YOUR VERY OWN ACADEMY AWARDS: pick five nominees for each year 1927–present, then pick a winner

a few more "guidelines":

- to simplify things let's stick with year of release, i.e. if a film is released in the USA in 1930 then it is one of the 1930 nominees

- I'd recommend sticking to American films since foreign-language features often opened in the USA years (sometimes many years) after their premieres, leading to much confusion. in any case, it's quite rare for a foreign film to be nominated, much less to win. I suppose you can include other English-language films--i.e. those by Britishers and Aussies and others, since a fair number of them have won in the past ("Lawrence of Arabia," for example) though for consistency's sake I'm going to exclude them from my lists

- I'm aware that the number of nominees has changed over the years; let's stick with five because why not

- list your nominees, but don't number them by preference; put the winner in ALL CAPS

- maybe at the end (let's say one month from now, on April 4) someone more anal-retentive and good-natured than me can compile the results and make a single list of some kind

- maybe not though?

- if you want a list of American films made in a given years, you can use this IMDB URL and simply change the year from 1927 to whatever: http://www.imdb.com/search/title?at=0&countries=us&sort=moviemeter,asc&title_type=feature&year=1927,1927

- anyone have other suggestions?

oh, I forgot to mention, this is for best costume design best picture

OK, since nobody has shown much interest, I'll start with my 1920s and 1930s. please forgive me if I forgot anything.

1927
7th Heaven
The Kid Brother
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg
SUNRISE
Underworld

1928
The Crowd
THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK
A Girl in Every Port
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
The Wind

1929 (this and the next year are tough because American cinema was in the transition to sound and very few excellent features were released)
The Godless Girl
Hallelujah!
The Iron Mask
LUCKY STAR
The River

1930
The Big Trail
City Girl
Laughter
Monte Carlo
MOROCCO

1931
The Champ
Dishonored
The Last Flight
ME AND MY GAL
Quick Millions

1932 (sorry, I can't get this down to five)
American Madness
Back Street
A Farewell to Arms
Scarface
Shanghai Express
TROUBLE IN PARADISE

1933
Blood Money
Design for Living
MAN'S CASTLE
Only Yesterday
Pilgrimage

1934
It Happened One Night
Judge Priest
THE MERRY WIDOW
The Scarlet Empress
Twentieth Century

1935
Bride of Frankenstein
Ceiling Zero
The Devil Is a Woman
RUGGLES OF RED GAP
Steamboat 'Round the Bend

1936
DODSWORTH
Fury
Modern Times
My Man Godfrey
Show Boat

1937
The Awful Truth
EASY LIVING
Make Way for Tomorrow
Wee Willie Winkie
You Only Live Once

1938 (yes, I'm aware Howard Hawks made a movie this year)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Angels with Dirty Faces
Holiday
Jezebel
YOU AND ME

1939 (this and all of the subsequent decade are pretty tough; only left out Drums Along the Mohawk because three Fords seem excessive)
Midnight
Ninotchka
ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS
Stagecoach
Young Mr. Lincoln

I suppose I could have swapped Holiday with Bringing Up Baby; I like both a lot, but I have this thing about Katherine Hepburn.

would love to participate in this but tbh i don't think i've seen enough movies. i could probably do lists for the 30s and 40s, but that's pushing it.

looking back it's obvious that I like romances, I guess

xpost

you don't HAVE to list FIVE

the hardest years, I'm guessing, are going to be 60-66, the worst years ever for Hollywood (I'd say the precise worst year is probably 1965)

Cool idea, but it would take me literally hours, and my picks probably wouldn't be very interesting.

I'm not sure what the point of banning 'foreign' films is if it's supposed to be our own awards. You can just say to go by imdb's general year-on-year thing: http://www.imdb.com/year/1930/

sure, whatever--i guess i was imaging some compromise between the actual awards and our own favorites, meaning things that might plausibly have been eligible for awards and nominations but didn't get them.

mods, feel free to delete this thread since it's probably a dumb idea.

i mean, i love diary of a country priest, but no way was it even on the industry's radar in 1953, much less 1951.

Eh, fair enough, it's your thread.

the hardest years, I'm guessing, are going to be 60-66, the worst years ever for Hollywood (I'd say the precise worst year is probably 1965)

I'd be curious to see your lists for these years!

bam!:

1960
Bells Are Ringing
Comanche Station
PSYCHO
Strangers When We Meet
Wild River

1961
El Cid
THE EXILES
The Hustler
Splendor in the Grass
Two Rode Together

1962
Advise and Consent
Experiment in Terror
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
To Kill a Mockingbird
Ride the High Country

1963
America, America
The Birds
Charade
Hud
SHOCK CORRIDOR

1964 (here's where it gets really dire for a while...)
The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Killers
LILITH
The Masque of the Red Death
A Shot in the Dark

1965 (these were the only ones I could think of; Hollywood's worst year ever. I'd give Chimes of Midnight the laurel but I don't think was released in the US in 1965...)
IN HARM'S WAY
Major Dundee

1966 (difficult to crown any of these seriously flawed films; you know it's a rough year when you consider nominating The Naked Prey)
7 Women
THE CHASE
Lord Love a Duck
The Sand Pebbles
The Wild Angels

1967
David Holzman's Diary
The Graduate
POINT BLANK
Portrait of Jason
The Shooting

1968 (tempted to be challopsy and give this one to The Party)
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
The Boston Strangler
The Party
Petulia
Rosemary's Baby

1969 (can't think of a deserving fifth nomination)
Easy Rider
The Sterile Cuckoo
Two Mules for Sister Sara
THE WILD BUNCH

No Medium Cool for '69, am?

nah, it's an interesting movie but not very "good" I think

also I could have swapped Targets with The Boston Strangler, but who cares

1970 (can't think of a 5th!)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
THE HONEYMOON KILLERS
Patton
Woodstock

1971 (OK, this is the first truly difficult year since the 1950s. I think the "New Hollywood," if such a thing existed, really starts to bear fruit this year. So for sanity's sake I've listed five runners-up)
Dirty Harry
Klute
McCABE & MRS. MILLER
Taking Off
Two-Lane Blacktop

Runners-up:
The Beguiled
The French Connection
The Last Picture Show
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
A New Leaf

1972
Avanti!
Bad Company
THE GODFATHER
The Heartbreak Kid
Ulzana's Raid

1973 (another very tough year)
American Graffiti
BADLANDS
Charley Varrick
The Last Detail
The Long Goodbye

1974
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
California Split
CHINATOWN
The Godfather Part II
The Nickel Ride

1975
HARD TIMES
Jaws
Mandingo
Night Moves
Smile

1976
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN
Assault on Precinct 13
Mikey and Nicky
Rocky
Taxi Driver

1977
Eraserhead
The Late Show
Rolling Thunder
SORCERER
Star Wars

1978
Days of Heaven
The Driver
Gates of Heaven
HALLOWEEN
Straight Time

1979
Alien
Apocalypse Now
THE BLACK STALLION
Breaking Away
The Warriors

a woody allenless '70s!

yes, he's kind of like trotsky (and the mcfly siblings) in that way -- erased from existence!

I'm picturing an Academy Awards where John Carpenter and his hair stride up to the podium smoking a joint

what kind of a master list do you have? aint got the time or desire

it's ok, Cate Blanchett has freed Woody Allen

obv '77 was the last BP Oscar got right

for most of his career, John Carpenter is basically Kevin Smith with an effects budget.

what kind of a master list do you have? aint got the time or desire

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, March 4, 2014 9:03 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fascinating! tell us more about your indifference!

for most of his career, John Carpenter is basically Kevin Smith with an effects budget.

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, March 4, 2014 9:08 PM (24 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't know what this means, but he never topped the two films I mention above

btw I have arrived at this time in my life: FUCK preferring the "New Hollywood" over the Studio Era. Both produced lots of gold and tons of crap.

Also, I don't see why you wouldn't fix the Oscars' nationalism/bigotry and do films from all nations.

