THE FUCKING BOURNE ULTIMATUM? REALLY?

[Paelos]

I thought about putting Platoon on my list, but I just couldn't because I found it way too over the top and preachy for my tastes.

[Nebu]

You get into the 80's and they all kinda suck. Nothing in that decade stands out.

We must have different taste.

  1982 (55th)  Gandhi
  1983 (56th)  Terms of Endearment  
  1984 (57th)  Amadeus  
  1985 (58th)  Out of Africa
  1986 (59th)  Platoon
  1987 (60th)  The Last Emperor  
  1988 (61st)   Rain Man
  1989 (62nd)  Driving Miss Daisy

Were all respectible movies (two were in my top 20 personal choices in Amadeus and Gandhi).  Gandhi was epic.  I agree that the 70's had a number of good movies... Cookoo's nest was great in the theater.  Lawrence of Arabia and My Fair Lady were the best of the 60's (arguably the weakest of recent decades).  How is it that Doctor Zhivago didn't make the list?  What a crime!  

[stray]

All of those were great. Hell, even Rain Man was, Cruise and all.

[schild]

No Country for Old Men was fucking great and deserved it, if you don't think so, you're a fun-hating commie pig.

[stray]

Still haven't seen it myself... BUT, I've never seen a Coens' flick I didn't like (fairly sure of that).

[Paelos]

No Country for Old Men was fucking great and deserved it, if you don't think so, you're a fun-hating commie pig.

I never saw it, but I'll watch it on DVD. Then again, I hate things that most film-buffs enjoy with a passion.

[schild]

No Country for Old Men was fucking great and deserved it, if you don't think so, you're a fun-hating commie pig.

I never saw it, but I'll watch it on DVD. Then again, I hate things that most film-buffs enjoy with a passion.

There's a movie you would like coming out then. I think it's called Step Up 2: The Street. It's pretty rad, dude.

[Paelos]

No Country for Old Men was fucking great and deserved it, if you don't think so, you're a fun-hating commie pig.

I never saw it, but I'll watch it on DVD. Then again, I hate things that most film-buffs enjoy with a passion.

There's a movie you would like coming out then. I think it's called Step Up 2: The Street. It's pretty rad, dude.

Dude, I'm not that guy. 

I just meant I'm more mainstream, less foreign.

[stray]

Well, if it makes you feel better, hardly any awards show or critics' show gives a best picture honor (here in the states) to foreign films. And the Coen's in particular are about as American as it gets -- hello? Raising Arizona, Big Lebowski, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?

[Paelos]

Yeah, I've liked about half their stuff, so we'll see.

[stu]

Forgot about The English Patient. Willem Dafoe was pretty cool in that.

[Furiously]

I just want to know why they keep snubbing the Die hard franchise.

[WayAbvPar]

Forgot about The English Patient. Willem Dafoe was pretty cool in that.

Fuck The English Patient. It made Titanic look like an action-packed short. The only redeeming quality was Kristen Scott Thomas sans clothing. Everything else was a LONG. WASTE. OF. TIME.

I am amazed at how many of the Best Pictures of the 1980s I still haven't seen, and still have no inclination to see. Serious yawner of a decade.

[stray]

Like what? Amadeus, Gandhi, Platoon, Last Emperor. Those are some freaking ace movies.

[Paelos]

Like what? Amadeus, Gandhi, Platoon, Last Emperor. Those are some freaking ace movies.

Sucked, Too Long, Too Much, and Never Saw It.

[stray]

Wow, take breaks, too much what -- truth?, get to it.

[WayAbvPar]

  1982 (55th)  Gandhi- Never saw it. Not a lot of interest.

  1983 (56th)  Terms of Endearment- Not a chance.

  1984 (57th)  Amadeus- Regret missing this one, but not enough to actively seek it out.
 
  1985 (58th)  Out of Africa- No interest

  1986 (59th)  Platoon- Love it. Preachy and all.

  1987 (60th)  The Last Emperor- Couldn't care less

  1988 (61st)   Rain Man- Saw it. Meh. Couldn't watch it again due to involvement of Xenu Jr.

  1989 (62nd)  Driving Miss Daisy- Might care even less about this one than The Last Emperor.

Never saw Chariots of Fire either, which I think was the 1981 winner. Compare it to the 1990s or the 1970s, and the 80s are just clownshoes for Best Pictures. Had some of the best teen comedies of all time, however.

[stray]

I agree on the teen comedies, but damn guys... Last Emperor, Gandhi, and Amadeus are absolutely transporting. And very timeless. There just isn't much wrong with them. They also pull off being both entertaining and educational. Very few historical flicks have accomplished that.

