Best Picture of 2016: Moonlight

Chiron is a kid that grows up in rough neighborhood. He is quiet, doesn't really stand up for himself. The movie shows how he grows up and how he finds out who he is.

A24's Moonlight had very crazy night at the 89th Academy Awards. Mahershala Ali took home the Best Actor award that night, and this made history because he is the first Muslim to win an acting award at the Oscars. History was also made when La La Land was mistakenly announced as the Best Picture. The announcers were given the envelope for Best Actress by mistake thinking it was the Best Picture award. The Director for La La Land handled it really well when he came up and said how happy he was the Moonlight Actually won. The other nominations that night were: Paramount's Arrival and Fences; Summit Entertainment's Hacksaw Ridge and La La Land; CBS's Hell or High Water; 20th Century Fox's Hidden Figures; The Weinstein Company's Lion; and Amazon's Manchester by the Sea. 

I have to say I did not want to watch this film and I kind of wish I didn't. I didn't like it plain and simple. I was kind of board of it and it moved on the slow side. 

Best Picture of 2015: Spotlight

In the early 2000's a story broke on Boston the would change everything. It was reported that 70 Priests in the Boston area were reported for having sexually abused children. It's a story that has uncovered thousands of other cases across the world. This is the story about the investigative group Spotlight found the story and discovered the hidden secrets of the Catholic Church.

Open Road's Spotlight took home the top prize that night at the 88th Annual Academy Awards. The other movies nominated that night were: Paramount's The Big Short; DreamWorks Bridge of Spies; Fox Searchlight's Brooklyn; Warner Brothers' Mad Max: Fury Road; 20th Century Fox's The Martian and The Revenant; and A24's Room.

I have to say that when this film came out I was a little worried about it. Knowing how media can sometime depict religion I was a little nervous. I was nervous because New Media can take any religion and make it look like something very negative and ugly no matte what is happening. IN this situation where something ugly was happening in a religious system I was afraid they were going to try and destroy all religion in that of itself. I was very wrong. I am so glad that I was very wrong. The writers, actors, and directors did an excellent job of shining the light of the horrid truth that was happening in the system, without saying that "everyone who is religious is a horrible person". I don't even recall them opening a Bible, or any form of religious text, to help make support claims to either side of the story. The only time a book was opened was for a directory of where are the priests were living in that year. They did an excellent job of showing that certain people needed to be held responsible for their actions and the system needed to be changed. Not that everything in the system was wrong and ignorant and the people who followed that faith were stupid as well. They stuck to the facts and left an individual person's faith in God out of it. I can respect, and was true impressed, that they did that.  

Best Picture of 2014: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virture of Ignorance)

Riggen Thomson is an actor best known for he superhero role in Birdman. After some time of playing the character he decides he wants to known for more. He goes out and tried to make it in other movie, but never really have been as popular. He now has decided to make a Broadway Show of a story by Raymond Carver. This is where we meet him. Becoming obsessed with making the show perfect, and the stress of his daughter getting out of rehab, and this new actor he hired last minute that is diving him up with wall we watch as he is working to make the play a success while being haunted by his old friend Birdman.

Nominated for nine Academy Awards Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) took home the Best Picture. When it came up to the idea of shooting the whole movie in one continuous shot many people thought Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu was crazy! If the film was done in a single shot then you could not go back and rearrange the scene, you could not cut pieces from the same reshot scenes to make it the best. It was all or nothing at all for every single take. It surely did pay off because on of the four Award it won that night was for Best Cinematography. Fox Searchlight claimed the Best Picture Award over: Their own movie The Grand Budapest Hotel; Warner Brothers' American Sniper; IFC's Boyhood; The Weinstein Company's The Imitation Game; Paramount's Selma; Focus Features The Theory of Everything; Sony Pictures' Whiplash. 

Ok, I have been looking forward to watching this film since I started this list two years ago! This is the movie that made me start watching all of the Best Pictures in the first place. I wasn't really that interested in seeing this film until I saw Michael Keaton and Edwards Norton on my favorite late night show Conan. During both of the interview they talked about how the movie was filmed in one shot. I thought that was fascinating because the only other movie that I have known to attempt such a feat was Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. Since I just saw Rope for the first time a month of so before the interviews I needed to make the comparison. Then because of the time difference between the film I got to wondering how movies have changed over the years of Best Picture films. I have to say this movie was crazy, a little strange, dramatic, funny, and overall a fun story to watch! I would had this movie to a must see list any day!

