movies to see: Oscar winners from the 90s

Still to see:

No way! I’ve actually seen them all! I can hardly believe it myself …

Already saw:

1999 – American Beauty. Definitely a winner in my book.

1998 – Shakespeare in Love. This must have been a wicked tough year for the judges! I was pulling for Life is Beautiful that year, which at least won for Best Foreign Film, and Benigni won Best Actor. But I did also really like Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, and of course Saving Private Ryan.

1997 – Titanic. Definitely a good movie, but a bit too Hollywood-y for my tastes. I would have picked the much more Bostonian (a-hem) Good Will Hunting, which grabbed Best Original Screenplay.

1996 – The English Patient. Can you say “barf”? Or perhaps more appropriately “gag”? To this date, I have not seen a movie with that woman (Kristin Scot Thomas, barf) or that man (Ralph Fiennes, gag) which has not made me barf or gag. A much better movie in my opinion was Fargo (you knoooow?).

1995 – Braveheart. OK, this was a good one. Nice historical picture with a ton of action. But of course I was pulling for the much more literary Il Postino, based on the exile of Pablo Neruda.

1994 – Forrest Gump. I’m not denying this was good. But a bit too schmalzy for my tastes. I much preferred Pulp Fiction. My favorite line: “But bacon tastes GOOD.” (10 points if you know which character said that)

1993 – Schindler’s List. Finally, one that should have won! Enough said.

1992 – Unforgiven. Way to go, Clint! Another very deserving movie that actually won.

1991 – The Silence of the Lambs. No way! I actually didn’t remember that this one won. A thriller – how thrilling! This movie scared me silly, but of course, I’m a major wimp in that department. But looking at the other choices, I don’t see that there was much of anything better that year, so I’d have to agree.

1990 – Dances With Wolves. Tough call. This was good, but I was pulling for Good Fellas, which is, after all, one of the best gangster movies of all time (although I now have a softer spot for The Departed).

movies to see: Oscar winners from this decade

Kips like movies.

I recently decided that I should see all of the movies that ever won the Academy Award for best picture. Let’s go in reverse chronological order and take things in decades (nice manageable chunks!). I’ll include my opinion for which picture should have won, ha!

Still to see:

2007 – No Country for Old Men

Already saw:

2006 – The Departed. This should have won, and it did! Yay, Martin Scorsese, yay, Boston, yay, Dropkick Murphys, and yay, Irish mob! (er, um, yeah)

2005 – Crash. Another won which should have won, and did. One of those movies that you think you hate until you discover you love it.

2004 – Million Dollar Baby. Yeah, chicks pounding on each other in the face is not really my thing. My pick for that year was Finding Neverland, because:

  • Johnny Depp rocks
  • Kate Winslet rocks
  • Peter Pan rocks
  • More than a nice heartwarming story, it was a great glimpse into the creative process

2003 – The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King. OK, I liked these movies (probably the first one best). Great special effects and all that. But this one just had too much in the way of cast-of-thousands battle scenes. My pick for that year was Lost in Translation, which was just such an excellent flick, especially to those who have experienced life abroad.

2002 – Chicago. Tough call here. It was great, don’t get me wrong, and it’s always cool to see a musical win, but I have to say I was pulling for The Hours. Excellent novel, and excellent acting.

2001 – A Beautiful Mind. OK, this was a good movie. But Russell Crowe always kinds of ruins a movie for me, blech. My pick that year was Moulin Rouge (Yes! A musical!).

2000 – Gladiator. OK, Russell Crowe rule again, so, nope, not my pick. Also, see above about Johnny Depp. Yup, my pick was Chocolat. You’ve got a cute French village, Juliette Binoche, even a cameo by Leslie Caron, and tons of chocolate – how can you go wrong?

Well, then. All in all, only one movie to see from this decade. Stay tuned for the list from the next, er, previous decade.