Oscar Battles: Part V

It's that time again -- yes, the latest Oscar battle, and the fifth of ten. An exploratory poll on the most controversial of wins to see if, in actual fact, they were indeed 'wrong'. Before I get onto this weeks faceoff, I'm gonna run through the results of the past two weeks.

In Battle 3, Edward Norton fought off Roberto Benigni to claim at least a bit of pride, and the public vote, even if he failed to gather enough votes from AMPAS. Last week, the titanic four-way battle between a group of great directors, ended with Robert Altman's glorious direction of 30's satire Gosford Park edging out Peter Jackson and David Lynch. Good choice.

So far it's a bit of a two-finger gesture at the academy, with none of the Oscar winners surviving. Here are the results:

• 1998 Best Actress in a Leading Role: Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love) Vs. Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth) - Winner: Cate Blanchett - Result: No Match
• 1994 Best Picture: Forrest Gump Vs. Pulp Fiction Vs. The Shawshank Redemption -
  Winner: Pulp Fiction - Result: No Match
• 1998 Best Actor in a Leading Role: Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful) Vs. Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan) Vs. Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters) Vs. Edward Norton (American History X) -
  Winner: Edward Norton - Result: No Match
• 2001 Best Director: Robert Altman (Gosford Park) Vs. Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) Vs. Peter Jackson (LOTR: Fellowship) Vs. David Lynch (Mulholland Drive) -
  Winner: Robert Altman - Result: No Match

At the end of the battles, I'll combine all of the non-matches, and put them all in a poll to see which of these performances you think is the biggest snub.

As for this weeks battle, well, we're venturing into film's year of 2000, which launched one of the fiercest Actress battles. Although the winner was pretty much assured before the ceremony, all three women have critic awards, and all have their supporters. There's no doubting that these are three great performances, but which should have won the Oscar? Fill your boots.

Stay Tuned.