Best Picture
And so we've reached the end of our nearly month long examination of all categories for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. This is, of course, the big one, so we've saved it until last. We hope you've enjoyed our coverage and want you to stick around through the coming months as we add new articles highlighting our lists of winners that should have been, nominees that should have been and other events to keep things hopping throughout the year. We'll still have all our regular articles, reviews and previews as well (previews will return at some point after Oscar season is complete). So, here are ten facts regarding Best Picture (with an expanded slate, I thought it appropriate to expand the trivia as well), our predictions for the winners and analysis to go along with it, and our favorite and least favorite Best Picture winners of all-time.
Trivia: Ten Facts
- Not surprisingly, this was one of the first categories ever offered and has been the pinnacle award every year since, even with its myriad name changes.
- Studios received the nominations early on in Oscar history. The first producer to receive the award was Arthur Freed in 1951 for An American in Paris.
- 93 Oscars have gone to producers since 1951. 23 Oscars went to the studios.
- The most nominated studio in those first 23 years was MGM with 38 nominations. Warner Bros. was next closest with 21 and then 20th Century-Fox with 16. The most honored studio was MGM again with 5 trophies followed by Fox with 3. On the producer side, Kathleen Kennedy, Stanley Kramer and Steven Spielberg are tied for most nominations with 6 each. Francis Ford Coppola and Frank Marshall have received 5 each. And several have received four. For most awards, Sam Spiegel and Saul Zaentz won three awards. Zaentz won for all of his nominations. Clint Eastwood, Arthur Freed, Branko Lustig, Albert S. Ruddy and Robert Wise each have two wins.
- William Wyler's films have received more Best Picture nominations than any other. John Ford has the next highest with 9 followed by Mervyn LeRoy with 8. Below them, in a five-way tie, are Frank Capra, George Cukor, Henry King, Steven Spielberg and George Stevens with 7 each. William Wyler is the only director with three Best Picture Oscar winners while 11 other directors have 2 Best Picture winners on their resumes.
- The most honored film in history that didn't manage to win Best picture was Cabaret with 8 awards in 1972 losing to The Godfather. A Place in the Sun and Star Wars rank second with 6 awards each losing to An American in Paris and Annie Hall respectively.
- The most honored Best Picture winners in history are Ben-Hur, Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with 11 awards each (LOTR was the only one of these films to win all of the awards it was nominated for). The most nominated Best Picture winners are All About Eve and Titanic with 14 nominations each.
- The Color Purple and The Turning Point hold the dubious distinction of being the biggest Oscar losers, each Best Picture nominees. Each film received 11 nominations without a single win. Gangs of New York is next on the list with 10 followed by The Little Foxes and Peyton Place with 9 each.
- At the first Academy Awards, another category called Unique and Artistic Quality of Production was given to a masterful silent film called Sunrise. Often cited as one of history's greatest films, silent or otherwise, is often mistakenly referred to as a Best Picture winner. The only Best Picture winner that year, the category that would continue on for the last 81 years, was Wings. While the category was also a "production" award, it could be argued the category could be considered a second Best Picture winner for the 1927/28 awards. However, Academy records and their regular list of Best Picture winners doesn't include Sunrise as one of the 81, and thus falls just outside of that range (and, had the film been eligible for our own selections below, I wouldn't doubt that it would have appeared on each of them.
- Nominee facts: 44 women have been nominated for Best Picture producing awards; Only 6 have won. Five producers have received posthumous nominations: Sam Zimbalist (Ben-Hur), Robert Alan Arthur (All That Jazz), Mario Cecchi Gori (The Postman), and Anthony Minghelle and Sydney Pollack (The Reader); Zimbalist was the only one to win. 8 Foreign Language Films have been nominated for Best Picture (Grand Illusion, Z, The Emgirants, Cries and Whispers, The Postman, Life Is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Letters from Iwo Jima. None have won. Grand Hotel is the only Best Picture winner in history to receive no other awards...because it wasn't nominated for any.
