Flashback Friday: The 84th Academy Awards

Unlike 2012, movies in 2011 were not very good. With fairly lackluster titles leading the box office and critical reception, 2011 failed to impress many. While a few titles remain prominent in the cinematic world, for the most part, they were weak in comparison to the huge names of 2012. And when a silent, black-and-white love letter to Hollywood claims Oscar's top prize, the mediocrity of a film year comes full circle. But for those select 2011 movies worthy of rememberance, how did they do at last year's Academy Awards? Were the winners actually deserving of recognition? Today on Flashback Friday, we're answering those questions by reflecting back on the 84th Academy Awards.

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced that they were getting rid of the unsuccessful ten Best Picture nominee rule, people both rejoiced and questioned the alternative choice. Now, the Academy would select between five and ten nominees for Best Picture; in order to be nominated for the award, films must get 5% of the first choice picks of the voting Academy members when choosing a Best Picture nomination list. Confused? So was everyone else. The Academy ended up choosing nine nominees. Go figure.

The Best Picture award ultimately went to The Artist, a black-and-white French movie that was (mostly) silent. While critically successful, The Artist has not held up it's popularity since it won. Certainly not a typical winner, The Artist was nothing more than a nostalgic look at the past. It was a decent movie about Hollywood that naturally appealed to the older crowd of The Academy.

The sad part- it was probably one of the best movies of 2011.

The Artist winning Best Picture was not really the Academy's fault. 2011 had weak movie titles, and so the Oscars had to work with what they were given. Too bad what they were given was, for lack of a better word, garbage. Even the other nominees, including Martin Scorsese's family-flick Hugo, Alexander Payne's sappy drama The Descendants, Woody Allen's dreamlike comedy Midnight in Paris, and Terence Malick's bizarre but artistic The Tree of Life, remain lucky hits at best. We won't even mention the atrocious Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close nomination. 

Michael Hazanavicius won Best Director for The Artist, and was certainly the underdog amongst the fellow nominees mentioned above. Overall, The Tree of Life and it's genius director Terrance Malick probably deserved the Oscars for producing the standout thought-provoking movie of the year. But, as we've mentioned before, 2011 did not have much going for it, and Malick's films just do not have the backing they need to win. Their weirdness is dwarfed by The Artist's spectacle and familiarity.

Best Actor went to Jean Dujardin for The Artist. His win was actually impressive, considering the close competition he faced. George Clooney was the obvious standout of the year, tackling a family man role different from his usual performances. Gary Oldman finally received his first Oscar nomination, for a famous spy part in Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy. However, Dujardin probably won't be up for another Oscar, so his win this year is acceptable and appreciated. Clooney and (hopefully) Oldman will have their times to walk up the famous stairs.

The race for Best Actress actually had a lot of potential, with all five leading ladies excelling at powerful and tough performances.  Meryl Streep, despite a record 17 nominations, has only won three Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress in 1979 for Kramer vs. Kramer; Best Actress for Sophie's Choice in 1982; and Best Actress in 2011 for The Iron Lady. Though she was good in her latest winning film, the movie itself remains nothing special; out of all the five Best Actress nominees, she was probably the least deserving. Glenn Close has yet to win an Oscar, and her pet project Albert Nobbs should have garnered her a way-past due award. Viola Davis powerfully portrayed a struggling African-American in The Help, and Michelle Williams was unrecognizable as Marilyn Monroe in My Week in Marilyn. But the true deserving woman was Rooney Mara, who escaped into the title role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Her win would have made the Academy seem more "hip" and attentive to popular films. But, alas, they went with Meryl Streep.

Christopher Plummer took the well-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar, the sentimental pick of the year. He's never won before, and only got his first nomination in 2009 for The Last Station. Octavia Spencer's performance in The Help was the popular choice in 2011 for Best Supporting Actress. Honestly, Berenice Bejo in The Artist was more deserving; and, Jessica Chastain should have gotten something for breaking out into the movie business with a bang. She appeared in seven movies throughout the year, and was nominated for her work in The Help. Chastain also appeared in the Oscar-nominated The Tree of Life.

The two best awards of the night went to Best Original Screenplay winner Woody Allen, for his artistic fantasy Midnight in Paris; and, The Descendant's Best Adapted Screenplay of sharp dialogue and rich story, written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash. Roger Ebert's favorite A Separation won Best Foreign Language Film, and Rango beat the Pixar-streak of Best Animated Feature. Hugo pretty much took the rest of the technical awards.

All in all, 2011 was a bad year in film, featuring lackluster releases and standard movies. The Academy chose the best they could at the 84th Academy Awards. From what we can tell, the 85th Academy Awards are shaping up to be much better and much more deserving. 2012 easily trumped 2011 in providing cinematic achievements, and the Oscars will recognize these great films on Sunday, February 24th. We'll see you at the Oscars.

Join us this weekend for Movie Critic's Club's predictions for the 85th Academy Awards!