Driving Miss Daisy is just good hearted drama. Not just Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy, but even Dan Akroyd is great in it. Sure, it's not one of those movies the typical guy would choose to watch right away, but it's one of those ones that once you do, you want to see the whole thing through.

I can understand Out of Africa and Terms of Endearment, since they're very female oriented stories, but really.... They're great films no matter how big you think your dick is.

[edit] I'll agree on the 70's bit as well. That, along with the 40's, are my favorite film decades.

The 90's? Not so much. Best Picture wise though, it wasn't any better or worse than the 80's.

The English Patient was good..
Silence -- definitely a winner
Forrest Gump -- Umm.. Not my cup of tea really. Especially since it was running against Shawshank and (I can hear the gasps now) Pulp Fiction
Dances With Wolves will always piss me off -- It knocked out Goodfellas. Hell, I even liked Ghost better than it.
Unforgiven -- definitely
Schindler's List -- definitely
Braveheart -- I don't know. I guess. Not much competition.
Titanic -- umm.. no. Wished LA Confidential won.
Shakespeare in Love -- whatever
American Beauty -- Fair

[Paelos]

Wow, take breaks, too much what -- truth?, get to it.

As for Amadeus it's a historical bullshit, so I didn't care for it. Platoon I'm on the fence about, but I think it crossed the line on the shock factor for me.

[stray]

Amadeus was historical enough... But unlike Gandhi and Emperor, it's point wasn't to be historical per se. The reason to watch is Salieri. His story/jealousy/rage could be placed in any day or time.

[Paelos]

Amadeus was historical enough... But unlike Gandhi and Emperor, it's point wasn't to be historical per se. The reason to watch is Salieri. His story/jealousy/rage could be placed in any day or time.

Yeah I get the whole sin of envy thing. My point was that they took a character who was a genius of his time and totally changed his relationship with Mozart, so now the morons who don't know shit about classical music equate the name, "Salieri" with sucking ass.

[Nebu]

Compare it to the 1990s or the 1970s, and the 80s are just clownshoes for Best Pictures. Had some of the best teen comedies of all time, however.

Don't you think you should watch a few before simply discarding them? 

Just saying...

It's ok if you don't like the storyline in those movies.  Saying they aren't well made films is completely unfair. 

[K9]

...

[Merusk]

Yeah, don't watch Amadeus for history. It's about as Historically accurate as Braveheart or The Patriot.   It's a good flick and worth dropping in the ol' Netflix queue.  Just pretend it came out last year instead of 22 years ago. 

I still haven't seen Ghandi or Last Emperor all the way through.  What I've seen of them was good, but then I don't need explosions or boobs every 20 minutes. I have the internet for that. 

I remember the hubub about Out of Africa well, but I've never seen it.  I was only in 6th grade at the time, so it's not like I was going to back then.

[WayAbvPar]

Compare it to the 1990s or the 1970s, and the 80s are just clownshoes for Best Pictures. Had some of the best teen comedies of all time, however.

Don't you think you should watch a few before simply discarding them? 

Just saying...

It's ok if you don't like the storyline in those movies.  Saying they aren't well made films is completely unfair. 

They may be well made, but nothing about them compels me to watch them. I can't say the same for the 1970s movies- all the word of mouth made me seek them out. As for the 90s- I think a case can be made that the flicks that lost Best Picture each year are better than the winners, but there were some decent flicks that won.

[naum]

79 Years of Best Picture Winners in Posters

The last dozen or so…

(2007) No Country for Old Men — not seen yet, Mrs Naum no like these kind of movies, must wait for DVD or see with son/friends/fellow workers, but eager to see it and expect it to be good
(2006) Departed — Loved it, and the Asian flick it was copied from (though heaping ladles of profanity were added…)
(2005) Crash — have not seen, have no desire to see, at least from trailer viewing, sounds preachy, especially when I have lived a story like this already
(2004) Million Dollar Baby — have not seen, and this selection sounds like Hollywood self-fellatio act more than any other recent flick
(2003) Lord of the Rings: RotK — it was awesome, come on, admit it!
(2002) Chicago — tried to watch this, but it ended up as insomnia killer
(2001) Beautiful Mind — another Hollywood self fellatio act, OK movie, but plagued by historical distortion
(2000) Gladiator — again, decent flick, but not worthy of #1 selection
(1999) American Beauty —  Spacey is an amazing actor, but again, a Hollywood self-fellatio over a slightly above pedestrian status
(1998) Shakespeare in Love — don't get this one at all
(1997) Titantic — the start of some real craptacular award sequence
(1996) The English Patient — no desire to see, and that is also based on feedback from those who did
(1995) Braveheart — one of my favorite all-time movies, watch at least once a year
(1994) Forest Gump — story was scrubbed and sanitized (from book which is awesome read) for LCD American Suburbia audience, too cheesed up
(1993) Schindler's List — I accept it possibly worthy of accolades, but could not sit through it (and found nowhere near league of "Life is Beautiful"…)
(1992) Unforgiven — decent flick, but Hollywood wishing to celebrate "return of the Western" as they periodically done past 25 years…
(1991) Silence of the Lambs — great film, still holds up today
(1990) Dances with Wolves — Even with the atrocity of Kevin Costner, still an incredible movie, though a bit too long

/flameon

[Teleku]

79 Years of Best Picture Winners in Posters

Really?

