Best Picture of 1991: Silence of the Lambs

In the search for a dangerous serial killer named "Buffalo Bill" the FBI is desperately searching for answers to find this man. They start asking captured serial killers to help to identify the man. Many of them took the survey to help. However, one man refused to take the survey. His name is Hannibal Lecter, better known as Hannibal the Cannibal. This psychiatrist turn serial killer will not help with the investigation. That is when Clarice Starling is sent in to try and get Hannibal to talk. To everyone's surprise he does talk. This starts a roller coaster ride to trying to catch Buffalo Bill and to keep Hannibal Lecter locked up where he belongs.


Silence of the Lambs is a very special film. It's the only movie this is classified as Horror to ever win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It's one of three in the horror category to every be nominated for Best Picture. The other unique trait of this movie is that it is one of only Three Pictures to take home all five of the biggest awards at the Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The other Films that have done this feat in the 89 year history are It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The 64th Academy Awards were special in their own way as well. It marked the first time the an animated movie was nominated for Best Picture and it was Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The other three movies that Orion had to beat out to take home the Best Picture Award are: Tristars' Bugsy; Warner Brother's JFK; and Columbia's The Prince of Tides.


I will say this about Silence of the Lambs... I will NEVER watch this movie again. I think I have mention before that I hate, loath, and despise scary and horror films. So, I will never be seeing this film again. Now despite the fact that this film was not something I will watch again it was a very interesting film. I can totally see why is won best picture and why everyone won the Best everything. I was very impressed and saw why it was/is very popular. However, never again!

Best Picture of 1990: Dances with Wolves

Injured in a battle in Tennessee during the Civil War, Lt. John J. Dunbar was not ready to loose his foot. He gets out of the hospital bed and goes back into the battle. By taking a horse and riding up to enemy lines, hoping to die in battle rather than in the hospital bed, he inadvertently distracts the Confederate soldiers while and the Union Army is able to win the battle. Being hailed as a hero he is able to get proper medical care and is able to pick where he would like to be posted at next. He chooses the western frontier at Fort Hays. After some interesting encounters with the Sioux Tribe he starts the process to no only making friends with them but becoming apart of their culture. In that he get the name Dances with Wolves.


Michael Blake, the writer, originally tried to sell the script in the 1980s. No one was really that interested in the story. However, Kevin Costner told Blake that he should make the script into a novel and if the novel was successful he would have a better shot at making it into a film. After several failed attempts to sell the book someone finally bought it. It was made into a paperback and Kevin Costner actually bought the rights to the book so he can try to get it made into a movie so he could direct it. It worked out in both of their favors. Costner was able to sell Orion on the movie and it was made later that year. Orion took home the Best Picture that year over: Paramount's Ghost and The Godfather III; Columbia's Awakenings; and Warner Brothers' Goodfellas.


I have to say that I liked the film. The film was a little slow for me at first and it made me not interested in keeping up with what is going on. By the time I got to the end of the film I was really wishing I had paid more attention. I will say that I will be willing to watch this film again just so I can understand it more and maybe actually enjoy it. It really was very good at the end of them film however!

Best Picture of 1989: Driving Miss Daisy

How do people make friends? Most of the time people are introduced by mutual friends, or they find they have something in common when they are kids. Most of the time your children don't hire someone to drive you around and force them to be apart of your life. That is what Boolie Werthan did to his mother Daisy. Miss Daisy woke up one morning to go and run errands and crashed her car into the neighbors driveway. We find that this was not the first time she has crashed her car in recent years. Her son decided that she needs to not being driving anymore. He bought her a new car, and along with the car came the driver that he hired for his mother, Hoke Colburn. Miss Daisy does not take kindly to Hoke at first, being that she sees him as the theft of her freedom to come and go as she pleases. However, Miss Daisy has finally met her match with Hoke. He is just as stubborn as she is and finally wears her down to allow him to drive her around where she needs to go. When she finally allows herself to become used to being driven around she see that there is more to Hoke than just being her chauffeur. After 25 years of this business arrangement Miss Daisy learns that Hoke means so much more to her than just being her chauffeur.