Predictions
- Avatar (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)
- The Blind Side
- District 9
- An Education
- The Hurt Locker (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)
- Inglourious Basterds
- Precious
- A Serious Man
- Up
- Up in the Air
KEY: (Winner Prediction) (Alternate Winner)
The Commentary
Wesley Lovell - When looking at this year's Best Picture race, there are two factors to take into account: First is that this won't be like your traditional up-or-down vote with each voter selecting one winner. Instead, they will be ranking them. Which means supporters of some films may purposely downrank opponents in order to make it less likely for them to triumph, which means anything could happen. However, The Hurt Locker has been steamrolling through Oscar season and with its still solid showing at the guilds, I still think it's the most likely to win. Avatar could have a chance to beat it and could end up being the one to do so, but Inglourious Basterds has ardent admirers. Still, with all this hubbub, a thoroughly unexpected selection from the remaining seven could end up on top.
Start by tossing The Blind Side. Even if people could use it as a #2 finisher, most won't because even they couldn't stomach that kind of a win. While District 9 and A Serious Man could be solid second-place alternatives among voters as neither would be too objectionable, I think both will be running third or fourth on ballots if at all. An Education, Up in the Air, Up and Precious are also great second-place selections, but without the ability for voters to pick a common selection of these, each appealing to different demographics, none may be able to pick up enough alternative predictions. Thus, it ends up being a race between the three films that have the strongest support. It's hard to really pick, but altruistically, I'm going to predict that while some will stack their ballot, many others may rebel against the idea and just decide to go all out for one picture, or another, or just vote their consciences. That's why I think The Hurt Locker will end up benefiting most.
It's not only going to be the film with the first female director Oscar winner, but denying the film a Best Picture win at the same time as awarding Kathryn Bigelow may be a symbol many Academy voters might not want. It's ok to pick a legend like Roman Polanski over a crowd-pleaser with a first-time director like Chicago, but it would be another thing to recognize a first-time female director and then give the award to a film by a more accomplished male director (James Cameron or Quentin Tarantino). So, while I think Avatar could still eke out enough votes (perhaps sympathy ones over Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier's not-so-offensive letter to colleagues urging them to vote his film over Avatar), but in the end, this is The Hurt Locker's to lose.
Peter J. Patrick - The Hurt Locker first saw the light of day at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in September, 2008, then showed up at various other film festivals before opening theatrically in the U.S. in limited engagements in June, 2009.
Although the film was generally well received by the critics, audiences were not intrigued. The Oscar race was expected to be between such highly anticipated year-end releases as Invictus, The Lovely Bones, Nine and maybe Avatar. By the time the year-end critics' awards started coming in, Avatar was the only one still standing and The Hurt Locker easily beat it in just about every competition except the one at the Golden Globes.
Has The Hurt Locker won everything it has by default or is it something else? Is it that the critics and now the Academy, which has given it 9 nominations in all, wants to send the message that you don't need to spend a lot of money or make a lot of money to recognize a good film? Is it the general feeling that it's time a woman won the Best Director Oscar and with that prize should go the Best Picture prize as well? Or is it that the country is weary of the Iraq War but proud of the work being done by its soldiers and wants to honor a film that recognizes them? Whatever the reason, the film is on a roll and I, for one, would be very surprised to see it lose to any of its competition, of which only Avatar seems a possible threat.
Tripp Burton - Here is a case where I think the later date for the Oscars will benefit The Hurt Locker. By now, Avatar has in many ways become a thing of the past: it is no longer at the top of the box office, people have moved on from the phenomenon and the backlash is beginning. It is also the kind of film that weakens when you think back on it, which shouldn't play into its favor. Add in that the new voting system should hurt Avatar, and you have its front runner status being stripped away pretty quickly. In the end, The Hurt Locker should become the biggest box office failure to ever win the prize.
Our Favorite Winners
KEY:
Appears on Two Lists
Appears on Three Lists
Appears on Four Lists
Appears on Opposing Lists
Wesley Lovell
- Schindler's List (This is a gorgeous, heartbreaking, devastating film that exemplifies how the medium can be used to show history in new, meaningful ways.)
