Here we are readers, the last year of the new millennium for our readers to highlight their favorite film achievements of the year. It’s always interesting to see how the community uses this power to rewrite – or not – the Academy results of the past. The year 2000 reveals some significant overlap between Oscar and ACCA darlings but also some serious love towards films ignored at that time.
The big time favorite that emerged from this round of voting is almost without question Ang Lee’s wuxia epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. With a whopping fourteen nods it is the most nominated film in ACCA history! Best Picture winner Gladiator trailed just behind with thirteen nominations while Darren Aronofsky’s bleak addiction drama Requiem for a Dream managed the third-highest tally with eleven nominations. Cameron Crowe’s nostalgic rock odyssey Almost Famous and Steven Soderbergh’s polemic and multi-layered drama Traffic rounded out the most popular ACCA nominees. The Best Lead Actress longlist was apparently such a dearth of great work that our community chose not to choose and ended up with a tie of six nominees, and there was even a surprise write-in nominee in a category. Full list of ACCA nominees after the jump:
Best Motion Picture
Almost Famous (9)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (14)
Gladiator (13)
Requiem for a Dream (11)
Traffic (7)
Achievement in Directing
Cameron Crowe – Almost Famous
Darren Aronofsky – Requiem for a Dream
Ang Lee – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ridley Scott – Gladiator
Steven Soderbergh – Traffic
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem – Before Night Falls
Christian Bale – American Psycho
Russell Crowe – Gladiator
Tom Hanks – Cast Away
Ed Harris – Pollock
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Joan Allen – The Contender
Björk – Dancer in the Dark
Ellen Burstyn – Requiem for a Dream
Laura Linney – You Can Count on Me
Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich
Michelle Yeoh – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Willem Dafoe – Shadow of the Vampire
Benicio Del Toro – Traffic
Albert Finney – Erin Brockovich
Joaquin Phoenix – Gladiator
Brad Pitt – Snatch.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Connelly – Requiem for a Dream
Marcia Gay Harden – Pollock
Kate Hudson – Almost Famous
Frances McDormand – Almost Famous
Ziyi Zhang – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Best Original Screenplay
Cameron Crowe – Almost Famous
Lee Hall – Billy Elliott
William Broyles, Jr. – Cast Away
David H. Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson – Gladiator
Kenneth Lonergan – You Can Count on Me
Best Adapted Screenplay
Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner – American Psycho
James Schamus, Wang Hui Ling and Kuo-Rong Tsai – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Darren Aronfsky and Hubert Selby, Jr – Requiem for a Dream
Stephen Gaghan – Traffic
Best Cast Ensemble
Almost Famous
Best in Show
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Requiem for a Dream
Traffic
Best Achievement in Art Direction
The Cell
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Requiem for a Dream
Traffic
Best Costume Design
Almost Famous
The Cell
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Best Film Editing
Almost Famous
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
Requiem for a Dream
Traffic
Best Achievement in Makeup
The Cell
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
X-Men
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Almost Famous
Cast Away
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
The Perfect Storm
Requiem for a Dream
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Cast Away
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
Requiem for a Dream
U-571
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
X-Men
Best Original Score
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
The Patriot
Requiem for a Dream
Best Foreign Language Film
Amores Perros – Mexico
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Taiwan
In the Mood for Love – Hong Kong
The Taste of Others – France
Yi Yi – Taiwan
Best Documentary Feature
Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransportation
Legacy
Long Night’s Journey Into Day
Sound and Fury
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Tags: Almost Famous, Awards Circuit Community Awards, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Gladiator, Requiem for a Dream, Traffic
11 Comments
Snatch and Dancer in the Dark only get one nomination apiece and Gladiator gets 13? A pity.
JamDenTel(Quote) (Reply)
Really?!?! Only 1 nomination for BEST IN SHOW!?! Come on people, that’s one of the funniest movies ever. Definately should have gotten a best screenplay for that!
Derek(Quote) (Reply)
A better slate than usual, I must say…
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
Would have been nice to see Billy Elliot and Best in Show get a little more love, but… BRAD PITT FOR SNATCH??? America, f— yeah!!!!! Also, very cool for Bjork and Christian Bale.
Holden(Quote) (Reply)
Boo at Clooney not getting in for best actor for O Brother, Where Art Thou? Also boo at O Brother not getting in for picture or director.
Steve(Quote) (Reply)
You know, I loved Crouching Tiger but for some reason I keep having the feeling that this will end up like Bejamin Button lol. Anyways gogogogogogoogo Gladiator and Almost Famous!!!!! And please let’s give Frances McDormand and Tom Hanks their first golden highlights~!
