The 50 Best Film Ensembles with Adam Spector: Part I

What makes a great ensemble? A small slice of awards season is focused on a best ensemble award (which is gravely misunderstood) but there’s not a lot of actual discussion on ensembles which is why after mulling over a few ideas to explore this topic (there’s a poll I’ve been running as well), and settling on a cross-blogging project with my friend Adam Spector of Adam’s Rib. We each independently listed our fifty favorite film ensembles and will have four rounds of discussion as we reveal our lists from bottom to top. Over the course of the series, the hope is to point out surreptitious strokes in casting; explore the way films are enhanced by actors on the bench; appreciate how certain groups of actors bounce off each other in a way to be more than the sum of their parts; and remember how certain actors in the background enhance our favorite films. In other words, we'll discover what a great ensemble is as we go along:

UPDATE: Part II here, Part III is here and here
Adam's list 31-50
31.   Juno (2007) 32.   Day for Night (1973) 33.   Citizen Kane (1941) 34.   Grand Hotel (1932) 35.   Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) 36.   Murder on the Orient Express (1974) 37.   Bonnie and Clyde (1969) 38.   Love Actually (2003) 39.   Prairie Home Companion (2006) 40.   Slacker (1991)  41.   Breaking Away (1978) 42.   Stand by Me (1986) 43.   The Princess Bride (1987) 44.   City of God  (2002) 45.   LA Confidential (1997) 46.   Big Lebowski (1998) 47.   Office Space  (1999) 48.   Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) 49.   One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 50. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Orrin's Reaction:

Citizen Kane is obviously a masterpiece, but I feel like Magneficient Ambersons is the better ensemble. While Citizen Kane pretty much highlights a  single great performance, Magnificent Ambersons is a much more even-keeled piece and brings stars such as Anne Baxter and Tim Holt on board. It also allows Agnes Moorehead and Joseph Cotten more screen time and those guys are both kind of wasted in Citizen Kane. For me, Cotten (a native Virginian! 804 represent!) is the man who symbolized his era more than Welles as an actor. 

If I had to choose a Coen Brothers film, Fargo would take the cake over Big Lebowski. It was the more respected film before sun-dried West Coast pot aficionados (and wannabes alike) made this film not just a cult classic but a cult in its own right. In terms of the ensemble, the oddball criminal roles of Jerry Lundegaard and Carl Showalter feel like roles that Steve Buscemi and William H. Macy (neither conventionally good looking guys) are born to play and Frances McDormand is simply enormous in this Oscar-winning role (deservedly so). 

On the other hand, it's nice to see Philip Seymour Hoffman pop up during that period in his filmography where he could do no wrong with his script choices and if you like seeing John Goodman go over the top, it will never get better than this. I concede that these performances all work and if the comedy is as sweet for you as it is for the Lebowski heads, then this film works based on the performances, but I wonder if you're not being too caught up in the cult status of the film when comparing this to other Coen brothers films.

It's been too long since I've seen The Princess Bride (around 5th grade) but I agree it's a good comic choice when you consider physicality: There are a lot of different textures of comic actors with different stylings and the way they cast for size (If I'm not mistaken, there's a giant character in there as well as some very scrawny characters) is pretty effective in contrast. That Cary Elwes didn't have much of a career after this, makes his performances here more iconic as he's so well cast as an Errol Flynn type. 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one that I have on my list as well. How can you not? The leads both won well-deserved Oscars so it's hard to argue against them, and the supporting class includes Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd in roles that really seem very un-DeVito and un-Christopher-Lloyd which takes on more meaning because I don't think audiences in 1975 had a way of knowing that DeVito and Lloyd would both establish strong screen personas: the former as a seedy (sometimes curmudgeonly) lowlife, and the latter as a wide-eyed crazy guy. And then Brad Dourif is really something else here.

