ACADEMY AWARDS REVISIONIST HISTORY: Fixing the Best Picture Winners of the 2000s

With the first Academy Awards of the new decade just a few days away it seems like the right time to look back at the last decade’s Best Picture winners with a little bit of revisionist history in mind. We all know the Academy doesn’t get it right all the time, and once in a while a film will be passed over for a different one with the right amount of momentum and political lobbying in its corner. Time is the great equalizer, however, and we can revisit nominees and consider them in a different, more balanced light. Of course, some of these corrections you see here are simply personal choices. The year I have listed next to the Awards presentation represents the year in film, not the year the show was broadcast…

2000: 73RD ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: Chocolat * Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon * Erin Brockovich * Traffic / Gladiator

I still think the Academy got the right winner this year. At the time I had stronger feelings for Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. While it is still a good film, time has aged it a bit and it feels over produced at times. Gladiator is a rousing epic film, a perfect film for the Academy to honor, and it still holds up as a robust action adventure with some truly marvelous performances. And I cannot believe Chocolat was nominated for Best Picture. WINNER: GLADIATOR

2001: 74TH ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: Gosford Park * In the Bedroom * Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring * Moulin Rouge! / A Beautiful Mind

A Beautiful Mind has aged like milk, and looks from this distance like pure Oscar bait. Having seen this film again a few months ago I had not any of the same feelings I had back in 2001. The whole endeavor feels manufactured and manipulated to get Ron Howard his statue. Out of the remaining four I would have to give the nod to In the Bedroom, the intimate family drama. In the Bedroom is heavy and morose but one of the most compelling films of the decade, and it stands the test of time better than any other picture in this category. WINNER: IN THE BEDROOM

2002: 75TH ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: Gangs of New York * The Hours * The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers * The Pianist / Chicago

If you were to ask me which film should have won Best Picture over Rob Marshall’s adaptation of Chicago, I would have to say take your pick. In the lowest-rated Oscar telecast in history, one of the weakest films to ever win took home the big prize. Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese’s passion project Gangs of New York is shut out in ten categories. Not that it is Scorsese’s best work, but it is still a better film than Chicago. Other than Gangs, however, The Pianist might be the best film of the bunch. Roman Polanski’s World War II drama had already surprised everyone with Best Director and Actor wins, so I think a Best Picture nod would have completed the night. WINNER: THE PIANIST

2003: 76TH ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: Lost in Translation * Mystic River * Master and Commander * Seasbiscuit / The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

For three years, Peter Jackson and his team laid in wait for this night, when the cumulative effort of The Lord of the Rings would be rewarded with a Best Picture win. The rest of the nominees stood no chance on this night. And I understand it. I don’t agree with the winner here, but I understand the winner. I cannot for the life of me see why Master and Commander or Seabiscuit deserved nominations. But Lost in Translation is a fantastic film, and Mystic River is one of the best of the decade. Although Eastwood’s films have not stood the test of time for me, Mystic River is his best achievement as a director since Unforgiven in 1992. WINNER: MYSTIC RIVER

2004: 77TH ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: The Aviator * Finding Neverland * Ray * Sideways / Million Dollar Baby

This year has to win the award for fewest letters making up the nominees. Too bad the Academy went with the longest one. Million Dollar Baby feels trite and manipulative at this distance. The boxing picture screams overrated, and feels like a makeup award for Mystic River the year before. Ray and Finding Neverland have no business in the pool for me, and The Aviator is missing a few pieces to make it perfect. But Sideways, Alexander Payne’s endearing dramedy, will forever hold up in my opinion. WINNER: SIDEWAYS

2005: 78TH ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: Brokeback Mountain * Capote * Good Night, and Good Luck * Munich / Crash

For all of its posturing and progressive rhetoric, Hollywood still fears certain issues. This was to be the year that a film like Brokeback Mountain would break through a sort of invisible ceiling in Hollywood, where a picture about gay relationships would win the top prize. But alas, lobbying and pressure from the right people swayed enough voters, and Crash shocked the world with a win. Crash is not only one of the worst films to ever win Best Picture, but it is simply a poor film. It is heavy-handed and obvious, without nuance or any semblance of realism regarding race relations. This is one of the biggest misfires in Oscar history. WINNER: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

2006: 79TH ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: Babel * Letters from Iwo Jima * Little Miss Sunshine * The Queen / The Departed

This was Martin Scorsese’s year, finally, and say what you will about the merits of The Departed it was clearly the Best Picture out of the nominees. It may not be Scorsese’s best, but that ship sailed in 1980 with Raging Bull and again in 1990 with Goodfellas. If ever there was a makeup award that deserved to be handed out, it was this year. And to top it off, The Departed holds up as a great crime drama. WINNER: THE DEPARTED

2007: 80TH ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: Atonement * Michael Clayton * Juno * There Will Be Blood / No Country for Old Men

Even though this was another low-rated telecast for the Academy, 2007 was a fantastic year for quality films. Aside from Atonement, each of these pictures stands on its own as a fantastic film. I really have no issue with No Country winning the big award, but this is perhaps my most personal decision. In my opinion, There Will Be Blood will age better than No Country, and is one of three or four best American films ever made. WINNER: THERE WILL BE BLOOD

2008: 81ST ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button * Milk * The Reader * Frost/Nixon / Slumdog Millionaire

This was the beginning of what looks like a trend of screwing Christopher Nolan. The Dark Knight not even getting a nomination is criminal. Instead, the fifth and final nomination spot went to The Reader, one of the most drab and forgettable pieces of garbage I can remember being nominated. This year’s nominees were a scattered group, with none of them really registering as unforgettable aside from Danny Boyle’s kinetic, inventive drama Slumdog Millionaire. The Academy made the only choice they could make given the grouping. WINNER: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (THE DARK KNIGHT, really)

2009: 82ND ACADEMY AWARDS
NOMINEES/WINNER: Avatar * The Blind Side * District 9 * An Education * Inglourious Basterds * Precious * A Serious Man * Up * Up in the Air / The Hurt Locker

Last year the Academy returned to ten nominees for the first time in decades, and the result was a higher-rated telecast. This was their aim all along, and to that I hold no disregard. Sure, The Blind Side didn’t deserve a nomination in the grand scheme of things, but it was there to bring popularity to the proceeding and there is nothing wrong with that in my opinion. Avatar did not win, which is the real justice here. The Hurt Locker is a fine war film, the best one surrounding the conflict in the Middle East, but even a year later it feels less impactful. I wanted Inglourious Basterds to win all along. Tarantino’s World War II fantasy is marvelously written and a beautiful picture full of pure cinematic splendor. WINNER: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Let’s see what this year has in store, and if the Academy gets it right…