[Nebu]

The only film that I was really affected by in the last decade (1997-2007) that is also on that list was American Beauty.  Maybe I'm broken.

[naum]

79 Years of Best Picture Winners in Posters

Really?

Now don't be dissin Albert Finney…

[Righ]

Its a good movie. The source is the Henry Fielding novel, not the pop singer.

[stray]

79 Years of Best Picture Winners in Posters

The last dozen or so…

(2007) No Country for Old Men — not seen yet, Mrs Naum no like these kind of movies, must wait for DVD or see with son/friends/fellow workers, but eager to see it and expect it to be good
(2006) Departed — Loved it, and the Asian flick it was copied from (though heaping ladles of profanity were added…)
(2005) Crash — have not seen, have no desire to see, at least from trailer viewing, sounds preachy, especially when I have lived a story like this already
(2004) Million Dollar Baby — have not seen, and this selection sounds like Hollywood self-fellatio act more than any other recent flick
(2003) Lord of the Rings: RotK — it was awesome, come on, admit it!
(2002) Chicago — tried to watch this, but it ended up as insomnia killer
(2001) Beautiful Mind — another Hollywood self fellatio act, OK movie, but plagued by historical distortion
(2000) Gladiator — again, decent flick, but not worthy of #1 selection
(1999) American Beauty —  Spacey is an amazing actor, but again, a Hollywood self-fellatio over a slightly above pedestrian status
(1998) Shakespeare in Love — don't get this one at all
(1997) Titantic — the start of some real craptacular award sequence
(1996) The English Patient — no desire to see, and that is also based on feedback from those who did
(1995) Braveheart — one of my favorite all-time movies, watch at least once a year
(1994) Forest Gump — story was scrubbed and sanitized (from book which is awesome read) for LCD American Suburbia audience, too cheesed up
(1993) Schindler's List — I accept it possibly worthy of accolades, but could not sit through it (and found nowhere near league of "Life is Beautiful"…)
(1992) Unforgiven — decent flick, but Hollywood wishing to celebrate "return of the Western" as they periodically done past 25 years…
(1991) Silence of the Lambs — great film, still holds up today
(1990) Dances with Wolves — Even with the atrocity of Kevin Costner, still an incredible movie, though a bit too long

/flameon

Ah, c'mon... You gave less cynicism to Unforgiven than Dances With Wolves?? That just isn't right at all.

That wasn't just a return of western, but a script Eastwood sat on for years just in case of a rainy day -- because it was the shit. And he got incredible talent for it... I ask how one could not get stoked over a western with not only Clint, but Gene Hackman, Richard Harris, and Morgan Freeman in it..

Million Dollar Baby is really good. That movie doesn't deserve an ounce of hate. Also, Clint and Morgan again. Still though, I think the Aviator kicks it's ass (edit: on a sidenote, I disagree on that being hollywood fellating for even being selected... Have you even seen it? As for myself, it's one of my favorite movies of all time. I can't say that about many movies made in the last 20 years. Departed, while good, is the real story of hollywood fellating scorsese -- because he got scammed time and time again not only for aviator, but for good fellas and raging bull before).

Crash was better than expected.. not really preachy, but yeah, it has a feelgood message. It's not overt in any way though. It's all in the narrative. That being said, Brokeback Mountain is much better. Good Night and Good Luck, as well as Munich are just about as equal.

I thought Return of the King wasn't that great. I don't care for fantasy much in general, but I try to be openminded here --- I've watched it a couple of times. I don't see why it was awarded other than being an award for the entire series. The specific movie was just a drawn out battlefield spectacle -- and the touching parts had already been done in the first flick.

Now don't be dissin Albert Finney…

qft

[Merusk]

Huh.. I never, ever, EVER would have placed Ernest Borgnine as having starred in an emmy award-winning picture, much less a "Best Picture."

To me, he'll always be "that old guy on 'Airwolf'."

[stray]

My first memories of Borgnine were Super Fuzz (one of the greatest superhero flicks ever btw) and the cabbie in Escape from NY.

But really, a guy who's been around that long? He better have been in a few Oscar worthy flicks or two.

[K9]

...

[schild]

Shawshank Redemption not SWEEPING in 2004 was the greatest crime perpetrated on film since the entire industry's inception.