The English Patient (1996)

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Eng-patient-mov-poster.jpg

Movie #14: The English Patient (1996)
Oscar wins: 9- Best Picture, Best Director (Minghella), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Binoche), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score (Gabriel Yared), Best Sound
Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Fiennes), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Scott Thomas), Best Adapted Screenplay (Minghella)
Directed by: Anthony Minghella
Written by: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Naveen Andrews
Length: 162 minutes
Budget: unknown

Thanks to this film, I have officially fallen off pace. It was very hard for me to struggle through the almost three hours of this film. Although beautiful, it was also very dull and slow.

The English Patient is the story of a nurse (Binoche) who cares for a mysterious patient (Fiennes), who seems to have lost his memory. Through flashbacks, we learn of his past, his love affair (with Scott Thomas), and his military efforts. We also see a man from his past come back into his life (Dafoe), and his nurse fall in love and struggle in post-World War II Italy.

This film was a beautiful film-- amazing scenery, shots, effects, sound, and acting. However, overall it seemed very dull to me, with a story that wasn't anything special and characters that I struggled to care for. Everyone in the film gives an amazing performance, but the script really fell short, in my opinion. I purchased the book and had planned on reading it, but if it is anything like this dragging three-hour flick, I won't be reading it any time soon.

At the 69th Oscars, The English Patient really swept up all of the art and technical awards, and Juliette Binoche won a deserved Best Supporting Actress award (however, I would argue the fact that she was given supporting and Kristin Scott Thomas was nominated for leading). And then, of course, the film also won Best Picture, and Anthony Minghella won Best Director. I would argue, however, that this was not the best film of 1996; to me, that was Fargo. Clearly, 15 years later, Fargo has had more of an impact on cinema, and has really handled the test of time, while The English Patient has really fallen into the unknown. Who knows, maybe at the time I would have felt differently, like the Academy clearly did.

Well, I finally got this film over with. Now it's on to Braveheart, which I'm not really too excited for...

Rankings:
1. American Beauty (1999)
2. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
3. Chicago (2002)
4. Titanic (1997)
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
6. The Departed (2006)
7. No Country for Old Men (2007)
8. The Hurt Locker (2009)
9. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
10. The Gladiator (2000)
11. Crash (2005)
12 Shakespeare in Love (1998)
13 The English Patient (1996)
14. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Titanic (1997)

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Titanic_poster.jpg

Movie #13: Titanic (1997)
Oscar wins: 7- Best Picture, Best Director (Cameron), Best Cinematography, Best Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Song ("My Heart Will Go On"), Best Original Score (James Horner)
Nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Winslet), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Stuart), Best Make-Up
Directed by: James Cameron
Written by: James Cameron
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart
Length: 194 minutes
Budget: $200 million
 
Well... looks like we have a new biggest budget film! That's right, Avatar the First (I mean...) Titanic cost an astounding $200 million, over $100,000,000 more than the 3rd Lord of the Rings film! Also, it is only six minutes short of that film in length. However, I thoroughly enjoy all three hours and fourteen minutes, every time I see it.
 
If you don't know what Titanic is about, you must have been living in a box all your life. It's the story of two lovers, Jack (DiCaprio) and Rose (Winslet) aboard the ill-fated Titanic ship that sank back in 1911. Rose is from a rich, stuck-up family, while Jack comes from a poor life consisting of whatever he feels.
 
The thing that is so incredible about this film is the fact that Cameron gets the viewer to sit down for a movie where we all know the ending (hint: the ship sinks!), and watch for over three hours! And, even better still, not get bored!! Sure, the acting can be a little corny at times, and the script is kind of blah (like all of Cameron's work), but overall the film just raises itself above and beyond the flaws with its incredible effects, the amazing music, and just plain beauty of it all.
 
Ever since the Oscars this year, people have complained: why did Titanic win but not Avatar, they're basically the same thing? Plus, Avatar is more revolutionary! Well, I have a few theories on the answer to that. For one, both of their scripts sucked, but Titanic's was at least original and creative, and thoroughly entertaining outside the effects, while Avatar's was very dull and been-there, done-that. Basically, Titanic was just an all around better movie, with better acting, a better story, and it had more real actors and real events!! Not just all voices and all green screens... But, more importantly, and the main reason (to mean anyway) is that this year there was really a film that deserved the award over Avatar. The Hurt Locker was a piece of genius, and gained so much ground on all of the areas where Avatar lacked (see above for those areas). But, back in 1997, there really wasn't a stand-out film. The Hurt Locker was able to overcome Avatar's effects because it was so much better, but there really wasn't a film in '97 that did that. Sure, Good Will Hunting and As Good as it Gets were entertaining, and had surpurb acting, but as a film they just weren't that special.
 