Best Picture of 2013: 12 Years a Slave

Solomon Northup was a free African American living in the north in 1841. A talented violinist, Northup was out looking for his next gig to play at when he is introduced to two men. They are looking for a great talent and start talking to him about him joining their circus. They take him out to dinner and show him a great time. He starts to feel really sick and then is taken back to his hotel room to rest up. The next morning he wakes up in a brick room chained to the wall. He finds out the he has been kidnapped and sold as a slave. We follow Northup for the next 12 years of his life to see the story of the people he met and what his life was like 12 Years A Slave. 

Stories like Northup's do not come around every day. It is also stories like Northup's that are rarely talked about in school. These are the types of stories that get people interest in history. The personal stories of people who have actually live through these time that we hardly hear about. Steve McQueen bringing Northup's story to life proved not only a great story about human spirit to tell, but a story that help people of today really relate and think about what situations like this really were in the past. With the assistance of Fox Searchlight, McQueen was able to being in a few Oscars that night. Other's nominated for Best Picture that night were: Columbia's American Hustle and Captain Phillips; Focus Features' Dallas Buyers Club; Warner Brothers' Gravity and Her; Paramount's Nebraska and The Wolf of Wall Street; and The Weinstein Company's Philomena.

This is a movie that is was very interested in seeing since it came out. However, when it comes to movies about slavery they tend to be very gruesome and overly shocking. I am not saying that slavery was not gruesome or overly shocking. I am saying that how Hollywood plays up those part it tends to overshadow the writing, acting, and other aspects that made that time period as bad as it was. The violence tends to be the focus point of the story rather the story itself. This film did not do any of that. It was violent and it was shocking... but it was appropriate and not excessive. It aided the film to give it meaning and suspense. It was the "money shot" that some of these movie give them just to sell the ticket. This movie had a story that wanted to be told and it was told in a beautiful, powerful, and meaningful way.

Best Picture of 2012: Argo

Argo is the story about how six Americans were saved during the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979 through 1980.


Argo was one of only nine Best Picture Nominations at the 85th Academy Awards. Warner Brothers' took home the prize over: Sony Pictures' Amour; Fox Searchlight's Beasts of the Southern Wild; The Weinstein Company's Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook; Universal's Les Misérables; 20th Century Fox's Life of Pi; DreamWorks' Lincoln; and Columbia's Zero Dark Thirty.


I have to say that this was another film that I could not get into. I have a hard time relating to Ben Affleck as an actor. While I like him more and more as Batman I still have a hard time with his other stuff. The concept and the story of how they got them out is great but I feel is was better suited to be told in a documentary rather than a feature film.

Best Picture of 2011: The Artist

The roaring 20's is an idealistic time to be alive. The economy is thriving and the movies are busting out to great stuff. People love going to see their favorite stars on the big screen. However, everything starts to change when they start adding "talking" to pictures. It's an idea that many in Hollywood was going to fail. After the public falls in love with idea many movies quickly change their style of movie to include talking pictures. However, not a lot a actor have the chops in order to make in talking films. This film follows the story of silent movie actor trying create films in a time when actors realty start to find their voice, and the love story of a young up and come actress who learns that sometimes silence is golden.




The first 100% black and white movie since 1960 to win Best Picture is one of the best to ever come out. The Artist was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won five of them, included Best Actor. It's a picture that is so unique the it hard to compare it to any other movie in this day and age. The Weinstein Company apparently knows how to make hit movie this day in age because this is second year in a row that they took home the Best Picture Award. They beat out: Fox Searchlight's The Decedents and The Tree of Life; Warner Brothers' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; DreamWorks' The Help and War Horse; Paramount's Hugo; Sony Pictures' Midnight in Paris; and Columbia's Moneyball.


I have loved this film since the first time I saw it on DVD. My only regret about the film is that I did not go and watch it while it was out on the big screen. I always find something new about the film every time I watch it. It's a new experience every time. I know that a lot of people were mad when Jean Dujardin won for Best Actor because he was not an America. I am sorry but that is stupid. If you did an amazing enough job to be nominated for the award, of a movie was the shown in America and was allowed to be apart of the Academy Awards, than if you win you deserved to win the award because of the job you did not because of the nationality. If they didn't want to run the risk of him winning than they shouldn't have allowed it be in the running. However, I digress. This film is one of my all time favorite movies and I am actually going to make my Best Friend Alaina watch this film so I can nerd out.

