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Oscars and Films of 1988

For Those Who Got Gypped

By Shanon NormanPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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So what happened in movies in the year of 1988? This was a good year for movies. Viewers had a great choice of serious or silly. Silly doesn't tend to do as well in Oscars as it may do at the box office; neither does horror, unfortunately. People love the horror genre—this is evident in Stephen King's success and all of his book to movie productions. Every year a slew of horror movies comes out, and every year the Academy ignores them. Not one horror film has ever won for Best Picture. I think that is unfair. I also really wish that the Academy would add some categories, especially one for horror. Every year several horror movies are released, but most of them don't get taken seriously by awards groups. I think if there was a specific category for it, it would inspire the makers of that genre. In 1988 an incredible horror flick was presented: Serpent and the Rainbow and the Academy seemed as if they couldn't care less. Oh well, sorry, horror fans.

So for the 61st Academy Awards, the Oscar for Best Picture went to Rain Man. Its director, Barry Levinson, also won. Its actor, Dustin Hoffman, also won. Do I agree or disagree? Both or neither. This is a bit more complicated than than just saying yes or no.

I love the film Rain Man. I love both Hoffman's and Cruise's performances and I think they had incredible chemistry. The screenplay was brilliant and the film was so memorable and entertaining to me that I have quoted the movie and done Raymond impersonations for years. I am not upset that this movie was the big winner of 1988. I'm just upset that some other important movies didn't get enough attention.

Two actors that didn't get enough credit were John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. John's performance in Dangerous Liasons was perfect. Was it better than Dustin's? Not necessarily "better" but at least equal to. Yet Malkovich wasn't even nominated. Why? WTF? Willem Dafoe was in two brilliant films: Mississippi Burning and The Last Temptation of Christ yet he received no nominations for either. Martin Scorcese's film The Last Temptation of Christ was so controversial and so condemned by the Catholic church, that many people were scared to even view it. I'm Catholic, but I'm also a rebel, and I watched the film. There was nothing wrong with it and Willem Dafoe's performance as Jesus was very interesting. Oh well, that's Hollywood, politics, and the media, I guess. Another very good and important movie that no one noticed was Stand and Deliver about a teacher who really made a difference. Great dialogue, great plot, great acting, but nobody made a mention. OK...whatever I guess.

Finally I will say that Glenn Close and Sigourney Weaver got gypped big time by the Academy this year. They got nominated for Best Actress and then got beat by Jodie Foster. This is another puke and WTF moment in Academy history. Seriously Oscar people, what was wrong with you? You can't put Foster's Sarah in the same league as Close's Isabelle or Weaver's Dian Fossey. Not even close to the same league. You might as well just go up to Glenn Close and Sigourney Weaver and spit in their faces. That was completely insulting. I would have respected either Close or Weaver as the winner, but Jodie is just overrated. Sorry, that's my opinion.

There were other cool movies that came out in 1988, but they would have never been contenders. Still I enjoyed them. Movies like Big, Beetlejuice, Willow, Young Guns, Tequila Sunrise, Heathers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Cocktail, and A Fish Called Wanda were great entertainment even if they weren't Oscar worthy.

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Shanon Norman

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