The Best Picture Project

My journey through "Best Picture Land" begins just as it should with Wings, the first film awarded the top prize by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This ...

Released in February of 1929, The Broadway Melody was billed as the first all-talking, all-singing, all-dancing motion picture. Timing is everything, as they say, and it's fascinating to note that ...

I'll be up front about it—I think All Quiet on the Western Front is the best anti-war film ever made (at least to date), based on the now-classic 1928 German ...

Cimarron is a true Edna Ferber epic, no question. It has all the characteristics of her best-known, classic novels. Ferber also wrote Giant and Show Boat, and in all three ...

"Grand Hotel. People coming, going, nothing ever happens." So says Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone) with icy introspection, sitting alone and away from the others in the lobby of this plush Berlin ...

Based on the 1931 stage play by Noel Coward, Cavalcade is the undeniable inspiration for both Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey. It comes to the screen in this epic production ...

At a glance, It Happened One Night could be pegged as a romantic comedy, a road picture, a chase story, or a social commentary. Actually, it's all of the above—but ...

The seafaring adventure Mutiny on the Bounty was a critical and box-office hit for MGM in 1935, and although the Oscars were still in their infancy, a two-time prize-winner for ...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times—no, not a tale of two cities, but a film that reflects the highs and lows of the era ...

The Life of Emile Zola is just as relevant today as it ever was. History and human nature repeat themselves, despite perceived advancements, and it's easy to spot similarities and ...

You Can’t Take It with You tackles heavy subjects that are contentious to this day but does so with great humor, wit, and style. It’s based on a Pulitzer Prize–winning ...

Several things spring to mind as I watch this movie during the 80th anniversary of its release: how fitting the title is, not just for the era it depicts but ...

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." Rebecca is one of those films like Casablanca that gets better with additional viewings. I recall feeling frustrated the first time ...

How Green Was My Valley holds the dubious distinction of being the film that beat out Citizen Kane for Best Picture—but if you've read my original intent for this blog, ...

Winston Churchill has been credited with saying Mrs. Miniver did more for the war effort than a flotilla of battle ships. How right he was! The deceptive potency of this ...

At the height of World War II, the North African nightclub known as Rick's Café serves as a symbolic purgatory for its visitors—a halfway house with gambling, liquor, and jazz, ...

Going My Way was a runaway hit in 1944, and while this beloved Oscar-winning story is fine one, the characters seem tame today, apart from the minor on-screen abuse of ...

We've learned so much about addiction in the 75 years since this film was released. Advancements in science and behavioral psychology have changed our perceptions of what it means to ...

Released in 1946, The Best Years of Our Lives would become the highest-grossing picture of the 1940s. It tapped with searing honesty into the complex mindset and emotions of a ...

As I watch Gentleman's Agreement today, I feel a twinge of sadness and disappointment in the glimmer of hope at the end. It sounds crazy, but when the magnificent Anne ...

"The play's the thing." Indeed, it is, for ultimately it's the tale itself that shines here. Stating the obvious, William Shakespeare sure knew how to tell stories. They endure, because ...

Surprising as it sounds, All the King's Men isn't really about politics, just like Gone with the Wind isn't really about war. Attempting to identify characters from either political party ...

"Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night," is one of my favorite lines in any film ever, and it's delivered to perfection by Bette Davis as ...

Compared to previous winners, An American in Paris is an unexpected choice for Best Picture, but I applaud the Academy's decision. For me, it's a breath of fresh air. There ...

This one's a bit of a head-scratcher. I mean, I understand the appeal of a spectacle. Plenty of unapologetically large movies were produced around 1952, but I have trouble grasping ...

Set in the days just before the historic attack on Pearl Harbor, From Here to Eternity is an army-barracks soap opera of the highest order. Based on the well-received novel ...

To quote an appropriate cliché, On the Waterfront hasn't lost one bit of its punch. There is an immediacy to it, from the authentic New Jersey settings to the no-frills, ...

Marty is the perfect "sleeper," a gem of a film that became the prototype for low-budget indies emerging with little fanfare to garner rave reviews, an armful of Oscars, and ...

This movie is pure spectacle, exactly as conceived and intended. Novice film producer Mike Todd co-developed a new widescreen format with American Optical Co. known as Todd-AO, and the result ...

This wartime adventure from David Lean is highlighted by a trio of fascinating performances and the characters they inhabit. Don't get me wrong, it's a great story, too, based on ...

Gigi is a message picture disguised as a romantic, period musical. Trying to explain the brilliance of its audacious perspective is often like trying to describe The Onion to people ...

William Wyler, who had helmed two previous Best Pictures while picking up Oscars for both as Best Director in the process, set out to make a "Cecil B. DeMille"–type movie ...

