by Heath Lynch, Contributing Writer
Welcome back to another Oscars: What If, our retrospective look at the Oscars!
Alrighty then, we’re in the thick of it now. Awards season is alive and kicking, buzz is in the air, prognostications are being made, and it’s time to see what the best of the best in the movie industry can show us. Let’s hope things end strong. But before we go filling out our Oscar prediction sheets, let’s go look back at another awards season long gone by. As a reminder, with this series we look at categories the Academy should be honoring, but, for one reason or another, they aren’t. Hopefully someday the Academy will do right by these creative talents, but until then, we must do the Academy’s job for them. Let’s look back at the year the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opened in Cleveland, Michael Jordan returned to the NBA, 150 million people watched as a “Not Guilty” verdict was read at the O.J. Simpson trial, and the Oklahoma City bombing tragically took place. It is time to examine the films of 1995, celebrated at the Oscars in 1996. Let’s see what could have been!
Best Stunts and Choreography
Given to the best achievement in dance, stunts, related performances, and overall choreography.
And the nominees are… Bad Boys, Batman Forever, Die Hard with a Vengeance, GoldenEye, Jumanji
And the winner is… GoldenEye!
In a year of many bombastic and iconic ‘90s action blockbusters, there is one that really pulled out all the stops when it came to stunts — GoldenEye. That’s right, after the franchise nearly died, and went more than half a decade since the previous 007 cinematic adventure, Bond, James Bond, is back in a big way — it literally opens with a 220 meter bungee jump off the top of the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland. That’s the opening five minutes of the film. From there, we free fall over the edge of a cliff while riding a motorcycle, skydive into an airborne airplane, get caught up in massive firefights with explosions and grandeur, engage in dramatic car chases, drive a tank through city streets, derail a train, rappel out of a helicopter into a jungle, and run across the bridges and wires of the floating Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. And those are just some of the highlights. From top to bottom, this is one of the most tense and impressive displays of stunt work and action you’ve ever seen in film, and it’s a big part of the reason that this franchise was saved. So once again, I’m happy to be awarding a James Bond flick with an Oscar, as GoldenEye takes home this year’s gold for Best Stunts and Choreography.
Best Performance by Voiceover or Motion Capture
Given to the best off screen voice performance, or on screen motion captured performance.
And the nominees are… Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, Christine Cavanaugh as Babe in Babe, Bill Farmer as Goofy in A Goofy Movie, Malachi Pearson as Casper in Casper, Tom Hanks as Woody in Toy Story
And the winner is… Tom Hanks as Woody in Toy Story!
Irene Bedard, I’m sorry. I really wanted to find a place for you here, but you just got squeezed out. It’s a shame Judy Kuhn’s singing gets all the spotlight from Pocahontas, but it is what it is. And what it is, is Tom Hanks winning another damn Oscar. It’s crazy how Hanks brings the character of Woody to life in this movie. The emotion he portrays is terrific. There’s real joy, anger, sorrow, and remorse that’s channeled through Hanks’ performance that makes Woody come to life. It’s his interactions with Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear, his combative and redemptive journey with the other toys, and the regret he feels when he sees how much pain he’s caused Andy that breaks your heart. Toy Story works for a lot of reasons, but Hanks’ performance is chief among them, so he absolutely deserves yet another Oscar.
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast
Given to the best overall ensemble cast performance.
And the nominees are… Apollo 13, Heat, Sense and Sensibility, Se7en, The Usual Suspects
And the winner is… Apollo 13!
I know, I know, where’s Casino? Look, competition is stiff, and there are casualties in every war. And in this battle, it’s Apollo 13 that comes out on top. Honestly, as great as all of these nominees are, how could it not? This thrilling historical drama elicited so much anxiety and emotion out of its audience, and it’s almost entirely due to these terrific performances and the chemistry they exude when they’re flying off the handle and bouncing off one another. All of these scenes, where lives are on the line, you feel that tension. It becomes so visceral. Credit to Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, and Ed Harris for absolutely crushing it at every possible moment. This movie is a blast, and its terrific ensemble is the central part of the equation as to why. Because of all this, I’m quite happy to award Best Ensemble to Apollo 13.
