To be honest, in my opinion, which doesn’t mean a lot to most people, 1986 Best Picture Nominees left a lot to be desired. With movies like, Hoosiers, Mosquito Coast, Peggy Sue Got Married, Aliens and Stand By Me; you would think that they would have had something a little better nominated as Best Picture of the year. But then again 1986 was the year that gave us Howard the Duck.
The film that SHOULD have won the Oscar for Best Picture, A Room With a View, was a beautiful cinematic masterpiece. The story, the cinematography and the acting was by far some of the best of the year. Maggie Smith should have received her second Oscar for this role. This was also the first movie I remember seeing Judi Dench in, and she too was superb. James Ivory has yet to be given his due, and this should have been the film that did it.
Platoon, which won the Best Oscar award, was a great movie. It’s gut wrenching story of the war in Vietnam was powerful and would leave a memory with whoever saw it. Unfortunately for me, I felt it was reminiscent of Apocalypse Now. Maybe it was just me, or maybe it was Charlie Sheen. Great movie? Yes. Best of the year? Uh, no.
Children of a Lesser God, again was a good movie. It put me to sleep, but then again I’m not a big fan of William Hurt. He is dry and very monotone to me. The movie felt the same way. The story is incredible and Marlee Maitlin was superb, but was she acting or just being herself. I would have preferred to have seen Stand By Me get the nod for the sentimental pick that year.
Woody Allen is a cinematic genius, and Hannah and her Sisters was the best movie he made since Annie Hall in 1977. It was the favorite going into the Oscar show. Everyone thought he’d walk away with both Best Movie and Best Director. It was also the highest grossing movie for Allen to date, it had all the plot, stars and sentimentality needed to take home the big prize, but it was not to be. Out of seven nominations, Hannah walked away with only three Oscars, Supporting actor for Michael Caine, Supporting Actress for Dianne Weist, and Best Writing for Woody Allen.
The Mission, which concerns a Jesuit missionary (Jeremy Irons) who establishes a church in the hostile jungles of Brazil and then finds his work threatened by greed and political forces among his superiors. A typical Oscar genre type movie, however there were many better movies released that year. The Mission lacked the emotional package that would have made it a great film. Even Robert DeNiro’s portrayal as a callous soldier who kills his own brother and then turns to Irons’s character to oversee his penance and conversion to the clergy was lackluster.
To sum up the movies that rose to Academy Nominations, I would have to say one of the worse years for the Academy. So many other movies should have made the grade but didn’t. Movies such as Blue Velvet, Aliens, Stand By Me. Let’s hope in 2006 the same mistake is not made.
