Who Made The Better Pick: The MTV Movie Awards or The Oscars?

It feels almost disrespectful to go with the MTV Movie Awards given that the big Oscar winner in 1992 was "The Silence Of The Lambs," but no one in their right mind would say that the Jonathan Demme (RIP) thriller is more culturally important than"Terminator 2: Judgment Day," which won six awards that same year. 

This was a hard one. On the one hand, the MTV Movie Awards gave trophies to "A Few Good Men," Denzel Washington (for portraying the titular "Malcolm X"), and Whitney Houston (for "I  Will Always Love You," from "The Bodyguard" soundtrack).On the other hand, the Oscars went to Al Pacino ('Best Actor ' for "Scent of a Woman"), Clint Eastwood and his film "Unforgiven," and "Aladdin" (it won an Oscar for 'Best Original Score' and 'Best Original Song'). Tough pick, so when in doubt, you gotta go with "Aladdin."

In 1994, Steven Spielberg and "Schindler's List" dominated the Academy Awards. That same year, the MTV Movie Award for best film went to "Menace II Society." It's a great film, but you just gotta give it to the former on this one. 

There are two types of people in this world: those who think that "Forrest Gump" (the big Oscar winner in 1995) is a good movie, and those who don't. It's pretty obvious what kind of person I am, but just in case my pick needs further defending, here are some Golden Popcorn winners from that year: Pulp Fiction (best movie), Sandra Bullock (best female performance for Speed), Brad Pitt (best male performance for "Interview With A Vampire"), and Jackie Chan (he got a lifetime achievement award). 

Nicolas Cage is the best actor of a generation (I will fight anyone who disagrees), and the 1996 edition of the Oscars was the only time they recognized his genius, so I'm going with that pick. Other Oscar winners that year: "Braveheart," Mel Gibson (for directing "Braveheart"), and Kevin Spacey ('Best Supporting Actor' for "The Usual Suspects"). 

All you need to know about 1997 is this: 

A) The Oscars disrespected the Coen brothers and their brilliant film "Fargo" by giving 'Best Director' and 'Best Picture' to "The English Patient." They were clearly on the wrong side of history. After all, it's not like there's an equally brilliant television series based on the latter, is there?

B) The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient at the MTV Movie Awards that year was Chewbacca. Also "Scream" won 'Best Movie.'

1998 was the year of "Titanic," and both the MTV Movie Awards and the Oscars gave a lot of trophies to that movie. The MTV Movie wins this year because they also gave two Golden Popcorns to Nicolas Cage and John Travolta for 'Best On-Screen Duo' and 'Best Action Sequence' for their performance in"Face/Off." Also, Clint Howard, the younger and less famous brother of Ron Howard, was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which LOL. 

The Oscars automatically lose because it picked "Shakespeare In Love" over "Saving Private Ryan" AND "The Thin Red Line" for 'Best Picture.'

It also didn't give 'Best Original Song' to Aerosmith for "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing." In contrast, the MTV Movie Awards did. They also gave awards to "There's Something About Mary," Cameron Diaz (for the aforementioned comedy), Jim Carrey ('Best Male Performance' for "The Truman Show"), and Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker ('Best On-Screen Duo' for "Rush Hour").  

Fun Fact #1: Did you know that Bill Clinton said one of his favorite movies of all time was "American Beauty," the big winner at the 2000 edition of the Oscars?

Fun Fact #2: Did you know that "The Matrix," big winner at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards, is a far superior film?

Other winners at the MTV Movie Awards: Haley Joel Osment ('Breakthrough Male for "The Sixth Sense"), Julia Stiles ('Breakthrough Female' for "10 Things I Hate About You"), and Spike Jonze ('Best New Filmmaker' for "Being John Malkovich"). 

In 2001, the Academy Awards made all the right picks in terms of movies ("Gladiator" won 'Best Film,' "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" got 'Best Foreign Film,' and Steven Soderbergh won 'Best Director' for "Traffic"). It also picked three out of four acting awards correctly (Russell Crowe won 'Best Actor' for "Gladiator," Julia Roberts won 'Best Actress' for "Erin Brockovich," and Benicio del Toro won 'Best Supporting Actor' for "Traffic"). The only miss was 'Best Supporting Actress, 'which should have gone to Kate Hudson for Almost Famous. 

You're crazy if you think I'm going to pick the MTV Movie Awards over the Oscars. The 2002 edition of the latter was a historic night: it was the only time a black man and a black woman won 'Best Leading Actor' (Denzel Washington for "Training Day") and 'Best Leading Actress' (Halle Berry, the only black actress to ever get this award, like ever, won it for "Monster's Ball") in the same year.

At the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, Kirsten Dunst won 'Best Female Performance' for "Spider-Man," Eminem won 'Best Male Performance' and 'Best Breakthrough Male' for "Eight Mile," and Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, and Gollum were picked for 'Best On-Screen Team' for "The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers." Eminem didn't show up for the awards and accepted his trophy via a taped recording, which is the most Eminem thing ever. 