Juno might be there if I expanded the list although I have trouble praising Michael Cera in anything. In particular, the way people bounce off each other is interesting. The uber-hip Ellen Page character contrasts extremely well against the famously gruff J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney (and by the way, thank you for spelling out that name so I don't have to look it up) fits perfectly as a pragmatic middle ground in an understated role. Similarly, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are roughly the same age and have generally played hippish yuppie types but there's a tension between them and their ultimate mismatch grows evident. They are a parallel to the Janney-Simmons pairing on the surface but a theme her is that relationships aren't just about surface-level matches (hence, the failed marriage).

Vanity Fair

LA Confidential is one I blanked out on but it's certainly worthy of inclusion. Guy Pierce, Russell Crowe, and Kevin Spacey play the three leads which is a pretty solid get (on two of those three fronts). Russell Crowe was on the verge of becoming the next big thing and Kevin Spacey was already at that stage. Character actor James Cromwell really is an extremely unlikely villain. And DeVito again! Ironically, I can barely remember what Oscar winner Kim Basinger did in this movie.

I never really thought abut Office Space until you bought it up but it certainly does have a multi-faceted and diverse  (if you count actor Ajay Naidu who seems to be pigeon-holed pretty badly into Indian roles) ensemble and David Hermann, who was a pretty solid sketch actor on the oft-maligned sketch series MadTV has one of his few visible roles as "Michael Bolton" there.  I was also not particularly impressed with Jen Aniston. Sure she's capable in the same way that successful sitcom actresses are when plopped on a marquee, but considering she showed even more depth and really could act in The Good Girl three years later. Retroactively, it makes her performance here look like Jen Aniston in her period of untapped potential. 

 

City of God is a good choice because casting child actors and unknowns is always impressive (although I can't speak to how well-known these actors were to the Brazilian film industry when director Fernando Meirelles cast them). It's similar to Mel Gibson's commendable way of assembling the cast of Apocalypto.

Orrin's List 31-50:

31. American Graffiti (1973) 32. Almost Famous (2000) 33. The Wild Bunch (1969) 34. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947) 35. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) 36. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 37. Django Unchained (2012) 38. The Player (1992) 39. Five Easy Pieces (1970) 40. Road to Perdition (2002) 41. Ball of Fire (1941) 42. Manchurian Candidate (1962) 43. 12 Years a Slave (2013) 44. Anchorman (2004) 45. The Station Agent (2003) 46. 12 Angry Men (1957) 47. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) 48. The Birdcage (1996) 49. Salt of the Earth (1953) 50. Dreamgirls (2006)

Adam's Response:

First I had to define what a great ensemble was.  For me it’s a group of actors where many of them make an impression, from the leads, to the supporting players to the ones that you might only have for one scene. 

Comparing our lists, it’s clear that Robert Altman immediately jumps to mind.  I had Prairie Home Companion and you had The Player.  I have a couple of his other films higher on my list, and could have had more if we expanded. That’s fitting for a man known for his ensemble casting.  In the 70s, that’s because he cultivated a cast stock company of actors he discovered.   In the 90s it was also because stars would take well below their usual salary to work with him.   I highly recommend Robert Altman: The Oral Biography by Mitchell Zuckoff.  The book quotes actors describing why they were drawn to Altman and his projects.  It also describes how Altman created a collaborative environment on the set where everyone felt valued.  It’s fitting that the Independent Spirit Awards named their cast award (that includes the cast, director, and casting director) after Altman. 

If you blanked on LA Confidential I did the same with 12 Angry Men.  It was Sidney Lumet’s first film and the only one Henry Fonda produced.  Going in Lee J. Cobb was the only other known star in the film besides Fonda.  But Lumet had worked in live television, and surrounded Fonda with talent.  Some of them were veteran character actors like Martin Balsam and Ed Begley, who later won an Oscar for Sweet Bird of Youth [editorial note: Martin Balsam also won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for A Thousand Clowns].  Others were up-and-coming younger actors, who went on to have impressive careers, such as Jack Warden and Jack Klugman.   The actors gelled together, and with Lumet’s increasingly claustrophobic shooting, made the film just as riveting now as it was 60 years ago.  The Wild Bunch is another I should have included.  Holden and Borgnine were the stars, but it also helped propel supporting players Warren Oates and Ben Johnson to starring roles in the 70s. 

