Listomania Sunday: Best Picture Winners Since 1970

Well my blog is coming to an end.  So here are my favorite Best Picture Winners since 1970. Why since 1970 because that was the halfway point in my quest.  If you want to see the list for the first that list is here.  Listomania Sunday: Oscars

1.  Silence of the Lambs- One of only the few movies to win all 5 top Oscars and one of the only thrillers to win Best Picture. Doesn't get much better then Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.
2.  Schidnlers List - One of the most moving and inspiring films of the last 30 years. Spielberg at his best. 
3.  The Godfather- A true masterpiece. 
4.  The Hurt Locker- Even though it is a recent movie I think it deserves to be on this list. Very well done with high intensity all the way through. 
5.  American Beauty- One of my favorite movies in one of my favorite years. 1999 was a great year for movies and while most critics and my dad hate this movie I still find something about it very good.

The Kings Speech

I can't believe I made it. The final movie in my Best Picture quest. There were so many times I thought about just giving up on it but I made it through. My wife will be happy now since she thought this was a waste of my time.

For the second year in a row there were 10 nominees for Best Picture and 2010 was a good year. And for the first time (and probably the last time) I managed to see all the movies nominated for Best Picture before the nominations were announced. Coming into Oscar night there were two movies battling it out for the top spot. The Social Network and The King's Speech. The Social Network won almost every critic award but when the award season really kicked in The King's Speech started winning all the awards so it was anyone's guess who would win the top prize. But The King's Speech ended up winning.

The Kings Speech is about King George VI or Bertie (Colin Firth) as he was known to his friends before he became king. Bertie who always had a stutter is thrust in the spotlight as radio became more popular in the 30's and monarchs needed to make speeches that went out to a larger population. Being embarrassed by a speech he had given and numerous failures with speech therapist he wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) seeks out the help of the unconventional doctor Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). As Logue challenges everything Bertie has heard from previous doctors Bertie becomes disillusioned and things Logue is just a hack. At the same time Bertie's older brother who is next in line to become king is fooling around with a number of married women and is told he must stop before he becomes king. But after their father dies and he is crowned King he refuses to change and is forced to renounce the throne. This makes Bertie next in line to become King and he turns to Logue to help him. As he works with Logue he learns tricks to help him and when WWII starts and he needs to make a big radio address about the war Logue is by his side helping him.

The movie is funny, inspirational, and uplifting which is a change of pace from the dark gritty films that had won in the oughts. It had great performances especially Geoffrey Rush. He brought so much personality to his character and really gave the movie the comedy to balance the drama. Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter were both great in their roles also. While it was a good movie it was very formulaic and felt like a typical Oscar movie. I also felt one of the more interesting parts of the story was rushed and that was the story of Renouncement of the throne. It was the first time a King of England gave up his throne. And after when Bertie becomes King he even says that this is the first time a King has taken a throne while the previous King is alive and well.

I would have liked to see the more modern tale of The Social Network win or even better the twisted Inception win. The Social Network told the true story of Mark Zuckerberg and his rise to power after he started Facebook. The movie written by Aaron Sorkin with his typical rapid fire dialogue (he deservingly won Best Adapted Screenplay) and with a main character that was both sympathetic and ruthless. I felt the complicated characters that made this movie more interesting instead of the cookie cutter characters from The King's Speech . An even more bold choice for Best Picture would have been Inception which was written and directed by Christopher Nolan and told the story about a group of people who try to implant a thought into someone's head while they are asleep. The movie is also well acted and very original. But I think most Academy voters just didn't get it and only ended up winning 4 technical awards. And its loss to the King's Speech for Best Original Screenplay was a big snub in my opinion. I feel it should have went to the movie that really was original and creative.

The biggest snub in my opinion was the omission of Waiting for Super from the Best Documentary nominees. It was about the education system in America and how it needs to be improved. It was a great documentary and won a bunch of awards prior to the Academy Awards but was not even nominated. It has been speculated that its portrayal of Unions as bad made it hard for the members of the Academy (most who are members of one union or another) to vote for it. The other movie that I thought should have been nominated was Blue Valentine. Which featured great performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams (she did get a Best Actress Nomination) as a married couple who are trying to save their marriage. The movie is sad and depressing but really has an emotional impact. Also Subbed was Mila Kunis as Best Supporting Actress for Black Swan. As rival to Best Actress Winner Natalie Portman she was a great villain and was one of the standout performances of the year.