This sweet tale of friendship was nominated had a big year at the 1990 Academy Awards. It was nominated for nine awards and won four of them. Driving Miss Daisy currently holds the record for Miss Daisy herself, Jessica Tandy. Tandy won the Best Actress for her role at Miss Daisy and is currently the oldest person to win the Best Actress Award, she was 81 at the time. Driving Miss Daisy is also the first film since Grande Hotel to win Best Picture without the Director being nominated as well. Warner Brothers has the honor of being nominated for Best Picture this year with a list of other movies that would go on to be classic in their own right. Driving Miss Daisy beat out: Universal's Born on the Fourth of July and Field of Dreams; Touchstone's Dead Poets Society; and Miramax's My Left Foot.


Driving Miss Daisy and what I call a sneaky movie. Not because of the plot of anything but because of the timing of its release. In order to be nominated to an Academy Award the movie have to come out between January 1st and December 31st of the previous year. For example, Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture in the year 1990, but it was for the year 1989. Driving Miss Daisy was released for a limited release in December on 1989, and didn't go nationwide until early January in 1990. The crazy thing is that Driving Miss Daisy was only showed in three theaters during it's limited release. The movie made $73,745 in the three theaters in one weekend during its limited release. Driving Miss Daisy became the highest earning movie of 1989. This film more than deserved to win Best Picture. This film shows the true meaning of friendship in how it grows and how it shapes you as a person. It's a movie that lets you see that first impressions of people are not always right and that they can change. It's a film that needs to be experience again and again and shown to all of your best friends. There is a reason that this movie is a classic and if anyone tells you otherwise has not seen this movie.

Best Picture of 1988: Rain Man

Charlie Babbitt is a man who is out to make a fortune any way he can. Selling cars under the radar and trying to make a fast buck is his idea of living. He is on his way to a vacation when he gets a call from the family lawyer that his father died. Charlie makes a pit stop to show up at the funeral to say goodbye to his father, but really is there to get his hands on his dad's $3 million. When he gets to the reading of the will he finds that he was only left some prized rose bushes and his father's car, the only thing they both loved the same. The Money? Well, all of the money that was left to Raymond Babbitt, the oldest child of Charlie's parents who he never knew about. Truly pissed off at his father, he makes a visit to wear Raymond is staying and learns that he is in a home because Raymond is autistic. Realizing that Raymond has no concept of money he makes a bold move to take Raymond away from the home and try to get custody of him so he can control the millions. While on the road he realized not only was it a mistake to suddenly uproot Raymond from his home, and the way he does things, he realizes that he was missing in his life was really family and not money,


When you have big names in movies it's very hard for them to flop. Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise leading the way in this film made that a very true statement. Rain man was the highest grossing film of 1988, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards and took home four of them. Of the four it United Artist took home the coveted Best Picture Award. Their competition that year was tough but they be out the likes of: Warner Brothers' The Accidental Tourist and Dangerous Liaisons; Orion's Mississippi Burning; and 20th Century Fox's Working Girl for the top prize of the night.


Ok, so before this list I have never seen this movie before. I have heard many references to it but had no context for them really. I was looking forward to seeing it.. that is until I found out that Tom Cruise is in the film. I am sorry but I am not a Tom Cruise kind of girl. I don't see him as a great actor. He is a decent action star but not much his salt when it comes to acting. Dustin Hoffman more than makes up for the lack of skills the Tom Cruise has in this film. I loved the story about how these two found each other and became a family. I keep coming back to the great moments in this film the Hoffman put out for us to see. I understand why this film is a classic and why it's so loved. I love that they took a hard subject to talk about and were able to present it in a way that was not terrifying or hard to understand. This is a movie that I would definitely watch again, despite the fact Tom Cruise is in it.