Ball of Fire is too often overlooked, but it shouldn’t be with Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, a young Dana Andrews and a fine supporting cast.  Road to Perdition is a bit uneven as a film, but it does have Paul Newman in his last great film role along with Tom Hanks, Jude Law, the always dependable Stanley Tucci, and of course Daniel Craig, showing his range four years before he became Bond.   

We both included comedies in our picks, and you’ll continue to see them in my selections.  As we have discussed in the Cinema Lounge, comedy skill often isn’t considered “serious acting” but actors themselves will tell you how hard it is.  Anchorman is an excellent choice.  Will Ferrell is always good at picking projects he doesn’t have to get all of the laughs.  The fight scene alone makes this one deserving, with Tim Robbins as the PBS anchor (“No commercials,no mercy.”) Luke Wilson, and Ben Stiller.   

Fargo, No Country for Old Men, O Brother Where Art Thou? or countless other Coen Brothers films are also terrific choices, but that does not take away from the stellar ensemble work in Lebowski.  Jeff Bridges and John Goodman are the standouts, but the film gives so many other fun performances for them to play off of, from Peter Stomare and his nihilists, Julianne Moore in her Viking outfit, David Huddleston as the other Lebowski, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the slimy yes man, and of course John Turturro as “The Jesus.”  The more you go back to rewatch the films the more these other actors stand out.  Speaking of the late, great Hoffman kudos for including Almost Famous.  You’ll see that on my list later, 

Regarding Juno, I view Cera as a plus for this particular type of role, just as he was for Superbad.  Plus Juno, besides Page in the lead role, had Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner and the two of my favorites, Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons. 

Citizen Kane is much more than Orson Welles, cast-wise.  See it again, and watch how many of the other players stand out, even those that have limited screen time.   Everett Sloane, playing Bernstein, has a poignant scene as he describes a woman he never saw again but whose image is burned in his memory.  Cotten did not have as large a part as he did in Ambersons but he effectively serves as an audience surrogate as his character gradually grows disillusioned with Kane.  Dorothy Comingore is heartbreaking as the tragically untalented opera singer, while George Coulouris is hilarious as the textbook definition of an uptight banker. 

I never saw Salt of the Earth, but will look for it now. The only one on your list that I question is Five Easy Pieces. Nicholson had one of his iconic turns, but no one else really stood out.

Getty Images

Aside from its groundbreaking role in film history, Bonnie and Clyde boasts an abundance of talent.  Beatty and Dunaway (now also linked due to the Oscars mishap 50 year later) both give you the charisma and depth you expect from your stars.  Estelle Parsons deservedly won an Oscar for her turn as Clyde’s sister-in-law.  The film put Gene Hackman on the map and brought notice to a then little-known stage actor named Gene Wilder.   Michael J. Pollard also garnered an Oscar nomination as CW Moss, another member of the Barrow gang, and Dub Taylor is equally good as Moss’s father.   This brings me back to how I define an ensemble in the first place, where many actors play their part in making a great movie.  It’s the big names we notice at first, but one of the joys in going back and seeing these films again is experiencing the smaller, but no less crucial performances. 

Orrin: How to define a great ensemble is coming to me as I mill through this exercise.

There's a film with a deep bench supporting its stars like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or films by the Coen Brothers or Frank Capra which tend to surround stars with great talent. Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano, Alfre Woodward and Benedict Cumberbatch are all so memorable in 12 Years a Slave you forget Brad Pitt is there. The flipside of that is a film like Road to Perdition where Daniel Craig, Stanley Tucci and Jude Law blend so seamlessly with such great performances that you hardly notice they're there. I only discovered the cast had such great actors in it retroactively, and of course this is (with the exception of Captain Phillips) the only time in the past 15 years or so that Tom Hanks has done something exciting.  

