Of the Best Picture nominees, The Artist is currently the highest rated on imdb, at 8.4, though it will drop. A good comparison is Avatar, because both movies are technically adventurous, and they both have terrifyingly trite plots.
The main difference between Avatar and The Artist is that the latter is about the past, triggering nostalgia, whereas the former is about one possible version of the future, and is thus discomforting. This is why The Artist will win Best Picture and Avatar didn't come close. (No movie set in at any point in the future has ever won the award.)
But of course, the best movie of the past year is A Separation. The fact that it wasn't even nominated just showcases the Academy's striking anti-foreign film bias.
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It is obviously very fun to hate on the Academy, and there are many good reasons to do so, but as imdb user Fish_Beauty reminds us, this year is highly unlikely to go down as the biggest black mark of all time. Here are the lowest rated Best Picture winners:
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) 6.8/10 9,106 (which won over the amazing The Killing)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) 6.7/10 5,177 (which won over High Noon)
The Broadway Melody (1929) 6.4/10 2,459
Cavalcade (1933) 6.3/10 1,421
Cimarron (1931) 6.1/10 1,739 (which won over the best silent film ever, City Lights)
These are truly embarrassingly bad films.
The main difference between Avatar and The Artist is that the latter is about the past, triggering nostalgia, whereas the former is about one possible version of the future, and is thus discomforting. This is why The Artist will win Best Picture and Avatar didn't come close. (No movie set in at any point in the future has ever won the award.)
But of course, the best movie of the past year is A Separation. The fact that it wasn't even nominated just showcases the Academy's striking anti-foreign film bias.
####
It is obviously very fun to hate on the Academy, and there are many good reasons to do so, but as imdb user Fish_Beauty reminds us, this year is highly unlikely to go down as the biggest black mark of all time. Here are the lowest rated Best Picture winners:
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) 6.8/10 9,106 (which won over the amazing The Killing)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) 6.7/10 5,177 (which won over High Noon)
The Broadway Melody (1929) 6.4/10 2,459
Cavalcade (1933) 6.3/10 1,421
Cimarron (1931) 6.1/10 1,739 (which won over the best silent film ever, City Lights)
These are truly embarrassingly bad films.