Current Ranks on IMDB Top 250 for Best Picture nominated Films
Inception- #12
Toy Story 3- #29
The Black Swan-#123
The King's Speech-127
The Social Network-#236

The Hurt Locker

The little movie that could. The Hurt Locker went up against the highest grossing movie of all time and came out the victor. After a lot of criticism in 2008 for movies that get left off the Best Picture nominations (specifically The Dark Knight) the Academy decided to increase the number of Best Picture nominations to 10 in 2009. And it did what I think the Academy intended it to do, get a mix of small independent films with large blockbusters. Movies that would not otherwise be nominated like the sci-fi flick District 9, the animated movie Up, and the sports drama The Blind Side got a chance at glory. But the big showdown was between Avatar the highest grossing movie of all time vs. The Hurt Locker a small independent film and two directors that used to be married Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron, with the Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow coming out on top.

The Hurt Locker is about an elite bomb squad in Iraq. When a new leader SFC William James (Jeremy Renner) joins Bravo Company his leadership style causes conflict with his two subordinates, Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). His aggressive style goes against what they have been used too. Every call poses new problems and new bombs and they must try to figure out a way to work together to live. Meanwhile Eldridge is dealing with guilt for the death of their former leader.

 What makes this movie work is the intensity. Each bomb they are called out to defuse brings a new heightened sense of anxiety. The acting is great. Jeremy Renner is just pitch perfect as James. He is all gung ho without concern for his own safety and sometimes the safety of others. What I love about this movie besides all the suspense is that it feels real. Every character is believable. Each has their own psychiatric issues and they all feel multidimensional. The movie is very minimalist having very little score and no opening titles. It proves that you don't need a big budget to make a great movie.

On the flip side of that is Avatar, which proves that if you have a big budget doesn't mean you will have a great movie. I was surprised after the awards were announced how many people just assumed that Avatar would win. While Avatar did have some amazing special effects and great visuals the story was kind of bland. While the characters in The Hurt Locker felt well rounded in Avatar they felt very one dimensional (ironic since the movie was filmed in 3-D). It bothered me that everyone would assume that it would win without ever seeing The Hurt Locker.

 I was pleasantly surprised to see District 9 nominated for Best Picture as it was one of the most original Sci-Fi movies I had seen in a while. I am also glad Precious got nominated for Best Picture I just wish it would have received more attention as it was a dark, disturbing but incredibly well acted movie. With all the attention Kathryn Bigelow received about being the first women to win Best Director there was hardly any mention that Lee Daniels was only the second black man to be nominated. Not surprisingly The Hangover one of the funniest movies of the year didn't get nominated. The biggest snub in my opinion was The Lovely Bones which was one of my favorite movies of the year and deserved more nominations.

Oscar Trivia:

With her nomination for Best Actress for Julie and Julia Meryl Streep broke the record with 13 nominations for a leading role and a total of 16 nominations total.

Avatar and Up became the first 3-D movies to be nominated for Best Picture

On a personal note this is the first movie to win Best Picture since I started my Best Picture quest. Here is the link to my original review The Hurt Locker

Listomania Sunday: Best Nanny Movies

Well our Nanny starts this week and got me thinking about the Best Movies with a nanny in it.  Here is my list.

1.  Mary Poppins- Nothing else could be on top. Only the coolest nanny imaginable.  Not only does she have a magic bag but she sings too. 

2.  Mrs. Doubtfire- Well if you can’t have a magic bag you might as well have one of the funniest nannies. 

3.  The Hand that Rocks the Cradle-  Well if you are looking for your evil nanny this is the movie for you. Rebecca De Mornay give a chilling performance as a crazy nanny. 

