Biggest Oscar Upsets

Hi, Everybody! Since that it is finally Oscar week, I am going to highlight the highs and lows from The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts & Sciences. In this post, I will be talking about the major disappointments and decisions that were made by the Academy and these aren't really the worst decisions ever made, it's just that it didn't meet the expectations from movie buffs. Alright, here's the list.

15. Bohemian Rhapsody wins Best Editing

Bohemian Rhapsody was an average music biopic if you didn't care about the facts of Freddie Mercury not present in the film such as Freddie's homosexuality and his AIDs diagnosis. But, that's beside the point, the film's editing wasn't exactly the best but it was somehow won an Academy Award. But you know what movies had the best editing in 2018? The Favourite and BlacKkKlansman!

14. Peter O' Toole not winning Best Actor

Peter O' Toole was one of the greatest actors of the 20th Century! Besides winning an Honorary Oscar, he has never won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in his life! His movies included Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter, The Ruling Class and Venus. While actors like Gregory Peck and Forest Whittaker deserved their gold statues, I just can't help wonder what could've been. He was a great actor, that's all I'm saying.

13. Roman Polanski wins Best Director

In 2003, Polanski won his long-awaited Oscar for directing The Pianist, a movie about a Polish-Jewish man who struggles to survive during WWII when his family gets taken to the camps. While the movie was admittedly great, Polanski legal troubles is what overshadows his respective filmography. In 1977, 3 years after Chinatown came out, he was in hot water when he was accused for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl and had to leave the United States and he continued to make movies afterwards. Polanski was obviously not invited back to the award ceremony but won anyway for some reason. Martin Scorsese was nominated for Gangs of New York and Pedro Almodóvar for Talk to Her. Just thinking about if either of them would've won.

12. The La La Land/Moonlight debacle

La La Land and Moonlight, both of the best movies of 2016 were nominated for Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards. Both of these movies were sure to get the top prize, mainly Moonlight due to how acclaimed it was at the time. What happened was that Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were final presenters of the night and Faye had the wrong envelope in her hand and said "La La Land" which was a surprise and one of the producers said that there was a mistake and Moonlight was declared the winner! It remains the most shocking moment in Oscar history. 

11. Olivia Colman wins Best Actress/No Oscars for Glenn.

No disrespect to Olivia Colman, she's a great actress! I mean just watch her in The Crown, Broadchurch, etc., she's great in everything! Queen Anne was one of her best roles, but did it really deserve an Oscar? Not really. Both Glenn Close and Lady Gaga killed it in 2018! Glenn has been nominated 8 times in her career! From The Big Chill to Fatal Attraction to The Wife. The latter could've been her time to shine! The Wife truly should off Glenn's range in just 30 min. of that movie. Speaking of Fatal Attraction, how did the Academy pick Cher over Alex freaking Forrest, one of the best villains in movie history! Man, this was more of an entry about Glenn Close than Olivia Colman, huh?

10. The King's Speech wins Best Picture

David Fincher's The Social Network was on the top of every best movie list in 2010! Quentin Tarantino even called it the best movie of the decade. But according to the Academy, the best movie was The King's Speech. While the movie was a solid biopic, and Colin Firth's performance was great, that movie does not compare to the greatness of The Social Network a movie that is the cultural zeitgeist of media culture. The direction, editing, Aaron Sorkin's expertly crafted screenplay and Jesse Eisenberg's against-type performance as one of the most controversial figures in the world made The Social Network the best movie of the decade. The Academy does love period pieces but I just wish that they would've made an exception, just once! 10 years later, David Fincher directed Mank while Tom Hooper did Cats.

