Static Zombie

If it was about 1.5 hours shorter it wouldn't have been so bad.

I agree with you whole heartedly. If I remember what else was up for best picture, it makes you say it even louder.

It's a yearly tradition for me to be confused and angered by the academy's choices for nominees and winners. To convince myself that the people of Hollywood aren't all idiots, I look at the nominees for best screenplay. If you want a truer idea of the best movies of the year that's where you'll find them. It's usually a more accurate category if you're looking for an interesting, different, or challenging film and not just a popular one (with a handful of noteable exceptions).

I just looked it up and the winners for best screenplay the year Gladiator won best picture were Almost Famous and Traffic (original and adapted respectively). Surely two better choices for best picture (though, I'm no fan of Traffic - that's another thread). Also nominated that year were Erin Brockovich, You Can Count on Me, O Brother, Where Art Thou, and Wonder Boys. All are (in my opinion) much more interesting films than Gladiator.

One last comment on this line - Titanic, a popular choice in 1998 to be sure, could not even secure one of the ten screenplay nominations the year it swept all the other oscars. That speaks volumes to me.

You need big, big, big box office in order to be able to afford to lobby appropriately for Best Picture.

The biggest box office tends to go to the movie that pulls the biggest teen numbers.

The biggest teen numbers tends to go to the movie with the "hottest" cast and/or the correct dosage of special effects.

Or at least, that's what I like to tell myself.