- The Godfather, Parts I & II (Had they been the only two films in The Godfather series, this could have been the greatest film series in history. Still, the first two parts, both deserving winners, are simply brilliant.)
- Casablanca (One of, if not the, best written film in history, it's simply a classic.)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (There are war films today that wouldn't have the chutzpah to create something so stark, moving and anti-war as this. It is still my favorite war film ever made.)
- All About Eve (Sharp dialogue, iconic performances, this is great cinema.)
And, although I only have five spots to use, I must mention some of my other favorite winners: The Lost Weekend, On the Waterfront, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, It Happened One Night and Driving Miss Daisy.
Peter J. Patrick
- How Green Was My Valley (John Ford's richly textured, beautifully executed version of the first half of Richard Llewellyn's novel is the work of masters operating at every level. It unjustly gets a bad rap for being the film that beat Citizen Kane, a masterwork in its own right, but not necessarily a better film. )
- Midnight Cowboy (It took an Englishman, John Schlesinger, to make a film about New York that captured the city at the heart of its late 20th Century cultural revolution. Brilliant performances from Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight that remain the best of their lengthy careers.)
- All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz' brilliantly witty script is matched by his brilliant direction of a cast ranging from Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and George Sanders to Celste Holm and Thelma Ritter to Marilyn Monroe in the best film about the theater ever made.)
- The Apartment (Billy Wilder's brilliantly brittle seriocomedy about a late 20th Century schlemiel who wins the girl of his dreams when he wises up and tells his bosses to stick it. Marvelous performances from Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray at the top of their game. )
- All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone's film of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war novel was the first great film to win a Best Picture Oscar. It still retains its power, though one wonders if American audiences would have embraced it as heartily if the protagonists goaded into dying for their country had been Americans instead of Germans.)
Tripp Burton
- Annie Hall (The great romantic comedy remains the greatest winner in this category (as well as one of the most unexpected))
- Casablanca (It's considered one of the greatest ever for a good reason--it is)
- How Green Was My Valley (It may not have been the best movie nominated that year--that would be Citizen Kane--but it is still one of the great winners in this category)
- Lawrence of Arabia (The greatest epic ever made, it shines above most of the many other epics to win this prize)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (Probably the first great sound film made in Hollywood, its power is still frightening today)
Wes Huizar
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Casablanca
- The Godfather
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Our Least Favorite Winners
KEY:
Appears on Two Lists
Appears on Three Lists
Appears on Four Lists
Appears on Opposing Lists
Wesley Lovell
- Braveheart (Dull as dishwater. Excessively violent. Painfully revisionistic. I can't think of a single element of this film worth more than a passing glance.)
- Cavalcade (From one preposterous event to another, this film is a string of cinematic cliches that sticks out like a sore thumb when the cliches are from such a short span of pre-history.)
- A Beautiful Mind (Facile, inept and boring. Not only is it an oversimplification of mental illness, it ignores the real life subject's actual condition in order to make something more cinematic and in doing so wastes a number of opportunities for compelling drama.)
- The Greatest Show on Earth (This glorified travelogue for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus with a slew of unnecessary performances, plot hooks and cliches. The only saving grace is James Stewart.)
- The Broadway Melody (Sound was relatively new at the time and this was the first all-talking, all-singing Best Picture winner (the previous year's winner, Wings, was silent). It not only ages poorly, it's questionable what kind of comparable quality the film possessed even at the time of its release.)
Like with my best list, I can't not call out some other egregious winners: Tom Jones, Cimarron, Crash, The Great Ziegfeld and Gladiator are all abysmal choices.
Peter J. Patrick
- Braveheart (Mel Gibson's ego trip still makes my blood boil.)
- Dances With Wolves (Kevin Costner's New Age Western has some nice set pieces but is at its heart just as phony as Braveheart.)
