Oscar winner)
As Good as It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential

Like I said above, Titanic is not my favorite movie of this year (Hell, it is fourth out of just those five nominees) but it is hard to not vote for it when it accomplished so much and was such an enormous hit. When you go back and watch it, its really a great film. Sure there is the clunky dialogue and simple story but those final minutes as the ship is sinking into the ocean more than make up for any shortcomings. The film also has the absolute perfect ending for this story.