4.  Adventures in Babysitting-While technically not a nanny movie it is one of the best babysitting movies. Although I wouldn’t want her to take my kid on that kind of adventure but when I was a kid it seemed like a lot of fun.

5.  The Pacifier- This also might be pushing what can be considered a nanny movie but for some reason Vin Diesel as a nanny was just fun to watch. 

The biggest debate I had with myself while making this list was about Arthur.  IMDB has the remake of Arthur listed as a Nanny movie but not the original.  Which got me thinking while technically Hobson in the original was a butler and not a nanny he definitely performed a lot of the same duties.  So if you consider Arthur a nanny movie that would definitely be high on the list. The original not the remake which I haven’t seen but looks really bad.    

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Slumdog Millionaire

Looking at the 2008 Best Picture nominations you would guess that there were not many good movies that year.  There was no movies that I absolutely loved out of the five nominated. I think Slumdog Millionaire was the best out of the nominated movies but Milk was also a very good movie. 

Slumdog Millionaire is about a lower class kid Jamal (Dev Patel) from the slums of India who goes on a “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”  and is doing really well so the authorities think he is cheating.  During the interrogation he explains how he has come to know the answers to some of the questions.  The movie flashes back and forth between the game show, the interrogation, and his past.  His past is filled with violence and after his mother is killed he runs away with his brother Salim where they meet an orphaned girl Latika.  The three become very close and Jamal develops a crush on Latika.  After being taken in by a group of thieves they are forced to beg on the streets for money.  When Jamal and Salim are able to escape Latika doesn’t make it and is forced to stay behind.  As the years pass Jamal doesn’t forget about Latika and when he is older he sets out to find her again.  When they try to rescue her from the gang that has her Salim shoots and kills the boss.  Then Salim joins a rival gang and wants Latika as his own and kicks Jamal out.  After many years of wondering what happened to the both of them Jamal finally seeks out his brother and Latika.  Thinking the only way he can get Latika back is to make money he goes on the game show hopping she is watching. 

Danny Boyle's rapid editing and great storytelling really add the intensity to a movie that is ultimately a love story about a guy on a game show.  What could have been a boring story really was exciting.  What was unexpected was the mount of violence in the movie.  Especially the beginning you think you walked into the wrong movie as they torture Jamal trying to figure out how he is cheating.  What I love about the story is how it shows random things in someone’s life can lead to a wealth of knowledge.  And the kids in the movie really do a good job. Since half the movie is flashbacks they needed to be good so the love story was believable.  This is another movie where the ensemble cast is better than individuals which is one of the reasons this became only the 11^th movie to win Best Picture without having any acting nominations although I think Dev Patel should have been nominated.  The movie won 8 Awards out of its 10 nominations including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing.  It also won Best Song for Jai Ho a Bollywood dance number at the end of the movie. 

The movie that had the biggest spotlight on it going into the Oscars was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which had 13 nominations.  My least favorite David Fincher movie (Seven and Fight Club are my favorite), the big budget love story about a guy aging backwards ended up winning only 3 awards.  It was the smallest number of awards won by any movie that had that many nominations. 

The biggest story that year was not about what movies were nominated for Best Picture but the movies that were not nominated.  The biggest outcry came because one of the biggest movies of the year and most well reviewed movie The Dark Knight was left off the Best Picture and Best Director lists.  It did have 8 nominations in mostly technical awards but did win get Best Supporting Actor win for Heath Ledger in his last major role.  The omission of The Dark Knight was mostly viewed as snub against superhero movies but did cause the Academy to change their rules for the following year when they increased the Best Picture nominations to 10 movies.  A movie that got 5 nominations and 4 acting nominations but no Best Picture or Director nominations was Doubt.  The acting in Doubt just blew me away and the story was just captivating.  It was one of Meryl Streep’s best performances and her record 15 acting nomination and I think she should have won.  Going toe to toe with her was Phillip Seymour Hoffman who we never know if he is good or bad and when they are both in the room together you just feel like you are watching something special.  The last movie that very few people saw but everyone that did thinks it did get nominated for Best Picture was Gran Torino.  With great acting by Clint Eastwood and a story that is dark and hard to watch but very good. 

