The 68 Oscars: A Look Back

Well, here we go again with the Oscars for the year 1995, which is a year which is considered weak and not often discussed by Oscar fanatics, which, of course, makes it all the more interesting!.


Best Picture: It's hard to say who the frontrunner was, but I think Mel Gibson's starpower helped catapult Braveheart to victory. I myself have never seen it. I have seen most of Apollo 13 from science class, and I think it's fine, but not very compelling. I think it just didn't have enough momentum to get it. Babe was probably the spoiler, given it was a big hit, but I think voters were hesitant about honoring a kids film.I think Sense And Sensibility would have been honored with Screenplay and Ill Postino had no chance. My pick: Sense And Sensibility, I barely remember Babe. I saw it in the 90' folks. Apollo 13 is not a great film, as I've said.

Best Director: Probably an easy win for Gibson, given Howard was snubbed. My pick: Tim Robbins, easily. Although I admire Figgis's work for Leaving Las Vegas .


Best Actor: Cage won for L..L.V! And it was somewhat of a slam dunk, sometimes a popular performance from an acclaimed actor catches on like wild fire and takes it. i'm guessing Penn was his only competition, and he'd be my pick (Though I need to see Cage again)but they decided to honor D.M.W by giving someone else an award for....

Best Actress: Susan Sarandon. Shue and Streep were the dark horses, but Susan was extremeley overdue and her performance is so perfect and powerful. My pick: Sarandon, although Shue is fantastic too.

Best Supporting Actor:Ed Harris was considered the frontrunner, but I think lack of support for Apollo made him lose. I think the Academy wanted to spread things out this year, and they obviously liked Suspects, given it won Screenplay, thus paving the way for Spacey. My pick: Need to watch and rewatch.

Best Supporting Actress:A very interesting 3 way race occured this year. Many seemed to feel Joan Allen would win for Nixon. I think she had a shot, but her movie wasn't liked very much and Allen didn't have the star power to pull off the win this year. I think Sorvino surprised a lot of people with her now love it or hate it performance, and Miramax's campaign must have worked wonders, plus she won the G.G. I also think Woody is an academy favorite: Wiest did win twice in this category for roles in Woody films after all, including the year before. If I had been a pundit at the time, I would have bet on Winslet. She did win the SAG and the BAFTA and Sense And Sensibility was a well liked film that Winslet did wonderfully in. I guess they figured the 20 year old would have other chances,and she got nominated 5 more times (6 in total), with 6th being the charm.Mare Winningham's film hadn't been seen enough and Quinlan's nom was most likely just filler. My pick: A rewatch is needed, but all of these nominees were great from what I can remember, besides Quinlan who is not bad, but not a standout. I'll do this year very soon as I find fascinating! Tell me your thoughts on this one especially!

Best Original Screenplay: I think The Usual Susects was the frontrunner this year, and Mighty Aphrodite and Toy Story were the spoilers.My pick: I have not seen Suspects yet, but I have seen Nixon, Mighty Aphrodite, and Toy Story. I'd probably pick Toy Story with a nod to Mighty Aphrodite (I LOVE Woody Allen!).

Best Adapted Screenplay: Sense And Sensebility's Emma Thompson was probably a lock. My pick: Probably S.A.S, but Leaving Las Vegas is fantastic too!

Let me just say that Dead Man Walking and Leaving Las Vegas were easily the best films of the year and should have been nominated! Horrible Academy mistake!

Anyway, what were your picks/predictions? What are your favorites/thoughts?