Oscar and me

Just a quick post a few days after the 83rd Oscars. The title isn't meant to be self-important...rather, it's more a re-statement of how nearly everyone has disagreed with Oscar in the past. It doesn't mean that Oscar is wrong, or that anyone else is right. Just that when your opinion is stacked up against the few thousand odd members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that hands out the Oscars, statistically, it's likely the choice of one single person isn't always going to match the Academy's. So, to celebrate the upcoming nominations, here's how my choices (i.e. who I would vote for if I had an Academy vote), stacked up against Oscar's in the past. For each case (except one), I've limited my choices to those movies that were co-nominated, along with the winning film, for Best Picture that year.

1994
Oscar: Forrest Gump
orluak: Quiz Show

1995
Oscar: Braveheart
orluak: Sense & Sensibility

1996
Oscar: The English Patient
orluak: The English Patient

1997
Oscar: Titanic
orluak: Titanic

1998
Oscar: Shakespeare in Love
orluak: Shakespeare in Love

1999
Oscar: American Beauty
orluak: The Insider

2000
Oscar: Gladiator
orluak: Almost Famous*

*Almost Famous was not nominated for Best Picture, but won for Original Screenplay

2001
Oscar: A Beautiful Mind
orluak: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2002
Oscar: Chicago
orluak: The Hours

2003
Oscar: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
orluak: Lost in Translation

2004
Oscar: Million Dollar Baby
orluak: Sideways

2005
Oscar: Crash
orluak: Good Night, and Good Luck

2006
Oscar: The Departed
orluak: Little Miss Sunshine

2007
Oscar: No Country for Old Men
orluak: Juno

2008
Oscar: Slumdog Millionaire
orluak: Departures**

**Departures was not nominated for Best Picture, but won for Foreign Language Film

2009
Oscar: The Hurt Locker
orluak: Star Trek***

***Star Trek was not nominated for Best Picture, but won for Makeup

2010
Oscar: The King's Speech
orluak: Inception

So...except for a hat-trick of matches from 1996 to 1998, my personal preferences haven't matched up with Oscar at all in my 14 years of following the awards. Let's see how we agree for 2008. Hope everyone's favorite movies get nominated this Thursday!