All I have to add is

1933
Bombshell
Dinner at Eight
DUCK SOUP
Footlight Parade
King Kong
Lady for a Day
Man's Castle
Queen Christina
Sailor's Luck
Sons of the Desert

Seventh Heaven was a revelation when it got that DVD release several years ago; unavailability meant Sunrise got the kudos.

am, you are missing a couple Jerry Lewis films from the early '60s

no Bad Girl, am? By 1931 Borzage had directed most of the good talkies.

btw I have arrived at this time in my life: FUCK preferring the "New Hollywood" over the Studio Era. Both produced lots of gold and tons of crap.

yeah the romance of the new Hollywood (=Peter Biskind) is very tiring, and I get very sick of the Baby Boomer narrative of all these guys breaking open the system or whatever.

there are a lot of "small movies" in the 1970s/early 1980s that I like out (most of which didn't get any of my nominations)... a lot of good made for TV movies.

but you're right that there are always good movies and bad.

in the 1960s you have a big problem though of all the great "classical" directors scraping the bottom of their creative barrels (or just retiring/dying) and Hollywood pandering to the "family audience" with a lot of dreck. plus from mid-late 1950s through about 1973 there is a general shortage of feature films from which to choose. declining audience, declining production. it makes perfect sense that in that context critics (and a segment of the audience, mainly college kids and graduates) would get real excited about what was in retrospect not really as enduring a moment as it was thought. in the early and mid 1960s the real action for cinephiles was elsewhere than the United States.

but the classical era is DEEP; there are probably a dozen other films each year from 1920 to 1955 or so that I could include with little hesitation

bad girl is great. like I said, five films out of 100s that were made (almost a 1,000/year if you count all the poverty row studios) is pretty restrictive.

anyway, here are the 1980s. I'm trying not to pick anything too obscure so I don't seem like an asshole:

1980
Airplane!
The Elephant Man
Raging Bull
THE SHINING
Used Cars

1981 (many I had to leave out)
Cutter's Way
Prince of the City
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Southern Comfort
THIEF

1982
48 Hrs.
Blade Runner
THE KING OF COMEDY
Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip
Tootsie

1983 (can't think of a 5th)
Breathless
National Lampoon's Vacation
Never Cry Wolf
RISKY BUSINESS

1984
Amadeus
Choose Me
Gremlins
STRANGER THAN PARADISE
This Is Spinal Tap

1985
After Hours
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Mishima
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Trouble in Mind

1986
Aliens
BLUE VELVET
Manhunter
Something Wild
True Stories

1987 (tough year; lots to include other than these five: Predator, China Girl...)
House of Games
HOUSEKEEPING
Near Dark
Raising Arizona
RoboCop

1988
The Accidental Tourist
Beetljuice
DIE HARD
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
The Thin Blue Line

1989 (can't think of a 5th)
DO THE RIGHT THING
Parenthood
Parents
sex, lies, and videotape (one of the few film titles to use the Oxford comma, A+)

*correction to next to last post: I like a lot of "small movies" of the 1970s and early 1980s. straight time and cutter's way are good examples. not really canonical new hollywood but would be impossible w/o. one I had to leave off is the friends of eddie coyle. basically downbeat genre films. there was stuff like this on TV, too, in the 70s and 80s, but nobody talks about TV movies.

no Drugstore Cowboy?

btw if I included all of world cinema it would be IMPOSSIBLE. euro art cinema + asian genre cinema + asian art cinema + indian cinema + russian cinema + new waves all over the world.... fuck that!

and that's just post-1960, ugh.

xpost

don't ask me about gus van sant

no matter what the IMDb year is, The King of Comedy was released to theaters in Feb '83. (The other two great Eng-lang films that year are Local Hero and Zelig.)

yeah, I excluded Local Hero only b/c = scottish

risky business is maybe still better than king of comedy?

the Van Santity is under control in DC

i need to rest a few days before I can even deal w/ the 1940s and 1950s. hardest decades, I predict.

otm about the sixties as worst

yeah, esp. 63-66.

(per the IMDb, in '82 tKoC showed only in... Iceland)

Risky Business is pretty good, but not a film anyone over 25 needs to take seriously.

LILITH?! Lilith is pretty drab, except for those 3 astonishing minutes of Gene Hackman.

I like more studio films from '65 than 2013

well it's hard to compare since we don't have the distance, I think. i'm inclined to agree but I don't trust my own judgment when it's so close.

also I'm not even going to bother with 2010s and possibly 2000s, for that reason plus I just haven't seen enough films since 2005 or 2006.

Lilith is a problematic movie but... competition not very fierce in 1964. i guess there's Dr. Strangelove, I kind of forgot about that one.

also I've tried to spread the love around, wouldn't want Zemeckis or Walter Hill or somebody getting too proud of themselves

the only one i'm 100% certain about is Back to the Future, another one you think is for the kiddies, Dr. Morbius.

by far my fave Zemeckis film

Early '60s come off better if you include British/made in Britain stuff: Dearden, Losey, Schlesinger, L. Anderson, Lester, Richardson etc.

dearden OK, losey a few films, the rest I dunno.... "Hard Day's Night" would certainly make the noms.

tom jones might be the worst best-picture winner, it's certainly in the top 3.

i mean, bottom 3

ok, i'll do the sixties. doing 'all nations' since almost all of my favorite films are non-americans.

1960
L'AVVENTURA
La Dolce Vita
Psycho
The Apartment
The Time Machine

1961
A TASTE OF HONEY
Last Year at Marienbad
Breakfast at Tiffany's
101 Dalmatians
Splendor in the Grass

1962
LOLITA
The Manchurian Candidate
Cleo from 5 to 7
Jules and Jim
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

1963
THE HAUNTING
The Birds
Charade
Billy Liar
From Russia, With Love

1964
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
A Shot in the Dark
Bande a Part
Dr. Strangelove
The World of Henry Orient

1965
CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT
Closely Watched Trains
Simon of the Desert
Repulsion
Loves of a Blonde

1966
PERSONA
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Daisies
Masculin-Feminin
Blowup

1967
PLAY-TIME
Smashing Time
Week-End
The Firemen's Ball
I Am Curious (Yellow)

1968
ROSEMARY'S BABY
2001: A Space Odyssey
Planet of the Apes
Night of the Living Dead
If....

1969:
Z
Midnight Cowboy
Salesman
The Magic Christian
A Boy Named Charlie Brown

meant to write 'since almost all of my favorite films from this era are non-american.' been a long day.

There's no way I can go earlier than the year I could start going to R-rated movies by myself, but I applaud anyone else's attempts.

Thank you, amateurist, for listing Never Cry Wolf.

bump. anyone want to play along?

I'll give the '70s a try.

1970
FIVE EASY PIECES
Goin’ Down the Road
Loving

1971
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
Carnal Knowledge
Desperate Characters
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Two-Lane Blacktop

1972
THE GODFATHER
The Candidate
The Heartbreak Kid
Cisco Pike

1973
MEAN STREETS
American Graffiti
The Long Goodbye
The Exorcist
The Paper Chase

1974
THE GODFATHER II
The Conversation
California Split
Chinatown
The Sugarland Express

1975
NASHVILLE
Barry Lyndon
Jaws
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Welfare

1976
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
Taxi Driver
Carrie
Marathon Man
The Bad News Bears

1977
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Annie Hall
Citizen’s Band
Saturday Night Fever
Looking for Mr. Goodbar

1978
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
The Deer Hunter
An Unmarried Woman
Halloween
Straight Time

1979
THE CHINA SYNDROME
Quadrophenia
Kramer vs. Kramer
North Dallas Forty
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School

Couldn't fill out a full slate for '70 or '72. For most of the decade, most of my picks are conventional; I start to drift away towards the end of the decade. I can't really justify All the President's Men over Taxi Driver, just personal preference the past few years.

Huh, you don't like Malick?

I considered both Badlands and Days of Heaven. Just don't like them quite as much as what I listed. (And I realize The Paper Chase and a couple of my '78 picks are indefensibly subjective.)

no such thing as indefensibly subjective! nice choices. i wish i liked the kaufman invasion of the body snatchers better, but it does have some indelible moments. unfortunately i just can't enjoy the abel ferrara one.

i need to see north dallas forty, i think.

Yeah, amateurist otm. As someone who doesn't really care for the period, but love Malick, it just seemed like a willful snub.

the forties!