There are films which tend to deflect star power into something where a lot of people have a chance to shine like a Robert Altman film (The Player wouldn't fall into this as Tim Robbins gives such an enormous performances, but the rest of his films do), Grand Hotel  or Little Miss Sunshine. 12 Angry Men technically has Fonda as a lead but it's really everyone's film in a way. It's also a film in which one could argue that Ed Begley gives the most commanding performance.  

There's also great chemistry and the way certain stars bounce off each other. 

It's in this spirit that I selected Five Easy Pieces: To me the most striking contrast is between Susan Anspach and Karen Black. These two beautiful women of different classes represent entirely different things to Bobby and his struggle over which class he belongs in. I also like that many of the characters outside the two female leads seem to effortlessly fall into lower class or upper crust.

I also tried to highlight casting choices that are innovative or bold.  My pick Dreamgirls featured three big gambles among its five main principles: Beyoncee, Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy and they were all extraordinarily successful. I agree that the three leads of Ball of Fire are great but I particularly like how they managed to cast seven actors of the older generation that meshed so well as the seven professors (which Hawks intended to be an allegory of the Seven Dwarves).

As for Salt of the Earth, the film was directed by blacklisted director Herbert Beiberman and a blacklisted screenwriter in 1953 which naturally meant it had no chance of getting distributed or funded by the studios it only played in 13 theaters despite great reviews. The film, about a mining strike, was co-produced with the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers and had only two union actors, Will Geer and Mexican Rusaura Revueltas who was deported mid-production. The rest of the cast was miners and locals (all of whom are surprisingly competent) and some of them were invited to review the dailies for accuracy and help out with production in other ways.

To close out this round, let me ask you one last question about a film I've never even heard of before: Slackers. I see muiltiple titles on it for IMDB and have never heard of such a film, so please fill me in.

Adam: I will need to find Salt of the Earth.  That had to have taken courage to make that film during the height of McCarthyism.   Since you enjoyed that, please see Matewan which I could have easily included on my list.  Directed by indie stalwart John Sayles, it’s also about a mining strike, this one in 1920s West Virginia.  

You asked about Slacker.  It’s the film that put writer-director Richard Linklater (whose work you will see again on my list) on the map.  He follows a series of strange people in Austin, going from one person to another.  It’s different from an Altman type of piece because there’s no larger story, and the film, for the most part, does not go back to characters it leaves.   These include an anarchist, a conspiracy theorist and a young woman trying to sell what she claims is Madonna’s pap smear.  The actors were unknown then and remain so 26 years later.  But each one of them present a vivid, fleshed out person who you enjoy spending a few minutes with.  You get a brief glimpse into their world and then move on to the next one.

20 best performances of the decade that got no oscar buzz

A message board post I found myself going to town on at a message board. Please share your favorites as well. Please also check out 20 Great Actor/Director Pairings. This post has been published at gunaxin.com so as a way to ensure all traffic goes there, much of this page will be abbreviate and duplicate content will be eliminated:

Adrien Brody, Hollywoodland

Angela Bassett, Sunshine State

Amara Rakam-Darjeeling Linmited-She's very interesting as a steward aboard an Indian train who has a brief fling on a train with the protagonist's younger brother-a damaged boy who was probably never in a fit enough to enter into a relationship anyways.

Brendan Gleason, In Bruges (he did get a Golden Nom for best comedy, I concede, so he was the most acknowledged person on this list)-In this film where no character is exactly as stereotypes would play out, Gleason plays a hitman who's an art and history buff and more importantly, someone with a far better conscious than a man of his profession can tolerate. He wrestles with his consciousness endlessly and is the only beacon of hope for his partner who accidentally shot an innocent child and can't cope with the guilt.

Denzel Washington, Manchurian Candidate

Ed Harris, Radio-Like Ryan Gosling for Half-Nelson or Robin Williams for Dead Poets Society this is one of those inspirational parts of teacher/mentor that can easily get lost in the shuffle if the film's marketing presented the story as overly schmaltzy. I found a much more nuanced performance than I was expecting: Similar to Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side.

