In honor of the 88th Annual Academy Awards taking place on Sunday, I though it would be fitting to give you all my Top 10 favorite films to win best picture at the Oscars. These performances are ranked 11-20 so when you see number 5 it is actually number 15. You can see my other list here. So without further ado..
10. Terms of Endearment
This is a really fantastic film and one of the only films to make me cry. Widow Aurora Greenway (played by Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter, Emma (played by Debra Winger), have a strong bond, but Emma marries teacher Flap Horton (played by Jeff Daniels) against her mother's wishes. When the marriage grows sour due to Flap's cheating, Emma eventually splits from him, returning to her mother, who is involved with a former astronaut (played by Jack Nicholson). Soon, Emma learns that she has terminal cancer. In the hospital, supported by Aurora, she tries to make peace with Flap and her children. Terms of Endearment was nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, 2 nominations for Best Actress, 2 nominations for Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay while winning 5 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay) and it has a rating of 88% on rottentomatoes.com.
9. The Hurt Locker
This film is amazing is one of the best films of all-time. As an Elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team tactfully navigates the streets of present-day Iraq, they face the constant threat of death from the incoming bombs and sharp-shooting snipers. In Baghdad, roadside bomb are a common danger. The Army is working to make the city a safer place for Americans and Iraqis, so when it comes to dismantling IEDs (improvised explosive devices) the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) crew is always on their game. But protecting the public isn't easy when there's no room for error, and every second spent dismantling a bomb is another second spent flirting with death. Now as three fearless bomb technicians (played by Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty) take on the most dangerous job in Baghdad. This is one of the most heart stopping films I have ever seen. The Hurt Locker was nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Actor, Best Original Score and Best Cinematography and won six (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing) and it also has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
8. Unforgiven
This is probably the greatest western of all-time and it has a talented all-star cast. Disgusted by Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett's decree that several ponies make up for a cowhand's slashing a whore's face, Big Whiskey prostitutes, led by fierce Strawberry Alice (played by Fisher), take justice into their own hands and put a $1000 bounty on the lives of the perpetrators. Notorious outlaw-turned-hog farmer William Munny (played by Clint Eastwood) is sought out by neophyte gunslinger the Schofield Kid (played by Jaimz Woolvett) to go with him to Big Whiskey and collect the bounty. While Munny insists, "I ain't like that no more," he needs the bounty money for his children, and the two men convince Munny's clean-living comrade Ned Logan (played by Morgan Freeman) to join them in righting a wrong done to a woman. Little Bill (played by Gene Hackman), however, has no intention of letting any bounty hunters impinge on his iron-clad authority. When pompous gunman English Bob (played by Richard Harris) arrives in Big Whiskey with pulp biographer W.W. Beauchamp (played by Saul Rubinek) in tow, Little Bill beats Bob senseless and promises to tell Beauchamp the real story about violent frontier life and justice. But when Munny, the true unwritten legend, comes to town, everyone soon learns a harsh lesson about the price of vindictive bloodshed and the malleability of ideas like "justice." Unforgiven was nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Pictures, Best Art Direction, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematgraphy, Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor while winning 4 (Best Picture, Best director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing) and it has a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com.
7. Gladiator
This is just a truly epic film and the film that porved Ridley Scott is one of the greatest directors of all-time. Commodus (played by Joaquin Phoenix) takes power and strips rank from Maximus (played by Russell Crowe), one of the favored generals of his predecessor and father, Emperor Marcus Aurelius (played by Richard Harris), the great stoical philosopher. Maximus is then relegated to fighting to the death in the gladiator arenas. Gladiator was nominated for 12 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects while winning 5 (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects) and it has a rating of 76% on rottentomatoes.com.
6. Argo
This film is just brilliant and is one of the only films that I agree should have won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, CIA agent Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck) launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980. Argo was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor, while winning 3 (Best Picture,Adapted Screenplay and Film Editing) and it has a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com.
5. Casablanca
This is literally the most quotable film of all-time and it is the perfect example of a film noir. Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart), a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, notably the crafty Capt. Renault (played by Claude Rains), Rick's Cafe has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America. One day, to Rick's great surprise, he is approached by the famed rebel Victor Laszlo (played by Paul Henreid) and his wife, Ilsa (played by Ingrid Bergman), Rick's true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris. She still wants Victor to escape to America, but now that she's renewed her love for Rick, she wants to stay behind in Casablanca. Casablanca was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Cinematography while winning 3 (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) and it has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
4. Amadeus
While the film is long and sometimes boring it also very interesting and very entetaining. From the vantage point of an insane asylum, aging royal composer Salieri (played by F. Murray Abraham) recalls the events of three decades earlier, when the young Mozart (played by Tom Hulce) first gained favor in the court of Austrian emperor Joseph II (played by Jeffrey Jones). Salieri was incensed that God would bless so vulgar and obnoxious a young snipe as Mozart with divine genius. Why was Salieri -- so disciplined, so devoted to his art, and so willing to toady to his superiors -- not touched by God? Unable to match Mozart's talent, Salieri uses his influence in court to sabotage the young upstart's career. Disguising himself as a mysterious benefactor, Salieri commissions the backbreaking Requiem, which eventually costs Mozart his health, wealth, and life. Amadeus was nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, 2 nominations for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Best Sound Mixing while winning 8 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Best Sound Mixing) and it has a rating of 95% on rottentomatoes.com.
