The Oscar Project
In case you have been living under a rock for the past year or so, Disney is launching its own streaming service, called Disney+, in a little over three weeks. Earlier this week they officially announced the full list of titles that will be available on the service from day one. Ever since the announcement of the service, people have been speculating about the availability of hot properties like the Star Wars and Marvel films, not to mention all of the great animated classics and Pixar films we've come to know and love. Rest assured, most of what you're expecting will be there, with many more sure to come as streaming rights deals expire with other providers (including Netflix). That said, I wanted to provide a little Oscar perspective on the initial offerings since there are a TON of previous nominees and winners included in the list. I initially started this as a full list of all films, but ended up breaking it into a few posts along the lines of The Verge article listing the full offering. Today I look at only the live action Disney films which does NOT include any of the Star Wars, Marvel, or National Geographic films. Assume the Disney+ service works in a way similar to Netflix, I will link to each film once the service is active. For now, just keep a running list of all the ones you want to watch in a few weeks! Disney Live Action FilmsThe House of Mouse has long been known for animated features, but they have a long history of live action films as well. Many of those will be available on the service and here are the ones that were nominated for or won an Oscar when they were originally released. Swiss Family Robinson (1940) - While not actually a Disney release, this version was directed by Edward Ludwig with narration by Orson Welles. Disney came by the rights to the film when they were making the 1960 version of the story. The lore says that Walt Disney himself bought the rights to the previous version to suppress any re-release competition for his own adaptation. Now that Disney still controls the property, they are putting it on their streaming service, along with the 1960 version which was not nominated for any Oscars. You can compare for yourself which one was better. The film was nominated for one Academy Award for Best Special Effects (Vernon L. Walker and John O. Aalberg), losing out to The Thief of Bagdad in a very crowded field of 14 films. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - It's been a while since I've seen this film, but it might be a perfect opportunity to show it to my own kids this Christmas season now that it will be available on Disney+. Again, this is not originally a Disney property, but was originally released by 20th Century Fox which was purchased earlier in 2019 by Disney to add to their vast array of properties. I feel like this one fits right in with Disney's ethos and is a perfect addition to the initial offerings on the streaming service. 34th Street faired better at the Oscars than Swiss Family. It won the awards for Best Supporting Actor (Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kingle), Best Writing, Original Story (Valentine Davies), and Best Writing, Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture, losing out to Gentleman's Agreement. The Living Desert (1953) - This is our first documentary on the list and the first film actually released by Disney. This film featured footage showing the everyday lives of animals dwelling in the deserts of the Southwestern United States. It was filmed around Tucson, Arizona, directed by James Algar, and featured narration from Winston Hibler who co-wrote the film with Algar. It won the award for Best Documentary. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) - Get ready for a ride as you dive deep under the ocean. This is our first film on the list that eventually inspired a ride at the Disney parks. While the Submarine Voyage ride no longer exists at Disney World, there are still references to the film in various places throughout Disney parks and resorts. This film delivers with an all-star cast including Kirk Douglas as Ned Land, James Mason as Captain Nemo, and Peter Lorre as Conseil. It won the awards for Best Art Direction - Color (John Meehan and Emile Kuri) and Best Special Effects (John Hench and Joshua Meador). It also received a nomination for Best Film Editing (Elmo Williams) but lost to On the Waterfront. White Wilderness (1958) - Like the aforementioned film The Living Desert, this documentary was written and directed by James Algar, with narration from Winston Hibler. This time around they were in Canada, filming for three years with images of arctic creatures including polar bears, lemmings and wolverines. The film raised some controversy in its depiction of lemmings jumping off a cliff, potentially to their doom and helped propagate the misconception of these animals committing mass suicide. White Wilderness won the award for Best Documentary. Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) - James Mason returned for this film a few years after making 20,000 Leagues. They must have really liked Mason for the films based on Jules Verne classics. This time instead of going under water, the intrepid adventurers are journeying deep underground in an attempt to reach the center of the earth by descending into a volcano in Iceland. It was nominated for the Oscars for Best Art Direction - Set Decoration (Lyle R. Wheeler, Franz Bachelin, Herman A. Blumenthal, Walter M. Scott, and Joseph Kish), Best Effects, Special Effects, and Best Sound (Carlton W. Faulkner) but failed to take home any awards. Pollyanna (1960) - While not technically and Oscar winning film, I included this here because of the award given to Hayley Mills (The Parent Trap, Good Morning, Miss Bliss aka Saved by the Bell). She received the very last Academy Juvenile Award which was presented between 1935 and 1961 to a young actor for an "Outstanding Juvenile Performance." Other winners of the award include Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, and Mickey Rooney. Pollyanna received no other nominations from The Academy. The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) - In a story that Disney would revisited two more times over the last half-century, we are first introduced to the concept of Flubber. Originally produced in black and white, the film was colorized in the 1980s for release on home video. It was nominated for the Oscars for Best Art Direction (Carroll Clark, Emile Kuri, and Hal Gausman), Best Effects, Special Effects, and Best Cinematography (Edward Colman) but failed to take home any awards. The Parent Trap (1961) - You may think this is about the 1998 film starring Lindsay Lohan, but there was an original made in the 1960s starring Hayley Mills in the dual role of twin teenage girls trying to reunite their divorced parents after meeting at a summer camp. The 1998 remake starring Lindsay Lohan as the precocious twins will also be available on Disney+, though it did not receive the same accolades as the original. It was nominated for the Oscars for Best Film Editing (Philip W. Anderson) and Best Sound (Robert O. Cook) but failed to win in either category. Mary Poppins (1964) - The movie on this list with the most Academy Award nominations is finally going to be available to stream when it hits Disney+ in November. This classic story of the slightly odd and definitely magical nanny has captivated audiences for decades and served as the breakout hit for both Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. I have to admit that it took me a long time to get through this film. I never saw it as a kid and when I tried watching it in late high school or early college, I couldn't get past the dancing penguins. It wasn't until a year or so ago that I watched it so I was caught up before the sequel arrived. Sometimes you just need a little time to fully appreciate something like this film. The 2018 sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, is currently still available on Netflix, but I assume it will find its way to Disney+ once that deal runs out. It was nominated for an incredible 13 Academy Awards including wins for Best Actress (Julie Andrews), Best Film Editing, Best Original Music Score, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Song ("Chim Chim Cher-ee"). The film was also nominated for Best Picture and is the only film of Disney's to receive that honor during his lifetime. The Sound of Music (1965) - It's interesting that these two films appear back to back on this list though The Sound of Music was not originally released by Disney. This was another acquisition that resulted from Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox and a great catch if you ask me. The story of the von Trapp family in Austria, it became an instant classic and is well know for the musical selections from the bouncy "Do-Re-Mi" and the grand "The Sound of Music" to the introspective rendition of "Edelweiss." While the final scenes of escape in the film are a bit overly dramatized, it remains a fantastic film to this day and one that I often sit and watch to the end when I catch it airing on television. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including wins for Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Wise), Best Music (Scoring of Music - Adaptation of Treatment) (Irwin Kostal), Best Sound Recording (James Corcoran and Fred Hynes), and Best Film Editing (William H. Reynolds). Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) - Looking at the poster for this film, you might think it has some similarities to the previously mentioned film Mary Poppins in that both feature live actors combined with animated characters at certain points of the film. You'd be right and that is part of the reason why there was a significant gap between releasing the two films as some saw them as too similar. I've only seen bits and pieces of this one, so I am excited to see it on the streaming service and be able to sit and watch the whole thing with my own kids for the first time. It was nominated for five Oscars including Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score (Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, and Irwin Kostal), Best Song Original for the Picture (Sherman and Sherman), Best Art Direction (John B. Mansbridge, Peter Ellenshaw, Emile Kuri, and Hal Gausman), Best Costume Design (Bill Thomas), and a win for Best Visual Effects (Alan Maley, Eustace Lycett, and Danny Lee). Pete's Dragon (1977) - Like so many of these older films, it's great to see some of them coming to a streaming service that will make them much more available to modern audiences. While this one may not measure up to the status of Mary Poppins, it is still a fun film and I remember truly enjoying it when I was a kid. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Original Song Score (Al Kasha, Joel Hirschhorn, and Irwin Kostal), and Best Original Song ("Candle on the Water" by Kasha and Hirschhorn) but failed to win in either category. The Muppet Movie (1979) - Who doesn't love The Muppets? I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't love these guys and their staying power in film proves their enduring nature. (More on this a little later) Tracking the journey of Kermit T. Frog across the country to Hollywood, the film brings us all our favorite Muppet characters and throws in a good dose of cameos including folks like Dom DeLuise, Albert Finney, Madeline Kahn, Carol Kane, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, and Orson Welles. The Muppets themselves are performed by the names we all know including Jim Henson and Frank Oz. I don't want to shortchange the film as a whole, but this also includes one of my favorite closing shots in film. The entire cast of Muppets are in this last shot which pulls out from a super close-up on Kermit, Scooter and Fozzie to a wide aerial shot of the entire non-human cast. Once you're done enjoying that final moment of the film, go back and watch it again, realizing that every character in that scene is being moved and acted by at least one real human underneath, and then appreciate just how much coordination went into that one shot. There are a few pictures here that show the behind the scenes of this shot as well. The Muppet Movie earned two Oscar nominations for Best Adaptation Score (Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher) and Best Original Song ("Rainbow Connection" by Williams and Ascher) but did not win for either category. The Black Hole (1979) - This is the only film on this list (aside from the documentaries) that I'd never heard of, let alone seen. Similar to another science fiction film from 1979, the story picks up when a mission exploring deep space is returning to earth. Unlike Ridley Scott's Alien, this film doesn't focus on alien creatures, but instead saving a spaceship from the grasp of a black hole. This is Disney after all, so slimy aliens are not in the cards. Featuring some early computer graphics work, this could be looked as as a distant relative of films like Toy Story that came over a decade later. The film was apparently a box office flop yet was nominated for two Oscars including Best Cinematography (Frank Phillips), and Best Visual Effects (Peter Ellenshaw, Art Cruickchank, Eustace Lycett, Danny Lee, Harrison Ellenshaw, and Joe Hale) but did not win for either category. Tron (1982) - Originally intended as a fully animated film, Tron brought more forays into the computer graphics world a few years after the aforementioned The Black Hole. Set inside a computer terminal, the film stars a young Jeff Bridges as a programmer and game designer who gets beamed into the mainframe of his former employer. Once inside, he encounters deadly programs bent on destroying him and must fight for his life in order to find a way out. I re-watched this one about a year ago and it truly is as campy as it sounds, yet even in our digital world today, it holds up surprisingly well given the advances we've seen over 35+ years. Tron received nominations for Best Costume Design (Elois Jenssen and Rosanna Norton) and Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Bob Minkler, Lee Minkler, and James LaRue) losing out to Ghandi and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial respectively. Return to Oz (1985) - One should never try to remake perfect films, and The Wizard of Oz is one of those films that gets as close to perfection as possible. That said, Disney acquired the film rights to the Oz stories in the 1950s and tried at least once to make a film adaptation. Ultimately they landed with Return to Oz in 1985, starring Fairuza Balk (The Waterboy) as Dorothy. While not an official sequel to the 1939 classic, it does follow on the storyline of the original film and introduces us to new characters and villains. The film was only nominated for one Academy Award, for Best Visual Effects (Will Vinton, Ian Wingrove, Zoran Perisic, and Michael Lloyd) only to lose to Cocoon. Willow (1988) - When you bring together filmmaking heavyweights like Ron Howard and George Lucas, you're sure to get something special. Stemming from an idea that Lucas had, it developed into the film that is now a bit of a cult classic and was a part of the Lucasfilm acquisition by Disney in 2012. While starring actor Val Kilmer, the film also featured actor Warwick Davis who at the time had already appeared in films like Return of the Jedi (as Wicket W. Warrick, the ewok that first befriends Princess Leia) and Labyrinth. He has gone on to appear in everything from five Leprechaun films, all eight Harry Potter films, and five additional Star Wars films. He also runs a talent agency called Willow Management that specializes in representing actors shorter than five feet tall. Willow landed two Oscar nominations, for Best Sound Effects Editing (Ben Burtt and Richard Hymns) and Best Visual Effects (Dennis Muren, Michael J. McAlister, Phil Tippett, and Chris Evans) but lost both to the next film on our list. