Revisiting the Academy Awards, 2005

 


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.

2005:

Best Picture:
* Crash
* Good Night and Good Luck
* Brokeback Mountain
* Capote
* Munich

About: It's time to Crash into 2005. See what I did there? Crash won Best Picture, but I don't think anyone loved it. Brokeback Mountain is a well made film, and a consideration, but I'm going with Good Night and Good Luck.

Best Director:
* Ang Lee
* George Clooney
* Paul Haggis
* Steven Spielberg
* Bennett Miller

About: Lee got the win here and I'm sticking with him. Some of the shots in Brokeback Mountain were breathtaking.

Best Actor:
* Phillip Seymour Hoffman
* Heath Ledger
* Joaquin Phoenix
* Terrence Howard
* David Strathairn

About: Hoffman got the win, and he was quite good. This is an excellent field. I'm going with Ledger, who should have won for this performance.

Best Actress:
* Reese Witherspoon
* Judi Dench
* Charlize Theron
* Keira Knightly
*  Felicity Huffman

About: Witherspoon won for Walk the Line, and is great. I loved Knightly, but I'm sticking with Witherspoon.

Best Supporting Actor:
* George Clooney
* Matt Dillon
* Paul Giamatti
* Jake Gyllenhaal
* William Hurt

About: Clooney won for Syriana, and he's good. Dillon is also good playing kind of a gross character. However, I'm going with Gyllenhaal here.

Best Supporting Actress:
* Rachel Weisz
* Amy Adams
* Frances McDorman
* Catherin Keener
* Michelle Williams

About: Weisz was the winner here for The Constant Gardener. She gives a good performance, as do a number of the performers here. I'm going with Williams for her heart-breaking work.

That's a wrap on 2005. Tune in next week for a look at 2006.

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