- Crash (Paul Haggis' interconnecting melodrama about L.A. life features one or two great scenes surrounded by many mediocre ones. )
- Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Anderson is the credited director but producer Mike Todd's imprint is all over this highly hyped extravaganza which inflates Jules Verne's charming novel to the breaking point with cameos by long forgotten stars, many of whom were forgotten even then. )
- The Greatest Show on Earth (Cecil B. DeMille's circus film features dreadful acting by leads Cornel Wilde and Betty Hutton who have done much better work elsewhere and almost laughable special effects including a (toy) train wreck.)
Tripp Burton
- A Beautiful Mind (An insulting, childish story of mental illness)
- Braveheart (An epic that is sloppy and boring)
- Cimarron (Just a ridiculous movie)
- Crash (Putting the surprise victory or the superior competition aside, the film is still not very good and unworthy of a win here)
- The Broadway Melody (I finally caught up with this on TCM last week, and it is just as dull and flat as everyone says it is)
Wes Huizar
- Crash
- The Greatest Show on Earth
- Around the World in 80 Days
- A Beautiful Mind
- Cimarron
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Weekend Box Office
Top 3: August 27-29, 2010
| 1. | Takers | ||
| $20.5M | (Total: $20.5M) | ||
| 2. | The Last Exorcism | ||
| $20.4M | (Total: $20.4M) | ||
| 3. | The Expendables | ||
| $9.5M | (Total: $82.0M) | ||
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True Media Concepts
March 6th, 2010 - 10:39
Paulo, it’s nice to find someone else who appreciates Tom Jones. This bawdy comedy was a breath of fresh air to audiences in 1963. The writing, the acting, the cinematography, John Addison’s wonderful tinkly score and Tony Richardson’s imaginative direction were unique and distinctive. It was the perfect combination of wit and style and a much needed antidote to overblown epics of the day like Cleopatra.
March 6th, 2010 - 10:32
Here we go:
Favorite
1. American Beauty: This is just a personal favorite of mine and I don’t care what anybody says about it, American Beauty had such a profound effect on me much like the first time Truffaut saw Citizen Kane. Sure, there have been knock offs trying to emulate the wry wit and subtext, but there is such a pure poetry to this movie’s theme of there being more to life than what’s on the surface that, when pointed to upper middle class suburbia, shatters the tightly formed facade that we thought we had to strive for. The photography, the performances, the score and the direction are just all ingrediants of one of the most delicious movie confections I’ve had at the cinema.
2. Schindler’s List: The movie that made me take notice of movie awards and is also the first serious movie I saw in the theater (I was 12 at the time of it’s release). Powerful, uncompromising, raw portrayal of the holocaust as never seen before through the eyes of Steven Spielberg in a manner that he’s never used before (and has never been able to recover from since).
3. Lawrence of Arabia: How rare is it that we get an epic movie that is both enthralling as well as a brilliant character study? Lawrence of Arabia is a feast for everyone who loves movies, no matter what aspect of it and it has truly held up over time, it is still as exciting and engrossing today is it must have been back in 1962. Not only that, but the influence of the film is still felt in today’s movies.
4. The Godfather Part I & II: And another of the greatest series of movies gets it’s just honors here, with the first part as a great study of mafia family dynamics, which is then further analyzed in the second part, using it’s dual storylines to contrast father and son at similar points in their lives as the heads of both mafia families and their own. Heartbreaking and exhilirating, The Godfather remains one of the most impressive movie experiences of all time.
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: I love that this one because for once, we got something other than a period epic, a message film, a musical or a serious drama winning Best Picture. Here, we had a little bit of all of them rolled into one (Merry’s song for Lord Denethor is one of my favorite movie music moments). Capping off one of the greatest film series of all time with a gigantic exclaimation point, The Return of the King is the full realization of one of the biggest and most subtly complex big screen spectacles of all time.
Least
1. Gandhi: Even Richard Attenborough said that dramatizing the life of Gandhi wasn’t hard work and what appears on the screen seems to be just that. Dull, lifeless, over-bloated, preachy and uneventful, Gandhi is a clear cut example of what happens when Academy voters get blinded by large scope epics, despite how good they are. To make this win even worse, let’s also consider the unspoken sentiment factor: that this is the same year that we had E.T., Tootsie, Sophie’s Choice, An Officer and a Gentleman, Blade Runner, Das Boot, Victor/Victoria, Missing, The Verdict, Diner, Personal Best, even Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan would have been a better choice for Best Picture that year. This wasn’t an award for the movie, it was an award for Gandhi the person and his message and it was the Academy’s worst moment of being blinded by an epic.