Best Picture of 1987: The Last Emperor

The amazing story of Puyi, the last Emperor of the Forbidden City in China. It tells of his story of when he was chosen to be Emperor at the age of 5 and how he grew up in the city and was of things outside the walls and then forced to leave when he was in his late 20s. It showed that even though he was no longer in the Forbidden City many people still worshiped him as an Emperor, even though he no longer had any power.


Single handedly raising at $25 Million budget, Bernardo Bertolucci brought the story of The Last Emperor to life. Getting special permission from the Chinese government, Bertolucci was allowed to film inside the real Forbidden City. He was able to use every room and put everything he recorded there into his film. It was well worth it because the shots are spectacular. Columbia was able to take home the top honors of the night beating out: 20th Century Fox's Broadcast News; Paramount's Fatal Attraction; Columbia's own Hope and Glory; and MGM's Moonstruck.


Now when I was telling my dad that I was going to be watching this film he told me that he thought it was an ok movie. He said that the biggest part was trying to figure out how was he the Emperor of anything. Now I know a little big about this history of the Forbidden City but not enough to know why it's so important to have an Emperor there. Other than that my dad thought the film was good. Now, I still don't know why he needed to be the Emperor of anything, they didn't give much history on why it's so important in the film, but this film was so much more than ok. I thought it was one of the most beautiful films that I have ever seen. While the story is not crazy over the top it is wonderfully presented! It keeps you engaged through the whole film and you are constantly being shown the beauty of China. This is a film that you can tell was a true labor of love the whole crew. I will be watching this movie again and probably very soon.

Best Picture of 1986: Platoon

The winner of the 1986 Best Picture is Platoon. Platoon gives a realistic look what wartime in Vietnam was like.


Platoon was nominated for eight Academy Awards all together. Orion took home Best Picture over: Paramount's Children of a Lesser God; Orion's own Hannah and Her Sisters; Enigma Film Productions' The Mission; and Merchant Ivory A Room with a View.


I found myself being quite bored with this film. Yes, there is a lot of action to it but not a lot of plot. I am also not a huge fan of Charlie Sheen so I found myself having a hard time relating to the characters.

Best Picture of 1985: Out of Africa

The story of Karen Blixen is told in the movie Out of Africa. It recalls her life starting in 1913 when she moves to Africa and her time there.


the top prize went to Universal that night beating out: Warner Brothers' The Color Purple; Island Alive's Kiss of the Spider Woman; 20th Century Fox's Prizzi's Honorl; and Paramount's Witness.


Ok, this movie was so long and so boring! I love Meryl Streep I really do but I have no clue why this movie was made. This movie is loosely based of the real life of a woman named Karen Blixen but I have no idea who she is. I have no idea why she was important enough to make this movie. I think Steep did an amazing job with what she did in the film but the film itself is just a total bust.

Best Picture of 1984: Amadeus

Never has music caused such a stir in cinema. Usually when we think of music and movies we think about how music sets the tone. Music helps us to understand how the characters are acting and helps us to understand how they feel or what they are thinking. Never has music been the cause of jealousy or contemp. Yet, Amadeus shows that it is very possible for music to be the cause of these issue in film. This films follows the story of Mozart's life as told by rival composer Antonio Salieri. Salieri was the court composer in the 18th Century. He tells the priest that he used to be the most famous composer in Vienna until Mozart came on the scene. Salieri believed that God gave him the gift of music and wanted to use it to glorify him. He gave up everything so he could be the best composer alive. He believed that God turned his back on him when Mozart not only became more popular, but when he realized that Mozart was actually great at composing. Salieri them becomes obsessed with taking down Mozart any way he can.




Nominated for 11 Academy Awards in 1984 Amadeus was a powerhouse that never really was the popular of a film. It is one of five Best Picture Winners that never made it into the top five Weekend Box Office sales since they started recording the number in 1982. Orion took home the top prize bearing out: Enigma Film Productions The Killing Fields; G.W. Films A Passage to India; Tri-Star's Places in the Heart; and Columbia's A Soldier's Story.