1940

THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER
Rebecca
His Girl Friday
Pinocchio
The Letter

1941

CITIZEN KANE
How Green Was My Valley
The Maltese Falcon
The Lady Eve
Sullivan's Travels

1942

Casablanca
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Palm Beach Story
Now, Voyager

1943

The Ox-Bow Incident
The More, The Merrier
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP
Heaven Can Wait (a real stretch; can't stand Don Ameche)

1944

DOUBLE INDEMNITY
The Woman in the Window
Laura
None But the Lonely Heart
Since You Went Away

1945

THE CLOCK
I Know Where I'm Going
The Bells of St Mary
The Southerner
Fallen Angel

1946

NOTORIOUS
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Sleep
Scarlet Street
Cluny Brown

1947

Daisy Kenyon
Crossfire
Black Narcissus
Out of the Past
Odd Man Out

1948

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
RED RIVER
Fort Apache
3 Godfathers
Letter From an Unknown Woman

1949

THE HEIRESS
The Reckless Moment
Twelve O'Clock High
They Live By Night
The Third Man

Oops: my best pic for 1947 would be Out of the Past.

my 1940s(?) -- again, all-American:

1940
High Sierra
HIS GIRL FRIDAY
The Mortal Storm
Remember the Night
The Shop Around the Corner

Runners-up:
Fantasia
The Great McGinty
The Long Voyage Home
Pinocchio
Rebecca

1941
Citizen Kane
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY
The Little Foxes
Penny Serenade
Sullivan's Travels

Runners-up:
The Devil and Daniel Webster
Dumbo
Hold Back the Dawn
The Strawberry Blonde
Suspicion

1942
CAT PEOPLE
Gentleman Jim
The Magnificent Ambersons
Random Harvest
To Be or Not to Be

Runners-up:
Casablanca
Now, Voyager
Once Upon a Honeymoon
The Palm Beach Story
Yankee Doodle Dandy

1943 (year of Val Lewton)
Air Force
Cabin in the Sky
Holy Matrimony
I Walked with a Zombie
SHADOW OF A DOUBT

Runners-up:
Bataan
Heaven Can Wait
The Leopard Man
Madame Curie
The Seventh Victim

1944
The Curse of the Cat People
Going My Way
Laura
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
To Have and Have Not

Runners-up:
Lifeboat
The Mask of Dimitrios
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
Uncertain Glory
The Woman in the Window

1945 (very tough year)
Fallen Angel
Leave Her to Heaven
Objective, Burma!
Scarlet Street
THEY WERE EXPENDABLE

Runners-up:
The Bells of St. Mary's
The Clock
Detour
Mildred Pierce
A Walk in the Sun

1946
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
The Big Sleep
Cluny Brown
My Darling Clementine
Notorious

Runners-up:
Canyon Passage
Diary of a Chambermaid
I've Always Loved You
Two Years Before the Mast

1947
The Lady from Shanghai
Monsieur Verdoux
Nightmare Alley
OUT OF THE PAST
Pursued

Runners-up:
Daisy Kenyon
Dark Passage
Ramrod
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
The Unsuspected

1948
Fort Apache
LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN
Moonrise
Rope
They Live by Night

Runners-up:
Force of Evil
Pitfall
Raw Deal
Red River
Unfaithfully Yours

1949
The Heiress
I Was a Male War Bride
THE RECKLESS MOMENT
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
White Heat

Runners-up:
Beyond the Forest
Colorado Territory
Intruder in the Dust
A Letter to Three Wives
Whirlpool

if I was being completely honest half of these would go to John Ford films but that seems unfair so

1943 was rough for me.

Think I share half of Alfred's #1s (but would have too many partial years to attempt the '40s myself): The Shop Around the Corner, Kane, Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, Red River.

Can't recommend North Dallas Forty enough. Visually, it's very ordinary. But in terms of performance and thematically--especially if you've ever experienced the pettiness and stupidity of what Nick Nolte turns his back on--I think it's the best sports film ever made. (Comparable to The Bad News Bears in some ways.)

1943 was though, but shadow of a doubt is amazing

i probably should have put more war films on there -- for example how did I forget Story of G.I. Joe?

I couldn't vote for Shadow of a Doubt, my least favorite of the major Hichcocks.

am -- Madame Curie!!

oh lord - I forgot Diary of a Chambermaid.

madame curie is a really moving film

You love those Garson-Pidgeon films!

not really, you don't see mrs miniver on my lists

Did the 90s:

1990:
GOODFELLAS
Life is Sweet
Days of Being Wild
Close-Up
Metropolitan

1991:
A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY
The Double Life of Veronique
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The Silence of the Lambs
JFK

1992:
THE LONG DAY CLOSES
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Glengarry Glen Ross
Hard Boiled
Unforgiven

1993:
GROUNDHOG DAY
Short Cuts
Naked
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Blue

1994:
CHUNGKING EXPRESS
Crumb
Hoop Dreams
Pulp Fiction
Exotica

1995:
SAFE
Before Sunrise
Babe
The Blade
Dead Man

1996:
FARGO
Secrets & Lies
La Promesse
Breaking the Waves
Crash

1997:
HAPPY TOGETHER
Cure
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Jackie Brown
Boogie Nights

1998:
THE THIN RED LINE
Saving Private Ryan
The Big Lebowski
The Last Days of Disco
Rushmore

1999:
BEAU TRAVAIL
Being John Malkovich
The Straight Story
The Iron Giant
Office Space

No Election in 99?

99 was a very solid year IMO.

I forget Ronald Colman was in Random Harvest. Greer Garsons' career is fascinating: the top female box office attraction during the war years (look at all those Oscar nods), then she faded.

*Greer Garson's

Also: Looking For Mr. Goodbar! clemenza, can you tell me why you love it? Never seen it. Still the only major Keaton film not out on DVD.

I didn't think about Election but I don't think I'd switch any of those out for it. '99 did feel like a great year at the time.

Goodbar's a good period piece with a great soundtrack. Definitely heavy-handed at times--if I hadn't been 17 at the time, I doubt it would made such a lasting impression on me. One of the occasional films where Eric H. and I seem to be in agreement. (No idea why it's out of circulation. It was a pretty talked-about film, with at least one AA nomination.)

I didn't get very far trying to do the '60s with just American films, so I opened it up. Even at that, there are only two years where I get a full slate.

1960
The Apartment
Peeping Tom
Psycho
SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER
Spartacus

1961
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The Hustler
IL POSTO

1962
Advise and Consent
La Jetee
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Manchurian Candidate
VIVRE SA VIE

1963
The Birds
Charade
HUD
The Leopard

1964
BAND OF OUTSIDERS
The Best Man
Dr. Strangelove
A Hard Day’s Nights

1965
Darling
Help!
Repulsion
THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD

1966
Andrei Rublev
Chelsea Girls
The Fortune Cookie
MASCULINE-FEMININE
Persona

1967
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
Bonnie and Clyde
THE GRADUATE
To Sir with Love

1968
2001: A Space Odyssey
L’Enfance Nue
Night of the Living Dead
ROSEMARY’S BABY

1969
Medium Cool
MIDNIGHT COWBOY
My Night at Maud’s

(I'm scrolling through Wikipedia's yearly lists of notable films, so maybe something I would have listed was missed.)

The extant clips of LFMG on YouTube make it look like the definitive '70s bar document.

nothing wrong with 1943:

Heaven Can Wait
I Walked with a Zombie
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (butchered in the US and not seen til '45 but who cares)
The Ox-Bow Incident
SHADOW OF A DOUBT

foreign-lang:

Le Corbeau
Day of Wrath
OSSESSIONE

short:
Meshes of the Afternoon

animated short:
Der Fuhrer's Face
Red Hot Riding Hood
(tie)

without Ameche Heaven Can Wait would be lovely.

1946 I gotta go to ten just from US/UK:

The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Sleep
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Great Expectations
Green for Danger
It's a Wonderful Life
A Matter of Life and Death
MY DARLING CLEMENTINE
Notorious
Road to Utopia

oh lord I forgot Clementine, my favorite Ford.

i think more of you shd use this

http://letterboxd.com/films/popular/year/1946/size/small/

Compiling the list yesterday, I was struck again by what a good actor Dana Andrews was.

