I have always had a love affair with the Academy Awards but at the end of 2010 I realized how few of the Best Picture winners I’d actually seen. So I made it a goal to see all [then] 83 winners and write my thoughts about them along the way. (I even re-watched the ones I'd already seen so I could write a fresh post.)

That was the initial inspiration behind this blog... I wanted to document my thoughts as well as start a potential conversation or at least ask some thought-provoking questions. Why did it win? Should another movie have won instead? Has it become a beloved classic or do many of you not even recognize the title? For each film, I post the original movie poster, a brief synopsis, the films it was up against, my favorite scene(s), and any lessons I learned.

I have since completed the challenge and have seen all of the Academy's Best Picture winners. (For my collective thoughts at the end of the challenge, including lists of my favorites and least favorites, check out this post.) I keep this blog up-to-date by coming back each year to post my thoughts on the recent winner. I still invite you, my friends and guests, to comment along with me. Do you agree/disagree?

And the Oscar goes to…

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Final Thoughts

My thoughtful husband is having all of my posts from this blog bound in book form for me as a memento. Before he sent it in for publication, I reread all my posts to check for any errors, and to be reminded of my thoughts.

I am so happy that I gave myself this challenge… It “forced” me to see a lot of films I would have never thought to watch. It was very interesting to be able to see the large range of films that won the coveted Best Picture award. There are dramas, comedies, westerns, musicals, and everything in between. I especially enjoyed watching how movies have changed over the decades. To see how humor, story-telling, and visual effects have changed through the years is quite apparent. I plan on revisiting this blog every year, around Awards time, to comment on the newest member of the club: the current holder of the Best Picture title.

Hopefully you feel driven to see a few films you haven’t seen yet based on my reviews. Now it’s your turn… I challenge YOU to see all the Best Picture winners. If you watched just one new film a week, I bet most of you will have seen all of them in about a year’s time. Make it a New Year’s resolution some year. Then you can see how cinema has evolved, audiences’ tastes have changed, and how some classic films have stood the test of time. Then come back here and let me know what you thought. :)

I thought I’d compile a few lists (in no particular order) for you in case you were wondering how I would rate these 84 films. What's interesting is that my five favorites are all films I had seen prior to this challenge, meaning no first-time viewing of another film could usurp any of those. However, I was pleasantly surprised with many movies, so I added another section for that.

MY 5 MOST FAVORITE FILMS:
A Beautiful Mind
Driving Miss Daisy
Dances with Wolves
The Sound of Music
Titanic

MY CLOSE “SECONDS”:
Braveheart
Gladiator

MY 5 LEAST FAVORITE FILMS:
Midnight Cowboy
Tom Jones
No Country for Old Men
The Departed
American Beauty

5 FILMS THAT PLEASANTLY SURPRISED ME:
Ben-Hur
Amadeus
Kramer vs. Kramer
Rain Man
It Happened One Night


You can see how the Academy seems to favor those films with an adult rating (once the MPAA ratings system was set in place).

RATINGS:
Not Rated: 35
Rated G: 6
Rated PG: 12
Rated PG-13: 9
Rated R: 22


I also wanted to included a little section of the facts and records compiled from the Best Picture winners.

RECORDS:
Three films have tied for most wins: “Ben-Hur” in 1959, “Titanic” in 1997, and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” in 2003. Each film walked away with 11 wins, with the only “clean sweep” (winning every nominated category) being “LOTR”.

Two films have tied for being the most nominated: “All About Eve” in 1950 and “Titanic” in 1997, each with 14 nominations.

Only one film has won this one award: “Grand Hotel” in 1932, and interestingly, it received no other nominations other than Best Picture, so in a way, it was a "clean sweep" as well.

The lowest-grossing film in Oscar history is: “The HurtLocker” in 2009.

Three films have won the "Big Five" (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress & Screenplay): “It Happened One Night” in 1934, “OneFlew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975, and “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1991.

The shortest film is: “Marty” in 1955 clocking in at 90 minutes.

The longest film is: “Gone With the Wind” from 1939 clocking in at 238 minutes. Although... the Extended Edition of the winning film“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” from 2003 is 251 minutes long.
 
And because I am such a Disney fan, I have to boast...
The most awards won by one person: 22 Oscars won by Walt Disney (22 competitive, 4 honorary). He also won the most Oscars in one year (4) in 1953.

And the most nominations for one person is also Walt Disney with an astounding 59.


THANKS OSCAR FOR THE MEMORIES AND ENTERTAINMENT! See ya next year….
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