I really had to look into the story once the movie was over. This was a great film but it seemed very out there in some parts. Turns out it was because this is a fictionalized biography of Mozart's life. It made for a very good film! It was a really interesting story to follow and it was thoroughly entertaining the whole way through! I loved that they only used Mozart's music through the whole film rather than added more. Mozart seems like a very interesting character in general, even if some parts of his life are made up for the film. This would be a film that I would really want to watch again.

Best Picture of 1983: Terms of Enderment

The bong between a mother and a daughter is something that can very rarely be broken. When it comes to Aurora and Emma nothing truer is ever said. Emma is the apple of Aurora's eye, even though she has a hard time saying so. When Emma gets married and eventually moves away Aurora has to find figure out her new life without her daughter in it as much. Aurora slowly starts to fall her new neighbor. After a few years of marriage, and three kids, Emma find that she has cancer. Everyone's life gets put on hold as they prepare for the worst that is to come.


Winning five out of the eleven Oscar nominations Terms of Endearment is a film that has become a classic over the years. The heartfelt story stars Shirley MacClaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson in a tale about life and loss. Paramount took home Best Picture over: Columbia's The Big Chill; Goldcrest's The Dresser; Warner Brothers The Right Stuff; and Universal's The Tender Mercies.


I was really nervous about this movie. I have had to watch a lot of the Best Pictures in a row because I was so far behind. So, throwing in a movie that is going make me cry my eyes out worried me. Honestly, I was disappointed when I didn't cry my eyes out. The story is interesting enough for me to get by I was not that impressed. I mean it was a good film but this legendary film that I have heard about for year did not seem like the movie that I watched. I get the impact and I love the story of a mother and daughter's love and I loved Jack Nicholson's part in the film. However, it was not one of the greatest films I have ever seen.

Best Picture of 1982: Gandhi

Revolution is a word that when most people think of they think of violence. Most people. The winner of the Best Picture in 1982 depicts a different type of revolution. It depicts a revolution that has lots of protests, but peaceful and nonviolent ones. It depicts a man who sought the best for his people but didn't want to cause a war. Gandhi was that man. He changed an entire world and got the best for his people by showing the world that peace and kindness can have just as much, if not more, change on the world the killing and threating people can. This marvelous film show the life of Gandhi and how he chose to change the world. It starts off with the injustice that kicked off his crusade. He was kicked off a train because he held a first class ticket. The train only allowed white first class passengers on the train. Since Gandhi is Hindu he was not allowed to be in that compartment even though he paid for the ticket. He told train line that was not going to third class. They threw him off the train at the next stop. This lead to him realizing how much injustice there was in India under the United Kingdom rule and decided he was going to change it in a peaceful way. It shows all of the great things he accomplished in his life before he was assassinated in 1948.




The mastermind behind this film is a man by the name of Richard Attenborough. This man produced and directed this film. This film was his passion project. This movie was released in 1982 but he had been waiting for 18 years before that to make the film. I can say that I had more than paid off. He, along with Columbia, took home the top honors of the night over: Columbia's own Tootsie; Universal's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Missing; and 20th Century Fox's The Verdict.


This film is so touching ever time I have seen it. Gandhi's life and his way of working are so inspiring! I don't know of anyone else in history that want able to unit a whole country of people in peaceful way the he has. Telling a story about one person can be very hard, especially if they are as loved as Gandhi is. Attenborough did a magnificent job of bringing Gandhi's story to the world and showing a glimpse into the man that Gandhi was.

Best Picture of 1981: Chariots of Fire

The Summer Olympics of 1924 was one of the most anticipated events to happen that year. For many it was to cheer on their nation in the games, for a select few it would be to compete. Chariots of Fire follows the story of two young men who are competing in the track and field potions of the races. Eric Liddell, who competes to give glory to God, and Harold Abrahams, who hopes his races help to overcome prejudice.


Nominated for seven Academy Awards Chariots of Fire would soon prove to be the best Enigma Film Productions had to offer. They took home the top prize after beating out: Cine-Neighbor's Atlantic City; ITC's On Golden Pond; Lucasfilm's Raiders of the Lost Ark; and Paramount's Reds.


