In a Perfect World: My Ideal Oscar 2000 Ballot


Siskel & Ebert used to have an annual special entitled "Memo to the Academy" in which they alerted Oscar voters during the first round of balloting to those performances and pictures which they feel deserve a second look. I am less constructive in my Memo; I prefer to whine and criticize after the balloting period is already over. Here, then, is my roster of who I thought deserved the nods that the Academy, as always, handed out to a noticeably different list of filmmakers. Of course, no list satisfies everyone, nor includes every filmmaker who deserves recognition . . . but to paraphrase Hippocrates, I say, "Critic, please thyself!"

As a disclaimer, I am at least honest enough not to second guess entirely the categories in which I have not seen
all of the Academy's nominees. As an admission of my own ignorance, I have highlighted in grey those AMPAS
nominees which I have not actually seen. Also, the categories of Best Original Song and the Foreign, Documentary, and
Short films are all excluded on the basis that I have not seen or heard a wide enough array of the eligible contenders.

The nominees highlighted in yellow in my column are those to which I would eventually give the Award.

Oscar's Nominees
BEST PICTURE
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Erin Brockovich
Gladiator
Traffic

BEST DIRECTOR
Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot
Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ridley Scott, Gladiator
Steven Soderbergh, Erin Brockovich
Steven Soderbergh, Traffic

BEST ACTRESS
Joan Allen, The Contender
Juliette Binoche, Chocolat
Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream
Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me
Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls
Russell Crowe, Gladiator
Tom Hanks, Cast Away
Ed Harris, Pollock
Geoffrey Rush, Quills

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Judi Dench, Chocolat
Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock
Kate Hudson, Almost Famous
Frances McDormand, Almost Famous
Julie Walters, Billy Elliot

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, The Contender
Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire
Benicio Del Toro, Traffic
Albert Finney, Erin Brockovich
Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe
Billy Elliot, Lee Hall
Erin Brockovich, Susannah Grant
Gladiator, Franzoni/Logan/Nicholson
You Can Count on Me, Kenneth Lonergan

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chocolat, Robert Nelson Jacobs
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Wang/Schamus/Tsai
O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Joel & Ethan Coen
Traffic, Stephen Gaghan
Wonder Boys, Steve Kloves

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Peter Pau
Gladiator, John Mathieson
Malèna, Lajos Koltai
O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Roger Deakins
The Patriot, Caleb Deschanel

ART DIRECTION
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tim Yip
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch..., Michael Corenblith
Gladiator, Arthur Max
Quills, Martin Childs
Vatel, Jean Rabasse

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tim Yip
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch..., Rita Ryack
Gladiator, Janty Yates
102 Dalmatians, Anthony Powell
Quills, Jacqueline West

BEST EDITING
Almost Famous, Joe Hutshing & Saar Klein
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tim Squyres
Gladiator, Pietro Scalia
Traffic, Stephen Mirrione
Wonder Boys, Dede Allen

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Chocolat, Rachel Portman
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tan Dun
Gladiator, Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
Malèna, Ennio Morricone
The Patriot, John Williams

BEST SOUND
Cast Away
Gladiator
The Patriot
The Perfect Storm
U-571

BEST SOUND EFFECTS
Space Cowboys
U-571

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Gladiator
Hollow Man
The Perfect Storm

BEST MAKEUP
The Cell
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Shadow of the Vampire
My Nominees

BEST PICTURE
The Cell
Dancer in the Dark
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Wonder Boys
You Can Count on Me

BEST DIRECTOR
Curtis Hanson, Wonder Boys
Jim Jarmusch, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Tarsem Singh, The Cell
Lars von Trier, Dancer in the Dark

BEST ACTRESS
Joan Allen, The Contender
Björk, Dancer in the Dark
Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me
Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich
Michelle Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls
Michael Douglas, Wonder Boys
Ed Harris, Pollock
Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count on Me
Forest Whitaker, Ghost Dog: The Way…Samurai

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Catherine Deneuve, Dancer in the Dark
Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock
Frances McDormand, Almost Famous
Lupe Ontiveros, Chuck & Buck
Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Benicio Del Toro, Traffic
Bruce Greenwood, Thirteen Days
Tobey Maguire, Wonder Boys
Gary Oldman, The Contender
Jeffrey Wright, Shaft

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bring It On, Jessica Bendinger
The Cell, Mark Protosevich
Dr. T & the Women, Anne Rapp
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Jim Jarmusch
You Can Count on Me, Kenneth Lonergan

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Before Night Falls, Cunningham O'Keefe, etc.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Wang/Schamus/Tsai
Traffic, Stephen Gaghan
The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola
Wonder Boys, Steve Kloves

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Before Night Falls, Xavier P. Grobet, etc.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Peter Pau
Dancer in the Dark, Robby Müller
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Robby Müller
The House of Mirth, Remi Adefarasin

ART DIRECTION
Almost Famous, Clay Griffith, etc.
The Cell, Tom Foden
Hamlet, Gideon Ponte
The House of Mirth, Don Taylor
Up at the Villa, Paul Brown

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Cell, April Napier & Eiko Ishioka
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tim Yip
Joe Gould's Secret, Juliet Folcsa
The Legend of Bagger Vance, J.Makovsky
Up at the Villa, Paul Brown

BEST EDITING
The Cell, Paul Rubell
Dancer in the Dark, François Gédegier, etc.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Jay Rabinowitz
Requiem for a Dream, Jay Rabinowitz
You Can Count on Me, Anne McCabe

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tan Dun
Dancer in the Dark, Björk
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The RZA
Gladiator, Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
Love's Labour's Lost, Patrick Doyle

BEST SOUND
Cast Away
Gladiator
The Perfect Storm
Shaft
U-571

BEST SOUND EFFECTS
Requiem for a Dream
U-571

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Hollow Man
The Perfect Storm

BEST MAKEUP
The Cell
The Virgin Suicides
X-Men
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