I am on a mission to try and see every movie that has won and been nominated for best picture. Currently there are 485 films out there from 1928 to 2010. I have been working on this project for a few years now, but as I close in on the 350 film mark (currently at 347 as I type this post), I decided to talk about it on the Internet.
I know this may not sound interesting, especially if you don't enjoy watching movies or don't understand why I am doing this. If you feel this way I would suggest not reading any of the posts. If you are intrigued or think this is an interesting project, please allow me to take you on a trip down my movie watching past.
I've always enjoyed movies, who doesn't. Yet I am peculiar when it comes to movies. I enjoy the greatest movies ever made and the worst. It's feast or famine. Movies that fall in the middle don't interest or excite me. But a great movie like Citizen Kane or Shawshank Redemption or Grand Illusion I can't watch enough of. The same is for low budget, underground, really bad movies. The type that look like they were filmed in someones backyard, bad acting, horrible plot lines and look like they ran down to the Fotomat to get the film processed. So its either filet mignon or pork rinds, no baked chicken with steamed vegetable for me.
Years ago I memorized all the movies that won best picture. Why? Because I have nothing better to do with my time. A few years ago I got the greatest combination for entertainment, probably the greatest combo in life, a DVR with my satellite TV. I started to record movies, mainly at the time it was an escape dealing with a lot of stress and trouble in my life. So coming home and watching a movie helped me relax and to be honest, a better vice than drinking.
I started to realize that over the years I had seen many of the films that won best picture. I decided to go all out in early 2009 and see every film that won. At the time there were 81 movies and I had seen about half of them. Searching through the satellite schedule, I would only tape movies that were shown on TV. I could rent the movies from a video store but that doesn't make it as exciting. To me its more fun to search and try and find the movies as they randomly pop up on TV.
By early 2011 I realized two things, first that I was already over the 70 film mark for best pictures and secondly, not every best picture I believe was the best picture. This current project started in late 2009 when I saw An American in Paris, best picture for 1951. I thought that this is the worst best picture ever made (currently I still stand by this assertion) and what did it beat out? I looked up the other four movies and looked for them. About a year later I saw the other four and was able to confirm my opinion.
I realized that this would be an interesting way to make a personal judgement of each year's nominees. I set up a detailed spreadsheet with all the movies nominated separated by year and began to mark off as I watched each one. This project has grown to start including best foreign film and I am starting to prepare the next phase, best director.
So as I watch these movies I want an opportunity to discuss what I think about each film and how they compare to the other movies they were competing against. My wife is not a big movie fan, neither are my family or friends to the level that I watch movies. This is why I have started this blog, that and I miss blogging. I wrote one with my wife about free market environmentalism for years but that one has not been updated much lately. I haven't had the interest even though I still consider myself an environmentalist but I feel that I have done all that I could for now with that blog. This one is more interesting to me. Even if no one reads it, I enjoy analysing movies and offering my opinions.
I will start with a summary of what I have watched so far over the next few posts. Eventually I will post after I watch each movie and offer my review. Hopefully it may help people who do read this watch more movies, even the ones I don't like because maybe they could tell me why they think it was good. I'm looking forward to this, I hope you are too.
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