Revisiting the Academy Awards, 2001

 


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.

2001:

Best Picture:
* A Beautiful Mind
* Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
* Gosford Park
* In the Bedroom
* Moulin Rouge!

About: A Beautiful Mind won here. This is a tough field, even 20 years later. I wasn't a fan of Moulin Rouge! at all, and In The Bedroom and Gosford Park haven't held up well. I would probably stick with A Beautiful Mind.

Best Director:
* Peter Jackson
* Ron Howard
* Ridley Scott
* David Lynch
* Robert Altman

About: Howard got the win here, and he delivered a fine movie. I liked what a number of the folks in this category did. I am going with Jackson for the first Lord of the Rings film.

Best Actor:
* Denzel Washington
* Russell Crowe
* Sean Penn
* Will Smith
* Tom Wilkinson

About: Washington got the win for Training Day. I'm tempted by Smith, who was great in Ali, but I'm sticking with Washington.

Best Actress:
* Halle Berry
* Judi Dench
* Nicole Kidman
* Sissy Spacek
* Renee Zellweger

About: Berry won in this category, and it's a tough one looking back 20 years. I'm not overly drawn to any of the performances as demonstrably better than the others, so I'll stick with Berry.

Best Supporting Actor:
* Jim Broadbent
* Ethan Hawke
* Ian McKellen
* Ben Kingsley
* Jon Voight

About: This year Broadbent won, and his performance was solid. But I thought McKellan was great in Fellowship of the Ring, and I'm going with him.

Best Supporting Actress:
* Jennifer Connelly
* Helen Mirren
* Maggie Smith
* Marissa Tomei
* Kate Winslet

About: Connelly won here, and was one of the best parts of A Beautiful Mind. This is a strong group, but I'm sticking with the original winner here.

That's a wrap on 2001. Tune in next week for 2002.

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