Alternate Oscars - 1999
Let's be honest. The Oscars tend to get it wrong when it comes to their nominations and winners. So, I've decided to compile what I like to call the Alternate Oscars, where, with the power of hindsight, with the objective of not just doing the Best Picture nominees justice, but the year in film as a whole. Allow me to break it down based on category:
Best Picture: In order to keep things as objective as possible while fitting in the with the merits of Best Picture, I opted to establish two conditions for a film to qualify. The first is that the film in question must rate at least an 8 out of 10, and no less; and the second is that it needs to have a strong presence at the Oscars. Shockingly, out of the five films nominated, only American Beauty and The Cider House Rules only won anything (winning a combined 7 out of 17 Oscars), while The Green Mile, The Insider, and The Sixth Sense all went home completely empty-handed. That meant ten other Oscars went to a bunch of different films that were nowhere near awards contention, which left me wondering, where did they all go to? Well, my friends, that honor goes to the technically groundbreaking The Matrix (winning 4 awards) and artistic masterpiece Topsy Turvy (winning two). Both films rated an 8 and a 10 out of 10 respectively. Meanwhile, the greatly overvalued Cider House Rules and Green Mile both rated a 6 and a 7 and didn't really deserve to be there. So, I swapped both of them out for the much more dominant Matrix and Topsy-Turvy. That just left us with The Insider, and I ultimately decided to value that film more for its direction and for its other technical categories than for its overall merits. It's a rock-solid film (a 9 out of 10 to be sure), but in the end, I opted for the just barely superior assemble piece in Magnolia. American Beauty got to stay and hold on to its Best Picture Statue thanks to its impeccable direction, and the terrific lead performances from Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning. And The Sixth Sense got to stay due to it being a huge hit with critics and at the box office, and although outclassed in most of its categories by other movies, there is still one all-important nomination that I felt this film should have won, but I'll get to it when I get to it.
Best Director: Other than Cider House Rules, all four men did impeccable jobs directing what were otherwise masterclasses of cinema, as Sam Mendes, Spike Jonze, Michael Mann, and M. Night Shyamalan all deserve to keep their nominations, with Mendes' Best Director win for American Beauty sticking. Oddly enough, none of my replacement nominees for Best Picture are gonna see their director nominated (although I was tempted to pick the Wachowskis as my fifth pick). Instead, I am opting to go with Stanley Kubrick for his swan song, Eyes Wide Shut. Say what you will about the quality of the film, but there is no way you can convince me that Kubrick didn't do an outstanding job directing the film, and I do believe that he more than deserves the fifth nomination.
Best Actor: Again, not much to change here, as I felt that the Best Actor win for Kevin Spacey was always gonna be the one to beat, and no one was gonna beat him, not even the likes of Russell Crowe or Richard Farnsworth, whose performances more than justified their nominations in the first place. Ultimately, I was torn between Sean Penn in Sweet and Lowdown versus Denzel Washington in The Hurricane on who to keep or who to replace with Jim Broadbent in Topsy-Turvy. Admittedly, the Broadbent nomination's more a political one in order to bolster its credibility as a Best Picture nominee here, but regardless, he still put on one hell of a performance in one of the most critically underrated films of the year. Ultimately, the nominee that I decided to drop was Denzel Washington for The Hurricane. Yes, in spite liking the guy more than Penn, admittedly, The Hurricane is more of an Oscar-bait role than a genuinely great film with a legendary performance behind it, and Woody Allen absolutely knew how to get his actors nominated for Academy Awards throughout the 1990's. Penn's performance truly was outstanding, and the film's really damn good in its own right, so he got to stay over Washington.
