As this year’s Oscars have come and gone, and the bickering over which film should win gives way to arguing over whether or not the winners deserved the accolades, let’s look back at some of the winners and losers of the recent past.
These films may have won big or lost on a ton of nominations, but they are not the films we normally think of when we think of the greatest in recent memory. Some of them are forgotten (and maybe they should stay that way), and some are gems that need to be revisited. They span the years of 2000-2015. Enjoy, and feel free to rip me apart in the comments.
1. The Fighter (2010)
David O. Russell’s domination of Oscar nominations began with The Fighter, a biographical sports drama starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo.
The film centers on the lives of professional boxer Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale).
The film stars Amy Adams as Micky’s girlfriend, Charlene Fleming, and Melissa Leo as Micky and Dicky’s mother, Alice Eklund-Ward.
The Fighter was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, winning the awards for Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale) and Best Supporting Actress (Melissa Leo).
The film received largely positive reviews with critics singling out the performances of Wahlberg, Bale, Leo, and Adams. Sports Illustrated named it one of the best sports films of the decade, and went so far as to say it was one of the best since Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull.
In the competitive year of 2010, The Fighter lost many of its nominations; however, it became the first film since Hannah and Her Sisters in 1986 to win both the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress Oscars.
Outside the realm of boxing and sport, the film has not held up as well as others from the same year, like the Social Network and Inception. However, I do have to agree with Sports Illustrated: This is one of the best sports films in a long time.