3. The Silence of the Lambs
This film is one of the most haunting films of all-time, but it has one of the greatest movie villains to ever cross the big screen in Hannibal Lecter. Clarice Starling (played by Jodie Foster) is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford (played by Scott Glenn) wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out. The Silence of the Lambs was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay while winning 5 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress) and it has a rating of 95% on rottentomatoes.com.
2. Million Dollar Baby
This is an amazing film and the controversy that the film caused was utterly ridiculous. Frankie Dunn (played by Clint Eastwood) is a veteran boxing trainer who has devoted his life to the ring and has precious little to show for it; his daughter never answers his letters, and a fighter he's groomed into contender status has paid him back by signing with another manager, leaving Frankie high and dry. His best friend and faithful employee Eddie Dupris (played by Morgan Freeman) is a former fighter who Frankie trained. In his last fight, Eddie suffered a severe injury, a fact that brings Frankie great guilt. One day, Maggie Fitzgerald (played by Hilary Swank) enters Frankie's life, as well as his gym, and announces she needs a trainer. Frankie regards her as a dubious prospect, and isn't afraid to tell her why: he doesn't think much of women boxing, she's too old at 31, she lacks experience, and has no technique. However, Maggie sees boxing as the one part of her life that gives her meaning and won't give up easily. Finally won over by her determination, Frankie takes on Maggie, and as she slowly grows into a viable fighter, an emotional bond develops between them. When a tragedy befalls one of the three characters, each comes to a decision that shows how the relationships in the film have changed them. Million Dollar Baby was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay, while winning four (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Actress) and it has a rating of 91% on rottentomatoes.com.
1. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
This film has some of the best cinematography that has ever been seen on the big screen and it has one of the best performances to never win best actor. Former cinema superhero Riggan Thomson (played by Michael Keaton) is mounting an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will breathe new life into his stagnant career. It's risky, but he hopes that his creative gamble will prove that he's a real artist and not just a washed-up movie star. As opening night approaches, a castmate is injured, forcing Riggan to hire an actor (played by Edward Norton) who is guaranteed to shake things up. Meanwhile, Riggan must deal with his girlfriend, daughter and ex-wife. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing while winning 4 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography) and it has a rating of 91% on rottentomatoes.com.
So ladies and gentlemen what do you think of my list, do you agree or disagree and what are your favorite films to win best Picture at the Oscars? Let me know in the comments section and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
10. Terms of Endearment
This is a really fantastic film and one of the only films to make me cry. Widow Aurora Greenway (played by Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter, Emma (played by Debra Winger), have a strong bond, but Emma marries teacher Flap Horton (played by Jeff Daniels) against her mother's wishes. When the marriage grows sour due to Flap's cheating, Emma eventually splits from him, returning to her mother, who is involved with a former astronaut (played by Jack Nicholson). Soon, Emma learns that she has terminal cancer. In the hospital, supported by Aurora, she tries to make peace with Flap and her children. Terms of Endearment was nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, 2 nominations for Best Actress, 2 nominations for Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay while winning 5 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay) and it has a rating of 88% on rottentomatoes.com.
9. The Hurt Locker
This film is amazing is one of the best films of all-time. As an Elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team tactfully navigates the streets of present-day Iraq, they face the constant threat of death from the incoming bombs and sharp-shooting snipers. In Baghdad, roadside bomb are a common danger. The Army is working to make the city a safer place for Americans and Iraqis, so when it comes to dismantling IEDs (improvised explosive devices) the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) crew is always on their game. But protecting the public isn't easy when there's no room for error, and every second spent dismantling a bomb is another second spent flirting with death. Now as three fearless bomb technicians (played by Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty) take on the most dangerous job in Baghdad. This is one of the most heart stopping films I have ever seen. The Hurt Locker was nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Actor, Best Original Score and Best Cinematography and won six (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing) and it also has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
8. Unforgiven
This is probably the greatest western of all-time and it has a talented all-star cast. Disgusted by Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett's decree that several ponies make up for a cowhand's slashing a whore's face, Big Whiskey prostitutes, led by fierce Strawberry Alice (played by Fisher), take justice into their own hands and put a $1000 bounty on the lives of the perpetrators. Notorious outlaw-turned-hog farmer William Munny (played by Clint Eastwood) is sought out by neophyte gunslinger the Schofield Kid (played by Jaimz Woolvett) to go with him to Big Whiskey and collect the bounty. While Munny insists, "I ain't like that no more," he needs the bounty money for his children, and the two men convince Munny's clean-living comrade Ned Logan (played by Morgan Freeman) to join them in righting a wrong done to a woman. Little Bill (played by Gene Hackman), however, has no intention of letting any bounty hunters impinge on his iron-clad authority. When pompous gunman English Bob (played by Richard Harris) arrives in Big Whiskey with pulp biographer W.W. Beauchamp (played by Saul Rubinek) in tow, Little Bill beats Bob senseless and promises to tell Beauchamp the real story about violent frontier life and justice. But when Munny, the true unwritten legend, comes to town, everyone soon learns a harsh lesson about the price of vindictive bloodshed and the malleability of ideas like "justice." Unforgiven was nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Pictures, Best Art Direction, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematgraphy, Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor while winning 4 (Best Picture, Best director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing) and it has a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com.
