Fourth in a series examing which original Oscar nominees actually should have won. Comments encouraged!
TrekBBS Academy Awards: #4 - Best Picture, 1988
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I don't know the other films except Mississippi Burning (which is pretty good), but I vote:
[x] anything but Rain Man. That movie was fucking terrible.
[x] anything but Rain Man. That movie was fucking terrible.
Me too.
For comparison, the top-rated English language feature films on IMDB for 1988 are:
Die Hard (8.2)
Rain Man (8.0)
A Fish Called Wanda (7.8)
Mississippi Burning (7.7)
Dangerous Liaisons (7.6)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (7.6)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (7.6)
The Last Temptation of Christ (7.5)
Midnight Run (7.5)
The Accidental Tourist and Working Girl both score a 6.6 (which is a lot lower than either of them should be in my opinion, although I don't think either of them is strong enough to deserve to have won for Best Picture).
Although a relatively weak year for film overall, the five nominees are quite strong. Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, and Rain Man would all have been worthy winners. Speaking of Rain Man, I actually think it's Tom Cruise's performance that stands up better over time compared to Dustin Hoffman's.
I'll throw my vote to Mississippi Burning.
Die Hard (8.2)
Rain Man (8.0)
A Fish Called Wanda (7.8)
Mississippi Burning (7.7)
Dangerous Liaisons (7.6)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (7.6)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (7.6)
The Last Temptation of Christ (7.5)
Midnight Run (7.5)
The Accidental Tourist and Working Girl both score a 6.6 (which is a lot lower than either of them should be in my opinion, although I don't think either of them is strong enough to deserve to have won for Best Picture).
Although a relatively weak year for film overall, the five nominees are quite strong. Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, and Rain Man would all have been worthy winners. Speaking of Rain Man, I actually think it's Tom Cruise's performance that stands up better over time compared to Dustin Hoffman's.
I'll throw my vote to Mississippi Burning.
I haven't seen enough of the films to make an honest judgment; the only ones I've seen all the way through were Dangerous Liaisons and Rain Man. I've seen snippets of Working Girl on TV, and none of the other two.
Rain Man. Easily.
I haven't seen enough of these to make a judgment, except to say that Mississippi Burning not only is undeserving of its nomination, but is worthy of vilification for its clever re-imagining of white FBI agents as civil rights heroes in the south. I keep bringing Pauline Kael back from the dead (but I can't help it--I've been burried in books of her reviews for a while), but if anyone has the chance to read her full review of the film, it makes for a thoughtful analysis.
Rain Man
Up to that point I was a movie lover, but I usually only went tol see sci fi or the latest Arnold film. I hadn't come to appreciate cinema really,save for some great old films. My mom made me go see Rain Man with my brother. She never made me see anything. I had no idea what it was about, save for talk about it being a good film. I wasn't really into it until...
the first shot: a Countach! I had Countaches all over the walls in my bedroom. From there I really wanted Tom to fix the problems with his shadey business, but in a more subtle way I was also cared about Raymond. The camera would follow the things he would stare at along the journey, repeating patterns that fascinated me as well. Though I'm not autistic, I could relate because my Brother was always patient with me and yet impatient at times.
Cruise earned my respect in this picture. He drove it forward and his character changed credxibly at the end.
It's one of my favorites
Up to that point I was a movie lover, but I usually only went tol see sci fi or the latest Arnold film. I hadn't come to appreciate cinema really,save for some great old films. My mom made me go see Rain Man with my brother. She never made me see anything. I had no idea what it was about, save for talk about it being a good film. I wasn't really into it until...
the first shot: a Countach! I had Countaches all over the walls in my bedroom. From there I really wanted Tom to fix the problems with his shadey business, but in a more subtle way I was also cared about Raymond. The camera would follow the things he would stare at along the journey, repeating patterns that fascinated me as well. Though I'm not autistic, I could relate because my Brother was always patient with me and yet impatient at times.
Cruise earned my respect in this picture. He drove it forward and his character changed credxibly at the end.
It's one of my favorites
I went through a Kael phase, too, but only about movies I had already seen. I disagree with her a lot, and can't really use her as a "consumer guide" for what I'd like to see. But, agree or disagree, she usually finds something that increases my appreciation of something I have seen.
Working Girl???!
And they say the Academy is losing touch in recent years.
I couldn't believe it when that was nominated. It might have been OK, though still not Best Picture level, if it were someone other than Melanie Griffith as the protagonist. She was supposed to be clever, outwitting her scheming boss. But Griffith can't play clever. She can play vapid, or kooky, or oblivious, but she can't play smart or clever. There's just nothing there. It ruined the movie for me.
The best movie of 1988 IMO was Eight Men Out, the only one I still find myself watching every year or two. AFAIK it wasn't nominated for anything.
--Justin
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