Revisiting the Academy Awards, 1997

 


As some of you know, I have been a frequent guest host on the Music City Drive In Movie podcast this summer. We've been looking at movies since 2000, re-nominating the Academy Awards. That got me thinking about the actual fields of the awards themselves. In a new weekly series, I'll be looking back at the last 40 years of Oscars and reviewing the choices at Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting categories.

1997:

Best Picture:
* L.A. Confidential
* Titanic
* As Good As It Gets
* Good Will Hunting
* The Full Monty

About: This was a pretty solid group. Titanic won the top prize, and at the time was the highest grossing film in history. It's a good movie, but I'm going with L.A. Confidential here.

Best Director:
* James Cameron
* Curtis Hanson
* Gus Van Sant
* Peter Cattaneo
* Atom Egoyan

About: Cameron got the win here for Titanic. While I don't think it was THE best picture, it was an incredible achievement, so I'm sticking with Cameron here.

Best Actor:
* Jack Nicholson
* Matt Damon
* Robert Duvall
* Peter Fonda
* Dustin Hoffman

About: Nicholson got the win here. It's a good field, and I'm tempted by Damon in kind of a break out role. But in the end I'll stick with Nicholson.

Best Actress:
* Helen Hunt
* Kate Winslet
* Helena Bonham Carter
* Julie Christie
* Judi Dench

About: Hunt got the win here. As Good As It Gets is a fine movie, but I'm going with Winslet here. 

Best Supporting Actor:
* Robin Williams
* Robert Forester
* Anthony Hopkins
* Greg Kinnear
* Burt Reynolds

About: This is a fun field. Williams was the winner here, and it was deserved. Sticking with that one!

Best Supporting Actress:
* Kim Basinger
* Joan Cusack
* Minnie Driver
* Julianne Moore
* Gloria Stuart

About: An interesting field here. Stuart was a fun nominee, and there are some good performances. Basinger was the winner, and I would stick with that.

That's a wrap on 1997. Check back next week for 1998.

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