7. Gladiator
This is just a truly epic film and the film that porved Ridley Scott is one of the greatest directors of all-time. Commodus (played by Joaquin Phoenix) takes power and strips rank from Maximus (played by Russell Crowe), one of the favored generals of his predecessor and father, Emperor Marcus Aurelius (played by Richard Harris), the great stoical philosopher. Maximus is then relegated to fighting to the death in the gladiator arenas. Gladiator was nominated for 12 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects while winning 5 (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects) and it has a rating of 76% on rottentomatoes.com.
6. Argo
This film is just brilliant and is one of the only films that I agree should have won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, CIA agent Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck) launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980. Argo was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor, while winning 3 (Best Picture,Adapted Screenplay and Film Editing) and it has a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com.
This is literally the most quotable film of all-time and it is the perfect example of a film noir. Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart), a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, notably the crafty Capt. Renault (played by Claude Rains), Rick's Cafe has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America. One day, to Rick's great surprise, he is approached by the famed rebel Victor Laszlo (played by Paul Henreid) and his wife, Ilsa (played by Ingrid Bergman), Rick's true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris. She still wants Victor to escape to America, but now that she's renewed her love for Rick, she wants to stay behind in Casablanca. Casablanca was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Cinematography while winning 3 (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) and it has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
While the film is long and sometimes boring it also very interesting and very entetaining. From the vantage point of an insane asylum, aging royal composer Salieri (played by F. Murray Abraham) recalls the events of three decades earlier, when the young Mozart (played by Tom Hulce) first gained favor in the court of Austrian emperor Joseph II (played by Jeffrey Jones). Salieri was incensed that God would bless so vulgar and obnoxious a young snipe as Mozart with divine genius. Why was Salieri -- so disciplined, so devoted to his art, and so willing to toady to his superiors -- not touched by God? Unable to match Mozart's talent, Salieri uses his influence in court to sabotage the young upstart's career. Disguising himself as a mysterious benefactor, Salieri commissions the backbreaking Requiem, which eventually costs Mozart his health, wealth, and life. Amadeus was nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, 2 nominations for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Best Sound Mixing while winning 8 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Best Sound Mixing) and it has a rating of 95% on rottentomatoes.com.
3. The Silence of the Lambs
This film is one of the most haunting films of all-time, but it has one of the greatest movie villains to ever cross the big screen in Hannibal Lecter. Clarice Starling (played by Jodie Foster) is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford (played by Scott Glenn) wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out. The Silence of the Lambs was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay while winning 5 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress) and it has a rating of 95% on rottentomatoes.com.
2. Million Dollar Baby
This is an amazing film and the controversy that the film caused was utterly ridiculous. Frankie Dunn (played by Clint Eastwood) is a veteran boxing trainer who has devoted his life to the ring and has precious little to show for it; his daughter never answers his letters, and a fighter he's groomed into contender status has paid him back by signing with another manager, leaving Frankie high and dry. His best friend and faithful employee Eddie Dupris (played by Morgan Freeman) is a former fighter who Frankie trained. In his last fight, Eddie suffered a severe injury, a fact that brings Frankie great guilt. One day, Maggie Fitzgerald (played by Hilary Swank) enters Frankie's life, as well as his gym, and announces she needs a trainer. Frankie regards her as a dubious prospect, and isn't afraid to tell her why: he doesn't think much of women boxing, she's too old at 31, she lacks experience, and has no technique. However, Maggie sees boxing as the one part of her life that gives her meaning and won't give up easily. Finally won over by her determination, Frankie takes on Maggie, and as she slowly grows into a viable fighter, an emotional bond develops between them. When a tragedy befalls one of the three characters, each comes to a decision that shows how the relationships in the film have changed them. Million Dollar Baby was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay, while winning four (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Actress) and it has a rating of 91% on rottentomatoes.com.
1. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
This film has some of the best cinematography that has ever been seen on the big screen and it has one of the best performances to never win best actor. Former cinema superhero Riggan Thomson (played by Michael Keaton) is mounting an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will breathe new life into his stagnant career. It's risky, but he hopes that his creative gamble will prove that he's a real artist and not just a washed-up movie star. As opening night approaches, a castmate is injured, forcing Riggan to hire an actor (played by Edward Norton) who is guaranteed to shake things up. Meanwhile, Riggan must deal with his girlfriend, daughter and ex-wife. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing while winning 4 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography) and it has a rating of 91% on rottentomatoes.com.
So ladies and gentlemen what do you think of my list, do you agree or disagree and what are your favorite films to win best Picture at the Oscars? Let me know in the comments section and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
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