The Oscars Should Operate Like The Baseball Hall of Fame

[Yavin4]

When a player retires, he has to wait 5 years until he can be voted into the HOF. They do this so that the players last few years do not overly influence the vote, and it gives the voters some time to gain a real perspective on the player.

I think that the Oscars should adopt this format. Films should have to wait 5 years until they can be voted on by the Academy. Thus, the 2008 Oscars would be for movies that came out in 2003. Here were the Best Picture nominees back then:

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Mystic River
Seabiscuit

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won Best Picture, but did it really deserve it? Has it held up over time? Maybe. Maybe Not. By waiting a prescribed period of time, we can gain a perspective on the film that cannot be gained within a one to two month voting period.

[TheMightyFavog]

1. It would have kept the most overrated film of all time from tying Ben Hur for most Oscars.

The only oscars Titanic really deserved were some of the specail effects awards. The CGI in that film was very revolutionary for its time.

All the other Oscars that shitburger of a film won it didn't desrve.

[Radio_Lady]

2. Mr. JonathanChance, I completely disagree with you. "Titanic" was a good movie for its time (1997).

It is still receiving a 7.1 rating out of 10 -- with 159,000 plus persons voting.

Here is the page which breaks down the ratings.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/ratings

Furthermore, you might want to check how much business this film did.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/business

Your off-handed comment about the movie was truly disgusting. Specifically, WHO didn't deserve his/her Oscar and WHY?

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/awards

Cordially,

Radio Lady (reviewing films since 1971 on a variety of radio stations and Internet sites, including here.)

PS. James Cameron let me down with "Ghosts of the Abyss," which was truly a poor film. Besides that, the 3-D didn't work.

[TheMightyFavog]

4. I guess maybe I can chalk this up to prejudice...

I never did like Titanic due to all the hype, and all the girls in my High School Class who went to see this move multiple times because they were all gaga over DiCaprio. (One girl I knew went to see it 30 times.) I will say that all the Effects Oscars were well deserved. They were on the bleeding edge of CGI special effects technology at the time, and that film laid some very important groundwork.

[Radio_Lady]

6. LOL! Your response was delightful! Leonardo was all the rage for awhile, wasn't he?

I liked him in "The Aviator" -- did you see that one?

CU@theDU

Radio Lady Ellen Kimball, now affiliated with www.kgw.com

[Yavin4]

8. That Kind of Hysteria Drives Oscar Votes

Which is why there should be a waiting period before the film can be voted on as Best Picture. Also, it will give the public a chance to see the film.

Often, films are nominated for an Oscar even before they're widely released nationally.

[Radio_Lady]

15. Interesting idea. Take it up with the management at Oscar.com.

You might wait until tomorrow to contact them. They are probably busy this evening! :sarcasm:

I don't have a dog in this fight.

Just a humble reviewer whose opinion is first... maybe acceptable... or not.

Peace, love and happiness,

Radio Lady Ellen in Oregon

[LynneSin]

18. I have to agree with Jonathan although the language was a bit harsh

Titanic was not a good acting movie - end of discussion. Having a giant size return at the box office does not mean it should win Best Movie. Three of the 5 movies nominated for best Movie received best actor nods (As Good as it Gets-2, Good Will Hunting-1, LA Confidential-1). And even the Best Screenplays went to movies other than Titanic.

Titanic was successful for 2 reasons - the special effects and all the other non-acting areas were simply amazing PLUS the movie had a love story that appealed to young girls. My best friend and her 13 year old daughter actually saw Titanic in the theater over 20 times. (She said the brief glimpse of Kate's breasts were not that offensive). It was a sappy love story that had mass appeal. Personally I don't even think Kate Winslet or Gloria Stuart were that memorable that they deserved oscar nods (Kate is very talented but I don't think Titanic tops her list of great parts).

You talk about IMDB rating, here is IMDB rating for the other best picture nods:

As Good as it Gets - 7.8 and 60k votes
Full Monty - 7.2 and 31k votes (this was the one I was rooting for - most original plot for sure)
Good Will Hunting - 7.9 and 99k votes
LA Confidential - 8.4 and 117k votes (and the only movie to crack IMDB top 250 movies.)