GL(Quote) (Reply)
Here are my predictions FTW:
Best Motion Picture
1.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (14)
2.Almost Famous (9)
3.Requiem for a Dream (11)
Personal Pick: Requiem for a Dream (11)
Gladiator won’t come close to winning given the huge backlash against its win. Heck I’m surprised it’s even nominated
Achievement in Directing
1.Darren Aronofsky – Requiem for a Dream
2.Ang Lee – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3.Steven Soderbergh – Traffic
Personal Pick: Daren Aronovsky
The top 2 are somewhat close but Aronofsky is a neo-surrealist auteur to be reckoned with.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
1.Tom Hanks – Cast Away
2.Russell Crowe – Gladiator
3.Javier Bardem – Before Night Falls
Personal Pick: Javier Bardem
Christian Bale’s overrated performance is solid at best. But the Batman love might overflow here to a runner-up win. But he really isn’t that great.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
1.Ellen Burstyn – Requiem for a Dream
2.Björk – Dancer in the Dark
3.Laura Linney – You Can Count on Me
Personal Pick: Ellen Burstyn
Burstyn arguably gave the greatest female performance in film history. Bjork is near perfection too (the last scene, where she says she can’t breathe, is the most heartbreaking and tearjearking scene I’ve seen in film) but Dancer in the Dark doesn’t have noms for Picture and Directing so she won’t win. Also, she might remind viewers of Emily Watson in BTW way too much (the performances and character are a tad similar. Trier said that the 2 are part of his Golden-Heart trilogy). Roberts is also great but her Oscar win caused a huge backlash years later so I don’t expect many to vote for her against the other heavyweights.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1.Benicio Del Toro – Traffic
2. Brad Pitt – Snatch.
3. Joaquin Phoenix – Gladiator
Personal pick: Benicio Del Toro
I think Del Toro was submitted lead at SAG and many other awards, but he doesn’t have a competition here. Brad Pitt doesn’t deserve runner-up but people really like Snatch it seems.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1.Jennifer Connelly – Requiem for a Dream
2. Kate Hudson – Almost Famous
3. Frances McDormand – Almost Famous
Personal pick: Jennifer Connelly
Connelly will win due to the RFAD love but she deserves it too. I might be underestimating the CTHD love here. Am I?
Best Original Screenplay
1.Cameron Crowe – Almost Famous
2. Kenneth Lonergan – You Can Count on Me
3.Lee Hall – Billy Elliott
Personal pick: Kenneth Lonergan
Yeah I don’t think Crowe has anything to worry about here
Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Stephen Gaghan – Traffic
2. James Schamus, Wang Hui Ling and Kuo-Rong Tsai – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Personal pick: Stephen Gaghan
Traffic FTW. The only other screenplay to threaten it would be CTHD.
Best Cast Ensemble
1. Traffic
2.Almost Famous
3. Requiem for a Dream
Personal pick: Traffic
Traffic is the definition of a great ensemble. AF has a good chance to win too, and I might be underestimating the laugh out loud funny BIS.
Best Achievement in Art Direction
1.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2.Gladiator
3.O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Personal pick: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
No competition here.
Best Achievement in Cinematography
1.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2.Requiem for a Dream
3.O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Personal pick: Requiem for a Dream
CTHD is will be remember as one of the best looking movies of all time, but Requiem for a Dream is groundbreaking in its filming techniques which rarely get appreciated.
Best Costume Design
1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Gladiator
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Personal pick: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
It’s between the top 2.
Best Film Editing
1. Requiem for a Dream
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3. Traffic
Personal pick: Requiem for a Dream
A no-brainer. I’ll kill anyone who tells me otherwise.
Best Achievement in Makeup
1.How the Grinch Stole Christmas
2.X-Men
3.The Cell
Personal pick: Requiem for a Dream????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m curious, did anyone forget Leto’s hand or Burstyn’s face towards the end of the movie.
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2.Gladiator
3.Requiem for a Dream
Personal pick: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The top 3 are really close here.
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
1.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2.Gladiator
3. Requiem for a Dream
Personal pick: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Same as above.
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
1.Gladiator
2.X-Men
2.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Personal pick: Gladiator
CTHD could jump and win. But frankly it’s more about the Art-direction and Cinematography.
Best Original Score
1.Requiem for a Dream
2.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3.Gladiator
Personal pick: Requiem for a Dream
The top 2 have some of the best music in film, but Clint Mansell is a genius. He composed one of the most haunting scores in film that’d still remain with you years after your initial viewing of the film. Plus, you don’t hear the CTHD score on every other movie-trailer.
Best Foreign Language Film
1.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Taiwan
2.Yi Yi – Taiwan
3.Amores Perros – Mexico
Personal pick: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
A no brainer, but the runners-up are almost equally liked I suspect.
Total wins:
1.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – 7 (Personal wins – 5)
2. Requiem for a Dream – 5 (Personal wins – 8)
3.Traffic – 3 (Personal wins – 3)
Rob(Quote) (Reply)
@Rob
Calm down. It’s not real..
Blake Saeba(Quote) (Reply)
I would pick Snatch’s screenplay over Almost Famous’ in a heartbeat–but that’s just me.
JamDenTel(Quote) (Reply)
Lol Rob your predictions are awesome and really genuine but you forget that very similar to the Academy, we as a community have our own favorites and opinions about what is best. For example, though I am particularly surprised with CTHD’s love I am not shocked and it is the favorite to win, even directing. The community loves Brokeback Mountain and if we go by history Ang Lee will acquire his second golden highlight joining a very small club of directors to do such thing. His only competition is Sodenbergh who, from his fantastic track record could claim the title like he did with the Oscar. Likewise in the Actress field. We love our stars and Julia Roberts is the favorite, take Nicole Kidman for example. I love ACCA time!
GL(Quote) (Reply)
@GL
Interesting points, but at the Oscars Erin Brokovich was nommed for Picture and Director. This community obviusly doesn’t like the film as much (it’s a pretty good film, just not great). Roberts was an awards and box-office darling the year she won. She’s got none of those today, and frankly Bjork and Burstyn are far better.
Rob(Quote) (Reply)