Quiz Show is so much better than the other films that were nomintated (and yes, I have seen all of them). The slick directing, the vivid screenplay, the stylish cinematography, the great performances, everything in this movie was an example of film making of the highest quality. It deserved everything it was nominated for, and should've been nominated for (and won) other categories.
what were the other nominees?
shareBesides "Quiz Show," the other nominees were "Four Weddings And A Funeral," "The Shawshank Redemption," "Pulp Fiction," and "Forrest Gump."
"Forrest Gump" took the Oscar.
It was a great year for movies, except for "Four Weddings and a Funeral" all those movies are among my favorites. Ranking them, I'd go
1.) "The Shawshank Redemption"
2.) "Pulp Fiction"
3.) "Forrest Gump"
4.) "Quiz Show"
I think that Shawshank should have won Best Picture, but in such a great year I really can't fault the Academy for choosing any of those 4 amazing movies. Shawshank and Pulp Fiction are both among my 10 favorite movies of all-time; while Gump and Quiz Show are in the top 20. What a fantastic year for movies; perhaps the best of my lifetime (1985 to now; making me 19). The best years for movies during my liftetime would have to be ranked:
1.) 1994
2.) 1990
3.) 1997
4.) 2003
5.) 2001
Of course, that's only my opinion; but I think that few can argue how great the years of 1994 and 1990 were. "Dances With Wolves" "Goodfellas" "The Godfather Part III" and "Ghost" are the 4 nominees that I can remember right now from 1994. 1997 saw "Titanic" win, but in my opinion "LA Confidential" was the real best picture winner; although As Good as it Gets was terrific as well. 2003 saw "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (one part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I consider to be one long movie, and my favorite movie of all-time) best "Mystic River", which immediately became another of my favorites. And 2001 had Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind" somehow beat "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."
What makes a given year great is when more than one of the nominees for best picture is a classic as in the above mentioned years (in my opinion, at least).
I caught the second half of QUIZ SHOW on HBO yesterday and was reminded of what a great, great movie it was. I would have been happy with any of the nominees(except FOUR WEDDINGS) winning Best Picture in 1994.
May the force be with you...for me to poop on.
How can you leave out 1999 as one of the best movie years?
- Magnolia
- Fight Club (!!!!!!!)
- American Beauty
- Being John Malkovich
- The Matrix
Also, for the record, the Academy Awards are a farce.
"Also, for the record, the Academy Awards are a farce."
It seams ironic to me that a film about a farcical TV quiz show gets nominated for a farcical awards show.
In my oppinion the bigest disgrace about the oscas is that Julia Roberts won best actress over Ellen Burstyn.
I am a die hard Quentin Tarantino fan, and if you asked me yesterday who should have gotten best picture, I would have told you Pulp Fiction. But I just saw Shawshank. That movie deserved to have Best Picture. In fact, I'm quite puzzled that a movie of that caliber and power was nominated for 7 awards and didn't recieve any. Quiz Show was extremely good and a unique movie, but pales in comparison to these other two films. I'm just wondering why Gump got Best Picture. They all deserve it, but to say Gump was better than Quiz Show is just untrue.
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Wow, if you think Pulp Fiction will be held in higher regard then Shawshank then all I can think is that you think Tarantino can do no wrong.
shareI havent read every word in this thread, but I just wanted to comment that there was another film released in 94 that may have been better than any of these films: Hoop Dreams
The nominees should have been:
1)Pulp Fiction
2)Hoop Dreams
3)Shawshank Redemption
4)Quiz Show
5)Forrest Gump
All classic films. If you had to force me to pick the weakest of the bunch I would have to say Gump, ironically. The other four have stood the test of time better. I think Pulp Fiction and Hoop Dreams are the two best.
In many, dare I say most, years, Quiz show would be a very worthy best picture winner.
Hoop Dreams is a documentary, which means it's not eligible
share"In my oppinion the bigest disgrace about the oscas is that Julia Roberts won best actress over Ellen Burstyn."