I have to say this was a very inspiring movie. I was totally into from the first second the film came on. Everyone has heard that song either in a cartoon or another movie. Once the song comes on you want to know what happens. I loved the characters in this film. The fact that they are based off of real people is something that makes this film even more special. The research that went into this film is crazy! They went into film archives and real letters from the people that they are based on. I think that this film's research is what made it such a great film to enjoy.

Best Picture of 1980: Ordinary People

Every family will suffer a heartache at some point. When is comes to the Jarretts theirs is almost too hard to handle. They are the ideal upper-middle class family looks like. Great house, happy marriage, they live comfortably with two sons. That is until one day when the kids go out on the boat and it starts to storm. Their oldest son doesn't make it home. Their family situation is now trying to reach a new normal, but with Beth, the mother, still trying to act like nothing has changed at all it sends their younger son into a crisis. Conrad just got back from the hospital from a suicide attempt. His father now feels like he is walking on eggshells around Conrad where his mother acts like he never was in the hospital. Conrad starts working with Dr. Berger, a therapist, to deal with his emotions about his brother's death and how his mother is treating him. When Conrad's father starts to see Dr. Berger as well they start to see that things have to change and they need to start to deal with the new normal.








Paramount really did well with Ordinary People. It was nominated for six Academy Awards and won four of them. It was also one of the first times in film that psychiatric practice was shown in a positive light and the film received many praises for it! Ordinary People took home the Best Picture Award over: Universal's Coal Miner's Daughter; Paramount's own The Elephant Man; United Artists Raging Bull; and Renn Productions Tess.


This film takes a look at life after loss in a different way. Most films that deal with lost have a happy ending and this long process of getting to the issue. While some issues do still take a while to get to in this film, and some are never resolved in the short timeline, the big issue of getting help is taken care of rather quickly in the film. We start to see a development in the character early on rather than about half way through the film. We really see how every handle loss differently and how you handle loss can effect others. It does an amazing job at tackling big issue that movies haven't really done before like child loss and suicide. I think this is a movie that is underrated and need to be seen an appreciated more often.

Best Picture of 1979: Kramer vs. Kramer

One of the darkest days of anyone's life is that day you find that your marriage is over. It's even harder when you don't see it coming. Ted Kramer was on of the ones that didn't know there was problems that his wife was having in their marriage until him came home from work and she said she was leaving. Confused and angry Ted spends the next few days in denial that Joanna was coming back. After a few weeks he realizes that she is not and starts getting his life back on track and creating a new routine and relationship with his son Billy. Fifteen months after Joanna leaves Ted finds that she is back in town. After not telling him where she was, and having hardly any communication with their son, Joanna says that she wants custody. Ted does not want this because she gave him fully custody in their divorce. Taking the issue to court is the only path they can take to come to agreement, but this a path is filled with sadness and heartache.






With this film being as heartfelt and emotional as it is you could think there would be some backlash or craziness in the making of this film. However, there doesn't seem to be. The only thing that I could see that shocked me is that this film has yet to be selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. However, I hope they do add it because I personally think that any film that wins Best Picture needs to be preserved. Columbia seemed to be the underdog in the Best Picture category this year because 20th Century Fox had 3 out of 5 nominations with: All That Jazz, Breaking Away, and Norma Rae. The other underdog was a company called Zoetrope and their movie nominated for Best Picture was Apocalypse Now.




Now this is a movie I can get behind. With the most of the 70's Best Picture Winners I did not like I was not thrilled to really watch this one. However, it took me by surprise. This movie was about so much more than divorce. This movie really showed a single dad life. Like their real life not the "ideal" single dad life. It a side that you don't even see much about today in films let alone a whole movie. Dustin Hoffman is spectacular in this film and really hits home on how much he loves this his kid and what he is willing to sacrifice for him. I some of the film is him finding and trying to keep his job because no one in his building understand what it means to be a single father. They are all so used to the mother taking care of the kid that having a full time father on their hands confuses them and they cut him no slack for all of the effort he is putting into his family life. I think this is a beautiful movie that really shows a shift in family dynamics.

