Oscar Commentary 2017: Ranking the Best Picture Winners (2007-2016)

There’s always a strong debate on whether the Oscars are truly relevant in showcasing the overall quality of a film, particularly with the Best Picture winner. This is especially true in recent years, as many have called the Academy’s recent choices “safe”. We could argue that all day, but I’d like to think that they’re still at least picking good movies, even if some of them haven’t aged well. With that being said, let’s take a look at the last ten movies to win Best Picture and see which ones have stood the test of time or faded away from public consciousness. I will also briefly leave my pick on what should have won that year out of the nominated films, so you won’t see mentions of such films as The Dark Knight or Drive, as they were not nominated. If you guys like it, I’ll see about doing this again next year with the upcoming Best Picture winner in mind. Until then, the list is as follows:

10. The King’s Speech – This is the very definition of an inspirational film, and I do mean that in the best way. Colin Firth (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) gives the performance of his career as King George VI, finding all the best places to insert Bertie’s signature stammer in the screenplay. Under the hands of a more gutsy director, this could have been a true tour-de-force film that deserved to win Best Picture. But under the direction of Tom Hooper (Les Misérables), it just feels rather safe. However, despite it being at the bottom of my list, this is by no means a bad movie, and it still holds a special place in my heart as one of the tools I used to overcome my own stammer. Again, the very definition of an inspirational film, just not much beyond that.

Should have won: The Social Network

9. The Artist – Another safe movie, but there is a significant difference between The Artist and The King’s Speech, and that difference is what ultimately resulted in the former ranking higher on this list. Instead of being safe but inspirational like The King’s Speech, The Artist lacks in inspiration but makes up for it by actually taking advantage of its craft. Okay, it doesn’t do that much, but this almost-completely silent film does have a couple jarring scenes with sound that are used to great effect, each showing the turmoil and development of its protagonist. The end result may not have been spectacular, but the ambition is definitely there. Sometimes, that’s enough to get you a leg up over someone else.

Should have won: Hugo

8. Spotlight – Most people might’ve forgotten that this movie won Best Picture. While that may be mostly because it came on the heels of Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception) finally winning an Oscar, I think part of the reason is how stale and unmoving it is. In some ways, that’s the film’s biggest weakness, as it’s hard to get invested in a story and characters when the story and characters themselves aren’t invested in the story and characters. But that may also be its biggest strength, as one of the major themes of the film is that the pedophile priests were in plain sight and everybody knew about them, but for one reason or another they were too afraid to say anything. Whichever way you look at it, this is definitely a film that lends itself to airing on TV, and I guess someone had the bright idea that it was meant for bigger things.

Should have won: The Revenant

7. Argo – This is the only reason I still consider Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri to be a prominent Best Picture contender this year, because very few movies have won Best Picture without even being nominated for Best Director. While many may attribute this to the film being about Hollywood swooping in and saving the day, let’s not forget that this is still a well-made thriller with some genuinely suspenseful sequences, particularly the opening raid on the American Embassy in Iran and a marketplace tour towards the end of the second act. My only real issue is that the supporting cast isn’t terribly memorable, and they’re the people who we’re supposed to care about whether or not they’re rescued. That’s why it’s not higher on this list, but it’s still worth a viewing or two nonetheless.

Should have won: Life of Pi

6. Birdman – Yet another film about Hollywood, though this one does take a bit of a stab at it. The theme of the film seems to be rebellion, and this is mostly shown through Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) and his daughter Sam (Emma Stone), the latter rebelling against her father who is rebelling against Hollywood and superhero films, each having provided a lot for the well-being of those under them in this rebel cycle. Basically, everybody’s biting the hand that feeds them, but the film also tries to show how that hand is also choking them, which makes us ask if either action is ever justified. The long-take (or illusion thereof) by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity) further illustrates this rebellion against the myriads of quick cuts seen in most superhero movies, and major props to the production designers for keeping the sets filled with something interesting to look at the entire time. While it may not soar like its title character, its wings are still powerful enough to get airborne.

Should have won: Boyhood

5. 12 Years a Slave – You all knew we were gonna get to this one sooner or later. You don’t want to talk about it, just like you didn’t want it to win. Well, I’m with you, but I’m the one writing this blog so we’re gonna talk about it anyway. This is a cold and unforgiving portrait of slavery in pre-Civil War America, even more so when Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) had tasted freedom his whole life. As painful as it is to watch, a lot of that is thanks to the actors and how much range they bring to their performances, particularly Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Martian) and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds). They prove that the calmest scenes can be just as unsettling as anything else when the setting is this relentlessly cruel. There, now that we’re done, we can be happy, right?