It was Julia's time. Plain and simple. In 1974 when Ellen won her oscar Faye Dunaway was robbed I tell you when she lost for Chinatown. That's the way it works though.
It's a dirty job, but I pay clean money for it.
That concept of it being someone's "time" is WHY I hate the Academy Awards! I love movies, so I should love a show dedicated to honoring the best in the field, but it's thinking like that the stains the whole industry. For instance, does anyone REALLY think Denzel Washington won because his performance in Training Day was THAT good? No way! It was his previous performances that led people to say it "was his time"! And let's not EVEN get into the idea that some people might have thought it was simply "time" for a black actor to win....
Why can't we simply appreciate the individual work that's competing against each other at any one time? The awards are complicated enough without having to go up against someone's entire body of work...
to name just a few!
shareGo back in time a little and check out 1973 for a really good year for movies. "The Exorcist", "The Sting" (won best picture oscar), "The Way We Were", "American Graffiti", "A Touch of Class" and Martin Scorcese's "Mean Streets". What a year.
shareYou'tr right 1994 was a great year for movies. There was also [Ed Wood].
shareThe year after was just as good
1995:
Heat
Casino
Se7en
The Usual Suspects
Leaving Las Vegas
Apollo 13
Braveheart (Won Best Picture)
Toy Story
Twelve Monkeys
Before Sunrise
Rob Roy
The Basketball Diaries
Kids
What do you have against Four Weddings and a Funeral? It was a charming comedy with immensely likable performances from Hugh Grant and Andie McDowall. It may not have been the best film of 1994 (I would have voted for Quiz Show myself) but it may well have been the most entertaining of the five.
shareI have nothing against Four Weddings and a Funeral, but it is unquestionably (in my mind) the weakest of the five nominees for Best Picture. I actually like the movie, but calling a movie weaker than four all-time greats is not calling it a bad movie. I'll give you an example: I am a New York Yankees fan, and my favorite all-time player is Mariano Rivera (who is now retired). I think Mo is the 5th greatest Yankee in history, because the top 4 are Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle. It is not a slight against Mo to point out that he is 5th best (at best...some have him slightly lower on the list). I personally don't think FWaaF is an all-time great film, nor is it one of my favorites, but I DO like it, and it is quite a good movie. But I don't see a problem with calling it the worst of the five of 1994 when The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, and Quiz Show are the other four. Hell I DO love Quiz Show and it IS one of my favorites, and I personally enjoy it more than Forrest Gump, but I believe Quiz Show is not as good a movie as the top 3 of 1994...A top 3 so strong that if you spread it out and released the movies 1994-1996 you might have 3 straight best picture winners.
"Well if you wanted to make Serak the Preparer cry, mission accomplished."
I wrote my post because I was tired of reading such negative comments on Four Weddings and a Funeral, which I found entertaining and charming.
I really disliked Forest Gump because I found it anti intellectual. I guess it was so popular because it showed that any moron can be a huge success.
Pulp Fiction introduced a major talent and it was undeniably influential, but who really gives a sh*t that they call a Big Mac a La Royale in France? This is great writing? Well, not in my book. And why jumble up the narrative? At least it was done for a (very successful) reason in Irrersible. Here it is pointless. Still, Pulp Fiction is compelling film-making and Tarentino certainly deserved the award for best director.
I like The Shawshank Redemption but am somewhat mystified as to why so many of its fans regard it so highly. It is entertaining but, like most Frank Daramount films, it is overlong and I personally do not regard it as any kind of great film. Good, but not great.
For me Quiz Show was the best because it was about something. In what was undoubtedly the best line of the year Ralph Fiennes says anyone who thinks money is ever just money couldn't have much
of it. This was the best script of the year.
Forrest Gump is anti-intellectual?
That's one of the most philosophical, layered, beautiful films ever made. It also has not lost any of its power over the years. It's as good as it ever was. A true masterpiece. One of few films that actually deserves its oscars.
Whether you like it better than Pulp or Shawshank is purely subjective because they're very different films and all great.