'60s and '70s, English-language films only

1960
PSYCHO
The Apartment
The Entertainer
Village of the Damned
Spartacus

1961
WEST SIDE STORY
El Cid
The Hustler
Shadows
Lolita

1962
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
The Manchurian Candidate
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Too Late Blues
The Music Man

1963
CHARADE
This Sporting Life
The Nutty Professor
Hud
A Child Is Waiting

1964
DR. STRANGELOVE
A Shot in the Dark
Fail-Safe
Becket
Mary Poppins

1965
REPULSION
The Loved One
Cat Ballou
The Collector
A Patch of Blue

1966
WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Blow-Up
Cul-de-sac
The Chase
Seconds

1967
BONNIE AND CLYDE
Point Blank
The Graduate
Cool Hand Luke
The Happening

1968
ROSEMARY'S BABY
2001: A Space Odyssey
Faces
Oliver!
Planet of the Apes

1969
THE WILD BUNCH
More
Easy Rider
Sweet Charity
Salesman (unless considered a documentary then...)
Midnight Cowboy

1970
M*A*S*H
Five Easy Pieces
Trash
The Landlord
Diary of a Mad Housewife

1971
THE FRENCH CONNECTION
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Klute
A Clockwork Orange
Cisco Pike

1972
THE GODFATHER
Cabaret
The Heartbreak Kid
The Candidate
Deliverance

1973
BADLANDS
Mean Streets
Don't Look Now
American Graffiti
The Long Goodbye

1974
FEMALE TROUBLE
A Woman Under the Influence
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
The Conversation
Chinatown

1975
DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Nashville
Jaws
Night Moves
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

1976
TAXI DRIVER
Network
Carrie
All the President's Men
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

1977
ANNIE HALL
Saturday Night Fever
Eraserhead
Smokey and the Bandit
The Goodbye Girl

1978
BIG WEDNESDAY
Pretty Baby
Coming Home
The End
An Unmarried Woman

1979
REAL LIFE
Wise Blood
All That Jazz
The Jerk
Apocalypse Now

Lolita is actually from '62, replace that spot in '61 with The Innocents

00s

2000
Devils on the Doorstep
SEXY BEAST
Requiem for a Dream
Yi Yi
In the Mood For Love

2001
BULLY
Ghost World
Mulholland Dr
The Piano Teacher
Memento

2002
The Son
LILYA 4-EVER
The Dancer Upstairs
Oasis
Super Troopers

2003
Lost In Translation
Bad Santa
SHATTERED GLASS
Last Life in the Universe
The Forest for the Trees

2004
KILL BILL v.2
2046
Head-On
Primer
I Like Killing Flies

2005
Junebug
Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada
The Death of Mr Lazarescu
WAR OF THE WORLDS
Wolf Creek

2006
The Departed
THE DESCENT
Black Book
Grandma's Boy

2007
Superbad
Michael Clayton
There will be Blood
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS
No Country for Old Men

2008
WALL-E
Eden Lake
Let the Right One In
Revanche
Lake Mungo

2009
In the Loop
Bronson
A SERIOUS MAN
The Double Hour
The White Ribbon

man, I don't know if I can do 2000s. i just wasn't excited by many movies, and I missed a lot of the praised ones.

of course if I opened it up to UK films Powell & Pressburger would be dominating the 1940s, but that's why I didn't open it up :)

also, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE is a better film than BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES but I wanted to give Wyler a nod, since that's probably one of the two best films to ever win Best Picture, and it truly is amazing. MY DARLING CLEMENTINE might be one of my very favorite films though. up there with the best Ford: HOW GREEN, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE, SUN SHINES BRIGHT...

actually CLEMENTINE has more personal meaning to me than maybe any other Ford film except the amazing THEY WERE EXPENDABLE and AIR MAIL (which I forgot to put on my 1930s lists, arrgh)

1975
DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Nashville
Jaws
Night Moves
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Josefa givin' one of Kubrick's best the stinkeye

Clementine boasts my favorite Fonda performance after The Lady Eve.

I have to say I think nashville is 60% bullocks, I'm a big Altman fan but I think he degenerated quickly

mccabe/long goodbye are the high point (w/ images an interesting, arty failure), thieves like us and california split are great but not quite on par, nashville is half a pretentious mess, same with buffalo bill, 3 women is just no good... well for the rest of his career as everyone knows it's quite variable but nothing really to challenge those early 70s genre revisions.

I guess most people think this, I just put the rot as starting earlier. rather than his masterpiece I see Nashville as the very pronounced beginning of a decline

Clementine boasts my favorite Fonda performance after The Lady Eve.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, March 11, 2014 3:47 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh man, that dude has so many good perfs though. see drums along the mohawk and mister roberts if you haven't yet

Seen both; don't like the movie of the latter much (of course I haven't seen the play).

I watched Daisy Kenyon again two nights ago after I submitted my movies; it amazed how well he and Crawford interact.

When he's young, Fonda can make virtue compelling (Lincoln, Tom Joad)

he's a great SOB in Sometimes a Great Notion and of course his Leone role.

(and Fort Apache)

henry fonda vs. cary grant -- who was the best classical hollywood male actor? think fast!

i just saw fonda in sometimes a great notion. the movie is a mixed bag but he's fantastic as an ornery, stubborn, occasionally hateful paterfamilias.

Spencer Tracy or James Cagney

xp

fantastic as an ornery, stubborn, occasionally hateful paterfamilias.

Jane Fonda would agree.

Josefa givin' one of Kubrick's best the stinkeye

And my real indecision was whether Rollerball should be in there!

Of course a lot of these choices depend on my last viewing of the film, whether last year or 20 years ago. Haven't seen Barry Lyndon in many a year.

cagney i'd put odds on, tracy not as much--I love early tracy but he isn't as exciting later (for the most part)

i certainly adore tracy in me and my gal, not particularly fond of the hepburn pairings (I'm not particular fond of katherine hepburn in general)

These are seriously helpful recommendation lists given how great what I've seen is. I've somehow not seen Barry Lyndon. Was sorry to miss Badlands on celluloid at the Trylon, but saw Eraserhead for the first time there recently.

what the hell:

1950
Gun Crazy
In a Lonely Place
Wagon Master
Where the Sidewalk Ends
WINCHESTER '73

Runners-up:
All About Eve
The Breaking point
Panic in the Streets
Stars in My Crown
Where the Sidewalk Ends

1951
The Bullfighter and the Lady
The Prowler
The Steel Helmet
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
The Thing from Another World

Runners-up:
Ace in the Hole
An American in Paris
Royal Wedding
The Tall Target

1952
Angel Face
The Lusty Men
On Dangerous Ground
The Quiet Man
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

The Bad and the Beautiful
Bend of the River
The Big Sky
The Crimson Pirate
Park Row
Sudden Fear

1953 (this and next year few years are impossibly tough; I could easily nominate five westerns, or five musicals, each year)
The Big Heat
Blowing Wild
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The Naked Spur
THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT

Runners-up:
99 River Street
All I Desire
The Band Wagon
Pickup on South Street

1954
Carmen Jones
The Raid
REAR WINDOW
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
A Star Is Born

Runners-up:
Dial M for Murder
Drive a Crooked Road
Magnificent Obsession
Silver Lode
Young at Heart

1955
All That Heaven Allows
House of Bamboo
Kiss Me Deadly
THE MAN FROM LARAMIE
Rebel without a Cause

Runners-up:
Artists and Models
The Long Gray Line
Mister Roberts
Moonfleet
Tennessee's Partner

1956
The Man Who Knew Too Much
THE SEARCHERS
Seven Men from Now
There's Always Tomorrow
Written on the Wind

Runners-up:
Attack!
Baby Doll
Bigger Than Life
The Girl Can't Help It
Nightfall

1957
Funny Face
Men in War
The Pajama Game
THE TARNISHED ANGELS
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

Runners-up:
3:10 to Yuma
An Affair to Remember
Crime of Passion
Run of the Arrow
The Tall T

1958
BONJOUR TRISTESSE
Buchanan Rides Alone
Man of the West
Touch of Evil
Vertigo

Runners-up:
Gigi
Murder by Contract
Party Girl
Some Came Running
The Vikings

1959 (hardest year ever!)
Anatomy of a Murder
Day of the Outlaw
Imitation of Life
North by Northwest
RIO BRAVO

Runners-up:
Compulsion
The Horse Soldiers
Odds Against Tomorrow
Ride Lonesome (in many other years this film could have won it all)
Sleeping Beauty

I actually don't think strangers on a train is top-shelf hitchcock, but whatever

1958 might be a little controversial

don't like any broad comedy cept Tashlin, huh? (in which case Son of Paleface should be in '52)

Ray's Bitter Victory is surely top-10 material in '57 (euro release) or '58 (US).

don't like any broad comedy cept Tashlin, huh?

how on earth would you gather that if a film or films don't make it to these little lists that I don't "like" them?

also, singin in the rain comedy is pretty broad at times, no? and seven brides for seven brothers...

based on a recent rewatching, I may call Anatomy of a Murder the best of '59.

OK, fair enough -- don't love any broad comedy? In the same vein, I take effin' Dial M for Murder ranked above On the Waterfront to be... curious... I'm with you on Tarnished Angels and Bonjour Tristesse, buddy. xxp

Ruth Roman not as big a problem in Bitter Victory as she is in Strangers on a Train.

based on a recent rewatching, I may call Anatomy of a Murder the best of '59.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, March 12, 2014 11:46 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the best of '59 are all those films! I made a sort of arbitrary choice for the winner.

my fave western of the late '50s might be Forty Guns, tho Seven Men from Now is up there.

There are two years on johnny crunch's list where I haven't seen any of his picks. No Sweet Smell of Success, amateurist?