Best Picture of 2010: The King's Speech

Elegant, proper, well spoken, and confident are some of the way you would describe a royal. That you how they are portrayed in every movie, every book and basically every way you see them. However, when you meet Prince Albert, the Duke of York, you quickly learn that well spoken and confident do not seem to be his strong suites. Prince Albert has spoken with a stutter since he was a child. He has gotten a lot of help from several speech therapists but none to any avail. That is until he meets that man by the name of Lionel Logue. The non-medically trained therapist learns a little bit about Prince Albert and starts working with him that day. The Prince is very much over being humiliated and believes he will never be cured. After a surprising result Prince Albert decides to start working with him. He soon learns that it's a good thing because shortly after Prince Albert, King George V, dies and his older brother takes the throne. However, through a crazy scandal of the time, Albert's older brother is forced off the throne and the crown will now goes to Prince Albert.




Filmed in a total of 39 days, The King's Speech is one of the most beautiful pieces of works to ever come on the big screen. The Weinstein Company did a phenomenal job and took home a total of four Academy Awards. This film had a stiff competition of the Best Picture Award that year. They other films nominated were: Fox Searchlight's 127 Hours and Black Swan; Paramount's The Fighter and True Grit; Warner Brother's Inception; Focus Features' The Kids Are All Right; Columbia's The Social Network; Disney's Toy Story 3; and Roadside Attractions' Winter's Bone.


This was the first Academy Awards that I really was starting to pay attention to what was going one. I remember this being a really hard choice just from what I know of the movies. Now that it's been a few years I haven most of these films it's still a hard choice! I will say that this is one of the best films that I have ever seen. You can't ever go wrong with Colin Firth because he knows how to really understand and do justice to a character and he totally deserved the Academy Award for Best Actor that he won.

Best Picture of 2009: The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is the story about three officers in Iraq who work in EOD.


The 2009 Academy Awards marked a very big change. The number of Best Pictures that were allowed to be nominated from five movies to Ten. The last time that many movies were allowed to be nominated was in 1943. Summit Entertainment took this movie ran with it! It won a total of six Academy Awards and making history for Kathryn Bigelow to be the only female director to win the Best Director Award. The Hurt Locker took home the biggest honor that night over: 20th Century Fox's Avatar; Warner Brother's The Blind Side; Tristar's District 9; Sony Pictures' An Education; The Weinstein Company's Inglorious Bastards; Lionsgate's Precious; Focus Features' A Serious Man; Disney's Up; and Paramount's Up in the Air.


I am sorry to say that I could not get into this movie. I understood why it was an important movie and why the story needed to be told but I could not for the life of me get myself interested. Honestly, I am made after making the list of movie that it beat out to win and wonder how in the world this movie was better than The Blind Side, Avatar, or Up. Chalk this one up to "I do not know why this movie won".

Best Picture of 2008: Slumdog Millionaire

An extraordinary tale about Jamal and how he got to be on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. From the life in the slums with his older brother, and best friend, to becoming a contestant on the biggest game show in India.




Fox Searchlight and Warner Brother teamed up to take this sleeper hit and turned it into an Academy Award winner. Originally, the movie was only to be released in India, with no hope of making it to the US. When some of  the theaters needed more "independent" movie toward the end of the year they pick up this movie and it became an sensation from there. Slumdog Millionaire took home the Best Picture Award over: Paramount's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Universal's Frost/Nixon; Focus Features' Milk; and The Weinstein Company's The Reader.


The title of this film makes it sound like that is a thriller with a lot of shooting and turf wars. I don't know why I thought the title made it sound like that but it did. I could not have been more wrong in my life! This is one of those movies I dreaded watching and ended up loving. This has to be one of my favorite this year. Dev Patel is one of the actors who I very much enjoyed watching last year in my Year of Review challenge and finding out he was in the movie made it all the better. This would be a movie I would suggest anyone to watch.

Best Picture of 2007: No Country for Old Men

A hitman chasing after a man who stole money during a drug deal are being chased by the local sheriff in 1980's Texas.

Paramount took home four Academy Awards for No Country for Old Men. In order to do so they had to take down: Focus' Atonement; Fox Searchlight's Juno; Warner Brothers' Michael Clayton; and Paramount's There Will Be Blood.

I was so board watching this that I almost turned it off. I thought that I might be one of those movies that once you got to the end you would at least like it and it was not that way at all. I wish I could have gotten my two hours of my life back. 

