1990 Best Picture Nominees

Goodfellas is one of the best films ever made, and Dances with Wolves was a really good Western. The Academy went with the latter, and I guess I understand, although I don't like it. The fact that Ghost won more Oscars than Goodfellas, however, does bother me.

Three of the nominees made my top ten list; they were a pretty good crop, except for The Godfather: Part III, which I think got all its nominations so that it could be snubbed. Just a theory. I think its place should have been taken by the wonderful film The Grifters, which was recognized with four nominations.

Nominated films:

Awakenings
My rating: 3.5 goats
3 nominations, 0 wins

This is two-hanky movie of the week material about a renegade doctor who discovers a miracle cure, done in a sensitive, funny, and moving style that elevates it to pretty darned good. I remember crying at all the assigned cues, and marveling at the great performances of Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. In retrospect, it is not as good as other, similar biopics, such as My Left Foot, but it’s well above average, more because of the performances than anything else. If it gets a little didactic, you can at least forgive it.

Nominations: Actor (Robert De Niro), Picture, Adapted Screenplay (Steven Zaillian)

Dances with Wolves
Best Picture Winner
My rating: 4 goats
12 nominations, 7 wins

This was my first date movie, and as such, I have really fond memories of it. And it is a good film, a sprawling, beautiful Western that looks at the other side of most of the Westerns we’ve seen. Kevin Costner, who starred and directed, is a little preposterous, as is the story, but it’s the film’s willingness to attempt to see all of its characters—except for the Pawnee—as human beings. It wasn’t the best film of the year, but it was a good pick for the Oscars. It was the first Western to win Best Picture in almost fifty years.

Wins: Picture, Director (Kevin Costner), Cinematography (Dean Semler), Editing, Score, Sound, Adapted Screenplay (Michael Blake)

Nominations: Actor (Kevin Costner), Supporting Actor (Graham Greene), Supporting Actress (Mary McDonnell), Art Direction/Set Decoration, Costume Design

Ghost
My rating: 3.5 goats
5 nominations, 2 wins

This is a really odd pick for a Best Picture Nominee. Sure, I liked it, but it’s basically a supernatural weepie starring Patrick Swayze. His name doesn’t usually crop up during Oscar time. Anyway, it’s the story of love defying death and suchlike. Whoopie Goldberg, who was admittedly the best part of the film, won Best Supporting Actress; she wasn’t that good. Oh well. It’s a crowd-pleaser, that’s for sure.

Wins: Supporting Actress (Whoopie Goldberg), Original Screenplay (Bruce Joel Rubin)

Nominations: Editing, Original Score, Picture

The Godfather: Part III
My rating: 3 goats
7 nominations, 0 wins

It’s not that it’s a bad film, despite the disgust with which most people viewed it. It was ill-advised and unnecessary, to be sure, but it’s not terrible. It’s just sort of a blight on the first two films. It’s too ambitious by far, but it features some great performances by Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, and Andy Garcia.

Nominations: Picture, Director (Francis Ford Coppola), Supporting Actor (Andy Garcia), Cinematography (Gordon Willis), Editing, Original Song, Art Direction/Set Decoration

Goodfellas
My pick as best nominated film
My rating: 5 goats
6 nominations, 1 win

This was one of the best films of the 1990s (#3 on my list), one of the 100 best films of all time (#29 on my list), and Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece. It should have won just about all of the Oscars it was up for, but it just wasn’t Scorsese’s night; none of them seem to be. It’s a brilliant story of how power attracts people, sucks them in, and then surprises them with how unforgiving it can be. Incidentally, it was one of the first films I ever reviewed (for a local paper, along with a friend).

Wins: Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci)

Nominations: Picture, Director (Martin Scorsese), Supporting Actress (Lorraine Bracco), Editing, Adapted Screenplay (Martin Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi)

Top Films of 1990

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