The Apartment manages to achieve the impossible, especially for 1960. As with Gigi, the winner from 1958, it's difficult to imagine a mainstream film like this surviving the Hays Code, ...

On the whole, people didn't know what to make of West Side Story when it opened on Broadway in 1957 with its avant-garde score, largely unknown cast, and gritty, tragic ...

It's hard to peg Lawrence of Arabia, because it spans so many genres. It's part war film, part sweeping epic, part thrilling adventure, part period drama, and part introspective biography ...

Tom Jones is a strange film. I can't decide whether it's an idiotic folly or brilliant, dark satire—perhaps a bit of both, which is a step up from the first ...

Whenever a successful stage production is adapted for the screen, it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario. If liberties are taken to make it work cinematically, ...

I'm old enough to have lived through several "event" movies, either in their original or anniversary releases. These rare birds fly far beyond the realm of "hit movie." Back in ...

A Man for All Seasons is a story for all times, whenever leaders think they are above the law by twisting governments and religious doctrines to suit their own needs ...

In the Heat of the Night is best summed up by the restrained rage and dignity captured on Sidney Poitier's face during the opening scenes. He utters few words but ...

All the right ingredients come together for Oliver! It's an exceptional story and score with the ideal director and cast, a visionary choreographer, and a taut screenplay that elevates the ...

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) began to rate movies in 1968 when the studios took matters into their own hands and reclaimed control of their films from the ...

Even though he publicly refused the nomination and the award itself, George C. Scott earns his Oscar for Best Actor in the first five minutes of Patton. All sentiments about ...

At first impression, The French Connection plays like a standard cop show from the era. There is nothing particularly unusual about its plot or characters, but what makes this movie ...

The Godfather manages to achieve the impossible—I find myself emotionally invested in characters and situations that normally revolt me. I can't glorify serial murderers and sympathize with them on any ...

The Sting is part comedy and part drama, borrowing elements from multiple eras to create a unique, nostalgic, hybrid world that never existed. The action takes place in 1936 but ...

The Godfather Part II holds the unique distinction of being the first sequel to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The Motion Picture Academy honored it with more awards than ...

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the second film in history (after It Happened One Night) to win "the grand slam" at the Oscars—all five top awards: Best Picture, ...

So many universal themes exist in Rocky that it can barely be called a "sports movie," although it was the first from that genre to take home an Oscar for ...

Woody Allen's Annie Hall was a game-changer for the perennial filmmaker who had delivered mostly farces and satires up to that point. It establishes the unique style of his subsequent ...

Despite the unnecessary length, cavernous plot holes, and sluggish pacing, The Deer Hunter is still a powerful film. Strong performances, keen direction of actors, masterful cinematography, and a poignant score ...

1979 doesn't seem all that long ago to me, but in terms of male-female relationships, it's practically the dark ages. The equal rights and women's liberation movements of the 1960s ...

Genuine grief is hard to capture in a story. It doesn't manifest itself in obvious ways, and it isn't summed up in a single moment or by a defining emotion ...

I find it rather ironic that a film about record-breaking speeds and fast runners is somewhat slowly paced. Chariots of Fire is a good film but not a great one ...

Passive resistance is simple enough in concept but far more difficult to apply in reality, and to effect such dramatic change on a global scale is mind-boggling. Gandhi is the ...

Once in a while, a movie grabs the big prize but doesn't tick off any expected boxes for an Oscar-winner. Terms of Endearment is none of the following: a sweeping ...

While Amadeus is only inspired by the lives and alleged rivalry of 18th-century composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, it manages to create two fascinating and indelible characters for ...

Out of Africa is a good, old-fashioned romance and a feast for the eyes and ears. A quartette of Oscars (out of its seven) went to the sensory aspects of ...

Platoon is a devastating film. I feel as if I'm watching a two-hour car accident with all the hellish, gory details drawn out. A two-hour rape, a two-hour torture, a ...

The Last Emperor is an engrossing film with a fascinating story—but I must take a moment to explain my personal journey with it. I was introduced to this movie at ...

For many reasons, autism is difficult to capture on film or in a story. It isn't easily represented, for one thing, because it varies from person to person. This developmental ...

1989 was a banner year for movies, and we knew it at the time. Over three decades later, many of the films are considered classics now—but because of this abundance ...

Dances with Wolves is an epic, sprawling Western, only the second film from that genre after Cimarron in 1931 to win Best Picture, but perhaps it's a bit too sprawling ...

First, there was It Happened One Night in 1934, then One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975. The only other film in history to achieve the "grand slam," meaning ...

Unforgiven is a Western by definition, but in the end it deconstructs the genre, deglamorizing established myths about the Wild West with its traditional black-hatted outlaws and white-hatted heroes, and ...