Best Picture of 2006: The Departed

Boston. One of the most historic cities in the United Starts. It's beautiful and full of life. It's also filled with mystery and murder. Although Boston is a wonderful place it does have a secret underbelly that is controlled by the Irish Mob. Still a thriving part of the community the mob is still out to make a buck using whatever they can. Frank Costello, the head of the mob, is the man looking to make the money. He is looking to do it anyway he can. He gains the trust of a young boy, Conor Donovan, who grows up to be a detective. Donovan become Costello's mole in the BPD. Donovan soon learns that the BPD have a mole in the Costello's gang.

Wining four Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards The Departed is a thrilling tale that will keep ou on the edge of your seat. Warner Brothers took home the Best Picture Award over: Paramount's Babel; DreamWorks Letters from Iwo Jima; Fox Searchlight's Little Miss Sunshine; and Miramax's The Queen. 

I have heard very good things about this movie. Also, who doesn't love Leonardo DiCaprio? So I was very excited to get to this movie! It was a great film! I liked it much more than I thought that I would. It's a movie that I would recommend for anyone to watch.

Best Pictrue of 2005: Crash

The story of how several lives converge over a two day period in LA. From different backgrounds and stories we are forced to face out everyday prejudices.

 Lionsgate had a very interested concept of a movie on their hands. This low budget film seem to have paid off by being nominated for six Academy Awards and taking home three of them. Crash took home Best Picture by beating out: Focus Features Brokeback Mountain; Sony Pictures' Capote; Warner Independent's Good Night, and Good Luck; and DreamWorks Munich.

Before I watched this film I started seeing a lot of stay saying that this film should not have won Best Pictures. I have to say that I have to agree. I did not enjoy this picture. I thought that the ideas of confronting what you think of people would have been handled differently. I feel that it did not do what they wanted to do in an in effective way. 

Best Picture of 2004: Million Dollar Baby

Maggie Fitzgerald has a dream of becoming a professional boxer. However, there is one problem with her dream. It takes years to get to that point, and most start training when they are young. Being 31 years old Maggie is too old to accomplish that dream now. At least what is what gym owner, and boxing manager, Frank Dunn has told her. Frank refuses to train girls. He won't do it under any circumstances. However, Frank can't help but be pulled toward her to coach her. He tries to pawn her off to another manger at his gym but when he goes to see her fight he does not like how Maggie is being taught. Frank takes over as manager is the in middle of the match and leads her to victory. After many wins, and many first round KO's, Maggie is on her way around the world in the welterweight class. They both seem to be getting what they have need from each other; a coach, a teacher, a parent, a daughter, and a friend. However, not everything lasts forever.

Million Dollar Baby was nominated for 7 Academy Awards and ended up taking home Four of them. After years of being stuck in development Clint Eastwood was finally able to gather a budget from two different companies in order to get the movie made. It seemed to have paid off for them because this film in now in the book of one of the best movies ever made. Warner Brothers' bet paid off and took home Best Picture over: Their own movie The Aviator; Miramax's Finding Neverland; Universal's Ray; and Fox Searchlight's Sideways. 

Ok, so I was little unsure about this movie because of Clint Eastwood. I know that sounds crazy but it's true. I know that he does a lot of Westerns and I know that if you are "type cast" into a role like that it's hard to not do anything else like it. I was very shocked by how wonderful this film was! Outside of Eastwood being in the film, I was worried that it was going to be like very other sports film you see. That it would be predictable that the underdog comes in and wins that championship and lives happily ever after. Oh, was a so wrong! From when you meet Maggie you start to realize that yes she is the underdog but this is not going to go how I think it will. It ends up being the beautifully unexpected story that stays with you well after you have watched it. It's about relationships and what they needed in order to fee like they have done something with their rather than needed to be the best at something. If really it one of the most beautiful stories I have ever gotten the privilege to see. 

Best Picture of 2003: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The continued story of Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring on their path to save their world from reign of true evil and darkness. Although they are no longer together each find their own path they play on saving their loved ones to hopefully be reunited and bring hope back to the world at war.

This tale of can not be told correctly if you do not watch the other two movies before hand. If you think you can understand it you won't, trust me! The Lord of the Rings trilogy is very unique. It was the first set of films that were written and shot simultaneously. All three movies where done one right after another. All the actors that were in the film were contracted to be there through all three films. That feat was not done again until the making of The Hobbit films. Return of the King did a clean sweep at the Academy Awards taking home all 11 awards it was nominated for. In doing so it became the first fantasy film to do a clean sweep. It is also tied with Ben-Hur and Titanic will the most Oscar wins in history. Cinema took home the Best Picture award over: Focus Features Lost in Translation; 20th Century Fox's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; Warner Brother's Mystic River; and DreamWorks Seabiscuit. 

