Yeah well Annie Hall didn't deserve best picture so when you have a group of people deciding who wins these awards that other people are going to disagree with them than the awards really don't mean anything.

Yeah, Kim Basinger was well cast and gave a decent performance, but I wouldn't consider it Oscar worthy unless there was virtually zero competition in her category that year. That Oscar should've gone to Julianne Moore, who gave a great performance in Boogie Nights.
Honestly if it was up to me I wouldn't have even bothered giving her the nomination that year. Bridget Fonda in Jackie Brown or Heather Graham in Boogie Nights stood out to me more than Basinger did in LA confidential. And it really doesn't seem right that she received the only acting nomination in this cast when she gave by far the weakest performance. It seems 1998 was a crowded year at the Oscars.

To this day it puzzles me how they decide who to give out Oscars to. This is a good film, and she is good in it, but she didn't give the best performance of any actress that year. The Oscars are so silly.

It seems odd to call this a make-up Oscar for Kim, as she had never been nominated before. And "Titanic" was largely a director's movie, with the spectacle overwhelming Stuart's performance. That might be why she lost the award.

No because Juliane Moore should have won for "Boogie Nights". She won because the movie was great and she was the only woman in it they could give an award to. I mean, if anyone should have gotten something for this movie it should have been Russell Crowe.

I'm afraid this is one of the best examples of how Oscars are rigged sometimes. One way you can figure it out is by looking at all those critics association awards that are handed out each year (Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago). Kim Basinger was hardly mentioned in any of them, and here she is, winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe (not BAFTA, though). Kevin Spacey had much more nominations for his role in L.A. Confidential than her and he didn't even get an Oscar nom.
Let's look how some of the most famous critics association voted that year in the supporting actress category:
Boston Society of Film Critics
Sarah Polley - The Sweet Hereafter
(she wasn't even nominated for Academy Award)
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Alison Elliott - The Wings of a Dove
Chicago Film Critics Association
Debbi Morgan - Eve's Bayou
(she wasn't even nominated for Academy Award)
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Joan Allen - The Ice Storm
Sarah Polley - The Sweet Hereafter
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Gloria Stuart - Titanic
National Society of Film Critics
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Sarah Polley - The Sweet Hereafter
Nathalie Richard - Irma Vep
New York Film Critics Circle Award
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Online Film & Television Association
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Kim Basinger - L.A. Confidential
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Christina Ricci - The Ice Storm
Gloria Stuart - Titanic
Online Film Critics Society Award
Gloria Stuart - Titanic
Julianne Moore - The Myths of Fingerprints
Joan Cusack - Grosse Pointe Blank
San Diego Film Critics Society Award
Jurnee Smollett-Bell - Eve's Bayou
(she wasn't nominated for Academy Award)
Satellite Awards
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Minnie Driver - Good Will Hunting
Sigourney Weaver - The Ice Storm
Ashley Judd - Kiss the Girls
Debbi Morgan - Eve's Bayou
Society of Texas Film Critics
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Kim Basinger - L.A. Confidential
Southeastern Film Critics Association
Kim Basinger - L.A. Confidential
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
So, if we are to judge by critics association - Kim Basinger did not deserve to win because that year there were far better supporting actress roles than hers. Although I personally think she's great in it, I would give the Oscar either to Julianne Moore or Gloria Stuart Hell, even Joan Cusack who was great in "In & Out".
L.A. Confidential is one of my favorite movies of all times and I love every character and every actor and actress in it - but if Kim Basinger didn't won an Oscar, I would've survived.

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http://lebeauleblog.com/2012/02/05/what-the-hell-happened-to-kim-basinger/
Shes been a Bond girl, Batmans girlfriend and a corpse in a Tom Petty video. Most recently, she played Zac Effrons mom. What the hell happened? The easy answer is that Kim Basinger was a sex symbol who got old. But the story of Basingers career is far more interesting than the easy answer would lead you to believe.
http://lebeauleblog.com/2012/02/05/what-the-hell-happened-to-kim-basinger/6/
That could have been the end of the story. But Hollywood loves a comeback and Basinger was primed and ready for one. In 1997, Basinger had a hell of a comeback in Curtis Hansons gritty film noir, LA Confidential.
It was the role Basinger was born for. She played a glamorous, sexy femme fatale. But with enough vulnerability to win a slew of awards including an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Despite the overwhelming success of LA Confidential, Basinger didnt jump right back into starring roles. She didnt release another movie for three years. In 2000, she starred in two box office turkeys, I Dreamed of Africa and the supernatural thriller, Bless the Child. Both received bad reviews.

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Disagree. Was awesome

She got the Oscar because her then-hubby Alec Baldwin called in a lot of favors. She was TERRIBLE in her role and looked nothing like Veronica Lake.

I don't think she deserved the Oscar either. Don't get me wrong she wasn't bad or anything, but it's a completely forgettable performance and role.

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I can't find a single memorable moment in her performance. I love that she won but I can't appreciate anything about the performance, I think it might have to do something with the era the movie is set in. I really don't know.

I swear i just finished watching this movie and thought the same thing ! She was ok, but in the script for her character and her acting was nothing oscar worthy, really just normal scenes. I waited and thought maybe something by the end of the movie will come where she would nailed it but nothing ! Really only normal scenes ! And I thought wtf academy

She got that Oscar for two reasons looking like Veronica Lake and taking two backhands across the face by Bud.

I wasn't really overwhelmed biy Kim Basingers performance. As you pointed out, UltronDoom86, she was okay, but nothing spechial. It war more her character (Lynn) than the person which caught your eye and atention.
BTW, for an escort "girl" I found her to old. Don't get me wrong now, she looks great and in the movie she is a brilliant looking end 3-. But a professional who makes his money with renting prostitutes, would't he have chosen rather a 20-year-old than a nearly 40-year-old?
English is not my first language. Any corrections are welcome.

Agreed. As much as I love Kim in this movie, as beautiful and sexy as she is, that Oscar should've went to Gloria Stuart.

She did great, but I don't see anything exceptional about her performance. This movie deserved oscars in other nominations. But it was lucky enough to come out the same year with THAT movie.

I strongly disagree. He should've won for JFK. He wasn't worthy of an Oscar at all for the Fugitive in my opinion. To me Tommy Lee Jones in the Fugitive is no different than Arnold Schwarzenegger in any of his movies. Not that I hate watching him in the movie but it is defiantly not his best performance.
Completely agreed.
TLJ is a very good actor but imho his win over the likes of Fiennes, DiCaprio, and Postlewhaite appalss me

I strongly disagree. He should've won for JFK. He wasn't worthy of an Oscar at all for the Fugitive in my opinion. To me Tommy Lee Jones in the Fugitive is no different than Arnold Schwarzenegger in any of his movies. Not that I hate watching him in the movie but it is defiantly not his best performance.
When the Story Lady tells us about the naughty boy who blew up his goldfish.

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I agree. It's ironic that Basinger won, when she probably gave the least impressive performance of the main cast. But she was essentially the sole female character of importance, so there was no competition against her in the same film. I think the males might have cancelled each other out, because you had Crowe, Pearce, Spacey, and Cromwell all standing out, and even David Straithairn and Danny DeVito in minor entertaining roles. Too much macho! Not enough awards!
Crowe and Pearce were the leads, but they were essentially newcomers and the Best Actor category was filled with veterans (and Matt Damon!), but not a single Supporting Actor nod among Spacey, Cromwell, Straithairn, or DeVito?

Hello again
I agree I love this movie but Basinger was not Oscar worthy in it