Forest Whitaker-Great Debaters-Obviously, with the solid material, the heavy themes, and the usual caliber of Whitaker as an actor and Denzel Washington as a director, you'd expect something great, but this was beyond what I expected. In Whitaker's character, we see a powerful juxtaposition in the eyes of his son between a most respected figure in the world of academia and a man stripped of his dignity by uneducated white farmers before the era of Civil Rights. Ultimately, he comes across as a father who's kids have every reason to be proud of him and Whitaker carries that juxtaposition well.

Gabriel Garcia Bernal, Blindness-The dystopic film about a massive epidemic that causes blindness was gritty and realistic. It was shot in a documentary style and that gave more authenticity to the film's characters and in the case of Bernal, made the villain easily scarier.

Gwenyth Paltrow, Royal Tenenbaums: What a massive surprise: The glamorous Oscar winner and Hollywood product plays eccentric, loopy and depressed: It's a part more for Ally Sheedy or Parker Posey, but Paltrow owned it.

Jude Law-Road to Perdition

Judy Greer, Adaptation-Cute as a button, this perky waitress only has a couple scenes but is priceless as a study of how attraction can quickly turn to sudden awkwardness.

Kate Beckinsdale-The Aviator-Cate Blanchett at Katherine Hepburn was just an impression. She was only interesting as far as the audience saying "doesn't she nail Hepburn?" Beckinsdale played someone who was interesting to watch on screen regardless of whether it was based on a historic character: A self-assured Holywood starlett who was Howard Hughes' match. If I had my choice of who I'd rather see a movie about, it would be Beckinsdale's character.

Paul Giamatti-Lady in the Water-Not necessarily a good movie, but that does nothing to take away from Giamatti's performance: It's got layers of subtext (he's a wounded soul), it's got physicality (he has a distinctive stutter), it's got dramatic moments, and it's got dynamicism (he grows to believe in himself throughout the movie).

Penelope Cruz-Vanilla Sky: She was just such a bundle of joy. Cameron Crowe is a romantic who writes movies about the girls he had distant crushes on in high school, so sometimes the women in his films like Penny Lane are fantasies. Still, she's enticing here

Robert Downey Jr-Soloist: An inspiring film with an inspiring performance at the center. Downey Junior, who's been great in everything lately, doesn't go for the big tear jerking moments but is very nuanced and subtle.

Russell Crowe, 3:10 to Yuma: Christain Bale also belongs here because the film's success has as much to do with the relationship between the two men as it does anything else. Crowe is just a Western bad guy but he delivers maxims and responses to his captor like a classically trained actor in a Shakespeare film, and he just about pulls it off.

Tea Leoni-Spanglish

Tom Hanks-Catch Me If You Can

Tom Hanks-The Ladykillers-I'm not saying I love every Tom Hanks performance, but he was the only bright spot on an otherwise drab film. He just has a knack for comedy and reacts to everything around him with assuredness even though things are most certainly not ok and his band of cohorts are all subpar.

William H Macy-Bobby

Definitive Top Ten List of 2002

This is again, taking a set of criteria and applying it to a certain year. Here's my take on 2002, discuss amongst yourselves

2002:

1. Chicago, Rob Marshall

-Won best picture

-Actors, directors considered locks and got a screenplay nom

-Won art direction awards

-Considered more successful mainstream improvement to Chicago

2. Pianist, Roman Polanski

-Won screenplay, actor and director awards despite Polanski’s PR problems

-Untouchable for critics to knock

-Won New York film critics award

3. Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsesee

-Hailed by Ebert as #1

-Had most nominations

-Had some supporters who felt it was Scorsesee’s return to form

-Oscar buzz for Sorsesee as best director

4. The Hours, Tom Daldry

-Won drama award but considered just a little bit too oscar-buzzy

-Won actress award and had 3 solid performances all oscar worthy

-Adaptation nomination

-NBR Review award

5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Peter Jackson

-Nominated for best picture

6. Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes

-EW Predicted it in final 5

-Won snub poll of 6^th contender

-Named as #1 movie of the year by Lisa Schwarzbum

-Many top 10 accolades

-Positioned Julianne Moore for a win and best screenplay award for a win

7. About Schmidt, Alexander Payne

-Alexander Payne’s best performance of Nicholson which got him an academy award

-Runner-Up in NYC Film Critic Awards

8. Road to Perdition, Sam Mendes

-Received with great buzz and hailed by Washington Post’s Tom Shales as a must-see even if it didn’t live up to expections