The dreaded '80s (which look better to me now than at the time):

1980
RAGING BULL
Coal Miner's Daughter
Dressed to Kill
Melvin and Howard
The Shining

1981
BLOW OUT
Absence of Malice
The Evil Dead
Prince of the City
Stripes

1982
FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH
E.T.
Tootsie
The Verdict

1983
HEART LIKE A WHEEL
The Dead Zone
Videodrome

1984
COMFORT AND JOY
28 Up
1984
Stranger Than Paradise
The Times of Harvey Milk

1985
LOST IN AMERICA
After Hours
Sweet Dreams

1986
BLUE VELVET
The Color of Money
The Fly
Hannah and Her Sisters
Something Wild

1987
BROADCAST NEWS
Fatal Attraction
Full Metal Jacket
Wall Street

1988
LET'S GET LOST
Dead Ringers
Married to the Mob
Rain Man

1989
CASUALTIES OF WAR
Born on the Fourth of July
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Do the Right Thing
Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Scrolling quickly, so I probably missed something. Strongest year for me is either '80 or '84.

I find the excising of British film in (most of) these lists particularly weird/funny, tho i'm sure ppl would 'allow' Goldfinger before Kes.

I'm one of those people who thinks Forty Guns is a bit _too_ much :(

as for sweet smell of success, it's beautiful directed and shot, and tony curtis is particularly fine, but I dunno, the last time I saw it I felt the script had problems, that it was trying a bit too hard to be edgy and knowing ("I love this dirty town!"). it's a good, very good film--just maybe not "my very favorite of the year" material.

i do love a bunch of other alexander mackendrick films, though, but they are all british: mandy, a high wind in jamaica, whisky galore (that IS him, right?)

also the budd boetticher westerns of the 1950s are rather incredible, even if the plots are sometimes so similar that I get them mixed up! :)

1980

The Long Riders
The Elephant Man
DRESSED TO KILL
The Empire Strikes Back
Airplane!

1981

Atlantic City
Blow Out
All Night Long
The Evil Dead
Excalibur

1982

TOOTSIE
Shoot the Moon
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Diner
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1983

Local Hero
The Dead Zone
The Right Stuff
UNDER FIRE
The Year of Living Dangerously

1984

Streetwise
STOP MAKING SENSE
Top Secret!
Choose Me
Ghostbusters

1985

The Purple Rose of Cairo
Lost in America
The Shooting Party
To Live and Die in L.A.
Prizzi's Honor

1986

Salvador
BLUE VELVET
Something Wild
Aliens
The Fly

1987

HOUSEKEEPING
Radio Days
Near Dark
Mala Noche
Roxanne

1988

DEAD RINGERS
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beetlejuice
Dangerous Liasions
The Thin Blue Line

1989

ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY
Drugstore Cowboy
Do The Right Thing
My Left Foot
The Fabulous Baker Boys

This was actually difficult. Many films I like, few I love, etc.

enjoying all the love for HOUSEKEEPING

will the love translate into a DVD release?

No winners in '81 and '85; I can dig it.

I missed Local Hero for '83, that'd be on mine too--slight preference for Heart Like a Wheel as winner.

Housekeeping is available as a Warner Archive DVD

Look at that: fall '11.

while I wasn't looking, Philip Kaufman became overrated.

Looks like you got another candidate for the ol' Academy of the Overrated.

sorta like u ppl have Kazan, Brando, Woody Allen, Bob Hope, the Marx Brothers...

Amazing that Allen ended up inducted into the Academy he invented.

yeah, it'd be less ironic if it had shown up in a John Carpenter film

i like kazan a lot, didn't I put wild river and splendor in the grass and stuff on my lists?

on the waterfront and tree grows in brooklyn and panic in the streets and a face in the crowd coulda been contendahs

1990s… this is where things get really fuzzy for me, and uncharacteristically indie-riffic. I've also imperialistically annexed Canada (because, largely, Cronenberg). I won't even bother with 2000s/2010s

1990
Edward Scissorhands
GOODFELLAS
Miami Blues
To Sleep with Anger
Trust

Runners-up:
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
The Hunt for Red October
Miller's Crossing
Sink or Swim

1991
Homicide
The Man in the Moon
Naked Lunch
SLACKER
Surviving Desire (yeah, TV movie, GFY)

Runners-up:
Barton Fink
Point Break
The Silence of the Lambs

1992 (a tough one, actually)
LORENZO'S OIL
One False Move
Reservoir Dogs
Simple Men
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Runners-up:
Bad Lieutenant
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Last of the Mohicans
(tempted to add "What Is Royal Trux?!" VHS)

1993
Dazed and Confused
GROUNDHOG DAY
Jurassic Park
King of the Hill
The Nightmare Before Christmas

Runners-up:
Clean, Shaven
Matinee
Menace II Society
Ruby in Paradise
Strange Weather

1994 (could barely think of five…)
Dumb & Dumber
Ed Wood
PULP FICTION
Spanking the Monkey
Nobody's Fool

1995 (a good year, a few things I felt bad leaving out)
Clueless
Devil in a Blue Dress
NIXON jklol… HEAT
Safe
Toy Story

Runners-up:
The Addiction
Before Sunrise
Casino
Flirt
Se7en

1996 (not too many "great" films this year)
Big Night
Bottle Rocket
Crash
FARGO
Flirting with Disaster

Runners-up:
The Cable Guy
The Funeral
Kingpin
Mars Attacks!

1997
Contact
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
Henry Fool
JACKIE BROWN
Lost Highway

Runners-up:
The Game
Gummo
L.A. Confidential
Men in Black
Starship Troopers

Honorable mention: Con Air

1998
The Big Lebowski
Out of Sight
Rushmore
There's Something About Mary
THE THIN RED LINE

Runners-up:
The Book of Life
Pleasantville
Ronin

1999 (lots of very good films, few great ones I guess)
Election
The Insider
julien donkey-boy
THE LIMEY
Three Kings

Runners-up:
Being John Malkovich
eXistenZ
The Iron Giant
Magnolia (this is a reluctant inclusion for posterity)
Office Space

I'd prefer you included Fight Club for posterity.

Jurassic Park meets the "let's include the disposable work of a great filmmaker while snubbing his actual great films" tic?

Safe is my least favorite Haynes film ever.

cheers

Morbs, if you actually cared to look at my other lists, you see Spielberg won at least one other year and comes up another two or three times besides that

you just imagine whatever you think will irritate you, then assume it exists. this explains why you're so angry all the time.

nah, i'm not angry. Contact and Bram Stoker's Dracula v challopsy.

kudos on One False Move

I forgot if you did the '30s, but Grand Illusion actually WAS nominated for Best Picture.

I would find a page with your ten-lists for each year, globally, more compelling tho. The Oscar format dilutes everything. (Like where would Killer of Sheep count, y'see?)

maybe I'll do rest-of-the-world lists later, that would be incredibly difficult

I find killer of sheep to be... a little less than its reputation

Jurassic Park meets the "let's include the disposable work of a great filmmaker while snubbing his actual great films" tic?

Anyone who ranks Temple of Doom over Raiders doesn't get to play this card.

I thought those ranks included you!

he belongs in a museum!

actually I prefer it too; it just wouldn't make my top five.

along with On the Waterfront, the film that changed American film acting, apparently

xp

Doesn't matter. I wouldn't throw shade on people highlighting the "wrong" Spielbergs, is all.