2. Out of Africa: Another beautifully shot period film that has a story that moves like someone is reading you the book it was based off of. Trite, boring and stagnant, this movie was another in a long line of blinded epic votes. Academy voters saw the following criteria: Period film? check. Beautiful photography? check. Love story about people having affairs? check. Gorgeous costumes? check. Sweeping score? check. Pedigree cast? check. We have a winner. Never mind that we has better nominees in The Color Purple, Witness, Prizzi’s Honor, Kiss of the Spider Woman and other unjustly ignored films like Ran, Back to the Future, Brazil, Blood Simple, The Breakfast Club and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Hell, I’d have voted for The Goonies over Out of Africa any day.
3. Gladiator: There seems to be an unspoken sentiment that in order to make a Best Picture winner truly one of the worst, the largest criteria seems to be what it had to have beaten out in order to win. Gladiator definitely fits that mold. While it’s an entertaining film and really great to look at visually, it’s not a Best Picture winner. Especially in a year that gave us Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, High Fidelity, Wonder Boys, Requiem for a Dream, Almost Famous, Cast Away, Traffic, You Can Count on Me and O Brother Where art Thou. Main criteria achieved.
4. The Greatest Show on Earth: In one of the most ironically titled Best Picture winners, the movie is just a show off of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey acts with the Cecil B. DeMille eye for grandeure. However, the corny storylines and the terrible supporting special effects have not only aged this film, but make it unbearable to watch in a generation that has come to expect such better standards for Best Picture winners, despite how we feel about recent winners. High Noon and The Quiet Man (as well as the unjustly ignored Rear Window) are such better films and have proven more influential.
5. Cimarron/Dances With Wolves: Okay, this is a tie because there are only three westerns that have won Best Picture and these two are prime examples of what was wrong with the genres. With Cimarron, the unrealistic story, acting and costumes make it so ridiculously over the top that it’s hard to imagine that this passed for actual drama back then. With Dances With Wolves, we get the bloated, so-in-love-with-landscape-over-narrative nostalgia feel that most westerns afterwards fell into the same problem. Here, we get to have Kevin Costner’s ego trip play out, too, which is just a joke when you think that Goodfellas came out that year. So while three westerns have one Best Picture, Unforgiven was the only good one.
And on a personal note, I want to include a special place for Shakespeare in Love that doesn’t quite fit into either category. While it’s not a bad film, it just doesn’t resonate or have the lasting power of Saving Private Ryan or even the other ignored films that year in The Truman Show, Pleasantville or Dark City (a personal favorite). For all of the distinguished filmgoers on this board that still cries foul over Crash winning over Brokeback Mountain, just know that those feelings are the feelings of the mainstream audience when they heard the name Shakespeare in Love announced. No arguments, it’s just a general concensus of average people that I’ve asked while working in both a video store and a movie theater.
March 6th, 2010 - 02:32
The Hurt Locker will probably take it, but if I had my way, Inglourious Basterds or A Serious Man would win. I just don’t get the hype over The Hurt Locker or Avatar. Solid, entertaining movies but nowhere near my top 10.
Just about every Best Picture winner ranges from 6/10 – 8/10, for me. So basically “pretty entertaining” to “almost great”. So here are the special ones:
9/10 (great) or 10/10 (perfect): It Happened One Night, Rebecca, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Sting, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Deer Hunter, Amadeus, The Departed
5/10 or below (average or less): Wings, The Best Years of Our Lives, All About Eve, Marty, The French Connection, Gandhi, Driving Miss Daisy, Gladiator, Chicago
March 5th, 2010 - 21:46
I’m going to take a chance and predict Avatar is going to win Best Picture.
My personally favorite movies are inglourious basterds and up in the air.
I love the hurt locker but I don’t believe it deserves best picture. It deserves best director and best screenplay, editing and probably sound.