I have to say that I was really looking forward to watching the film. I was also a little nervous because I have heard great things about it but I didn't want to not like it. I have to say I LOVE this film! So much so that the trilogy in that of itself is my all time favorite story of films and Return of the King and my 12th favorite movie of all time. I had a friend of mine ask me what I wanted this Christmas after I saw the films and I told her that I wanted the trilogy set! I really hope I get it! These movies are all very long but it's one of those films where I was not board for one second or too confused. I had trouble keeping up with the name but that happens for me in every film the first time I watch them! I will say that I will love and enjoy these films for a long time to come!

Best Picture of 2002: Chicago

The 1920s, the sights, the music, the short dress and hair to match. It was a fast pace changing world during the time. The booze was running just as wild as the women. That was not any more true when it came to Mrs. Roxie Hart. Roxie dreams of being on the stage and is willing to do anything to get herself there. She starts cheating on her husband with a man who says she can get her into show business. When she learns that he was lying to her just to get a piece of ass she goes into a rage and shoots him dead. He is on death row and is will to do anything to get out. She hires Billy Flynn, a lawyer who has never lost a case, to get her off. The next few months is a crazy mix of winning over the public before her trial. All of this set the satisfying sounds of Jazz.

In one of the best musicals to ever be brought to the silver screen Chicago was deserving to win Best Picture. It was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and took home 6 of them. Miramax had a hit on their hand. Not only that but this movie is one of the biggest reasons as to why musicals have started to make their way back to the big screen. Chicago beat out: Miramax's Gangs of New York; Paramount's The Hours; New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; and Focus Features' The Pianist.

God to I love this movie! It has been some time since I have seen it but as soon at the song All That Jazz  started to play I was HYPED! I can listen to these songs all day. Even as I am typing this I am re-watching The Cellblock Tango  for the third time. I am going be singing these songs all day! I got the privilege to see the play earlier this year. It's very different from the play but the movie does an excellent job of not loosing the feeling of the play and following along with the narrative that the play does. If you are looking for an amazing musical and wildly entertaining movie to watch Chicago is the one you need to watch next!

Best Picture of 2001: A Beautiful Mind

Princeton University is a place where some of the most brilliant mathematicians have studied. One truly special one stand out and that is a man by the name of John Nash. In 1947 Nash is a graduate student at the university working on an original idea to be published. He is having some trouble balancing his personal life with his professional one. That is until he meets Alice and she asks him out on a date. Around this same time John is asked to work on a secret government project. Over the next few years he marries Alice but isn't allowed to tell he what he is working on. He starts saying the people are following him because of his project and while teaching on day he is chased out of the classroom. Come to find the people who are chasing him are people who work at a psychiatric hospital. Nash is diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia and the "government project" he has been working on is actually not real.

A Beautiful Mind was nominated for eight Academy Awards that year it ended up leaving with four. Although the movie did win Best Picture it was highly ridiculed for the inaccuracy of John Nash's life. However, the film makers did say that there weren't trying to make it 100% accurate. DreamWorks was very happy to take the Best Picture home over: USA's Gosford Park; Miramax's In the Bedroom; New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; and 20th Century Fox's Moulin Rouge!.

I have to say I had a hard time watching Russell Crowe for the first few minutes in this film. That was because I literally just turned off Gladiator and turn on this movie. It's very different role than he played in Gladiator but he does it flawlessly! This movie kind of keeps you guessing through just about the whole thing. You start to questions weather or not he is really seeing this people and other are out to get him or if he really is schizophrenic. I would recommend for anyone to watch that is for sure!