What is so intellectual about Forrest Gump? As one critic noted it ia a film in which the character who gets really involved with the important issues of the 60's, Women's Rights etc., Robin, suffers and has an early death, while the character who does virtually nothing substantial, the moonwalk and the smiley face are the two things I remember, is showered with riches. I can't say that I hate this film as much as I did when I first saw it, but I don't like it very much. For me it illustrates the disdain that Americans have for the intellectual (Vote for the man you want to have a beer with, not the smart guy who graduated summa cum laude). As one of those "intellectuals" I personally found the film insulting. What's the advantage of being smart when any moron can be a huge success?
share@nyrunner101 ...while the character who does virtually nothing substantial, the moonwalk and the smiley face are the two things I remember, is showered with riches.
I agree with the critic's point (though I like Forrest Gump anyway) but I think you're confusing Michael Jackson with Elvis Presley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJslCsekjIg
"Ed Wood" should've gotten a nomination.
shareI just watched "Quiz Show" in school, but I haven't seen the other four nominees, although I see bits of "Four Weddings" when I'm channel-surfing. I thought "Quiz Show" was a great movie; reminds me why I like Ralph Fiennes so much. He's a great actor.
sharethanks. Though I think it was a GREAT movie, I believe those others were great too. Had it been made another year, Quiz Show may have taken the award...
share[deleted]
Why would it matter how many films a director has made? Even if it's their first, if it's good enough to win the Oscar, who gives a crap if it's the first film the director has made...
Maybe you are talking about the Best Director category, but either way, if someone is deserving they should win the award.
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hmmm - i agree with the previous guy - a film should be awarded on the merit of the film, nothing else. whether it is a sophomore or veteran effort should have no bearing.
shareoacoo, you continue to make no sense. According to that logic, when Pulp Fiction was released, everyone should have thought..."Well, that's a hell of a good film, but let's not heap too much praise or too many awards because you know what will happen to Quentin...his next few films will go straight into the crapper because he'll be so full of himself!!"
share[deleted]
That is beside the point. Your original statement was...
"I'm not one of Pulp Fiction's greatest fans, but on top of that I don't believe directors should win the Oscar for only their 2nd film, however good it may be. (I felt the same way about Lost in Translation.)"
That's what I was responding to. It's just very flawed logic. According to you, Orson Welles should have been ignored for Citizen Kane (his first full length feature film).
And by the way, Quentin didn't win Best Director for Pulp Fiction, Zemeckis took the award for the Gumpmiester...
Overall, I too think that 1994 was one of the best years in the movie business.
The Oscar fo best picture should have went to The Shawshank Redemption or to Quiz Show as they both are more profound and meaningful that Forrest Gump.
I think that Tarantino would have deserved the Oscar fo Best Direction (now, he may never get it) and and that Tim Robbins should have been competting John Turturro and Ralph Fiennes for the Best Actor Oscar (which Hanks didn't quite deserve to get for two years in a row). But that's just my opinion.
"I am just unwillingly disturbed belly-button."
To bbgun5310 ........you mention "Lost in Translation". This film should not be considered among great films. Bill Murray cannot act anything but his particular brand of comedy.
shareOh, come on, really? Try comparing Murray circa Stripes versus Murray in L.i.T.... You can't deny he's grown so much as an actor. His performances these days are capable of so much subtlety and pathos. He's really become an actor capable of so much more than bluster and slapstick (although that particular brand of comedy worked pretty well in films like Scrooged and Ghostbusters!) Don't be a hater! lol
shareWhat has Bill Murray done since Lost in Translation? It's not like he did a Leslie Nielsen (in reverse) and suddenly became a dramatic actor from that point forward after being a comedian for more than 25 years. Nor did his Oscar nomination lead to very much acting work (comedic or dramatic) since then. It's like when Dan Aykroyd got an Oscar nomination for Driving Miss Daisy, it didn't help his career very much as he didn't transition to being a fulltime dramatic actor, although I think he had the talent to do so.
shareFiennes was great in this. In fact, if we are going to gripe about Oscars, I think that both Ralph Fiennes and John Turraro should have been nominated for acting awards for "Quiz Show". Do you agree?
share[deleted]
I finally saw this the other night and was thoroughly impressed. Apart from the fact that the third act is a little anticlimactic, I can see why Quiz Show received the accolades it did. I was especially impressed by Rob Morrow - why isn't that dude more of a name?
share#1 PULP FICTION
#2 THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
#3 QUIZ SHOW
#4 FORREST GUMP
#5 FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL
This is my list of favorites in order of those years nominees.