Best Directorial Debut
Given to the best achievement in direction by a debut directing talent.
And the nominees are… Noah Baumbach for Kicking and Screaming, Michael Bay for Bad Boys, F. Gary Gary for Friday, Scott Kalvert for The Basketball Diaries, John Lasseter for Toy Story
And the winner is… John Lasseter for Toy Story!
Let me be abundantly clear: John Lasseter is an objectively horrible human being. His “sexual misconduct” (that’s putting it mildly) with his employees is disgusting. There’s a reason that he — the acclaimed director and former CCO of Pixar — was canned from his job. But he created a complete paradigm shift in how animated films would be made with Toy Story, as it was the first fully computer-animated feature film ever made. To put a project like that together in the mid-’90s was a staggering feat, one many thought impossible. Additionally, if it wasn’t enough to do something no one else had ever done before, Toy Story is arguably one of the greatest modern animated masterpieces. It’s funny, heartwarming, entertaining, and iconic in so many ways. That doesn’t happen by mistake. So, as much as I may hate Lasseter as a person, separating the art from the artist, and trying to be as objective and fair as possible, I begrudgingly award this Best Directorial Debut to Lasseter for a work of art unlike any other.
Best Popular Film
Given to the best audience supported motion picture that earned a spot as one of the top 25 box office films of the year.
And the nominees are… Apollo 13, Crimson Tide, GoldenEye, Se7en, Toy Story
And the winner is… Toy Story!
Yup, you’re reading that right. This is the third W for Toy Story today, and it’s totally earned. I mean, this movie took the world by storm. And while the Academy did shower it in some love with three nominations, it didn’t take home any gold. That’s fairly ridiculous, given its critical and commercial success. Nearly 30 years later, this film still holds a perfect 100% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s right, there hasn’t been a single negative review from any critic in the whole world in almost three decades. Toy Story was nominated for Best Original Song for Randy Newman’s iconic “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” and it also received a Best Music — Original Musical or Comedy Score nom (they really had weird category titles back then). More impressive, Toy Story received a Best Original Screenplay nomination, making this the first animated film to ever be nominated for any writing category. Had Best Animated Feature existed as a category back then, it’s undeniable it would’ve won that award as well. Hell, the Academy literally invented a Special Achievement Award for Toy Story for “the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film.” It really doesn’t get much better.
If that critical response wasn’t enough, well, audiences loved it too. Woody, Buzz, and the gang brought home $191.8 million at the domestic box office in ‘95, locking it in as the number one domestic box office winner of the year. It beat Batman Forever (a big hit at the time, even if it’s considered campy and underwhelming today), Apollo 13 (another Hanks vehicle that was Best Picture nominated), GoldenEye (the return of James Bond after over half a decade), and Braveheart (the Best Picture winner). When not adjusted for inflation, this is still in the top 100 domestic grossing movies of all time. Toy Story went on to make $363.0 million worldwide, making it the second highest grossing movie worldwide in ‘95. It finished just a mere $3 million behind Die Hard with a Vengeance for the number one spot. At the time of its release, it was the 21st highest grossing film worldwide. Damn. This is the textbook definition of critical and commercial success. Even better, the film has aged like a fine wine, and audiences love it more than ever to this day. I’m so very happy to award Best Popular Film to Toy Story. And yes, this means Hanks was in four of the five winners I’ve awarded this year. Impressive.
Thanks for joining me on another trip down memory lane to see what could’ve been! We got one David Fincher’s breakout film and one of the most horrifying portrayals of a serial killer ever put to film, the true life story of a daring and courageous space rescue mission, and one of the most cherished and beloved animated films of all time. Be sure to come back next month when we look at films like Independence Day, Jerry Maguire, and Fargo for the Oscars of 1997, celebrating the films of 1996!
You can read more from Heath Lynch, and follow him on Letterboxd