I think the real race is in this category.
I have a lot of favorites in this category so I’m going to try and keep it short
My favorite winners are:
Slumdog Millionaire (This is a movie like Avatar, It has everything a movie should have. It’s like a Mcdonals Meal. Everybody likes because it has everything everybody wants)
The Departed (For me Goodfellas is Scorsese’s best movie. But I loved The Departed, it has such energy and amazing dialogs and performances)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King I agree with the academy, they waited until the last of the trilogy came out and see If it deserves the oscar for the whole trilogy. Thanks again Peter. Let’s hope The Hobbit is made)
Shakespeare in Love (I fricking love this movie, I’m the only one it seems)
Titanic (This is a very flawed movie. But man, I will never forget it. This was an experience for me)
The English Patient (I REALLY fricking love this movie, I watched it yesterday for the 20th time. Never get tired of it)
Schindler’s List (Although the ending is too much, too spielberg/corny, there’s no denying this is a work of art in every way)
The Silence of the Lambs (I’m always stunned of how great this movie is. That was a great year because I really love JFK and Beauty and the Beast)
The Last Emperor (I guess you’ve realized I love Epic movies huh?)
Amadeus (It’s like mozart to music, one of the best of all time)
Terms of Endearment (I cry, I cry, everybody cries)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (The best “mental hospital” movie ever)
The Godfather Part 1 and 2
A Man for All Seasons (one of those forgotten movies everybody should watch and try to learn from Tomas Moore)
Tom Jones (You guys seem to hate this slapstick comedy but I actually have a lot of fun with it)
Lawrence of Arabia (Epic Epic)
The Apartment (Script, Acting, Directing at it’s best)
All About Eve (Amazing)
Hamlet (Best acted hamlet ever. I like the Kenneth Branagh version visually style but Olivier IS HAMLET)
Casablanca
Gone with the Wind (Epic Epic)
You Can’t Take It With You (Sorry guys, But this movie has such a great message, so simple, I love it. Everybody should learn from this movie)
My least favorite winners are:
Crash (Come on academy. Why are you so Homophobic?. Brokeback Mountain is one of the best love stories of modern times. Tarek was right, it was a vote AGAINST Brokeback Mountain)
A Beautiful Mind (you know why I don’t like. Almost everybody feels the same)
Driving Miss Daisy (It seems they didn’t see My Left Foot or Born of the Fourth of July or the amazing Dead Poets Society)
Out of Africa (It’s a good movie but I prefer The Color Purple a million times)
Gandhi (It’s a decent biograhpy but a bit boring and overlong, E.T. deserved it more)
The Sting (No no no, no no no. Please, The Exorcist and even American Graffiti are much better)
The French Connection (It’s one of the great action movies, but not deserving of best picture award. A Clockwork Orange and Fiddler on the Roof are much deserving winners)
Patton (As they say in spanish: GUACALA. That means: IT SUCKS!!)
Oliver! (The academy trying to keep the musicals from dying)
In the Heat of the Night (It’s a good social message movie with good script and preformances. But Bonnie and Clyde and the Graduate are much better movies)
West Side Story (I’ve always hated this movie, I can’t stand it)
Around the World in 80 Days (WTF)
The Greatest Show on Earth (WTF)
An American in Paris (Pleeeeasseee man. A place in the sun and Streetcar named desire are a million times better movies.
The Best Years of Our Lives (It’s a “charming characters” movie, and it won because of the simpathy for the veterans of the war. But honestly, It’s a wonderful life is better)
The Broadway Melody (I agree, they gave the oscar to it because of the “talking fever”)
There has been upsets like Kramer vs. Kramer over Apocalypse Now or Dances with Wolves over Goodfellas. But I understand the academy not honoring those cult classic movies. Every now and again the academy honors movies like No country For Old Men but that rarely happens. Best Picture has got to be a Package Movie. Not just art.
As you can see I believe the best decade of the academy is the 70s and the 90s. Many great movies and deserving Best Picture Awards. The 2000s have been a little off.