Listomania Sunday: Holiday 2011 Movie Preview

Thanksgiving is this week and this is the time of year when the movie studios release their big budget family movies and their small budget Oscar Contender movies. Here are the ones I want to see.

Young Adult 12/9 - Looking to repeat the Oscar success of Juno Screenwriter Diablo Cody and Director Jason Reitman reteam for this one. About at a divorced women (Charlize Theron) who wants to hook up with her old high school boyfriend who is currently married and has a kid. I loved Juno and can't wait to see if they can duplicate the fun and quirkiness of it. With Charlize Theron in the cast it has lots of potential. Some Oscar buzz generating all ready for Cody, Reitman, Theron, and Patton Oswalt who plays the old high school outcast.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 12/16 - With Iron Man and The Avengers it is hard to believe that Robert Downey Jr. has any time left to make another movie. A sequel to the 2009 movie this one has Holmes going up against his archenemy Professor Moriatrty. Directed again by Guy Richie I expect the same kind of fun action movie.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 12/21- The original Swedish version blew me away. It was very dark and violent. Now the American version is coming out and I am always a little skeptical but it is directed by David Fincher who directed Seven, Fight Club, and The Social Network so I have some high hopes. Probably not going to be nominated for any awards and kind of a dark subject matter for the holidays but I am looking forward to it.

We Bought a Zoo 12/23 - A feel good family movie from Cameron Crowe about the true story of a single dad who ends up buying a zoo. Crowe has made some pretty good movies like Almost Famous but has not had a good one in a while. Hoping with Matt Damon he can find his groove.

War Horse 12/25 - It is probably the most anticipated movie of the season. War Horse is Steven Spielberg's newest movie about a horse in WWI. It looks pretty emotional and could very well be his ticket back to Oscar night.

No Country for Old Men

The Best Picture nominations for 2007 were mostly dark and depressing movies. The only comedy nominated was Juno which was about a teenage pregnancy still not a real happy theme. The other movies nominated had to do with ruthless oilmen, lying siblings, and a corporate legal thriller. Then ultimate winner was No Country for Old Men by the Coen Brothers about a stealing and murder.

No Country for Old Men is dark tale about a guy (Josh Brolin) who finds money and drugs from a drug deal gone badly. After stealing the money he is hunted by a paid gunman named Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who uses and an air gun as his weapon of choice. The sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) is trying to piece everything together.

I hadn't seen the movie since I saw it in theatres and watching it again I forgot how good this movie really was. I love that the movie keeps you guessing and you're never really sure what will happen next. Javier Bardem won Best Supporting actor for his emotionless killer Chigurh, but it was Tommy Lee Jones' sheriff that I felt was the best acting in the movie. He really grounds the movie in some reality. While everything else is going horribly wrong he is trying to do his job and keep everyone safe. The Coen brothers are known for bizarre but great movies like Fargo and The Big Lebowski. But while this movie is good the ending is really strange. I felt the ending kind of took away from how great the rest of the movie was.

Even though I love The Coen Brothers I actually felt the movie that should have won Best Picture is the equally dark and odd movie There Will Be Blood. With great performances by Daniel Day-Lewis as oil man Daniel Plainview and Paul Dano as Eli Sunday a small time preacher. There is some amazing tension between the two as we see each one manipulate others one using faith and the other using money. There are no good guys in this movie as everyone has selfish motives. This is another movie that has a strange ending but I found it more satisfying than the ending for No Country for Old Men.
The biggest upset for me was that Into the Wild wasn't nominated for more awards. I loved the movie and totally expected it to get lots of nominations. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Director, Best Score, and Best Song for some of Eddie Vedder most haunting songs. Hal Holbrook did get nominated for Best Supporting Actor but there should have been way more nominations. The two biggest acting snubs in my opinion were for Tommy Lee Jones and Paul Dano being left off the Best Supporting Actor list. Both are amazing in their movies.

IMDB Top 250 rankings of 2007 movies
No Country for Old Men #130
Into the Wild #148
There Will be Blood #159
The Bourne Ultimatum #183
Ratatouille #195