The 63rd Academy Awards (1991)
Nominations: 12
Wins: 7

One of the my favorite aspects of doing these Oscar retrospectives is looking back and trying to see why a particular film resonated with audiences (or at least the Academy) in its time. Why were people so into Dances with Wolves? And why did the Academy give Kevin Costner’s overbearing western epic the top prize when there was another painfully obvious choice. I’m of course referring to Goodfellas, which I would argue is among the most celebrated and quoted crime films of all time. Meanwhile, I’m not sure if Dances with Wolves would even crack a top thirty of the greatest westerns of all time.

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The 53rd Academy Awards (1981)
Nominations: 7
Wins: 1

Another genre that has become quite dominant at the Oscars in recent years is the musical biopic, as evidenced by the fact that even a wildly uneven one like Elvis was nominated for Best Picture this year. It’s a genre that for whatever reason continues to rake in both moviegoers and awards, despite the fact that Walk Hard quite pointedly lampooned all of the musical biopic’s various clichés in a way that probably should have made it obsolete. Obviously, this felt like a good year to finally see Coal Miner’s Daughter, since its subject Loretta Lynn passed away just a few months ago. However, it also feels appropriate to watch this movie in relation to Elvis, just because it takes such a different approach in telling a similar rags-to-riches story of a singer not always in control of their career. Continue reading →

The 50th Academy Awards (1978)
Nominations: 5
Wins: 1

I never thought the final push I’d need to watch this movie would be from a reference in a post-apocalyptic TV show about mushroom-zombies, but here we are. I am of course referring to the HBO show The Last of Us which earlier this season had a scene where a community of survivors had a movie night and what movie did they pick? Let’s just say somebody is a Richard Dreyfuss fan.

The thematic connection is clear if you’re familiar with both properties. Both that particular episode of Last of Us and The Goodbye Girl feature a child character who fears the adult they are growing attached to is going to abandon them. It’s a nice touch but conversely, I can’t imagine any child would ever want to watch this movie. Unless kids really get a kick out of Richard Dreyfuss’s flamboyant take on Shakespeare’s Richard III.

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The 35th Academy Awards (1963)
Nominations: 5
Wins: 2

From Wings to Apocalypse Now to 1917 to All Quiet On The Western Front (twice), there have been a lot of war movies nominated for Best Picture over the years. So much so that there are plenty of war movies nominated for the big prize that have been lost to time or have been replaced by subsequent Best Picture winners as the definitive retelling of a particular chapter in a godforsaken war. Both of these categories feel like they apply to The Longest Day, as it’s a film I’ve been long aware of but have never really heard anyone ever talk about. Some of this probably has to do with the fact that Saving Private Ryan has more or less become the definitive D-Day movie, though this is a bit unfair considering The Longest Day takes a very different approach from that Spielberg film, which in many ways makes it even more impressive. Continue reading →

The 24th Academy Awards (1952)
Nominations: 12
Wins: 4

Like Ben-Hur last year, most of my frame of reference for A Streetcar Named Desire comes from the Simpsons. In this case, it’s the episode “A Streetcar Named Marge” where Marge is cast as Blanche DuBois in a musical adaptation of Tennessee William’s play called “Oh, Streetcar!” Here’s a recap if you don’t recall.

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3rd Academy Awards (1930)
Nominations: 4
Wins: 2

Like last year, I’m taking advantage of a remake of a best picture winner being nominated for best picture as an opportunity to see both films for the first time. Unlike last year, instead of doing that in one post, I’m planning on doing it in two! That is, unless I find I’ve used up most of what I’ve got to say about this subject here, in which case, don’t worry, I’ve got a backup plan. So then, let us head back in time, nearly a century ago, to the third ever Academy Awards. There, an anti-war film called All Quiet on the Western Front made history as the first ever to win both Best Picture and Best Director, which, by the way, also made its director, Lewis Milestone, the first person to win two Oscars (he also won Best Director – Comedy at the First Academy Awards for Two Arabian Knights). This triumph capped off a whirlwind of success for this story, which began as a novel published in English only a year prior. But does it hold up?

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