8. Tommy Lee Jones Best Supporting Actor Win Makes You Want To Jump Off Of A Dam
The 66th Academy Awards were all about Schindlers List - rightfully so. It came away with seven wins, but what stands out is one of the five losses - Best Supporting Actor. There is a case to be made for the Schindlers List nominee in each of its losing categories, but every category save BSA has a worthy winner so there is no point nitpicking, but Tommy Lee Jones performance in The Fugitive had no place in the category let alone winning it outright. In 1993 John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire), Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father), Leonardo DiCaprio (Whats Eating Gilbert Grape), and most of all Ralph Fiennes (Schindler's List) had weightier roles than Jones. It was as stacked a list of nominees as you could imagine. Anyone could have won aside from Jones and deserved it, but, of course, the Academy never fails to disappoint. Like Crash at 23, the lowest common denominator wins. Fiennes most of all blew audiences away as the psychotic SS-Lieutenant running the concentration camp in Schindlers List. He is my pick for winner here in great part because of the impact his role has had on Holocaust films over the last twenty years. Every one now seems to feature a singularly sadistic military mind in great part because of how Fiennes performance weighs heavily in the back of every person's mind who has seen the film. Thats Oscar worthy.
7. Grave Of The Fireflies Getting Burried At The 61st Oscars
1988 was a strange year in cinema. Its one of those years where, looking back, all of the most memorable films today received only token nominations (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Big, and Die Hard). This isnt altogether unusual. The best films are not always pop culture phenomenons. Case in point: the film Im advocating for here at #7. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most heart-shattering stories ever put to film. Watching it will ruin your day. You will feel overcome by grief, despair, and desperation. It is an unflinching portrayal of the pain war brings. Precisely the kind of ingredients the Academy cant help but recognize, but, in this instance, Fireflies was ignored. It was ignored for two reasons: it is Japanese (more on this later) and it is animated. Now, in 1989 the Academy didnt even have an award to honor animated feature films (one of the Academy's best decisions was adding the category almost a decade later). So its long held bias against animation stands pat here, but this is exactly the kind of film the Academy should be elevating through nomination. Thematically, Fireflies remains ahead of its time even today and is the crowning achievement of the revered Japanese Studio Ghibli. This progressiveness rings true for almost all of Studio Ghiblis works. Many of their finest efforts like Spirited Away (winner of Best Animated Feature) and Princess Mononoke explore mature themes through animation with an affection and subtlety that almost no live action film successfully achieve today. They should be recognized beyond their animated film niche.
Phil loves a good debate. Don't expect him to shy away from starting the conversation. Follow him on Twitter @MrTallgeese if you're of a like mind, or if you just want to troll him relentlessly.