Best Picture of 1978: The Deer Hunter

War changes people. That is what everyone who has ever experienced war first hand will tell you. You come out different that who you were when you went in. The Deer Hunter is a movie that takes you on this journey or change. The story is about two brothers and their friends who experience the Vietnam War first hand. They go in young men with the idea of that war is a game and come back learning that they didn't know as much as they thought.


While this movie gives, what many people have said, a very realistic look at what was going on during the Vietnam War this movie did create controversy. One of the themes that plays through this movie is Russian Roulette. This very dangerous game was controversial in the movie not because of the game itself but because that is was used a "technique" by the Vietnamese in the movie. However, according to many historians there has never been any recorded instances of them using Russian Roulette at all. Regardless of the controversy Universal took home Best Picture that year beating out: United Artists' Coming Home; Paramount's Heaven Can Wait; Columbia's Midnight Express; and 20th Century Fox's An Unmarried Woman. The Deer Hunter also got the honor of being selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 1996.


Ok, this movie has been way better than the last three. I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. What I did love was seeing all of these actors that I have grown up with in some of their very first roles. Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, and Robert Di Nero among some of them. I love to seeing the famous people in these roles and knowing what they have done since then. I may not have liked the movie totally over all but I did love the acting.

Best Picture of 1977: Annie Hall

To be in love is an interesting thing. Never is it more interesting when it's between two completely different people. That is never more true than the story of Annie Hall. Annie and Alvy are two people on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Annie is outgoing and hopeful about the world around her. Where Alvy is a bit more introverted and doesn't see everything in sunshine. Yet, they fall in love and try to work through their problems together... if only for a little while.


Woody Allen and United Artiest made a great combination in 1977 with this film. Annie Hall beat out: 20th Century Fox's Julia and The Turning Point; MGM's The Goodbye Girl; and Lucasfilm's Star Wars. In 1992 Annie Hall was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.


Like I said in the last post 70's films seem to not be my jam. I was not a fan of this movie either. I found it very boring and way too long. I am more than shocked that this film beat out Star Wars for Best Picture.

Best Picture of 1976: Rocky

The World Heavyweight Championship is an honor in boxing that only a handful have achieved. Many spend years working their way to be able to compete for such a title. When Apollo Creed puts his championship on the line his contender can no longer fight due to an injury. When he finds that all other fighters are unable to compete he announces that a unknown local will have the opportunity to fight for the belt. Rocky Balboa is the lucky boxers that gets the chance to step into the ring and face Apollo Creed. He has five weeks to go from second rate boxer to one of the greatest of all time.


Rocky is a film that was lovingly put together by Sylvester Stallone. He wrote the screenplay in about three days and sold the script to United Artist. Taking up after he character Rocky Balboa, Stallone had to fight for his movie to be made how he saw fit. United Artist wanted to cast someone like Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds for the part of Rocky. Stallone wanted the role for himself. It ended up paying off. Rocky made Stallone a huge star almost over night, was the highest grossing film in 1976, and went on to produce six sequels for the franchise. Rocky knocked out United Artists' own Bound for Glory; Warner Brothers' All the President's Men; MGM's Network; and Columbia's Taxi Driver. In 2006 Rocky also had the honor of being selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.


I am just going to think I hate all 70's movies. I don't think I have liked any of the Best Picture Winners so far in the 70's except The Sting. Other than that nothing. This film I felt was just a boring as the rest of them. I know that is a film that people totally love and totally relate to but I don't. I don't see the appeal in this film. I don't see why it's so loved by many. I also can not tell you if I thought it was just the movie as a whole or the acting. With The Godfather I can tell you that I did not like how the movie was set up. I loved the acting and the actors but I did not like the screenplay. This movie I think it was just all of it. I am not fond of Stallone to begin with and the fact that he wrote it really shows. I don't think it was a well put together film and I do not think it should have won this award.