Introduction

As those who are my friends on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter know, in December I am gearing up for my annual film awards (The BAM Awards), and that only partially
explains my recent reposting of all past winners.

Since these are picks made by one person, the nominating process is even more important. Aside from the the past years, the full slate of nominees from all years past was not public knowledge.

This is because the first time I did them, in 1996, I created them by myself, for myself. At the time, I knew a lot less about how these decisions are made, campaigning, the year-end barrage of contenders and the like, such that the releasing of the Academy Award nominees was more frustrating than it could be otherwise. Rather than just bemoan it I decided to create an award slate based on what I had seen.

Back then I was ticket-stub pack rat, at the time it was the only way I had to track anything. So I created the list, picked winners and printed it out. The fact that I stuck with hard copies and no back-up created issues later. However, it was just for me at the time.

I called them the BAM Awards because I needed a name. I suppose I came up with Bernardo Academy of Movies because I was being reactionary to The Academy. How one man by himself can be an
Academy I didn’t fully consider. I thought it was kind of a silly name, even at the time, so eventually it just became the BAM Awards.

Slowly, the awards widened: soon I emailed a select group of friends (that created eventual storage issues), a few years ago when I was on the Site That Must Not Be Named I decided to really take it public. I didn’t think about it ahead of time, it just occurred to me roundabout late November of ’09 that I could.

The publication was an exciting and unnerving process, regardless of how many or how few people would actually care to see them. While there are a two categories (which I now and again consider ending, and have skipped on occasion) which are negative, it is a positive emotion that brings me to these announcements. I want to at the end of the year share what I thought and why, and all winner announcements come with some explanation, and I do belabor them and struggle with them.

So it is heartening that last year, for the first time, the actual honorees, be they nominees or winners, on occasion acknowledged it. Now that may seem like a self-aggrandizing statement, but what I liked was knowing the news reached them, and other people, and they were pleased to hear it. The design of these awards are to cement what performances, works and films most affected me, I make no bones about that, and sharing that felt like a gamble, but it’s been rewarding for that and many
other reason.

Of course, if you see a film missing from any year you may inquire, and there is room for intelligent discourse, but the above statements are true: trolling or disrespectful comments aimed at those chosen won’t be tolerated. Your own awards are just a blog post away. I apologize for even needing to insert that statement but I did have cause to make similar points last year.
Anyway, with how much I enjoyed last year’s and how much I’m looking forward to this year’s awards, I thought it’d be a good idea to put all I have out there in a “reverse” countdown, a count -up if you will. So here goes…

1999

Observations of this year are as follows:

-Jessica Lange here is nominated anew, and is the second actor to win in both lead and supporting
categories.
-With 7 wins The Sixth Sense is the winningest film to this date.
-Oliver Stone is nominated two years running, his direction nomination here also marks a split between Picture and
Director. -Kevin Spacey earns another nomination here, as does Melanie Griffith and Sharon Stone.
-I have since warmed to Magnolia some.

Winners are BOLD and pictured.

Best Picture

Arlington Road
The Butcher Boy
The Green Mile
Simon Birch
The Sixth Sense

Best Director

Oliver Stone Any Given Sunday
Frank Darabont The Green Mile
Neil Jordan The Butcher Boy
Mark Pellington Arlington Road
M. Night Shyamalan The Sixth Sense

Best Actor

Warren Beatty Bulworth
Kevin Spacey American Beauty
Al Pacino Any Given Sunday
Haley Joel Osment The Sixth Sense
Eammon Owens The Butcher Boy

Best Actress

Annette Bening American Beauty
Melanie Griffith Shadow of Doubt
Jessica Lange Cousin Bette
Juliette Lewis The Other Sister
Sharon Stone Gloria

Best Supporting Actor

Doug Hutchinson The Green Mile
Jesse James A Dog of Flanders
Jamie Foxx Any Given Sunday
Tim Robbins Arlington Road
Bruce Willis The Sixth Sense

Best Supporting Actress

Thora Birch American Beauty
Toni Collette The Sixth Sense
Cameron Diaz Being John Malkovich
Diane Keaton The Other Sister
Elisabeth Shue Cousin Bette

Best Performance by a Child Actor

Joseph Cross Jack Frost
Jesse James A Dog of Flanders
Joseph Mazzello Simon Birch
Haley Joel Osment The Sixth Sense
Eammon Owens The Butcher Boy

Best Original Screenplay

M. Night Shyamalan The Sixth Sense
Warren Beatty Bulworth
David Pyne, John Logan and Oliver Stone Any Given Sunday
Mike Myers and Mark McCullers Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Ehren Kruger Arlington Road

Best Adapted Screenplay

Stephen King and Frank Darabont The Green Mile
Honore de Balzac, Lynne Siefert and Susan Tarr Cousin Bette
Pat McCabe and Neil Jordan The Butcher Boy
Washington Irving, Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker Sleepy Hollow
Mark Childress Crazy in Alabama

Best Score

James Newton Howard The Sixth Sense
Elliot Goldenthal The Butcher Boy
Angelo Badalamenti Arlington Road
Trevor Rabin Jack Frost
Mark Snow Crazy in Alabama

Best Cinematography

Salvatore Totino Any Given Sunday
Tak Fujimoto The Sixth Sense
Emmanuel Lubezki Sleepy Hollow
Adrien Biddle The Butcher Boy
Conrad L. Hall American Beauty

Best Visual Effects

Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace
The Matrix
Jack Frost
Sleepy Hollow
Being John Malkovich

Best Cast

The Sixth Sense
American Beauty
The Butcher Boy
Jack Frost
A Dog of Flanders

Most Underrated Film

Crazy in Alabama
The Story of Us
A Dog of Flanders
The Other Sister
Election

Most Overrated

Magnolia
The Matrix
Snow Falling on Cedars
Message in a Bottle The Love
Letter

Worst Film

Can’t Be Heaven
Durango Kids
Invisible Mom II
Au Pair
Can of Worms

Nominations
The Sixth Sense 10
The Butcher Boy 8
Arlington Road 5
Any Given Sunday 5
American Beauty 5
The Green Mile 4
Jack Frost 1
A Dog of Flanders 3
Cousin Bette 3
Sleepy Hollow 3
Crazy in Alabama 3
Simon Birch 2
The Matrix 2
Bulworth 2
Being John Malkovich 1
Shadow of Doubt 1
Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace 1
Gloria 1
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 1
Election 1
Magnolia 1
Snow Falling on Cedars 1
Message in a Bottle 1
The Love Letter 1
Can’t Be Heaven 1
Durango Kids 1
Invisible Mom II 1
Au Pair 1
Can of Worms 1