type brighter: The Academy vs the Public

Seeing as its oscar season I thought about investigating a certian topic. How often does the academy vote with the general public? Generally the Imdb is a pretty good representation of the general public's movie opinion (well its about the best one we're going to get, at least for this little project)

Below I have included all the times in the past 20 years that the academy picked a best picture that had a lower user rating than another nominee.

2003

Winner:

Chicago - 7.4

Other Nominees:

· Gangs of New York - 7.2

· Hours, The - 7.6

· Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The - 8.7

· Pianist, The - 8.4

2002

Winner:

Beautiful Mind, A - 7.8

Other Nominees:

· Gosford Park - 7.2

· In the Bedroom - 7.4

· Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The - 8.7

· Moulin Rouge! - 7.7

The results may be a tad skewed for 2002 and 2003 because we have to assume that there are a fairly large number of LOTR fanboys voting in drones. Personally I never understood why everyone had such a hard on for those movies. They just didn't do it for me. One thing is for damn sure though. The Pianist should have beaten that piece of shit Chicago.

1999

Winner:

Shakespeare in Love - 7.4

Other Nominees:

· Elizabeth - 7.6

· Saving Private Ryan - 8.4

· Thin Red Line, The - 7.3

· Vita è bella, La - 8.4

I remember this year vividly and how bizarre it was that Shakespeare in Love won especially over Saving Private Ryan and Life is Beautiful. I guess I'm not alone.

1998

Winner:

Titanic - 7.0

Other Nominees:

· As Good as It Gets - 7.7

· Full Monty, The - 7.2

· Good Will Hunting - 7.9

· L.A. Confidential - 8.4

Now here is a really anomalous year. The winner has the lowest rating of all the nominees and it really deserves the lowest. Lets face it Titanic wasn't a great movie it was a fucking fad. Over hyped nonsense. Although I do have to say it was a pretty good story, I mean I totally didn't expect the ship to sink.

1997

Winner:

English Patient, The - 7.1

Other Nominees:

· Fargo - 8.2

· Jerry Maguire - 7.2

· Secrets & Lies - 7.8

· Shine - 7.5

The funny thing about this year is that I have absolutely no memory of the movies Secrets & Lies or Shine.

1995

Winner:

Forrest Gump - 8.3

Other Nominees:

· Four Weddings and a Funeral - 7.1

· Pulp Fiction - 8.8

· Quiz Show - 7.4

· Shawshank Redemption, The - 9.2

Ok this may go down as the biggest academy fuck up ever. FORREST GUMP BEAT SHAWSHANK??? Shawshank is the imdb's second highest rated movie of all time (right behind the Godfather). Forrest Gump is a movie in which Tom Hanks acted like an idiot. hmmm oh and Gary Sinise was in it too..... WHAT???? can we revoke oscars???? (We'll pick that one up on the way to Halle Berry's house) .

1992

Winner:

Silence of the Lambs, The - 8.6

Other Nominees:

· Beauty and the Beast - 7.8

· Bugsy - 6.6

· JFK - 7.9

· Prince of Tides, The - 6.2

Interesting facts this year. Prince of tides is the lowest rated best picture nominee of the past 20 years, while Terminator 2: Judgment day (8.3) is nowhere to be found.

1991

Winner:

Dances with Wolves - 7.8

Other Nominees:

· Awakenings - 7.4

· Ghost - 6.8

· Godfather: Part III, The - 7.4

· Goodfellas - 8.7

Its funny that Godfather 3 is regarded as a joke and that Ghost is regarded as one of Patrick Swayze's best movies. But look at the ratings. I actually saw Swayze the other day at some really low budget dive bar. I asked him if he was filming a sequel to "Roadhouse" he said no and then took my drink order.

1990