9. Denzel Washington wins Best Actor

Training Day was a great film and Alonzo Harris is one of Denzel's best roles, but at the time, Russell Crowe was the ideal winner for Best Actor for his lead role in A Beautiful Mind as a Mathematics professor experiencing schizophrenia. However, Crowe had a reputation for having a bad temper and got into public altercations, the Academy didn't take it too kindly and voted for Denzel instead. Crowe was even parodied in a South Park episode in 2001.😂

8. Forrest Gump wins Best Picture

While Forrest Gump is a classic, it did have its problems like the character of Jenny. The Shawshank Redemption, not only the best movie that takes place in a prison, but one of the greatest movies ever made easily overshadows that movie. Shawshank received 7 nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for Morgan Freeman, Best Director for Frank Darabont and Best Adapted Screenplay. You'd figure that a movie as great as Shawshank should've won but it didn't.

7. Marisa Tomei wins Best Supporting Actress

In My Cousin Vinny, Marisa Tomei won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress against... Judy Davis, Vanessa Redgrave and Miranda Richardson! There was no chance that she was going to win. There was even a rumor that Jack Palance, the presenter at the time, read the wrong name. If you were an Academy Voter you could have easily picked Vanessa Redgrave for her performance in Howards End.

6. Bob Fosse wins Best Director

While Cabaret is a great movie, it doesn't even come close to the crime classic, The Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola easily could've won that prize but Bob Fosse took home the gold instead. Luckily, gold ol' Frank won Best Director for Godfather Part II against Roman Polanski.

5. Crash wins Best Picture

Crash easily comes to mind when you think of Worst "Best Picture" movie. In 2006, the movie won Best Picture against an even better movie Brokeback Mountain, a movie with LGBT themes and one of the best movie couples in film history in the form of Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. The Hollywood Reporter asked Academy voters to recast their original vote and Brokeback Mountain came out on top. 

4. Dances with Wolves wins Best Picture

While the masterpiece, Raging Bull didn't win Best Picture a decade prior, that award went to Robert Redford's directorial movie, Ordinary People. It was expected that the Academy had to make it up to Scorsese but... they didn't! GoodFellas easily topps Raging Bull, making it Marty's best movie of his career and THE gangster flick. The Academy picked Dances with Wolves as the winner, which is a White savior movie mind you. 16 years later, Martin finally won his Oscar for directing The Departed.

3. How Green Was My Valley wins Best Picture

Citizen Kane is highly regarded as the greatest movie ever made! Surely, the Academy would vote that movie for Best Picture, right? WRONG! That award went to How Green Was My Valley! The Maltese Falcon, considered the Grandaddy of Film noir also lost to How Green Was My Valley. 

2.  Al Pacino wins Best Actor

Al Pacino is one of the best actors of all time! While it's not that Al winning Best Actor a bad choice, it's that the role that he played that he won for. In the movie, Scent of a Woman, he plays a blind war veteran and that's about it. He was nominated for The Godfather, Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico. His iconic portrayal of Michael Corleone easily would've won him the gold, but that award went to Joel Grey in 1973, Jack Lemmon in 1974 and Art Carney in 1975. In 1993, Al won against Denzel, who famously played Malcolm X and Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven. 

Dishonorable Mentions:

- The Greatest Show on Earth wins Best Picture

What should've won: High Noon

- The Great Gatsby wins Best Production Design

What should've won: American Hustle or Her

- Judy Holliday wins Best Actress

Who should've won: Bette Davis or Gloria Swanson

- Green Book wins Best Picture

What should've won: BlacKkKlansman or Roma

- Renée Zellweger wins Best Actress

Who should've won: Scarlett Johansson or Saiorse Ronan

- Helen Hunt wins Best Actress

Who should've won: Kate Winslet

- Gwyneth Paltrow wins Best Actress

Who should've won: Cate Blanchett

1. Shakespeare in Love wins Best Picture

This one is the most controversial Best Picture winner in award history!! 1998 was the year of Saving Private Ryan, a war movie that takes place during D-Day. From the opening sequence, this was a jaw-dropping movie unlike anything in cinema at the time that does not hold back. Steven Spielberg won Best Director in 1999 but the movie itself did not win Best Picture, that award went to a movie about William Shakespeare of all things. It remains the Academy's most egregious mistake ever. 

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