TrekBBS Academy Awards: #2 - Best Picture, 1989

[Star Treks]

Watching many of the Best Picture nominees from the past, I've found that often I disagree with the ultimate winner. Here's your chance to correct the mistakes of Oscars past - or agree with a good decision. Up next: Best Picture nominees for 1989.

Comments encouraged.

 

[Aragorn]

I voted for Born on the Fourth of July, but Do the Right Thing should've been nominated that year.

 

[BigFoot]

I voted for Born on the Fourth of July

Same here.

 

[Mistral]

Driving Miss Daisy. It was a good year but that movie and 4th of July were outstanding. Depends on whether you like sweet or dramatic. My Left Foot was ok, Do the Right Thing was good but Costner shouldn't have been there.

 

[Harvey]

Do The Right Thing, of course.

But, living with the Academy's ultimate stupidity/closeted racism, I'll choose Born on the Fourth of July. It's not Stone's greatest film, but I do think it is a good film, and features an excellent performance from Tom Cruise. And it sure beats the Academy's prefered depiction of race relations in Driving Miss Daisy, and the shallow sentimentality that overwhelms much of Dead Poets Society and Field of Dreams.

I must admit I haven't seen nor heard of My Left Foot.

 

[sidious618]

Born on the Fourth of July. It was overdone at points but the scene at his home where he loses it with his mother is heartbreaking.

 

[Yojimbo28]

I voted for My Left Foot, with an exceptional performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. Of all the films released in 1989 though, Glory was by far the best film in my book. I was glad that Denzel Washington won the Academy Award for it, but how it got overlooked for Best Picture stuns me.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Dead Poets Society; quite a strong group of nominees in general.

 

[Kira's Mom]

I loved Driving Miss Daisy.

Do the Right Thing and Henry V should have been nominated, though. 1989 was a pretty good year for movies!

Didn't Glory come out in 1988?

I completely forgot that Dead Poets Society was nominated. I think that's Peter Weir's third best film after Master and Commander and Witness.

 

[Star Treks]

I voted for My Left Foot, with an exceptional performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. Of all the films released in 1989 though, Glory was by far the best film in my book. I was glad that Denzel Washington won the Academy Award for it, but how it got overlooked for Best Picture stuns me.

I have to be honest - I liked Glory and Washington was good in it, but I thought it was overwrought. The music was manipulative and cheesy, the cinematography wasn't particularly good, the story was fine... I dunno, I guess for me this belongs in the "good... very good" category, but not all-time great movies. I think I would have voted for Do the Right Thing.

 

[Timby]

Didn't Glory come out in 1988?

Glory was 1989, and was therefore in contention for the 1990 awards.

 

[Neroon]

From the looks of things, this might just be one of the strongest collection of Best Picture nominees ever. And I actually saw all of them for once.

For me, it came down to Dead Poets Society and Field of Dreams. Both are magnificently made films with an excellent balance of humor and poignancy. In the end I went with "Field of Dreams", because of the sweetness of the overall story. If you feel it can be manipulative... alright I can see that. Doesn't matter to me even if I was "manipulated", because I like stories of healed relationships. And baseball - though it tends to think too much of itself at times - still represents the childhood time when life was free. When you weren't in school. When your time was your own.

 

[Smiley]

I like Dead Poets Society more than I like Driving Miss Daisy, but they are both excellent films.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

For comparison purposes, the top-ranked English language feature films of 1989 on IMDB are:

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (8.3)
Glory (8.1)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (8.0)
Henry V (7.9)
Dead Poets Society (7.8)
Do the Right Thing (7.8)
My Left Foot (7.8)
When Harry Met Sally... (7.7)
Batman (7.6)
Field of Dreams (7.6)
The Abyss (7.5)
Driving Miss Daisy (7.5)
Say Anything... (7.5)

Born on the Fourth of July scores a 7.1 (Stone, and the film, being politically polarizing probably drags the rating down somewhat).

Incidentally, Driving Miss Daisy is one of only three films to win Best Picture without being nominated for Best Director (the other two are Wings in 1927/1928 and Grand Hotel in 1931/1932).

Of the films nominated I think the strongest contenders were Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, and Field of Dreams (I agree that Do the Right Thing should have been nominated). I'll throw my vote to Field of Dreams.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I have a soft spot for Field of Dreams. I honestly think it's a damn good picture and I'm not even much of a baseball fan. I voted for it.

However, My Left Foot probably deserved it the most, IMO, even though I find it somewhat depressing.

 

[Othello]

Dead Poets Society. It was a brilliant move that didn't get near the attention it deserves.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (8.3)
Glory (8.1)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (8.0)
Henry V (7.9)
Dead Poets Society (7.8)
Do the Right Thing (7.8)
My Left Foot (7.8)
When Harry Met Sally... (7.7)
Batman (7.6)
Field of Dreams (7.6)
The Abyss (7.5)
Driving Miss Daisy (7.5)
Say Anything... (7.5)

This list reminds me of the fact that there are so many great films, year after year, that don't get nominated. This was a particularly strong year for film, IMO. Almost all of them could have conceivably been nominated, maybe except Batman. I just love Glory, Henry V, and When Harry Met Sally, in particular.

 

[Ashu]

Dead Poets Society, of course.

 

[ZERO_of_ZERO]

Dead Poets Society.

Miss Daisy would be my second choice.

 

[MyCylon]

Easily Dead Poet's Society in my mind. Just a beautiful, beautiful and very sad film with fantastic performances. I never would have thought Robin Williams was capable of something like this before I saw DPS. It's also got some beautiful shots and music as well.