At the 2003 Oscars, Adrien Brody kissed Halle Berry without consent after winning the 'Best Actor' award for his role in "The Pianist," a film directed by Roman Polanski.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return Of The King" won big at both awards, so this is another year that boils down to who made the better picks. 

On the one hand, the Oscars gave acting awards to Sean Penn and Tim Robbins for their "Mystic River." On the other, the MTV Movie Awards showed love to "Kill Bill, Vol. 1", giving the Tarantino action flick 'Best Female Performance' ( Uma Thurman), and 'Best Fight.' 

MTV Movie Awards takes it. 

If you're a millennial, "Mean Girls," "Napoleon Dynamite," and "The Notebook" were a big part of your life in some shape or form. All won at least one Golden Popcorn award.

On the flip side, the big winner at the 2005 Oscars was "Million Dollar Baby" which is, you know, just okay. 

Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" is one of the most culturally important films of the last 20 years. At the Oscars, it lost to "Crash," a movie that tried its hardest to cure racism (I guess?). It wasn't nominated for 'Best Movie' at the MTV Movie Awards ("Wedding Crashers" won that year), but this seems less offensive than "Crash." Also, Jake Gyllenhaal won 'Best Male Performance' and 'Best Kiss' (shared with co-star Heath Ledger).  

Martin Scorsese has made films that are part of the cinematic canon. Still, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn't recognize his genius until 2007, when he took home 'Best Director' for "The Departed," which also won 'Best Picture.' 

In contrast, the 'Best Movie' Golden Popcorn that year went to "The Pirates Of The Caribbean," a movie franchise inspired by a Disneyland ride. 

The Oscar for 'Best Picture' went to "No Country For Old Men" over "There Will Be Blood." It wasn't the right choice, but it was an acceptable one, especially since the MTV Movie Awards picked "Transformers" for 'Best Movie.' The W goes to the Oscars. 

Some have accused "Slumdog Millionaire," the 2009 Oscar winner, of being poverty porn. I would describe it as a highly stylized drama that hasn't really aged well in the years since its release.

Others would call "Twilight," 2009's 'Best Movie' at the MTV Movie Awards, objectively bad. That might be so (it is), but the film is culturally relevant because it launched one of the most successful franchises of all time. Also, different strokes for different folks. 

The Oscars easily take 2010 because Jeff Bridges ('Best Actor,' "Crazy Heart") and Christoph Waltz ('Best Supporting actor,' "Inglourious Basterds") won an Oscar. But more importantly, the world got to witness Kathryn Bigelow and her film, "The Hurt Locker," beat out her ex-husband, James Cameron, and his film, "Avatar," for 'Best Director' and 'Best Picture.' 

This is a spiteful pick because the 'Best Picture' winner for that year was "The King's Speech," the worst film of the ten nominated for that award. No joke, Oscar voters thought that a mediocre 'paint by the numbers' period piece was better than "True Grit," "The Social Network," "Toy Story 3," "Inception," "Winter's Bone," "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "The Kids Are All Right," and "127 Hours." 

Even "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," 'Best Movie' at the MTV Movie Awards, is better than "The King's Speech." 

It's a common saying that Hollywood loves to reward movies about itself, and that certainly was the case when the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave the 'Best Picture' award to "The Artist," a gimmicky movie about a silent actor who gets blindsided by the advent of sound in film. 

In contrast, the MTV Movie Award winner for 'Best Movie' was "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1," which went on to make more than $700 million in box office sales worldwide. That doesn't make the movie artistically better, but it does make it more important. 

The 2013 Academy Awards were adequate but kind of forgettable. Ben Affleck won his second Oscar (meaning he has one more than Matt Damon, which is kind of funny) for producing 'Best Picture' winner "Argo," which he also starred in and directed (but didn't win anything in those categories).

On the flip side, the MTV Movie Awards gave its 'Best Movie' trophy to "The Avengers," the Marvel superhero omnibus film that went on to break box office record after box office record, and reminded the world that the age of superhero movies is very much here to stay.

"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," the second installment of the dystopian franchise, won 'Best Movie,' 'Best Male Performance,' and "Best Female Performance' at the MTV Movie Awards. It's an adequate and entertainment movie (and an improvement over the first one), but it's not "12 Years A Slave," which won 'Best Picture.' Also, Matthew McConaughey won an Oscar, which was quite alright, alright, alright. 

There are many things to like about "Birdman," the 'Best Picture' at the 2015 Academy Awards. For starters, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu finally got the recognition he deserved. The movie was also incredibly shot (which is why fellow Mexican Emmanuel Lubezki won for 'Best Cinematography'), and amazingly well-acted (Michael Keaton was robbed). 

"Birdman" is definitely much better than The Fault In Our Stars, its counterpart at the MTV Movie Awards. Like, it's not even a choice. 

On the one hand, "Spotlight," the "Best Picture" winner at the Oscars, is an important film because it highlighted the important function that journalists serve in our society. On the MTV Movie Awards side of things, we're talking about "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which not only introduced a whole new generation to the franchise, but assuaged the fears of lifelong fans that "Star Wars" was in very capable hands of Disney.