-Buzz for against-type Tom Hanks role with Jude Law and Daniel Craig and Paul Newman in great supporting roles

-Big Production feel with cinematography and art direction awards going towards a lock

-One of approximately 7 or 8 films on the imdb 250 from the year

9. Adaptation, Spike Jonze

-Worthy followup to John Makovitch by Jonze/Kaufman team that was even more mainstream in some cases

-Nominations abound for acting parts

-Screenplau contender

10. Catch Me If You Can, Stephen Spielberg

-Held its own against many of the great December releases during Oscar season

-Considered for golden globe nominations for Spielberg and generated oscar buzz

-Box office success

Best Ensemble Award from the past few years

Here's what my picks would've been for the last 5 years if the oscars had a best ensemble category. I think they should have an ensemble award because
1. It's a great award to debate
2. Obviously the acting awards are popular
3. It promotes teamwork
4. The actors don't have to get the oscars, they can go to the casting director




Nonetheless, here's what i would've picked, actually not what i personally would have picked but a relatively objective take i'd have been happy with. For instance, i hated PS Hoffman's performance in Capote and that would disqualify it out of the top 5 for me, but i acknowledge that a lot of people did like Phillip Seymour's performance, and so therefore i have to credit him for moving a lot of people with his performance.

2005: Brokeback Mountain OR Crash (wasn't a fan of either movie but as a concession to the fact that everyone loved them and they vied for top awards in most categories, i'll let my naysayers take their pick of one, i'd pick Brokeback, i think)
Syrianna (and i do strongly feel it should have been included)
Good Night and Good Luck
Batman Begins (wouldn't be considered for an oscar in any other non-technical category, but as casts for summer blockbusters go, i'd give it to this)
Capote

2004:
Sideways
Closer-Small but effective ensemble
Million Dollar Baby (hmmm, actually didn't see it yet, but who am i to argue with a best picture oscar winner)
Aviator-Jude Law and Wilhem DeFoe were filling out bit parts in this? That's how deep the talent level was
Ray-Did anyone even notice that guys like Terrence Howard were in this?
Runner-Up: Troy-With Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Peter O'Toole, Sean Bean, Brandon Gleason, and Brian Cox in supporting roles, this had the potential to win

2003:
*Note, i don't believe in awarding sequels unless they're better than the original or change it in some way, so i'll just award LOTR for 2001
1. House of Sand and Fog
2. 21 Grams-3 Good Leads
3. Cold Mountain-Everyone was great, especially Law at the helm, and Brandon Gleason, Ethan Suplee and Jack White as the gang of musical vagabonds were actually pretty good. Don't forget Giovanni Ribisi and PS Hoffman in bit roles
4. Mystic River-Although I think when you think about it, Tim Robbins and Sean Penn were both a little overdramatic, but there was a definite professional caliber of actors in that film
5. Seabiscuit

2002:
1. Road to Perdition-Daniel Craig and Jude Law could have been awarded best supporting actors right there, if they had stronger oscar campaigns and I think it was one of Tom Hanks' better roles
2. Adaptation-Cage, Strep, Cooper plus a lot of other goodies: Judy Greer, Tilda Swenson, Ron Livingston
3. The Hours
4. Chicago
5. 25th Hour-Ed Norton, Brian Cox, Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper, Anna Paquin, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in case anyone forgot

2001:
1. A Beautiful Mind-Once again, i didn't even realize that Anthony Rapp from Rent, Adam Goldberg from the Street and Josh Lucas who would later become a star were in this film
2. Royal Tannenbaums-Best Wes Anderson cast ever assembles, quietly strong performances by Paltrow, Glover and Huston were there best in years, and good use of Kumar Pullada. A great use of Gene Hackman as well and show of his comedic side.
3. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings: Interestingly enough Christopher Lee has by now been in Lord of the Rings, James Bond, and Star Wars
4. In the Bedroom: Interesting that Marissa Thomei could get nominated for an oscar after people felt she absolutely didn't deserve her first to the point that they called foul on it (for My Cousin Vinny)
5. Godsford Park: Without a doubt