Previous Oscar category polls:

Picture 1939: 1939's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1940: 1940's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1962: 1962's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1967: 1967's Oscar Nominees (inspired by "Pictures at a Revolution")
Picture 1974: 1974's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1975: 1975's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1976: 1976 Oscar Nominees
Picture 1979: 1979's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1982: 1982's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1989: 1989's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1990: 1990's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1991: 1991's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1993: 1993's Best Picture Oscar Nominees
Picture 1994: 1994's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1995: 1995's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1997: http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=76886
Picture 1998: 1998's Oscar Nominees
Picture 2005: 2005's Oscar Nominees
Picture 2007: 2007's Oscar Nominees
Picture 2012: 2012's Oscar Nominees
Picture 2013: 2013's Oscar Nominees
Worst Picture 80s: WORST of the Best Picture Oscar Noms (Only The '80s Edition)

Actress 1950: 1950 Best Actress Nominees
Actress 1992: Best Actress Nominees - 1992
Actress 1993: 1993's Best Actress Oscar Nominees
Actress 1996: 1996's Best Actress Oscar Nominees
Actress Overall 1990s: BEST of the Best Actress Oscar Noms (Only The '90s Edition)

Actor 1982: 1982's Best Actor Oscar Nominees
Actor 1997: 1997 Best Actor Oscar Winners
Actor Overall 1990s: BEST of the Best Actor Oscar Noms (Only The '90s Edition)

Supporting Actress 1976: 1976's Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nominees

Song 2011: Oscar-nominated "Best Original Song" 2012
 
I tried to adhere to the U.S. only or at least English-language only rule, but I ended up breaking it whenever a worthy movie at least proved itself to be on the Academy's radar (e.g. A Separation). And no documentaries. Since making conservative choices is part of the game, I've tried to avoid leaning too hard on genre choices ... but not that hard. Here's back through this century:

2013
Computer Chess
Gravity
HER
Inside Llewyn Davis
Spring Breakers

2012
Cosmopolis
Damsels in Distress
LINCOLN
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

2011
Certified Copy
Drive
THE TREE OF LIFE
A Separation
Weekend

2010
BLACK SWAN
Blue Valentine
How to Train Your Dragon
Shutter Island
Toy Story 3

2009
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Julia
A Serious Man
TETRO
Two Lovers

2008
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Paranoid Park
Rachel Getting Married
WALL-E

2007
Day Night Day Night
Gone Baby Gone
Michael Clayton
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Superbad

2006
Borat
CHILDREN OF MEN
The Departed
Inland Empire
Miami Vice

2005
Forty Shades of Blue
Good Night, and Good Luck.
MUNICH
Mysterious Skin
War of the Worlds

2004
Bad Education
Before Sunset
DOGVILLE
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Vera Drake

2003
The Company
ELEPHANT
Gerry
Shattered Glass
Stuck On You

2002
25th Hour
FEMME FATALE
Punch-Drunk Love
Spirited Away
Talk To Her

2001
A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Ghost World
In the Mood for Love
Mulholland Drive
Wet Hot American Summer

2000
Dancer in the Dark
Erin Brockovich
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Requiem for a Dream

Haha, didn't mean to link-bomb. I was using the same .doc as my polls.

2000

Erin Brockovich
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH

is your way of wooing yourself into my good graces?

Like I ever left them.

The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence were both the third film adaps of those Wharton books, the first of each being silents.

And of course, Scorsese kicked Davies' butt.

Davies is a lover, not a fighter.

oh? have you ever asked him what he thought of the Beatles?

Davies would rather have sex with a city than himself.

Felt like I had to scrounge a bit to fill out '03-'05.

2000:
YI YI
Eureka
In the Mood for Love
You Can Count on Me
The Werckmeister Harmonies

2001:
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
Pulse
Spirited Away
Ghost World
The Royal Tennenbaums

2002:
THE 25TH HOUR
The Son
Russian Ark
Jackass: The Movie
Punch-Drunk Love

2003:
MEMORIES OF MURDER
Lost in Translation
The Best of Youth
Los Angeles Plays Itself
The Fog of War

2004:
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Tropical Malady
Before Sunset
Anchorman
Head-On

2005:
GRIZZLY MAN
Junebug
The New World
Cache
The Squid and the Whale

2006:
INLAND EMPIRE
Offside
Children of Men
Jackass Number Two
Exiled

2007:
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

2008:
WALL-E
Still Walking
Synecdoche, New York
Revanche
35 Shots of Rum

2009:
A SERIOUS MAN
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The White Ribbon
In the Loop
Inglourious Basterds

seems crazy to dismiss 'jurassic park' as one of spielberg's 'disposable' films -- i think it's the high point of his 'fun' stuff, prob better even than his very early stuff.

doubt i could assemble an entire '00s list, but i like eric's list a lot and agree with his top choices for '10 and '12 especially.

his very early stuff is about stuff. JP is about, I dunno, the evil of theme parks.

and 'jaws' is about the scariness of sharks. i don't know, seems like every movie could be dismissed this way.

2000s:

2000
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
Almost Famous
Joe Gould’s Secret

2001
GHOST WORLD
L.I.E.
Lovely and Amazing
Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy
The Royal Tenenbaums

2002
SPELLBOUND
Punch-Drunk Love
The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia

2003
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Capturing the Friedmans
Elephant
End of the Century
Mayor of the Sunset Strip

2004
A LEAGUE OF ORDINARY GENTLEMAN
Mysterious Skin
Sideways

2005
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
Capote
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
New York Doll
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

2006
THE HEART OF THE GAME
Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film
Art School Confidential
Old Joy

2007
ZODIAC
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Margot at the Wedding
No Country for Old Men
Paranoid Park

2008
WENDY AND LUCY
Encirclement
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
Man on Wire

2009
THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR
Adventureland
Tyson
Up in the Air

I listed and then dropped three or four films from 2003, so that was the strongest year for me.

It's interesting to see how conservative people are or are not forcing themselves to be.

Will try to do the 2000s:

2000
Nurse Betty
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Unbreakable (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Wonder Boys
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME

2001
Donnie Darko
Ghost World
MULHOLLAND DR.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Waking Life

2002
About Schmidt
Solaris
Storytelling
25th Hour
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN

2003
Capturing the Friedmans
Elephant
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
Kill Bill, Vol. 1
LOST IN TRANSLATION

2004
BEFORE SUNSET
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Incredibles
Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Sideways

2005
GRIZZLY MAN
King Kong
Mysterious Skin
Nobody Knows
Saraband

2006
CHILDREN OF MEN
The Departed
Marie Antoinette
Pan's Labyrinth
A Scanner Darkly

2007
Away From Her
Gone Baby Gone
No Country For Old Men
RATATOUILLE
There Will Be Blood

2008 (ouch! only year I can't come up with five)
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Let The Right One In
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

2009
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Seraphine
Up
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

1990s:

1990
GOODFELLAS
Metropolitan
Miller’s Crossing
Mo’ Better Blues

1991
BOYZ N THE HOOD
Class Action
JFK
Jungle Fever
The Silence of the Lambs

1992
RESERVOIR DOGS
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Malcolm X
The Player
Visions of Light

1993
DAZED AND CONFUSED
Menace II Society
The Piano
Short Cuts
The War Room

1994
CRUMB
Hoop Dreams

1995
NIXON
Casino
The Celluloid Closet
Clockers
Smoke

1996
FARGO
Big Night
Breaking the Waves
Flirting with Disaster
I Shot Andy Warhol

1997
BOOGIE NIGHTS
Affliction
The Ice Storm
In the Company of Men
Jackie Brown

1998
RUSHMORE
He Got Game
The Last Days of Disco
Rounders
A Simple Plan

1999
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES
American Beauty
Election
Eyes Wide Shut
The Straight Story

Best year, '93 or '99. Couldn't find anything else I cared about in '94--maybe I was distracted by the baseball strike. A couple of omissions from earlier lists: Stevie for 2002, Near Death for 1989.

I've seen plenty of silent films for doing the '20s, but most would be comedy shorts.

(Wings is p much as good as Sunrise btw)

1998

Bulworth
THE BUTCHER BOY
Henry Fool
Rushmore
The Thin Red Line

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02689/CHARLTON-HESTON_2689484b.jpg

Just kidding, Morbius--I'm glad you've deigned to join the rest of us in our trivial pursuits.

1999
Being John Malkovich
Election
EYES WIDE SHUT
Fight Club
Run Lola Run

1998
Babe: Pig in the City
Happiness
Out of Sight
RUSHMORE
The Thin Red Line

1997
JACKIE BROWN
The Sweet Hereafter
Starship Troopers
Titanic
Waiting for Guffman

1996
BREAKING THE WAVES
Crash
Dead Man
Fargo
Secrets & Lies

1995
Before Sunrise
The Bridges of Madison County
Dead Man Walking
SHOWGIRLS
Twelve Monkeys

1994
Bullets Over Broadway
ED WOOD
Exotica
Pulp Fiction
Serial Mom

1993
Carlito's Way
Dazed & Confused
Matinee
Naked
SHORT CUTS

1992
BITTER MOON
Death Becomes Her
Husbands and Wives
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Unforgiven

1991
JFK [winner; since all caps already]
Jungle Fever
My Own Private Idaho
The Rapture
Terminator 2: Judgment Day

1990
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Jacob's Ladder
Longtime Companion
PARIS IS BURNING
To Sleep with Anger

like a cockroach crawlin' on a white rug

so is JFK great because of its historical idiocy and bad acting, or because of it? I've never been clear on that.