Best Actress: The biggest atrocity so far this year was that Annette Benning gave arguably the best performance of her career for this movie, and she lost out to a gimmicky Oscar-bait performance starring an actress who frankly wasn't even that good in the first place. So, I pretty much purged the old Best Actress lineup and made Annette Benning the Best Actress winner. I also kept Julianne Moore in for End of the Affair. Even though I didn't really care for the film, Julianne Moore was an absolute work horse in 1999, and she did give a genuinely great performance here. I also decided to add Francis O'Connor in Hillary Swank's spot for absolutely nailing her role in the Jane Austen adaptation of Mansfield Park--back when Jane Austen adaptations were actually really good--but only as a nominee. The final two spots--Janet McTeer in Tumbleweeds, and Meryl Streep in Music of the Hearts--I haven't seen them. But I've heart McTeer was a tour de force in her own right, and Meryl's Meryl, so maybe their nominations would still stand. But for now, I've decided to replace them with a couple of fun options--Heather Donahue for The Blair Witch Project (one of two Oscar nominations for the film, both in categories I felt defined the film's legacy), and one for Franka Potente in Run, Lola, Run. Both terrific films, both deserving of an Oscar nomination, at least for now.
Best Supporting Actor: Probably one of the few categories where I chose not to make any changes to the lineups, and that's in spite my active efforts to cull Cider House Rules and Green Mile from the Oscars. Let's face it; Michael Caine, Michael Clarke Duncan, Tom Cruise, Jude Law, and Haley Joel Osment all gave juggernaut performances, and absolutely no one was gonna overtake either of them. And I tried, too; Sam Rockwell in Galaxy Quest, Gary Cole in Office Space, Joe Potaliano in The Matrix, heck, I even considered Vin Diesel in The Iron Giant as a bit of a gimmick pick, but to no avail. Cain, Cruise, Duncan, Law, and Osment were just that dominant in 99. Having said all that, I will be taking Michael Caine's trophy and giving it to either Michael Clarke Duncan or Tom Cruise. Both gave the best performances of the year, but in the end, I got to give it to Tom Cruise. Magnolia is one of my alternate picks for Best Picture, and Tom Cruise was simply way overdue. More to the point, I do feel that Duncan and Osment's nominations were reward enough for what were otherwise break out roles for the both of them.
Best Supporting Actress: Let's be honest, here; Toni Collette for The Sixth Sense absolutely got robbed here. While Angelina Jolie's performance may have been electric for Girl, Interrupted (she was pretty much the only good thing about the film), in a year like 1999, we have to stick with the best performances from the best movies. And Best Supporting Actress was absolutely Collette's to win. Otherwise, I'm also keeping the Catherine Keener and Samantha Morton nominations, and I'm dropping Chloe Sevigny for Boys Don't Cry, similarly for the reasons I'm dropping the Jolie nomination. In their place, I will be nominating Julianne Moore for Magnolia (again, a work horse year for Moore, and once more, absolutely gives it her all in this big assemble piece), and Emmanuelle Seigner for The Ninth Gate (absolutely underrated gem, but not many categories in which the film could get in, with Supporting Actress being the most plausible).
Best Adapted Screenplay: Shockingly enough, not a single Adapted Screenplay had gotten into Best Picture. This says an awful lot about how stacked the lineup was, and how little I think of films like The Cider House Rules and The Green Mile, as I once again drop them from my alternate Oscars. The Insider was, however, the closest out of all of them into making it back into the Best Picture lineup, and since it's a great film and quite heavy on the dialogue, it gets my pick for Best Adapted Screenplay, here. Election and The Talented Mr. Ripley both get to keep their nominations. However, taking Cider House Rules and The Green Mile's place will be two huge cult favorites in Fight Club and Office Space. Fight Club, similar to The Insider, also just barely missed out on Best Picture, doomed by its otherwise inability to make it into other major categories or to even win anything. And since Office Space can't really make it into any other categories itself, and since it's a damn good film based on a comic, I was able to secure the fifth and final Adapted Screenplay nod.
Best Original Screenplay: For the first time, I can state that the entire lineup is absolutely flawless. As tempting as it may have been to potentially replace either of these films with The Matrix, I ultimately couldn't do it. American Beauty deserved it's Oscar win (thus securing the Grand Slam of Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress), and Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, The Sixth Sense, and Topsy-Turvy are all some of the best written films of the entire year. About as flawless a lineup as I've ever seen in any given category.
