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My Favorite Oscar Winners for Best Picture #movies #academyawards #amblogging
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 6:11PM 
Itâs about that time for another dose of the Monday Movie Meme. Dale at Smurfin the Web is serving up some Oscar love for his turn to host this week, which I am grateful for because it makes the task of choosing movies to fit the current meme, pretty easy. The best part about the Smurfdokâs topic of choice is also that we get an opportunity to take a moment and think about those golden statue front runners from way back then, on up to now.
Dale asks âWhich are your favourite winners of the Best Picture category at the Academy Awards?â so, my selections include but are not limited to the films that I have the pleasure of listing here.
Disclaimer: This post contains some vulgar language....Iâm THAT amped about these films. Actually now that I think about it, I think Iâm starting to understand what Craig Downing meant when he said that he would defend and get in a fight for any of the movies he programs at his film festival.
Million Dollar Baby
I've said it once...a few times actually and Iâll say it again, "Million Dollar Baby" is one of the Best movies ever made. If any movie deserved the Academy Award for Best Picture, in 2005, it was and still is this film. I remember watching it in one of the local (formerly) independently owned theaters in Philadelphia at the time and being moved by the relationships between the characters, their own personal struggles and one womanâs determination to make her dreams a reality, even when faced with adversity on many different levels.
Hilary Swank played the hell out of what looks like a physically and emotionally demanding role and "Million Dollar Baby" was probably the first time in my life that I actually paid close attention to Clint Eastwoodâs on-screen performances and his work as a director. I mean, I knew who he was. Who wouldnât? Heâs Clint Eastwood, after all. Still, I never really watched his movies. I was drawn to this particular film for many different reasons both personal and professional; it will always be dear to me.
Oh, and do I even need to mention that killer ass dress that Hilary Swank wore to the Oscars? The dress would be forever remembered, as she accepted her golden statue for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role wearing this form fitting black-less gown that had even one of my older Aunts talking about the Oscars for days following the initial Academy Awards broadcast!
No Country for Old Men
Up against âJunoâ that year...are you kidding me? No contest. Itâs No Countryâ all the way! While it took me a few years to finally watch this movie (shout out to Netflix!), I now understand what all the fuss was about. âNo Country for Old Menâ is a badass movie! Enough said.
Woody Harrelsonâs appearance was a nice surprise; Winning the 2007 Academy Award for Best Picture was well deserved for âNo Country for Old Menâ because if for anything, it introduced me to Javier Bardem...and maybe he was in one of the movies that I saw before No Country' came out but if so, I surely didnât notice him. Now, I want to see âBiutiful,â a movie that I would likely have no interest in had Bardem not been the star player. While watching âEat, Pray, Love,â I said to myself âOooh! Is that the dude from No Countryâ?â...all because of one film.
I do wish, however, that I didnât used to call this movie âOld Country.â Now, thatâs just plain silly.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Did you really even have to ask? I mean, really? LOTR all day, baby! This movie defines epic shit! That is why it won a whopping 11 Oscars in 2004, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, and no one should be surprised that it did.
In all of my praise for this movie, however, it is bittersweet because "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was up against Sean Pennâs âMystic Riverâ that year and I loved âMystic Riverâ too. Both films hold a special place among the titles in my DVD collection but only one can take home the gold, where the Oscars are concerned. How does it go?...One ring to rule them all and one statue to rub it in, I suppose!
A Beautiful Mind
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this fucking movie! By the way, did I say I love this fucking movie?!! Yes, âA Beautiful Mindâ feels like it has a running time that is long as hell when you are watching it but Russell Crowe gave a stellar performance as a mathematical genius battling schizophrenia. The film is touching, both in a sad way and in an inspiring way. It is hard to imagine being in the shoes of a human being who has a great gift and a huge impact on the economics of the world but at the same time, an illness causes this person to question reality.
âA Beautiful Mindâ won the 2001 Academy Award for Best Picture and Crowe was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role but he lost this Oscar to Denzel, who took home the golden statue for âTraining Day.â As much as I love Croweâs performance in âA Beautiful Mind,â and as an actor in general, it wouldnât be far fetched to say that he had some pretty stiff competition in the Best Actor category that year....Sean Penn for âI Am Sam,â Will Smith for âAliâ and Tom Wilkinson for âIn the Bedroom,â so it would have still been a tough call for voters to make, even if Denzel didnât win.
Thatâs what happens when youâre in the company of great men who just happened to bring their A-game in the same year, I suppose, which isnât a bad thing.
I could go on *ahem* âTitanicâ and on *ahem* âThe Deer Hunterâ but that will take all day and I know you all have more blogs to visit, more posts to read and other stuff to do, so until next time....itâs been fun!
What are some of YOUR favorite Best Picture Oscar winners?
