Top Ten: Best Pictures

So remember how I was going to write about the Oscars?  Well I felt like a fraud seeing as I hadn't actually watched them.  I looked up the winners the next morning.  And then watched clips on youtube.  But normally I love watching them.  And now with all the performances...oh man, it's amazing.  But like I said, I hadn't actually watched them and thanks to late release or no release at all over here in Clog-town, I have not seen the majority of the movies and/or performances nominated this year.  So real quick here's what I thought:
-I love Sandra Bullock
-I love Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin
-I love Neil Patrick Harris
The end!
So I thought instead I'd focus on past movies and do a top ten (since it is Tuesday.)  Now, I could do a series of top tens just for movies nominated for best picture - best musical, best classic, best "who woulda thought that got a best picture nom", and etc., etc., etc. (Ode to King and I (1956) there)  But I can't.  Well I mean I can, it is my blog, but by the time I get to all of them, every week, people will no longer care what I'm saying about the Oscars that happened three months ago.  So anyway, I decided to do a general top ten of my Top Ten best picture nominees.  And that is HARD! So I required of myself several guidelines in order to narrow it down.
1. I had to think it was good.  This may seem like a no brainer.  But take Citizen Kane (1941) for instance.  Thank you for all the "rosebud" spoilers, because now I don't feel guilty about attempting to watch it three times and having turned it off from sheer boredom.
2. I had to limit the number of musicals.  And let me tell you...that was hard.  Sorry West Side Story (1961) and American in Paris (1951)...and about ten others.
3. I had to have seen it from start to finish all in one sitting (key words being "all in one sitting.")  And let's be honest...some I haven't and really I should have...but I haven't.  Sorry Titanic (1997).
4. I tried to limit it to one movie per year...but I failed at that one.
5. I had to enjoy watching it.  Yes some movies I think are good, but I wouldn't watch it over and over again.  Sorry Schindler's List (1993) - you're a great movie but you are depressing as all hell.
6. I tried to figure out why I liked it.  If it was because of a certain actor, then I tried to only to put one of their movies up there.  Sorry Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Casablanca (1943).
and finally,
7. I had to go with my top ten movies.  Not whether or not they were necessarily deserving of Best Picture, or what AFI or IMDB says about them, they had to be mine.

Ok does all that make sense?  Good.  Because Now I present to you (and beware of spoilers)...

TOP TEN BEST PICTURE NOMINEES

(*winner that year)

Gone with the Wind (1939)*

This movie is so beautiful.  The costumes, the cinematography, the music.  All of it.  Plus it makes me cry...a lot. And any movie that can make me actually want to be a woman forcefully carried up the stairs by her husband is doing something different.

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The mystery in this movie is so great.  And Humphrey Bogart's speech at the end may be one of the best monologues I've ever seen done.  Plus when I did a play, one of my friends had to deliver that monologue.  So it also has a special place in my heart.

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Damn that woman is CRAZY.  And I love her for it.

On the Waterfront (1954)

Marlon Brando wins my heart in this one.  And damn is he sexy.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Probably one of my favorite childhood movies.  I used to dance around in my undershirt and bloomers in the hopes that five other women would appear and we could sing "June Bride."

(Sorry no clip of that song available!)

 

Mary Poppins (1964)

Fun fact - Although it lost to My Fair Lady, Julie Andrews beat out Audrey Hepburn for Best Actress.  This was after having originated the Broadway role of Eliza Doolittle, but then being replaced by Hepburn for the movie because they wanted a "star."  I guess she showed them.

The Godfather (1972)*

I remember watching this movie when I was younger and not understanding it. But there was something about it.  When I watched it again later, I understood it, yet  still can't tell you what it is that draws me to it.  It is just a good movie.  It "pulls me back in." (ok wrong part of the trilogy, but still)

Cabaret (1972)

I mean come on...Liza Minelli, Joel Grey, probably one of my favorite musicals of all time...this one's just obvious.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)*

Jack Nicholson, Christpher Lloyd, and Danny Devito young are weird enough...add some more crazy people, a really good plot line, an amazing villain, and you've got a recipe for mind-blowing.

Frost/Nixon (2008)

Because the play is amazing.  And the movie is just as good.  And because Frank Langella also did it on Broadway.  And when I saw him in Dave I thought he should play Nixon one day.  Seriously.

And just for fun...

A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever -- powered by Cracked.com

What are your favorites?

Word of the day: toekenning - award