Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1948

The Contenders:
Hamlet (winner)
Johnny Belinda
The Red Shoes
The Snake Pit
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Blood Diamond

Format: DVD from Northern Illinois Founders Memorial Library on laptop.

I remember vaguely hearing about Blood Diamond when it came out. Specifically, I remember the trailer because of Leonardo DiCaprio saying in a South African accent that in the U.S. the phrase is “bling-bling” but where they are, the phrase is “bling-bang.” That seemed like such a weird line, so forced. It wasn’t a film that interested me tremendously, to be honest.

But we’re nearing Oscar time, and one of the questions that regularly pops up is a variation of “Who is the best actor/actress/director/etc. to never win an Oscar.” In the actor category, one name that won’t wait too long to be mentioned is Leonardo DiCaprio. So I figured it was time to watch a film that earned him another trip to the always a bridesmaid, never a bride party. (By the way, the correct answer for the greatest actor to never win an Oscar is Peter O’Toole, who missed on all eight of his nominations. Sorry, Leo fans.)

Alice Adams

Format: DVD from Northern Illinois Founders Memorial Library on laptop.

I’ve been surprised many a time by many a film, and I always do my best to come at each film with the hope of actually enjoying it. I went into Alice Adams cold, knowing only that it had Katherine Hepburn and Fred MacMurray in it and that it was nominated for a few Oscars. Having now seen it, I wonder why.

I’m not going to be nice to this film, so if it’s one that you like, I’ll suggest that you look elsewhere. I’m not going to apologize for disliking this film. It’s filled with the most repellent characters I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t imagine wanting to actually spend time around 90% of the people in this film. This isn’t a case of them having a particular bad habit or quirk—these are people who are almost designed to be as unpleasant as possible, and since this is a film from 1935, we’re guaranteed that these unpleasant people will wind up with a happy ending.

Johnny Belinda

Format: Turner Classic Movies on rockin’ flatscreen.

I really love my DVR, although I’ve found a problem with it. The blessing is that I can record things that are showing at 2:00 am or when I’m at work and watch them later. That’s also the problem—the watching them later part. I’ve got a nice collection of films just waiting for me to watch them, but other things always seem to take priority. Sometimes it’s another film that’s just shown up. Other times is that I’m not sure I want to subject myself to the subject matter at hand. Such is very much the case with Johnny Belinda.

Why? Well, Johnny Belinda has all of the elements of a film designed specifically to pull emotionally in pre-planned and obvious ways. The quick synopsis is this: a deaf girl becomes the project of a local doctor, who teaches her to read lips and speak in sign language. An evil member of the small community rapes and impregnates her, although everyone assumes the doctor is the father. Eventually, there is a confrontation with the real father. This is not the sort of thing I wanted to jump into with both feet, so it’s sat on my DVR for months.

Frozen

Format: Carmike Market Square 10.

My older daughter has been obsessed with Frozen since the first time she saw it a few weeks ago. Since today was a snow day all around, I decided it was time that I saw it, too. So we went to an afternoon matinee, my two girls and me. Aside from the three teenage girls who sat behind us and talked through the first 20 minutes or so, it was a completely pleasurable time in the theater.

I didn’t see Tangled, which most people said was a return to form for Disney. If it hadn’t been, Frozen would be, because it’s about as good as the classic Disney films that everyone loves. It’s also very smart, which is even better than it just being good. There are plenty of good children’s films that don’t do anything terribly new or exciting, but Frozen stores up a brilliant curve ball at the end. The conclusion is very different from what we’re led to expect, and that’s a slice of brilliance.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Format: DVD from personal collection on rockin’ flatscreen.

When the first Pirates of the Caribbean film was announced, there weren’t a lot of people who had high hopes for it. Oh, I knew I’d go see it, but I didn’t expect much. The only exception to this I know is my friend Doug, but he’s not an objective voice on this one. Doug will watch anything with wooden ships and/or pirates in it; he actually liked Cutthroat Island. And then the reviews started coming in. Gore Verbinski had done the unthinkable and created something far more than anyone thought possible: a genuinely good and entertaining film based on a theme park ride. Usually it goes the other way—movie first, theme park ride second.

We get a nice tease at the start when young Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley eventually) not only rescues a young boy named Will Turner (Orlando Bloom after the opening scene) from a ship that has been raided by pirates. Will is wearing a medallion that looks suspiciously like it should belong to pirates, and since the penalty for piracy is death, she hides it.

Dead Poets Society

Film: Dead Poets Society
Format: DVD from NetFlix on rockin’ flatscreen.

I’m a teacher and more specifically an English teacher, which means that I’m supposed to love Dead Poets Society. I don’t. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. There are plenty of things to like about it, of course, and there are a few important discoveries in this film, like the fact that Robin Williams can offer up a solid, restrained performance when under the direction of someone who keeps his manic persona under lock and key. But there are problems here, which we’ll no doubt get to as we proceed.

We’re set in the late 1950s at an all-boys boarding school somewhere in the wilds of New England. We are quickly introduced to our young protagonists, a motley assortment of the progeny of the upper crust of Eisenhower’s America. Of primary importance are Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), who is bright and outgoing and suffers from a demanding and tyrannical father (Kurtwood Smith) and Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), who is ignored by his parents and living in the shadow of his graduated brother, which makes him shy and unsure of himself. Of secondary importance are the lovelorn Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles) and the wannabee radical Charlie Dalton (Gale Hansen). Rounding out the group are the suck-up Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman), the nerdy Steven Meeks (Allelon Ruggiero), and the dorkish Gerard Pitts (James Waterston).