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Reader Comments (10)
Here's the short list of movies I love that happened to have won Oscar's "Best Picture":
Amadeus
Platoon
Braveheart
Gladiator
The Lord Of The Rings: RotK
No Country For Old Men
The Hurt Locker
And what's up with Shakespeare In Love beating out Saving Private Ryan in 1998, Forrest Gump besting Pulp Fiction in 1994, and Dances With Wolves edging out Goodfellas in 1990? Tragic!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture
Herman,
I feel you on that 1998 Oscar snub of Saving Private Ryan!
Since I often get Dances with Wolves confused with The Last of the Mohicans for some odd reason of which I don't know to this day, I cannot comment on the 1990 upstaging of Goodfellas that took place. The Forrest Gump win over Pulp Fiction in 1994 may have been all political, but we don't know for sure, lol.
I've watched every movie on your list except for the first and last titles (making it literally, everything in between), go figure!
After discussing The Hurt Locker with a local TV editor that I spoke with last week, I planned on renting it to check it out sometime in the next month or so.
I never heard of Amadeus but will be sure to look it up at Blockbuster or Netflix!
Thanks for joining in on this week's meme!
Good choices there, although I couldnt watch No COuntry For Old Men, after there was no dialogue for the first 10 minutes, I never saw the rest of it. Might try it again further down the line. I still have The Fighter to watch from 2010. So many more in front of that one now, lol
I hope you watch Amadeus and (especially) The Hurt Locker before Tree Of Life. After thinking about it, even though I'm sure it's going to be up for an Oscar, it is a bit slow and more "artsy" than most films. It was only after watching the commentary after seeing the film could I appreciate it. It's pretty and all, but much slower than 2001: A Space Odyssey. Definitely an art house flick.
I loved the silence at the beginning. Really harked back to the opening of Once Upon A Time In The West. I thought it very well done!
I pulled up a list of past winners and my favorites kept getting longer and longer, so I'll just throw out Unforgiven. It might be easier to make a list of the ones I didn't agree with.
I probably still wouldn't really know who Javier Bardem was if I hadn't seen No Country for Old Men. That was one hell of a movie. And had it not been for Million Dollar Baby, I likely would have just thought of Hillary Swank as that chick who played the female karate kid (though she has since proven she has serious acting chops, such as in Boys Don't Cry--I may have gotten that title wrong). And who can argue with Lord of the Rings?
Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the A-to-Z; we're gearing up for the upcoming http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/" rel="nofollow">2012 A-to-Z Challenge!
When I first saw A Beautiful Mind, I hated it, I thought the first half was just a scam...then I realized I was feeling what Russell Crowe's character was feeling and was so thrilled. It really is a good movie.
My wife and I have been watching a ton of classic movies over the past five years or so... my favourites that also won Oscars include:
All About Eve (could be done today and its from 1950)
On the Waterfront (I could've been someone...)
My Fair Lady (the costuming, the songs!)
In the Heat of the Night (so beautiful and brutal)
Sadly most of our favourites didn't win Oscars...
Of all the ones on this list A Beautiful Mind is my favorite.
I will make a mental note of your recommendation and move The Hurt Locker and Amadeus (if I do add the latter...verdict is still out on that one) up one before watching Tree of Life...although, I'm not sure if I ever heard of Tree of Life before. Another one to look up on Blockbuster.
Artsy is cool with me too, but the slow factor would be a concern, so I'm glad that you gave me a heads up on that, so thanks much!
Shannon,
Thanks for visiting. I don't think I'm quite familiar with Unforgiven, so that movie will be added to my homework for reading up on some movies that I've never watched before.
No Country for Old Men probably put Javier Bardem on the map in the eyes of many people who never knew who this guy was before that movie came out. I always remembered Hilary Swank from Boys Don't Cry, even though I have yet to watch this particular film of hers. So, you just taught me something new, with regards to her being in the karate kid movies.
I've watched some of the karate kid flicks but don't recall seeing Hilary Swank in them...maybe I just didn't realize it?! I don't know.
Ron Easton,
Thank you for stopping by. You know, I felt that way about a few movies including Shortbus; House of Sand and Fog....I didn't like those movies at first, but did start to like them as the stories progressed.
You're the first person I've heard call "A Beautiful Mind" a scam though, lol. You know what, that got me thinking about other movies that fit the profile and if anything, I'd call "Shutter Island" a scam!
While I haven't seen any of your listed classics that won Oscars, I may watch In the Head of the Night and My Fair Lady one of these days.
Some of my favorites didn't win Oscars either and I'm sure many other movie watchers can relate to your comment and your experiences on that tip.
Maurice,
Hey man! It's a pleasant surprise to see you again. A Beautiful Mind is just one of those unforgettable movies that no one can ignore and the Academy wasn't an exception. Great performances, great story, great execution by the director and the production team. It was a masterpiece, which I think is a great compliment to the main character, given the fact that he was a genius in his own right...the movie HAD to turn out that way, as the BEST PICTURE, or else it would have been a let down to the story and inspiration behind the film in the first place.
Thanks so much for visiting, Maurice. I look forward to seeing you again.