Vice President Al Gore has contacted the Satellite of Love and ordered them to cover a batch of 1997's Academy Award nominated films, to which Mike and the Bots willingly comply. Released near the beginning of the show's ninth season, the Academy of Robot's Choice Awards Preview Special thankfully takes more cues from the Blockbuster Review special from the previous season and less from the Little Gold Statue Preview Special from season six (actually featuring riffed film clips is a step in the right direction). In its own way, it's just as good as the Blockbuster Review, with a wider film selection, though some of the riffing isn't as strong.
But these award worthy films we're taking a look at include:
Nominated for Best Actress (Judi Dench) and Best Make-Up, yet it lost both awards to As Good as It Gets and Men in Black, respectively. I personally haven't seen it, though it looks pretty good. The riffing in this segment mostly takes the straight drama of the scene, between Billy Connolly and Judi Dench, and makes it a bit cruder and childish. It's pretty funny.
The Wings of a Dove
Another film I haven't seen, The Wings of a Dove was nominated for Best Actress (Helena Bonham Carter, "former drummer for Led Zeppelin"), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design. It lost all four categories to As Good as It Gets, L.A. Confidential, and the last two to the awards hog that was Titanic. The scene depicted has Helena Bonham Carter in a heavy necking scene with Linus Roache, which gets the predictable "not as sexy as you'd think" riffing that turns the steaminess into something awkward.
Good Will Hunting
Aha! A film I HAVE seen! Albeit a very long time ago, though I remember enjoying it. Good Will Hunting won Best Supporting Actor for Robin Williams and Best Original Screenplay for writer/stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Matt Damon), Best Supporting Actress (Minnie Driver), Best Original Song ("Miss Misery") and Best Editing. It lost Picture, Song, and Editing to Titanic (of course), Actor to As Good as It Gets, and Supporting Actress to L.A. Confidential. There are a pair of clips to this film, one is a inspirational speech by Robin Williams to Matt Damon, which doesn't inspire a lot. The other is a fast food date between Damon and Minnie Driver, which inspires Joe Don Baker style burping and shoveling food into one's face riffs. The intro goes on a little long, where Mike throws out absurd parody title comparisons to this movie.
As Good as It Gets
I've seen this one too! Also a very long time ago, but I also liked it at the time. This one won Best Actor for Jack Nicholson and Best Actress for Helen Hunt. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Greg Kinnear), Best Original Screenplay, Best Score for a Musical or Comedy, and Best Editing. It lost Picture and Editing to Titanic (you're going to be seeing this a lot), Supporting Actor and Screenplay to Good Will Hunting, and Score to The Full Monty. The scene shown has Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, and Greg Kinnear loading up into a car, and it's mostly a bunch of movie star riffs being hurled their way. It's not great, but Crow has a great reaction to the censoring of the word 'fag' to describe Kinnear's character, to which he responds "Whoa! Why'd they bleep out 'Former guy from Talk Soup?'"
Amistad
This is one I watched for the first time a few years ago, and liked it quite a bit. It was nominated for Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Dramatic Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design. It lost Supporting Actor to Good Will Hunting and the other three to (guess who?) Titanic. They mostly just do descriptive riffs over a series of soundless clips.
Titanic (eventually riffed in full by Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett at Rifftrax)
Well, you knew we'd get to this one eventually, didn't you?
At that point the highest grossing film of all time (since then topped by Avatar, also directed by James Cameron, and Avengers: Endgame, not directed by James Cameron), Titanic won the awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Dramatic Score, Best Song ("My Heart Will Go On"), Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, and Best Visual Effects. The few awards it lost were Best Actress (Kate Winslet), Best Supporting Actress (Gloria Stuart), and Best Make-Up, which it lost to As Good as It Gets, L.A. Confidential, and Men in Black, respectively (yes, Men in Black beat Titanic, REJOICE!).
Personally, I think Titanic is a pretty good movie, though I don't love it (it's no A Night to Remember, that's for damn sure), though the resentful backlash it received is pretty undeserving. The movie is fine, and a lot of people love it. Let them love it.
The undeniable centerpiece of the special, a whopping four clips from this movie are featured here. The first has Bill Paxton asking Gloria Stuart "Are you ready to go back to Titanic?," which is an invite for some glorious doddering old lady jokes. Next is Titanic setting sail, which features rich observational commentary. Third, we have Billy Zane giving Kate Winslet the Heart of the Ocean, in which Zane's smarmy narcissism is the primary target. Finally, we have commoner dance party with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, which gets some great jabs at choreography and music. Riffing is pretty strong throughout these segments, because you can tell this was the movie they really made this TV special for.
Servo's line "I'm gonna sink this bitch!" was also used in the Rifftrax version of this movie.
L.A. Confidential
This is another movie I haven't seen, but it won Best Supporting Actress for Kim Basinger and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Dramatic Score, Best Sound, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. It lost all of these awards to Titanic (knocked this movie down like bowling pins). The clip featured is a sexual tension clip between Kim Basinger and Russell Crowe, which of course targets hormones, but also the sets to great effect.
Starship Troopers (eventually riffed by Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett at Rifftrax)
This is Mike and the Bots pick for Best Picture winner, despite it not being nominated. Having watched this movie many, many times, I agree. I love this movie. The film was only nominated for Best Visual Effects, but lost to Titanic (lol). The clips are just soldiers getting ready to combat alien bugs. They riff on a light show from an alien's rump, as well as the fact the aliens are bugs in general.
Small clips of movies Mike and the Bots didn't get a chance to see
Jackie Brown
I saw this, a long time ago. Didn't care for it, but I'm very lukewarm to Tarantino films in general. The film was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Robert Forster), but lost to Good Will Hunting.
There are no real riffs of these brief clips.
Boogie Nights
Haven't seen it. Was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Burt Reynolds), Best Supporting Actress (Julianne Moore), and Best Original Screenplay, but lost Supporting Actor and Screenplay to Good Will Hunting and Supporting Actress to L.A. Confidential.
The riffing is mostly a slow realization that the movie is about porn.
Deconstructing Harry
Haven't seen it (don't care for Woody Allen in general). Was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, lost to Good Will Hunting.
The small clip has Woody Allen propositioning a hooker, which sparks reaction riffs, including the gem "Must have got Woody's home movies by mistake!"
The Academy of Robot's Choice Awards Preview Special is a good little thirty minute breeze with some solid laughs at the expense of movies that are far better than we're used to seeing. Since a lot of these films are deadly self-serious, it makes for some solid comedy at their expense.
The anticipated segment is Titanic, and predictably it's the highlight. But the special peaks with it, making the final third of the special feel muted. Titanic probably should have been saved for last, but if the worst thing I can say about this is that the pacing of it is uneven, I'll still consider it a success.
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