Best Picture of 2000: Gladiator

The growth of the Roman Empire was no small feat. You need an army, a huge army, and a great General to command it. Maximus was that General. He spent nearly three years service the Caesar and expanding the Empire. When they finally conquered Germania the Caesar was with him and wanted to know how Maximus could be rewarded for doing so much for him. All Maximus wanted to do was go home to his beloved wife and son. The Caesar wanted Maximus to do one more thing for him. The Caesar knew that his son, the next in line, would not make a good ruler. He was too selfish and hot heading and Caesar wanted the Empire to go back to the people and not be ruled by selfish being that he has been fighting back again. He wanted Maximus to be next in line after he was gone. When the Caesar told his son, Commodus, that he would not rule and Maximus would instead Commodus killed his father. In an act of rage he captured Maximus and charged him was deserting and ordered him killed. Before he was taken away Commodus tells him that he is going to kill his wife and son. Maximus escapes and tries to stop the awful fates that have fallen upon his family, but it was too late. He is so heartbroken that when scavengers come to his home he doesn't try to fight them off and gets captured and sold as a slave. It ends up being a blessing in disguise becomes he is sold to a man who trains slaves to fight as gladiators. Thus starting his path back to Rome and face to face with Commodus.

Gladiator did not come to be without some fights of it own. The first part of the production the script was not even finished, or up to the actors satisfaction. Russell Crowe even walked off the set a few times when he wasn't given answers about the script. Clearly, things worked out and Universal took home the top prize. The other movies in the running that year were: Universal's own Traffic and Erin Brockovich, Miramax's Chocolat, and Sony Pictures' Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

I was very excited to watch this film again because I haven't seen it since high school. I wasn't excited to watch it then because I thought it was just a bloody film that was just about killing people. I didn't think there was any meaning behind the story. Boy was I wrong! I have to say this film has a ton of heart and the characters are wonderfully developed. This is a great watch for anyone! It's does have a little bit of something for everyone! 

Best Picture 1999: American Beauty

Lest Burnham is the typical middle class man. He has a wife and a daughter, a good job, and what every other typical middle class family has. However, he hates his life. His wife has become cold over the years, their daughter is a typical moody teenager, and his "good job" totally sucks. Needless to say he is having a mid-life crisis. Lester decides to make a change in his life but will these changes be the death of him?

American Beauty is a wonderful drama by DreamWorks. It took home Best Picture over: Miramax's The Cider House, Warner Brothers' The Green Mile, Touchstone's The Insider, and Hollywood's The Sixth Sense. 

I have to say that this film was much more interesting that I thought it was going to be. A little weird but really good. I think the this is one of my favorite Kevin Spacey roles because he is just amazing in this film. I think I would be willing to watch this film again maybe not really soon but I would watch it again.

Best Picture 1998: Shakespeare in Love

When you think of the legendary William Shakespeare you think first of Romeo and Juliet. You don't think of Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. I am sure that everyone has never even heard of that play before. Shakespeare is writing this play for a local theater and is have a bit or writer block. Even though the play is not finished he goes start auditions for Romeo. Viola, a young woman who is head over heels in love with Shakespeare's work, dresses up as a boy and auditions for the role. When he wants more information from her she runs away back to her home. In trying to search for the boy Shakespeare finds that young woman and falls in love with her. They more time they spend together he finds inspiration for his play. He starts to base the play off of their love story and changes it from Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter to Romeo and Juliet. The reasoning behind this change is because Viola is engaged to be married to another man and has been told not to go to the theater and their story as they know it will not end happily. 

Miramax's incredibly fictional story of Shakespeare in Love is an entertaining story. It's funny dramatic and light hearted. It won seven Academy Awards that year. The top prize went to them over: PolyGram's Elizabeth, Miramax's own Life is Beautiful, DreamWorks' Saving Private Ryan, and 20th Century Fox' The Thin Red Line. 

This was a good film. It was sweet and entertaining but I am not sure if it was really better than Saving Private Ryan or Life is Beautiful. This is one of those times when you want to say that the Academy made a mistake somewhere. Don't get me wrong good film but I wouldn't say one of the best. 

Best Picture of 1997: Titanic

The RMS Titanic has been a story that has fascinated people over the 100 plus years since it's sinking in 1912. Documentaries have been made of it, movies have been made out of it, and books have even told the different heroes of that awful night of the sinking. However, not one story has been able to capture the sheer majesty and horrific outcome that became of the "Ship of Dreams" as James Cameron's Titanic has. The tale not only tells of the fleeting heroics of some on the ship but that also of the ultimate sadness and loss of life and captures all of it in a love story that is as complicated and beautiful as the ship itself.