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) - I have to admit I was very surprised to see this on the list of Oscar nominated films, but after watching the 1980s episode of The Movies on CNN this fall, I have a new appreciation for the film. The lengths that the filmmakers went to to achieve the blend of animated characters with live actors is astonishing still today and I'm excited to get to revisit this film. Another note is that in 2016 the film was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." High praise for a goofy film about an animated rabbit on the run from the law. As noted above, the film won the Oscars for Best Sound Effects Editing (Charles L. Campbell and Louis Edemann), and Best Visual Effects (Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Ed Jones, and George Gibbs) as well as the award for Best Film Editing (Arthur Schmidt). Richard Williams also received a Special Achievement Academy Award for the animation direction of the film. 102 Dalmatians (2000) - It is astounding to me that Disney went 12 years between any of their live action film releases being nominated for an Academy Award, and I certainly wouldn't have seen a sequel like this being the one that would have broken the streak. I'm honestly a little surprised that Glenn Close didn't receive a nomination for her performance as Cruella de Vil in either this or 101 Dalmatians. I haven't seen either of them, but I've seen enough bits of both films to know that she was fantastic in the role and I don't think anyone else could have pulled it off the way she did. That said, Disney's first Oscar nomination for a live action film in over a decade came for Best Costume Design (Anthony Powell) which is lost to the Best Picture winner, Gladiator. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - When Disney released the first Pirates of the Caribbean film in 2003, it felt completely new and fresh and unlike anything they had put out to that point. It was dirty, funny, and a bit sexually charged in ways that Disney has often avoided over the last century, which was much of the appeal. It also signaled the arrival of attractive young stars in Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly. Yes, I know they both appeared in a number of films before this one not the least of which were Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Knightly), and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Bloom), but the characters they brought to life in this film were new and we fell in love with them immediately. Add to that the rapier wit of Johnny Depp as "Captain" Jack Sparrow and you have a perfect cast. I was actually a little surprised to see that Depp had been nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor for this film. The film was also nominated for Best Makeup (Ve Neill and Martin Samuel), Best Sound Editing (Christopher Boyes and George Watters II), Best Sound Mixing (Boyes, David Parker, David E. Campbell, and Lee Orloff) and Best Visual Effects (John Knoll, Hal T. Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Terry D. Frazee). The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - The books on which this film is based have been some of my favorites I've ever read. I have been through the entire series at least two or three times and was so excited when they were adapted to the screen (at least the first three). The story of the four Pevensie children sent away from London to the countryside during WWII allows them to find solace in the world contained within the magical wardrobe in the house of Professor Digory Kirke (Jim Broadbent). With the help of Aslan the Lion (Liam Neeson), they become the kings and queens of Narnia and help the creatures there fight for their freedom from the evil White Witch (Tilda Swinton). It was nominated for Best Sound Mixing (Terry Porter, Dean A. Zupancic, and Tony Johnson) and Best Visual Effects (Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney, and Scott Farrar) and also won the Oscar for Best Makeup (Howard Berger and Tami Lane). Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - I admit to loving the Pirates of the Caribbean films. All of them. Even when they start to get a little weird, which is what happened in this sequel. On the eve of Elizabeth's wedding to Will, they are both arrested for conspiring with a know pirate (Sparrow) and we begin a new adventure. The fun here is in the new villains (Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones) and new "friends" (Tia Dalma) before a wild scene near the end where Jack is consumed by the Kraken. We also get to finally meet Bootstrap Bill Turner who is excellently played by Stellan Skarsgard. After the nominations the first film received, it should come as no surprise that the sequel was again nominated for Best Sound Editing (Boyes and Watters II), Best Sound Mixing (Boyes, Paul Massey, and Orloff) and won this time around for Best Visual Effects (Knoll, Hickel, Gibson, and Frazee). It also added a nomination for Best Art Direction (Rick Heinrichs and Cheryl Carasik) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - Despite my love for the first two, I think that At World's End is my favorite Pirates film. Not only do we get most of the same characters from film #2, but we get even more new characters in Chow Yun-Fat's Sao Feng. This film also finally pays off the comments about Singapore from the first film. While the series has continued after this film, this one felt like a nice tie-off of the first three. And while Depp's Jack Sparrow continues to lead the way in many respects, I love how both Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan have grown into their own people by this third film. They each take on leadership roles of their own and must make huge sacrifices before the film ends. With four nominations on the first two go rounds, the nominations fell off a bit for round three. World's End was only nominated for Best Makeup (Neill and Samuel) and Best Visual Effects (Knoll, Hickel, Gibson, and John Frazier) but did not win either award. Alice in Wonderland (2010) - In one of the first live action re-makes Disney has produced, they tapped Johnny Depp once again, fresh off his success in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. This time he stars as the Mad Hatter of Alice in Wonderland fame and helps young Alice navigate the strange world she finds herself in after going through the rabbit hole under a tree. While a little odd at times, this is truly a new take on the classic Alice story as told in the animated film of the same name from 1951. The visuals are stunning throughout and the characters that we know and love are taking even more to the extreme. Alice picked up wins in the Best Art Direction (Robert Stromberg and Karen O'Hara) and Best Costume Design (Colleen Atwood) categories and an additional nomination for Best Visual Effects (Ken Ralson, David Schaub, Carey Villegas, and Sean Phillips) which it lost to Inception. TRON: Legacy (2010) - It may come as a bit of a surprise that the cult favorite from 1982 would eventually get a remake/sequel, especially given the advances in technology over several decades. The fact that it took nearly 30 years for us to get a new Tron film is a bit surprising to me, but again, it may have been waiting for the right time technologically. Bridges returns in the same role he had in the original, but this time it's his son Sam (played by Garrett Hedlund) who gets transported into a virtual reality world in response to a message from his father. There he meets an algorithm named Quorra (Olivia Wilde) who must help him find his father. Like the original the film was nominated for Best Sound Editing (Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague) but like Alice in Wonderland, lost to Inception. The Muppets (2011) - Some 32 years after the original film mentioned above, and several sequels that didn't garner any Oscar attention, we finally got another Muppets film in 2011. Alas, many of the original Muppeteers (is that the right word?) have left us including the great Jim Henson himself. Frank Oz was not working on this film, but archival recordings from the heyday of the Muppets are heard in the film with both Oz and Henson. This time around we get a "getting the band back together" story somewhat reminiscent of The Blues Brothers, if not The Muppet Movie itself. Jason Segal and Amy Adams star as the main humans in the cast and we are treated to a more modern set of cameos including Emily Blunt, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Dave Grohl, Neil Patrick Harris, Judd Hirsch, and John Krasinski. As with the original it was nominated for Best Original Song ("Man or Muppet" by Bret McKenzie). Unlike the original, this song ended up winning the Oscar! Saving Mr. Banks (2013) - If you've made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back. This has been a TON of films and way more than I anticipated when I started this list. Saving Mr. Banks is a true meta-story with Tom hanks playing the role of Walt Disney himself. It chronicles the few weeks during 1961 when Disney was trying to obtain the film rights for P. L. Travers's stories that would become the basis for the film Mary Poppins (see above for how that turned out). Despite the inclusion of stars like Hanks and Emma Thompson (Travers), the film only received one Oscar nomination in the Best Original Score (Thomas Newman) category which it lost to Gravity.
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AuthorI'm just a film buff who wants to watch great movies. Where else to find the best, than the list of those nominated by the Academy each year? Archives
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