Why "Oscar Winner" Doesn't Mean The Best Movie In Category

Ludacris had the extraordinarily difficult task of playing himself in Best Picture Oscar winner, Crash (2005).

Oh the Oscars, the Academy's supreme in outstanding work in film. Of course, no award is complete without a certain amount of controversy. Yes, they have screwed up before, and no, this won't be the last time.

I saw this blog post from Yahoo this morning and it is completely right. Some highlights:

Gladiator (2000)
A poor man's "Spartacus" tarted up with lots of CGI. For a director as talented as Ridley Scott, it's hard to understand why the action scenes in "Gladiator" were as incoherent as they were. It was as if the entire editing staff was hopped up on Red Bull and Twinkies.

For those who have seen Kubrick's Spartacus (1960) and then watched Gladiator, it's easy to determine the better film. For those who have not, seriously what are you waiting for, go watch Spartacus. Even now, nearly 50 years later, it's still an impressive film and is enjoyable to watch. Great films have the ability to stand the test of time.

Next, watch Gladiator. Initially you'll notice a few things, such as Russel Crowe's excellent performance (per usual, RC is a beast) and the high production value. In my opinion the action scenes were good and not as overwrought as the blogger (above) claims. However, after you shed the action and violence you're left with a film weak in narrative and even weaker in its ability to convey drama.

Perhaps more offensive is the Academy's decision to give Crash (2005) the Best Picture win.

Crash (2005)
One of the great "What were they thinking?" moments of Oscardom. Instead of choosing the best-reviewed movie of the year -- "Brokeback Mountain" -- the Academy picked this contrived, hectoring paean to liberal guilt. What made Ryan Phillippe shoot that guy? Racism. What made Ludacris jack that car? Racism. What made Sandra Bullock fall down the stairs? Racism. The movie is about as nuanced as a hammer blow to the head, as enjoyable aslistening to your parents fight, and about as honest as your average Enron executive.

The saddest thing is that nearly every other nominee was more deserving of the Best Picture award. Capote was anchored by Phillip Seymour Hoffman's grand performance as eccentric writer-socialite Truman Capote. Munich was a beautifully written story of Palestinian and Israel conflict that revolved around the Munich Olympics terrorism. And of course Brokeback Mountain, which used the strength of the western as a platform for the melodrama between two cowboys, was well directed, acted, and written.

Some interesting (retarded) facts about Crash.

• It won 0 acting awards. Oh really? Not Ludacris? :( (Theater Of Mind - "Last Of A Dying Breed" and "Call Up The Homies.")
  
• It wasn't even NOMINATED for Best Picture in the Golden Globes. (The Golden Globes is regarded as a kind of "preliminary round" for the Oscars, as it takes place approximately a month and a half before the Oscars and also because many of the winners from the Golden Globes are nominated and win at the Oscars.)
  
• It was the most poorly received movie by critics of all nominees.

Much like Blood Diamond, Crash's message comes off as too preachy. Black woman and white man quarrel? OH NO, THAT'S RACISM. Please. As if America needs more Political Correctness...

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I'm a fan of most nominated movies this year, (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard), Milk (Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn), Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle), and The Reader(Kate Winslet)). Hopefully Slumdog takes it, but really any of those movies are deserving.