3. Crash - 2005
This one stung. Another fifth place nominee winning the Oscar. Crash was not even particularly good let alone nomination worthy let alone Oscar winning worthy. There are many reasons movies can be deemed bad, one of which is creating a movie with a "heavy hand." Calling Crash heavy handed is like saying the Incredible Hulk has big hands, it doesn't quite cut it. This was and still is the major problem with Crash. Paul Haggis became the Incredible Hulk of directors (again, not a compliment) with his sprawling tale of race relations in Los Angeles. Another problem is that it took the movie over 45 minutes to settle down. There are so many stories and characters to cover, you're constantly being jettisoned from locale to locale without a chance to breathe or settle in. Only Michael Pena truly resonated in this movie. What a gifted and under-appreciated actor he is! (No sarcasm, this guy brings it! Every time) So what should have won? Take your pick. Capote and Good Night, And Good Luck were both superior films. Steven Spielberg's Munich was another arguable masterpiece from the legendary director. If you've never seen Munich or haven't in a long time, pop it in, it gets better with age. Trust Me. In the end, the award belonged to Ang Lee's heartbreakingly beautiful Brokeback Mountain. Call it what you will, I'll blame the Academy's "old guard" (older, rich men) and their refusal to acknowledge a film about homosexuality. While they routinely love to pat themselves on the back, they've become more comfortable with race relations than they have sexual orientation and thus an inferior film gets awarded.