Not Madison. Or Mayer. Or The Grouch.
I think Tom started this one. Prepare to be disappointed in me. Oscar-winning films I have seen are italicized. Those I have a real desire to see are bolded.
1928 - Wings
1928 - Sunrise
1929 - The Broadway Melody
1930 - All Quiet on the Western Front
1931 - Cimarron
1932 - Grand Hotel
1933 - Cavalcade
1934 - It Happened One Night
1935 - Mutiny on the Bounty
1936 - The Great Ziegfeld
1937 - The Life of Emile Zola
1938 - You Can't Take It With You - I did play Grandpa in a college production, so I am curious to see the film version.
1939 - Gone With the Wind - Not sure why, but I just can't muster up any enthusiasm for finally seeing it.
1940 - Rebecca
1941 - How Green Was My Valley
1942 - Mrs. Miniver
1943 - Casablanca - Our first hit. Totally lived up to the substantial hype when I finally saw this.
1944 - Going My Way
1945 - The Lost Weekend
1946 - The Best Years of Our Lives
1947 - Gentleman's Agreement
1948 - Hamlet - I've seen Mel Gibson's and Kenneth Branagh's versions, so I really should see this one.
1949 - All the King's Men
1950 - All About Eve
1951 - An American in Paris: #2! Great music.
1952 - The Greatest Show on Earth
1953 - From Here to Eternity
1954 - On the Waterfront - In my Blockbuster queue.
1955 - Marty
1956 - Around the World in 80 Days
1957 - The Bridge on the River Kwai: Want to be really embarrassed for me? I've never seen Alec Guinness in anything besides Star Wars.
1958 - Gigi
1959 - Ben-Hur - William Goldman calls it the best film ever, so I kind of have to give it a shot.
1960 - The Apartment - I like Jack Lemmon a lot, so . . .
1961 - West Side Story - #3! Brilliant. A nicely stylized approach to the material as well.
1962 - Lawrence of Arabia - Read too many good things to ignore.
1963 - Tom Jones
1964 - My Fair Lady - #4! Some call it the greatest musical ever. I don't go that far, but it's up there. And this is a pretty spot-on adaptation.
1965 - The Sound of Music - #5! OK, not a huge fan.
1966 - A Man For All Seasons
1967 - In the Heat of the Night
1968 - Oliver!
1969 - Midnight Cowboy - The first X-rated film to win is really a must-see, no?
1970 - Patton
1971 - The French Connection
1972 - The Godfather: #6 Everything it's been said to be and more.
1973 - The Sting - A good con is great fun,so I really do need to see this.
1974 - The Godfather Part II #7- Here's where I stand on the great "which is better" debate - they equally good, if in slightly different ways.
1975 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - #8 I absolutely love that they mixed in actual mentally ill patients with actors.
1976 - Rocky - #9 It's so easy to forget - Rocky loses. A much better film than it's often given credit for.
1977 - Annie Hall - I saw Match Point a week ago; my first Woody Allen film!
1978 - The Deer Hunter
1979 - Kramer vs. Kramer
1980 - Ordinary People
1981 - Chariots of Fire #10- Saw in the theater as a kid and remember loving it; haven't seen it since and remember pretty much nothing about details.
1982 - Gandhi
1983 - Terms of Endearment
1984 - Amadeus - Also sitting in the queue.
1985 - Out of Africa
1986 - Platoon
1987 - The Last Emperor
1988 - Rain Man - #11 Haven't seen this in ages.
1989 - Driving Miss Daisy - #12 Who's better than Morgan Freeman?
1990 - Dances With Wolves - #13 Still holds up well.I've never understood the anger at this film. My guess is that if it had been directed by someone else--but was the exact same film--it wouldn't be nearly as dismissed as it is today.
1991 - The Silence of the Lambs - #14. Jody Foster and Anthony Hopkins should really do
another film together.
1992 - Unforgiven - #15. Saw in the theater and haven't seen this. I would really like to revisit it.
1993 - Schindler's List - #16. Remarkable.
1994 - Forrest Gump - #17. I've said this before, but if this film flopped at the box office, critics would still be raving about how good it was and how dumb the public is.
1995 - Braveheart - #18. Those big battle scenes have been much imitated, but not yet equaled. 1996 - The English Patient
1997 - Titanic - #19. Everyone forgets how much the critics loved this when it came out. It was only when it made absolutely unfathomable amounts of money that they started hedging their bets.
1998 - Shakespeare in Love - #20. Another I haven't seen since the theater.
1999 - American Beauty - #21. Didn't quite get the fuss.
2000 - Gladiator - #22. Fun, but no Braveheart.
2001 - A Beautiful Mind - #23. A gorgeous score, and a brilliant performance. The "imaginary people" stuff was maybe just a bit too on the nose though.
2002 - Chicago - #24. A brilliant treatment of the material, with some thrilling performances.
2003 - The Lord of the Rings - #25. One I'll be watching again and again for a long time. Can't wait to share this series with the kids.
2004 - Million Dollar Baby - #26. Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman together? Heaven.
2005 - Crash - #27. Have to admit to not getting some of the backlash I've read. I thought it was a great throwback to the kind of melodramatic, coincidence-filled, tightly plotted tale Dickens loved, with a modern sheen on top.
Until Whenever
3 comments:
You haven't seen The Sting??? It's not just A con movie, it's THE con movie. Run, don't walk. I adore this film.
You have #16 twice. Also, you seem to have left Alec Guiness (I assume) out of your description of River Kwai. Finally, you need a carriage return for The English Patient.
I'm glad to see a defense of Crash. Match Point (which I didn't see, BTW) was your FIRST WOODY ALLEN FILM and you live in the Northeast? Zounds! I've seen probably a dozen.
Marsha - Like I said; it's on the list. (Problem is - it's a huge list)
Roger - THanks for the catches. Don't know quite why I've never gotten around to Woddy, but I haven't. Maybe I'm just being too cynical, but I read a lot of superiority in some of the Crash criticisms - "the movie says everyone is racist, but I'M not!" That kind of thing. Like I said, I loved the combo of seriously and honestly looking at how easy it is to be racist with the old-fashioned melodramatic plotting.
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