If a horror film can be as good as Silence of the Lambs, I don't think Oscar would have problem honoring it. Academy certainly has bias, but I don't fee it is not just toward comedy or "lightweight" stuff. Otherwise, Chicago wouldn't have won over The Pianist, or SiL over SPR. Except for American Beauty, they haven't liked too dark of stuff either. Fim noirs like Pulp Fiction and LA Confidential lost to more sweeping/uplifting ones, while many others like Memento and Fight Club were pretty much completely ignored. IMDb Top 100 are filled with films which were passed over at Oscar, but not many of them are comedies, so I think if we just discuss about bias against comedy, it exists among general public as well. People tend not to give it as high of a score, even if it's equally good. Same for horror and musicals. I don't necessarily see particular bias against them from the academy comparing to the rest of us. Academy's real bias is against films that don't fit the normal mold, whether it's quirky comedy like Eternal Sunshine or ones from Tarantino or just plain good blockbusters like Batman Begins and Spider-Man, where they can be easily embraced by the rest of us. If you compare academy and WOKJ's awards the past couple of years, that's where the difference shows up, not as if we are nominating sci-fi or horror movies for the main categories ourselves.

2002, Quiet American or Road to Perdition? Far From Heaven perhaps?

1999, if there was a god, Toy Story 2.

Rest seem right.

When I think of oscars I think of movies driven by characters and story, movies that impact you and say something to you.

For 2003, I could see City of God being really close. The Passion is there, and with the way academy filters out toward the final five, I expect it to have stayed longer than Cold Mountain, which could have been voted No. 5 on a lot of ballots, but without a No. 1 vote, it's automatically out the first go-through.

No, certainly not Toy Story 2. Being John Makovich was up for four Golden Globes, was nominated for a PGA award, nominated for a DGA award, nominated for three SAG awards (including Best Cast) and sweeped criritcs awards...how can it get any closer?

Just that if there was ever to have been another animated film nominated for BP, it would have been TS2.

Hmm, of all recent years, yeah...but I think The Lion King came fairly close as well simply due to its box-office.

Over either Quiz Show or Four Weddings obviously.

In a world of constant terrorist threats, raging mother nature, and global conflicts, could there be a better time to show the magical power of a great comedy?

The problem with Comedy is that for it to be effective (like Eternal Sunshine and even Little Miss Sunshine... which is what I'm sure this topic is eluding to...) is that they both somewhat turn to "drama" to to and effect the audience. With different degrees of success of course.

I could use a hug myself.

Just that if there was ever to have been another animated film nominated for BP, it would have been TS2.

I think I read somewhere that Chicken Run had so many supporters for BP that the academy finally put in the Animated Film award. I sure that would be the most likely, followed by Lion King and The Incredibles (4 nominations + a PGA nom).

Hmm, unlike Toy Story 2 and The Lion King, though, Chicken Run didn't win the Golden Globe as Best Comey/Musical and it didn't have the extraordinary box-office to back up its chances.

I definitely think Oscars should honor any genre if it's good enough. Spider-Man II was far more deserving of a nomination than Finding Neverland, which had an awful box office and reviews that weren't as strong, but it wasn't even considered because the pretentious academy is "above such things".

Meet the Parents was one of the 5 top films of it's year, but an R rated gut busting comedy isn't going to get any love from Oscar.

R-rated?

Wasn't it? I couldn't remember what the actual rating was, but I thought it had a few F words. PG-13, R rating, whatever, the point remains, the academy isn't going to even consider something like that, which they, no doubt, would consider to be "dumb" humor, as opposed to "smart" humor, a la Sideways or Annie Hall.

It did, however, have the best reviews of the year, and its B.O. performance was great, taking into consideration that Aardman is hardly the draw of '90s Disney and Pixar (It did have a 6.1 multiplier). Also, it was beaten in the catagory by Almost Famous, a movie that was considered a near-lock for Best Picture.