When Blanchett won her award. He makes all these actors stand out so that it just seems "easy". All that other shit is mechanical and the Academy only wants to reward that. Like that sweaty "hustle" guy who throws cheap fouls, yells in a pickup game, calls himself a rebounding machine and only puts up a 2-3 line. That is "Dances with Wolves" right there.
Of course they call that black top magician "Goodfellas" a once in a decade player. And everybody's embarrassed by the history of giving it to Costner. But that won't stop them from doing it again.