*or in spite of

It's great because of its fantastic editing, construction of a phantasmagoria, and the excellent acting.

oh it's "pop" then

It's great because it's got the right ta-ta but the wrong ho-ho, Daddy-O.

oh it's "pop" then

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius),

how's your mousse?

you can always put Showgirls where your ho-ho should be

It's precisely the point of a long dining table. The splendor of the pop adds to its enjoyment.

You can keep your Ho-Ho's. I've got brown rice and vegetables.

just one more from me

1937

The Awful Truth
DEAD END
Easy Living
Make Way for Tomorrow
Stage Door
Way Out West

At least two of those will be on my list, should I get back that far, which I probably won't.

Man, the '80s made it all but impossible to stay somewhat within Oscar's wavelength. Still my least favorite AA decade.

1989
Casualties of War
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Driving Miss Daisy
DO THE RIGHT THING
Parenthood

1988
BEETLEJUICE
Big
Dead Ringers
The Last Temptation of Christ
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

1987
Broadcast News
Full Metal Jacket
HOUSKEEPING
Maurice
Raising Arizona

1986
Blue Velvet
THE FLY
Labyrinth
Manhunter
Something Wild

1985
Back to the Future
BRAZIL
Day of the Dead
My Beautiful Laundrette
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

1984
Amadeus
Crimes of Passion
Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom
LOVE STREAMS
Repo Man

1983
A Christmas Story
The Dead Zone
Fanny & Alexander
Terms of Endearment
VIDEODROME

1982
Blade Runner
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
One from the Heart
Poltergeist
Tootsie

1981
Blow Out
The Evil Dead
Modern Romance
MOMMIE DEAREST
Polyester

1980
The Big Red One
Cruising
Dressed to Kill
Ordinary People
THE SHINING

Love your lists, and will use them for renting for a while. Now settle in for a Prince of the City-length post.

My Oscars as of this particular (probably deeply embarrassing) moment...

1927
Metropolis
Sunrise
THE GENERAL
(Need to see more 1927 movies...)

1928
The Passion of Joan of Arc
UN CHIEN ANDALOU
(Need to see more...)

1929
THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
(Need to...)

1930
All Quiet on the Western Front
(...see more...)

1931
City Lights
Dracula
FRANKENSTEIN
The Front Page
The Public Enemy
(Need...)

(In some moods, Frankenstein is still my favorite movie. It's perfect.)

1932
Grand Hotel
Scarface
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME
(Need to see more...)

1933
Duck Soup
The Invisible Man
KING KONG
The Gold Diggers of 1933
(...etc...)

1934
THE THIN MAN
The Man Who Knew Too Much
(...etc...)

1935
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
The 39 Steps
The Bride of Frankenstein
Top Hat
(...etc...)

1936
Modern Times
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
MY MAN GODFREY
Sabotage
Things to Come

1937
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
THE AWFUL TRUTH
Topper
(...etc...)

1938
Angels with Dirty Faces
Boys Town
BRINGING UP BABY
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Lady Vanishes

1939
Dark Victory
Ninotchka
The Rules of the Game
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Young Mr. Lincoln

(Also love: The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

1940
His Girl Friday
Pinocchio
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
The Letter
The Shop Around the Corner

(Showed this to my high-school class a couple years ago and many kids said it was the best movie they ever saw. My favorite line is still: "Truckers.")

1941
CITIZEN KANE
High Sierra
Suspicion
The Lady Eve
The Maltese Falcon (remake)

1942
CASABLANCA
To Be or Not to Be
Woman of the Year
Saboteur
(Need to see more 1942 movies!)

1943
SHADOW OF A DOUBT
The Ox-Bow Incident
A Night to Remember
(Need to see more...)

1944
Double Indemnity
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
To Have and Have Not
(Need to see more...)

1945
MILDRED PIERCE
Spellbound
The Clock
(Need ....)

1946
Gilda
It's a Wonderful Life
Notorious
The Best Years of Our Lives
THE BIG SLEEP

(Also love: The Killers)

1947
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET
Out of the Past
(Need to see more...)

1948
Bicycle Thieves
Key Largo
Oliver Twist
RED RIVER
The Naked City

1949
All the King's Men
THE FOUNTAINHEAD
The Heiress
The Third Man
White Heat

1950
All About Eve
BORN YESTERDAY
Father of the Bride
In a Lonely Place
The Men

1951
THE AFRICAN QUEEN
When Worlds Collide
(Need to see more...)

1952
High Noon
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
The Bad and the Beautiful
The Narrow Margin
(Need to see more...)

1953
Shane
Stalog 17
TOKYO STORY
Ugetsu
War of the Worlds

1954
On the Waterfront
Rear Window
Magnificent Obsession
Salt of the Earth
SEVEN SAMURAI

(Haven't watched The Wild One in decades, but love it's sampling on a Code 13 song.)

1955
All That Heaven Allows
Kiss Me Deadly
Marty
Rebel Without a Cause
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

1956
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
The Red Balloon
The Searchers
The Wrong Man
Written on the Wind

1957
12 Angry Men
A Face in the Crowd
Paths of Glory
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
Witness for the Prosecution

(Badly wavered between that and Witness...)

1958
A Night to Remember
Touch of Evil
VERTIGO
(Need to see more...)

1959
ANATOMY OF A MURDER
Imitation of Life
The 400 Blows
North by Northwest
Some Like It Hot

(Because Duke Ellington and fishing lures.)

1960
Breathless
Inherit the Wind
La Dolce Vita
PSYCHO
Spartacus

1961
Chronique d'un ete (Chronicle of a Summer)
Jules et Jim
THE HUSTLER
West Side Story
(Need to see more...)

1962
Harakiri (a.k.a. Seppuku)
Jules and Jim
Lawrence of Arabia
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
To Kill a Mockingbird

(Had to bump Cape Fear for the golden sand.)

1963
From Russia With Love
High and Low
THE BIRDS
(Need to see more...)

1964
NOTHING BUT A MAN
The Americanization of Emily
The Intruder
The T.A.M.I. Show
Woman in the Dunes

1965
(Wow, you're not kidding about '65... haven't seen any of those, Am.)
FASTER, PUSSY CAT! KILL! KILL!

1966
Alfie
Persona
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?

1967
BELLE DE JOUR
Festival
Point Blank
The Jungle Book
(Need to see more...)

1968
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
High School
Planet of the Apes
Rosemary's Baby
The Producers

1969
Easy Rider
Medium Cool
Salesman
The Sorrow and the Pity
Z (my winner)
(Haven't seen The Wild Bunch or Midnight Cowboy)

1970
Gimme Shelter
Little Big Man
THE CONFORMIST
(Need to see more...)

1971
Bananas
Klute
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
Walkabout

1972
Silent Running
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
THE GODFATHER
The Heartbreak Kid
The King of Marvin Gardens

1973
American Graffiti
Mean Streets
Paper Moon
SERPICO
The Long Goodbye
(haven't seen Badlands, but imagine I'd love it...)

1974
Blazing Saddles
Chinatown
The Conversation
THE GODFATHER, PART II
The Harder They Come

1975
Dog Day Afternoon
JAWS
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Shampoo

1976
Harlan County, U.S.A.
Network
Rocky
Taxi Driver
THE BAD NEWS BEARS (original)

(So glad to see so much Bears love here. Written by Burt Lancaster's son, shot by the guy who did Chinatown. Still hilarious, deep, and beautifully paced.)

(My stepdad just saw Rocky the musical.)

1977
Annie Hall
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Oh, God!
Saturday Night Fever
STAR WARS

(Love Eraserhead, but in the end my spirit and heart is closer to Oh, God!)

1978
ANIMAL HOUSE
Grease
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (remake)
The Buddy Holly Story
The Cheap Detective

1979
Breaking Away
Manhattan
The China Syndrome
THE WAR AT HOME (documentary)
The Warriors

(Alien would be my sixth.)

1980
Coal Miner's Daughter
Ordinary People
RAGING BULL
The Empire Strikes Back
The Shining

1981
Das Boot
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
Prince of the City
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Reds

(Do love Thief too...)

1982
E.T. (not the retouched version!)
FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH
Missing
Tootsie
The Decline of Western Civilization

(Diner's great too, sixth pick. Blade Runner for the opening scenes and the music.)

1983
Scarface
Silkwood
A Christmas Story
THE DEAD ZONE
Style Wars

(Alfred: I forgot about Under Fire, should try to see it again. Love all your '80s choices.)

1984
Purple Rain
REPO MAN
The Terminator
The Times of Harvey Milk
This Is Spinal Tap

1985
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Lost in America
My Beautiful Laundrette
Tampopo
The Breakfast Club

(Still like Brazil, too.)