Best Picture: In order to keep things as objective as possible while fitting in the with the merits of Best Picture, I opted to establish two conditions for a film to qualify. The first is that the film in question must rate at least an 8 out of 10, and no less; and the second is that it needs to have a strong presence at the Oscars. Shockingly, out of the five films nominated, only American Beauty and The Cider House Rules only won anything (winning a combined 7 out of 17 Oscars), while The Green Mile, The Insider, and The Sixth Sense all went home completely empty-handed. That meant ten other Oscars went to a bunch of different films that were nowhere near awards contention, which left me wondering, where did they all go to? Well, my friends, that honor goes to the technically groundbreaking The Matrix (winning 4 awards) and artistic masterpiece Topsy Turvy (winning two). Both films rated an 8 and a 10 out of 10 respectively. Meanwhile, the greatly overvalued Cider House Rules and Green Mile both rated a 6 and a 7 and didn't really deserve to be there. So, I swapped both of them out for the much more dominant Matrix and Topsy-Turvy. That just left us with The Insider, and I ultimately decided to value that film more for its direction and for its other technical categories than for its overall merits. It's a rock-solid film (a 9 out of 10 to be sure), but in the end, I opted for the just barely superior assemble piece in Magnolia. American Beauty got to stay and hold on to its Best Picture Statue thanks to its impeccable direction, and the terrific lead performances from Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning. And The Sixth Sense got to stay due to it being a huge hit with critics and at the box office, and although outclassed in most of its categories by other movies, there is still one all-important nomination that I felt this film should have won, but I'll get to it when I get to it.
Best Director: Other than Cider House Rules, all four men did impeccable jobs directing what were otherwise masterclasses of cinema, as Sam Mendes, Spike Jonze, Michael Mann, and M. Night Shyamalan all deserve to keep their nominations, with Mendes' Best Director win for American Beauty sticking. Oddly enough, none of my replacement nominees for Best Picture are gonna see their director nominated (although I was tempted to pick the Wachowskis as my fifth pick). Instead, I am opting to go with Stanley Kubrick for his swan song, Eyes Wide Shut. Say what you will about the quality of the film, but there is no way you can convince me that Kubrick didn't do an outstanding job directing the film, and I do believe that he more than deserves the fifth nomination.
Best Actor: Again, not much to change here, as I felt that the Best Actor win for Kevin Spacey was always gonna be the one to beat, and no one was gonna beat him, not even the likes of Russell Crowe or Richard Farnsworth, whose performances more than justified their nominations in the first place. Ultimately, I was torn between Sean Penn in Sweet and Lowdown versus Denzel Washington in The Hurricane on who to keep or who to replace with Jim Broadbent in Topsy-Turvy. Admittedly, the Broadbent nomination's more a political one in order to bolster its credibility as a Best Picture nominee here, but regardless, he still put on one hell of a performance in one of the most critically underrated films of the year. Ultimately, the nominee that I decided to drop was Denzel Washington for The Hurricane. Yes, in spite liking the guy more than Penn, admittedly, The Hurricane is more of an Oscar-bait role than a genuinely great film with a legendary performance behind it, and Woody Allen absolutely knew how to get his actors nominated for Academy Awards throughout the 1990's. Penn's performance truly was outstanding, and the film's really damn good in its own right, so he got to stay over Washington.
Best Actress: The biggest atrocity so far this year was that Annette Benning gave arguably the best performance of her career for this movie, and she lost out to a gimmicky Oscar-bait performance starring an actress who frankly wasn't even that good in the first place. So, I pretty much purged the old Best Actress lineup and made Annette Benning the Best Actress winner. I also kept Julianne Moore in for End of the Affair. Even though I didn't really care for the film, Julianne Moore was an absolute work horse in 1999, and she did give a genuinely great performance here. I also decided to add Francis O'Connor in Hillary Swank's spot for absolutely nailing her role in the Jane Austen adaptation of Mansfield Park--back when Jane Austen adaptations were actually really good--but only as a nominee. The final two spots--Janet McTeer in Tumbleweeds, and Meryl Streep in Music of the Hearts--I haven't seen them. But I've heart McTeer was a tour de force in her own right, and Meryl's Meryl, so maybe their nominations would still stand. But for now, I've decided to replace them with a couple of fun options--Heather Donahue for The Blair Witch Project (one of two Oscar nominations for the film, both in categories I felt defined the film's legacy), and one for Franka Potente in Run, Lola, Run. Both terrific films, both deserving of an Oscar nomination, at least for now.
