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22 Incredibly Shocking Oscars Injustices
We attempt to right those Oscar wrongs

Christopher Nolan fans might disagree, but the Academy has done a pretty top-notch job of picking the strongest candidates to slug it out at the Kodak this February – but it hasn’t always done quite as well with its picks. In fact, there’ve been years when the runners and riders seemed to be picked via some kind of elaborate game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Think about the giddy adventure of Raiders Of The Lost Ark losing out to Chariots Of Fire which, stirring as it was, was really just a two-hour long reason to go for a jog. Not to mention Alfred Hitchcock never winning a single Academy Award. Not one. Then there’s It’s A Wonderful Life getting pipped by The Best Years Of Our Lives, Apocalypse Now taking a slow-mo sword swipe from Kramer Vs. Kramer, and Citizen Kane losing to, erm... we forget. But those are minor injustices compared to some of the other kahunas we’ve identified and, in our own small way, rectified.

WORDS PHIL DE SEMLYEN
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22 Incredibly Shocking Oscars Injustices | Best Actor (1999) Best Actor (1999)

Who should have won: Edward Norton (American History X)

Who won: Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful)

Much as we’d love to imagine Edward Norton bunny-hopping over the seats of dignitaries in a blizzard of arm-swinging zaniness, he had to slump back in his chair and watch Roberto Benigni do the honours when Helen Hunt read out the Best Actor winner back in 1999. Both boasted their share of Nazis – the ultimate Oscar catnip – but Life Is Beautiful won the hearts and minds of the Academy in a way that American History X, with its brute force and kerb-stamp intensity, couldn’t hope to emulate. Single-minded in a way that doesn’t always play well in Hollywood, Norton’s very public fallout and lawsuit with director Tony Kaye didn’t help his cause either. Still, his ferocious, seething skinhead Derek Vinyard should have put the gentle buffoonery of Guido Orefice onto the pavement.

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Your Comments
1 Shawshank!
Posted on Friday February 17, 2012, 09:48 by guysalisbury
Shawshank should have got best picture at the 67th Awards. Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction are both brilliant but Shawshank is EPIC! Read More

2 RE: 22 Incredibly Shocking Oscars Injustices
Posted on Monday March 14, 2011, 14:37 by NCC1701A
How about The best visual effects win for The Golden Compuss when Transformers should of won they were first rate effects. Read More

3 Kramer vs Kramer vs Apocalypse Now
Posted on Saturday February 26, 2011, 04:34 by byronbache
Describing Kramer vs Kramer as a "courtroom drama" only serves to demonstrate that whoever wrote this copy hasn't actually seen the film. The award was for best director, not "most complicated production", "most gruelling shoot", or "most impressive film". Robert Benton's work on Kramer vs Kramer was nothing short of astonishing. The Academy didn't get that one wrong at all. Read More

4 1999: "The Insider" scandal...
Posted on Wednesday February 23, 2011, 12:00 by tylerseven
Sorry,but what about the great Michael Mann ??Oh yes he's just a "minor" director: "last of the mohicans","collateral","public enemies","heat"...and his masterpiece,"the insider".In 1999, "American Beauty" had scandalously stolen all the statues that "the insider" deserved.It's for me the bigest scandal in Oscars history so far. The victory of "Titanic" over "L.A. Confidential" comes in second. The fact that "Seven" has received only the Editing Oscar comes in 3rd. Read More

5 The Oscars are mostly a farse
Posted on Monday February 21, 2011, 21:57 by David Hirst
The reality is that the Oscars are not given out to whom deserves them, but to who's politically relevant at the time, or who's due one after all these years. Take Morgan Freeman: He was given one for million dollar baby because they owed him one for Shawshank. Or Hitchcock who never won a Oscar probably because he just made thrillers, and they're not "deep". (even though he rewrote Freud with his work) Let's face it: If you're an ethnic, disabled midget, with learning difficulties you might as well prepare your speech now. What annoys me the most is that the Oscar don't usually go to the best films, but to the ones that tick the most political boxes. A film about croutons and their interaction with soup should beat a film about apartheid if it's a better film. Nuff said. Read More

6 Judi Dench
Posted on Wednesday February 16, 2011, 17:58 by Lord Byron Pitt
You mention that Judi Dench's run time is a little too skinny for the Oscar? What about Beatrice Straight's performance as Louise Schumacher in Network? Just over five minutes = best supporting gong. Read More

7
Posted on Monday February 14, 2011, 05:31 by Amol
I agree with most from the list and especially the blasphemous non-recognition of Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick for their masterpieces or just for pure direction. Even though any awards should not be considered as a sure-fire metric standard for measuring up a quality of a movie still they are a way of recognizing the genius from any field, movies or not. But if I do take it that way, Oscars surely did some injustices by IGNORING... 1. The Maltese Falcon 2. Pacino (for any of the seven roles he was nominated for instead of the one he actually won for) 3. Dressed To Kill (1980) for at least some nominations 4. Denzel Washington (Cry Freedom, Crimson Tide), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Kevin Spacey (SE7EN), Tom Hanks (Cast Away) - (How could they miss that one ??!!!), Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind), Sergio Leone, Robert Altman and his creations, especially M*A*S*H (1970). Also SE7EN(1995), L. A. Confidential (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Read More

8 RE: Best Documentary, 78th Academy Awards
Posted on Monday February 7, 2011, 21:35 by JCRendle
What about Tron not being included for Best Visual Effects because it was done using computers? Wow. Read More

9 RE: more Oscars injustices
Posted on Monday February 7, 2011, 17:14 by snaze1
One glaring omission from the oscar omissions feature was Ralph Feinnes (as Amon Goeth in Schindlers list) losing out to Tommy Lee Jones (As Sam "Shouty cop" Gerrard in The Fugitive) at the 1994 oscars. Shocking Read More


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