Schindler's List is Steven Spielberg's crowning achievement. It's brilliant filmmaking from start to finish, but it's so relentless in its depiction of one of the darkest chapters in human history ...

Over the past three decades, Forrest Gump has become a polarizing film. People either love it or hate it. I'm in the "love it" camp and can't seem to embrace ...

So many historical inaccuracies can be found in Braveheart that it really isn't a biography. The movie and the 15th-century epic poem that inspired it are works of historical fiction—and ...

A friend of mine is fond of saying the title of this movie describes it perfectly: it's in English ... and you have to be very, very patient. Can't argue with ...

My experience with Titanic is far from typical, so let me explain up front. When this movie was in production, my closest friend at the time was in the film ...

At its core, Shakespeare in Love is a backstage story, similar in fashion to prior Oscar-winners The Broadway Melody, All About Eve, The Great Ziegfeld, or Amadeus. Like many of ...

American Beauty opened to widespread critical acclaim without a consensus on the film's approach or tone. Is it a tragedy or comedy? Farcical or cynical? Snarky satire or searing exposé? ...

Despite our technological advancements over the years, Gladiator feels like a throwback to a bygone era in filmmaking, reminiscent in many ways of 1959's Ben-Hur without the biblical framing. This ...

A Beautiful Mind plays in a very different way, once you know the plot twist. When I first saw this film in its original run, I wasn't familiar with John ...

The original Broadway production of Chicago opened to mixed reviews in 1975 yet managed to run a respectable 936 performances. It was based on a 1927 non-musical play. Author Maurine ...

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a highly unusual choice for Best Picture. That's not to say it isn't most deserving. For starters, it's the ...

Million Dollar Baby is deceptively simple in story and scope, but the plot and its perspective take unexpected turns. That's where the real impact lies, in establishing strong characters and ...

When Crash won the Oscar for Best Picture, it set off a backlash, mostly from critics who were a year late to the party or from outspoken individuals within the ...

It's disappointing to realize the only Best Director Oscar that Martin Scorsese has won (to date) is for The Departed, especially since it by no means represents the pinnacle of ...

This movie scrapes the bottom of the barrel on the expanding list of Best Pictures. No Patience for Stupid People is a more apt title. Not one character makes a ...

"D. It is written." I had a roadblock to overcome when I first saw Slumdog Millionaire, and it had nothing to do with India, a cultural divide, or the first ...

Unfortunately, The Hurt Locker unfolds like a two-hour video game. It starts with no backstory, no character development, and no initial perspective. The setting is the Iraq War, and our ...

What impresses me most about The King's Speech is the unexpected camaraderie between two people with vastly different backgrounds and perspectives. Watching their trust and admiration evolve is a marvel ...

The Artist is a stunning novelty, a film that reaches back in time to create a modern, fresh experience for movie audiences today, and it succeeds on all levels. The ...

Argo is a film inspired by actual, declassified events surrounding the 1979 Iran hostage crisis that manages to be frightening, sobering, inspiring, hilarious, thrilling, and hugely entertaining overall. It's one ...

12 Years a Slave is a tough movie to watch. It's also the ideal companion to Gone with the Wind, offering a much-needed antidote to the all-too-commonly romanticized vision of ...

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) plays on the screen like a Fellini movie shot in English. With its bungled punctuation, the provocative title even seems translated, or perhaps ...

Although it's a recent winner, Spotlight's impression on me has improved with age. During those halcyon days of 2015, we were living in a different country, or so it seemed ...

I saw Moonlight in the theatres when it was first released. Despite the slow pacing, I liked it a lot, but it had a far greater impact on me this ...

The Shape of Water is a dramatic, romantic, fantasy, horror film, which is an odd mashup of genres. It's the horror aspects that provide the shock value, and this borders ...

If you don't dig very deep, Green Book is like Driving Miss Daisy with the seats reversed. It's a terrific companion to the 1989 Oscar-winner and a highly enjoyable film ...

Parasite is a curious hybrid, a comedy-drama-thriller that tells the story of the class system, not just in South Korea, but the world at large. It's the age-old struggle that ...

The word that comes to mind after my second screening of Nomadland is "timing"—regarding the advantageous timing of its release, the unfortunate timing of events in the main character's life, ...

Many stories have been told about misunderstood teens with parents and siblings who can't see them for who they are. They turn up on the big and small screen in ...

Everything Everywhere All at Once lives up to its title, which might be off-putting to some. It's an acquired taste that I ultimately acquired but only after additional viewings. In ...

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan puts his signature stamp on Oppenheimer and tells this biographical tale as only he could. The results are uneven but largely spectacular. It's a riveting, three-hour profile ...