In light of the Academy Awards coming up this Sunday, I was curious as to what was my 5 favorite and 5 least-liked "Best Picture" winners. My list: Best 1. The French Connection 2. Midnight Cowboy 3. Rocky 4. No Country for Old Men 5. Casablanca (apologies to The Godfather I and II, Annie Hall, and Schindler's List) Worst 1. The Greatest Show on Earth 2. Chicago 3. A Beautiful Mind 4. How Green Was My Valley 5. Braveheart (ducks as other posters throw objects at him- sorry, just didn't get into it at all)
I'll start with an obvious one: Kramer vs Kramer. How in the world did this movie beat Apocalypse Now or Norma Rea or All That Jazz.
Worst (my pick in parentheses) Crash (Good Night, and Good Luck) Chicago (LOTR: Two Towers) Shakespeare in Love (Saving Pvt Ryan) Ordinary People (Raging Bull) Terms of Endearment (The Right Stuff)
Best Silence of the Lambs The Godfather Part II The Last Emperor On the Waterfront Rebecca Worst American Beauty Shakespeare in Love Crash Ordinary People Driving Miss Daisy I have a special loathing in my heart for American Beauty considering other films that year that have stood the test of time. All About My Mother Being John Malkovich The Insider The Matrix The Sixth Sense Magnolia Three Kings Topsy-Turvy The Straight Story Toy Story 2 Election The Blair Witch Project Fight Club
BEST 1. 1943 - “Casablanca” (Bogart at his best - my favorite movie of all time) 2. 1939 - “Gone with the Wind” (epic greatness) 3. 1972 - “The Godfather” (It's #2 all-time on IMDB for a reason) 4. 1993 - “Schindler’s List” (moving and tragic) 5. 1973 - “The Sting” (just plain fun with some legends of Hollywood) WORST 1. 1977 - “Annie Hall” (I can't stand Woody Allen) 2. 1983 - “Terms of Endearment” (overrated fluff) 3. 1996 - “The English Patient” (So boring...) 4. 2008 - “Slumdog Millionaire” (Almost went straight to DVD...and it shows) 5. 1994 - “Forrest Gump” (only because "Pulp Fiction" should have won that year)
What's crazy to me is that Steven Spielberg has only won one best picture award. And that picture, it seems like, had to be so over the top excellent that there was no choice but to give him the award. Schindler's List. Another snub, which all due respect for LOTR, lost in translation was more deserving THAT year in my opinion. LOTR, granted, should have won the award i suppose sometime, just not that year.
Personally, can't understand the love for No Country. There Will Be Blood was my choice to win it that year.
1994 was a banner year in film. I'm not upset that Forrest Gump won and I wouldn't have been upset if Pulp Fiction or The Shawshank Redemption would have won either. I think The Lion King should have been nominated though. I dislike the fact that they have expanded the nominations, waters it down in my opinion.
Agree that 1994 was a great year. And any other year, I would have no problem with Shawshank or Gump being the winner. But "Pulp Fiction" was revolutionary. It totally turned Hollywood on it's ear, and made Quentin Tarantino a household name. It deserved the Oscar that year. "Lion King"? Meh...
I like that Kramer v. Kramer explored divorce at a time when the laws and gender roles as a whole were changing, but as a child of a good separation I just need a sadder ending.