With a record shattering $200 Million budget James Cameron was able to turn the "Ship of Dreams" into a Dream come true. He was able to bring to life the RMS Titanic to life in a way that others before him could not. Six moths of research, a wall full covered in storylines, two Titanic Historians, and a script that was able to transport an audience to fell like they are traveling on the ship themselves really shows by Titanic won Best Picture in 1997. The project was so massive that both Paramount and 20th Century Fox had to team up in order to bring the ship back to life. They made a good investment because Titanic became the first film in history to ever break the $1 Billion mark. It no wonder they Tristar's As good as It Gets, Fox Searchlight's The Full Monty, Miramax's Good Will Hunting, and Warner Brothers' L.A. Confidential could not take down the monumental Titanic to win Best Picture.

This is one of my favorite movies that I have seen. Not quite my top ten but it's one of the best to have ever been. I have watched it three time this year and have been to the Titanic Museum in Gatlinburg once this year as well. Reading about the people that were on the ship and what happened to them really hit home and when you are watching the movie and seeing all of these people you think that the person I read about could be portrayed by this actor and seeing their fate is really crazy. James Cameron does an amazing job and really throwing you into the world of Titanic and making you feel as if you are walking with Jack and Rose on the boat and not just watching a movie.

Best Picture of 1996: The Endlgish Patient

People do crazy things when they are in love. Sometimes they make big gestures, sometimes it's one of those race through the airport and stop them from leaving scenes. Sometimes, it's an affair in the middle of the desert, while the impending doom of war is on the brink. Almasy is a Hungarian Cartographer looking for the Cave of Swimmers in Egypt. During this time their group is joined by a British couple Geoffrey and Katharine Clifton and it doesn't take long for the sparks to begin to fly. Between the sandstorms, the discoveries, and the fact that the war is threating to end all funding to their exploration Almasy and Katharine somehow find a way to start their forbidden love affaire and keep is from her husband. The threat of war is luring over their heads at the same time Geoffrey is starting to suspect that there is more to Katharine and Almasy then meets the eye. Katharine tries to end things so she can be a good wife, and leave. However, it doesn't last long. When Almasy's exploration is called off because war has finally broke out Geoffrey gets word to Almasy that he and Katharine are going to come and get him in his private plan. In a rage of jealousy Geoffrey purposely crashes his plan in an attempt to kill not only Almasy but Katharine and himself as well. Almasy gets out of the way of the plane just in time but the crash kills Geoffrey instantly leaving Katharine seriously injured and in dire need of medical help. 

Winning nine out of twelve Academy Award nominations The English Patient is a love story told unlike any other film to grace the big screen. With its captivating story of adventure, tortured soul, and nature of the human spirit Miramax has every right to be proud to say that they have one of the best films in history made by them. The English Patient took home the prize over: PolyGram's Fargo, Tristar's Jerry Maguire, October's Secrets & Lies, and Fine Line Features Shine. 

I have heard of this movies over the years. I was scared that this was going to be one of those movies that was all hype and nothing to show for. Man, was I wrong! I have done nothing over the last few days but think about this movie! Think about how beautiful of a story it was and how Damn good Ralph Fiennes was in it! This has been officially put in as one of my top ten favorite movies of all time. 

Best Picture of 1995: Bravehart

Love conquers all is something that we have heard all the time. However, when love dies unexpectedly it can have some major consequences. Scotland had no idea what they were in for when the Englishmen killed William Wallace's wife. Wallace is a Scottish warrior who has training most of his life by his uncle after his father and brother died. He was not planning of leading an attack against the English until they took his wife's life. After that it became his mission to get revenge and freedom for the Scotts.

Paramount did very well with the movie Braveheart. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards. It took home Best Picture over: Universal's Apollo 13 and Babe, Miramax's II Postino: The Postman, and Columbia's Sense and Sensibility.

Ok this film was entertaining enough but I was not overwhelmed by it. I have a lot of people of people who crazy love this film but I guess I didn't find the appeal in it as they did. Don't get me wrong great film but not one of the best I have ever seen. 

Best Picture of 1994: Forrest Gump

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are gonna get". If you don't know that line you have never seen Forrest Gump. We meet Forrest at the beginning of our story in Savannah, Georgia at a bus stop. Being as social as he is he starts sharing is story with the people who join him on the bench. Telling them about where he lived and how he grew up. How he went to serve in the Vietnam War and is the owner of Bubba Gump Shrimp. However, he mostly talked about Jenny, his best friend.

Winning six Academy Awards Paramount had one of the best movies to ever grace the screen on their hand. The competition was particularly steep in 1994 as all of the films nominated have be come classics in their own right. Forrest Gump beat out: Miramax's Pulp Fiction, Hollywood's Quiz Show, Columbia's The Shawshank Redemption, and PolyGram's Four Weddings and a Funeral for the right to be named Best Picture.

