The term "Oscar bait" dates back to the 1940s, first coined to describe a certain type of picture that appears to be deliberately geared towards snagging one of those little gold guys. For me, the '80s was the most Oscar-baity decade in the history of the Academy Awards, summed up by a series of staid, safe, and overly earnest films claiming the Best Picture prize: "Chariots of Fire," "Gandhi," "Terms of Endearment," and especially the controversial "Driving Miss Daisy." Although these movies were handsomely produced and impeccably acted, they were prestige pictures in the worst sense. Perhaps the peak '80s Oscar bait film was "Out of Africa," Sydney Pollack's snooze-inducing romantic drama starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. But might it have been a little spicier if Jeremy Irons

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