Before this turns into a hot debate, This item is specifically 
designed to discuss what pictures/actors/actresses/ should win 
the Oscar. The Academy Awards are sometime in March, which should
leave us plenty of time to haggle about it.

20 responses total.

For convenience, here are the nominees in the major categories:

  Picture:
        The Fugitive
        In the Name of the Father
        The Piano
        The Remains of the Day
        Schindler's List
  Director:
        Jim Sheridan, "In the Name of the Father"
        Jane Campion, "The Piano"
        James Ivory, "The Remains of the Day"
        Stephen Spielberg, "Schindler's List"
        Robert Altman, "Short Cuts"
  Actress:
        Angel Bassett, "What's Love Got to Do with It"
        Stockard Channing, "Six Degrees of Separation"
        Holly Hunter, "The Piano"
        Emma Thompson, "The Remains of the Day"
        Debra Winger, "Shadowlands"
  Actor:
        Daniel Day-Lewis, "In the Name of the Father"
        Laurence Fishburne, "What's Love Got to Do with It"
        Tom Hanks, "Philadelphia"
        Anthony Hopkins, "The Remains of the Day"
        Liam Neeson, "Schindler's List"
  Supporting Actor:
        Leonardo DiCapro, "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"
        Ralph Fiennes, "Schindler's List"
        Tommy Lee Jones, "The Fugitive"
        John Malkovich, "In the Line of Fire"
        Pete Postlethwaite, "In the Name of the Father"
  Supporting Actress:
        Holly Hunter, "The Firm"
        Anna Paquin, "The Piano"
        Rosie Perez, "Fearless"
        Winona Ryder, "The Age of Innocence"
        Emma Thompson, "In the Name of the Father"

(An unusual feature of this year's nominations:  Holly Hunter and
Emma Thompson are both nominated in two categories -- Best Actress
and Best Supporting Actress.  Are there previous instances of
performers being nominated in two acting categories the same year?)

agora 75=arts 70

Last year I was bummed when "Reservoir Dogs" wasn't included and
this year "Fearless" was snubbed.  Well, snubbed except for Rosie
Perez who acted her little heart out and if she doesn't get a statue
something is rotten in Denmark.  Jeff Bridges should have been included
as well as the director, Peter Weir.  But they never ask me.

 I haven't seen Schindler's List, and I probably won't, simply because I
tend to just go to movies that have a large particular interest to me.

        Anyway, I see that it has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards, which
is pretty amazing.

        I'm wondering how many people think the film might have been nominated
(& might actually receive) so many awards strictly for the technical
(including acting) aspects, or if many of the nominations/potential awards
could be 'politically-motivated' due to the subject matter?
 

Hoolie,

If you'd seen Schindler's List, I don't think you'd have to ask that 
question.

Personal opinions:

I've seen 4 out of the 5 best picture nominees (an unusually large
percentage for me), all but "In the Name of the Father." Of the other
four, I'd put "The Fugitive" at the bottom of the heap in quality.  The
other three are worthy but not flawless; my personal favorite is "The
Piano", so that's what I'm rooting for.

Altman deserves his best director nomination for "Short Cuts".  I'm
sorry it wasn't nominated for best picture.

For best actor and actress, I've seen only two of the performances in
each category.  I'm rooting for Holly Hunter and Anthony Hopkins.

I too am disappointed that "Fearless" was neglected by the Academy and
hope that Rosie Perez wins Best Supporting Actress.

I feel that for Schindler's List not to win the best picture
would be an injustice, and for Spielberg not win best director
would too be an injustice. I saw "Schindler's List" and two of the
others up for best picture (Fugitive and Remains of the Day) and in
my opinion Schindler's List blew the toher two out of the water, with
it's realisitic portrayal of the holocaust.

 I suspect that Schindler's List mght be the Politically Correct (tm) choice
by the Academy, since it deals with the Holocaust.

 I have not seen the Piano, but I will still root for Anthony Hopkins and
Remains of the Day (haven't seen that one either, but liked the previews)
Mike Nichols deserves an oscar for Remains.

It's pretty darned hard not to make a powerful film when dealing
with the Holocaust.  "Schindler's List" was a good movie but had
zero character development.  But I think Spielberg finally made a
film that makes it impossible for the Academy to snub him yet again -
it would indeed be PI.

I'm planning to see "In the Name of the Father" sometime this weekend
then I will have seen all the films nominated for Best Picture.  I'll
hold off on announcing my favorite until then.

Re #9:  James Ivory, not Mike Nichols, directed "Remains of the Day"
and has been nominated for best director.  Mike Nichols executive-
produced the film, I believe.

thanks for clearing that up!  A few people mentioned Mike Nichols
and "Remains" in the same breath, and I was unaware of any connection.
I knew he didn't direct it, though.

 sorry about that.

After seeing all of the movies nominated for this year's Best Picture
I'm still left feeling that "Fearless" would get my vote.  I really
liked everything about that one and thought about it for days 
afterwards.

Of those nominated I'd vote for "The Piano".  

        "Farewell my Concubine" gts a nod from me as best foreign, but I 
don't know what's running against it, so that's easy. :)
        Watching "Farewell my Concubine" was like eating something deep,
rich, and intense (really good chocolate?), but eating too much and 
being dazed at the end, for me. In a mental way. 

Schindler's List really does deserve the Academy awars, I think it's apparent.

In just about any year, the movies I personally enjoyed the most get
few, if any, nominations.  Two of my favorite 1993 movies were
"Sleepless in Seattle" and "True Romance", a couple of very different
comedic takes on romance.  The first got a couple of nominations (best
original screenplay, best original song); I don't think the second got
any.  But I think that history is likely to remember both of them as
more significant films than any of the best picture nominees, with the
possible exception of "The Piano".

(Yes, despite its extreme violence, I classify "True Romance" as a
comedy.)

I think that Schindler's List should definatly wein best picture.

I only recently saw 'True Romance', but I think that I would call it a
comedy too.
Alos (also) most of the movies I like rarely get nominations. For instance
I really thought the movie "The think (Thing) Called Love" was really
good. (Wow, two really s in one sentance! :) 0) 

Schindler's List has not even been shown in my town (College Station, Texas).
It's not for lack of movie theaters.  There is a 16-plex, a 6-plex, three
3-plexs and a campus theater group, but they all seem to be playing
Beethoven-II all the time.

It's frustrating, but has some redeeming virtues:  Last Action Hero has
never been shown here either and I might have been tempted to see that one.

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