Should have won: The Wolf of Wall Street

4. Moonlight – It’s no mistake, Moonlight just barely missed out on the top three. As much as anyone can relate to this story, especially as someone who spent years living in and exploring South Florida, much of this film’s longevity will be because of the manner in which it was presented with the Best Picture Oscar. But while it may be too artsy for casual viewers’ tastes, it’s still a great film that tells a sprawling epic on an intimate scale. If you’ve been to South Beach, you immediately recognize it when one of the film’s key scenes begins there, even though it may look like just any other beach. It’s a film about a journey, which is what most movies are anyway, but this journey is unique to the character of Chiron and unique throughout cinema, and somehow we all saw ourselves in this journey. And that is no mistake.

Should have won: La La Land

3. No Country for Old Men – Like Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), we’re starting to creep into darker territory here, and also where the films become more deserving of a Best Picture win. While I would not have voted for it to win, this is still a fantastic effort by the then-overdue Coen Brothers (True Grit), who infused their signature wit into a lawless and desolate wasteland that makes the Old West look like a rompin’ good time. All of the actors give it their all, but it really is Javier Bardem (Skyfall) who steals the show and everything else out from under everyone. It’s the kind of movie that slowly stalks you after you’re done watching it and appears in your thoughts when you least expect it, even though you’ve been anticipating its arrival the whole time.

Should have won: There Will Be Blood

2. Slumdog Millionaire – If we don’t count the two or three or four movies that should’ve been nominated for Best Picture that year but weren’t, the Academy made the right choice picking this movie. Even if we do count them, there’s still that argument to be made. Danny Boyle (127 Hours) doesn’t shy away from showing the darker side of the slums in India, but at the same time he borrows a few tactics from Bollywood filmmaking to craft this love story that spans across time, distance, and game shows. There are plenty of dark moments, but it’s ultimately satisfying at the end, and the music by A. R. Rahman (Lagaan) fits the mood throughout the entire film. It’s a feel good movie that gives you every reason and desire to feel good. Whether you think it’s outclassed or not, it’s still one for the ages.

Should have won: Slumdog Millionaire

1. The Hurt Locker – Finally at the top, we come to one of the best and most challenging war films of the 21st Century, one whose screenplay runs with the traditional hero’s journey but then flips it on its head. Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) understood what this script was going for, and had the film shot with as much realism in order to normalize the experience of war to the audience, which is exactly the perspective we need to be in to understand the decisions made by the protagonist. For him, war is the normal world, and this is important in understanding the character and the culture we live in where we have become so desensitized to war and violence that we can’t get enough of it, almost like an addiction that we rush back to every chance we get. It’s a haunting and realistically fresh take on familiar themes and stories, but that makes it all the better because of it, and that’s why it’s the best Best Picture winner of the last decade.

Should have won: The Hurt Locker

So what have we learned? Aside from a few outliers, the safe films did drift towards the bottom of the list, while the upper half was dominated by darker films. Even when we had moments of happiness in the top half or melancholy in the bottom half, it was still balanced out (and then some) by the dominating emotion of the film. But the better films are generally more challenging, whether they challenge the audience or the filmmaking craft. Having said that, all of these films are still worth a watch. Maybe you’ll get something out of them, maybe you won’t. They all seemed to have resonated with someone if they managed to win the title of Best Picture.

Oscar Commentary 2017: Roger Deakins

Roger Deakins prepares yet another iconic shot.

If you’re a film buff like I am, you’ve probably heard the name Roger Deakins before. Even if you haven’t, chances are you’ve seen his cinematography in films like The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, and Skyfall. As one of the best and most well-known DP’s (director of photography) in the filmmaking business, it’s easy to see why he’s been nominated for fourteen Academy Awards for Best Cinematography. But like many great artists, he has continued contributing to hit after hit after hit without ever winning an Oscar. This is not uncommon in Hollywood. Many great directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese went through most of their careers and several nominations without winning anything, and the same can be said for actors like Leonardo DiCaprio. So when the time has come and Deakins finally has a shot at winning an Oscar for his stellar work on Blade Runner 2049, we must ask the same question we think but are too afraid to ask when every great artist gets to this point: does he deserve it?

Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) sees the car in front of her, but Roger Deakins sees the whole picture in Fargo.

Now since Roger Deakins has earned fourteen Oscar nominations to date, there have been fourteen chances so far for him to win. I’m going to examine five or six of those examples and figure out if he has deserved to win before, and if he deserves to win now. The most important thing to remember about the Oscars is that whether the politics come into play or not, it’s a competitive race. But it’s unique among competitive races in that you’re not actively playing against anyone. It’s kinda like figure skating in that sense. You can’t really one-up your opponent unless you pull a Tonya Harding, but given the nature of film production that’s almost impossible to do when you get this close to the awards season and the movies have already been released. You can give the performance of your career or craft the most amazing shots you’ve ever composed, but none of that matters if someone else does it even a little better. Voting statistics are never released, so it’s impossible to know for sure how close Deakins or anyone has come to winning in the past. But we can compare his work to the actual winners, and then we’ll see who actually deserved to win that year.

Roger Deakins captures Andy Dufresne’s (Tim Robbins) freedom in The Shawshank Redemption.