Well, that's my rant for the day, just my thoughts. Meanwhile, Titanic remains as one of my all-time favorite films.
 
Rankings:
1. American Beauty (1999)
2. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
3. Chicago (2002)
4. Titanic (1997)
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
6. The Departed (2006)
7. No Country for Old Men (2007)
8. The Hurt Locker (2009)
9. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
10. The Gladiator (2000)
11. Crash (2005)
12. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
13. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

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Movie #12: Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Oscar wins: 7- Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Paltrow), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Dench), Best Original Screenplay (Norman & Stoppard), Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Original Musical/Comedy Score
Nominations: Best Director (Madden), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Rush), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Make-Up, Best Sound Mixing
Directed by: John Madden
Written by: Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Colin Firth, Ben Afleck, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson
Length: 123 minutes
Budget: $25 million

Shakespeare in Love beating out Saving Private Ryan was one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history, period.

This film tells the story of William Shakespeare (Fiennes) and his forbidden love for a rich girl, Viola de Lesseps (Paltrow). It's a witty, entertaining love story surrounding real people (Shakespeare, for example, Philip Henslowe [Rush], etc) as well as fictional ones, set in Shakespearean times.

It's not that this film is bad: it has a very good, very witty and clever script; the acting is excellent, including Oscar winners Paltrow and Dench (who played the real Queen Elizabeth I, and was on screen for only eight minutes!); and it has costumes, shots, and all-around design. However, it was certainly not the best film of the year (I would argue it was behind Saving Private Ryan for sure and even Life is Beautiful), it was simply cute and entertaining, but without any real depth, message, or meaning.

So, how did it win? Many critics call the 71st Oscars the year that "money beat out quality." Miramax Films launched a HUGE campaign for Shakespeare in Love, spending over $5,000,000 to promote the film (to compare, major films usually spend--at most-- $2 million, and smaller films less than $250,000). Also, there were complaints about the company holding a party after the film was nominated for (a high for that year) 13 awards. The result of all the company's hard work: Shakespeare in Love pulled off a come-from-behind, last-minute upset of one of the best war films of all time.

Also, as a Cate Blanchett fan, I was incredibly upset that she lost the Best Actress award to Gwyneth Paltrow (and I think everyone that year was equally shocked). Again, Paltrow gave a good performance, but it was nothing to the level of Blanchett's acting in Elizabeth-- in my opinion one of the most powerful performances of all time. I used to complain about Blanchett losing without having seen Paltrow's performance, but when I first saw Shakespeare in Love (and this was my second viewing, by the way) I was even more surprised at her victory: she gives a very simple performance, both on the technical and emotional level, and I would even argue that her portrayal of a man was somewhat... corny.

Well, I don't have much else to say about this film. Sure, it was cute. Sure, it was entertaining. But, in my opinion (and in the opinion of a lot of other critics and film fans), certainly not the best picture of 1998. Unfortunately, though, this was only one of many upsets in the history of the Academy Awards.

I can say a few more things about the 71st Academy Awards, though! First, it was the first time in history that two different people were nominated for playing the same person (Dench and Blanchett, both for Elizabeth I). Second, Life is Beautiful became only the 8th foreign language film to be nominated for Best Picture; also, Roberto Benigni's win for Best Actor was only the 2nd time an actor has won the award for a film they directed themselves (the other being Laurence Olivier for Hamlet in 1948). And, lastly, it was the year the Academy gave their honorary award to director Elia Kazan, and many people in the audience refused to applaud. Why? Because, during the 1950's, Kazan "named names," reporting to HUAC eight fellow workers in the film industry who were reportedly into communism.

You can see the controversial presentation on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YziNNCZeNs

And so, that does it for 1998, now it's on to James Cameron's first giant, Titanic.

Rankings:
1. American Beauty (1999)
2. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
3. Chicago (2002)
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
5. The Departed (2006)
6. No Country for Old Men (2007)
7. The Hurt Locker (2009)
8. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
9. The Gladiator (2000)
10. Crash (2005)
11. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
12. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)