March 5th, 2010 - 19:53
What about voters who just vote 1, 2, 3 … 10 in order? Wouldn’t this give Avatar an unfair advantage since it is listed first on the ballot sheet?
And what about voters who haven’t seen all 10 films?
I’ve seen only 6 of the 10 and here’s how I would vote;-
1. Hurt Locker
2. Precious
3. Blind Side
4. An Education
5. Up in the air
6. Avatar
7. District 9
8. Inglorious Basterds
9. Serious Man
10. Up
And I haven’t seen all of the Best Picture winners but here’s my 5 favourite and my 5 worst!
Favourite;-
1. All About Eve
2. Gone with the wind
3. Ordinary People
4. Silence of the lambs
5. Casablanca
LEast Favourite
1. A Beautiful Mind
2. Gladiator
3. Million dollar baby
4. Shakespeare in love
5. Crash – not a bad film but winning over the brilliant Brokeback Mountain???
and if Avatar wins this year – then add this to my list of least favourites!
March 5th, 2010 - 18:50
As an Academy member my list would look like this:
1. Avatar
2.Up
3.Precious
4. the Hurt Locker
5.District 9
6. Inglorious Basterds
7. A Serious Man
8. An education
9. The Blind Side
10. Up in the Air
March 5th, 2010 - 18:44
It´s a long time ago, a movie impressed me so much…took my breath. AVATAR is the film of the year…..I know people crticize its story as not original. I will not deny that but there is no need to invent something new if you can bring it to the screen in such a revolutionary way. By now I watched is 5 times on the big screen, and still can´t get enough of it….I talked to many people who were sceptical, but changed their opinion after watching it. How breathtaking this movei is was taken from one to another by word…The Academy has the chance to honor a film that marks a cinema revolution. Th Hurt Locker wasn´t a bad movie. But it will be forgotten soon…like so many other wrong decisions by the Academy members.
my favorite winners:
1. Schindler´s List (one of the best films ever made…I remember I couldn´t get this film out of my mind for days.)
2. Driving Miss Daisy (this little film always moves my heart)
3. Titanic (everyone was talking about records and it was totally ignored that this is a brilliantly made movie)
4. Lawrence of Arabia (wow!!!)
5. Forrest Gump ( I simply love this film)
least favorite winners
1. Out of Africa (I will never forgive the Academy it ignored “The Color Purple” and honored a film that makes you fall asleep)
2. Crash (It wasn´t a vote FOR Crash, it was a vote AGAINST Brokeback Mountain)
3. Shakespeare in Love (the best picture trophy marks the crown of so many undeserved wins)
4. Chariots of Fire ( please god….tell me why???!!!)
5.The Greatest Show on Earth (where is the story?? )
6. Kramer vs. Kramer ( didn´t the see Apocalypse Now??)
March 5th, 2010 - 18:37
If you are a member of the discussion board (and if you aren’t, you should be), I am assembling Best Picture ballots before tomorrow night. Rank the 10 Best Picture nominees like you would as an Academy voter, and I am going to tabulate them tomorrow night (Saturday) using the same system the Academy uses. PM them to FilmFan720
March 5th, 2010 - 13:38
The Broadway Melody just missed my list. In all fairness, as clunky as it is, The Broadway Melody was the best “talkie” nominated in 1928/29 – Alibi is a standard prison flick; In Old Arizona a grade B western at best and Hollywood Revue is so bad its only value is as camp.
I haven’t seen the one silent film nominated, Ernst Lubitsch’s long lost The Patriot, but I have seen such superior works as The Docks of New York; The Wind; Nosferatu (a 1922 film that took seven years to reach the U.S.); The Man With the Movie Camera; Show People; Our Dancing Daughters and the year’s best film, The Passion of Joan of Arc, any one of which would have made a better choice than The Broadway Melody.
The Broadway Melody may be of historical value as the first all-talking, all-dancing, all-singing film but it was nothing more than a stepping stone. By the time the awards were given out in March 1930, Lubitsch’s The Love Parade and Mamoulian’s Applause had already raised the bar for Hollywood musicals.