By Dustin Rowles | Guides | February 23, 2011 |
By Dustin Rowles | Guides | February 23, 2011 |
Earlier today, in ranking the Academy Award’s Best Picture Winners from the last 25 years, like many of you, I was taken aback at how generally weak the field of Best Picture Winners was from which to choose. The idea that many were Oscar Winners, much less nominees, seems laughable now; many of those Oscar winners have been completely forgotten over the last two decades.
Initially, I’d planned on a follow-up, ranking another list of 25 films based on the Oscar nominees each year that should’ve won Best Picture. However, that too felt meager. Even selecting among the five nominees (or 10, last year), it felt like many more worthy films were being left out of the equation.
So, I decided to add in what I thought was the actual Best Picture of each year based upon its 1) entertainment value, 2) its staying power, and 3) its overall legacy, regardless of whether it was nominated for anything. What it revealed, at least based on my opinion, was that the Academy has only really gotten it right four times over the last 25 years, by not only nominating the best film but actually choosing it as Best Picture Winner.
Reasonable minds could disagree about what the actual Best Movie in any given year was, but where my selection for Best Movie differs from the ultimate Oscar winner, I would guess that — given the benefit of hindsight — only a minority would’ve selected the Academy’s choice over the Best Movie choices below.
And isn’t that really what the the Academy is supposed to choose? The films that will still mean something 5, 10 or 50 years from now? If that is, indeed, the criteria, then the Academy voters have, with a few exceptions, failed miserably over the last 25 years.
1985
Best Movie: Back to the Future
Best Nominee: The Color Purple
Oscar Winner: Out of Africa
1986
Best Movie: Aliens
Best Nominee: Platoon
Oscar Winner Platoon
1987
Best Movie: Full Metal Jacket
Best Nominee: Hope and Glory
Oscar Winner: The Last Emperor
1988
Best Movie: Die Hard (1988)
Best Nominee: Mississippi Burning
Oscar Winner: Rain Man
1989
Best Movie: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Best Nominee: My Left Foot
Oscar Winner: Driving Miss Daisy
1990
Best Movie: Goodfellas
Best Nominee: Goodfellas
Oscar Winner: Dances with Wolves
1991
Best Movie: Silence of the Lambs
Best Nominee: Silence of the Lambs
Oscar Winner: Silence of the Lambs
1992
Best Movie: Reservoir Dogs
Best Nominee: Unforgiven
Oscar Winner: Unforgiven
1993
Best Movie: Schindler’s List
Best Nominee: Schindler’s List
Oscar Winner: Schindler’s List
1994
Best Movie: Pulp Fiction
Best Nominee: Pulp Fiction
Oscar Winner: Forrest Gump
1995
Best Movie: The Usual Suspects
Best Nominee: Braveheart
Oscar Winner: Braveheart
1996
Best Movie: Fargo
Best Nominee: Fargo
Oscar Winner: English Patient
1997
Best Movie: L.A. Confidential
Best Nominee: L.A. Confidential
Oscar Winner: Titanic
1998
Best Movie: The Big Lebowski
Best Nominee: Saving Private Ryan
Oscar Winner: Shakespeare in Love
1999
Best Movie: Fight Club
Best Nominee: The Insider
Oscar Winner: American Beauty
2000
Best Movie: Memento
Best Nominee: Traffic
Oscar Winner: Gladiator
2001
Best Movie: Amelie
Best Nominee: Moulin Rouge
Oscar Winner: A Beautiful Mind
2002
Best Movie: City of God
Best Nominee: The Pianist
Oscar Winner: Chicago
2003
Best Movie: Oldboy
Best Nominee: Lost in Translation
Oscar Winner: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2004
Best Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best Nominee: Sideways
Oscar Winner: Million Dollar Baby
2005
Best Movie: Brokeback Mountain
Best Nominee: Brokeback Mountain
Oscar Winner: Crash
2006
Best Movie: Children of Men
Best Nominee: The Departed
Oscar Winner: The Departed
2007
Best Movie: No Country for Old Men
Best Nominee: No Country for Old Men
Oscar Winner: No Country for Old Men
2008
Best Movie: The Dark Knight
Best Nominee: Milk
Oscar Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
2009
Best Movie: The Hurt Locker
Best Nominee: The Hurt Locker
Oscar Winner: The Hurt Locker