2000:
1. Traffic
2. The Contender-What insightful uses for guys like Christain Slater and Gary Oldman
3. You Can Count on Me-The executive producer had to fight for Mark Ruffallo since he was an unknown quantity back then
4. Almost Famous
5. Wonderboys

How the oscars can be unkind to someone like Ed Zwick

Yesterday when I saw Departed, one of the trailers showed was for the upcoming movie "The Blood Diamond."

I think Ed Zwick is a great director who has really carved a niche for himself as a maker of great epics (Glory, Legends of the Fall, Last Samurai), but I worry that he won't be remembered in history as at least a notable director of the past couple decades. I think oscars have hurt him quite a bit, particularly in his last film The Last Samurai and Glory.

Take Last Samurai, other than a minor quibble over historic accuracy (Samurais were apparently not nice people), it was really hailed as a great film. To me the film was flawless if only slightly less effective than Mystic River, Seabiscuit, and Cold Mountain, and with the short space for only 5 films to get that oscar nominations per year, it lost out. Still, i hope it's not forgotten in history. I think that Blood Diamond is also gonna be hailed as a really well-made film and get its share of 4-star ratings but might also just miss the oscar cut, and that adds to his consistency but might hurt him because usually directors are remembered by how many oscar nods they've accumulated.

That's at least one negative consequence for the increasing attention the Oscars gets year after year and how the Oscars are turning into the future guidebook to film buffs over what seperated the great films from the ordinary. Getting that oscar nomination has turned into the goal of filmmakers today doing it for art rather than money. Films that fall just short of the mark get forgotten amid the debates over what's oscar-worthy and what's not oscar-worthy.

How about just plain good? That's what oscars were invented for in the first place. To promote good films.

Other films that will undoubtedly be hurt by not having receieved that best picture nomination or fallen short on other oscar nominations:
2005:
Walk the Line-Although it did win a best actress win, it might not be as well-remembered 20 years from now as Ray
Constant Gardener
History of Violence
King Kong-An oscar nomination in a non-technical category (of course it was technically better than any other film, it was made by Peter Jackson, that's not saying much) would have cemented as more than just your typical big-budget special effects fest
Terrence Malick's The New World-Released at the wrong time of year and reedited upon release, it got lost amid the heavy volume of films released during December
Match Point
Hopefully students of Woody Allen, Peter Jackson, David Cronenberg, and Fernando Meirelles will remember these respective entries into their filmographies as they were all noteworthy.

2004-
Closer
Hotel Rwanda-Ironically, it's critical success is being repeated in a bunch of Africa-centered movies this year like Babel, To Catch a Fire, and the Blood Diamond, so hopefully Hotel Rwanda will stick around
The Terminal-I think it's interesting that Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks stand by this movie as a great film despite critics giving mixed reviews and people on Saturday Night Live making fun of the film

2003-
Cold Mountain-Hyped beyond belief as a surefire best picture than dropped at the last minute, probably the 6th film candidate, this was probably the film that suffered most from an oscar snub
Last Samurai-Covered in the beginning
Big Fish-Did develop a sort of cult following though, and box office success
21 Grams-Although it might help his chances a little later on with Babel
House of Sand and Fog-Another great picture that was an oscar nomination would have validated. It had oscar-caliber written all over it with its classical story, cinematography, novel adaptation roots and big name actors

2002-
Road to Perdition-A worthy follow-up for Mendes for American Beauty
Catch Me If You Can
Adaptation
About Schmidt
Far From Heaven-This one definitely got hurt

Films like Adaptation and About Schmidt were redeemed a couple years later when Sideways and Eternal Sunshine won screenwriting awards for the same screenwriters in 2004