Thanks to this film, the Oscars have now officially become a sham

Rating: Null/10 (28 March 2005)

Ever since Titanic won the Best Picture Oscar (and to top that, 11 Oscars), the Oscars have gradually been digging their own grave. A year later we had to witness "Shakespeare in Love" take home the gold over "Saving Private Ryan". Then in 2002 we saw "Chicago" beat films such as Gangs of New York, The Pianist, Catch Me If You Can, and not to forget Road to Perdition for Best Picture. And now the Oscars have finally put the final nail in the coffin with awarding Million Dollar Baby their "Best Picture of the Year" of 2004.
I have seen all the "Oscar" nominee films, and I can clearly say that their were a number of films better in direction, cinematography, acting ability and writing. I place the following films better than MDB, such as THE AVIATOR, SIDEWAYS and what I regard as the Best Picture of 2004, "ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND". I firmly place Million Dollar Baby at 4th. And for Eternal Sunshine not even to be nominated for Picture, Direction (Gondry) and Actor (Jim Carrey) is an absolute disgrace, and the Academy knows it.
Let's face the fact. Scorsese was robbed of his Oscar by Eastwood. Eternal Sunshine was completely ignored, and the Academy instead focused it's attention on Million Dollar Baby. The reason? Eternal Sunshine had Jim Carey in it (which the Academy hates), and Million Dollar Baby was by Eastwood, and that's the only reason it won. Otherwise, ETERNAL SUNSHINE was (by far) the Best Picture of 2004.
As for the Academy, who knows what they'll come up with next? I suspect next year's "Best" Picture will be won by the producers of Gigli, directed by James Cameron, whilst the Acting awards will be won by Jennifer Lopez and Chris Rock respectively. Supporting awards will be given out to Lindsay Lohan and Ashton Kutcher, whilst Clint Eastwood will probably be named Best Director. For what? Who knows.