Best Supporting Actor: Probably one of the few categories where I chose not to make any changes to the lineups, and that's in spite my active efforts to cull Cider House Rules and Green Mile from the Oscars. Let's face it; Michael Caine, Michael Clarke Duncan, Tom Cruise, Jude Law, and Haley Joel Osment all gave juggernaut performances, and absolutely no one was gonna overtake either of them. And I tried, too; Sam Rockwell in Galaxy Quest, Gary Cole in Office Space, Joe Potaliano in The Matrix, heck, I even considered Vin Diesel in The Iron Giant as a bit of a gimmick pick, but to no avail. Cain, Cruise, Duncan, Law, and Osment were just that dominant in 99. Having said all that, I will be taking Michael Caine's trophy and giving it to either Michael Clarke Duncan or Tom Cruise. Both gave the best performances of the year, but in the end, I got to give it to Tom Cruise. Magnolia is one of my alternate picks for Best Picture, and Tom Cruise was simply way overdue. More to the point, I do feel that Duncan and Osment's nominations were reward enough for what were otherwise break out roles for the both of them.
Best Supporting Actress: Let's be honest, here; Toni Collette for The Sixth Sense absolutely got robbed here. While Angelina Jolie's performance may have been electric for Girl, Interrupted (she was pretty much the only good thing about the film), in a year like 1999, we have to stick with the best performances from the best movies. And Best Supporting Actress was absolutely Collette's to win. Otherwise, I'm also keeping the Catherine Keener and Samantha Morton nominations, and I'm dropping Chloe Sevigny for Boys Don't Cry, similarly for the reasons I'm dropping the Jolie nomination. In their place, I will be nominating Julianne Moore for Magnolia (again, a work horse year for Moore, and once more, absolutely gives it her all in this big assemble piece), and Emmanuelle Seigner for The Ninth Gate (absolutely underrated gem, but not many categories in which the film could get in, with Supporting Actress being the most plausible).
Best Adapted Screenplay: Shockingly enough, not a single Adapted Screenplay had gotten into Best Picture. This says an awful lot about how stacked the lineup was, and how little I think of films like The Cider House Rules and The Green Mile, as I once again drop them from my alternate Oscars. The Insider was, however, the closest out of all of them into making it back into the Best Picture lineup, and since it's a great film and quite heavy on the dialogue, it gets my pick for Best Adapted Screenplay, here. Election and The Talented Mr. Ripley both get to keep their nominations. However, taking Cider House Rules and The Green Mile's place will be two huge cult favorites in Fight Club and Office Space. Fight Club, similar to The Insider, also just barely missed out on Best Picture, doomed by its otherwise inability to make it into other major categories or to even win anything. And since Office Space can't really make it into any other categories itself, and since it's a damn good film based on a comic, I was able to secure the fifth and final Adapted Screenplay nod.
Best Original Screenplay: For the first time, I can state that the entire lineup is absolutely flawless. As tempting as it may have been to potentially replace either of these films with The Matrix, I ultimately couldn't do it. American Beauty deserved it's Oscar win (thus securing the Grand Slam of Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress), and Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, The Sixth Sense, and Topsy-Turvy are all some of the best written films of the entire year. About as flawless a lineup as I've ever seen in any given category.
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Best Picture
Winner: American Beauty

Best Director
Winner: Sam Mendes (American Beauty)

Best Actor
Winner: Kevin Spacey (American Beauty)

Best Actress
Winner: Annette Benning (American Beauty)

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Tom Cruise (Magnolia)

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: The Insider

Best Original Screenplay
Winner: American Beauty

Best Original Score
Winner: Galaxy Quest

Best Original Song
Winner: "When Somebody Loved Me" (Toy Story 2)
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