Oscars Best Pictures, Revisited
The Oscars happened again last night. The self congratulating event is becoming less and less relevant after each passing year.
I never watch the show. Not because of this year’s race controversy, but because the Oscars show itself is typically VERY dull. I am somewhat interested in the winners, though, and I assembled a list of Best Picture winners dating back to 1970. I originally posted this last year, but I’m posting again to add 2015’s Best Picture winner and to add a couple thoughts. As usual, I disagreed with the Best Picture winner. Spotlight is a very good movie, but I think Mad Max deserved it. Sci-Fi almost never wins, though.
Leonardo Di Caprio won an Oscar for his performance in the excellent The Revenant. (Click here to read my review.) Did he deserve it? I don’t know. But hopefully he continues making challenging movies and doesn’t just coast for the rest of his career like so many best actor winners before him. Why so much fuss over Leo? Several amazing actors have never won Oscars, and they deserve them as much (or moreso) than Leo. Steve Buscemi, Harrison Ford, Robert Downey, Jr., Tom Cruise, and Johnny Depp all come to mind.
Below is my original post, with the addition of 2015.
We all know that the Academy Awards are mostly self congratulation amongst rich people who don’t have a clue how the rest of us live. We also know that the Oscars get it wrong very often. However, what about the times they get it right? Below, I’ve made a chart of the Best Picture winners going back to 1970 along with my pick on which film should have won. (I only went back to 1970 because I haven’t seen very many films pre-1970 and don’t feel confident in my picks.) My list includes more horror and comedy movies, which are typically Oscar Kryptonite.
Obviously, any list like this is going to be highly subjective, plus I get the benefit of hindsight and am able to judge cultural relevance and staying power of the films in question. Please note that if I disagree with the Academy’s choice, it’s not because I think their pick was a bad film; I just have a different idea of what was the best for that year. (There were a few really difficult picks made, but 1994 was especially tough. I had to pick between Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption. Either way, I don’t think Gump deserved it.)
Best Picture Oscars
| YEAR | ACTUAL WINNER | SHOULD HAVE WON |
| 1970 | Patton | M*A*S*H* |
| 1971 | The French Connection | A Clockwork Orange |
| 1972 | The Godfather | The Godfather |
| 1973 | The Sting | The Sting |
| 1974 | The Godfather Part II | The Godfather Part II |
| 1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest |
| 1976 | Rocky | Taxi Driver |
| 1977 | Annie Hall | Star Wars |
| 1978 | The Deer Hunter | Dawn of the Dead |
| 1979 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Apocalypse Now |
| 1980 | Ordinary People | Raging Bull |
| 1981 | Chariots of Fire | Raiders of the Lost Ark |
| 1982 | Gandhi | The Road Warrior |
| 1983 | Terms of Endearment | Scarface |
| 1984 | Amadeus | Ghostbusters |
| 1985 | Out of Africa | Back to the Future |
| 1986 | Platoon | Aliens |
| 1987 | The Last Emperor | Evil Dead II |
| 1988 | Rain Man | Die Hard |
| 1989 | Driving Miss Daisy | Do the Right Thing |
| 1990 | Dances With Wolves | Goodfellas |
| 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 | Unforgiven | Unforgiven |
| 1993 | Schindler’s List | Groundhog Day |
| 1994 | Forrest Gump | Pulp Fiction |
| 1995 | Braveheart | Toy Story |
| 1996 | The English Patient | Fargo |
| 1997 | Titanic | Good Will Hunting |
| 1998 | Shakespeare In Love | Saving Private Ryan |
| 1999 | American Beauty | Fight Club |
| 2000 | Gladiator | Requiem for a Dream |
| 2001 | A Beautiful Mind | The Royal Tenenbaums |
| 2002 | Chicago | Adaptation |
| 2003 | The Return of the King | The Return of the King |
| 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
| 2005 | Crash | Syriana |
| 2006 | The Departed | Pan’s Labyrinth |
| 2007 | No Country for Old Men | No Country for Old Men |
| 2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | The Dark Knight |
| 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Inglourious Basterds |
| 2010 | The King’s Speech | The Social Network |
| 2011 | The Artist | Moneyball |
| 2012 | Argo | The Cabin in the Woods |
| 2013 | 12 Years a Slave | Her |
| 2014 | Birdman | Whiplash |
| 2015 | Spotlight | Mad Max: Fury Road |
As you can see, I mostly disagreed with the Academy. I found the older movies were a little bit easier to pick because I’ve had the benefit of time to see how they have all held up. How’d I do? Agree? Disagree? I’m sure you can’t agree with them all. Let me know in the comments.
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