Best Picture introduction



     We all love to watch movies, sometimes we even enjoy the bad ones. When you glance over at your collection to see your favorites, do you take notice of aspects other than the titles? What genres do you like? Are you well-rounded or prefer a few genres? Do the years of your movies range from the early years of cinema to recent or is there a certain era that dominates? Movies have been around for nearly a century and a half. There is some debate on what is considered to be the first movie ever shot. General consensus says a short film from 1888 titled Roundhay Garden Scene shot by inventor Louis Le Prince is the oldest surviving film on record. My take on it (and this is totally an opinion) is in the couple of seconds the film takes place it seems to be about two couples who have had two seperate arguments. I could write a paper on this piece of film, alone. However, as old as that film is, it seems The Horse in Motion from 1878 is probably the first moving picture captured on film. Numerous camera captured the shots and were pieced together to form a moving picture. It was shot to try to prove whether or not all four of a horse's hooves come off the ground at a given time. Shot for scientific purposes, it unintentionally became the first movie ever made...probably. There will always be a debate on what the first movie is.

     We all have opinions on what we like and don't like but each year there is an organization that determines for us what the best was, and what the best examples of various categories within those movies were, whether we like the decisions or not. This group is called the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the awards are commonly known as The Oscars. Along with deciding the best picture of the year, Oscars are given to acting roles, make-up, set designs, musical scores, writing, and numerous other technical aspects found on screen or behind the camera. Many of the decisions of what the winner should be have been obvious shoe-ins but most are up for debate since everyone has an opinion. That is what makes the ceremony and entire concept of the Academy Awards (or any award show for that matter) interesting and fun.

     Some time ago I decided I wanted to see every best picture winner and I looked at a list of the titles that took home the top prize and was shocked, and a bit flustered, I had seen well under half of them. I set a goal for myself to see them all. After watching a few I realized I wanted to start this blog. Before we begin, I'll give a quick rundown of the format I decided to go with and how you can follow it. The first section I will admit that I shamelessly took directly from the Net. I searched around and found a history of the awards from worldbook.com. You will read a direct history of where the Oscars came from; I didn't change anything from this. That way the facts of the history will be directly supplied to you, before we get into my personal opinions.

     The next brief section is a list of some of my favorite movies or recommendations from years before the Oscars came to be. Perhaps these are movies that would have been nominated for best picture had the awards been around, and perhaps not. At any rate, these are titles I recommend you check out that were made before the Academy Awards existed. It should be noted they are all silent films. True movie buffs need to give them a look.

     Now for the reviews themselves. Each year is split into six sections. The first is the year, the movie won best picture, and the movie's director. That is the year the movie was released and not the year of the ceremony. I've seen people do that before and it drives me nuts. It is like saying the Seahawks were 2014 champions because the Super Bowl was played in February 2014. They are the 2013 champions. That was the season. Same thing here. The years the movies were released is the year that matters. Think about it. If I ask you what won best picture of the year you were born what would you say? I'd say The Deer Hunter even though it won in the ceremony early in 1979. It was best picture of 1978.

The second part are the other films nominated for best picture that lost. These are listed alphabetically. The third is my personal pick for what should have won that year. Please note your opinion could differ from mine. Also note that oftentimes I agree with the winner but many times I don't. One more important note about this pick is that, although I am a film buff and have seen many movies, I haven't seen every movie ever made. So if I say a certain movie should have won but there is another from that year I have never seen you feel should have, point it out to me. I love recommendations. I made a point to see all of the winners, not all of the nominees. Keep that in mind.

     The fourth section turned out to be my favorite part of this process but also required the most research. This is my “be sure to see” segment. My initial intention was to include one movie from that year you need to see but I found so many to recommend I had to add more. I came to this decision working on my 1968 section. I was trying to decide between Night of the Living Dead and Planet of the Apes. While racking my brain trying to figure out which one to put in the “be sure to see” line it occurred to me it is my blog and I can do whatever the hell I want! So I try to list a handful of movies from that year you need to see. I made it a point to ensure these are not—I repeat NOT—movies I'm saying should have been nominated. Most are in no way Oscar caliber films. Just ones you should see and all genres are welcome. Everything from grade z schlock horror gore fests to animated movies to romantic sappy chick flicks and, being a huge Bugs Bunny fan, some of his shorts or a few other animated gems appear in this section. Hey, it is my blog so it is my rules. I'm very picky with my music but as for movies, I’ll watch anything. And all genres deserve their due.

