Has RotK's Best Pic Win Worn Off?

[hectorberlioz]

Opinions on this question. I think perhaps it has...
Certainly the signifigance and glitz of the Best Picture wins has worn off for me.

[brownjenkins]

The Oscars have always been hit and miss on best picture, and just about everything else for that matter. But RotK was certainly one of the best films that year, a lot better than Seabiscuit.

Lost in Translation is the only runner up I can think of that came close.

[brownjenkins]

If you look at this list, one could argue that the academy has actually gotten better over the years at picking best pictures.

[hectorberlioz]

You know, I thought it was a recent phenomenon that the Academy Awards went to movies that were basically "Oscar-made"...but if you think about it, most of the films chosen have been that way. Ghandi was a good movie, but it had that overly-zealously long feel. Patton was a good movie, but it has that overly Gee Golly Gen'ral feel.

I don't think RotK was the best LotR film, to me FotR or even TTT deserved it...and you can obviously tell the decision was made more on obligation than any feeling that RotK as a seperate film, deserved an award.

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

You know, I thought it was a recent phenomenon that the Academy Awards went to movies that were basically "Oscar-made"...but if you think about it, most of the films chosen have been that way. Ghandi was a good movie, but it had that overly-zealously long feel. Patton was a good movie, but it has that overly Gee Golly Gen'ral feel.

I don't think RotK was the best LotR film, to me FotR or even TTT deserved it...and you can obviously tell the decision was made more on obligation than any feeling that RotK as a seperate film, deserved an award.

Agreed on FotR, but not on TTT, which I thought was far and away the worst.

I think the three were close enough together to be legitimately considered for overall achievement, not like those occasions (The Color of Money, Scent of a Woman) when it was clearly an apology for screwing up in past voting (The Departed?)

Made For Oscar contenders? How about Shakespeare in Love?

"Tell'em it's about Shakespeare so they'll think it's classy, but really make it about Hollywood so they'll get the jokes."

(Though Saving Private Ryan that same year was a prime candidate in the Gee Golly field. I mean, an American History teacher? With a nod to Kurt Vonnegut, how about a dispatcher of frozen custard trucks?)

[Rosie Gamgee]

When one looks at the other nominees that year, I suppose RotK was a viable contender for Best Pic. But I have qualms with the movie as a film, nevermind as an adaptation. If I had voted that year, I probably would have chosen Seabiscuit.

For me, the 'Best Pic' award has glitz and flash, but it's not much good other than to say that a certain number of important people in the Actor's Guild (or whoever it is that holds the Oscars) liked that movie best, or felt the person behind it deserved an award. Really, it's not much of an indication that the film named is a well-made film or not. Take 'Million Dollar Baby,' for instance.

So, as for the question: I didn't feel much excitement when RotK got the award.. I think it was Hollywood's nod to Peter Jackson and the fact that he had turned one of the best-selling novels of all time into one of the best-selling movie trilogies of all time; not an actual statement of the film's quality.

So, yeah. I think, in retrospect and after multiple viewings of the RotK, the Best Pic buzz has worn off--but it wasn't all that bright and warm and fuzzy to begin with.