This movie has stuck with me from the first time that I have seen it. Every time I have seen it I fall more and more in love with it. It is on my top ten favorite films of all time. Tom Hanks has got to be one of the best Actors to ever come on the movie screen. He plays a number of different characters through his career and he can play anything! I will be glad to see this film again and very soon! 

Best Picture of 1993: Schindler's List

In the 1940's the world is at war again. This time it's fueled by the hatred of Hitler. He has many goals on what a new world looks like to him but the most infamous was he wanted to rid the world of an entire culture. Millions died during the Holocaust but this is a story about how a thousand of them lived. Oskar Schindler is a German man who is trying to make money during the war. He starts building weapons for the German Army. In order to be more cost efficient he hires Jewish workers. Nearby, a concentration camp is being built. When it's finished the order goes out that the Jews in the area near Schindler's Factory are to be transferred to the camp. This was not a peaceful order. A massacre by the German's starts to take place as witnessed by Schindler. It is in these moments that Schindler sees what the world is really coming to and is forever changed by it. He decides that making money is not nearly as important as saving the lives on the Jews he has in his factory. He spends the rest of the war, and almost the rest of his fortune, into bribing and convincing the German soldiers that his Jews are important to the war cause and that they should not be sent to the camps. In 1945 the Germans surrender and Schindler has run out of money. In order to keep his cover over the years Schindler became a member of the Nazi Party to protect his workers and keep in good standing with the officers. Now because of this he is being hunted down by the Red Army. He plans on running and surrendering to the Americans. The Jewish workers know that he saved their lives so they band together to try and save his. They gave Schindler a signed statement saying what he did in order to save them through the war.

Stephen Spielberg was the why this film was so great. When he was approached by the story knew it had to be made. However, he was wide enough to know that he may not be the right person to make this film, fearing the he might not be mature enough. After much consideration of other directors he finally did decide that he wanted to do the film. He wanted to do the story justice. He wanted to really show what it was like. Many of the choices he made in this film were to show how awful this time in the human race really was. Once of the choices he made was to not make the film in color because he didn't want to "beautify events" of the Holocaust. He also considered on doing the whole film in a mix of Polish and German but then realized that having to spend so much time reading the material would take away from the story as a whole. Spielberg knew how badly this story needed to be brought to life. He decided that he would not take payment for this film as he would consider it to be "blood money".  Spielberg and Universal more than deserved to take home Best Picture that year. The other nominees were: Warner Brothers' The Fugitive, Miramax's The Piano, Columbia's The Remains of the Day, and Universal's own In the Name of the Father. 

This film.... what can I saw about this film? This film has so much meaning in it that it's one where everyone needs to see once in their life. I true realistic glimpse in Germany during World War II. It really captures all the different feelings and events that were going on around them. It really captures the fear of not know if you will still even have a story to tell the next day. It shows the courage on helping others and many people were scared to help. This is one of those films that has so much meaning that giving it an award for Best Picture does not nearly begin to show justice for what it means. It deserves to be seen by all and not one person less than that.

Best Picture of 1992: Unforgiven

In the wild west there is not a whole lot to do. You work, mostly work, you eat, sleep, and once and a while you get together to go to the nearest town and have some fun. In town you mingle, eat, and sometimes make trip to the nearest brothel. Two outlaws decide that the brothel would be there choice of fun that night. Well, fun for them at least. One of the prostitutes was disfigured by one of the men that night. Although the men were caught, the sheriff thought that the best punishment for the outlaws were for them to pay the brothel owner for six horses rather than going to jail. The rest of the prostitutes were outraged by this and decided that they were going to offer a $1000 reward to anyone who can find and kill the outlaws. Word of this gets to the ex-bounty hunter Munny, now a widower with two kids and a failing farm, he decided to ride and find the men and maybe find a way to start over again.

Unforgiven was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won four of them. The Warner Brothers' hit took home the prize over: Palace Pictures The Crying Game; Columbia's A Few Good Men; Sony Pictures Howards End; and Universal's Scent of Woman. In 2004 Unforgiven was selected for Preservation by the National Film Registry.

I have mixed feelings about this movie. I thought that it was good overall but I wasn't that interested in it. I would watch and then get bored then get caught back up in it again. I found some things that are great and the acting is good, I mean you can't go wrong with Morgan Freeman, but I couldn't quite find a groove with this movie to connect with it really.