Yes, 7.1 is a good rating but clearly it was not the fan favorite compared to the other movies.

Titanic is what it is - a special effects, costume, cinematic extravaganza with one of the most annoying theme songs ever. But I hardly thought it was enough for best movie

[Yavin4]

3. Take "BrokeBack Mountain" As An Example

As time has gone on, the film resonates more in our culture than has "Crash".

[terrya]

10. Exactly right.

Truth be told, while I saw "Crash" and it was a good movie, it just doesn't resonate with me as did "Brokeback Mountain". And it isn't just gay men, like me. I think "Brokeback" resonated with straight and gay people. Look, for example, at the touching remembrances of "Brokeback" after Heath Ledger died.

[Yavin4]

12. Films Like Brokeback Need Time

To me, a great movie is one that people still talk about and watch after it has come out. Brokeback is still talked about and watched to this day, and Crash is not.

The same can be said for Goodfellas which lost to Dancing with Wolves.

[LynneSin]

19. I totally disagree with that

Don't get me wrong - Brokeback deserved best picture but so did Crash. Just like Brokeback, Crash also had went very deep within a civil issue faced in today's society - Racial discrimination. There was the main one between the racist white cop and the upscale african-american couple who were clearly victims of racial stereotyping (The cop clearly pulled them couple over because they were black). But I loved the subplot of the Persian shop owners who were vandalized because people just assumed they were terrorists because they were from the middle east descent.

I loved both movies equally and if I had it my way I would have given both Oscars. When you have a split between Best Movie and Best Director, usually it's a sign of two very well done movies that the academy wants to both honor. If anything, I'm glad that Brokeback got the best director not best movie (if there has to be a split). That movie was clearly the vision of Ang Lee and he deserved to be awarded.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. That's the truth - Titanic is a truly awful movie. It's like Cameron became Spielberg for a film,

and forgot that he's an artist, not a purveyor of mephitic hyperemotionalistic manipulative schlock.

Totally awful fucking dumb movie.

[Radio_Lady]

7. Rabrrrrrr, your opinion is not shared with thousands of people who voted it up.

See my other posts with breakdowns.

Still getting 7.1 out of 10 after eleven years.

Huge success financially.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Huge success financially says nothing about the artistic value of a film.

Or anything.

Citizen Kane is nowhere near the financial success of Titanic - not even in the same galaxy, really - but artistically, it's billions of parsecs a better movie.

And if it's only getting 7.1 after 11 years, I think that's a good sign that it didn't deserve the awards and accolades it received. 71% is just barely a D-.

[Radio_Lady]

13. Mathematical genius husband said it was a C-, not a D-.

Nevertheless, it earned $900 million dollars on rentals, according to the link. That is pretty amazing.

"Don't quibble, Sybil!"

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. In my college, 71% was two points away from failure - D-.

And yes, $900 million IS amazing. I'll give Titanic that much - it made an incredible shitload of money. I imagine it still brings in a fair amount of cash through rentals and DVD purchases, and probably will for a long time.

[NNadir]

9. I agree. One of the more disturbing things was the media claim that it was realistic.

Give me a break.

Anyone swishing around in the hold of a ship in metric ton quantities of artic water would not be making out. They'd be dying of hypothermia.

Not even a blue lip...

[Radio_Lady]

14. I understand and said the same thing about "Poseidon" -- which had a flimsy plot, too.

You might enjoy the website www.moviemistakes.com

Here's what they said about "Titanic"

http://www.moviemistakes.com/film1299/corrections

Films stretch the truth all the time. It's called "suspension of disbelief."
It can work for a film or against it.

There is such a thing as literary license... adapted to "filmic" license.


Peace.

Radio Lady Ellen in Oregon

[Orsino]

16. I think that many blockbuster Oscar-bait movies...

...could benefit from steroids. Wouldn't it have been cool if, at the end of Remains of the Day, Emma Thompson had ripped off the side of the bus, swept Anthony Hopkins off his feet, and carried him home?