2. Gigi (1958) (instead of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or the Defiant Ones)
3. The Apartment (1960) (instead of Psycho, Inherit the Wind, or Elmer Gantry)
4. The Deer Hunter (1978) (anything but this one)
5. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) (totally bogus depiction of a custody fight)
6. Ordinary People (1980) (instead of Raging Bull)
8. Braveheart (1995) (instead of The Usual Suspects)
9. The English Patient (1996) (instead of Fargo)
10. Titanic (1997) (instead of LA Confidential, Good Will Hunting, or Jackie Brown)
1 comment:
Not many arguments from me.
Titanic does not hold up well at all. What were we all thinking?
I'd argue The Apartment does not belong on this list, even if it's open to debate whether it was the best picture that year, it's still a great movie. Billy Wilder rarely misstepped.
As for The Deer Hunter, it's easy to say anything but that, but they had to pick one. Look at the contenders that year; not much to choose from. Maybe Coming Home, but that's not clearly much better.
Kramer vs. Kramer is the one where they could have chosen almost any other contender. Apocalypse Now. Being There. Breaking Away. Even Alien.
You've left off two of the real losers in Best Picture history, though.
Gladiator (2000) wasn't better than fellow nominees Traffic or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It wasn't even better than non-nominees Cast Away, Almost Famous, O Brother Where Art Thou? or even arguably Wonder Boys.
Gladiator is ridiculous when compared to The Dark Knight, which isn't even nominated this year.
How Green Was My Valley (1941) isn't a bad film. But better than its contemporaries Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Sergeant York and Suspicion? Hardly.
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