From ‘Chicago’ to ‘Million Dollar Baby’: The Oscar Winners of the 2000s First Decade, Worst to Best

In strictly numerical terms, as incredible as it sounds, “Slumdog Millionaire” is the last major winner in Oscar history with a total of 8 statuettes: best film, director, adapted screenplay, editing, photography, soundtrack, song and sound. A reward as overwhelming as it is unfair for a film that competed with superior proposals such as “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” or “The Challenge: Frost against Nixon”. However, Danny Boyle’s beautiful (and already) film did not give a chance to the rest of the rivals, triumphing resoundingly throughout the race until he conquered an Academy that had fallen at his feet. Time obviously didn’t work in his favor, leaving her as it was one of the most overrated winners of recent years.

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It was a matter of time before a director like Ron Howard found himself in his hands the statuettes for best director and best picture. Some more, some less, but all their proposals, or the vast majority of them, are clearly academic, clean and far from risks that could seriously endanger the box office and the taste of the spectator who goes to the cinema on rare occasions . . Thus, thanks to the biography of John Forbes Nash, Howard presented a solid drama with occasional touches of a psychological thriller that he exuded a statuette aroma which, in its best moments, had a very powerful emotional impact.

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From its prologue, overwhelming with pure cinematic strength, ‘En tierra hostile’ is released a special nerve, a dazzling beat and strength at the level of sand, sweat and tension. The intrigue is, of course, a countdown, but also terror, uncertainty and a shaking hand under a burning sky. There is no room for the slightest mistake. An error? Bye bye. On that fine line that separates everything from nothing is the exact place where Kathryn Bigelow’s film moves. And in which it explodes.

In addition to being one of the most surprising Best Picture Oscar winners of recent years, an achievement that has a lot to do with history, this war tape of steely muscles, lost looks and unhealed wounds, serves to exemplify, for the umpteenth time, the talent of a filmmaker as incombustible as she is passionate. His way of shooting, intense, captivating, impulsive and balanced at the same time, is the great attraction of a film that captivates the gaze. And from tachycardia.

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The Oscars have arrived. It was a matter of time and, although the competition offered more and better with the superb ‘Atonement: Beyond the Passion’ and ‘Wells of Ambition’ at the forefront, Hollywood understood it with this adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel it was the perfect time to honor two of the most important filmmakers of recent decades: the Coen brothers. ‘No Country for Old Men’ is by no means his best film, but we are talking about a work whose psychological complexity, raw and harsh narrative, powerful direction and implicit reflection on violence and greed in the essence of being human beings contribute enough of virtue to admire it without fear.

It also has a memorable character, Anton Chigurh, a cold-blooded killer played by Javier Bardem with the size of a giant. A work of intensity and subtlety above flattery. The icing on a strange, complex and ultimately exciting cake.

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Broadway has been celebrating this vibrant, sexy and memorable story called “Chicago” since 1996. In other words, a historical fact that places it second in the list of shows with the longest running with more than 8,000 performances to date, a This figure is complemented by its huge success in London, where it ran for 15 years, making it the longest-running American musical in West End history.

An absolute accolade that has remained intact since its passage on the big screen in 2002 thanks to a direct adaptation with a fantastic sense of cinematic rhythm by a Rob Marshall who managed to captivate the viewer so convincingly that it almost takes him to smell it theater tables and a cast devoted to the vibrant cause. For her part, the Academy also surrendered to her, turning her into the last musical film to date to triumph on Oscar night.

Chicago on the electronic scoreboard

Few could have thought that the 2000s would open with the resurrection of the peplos. Once again, and without warning, a film about Romans, gladiators risking their lives in the arena, whispered betrayals, backstabbing, and downcast fingers indicating bad news would hit the billboards. The box office has gone crazy, even the critics and even the Oscars have been infected ‘Gladiator’, a work which, because it promoted resurrection, served to revive Ridley Scott’s career.

An epic story of revenge that ended up saying enough, an anthological protagonist, Máximo, a performer at the peak of his career, Russell Crowe, who ended up taking the Best Actor statuette for his outstanding work, and a director who, finally , returned to show some of his best virtues. A perfect combination.

Gladiator at eCartelera

Few times, if ever, has an Oscar been celebrated as much as the one received by Martin Scorsese, attention, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, for his direction in “The Departed”. And it is that, however much the Academy tries to justify itself, It didn’t make sense that the New York director didn’t have statuettes at home.

Yes, we had to wait until 2006 to get it, but at least the corresponding film lived up to the myth. Remake of the remarkable ‘Foul Play’, this fabulous ‘Departed’ marked Scorsese’s return to the kind of cinema that we lovers of the seventh art always associate directly with him. Deeply respecting the referent of him, here we find ourselves with a director who has a blast with this vibrant, violent and highly entertaining thriller about cops, criminals, cats, moles and mice. And everyone is happy.

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And so we come to Clint Eastwood’s best film, the flagship, that cinematic pinnacle that sums up with unparalleled mastery all the exceptional virtues of a unique director. Deceptively marketed as a sports overcoming story in the purest ‘Rocky’ style, soon after its premiere the true nature of ‘Million Dollar Baby’ was revealed, i.e. that of a first-rate human drama, a moving and tragic story capable of awakening a more than interesting ethical and moral debate in the viewer.

Eastwood’s expert hand in moving people through restraint and small gestures shines with a special intensity in this extraordinarily simple masterpiece, which forcefully disarms the strongest heart, which puts a knot in the throat and closes with one of those blows endings that are part, with all fairness, of the history of cinema. Four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, put an end to the trajectory of an unforgettable, necessary and essential film. The best Eastwood of the 21st century.

Million Dollar Baby on eCartelera

Cinema full of vibrations for almost 200 minutes of cinema in the purest, most fascinating, feverish and moving state. 11 Oscars, sold out, which served as the final reward from an industry that wanted to show its admiration and gratitude to almost everyone responsible for the prodigy. ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ is an immeasurable, perfect farewell, capable even of reaching and exceeding the expectations located at the height of infinity. In short: an undeniable masterpiece. And one of the most important films in the history of the seventh art.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on eCartelera