The fifth section is the best quote. This is the one line in the movie I liked the most. Some movies had tons of great lines (like 1977's Annie Hall) and others didn't really have many at all. But while viewing the film I wrote the few lines I liked the most and at the end decided on one to pull out. There were a few occasions I added two because I simply couldn't decide and 1977 is the only exception where I pulled many lines. You'll see.

     The sixth and final section is the real purpose of the blog, the review. I've always admired people who can write reviews and before you dive into this blog I want to point out that I am in no way a professional. I never took a class on how to write a movie review and I've never written one for a purpose other than my own satisfaction. But I've read a lot from various writers and know different styles. I could always improve and I've noticed some of the reviews in this blog I wrote better than others. I had a lot of fun writing them and some came to me with more ease than others. I found movies I enjoyed to be a lot easier to write about than those I didn't. And my writing tends to have a more conversational tone than other reviews I've read. I don't know how professional that is but that's how I roll. On that note I'd like to point out three film critics that I read a lot of and admire their style, even if I don’t agree with their reviews. I have to give credit to the people I've studied. One is James O'Neill who wrote Terror on Tape and another is Mike Mayo who wrote Videohound's Horror Show and possibly Videohound's Cult Hits and Trash Picks but one author isn't credited for that book. These three books are short reviews of horror and cult movies and there are roughly 4000 reviews among them. The third person is the late Roger Ebert. I have always admired his take on films and his style and knowledge, though I disagreed on many of his reviews. He wasn't a horror fan at all which is okay but not if a critic is going to be your profession. He contradicted himself a few times; gave thumbs down to some great films and up to some lousy ones. However, he was passionate about what he wrote and, most importantly, he believed in what he wrote and that that is all someone needs to do when voicing an opinion; in my mind anyway. These critics have various styles and outlooks and I was trying to get a feel of how professionals take on a project. Ultimately, I still used my own views and style so I never copied any of theirs. But Stephen King once said if you want to be a writer you have to read many books from many different authors. I was just taking his advice and who am I to argue with the great Stephen King?

     So I hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I'd like to say most of the rare titles on this list I ended up finding at various libraries around Lexington, so thanks to them. If you decide to watch some of the best picture winners, maybe my take on it will steer you toward (or perhaps away from) your decision. But don't let me make your mind up for you. Even bad movies had people put their time and effort into it and deserve an audience. So to the winners, keep the acceptance speeches short; if you don’t win, be grateful to have been nominated; and mostly I’d like to pass on this piece of advice that I learned years ago: Watch and appreciate everything even if it is decades old or not your cup of tea! “It was before my time” is the stupidest sentence in the English language. Look at these films. You might discover a gem or two.

Taken from Worldbook.com

The best-known movie awards are made each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. These awards, called the Academy Awards or Oscars, are presented for outstanding achievements in film making during the preceding year.

The first Academy Awards were presented in 1929 for film achievement during late 1927 and early 1928. Even back to the late 1920s, movies are mostly recognized as businesses or entertainments. So a group of directors, producers and filmmakers formed this organization because they considered that movie should be recognized as an art form just like dance and music. The number of Academy Awards given annually has changed over the years. Today, Oscars are awarded in up to 27 categories.

     The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1927 and 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show. Tickets cost five dollars, 270 people attended the event and the ceremony lasted fifteen minutes. Awards were created by Louis B. Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation (at present merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not to be broadcast either on radio or television.

     Winners at the ceremony included Seventh Heaven and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, each receiving three awards, and Wings, receiving two awards. Among its honors, Sunrise won the award for Unique and Artistic Production and Wings won the award for Outstanding Picture (now known as Best Picture), these two categories at the time were seen as equally the top award of the night intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior film making. The next year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Production award, and decided retroactively that the award won by Wings was the highest honor that could be awarded.[

     ----Understand all that? The Academy Awards have since become a big deal. Now the facts are over. Here is where my opinions take over. The curtain has closed; the projector has run. Time to open the envelopes. Welcome to my blog!

     Best movies pre-1928 (before the Oscars existed): The Horse in Motion 1878, Roundhay Garden Scene 1888, The Kiss 1896, A Trip to the Moon 1902, Edison Frankenstein 1910, Birth of a Nation 1915, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1919, Nosferatu 1922, Phantom of the Opera 1925, The Lodger 1926, Metropolis 1927 The Awards will follow.