The Snubby Awards: 2003 Oscars

It's that time again: The Snubby Awards!  For those of you who don't know, the Snubby Awards take a look at all of the Best Picture nominees from a given year and determine if the best film won or if another was snubbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award!

This time we'll be taking a look at the 2003 Oscars, which was a solid, but flawed selection of films with only one true masterpiece in the bunch .  The nominees were: Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Pianist with the winner being Chicago.  Did Chicago deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out!

#5. The Hours

The Hours is a day-in-the-life film following three women in three different time periods, all of whom are connected to the book Mrs. Dalloway.  Even though this is my least favorite nominee, it's still a really good movie.  The performances are excellent across the board, especially from Nicole Kidman.  I just think the movie doesn't delve deep enough into the characters.  I wanted more from this film.   I wanted more from the characters and I wanted the story to go on for longer.  There is a lot of interesting subject matter in all three stories, possibly enough for three separate movies.  Julianne Moore's storyline is the biggest example.  It feels a little surface-level at times.  I liked everything we got, but the movie needed more.

 8/10: Really Good 

#4. The Pianist

This one was by far the trickiest for me to rank.  The Pianist tells the true story of Władysław Szpilman, a Polish pianist, and how he survived the German invasion of Poland.  It's a harrowing, heartbreaking, and insane story and the movie is pretty accurate.  Adrien Brody does a fantastic job in the lead role and the scenes after Szpilman avoids being shipped out by train to a concentration camp are horrifying and incredible filmmaking.  I do think the movie is on the long side and gets a little repetative in the 2nd half, but the bigger issue I have comes from the director, Roman Polanski.  He did a great job making the film and drew on his real life experience from World War II to add some extreme emotional punches.  All that said, Polanski absolutley disgusts me and the fact that he has managed to avoid justice for what he did, while still managing to keep on directing films is hard for me to swallow.  He should be in prison, not winning Oscars.  I have a hard time separating the art from the artist, so I was never able to fully immerse myself in the story of the film, which is a shame.  I acknoledge that this is a really good movie, but fuck Roman Polanski.

 8/10: Really Good 

#3. Gangs of New York

This film follows the violent clashes between warring factions of a poor neighborhood in New York City.  I didn't know a lot about this movie going in except that Daniel Day-Lewis gives an incredible performance and Cameron Diaz...does not.  That's very accurate.  Anytime Day-Lewis is on screen, I was fully hooked.  Diaz was miscast.  I also think the ending is a bit anticlimatic, but the story is so interesting.  After the movie, I went down an Internet rabbit hole reading about the people and gangs of the time.  I wanted to learn more so I could understand the context of the movie.  That's a good sign for me.  There are a lot of dynamic performances and characters in the film, not just Day-Lewis, though he is the best part.  The opening sequence is also elite with some gnarly and exciting action and violence.  Martin Scorsese has made better films, but this one was certainly interesting and entertaining.

 8/10: Really Good  

And now for the final 2 films in no particular order.

Chicago

A musical-black comedy about a pair of murderers trying to gain fame from their crimes and trial, while also avoiding the death penalty.  I wasn't sure what to expect from Chicago, but it was quite the spectacle, with some great musical numbers and performances.  I appreciate a good black-comedy and satire and the exploration of the corruption in the legal system is very well done, to the point it made me sick.  I actually felt a little nauseous watching the movie because it hits too close to reality.  If a satire can affect me like that, I think it did it's job.  Funny and sickening would make a great critic quote for the poster.

 9/10: Great 

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The 2nd part of the The Lord of the Rings follows the scattered members of the Fellowship as they continue their quest to destroy the One Ring.  The Lord of the Rings is my favorite film trilogy of all time, although I think The Two Towers is my least favorite of the three, it's a game of inches and this film is still a masterpiece.  The battle of Helm's Deep is quite possibly the greatest battle ever captured on film.  The performances are excellent from everyone, especially Andy Serkis in his proper introduction as Gollum, who may be my favorite character in all of cinema.  It just doesn't get better than this trilogy.

10/10: Amazing 

And the Snubby Award goes to...!

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers!  This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me.  These are some of my all-time favorite movies.  As much as I liked Chicago, it never had a chance and I truly believe The Two Towers was snubbed.

Next time we'll be looking at the 2002 Oscars.  Did A Beautiful Mind deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Stay tuned!