In fifty more years Pulp Fiction's flawless genius will become more and more apparent.
Well maybe Tesla does the astro.
Pulp Fiction and Four Weddings will be the most often viewed and remarked on. PF in part because it was such a trend setter and will be viewed as a bit of a time capsule and Four Weddings as a classic comedy. That's not to say that Four Weddings is better than the other three, it clearly is not, but 50 years from now TCM will be having a Hugh Grant retrospective (hard to imagine today, I know) and there it'll be. A good comedy is both rare and treasured.
1994 was remarkable bot so much because there were five such excellent nominees for best picture, but because the academy managed to nominate five worthy pics.
I thought Pulp Fiction was far and away the best of them. Tarrantino's never come close to matching it and may never. Quiz Show stands up quite well and always well, it's an excellnet pice of historical drama that Hollywood sometimes manages to do quite well. Gump became ingrained in our culture for a short time ("life is like a box..." "Run Forrest, run...") to such an extent that some people grew sick of it. Shawshank has had surprisingly strong support, especially on this website.
It was a great year - for films, that is. For me:
1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Quiz Show
3. Pulp Fiction
Saw the other two {Forrest Gump and Four Weddings), but they didn't mean a thing to me. I have a feeling they appeal to sensibilities that I simply lack.
We're all different, I guess.
1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Forrest Gump
4. Quiz Show (sorry, I love this movie, but it lacks in whimsy and cinemotagraphy compared to the others. the acting may be superior to Forrest Gump and Shawshank, but as for the whole package ... )
5. Four Weddings
Even so, in any given year, any of these top four could have legitimately been best pic.
Forrest Gump is a good movie, but Quiz Show is definitely the better film IMO.
shareIn my opinion, and I realize that my opinion probably means nothing to you, I dont thnk this movie was in the same class as three of the films nominated that year:
Forrest Gump, which deservedly won, Shawshank and Pulp were all better.
Four Weddings was not quite up there either, and Quiz Show did beat that one.
"You know Mr. Murphy, the shop teacher? He got his dick caught in a vacuum cleaner" - Styles
Let's not forget that another great film was made this year: Ed Wood. With Forrest Gump, Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, Pulp Fiction and Ed Wood, this year is surely one of the greatest in cinema history. I think you'd have to go back as far as 1939 to find a better year. Movies released in 1939:
Gone with the Wind
Wizard of Oz
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Stagecoach
Wuthering Heights
Can anybody tell me other greats years for the cinema? Or their personal favorite years?
1974 was, in my opinion, one of the very best years for cinema.
The Godfather, Part II
Chinatown
A Woman under the Influence
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
The Conversation
Young Frankenstein
Lenny
Blazing Saddles
Murder on the Orient Express
The Great Gatsby
...to name a few
All of these pictures from '74 wipe the floor with almost everything that has come out since 1994, which I consider the last great year for cinema. And, IMO, Nobody's Fool is as good, and in some cases better, than all of the pictures nominated in '94. Of course, it is my opinion that most of the best pictures of the last 50 years came out between 1967 and 1983.
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I disagree. Though Quiz Show is indisputably a wonderful movie, I feel that it is not quite passionate enough for a Best Picture Oscar. At the same time, the other nominees weren't very passionate, either--it was just a weak year for the Oscars. Conclusion: In a normal year, Quiz Show would only be Oscar nom caliber, but in 1994, you're right, it was probably Oscar win caliber.
shareWow, most people I know and in this thread think that 1994 was a great year for the best picture category. I'd be curious to know what you think IS a good year for that category. My opinion is that 1994 was the LAST year with more than 1 or 2 great films.
share