1986
Aliens
BLUE VELVET
Something Wild
The Fly
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring

(I LOVED Salvador, but found it impossible to take recently. Still want to pick up the book Oliver Stone wrote with my old professor.)

1987
Lost Boys
Raising Arizona
RoboCop
The Last Emperor
THE PRINCESS BRIDE

(Haven't seen Housekeeping since then, Amateurist and Alfred, but loved it, will track it down... All the good Coen Brothers movies get funnier and better with time for me.)

1988
A World Apart
Clean and Sober
DIE HARD
Midnight Run
The Vanishing (original)

(Badly wanted to include Beetlejuice. I loved Dead Ringers so much and yet can't bring myself to watch it again.)

1989
DO THE RIGHT THING
Drugstore Cowboy
Say Anything...
Sea of Love
True Believer

(Also loved sex, lies, and videotape and Parenthood.)

1990
American Dream
GOODFELLAS
La Femme Nikita
Life Is Sweet
Tremors

1991
Defending Your Life
Dogfight
Life Is Sweet
POINT BREAK
Proof

(Also loved My Own Private Idaho, just haven't watched it since then... The Rapture was freaky.)

1992
A Few Good Men
El Mariachi
Police Story 3: Supercop
RESERVOIR DOGS
The Story of Qiu Ju

1993
GROUNDHOG DAY
In the Name of the Father
Schindler's List
The Fugitive
The Remains of the Day

1994
Ed Wood
Metal and Melancholy (a.k.a. Metaal en melancholie)
Hoop Dreams
PULP FICTION
Speed

1995
Apollo 13
Clueless
Crimson Tide
HEAT
Safe

1996
Crash (Cronenberg film)
Fargo
Flirting With Disaster
Hard Eight
SWINGERS

(Thanks for reminding me of La Promesse, Chris, will watch this again...)

1997
Insomnia (original)
Jackie Brown
Men in Black
My Best Friend's Wedding
THE APOSTLE

1998
Breakdown
Out of Sight
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
The Dreamlife of Angels (a.k.a. La Vie Revee Des Anges)
The Truman Show

1999
Galaxy Quest
MAGNOLIA
Office Space
Spring Forward
The Straight Story

2000
Best in Show
CAST AWAY
Meet the Parents
The Filth and the Fury
You Can Count on Me

2001
Legally Blonde
MULHOLLAND DR.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Training Day
Zoolander

2002
About a Boy
Far From Heaven
SECRETARY
The Bourne Identity
Two Weeks Notice

2003
Dogville
Los Angeles Plays Itself
School of Rock
SEABISCUIT
The Yes Men

(Soft spot for Elf, too. I love End of the Century too, argh!)

2004
BEFORE SUNSET
Hotel Rwanda
Shaun of the Dead
Spider-Man 2
The Woodsman

2005
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Everything Is Illuminated
North Country
Sweet Land
War of the Worlds (remake)

2006
CASINO ROYALE
Fast Food Nation
Forever
Longford
The Host (a.k.a. Gwoemul)

2007
30 Days of Night
THE SAVAGES
Run Fatboy Run
Lars and the Real Girl
Superbad

2008
BE KIND REWIND
Stepbrothers
Role Models
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler

2009
A Serious Man
District 9
FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN
The Hangover
Up

2010
Any Day Now
Cyrus
HESHER
Machete
The Town

2011
BRIDESMAIDS
Cedar Rapids
Jeff, Who Lives at Home
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The Grey

2012
Flight
Robot & Frank
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Stand Up Guys
The Guilt Trip

2013
12 YEARS A SLAVE
Before Midnight
Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus
Gravity
The Way Way Back

I will watch Mommie Dearest when Eric watches The King of Comedy.

Brazil was my first favorite movie so I'm glad it gets the Eric H. seal of approval

glad Pete mentioned True Believer.

1990

To Sleep With Anger
Reversal of Fortune
The Grifters
GOODFELLAS
Metropolitan

1991

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
Naked Lunch
JFK
Dogfight
Point Break

1992

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
The Crying Game
Husbands and Wives
THE PLAYER
Simple Men

1993

DAZED AND CONFUSED
Household Saints
Six Degrees of Separation
Groundhog Day
The Age of Innocence

1994

Pulp Fiction
Quiz Show
Nobody’s Fool
VANYA ON 42ND STREET
Speed

1995
Clueless
Devil in a Blue Dress
BEFORE SUNRISE
Crumb
Babe

1996
Secrets and Lies
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
Mission: Impossible
The Portrait of a Lady
Big Night
1997

JACKIE BROWN
L.A. Confidential
The Sweet Hereafter
The Wings of the Dove
The Apostle

1998

OUT OF SIGHT
Rushmore
The Opposite of Sex
High Art
Babe: Pig in the City
1999

ELECTION
The Straight Story
The Insider
Being John Malkovich
Topsy-Turvy

well, i've seen 49 of those

(Cruise replacing Peter Graves, no)

should've mentioned One False Move.

a few blank spots here -- haven't seen that much i really love from the later '40s -- but here goes:

1940
REBECCA
His Girl Friday
The Bank Dick
Christmas in July
Shop Around the Corner

1941
CITIZEN KANE
Suspicion
The Maltese Falcon
How Green Was My Valley
Sullivan's Travels

1942
CAT PEOPLE
The Magnificent Ambersons
To Be or Not to Be
Casablanca
The Man Who Came to Dinner

1943
MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON
Shadow of a Doubt
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Day of Wrath
The Seventh Victim

1944
A CANTERBURY TALE
Laura
Meet Me in St. Louis
Ministry of Fear
Torment

1945
THE LOST WEEKEND
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Three Caballeros
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

1946
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Notorious
The Big Sleep
The Best Years of Our Lives
A Matter of Life and Death

1947
MONSIEUR VERDOUX
Odd Man Out
The Lady from Shanghai

1948
THE RED SHOES
Bicycle Thieves
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Sorry, Wrong Number

1949
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS
The Third Man
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Looking at all the '90s lists, I'm surprised I'm the only person who listed Affliction--I thought it was held in higher regard.

Similarly, no one who did an '80s list nominated Paris, Texas. How do people feel about that one?

I liked it when I saw it 20 years ago.

I know this is straying from the spirit of this thread--sorry, amateurist--but here are my #1s for the '40s and '50s. I attempted full lists, but most years only had two to four picks. I'm guessing I've seen at least half of what other people are listing, but often only once, and often years ago. So while I loved Dance, Girl, Dance when I saw it 30 years ago, I have no idea how it would hold up today. Even my '59 pick is based on a single viewing that goes back to the '90s. But most everything below I've seen multiple times.

1940: The Shop Around the Corner
1941: Citizen Kane
1942: The Magnificent Ambersons
1943: Shadow of a Doubt
1944: Double Indemnity
1945: Mildred Pierce
1946: The Big Sleep
1947: The Lady from Shanghai
1948: Red River
1949: White Heat
1950: The Asphalt Jungle
1951: A Streetcar Named Desire
1952: strike year (The Narrow Margin or Pat and Mike, I guess)
1953: Roman Holiday
1954: On the Waterfront
1955: The Night of the Hunter
1956: The Harder They Fall
1957: Sweet Smell of Success
1958: Touch of Evil
1959: The Nun’s Story

1957 also had Paths of Glory and A Face in the Crowd, so that would probably be my pick for strongest year.

I knocked Paris, Texas off my '84 list at the last second when I remembered...1984!

Also, re the '50s: yes, I've seen the musical, the western, and the greatest film ever made. I like them all, don't love any of them.

'84 was my hardest year -- it epitomized eighties middlebrow -- but I'd stick Paris, Texas in now.

most only-America clemenza-enabling thread evah

Your odd obsession with this narrow point silly as always. I included non-English films when I had to, to fill out my '60s lists. I'd have both Pather Panchali and The 400 Blows among my #1s for the '50s. And what does any of it have to do with anything?

Breitbart has a film critic with opinions
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/04/16/nolte-movies-that-shouldve-won-the-best-picture-oscar-part-1/

The URL led me to believe that the list was only of Nick Nolte movies that should've won best picture.

note that all of mamet's 4 perfect movies get a mention

Skimmed this very briefly and saw a few things I agreed with (he mentions Sweet Smell of Success and Paths of Glory as better films than Bridge on the River Kwai in '57...even though he sticks with the winner, for some reason), but this kills me:

What Did Win: Rocky
Even as a ten-year-old in 1976, I knew America needed a big boost and along came Sylvester Stallone with a character so iconic, beloved, and timeless they are still making movies about him.
What Should’ve Won: Rocky

Film criticism as pick-me-up cheerleading.