For this first example, we’ll go back to the beginning of Deakins’ streak with the Academy: The Shawshank Redemption. This is a movie that was robbed of nearly every Oscar it was nominated for, and even a few where it was left out of the race completely. But one of the things that helped it stand the test of time so well was Deakins’ cinematography. There are so many iconic shots throughout this movie that it’s hard to keep track of them all. But more than that, he understands what the audience would think to look at, and then highlights that while keeping important plot elements visible enough to be seen, but not as the main focus of the shot until they come back later. The winner that year was Legends of the Fall. Be honest, have you even heard of that movie? Has it lasted in the public eye? Has it played on TV for over two decades like The Shawshank Redemption? This is a movie that bombed at the box office and missed out completely in the Oscar race, but somehow managed to find an audience and stake its claim as one of the greatest movies of all time. Roger Deakins played a huge part in that, and absolutely should’ve won an Oscar here.

Through Roger Deakins’ lens, we see a dead body in the opening shot of True Grit.

But while he peaked early, he still kept doing great work. His collaborations with Joel and Ethan Coen have found him a lot of success in the Oscar race, particularly with films like Fargo and True Grit. His wide shots took full advantage of the lighting and atmosphere surrounding the actors, creating grim environments that you want to dive deeper into and explore. Fargo lost to The English Patient, and while we all have many passionate things to say about that movie, it was also beautifully shot. Should it have beat Fargo for cinematography? That’s debatable, but it was clearly a closer race in my mind than his previous loss. True Grit lost to Wally Pfister’s work on Inception. Are we really gonna argue with this one? Pfister made the impossible look possible, even if only in dreams. Despite the extensive visual effects used in that movie, the VFX artists still had wonderfully inventive shots to work with.

Only Roger Deakins knows exactly where Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) is in No Country for Old Men.

But the biggest one to many people seems to be No Country for Old Men, which lost to There Will Be Blood. To be honest, I vote for Robert Elswit on this one, especially if you’ve seen the opening scenes of his film. The camerawork has to play a huge part in telling the story since it takes so long for anyone to say a word in this movie, and yet thanks to him and Daniel Day-Lewis, we understand everything that’s going on in Daniel Plainview’s mind. But I don’t think that’s why Deakins lost this one. I think he lost because he had another film in the race that year: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Because he had two films in the race, he likely split votes with himself, and that could’ve put even Atonement ahead of him. Remember, it’s a competition. And while you can’t one-up your opponent, you can very easily sabotage yourself by putting too many credits in the race.

James Bond (Daniel Craig) fights what he could have been and what he is through Roger Deakins’ cinematography in Skyfall.

But one of the things we can infer so far is that after Fargo, other DP’s were showing up more than he was. He had many nominations in between, but they lost to films like Titanic, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and Slumdog Millionaire. These are some of the examples where his work was not as memorable compared to the competition. But that all changed when he joined the crew for Skyfall. As an action film, the expectations were for fast-paced editing and camerawork that was hard to make out, but Deakins brought artistry and fluidity to the shots. Yes, some of the edits were quick, but it was always going from one steady shot to another, and Deakins’ mastery of the camera was still present in all of them. At first glance, it seemed like this would finally be his year, and I would’ve loved to see that happen. But then Claudio Miranda took it home for his work on Life of Pi, which is kinda like Inception in terms of being very reliant on visual effects, but at the same time they also had beautiful shots to work with. While I might prefer Skyfall‘s cinematography, it’s understandable to see how Deakins lost this one.

Joi (Ana de Armas) bestows love on K (Ryan Gosling) just as the Academy may bestow love upon Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049.

So now we come to the present. After losing the Oscar to Emmanuel Lubezki three times in a row (Gravity, Birdman, The Revenant), Roger Deakins is now the frontrunner to win Best Cinematography for Blade Runner 2049. For the most part, his competition isn’t that noteworthy, but he is once again up against a Christopher Nolan film: Dunkirk. There are many technical aspects to this film that, if even a hair off, would’ve brought the overall product down immensely. But they all work together in a truly experiential harmony, starting with Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography. Whether you feel like you’re trapped on the beach or inside a Navy ship, the camerawork builds constant suspense throughout the entire runtime and never lets up. Roger Deakins brought us back to the world of Blade Runner, and even expanding on the world thanks to modern camera technology. But unlike Skyfall where he brought something new to the franchise, all he did was expand on the work of Jordan Cronenweth, the DP for the original Blade Runner. So while Deakins probably will take home an Oscar next month after fourteen nominations, but does he deserve it over Dunkirk?

The Dude (Jeff Bridges) does not abide The Big Lebowski missing out on a Best Cinematography nomination for Roger Deakins.

If Roger Deakins did win the Oscar, would it be his win? Or would it be more akin to an Honorary Academy Award celebrating his entire body of work? Whatever the case may be, this is a guy who genuinely deserves an Oscar for something. And while I don’t think this should be his year, he will definitely have at least one on his shelf before he’s done.