Category Archives: The Best Picture Project

May 8, 2013 · 11:16 am

The Best Picture Project – Wings (1927/1928)

Directed by William Wellman

Written by Hope Loring and Louis Lighton, from a story by John Monk Saunders

Starring Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, Richard Arlen, Clara Bow and Gary Cooper

Some movies deserve the scorn heaped upon them. After all, they’ve been given every chance to succeed, been given all the money to succeed, and failed and deserve to whither on the vine and die. These would the pretentious, the superficially-important, and the later-career Michael Bay movies — in other words, films that could have — should have — been better, but just weren’t. Continue reading →

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Tagged as academy awards, Beast of The Southern Wild, Best Picture Project, Buster Keaton, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, clara bow, Gary Cooper, Gloria Swanson, Gone With The Wind, Hope Loring, John Monk Saunders, Louis Lighton, marty, Michael Bay, murnau, Oscars, Richard Arlen, sunrise, sunset boulevard, The Artist, Transformer's, William Wellman, Wings

April 2, 2013 · 2:25 pm

The Best Picture Project – On The Waterfront (1954)

Directed by Elia Kazan

Screenplay by Budd Schulberg

Starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Rod Steiger

Some movies can be taken on their own terms and are never more than what they are. There is no subtext, there is no commentary, there is no hidden agenda and absolutely no meanings can be read into them from the context in which they appeared or from whom they were born. On the whole, I’d say most movies are this way.

Some movies, though, can never be merely a movie because they are nothing but subtext, are rife with commentary, teem with hidden agendas and are overloaded with meaning. Continue reading →

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Tagged as A THousand Clowns, Batman, breakfast at tiffany's, Broadway Melody, Budd Schulberg, Elia Kazan, Eva Marie Saint, Fred Gwynne, grand hotel, House Un-American Activities Committee, HUAC, irving thalberg, karl malden, lawrence of arabia, Lee J. Cobb, Marlon Brando, Martin Balsam, Mutiny on the Bounty, Pat Hingle, Pet Sematary, Red Scare, Rod Steiger, sam spiegel, saul zaentz, The Bridge on The River Kwai, The Munsters

March 9, 2013 · 11:51 am

The Best Picture Project – Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Dir. by Robert Benton

Screenplay by Robert Benton, from the novel by Avery Corman

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander and Justin Henry

Of all the movies I’ve watched over the long, long duration of this project, Kramer vs. Kramer is probably the one I most anticipated getting into, because it’s a triple-threat of things that interest me: Continue reading →

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Tagged as All That Jazz, Apocalypse Now, atticus finch, Avery Corman, Crash, Dustin Hoffman, Gandhi, Jack Thompson, JoBeth Williams, Justin Henry, Lincoln, Meryl Streep, Robert Benton, To Kill A Mockingbird

February 25, 2013 · 12:10 pm

Oscars 2012 – Reflections and Notes

On the whole, I thought last night’s Oscars were a great time and Seth Macfarlane proved a good, deprecating host. Sure, some jokes laid flat but when they did, he had the presence to comment on it. Plus, he didn’t go in for all that Bruce Villanch-style humor, which really aided the festivities.

However, it’s worth noting that my view of the ceremony is skewed because it was DVR-aided. See, I had an indoor-soccer game that ran over the first hour or so of the ceremony so by the time I got home, I had a good buffer to get me through the musical numbers, which were many. However, when my buffer ran out, just about the time the Les Mis musical number was going on, I got up and wandered off and emptied the dishwasher and reloaded it.

Still, all in all it was a good ceremony and at just about 3 1/2 hours, it wasn’t the longest ever. Continue reading →

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Tagged as academy awards, Best Picture Project, Movies, oscar, Oscars

February 22, 2013 · 11:42 am

Oscar Race 2012 – The Other Races

So, since I’ve already shared my thoughts on the Best Picture race , I see no reason not to share my thoughts on the other big races as well, and, having seen most of them, I suppose I have a somewhat valid soapbox upon which to stand. So, here goes:

Best Picture - Argo

See here for the explanation as to why. Continue reading →

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Filed under The Best Picture Project, Things I've Seen, What I'm Watching

Tagged as academy awards, Best Picture Project, Movies, oscar, Oscars

February 20, 2013 · 10:03 am

The Best Picture Project – Argo, dir. by Ben Affleck

(NOTE: This post has been slightly modified to serve as the Best Picture Project entry for 2012)

Since I started the Best Picture Project – so many years ago now it’s becoming somewhat pathetic how long it’s taking me to complete it – I’ve posted every year at Oscar time about the Best Picture race and my preferences for the films in the race. In some ways, the post behaves very much as a true Best Picture Project post behaves and in that it tends to evaluate all the films and stands as my take on all the films. Since that’s the usual plan, I’ll do my best to make sure that this one can be seen that way.

So here it is, the Best Picture Race 2012, as seen through the eyes of the Best Picture Project. Continue reading →

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Tagged as academy awards, Alan Arking, Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ben Affleck, Benh Zeitlin, Best Picture Project, Bradley Cooper, Christoph Waltz, David O. Russel, Django Unchained, Ghandi, Good Will Hunting, Hugh Jackman, Inglorious Basterds, Jackie Weaver, Jennifer Lawrence, John Goodman, kathryn bigelow, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Michael Haneke, oscar, Oscars, Quentin Tarantino, Robin Williams, Silver LInings playbook, Terrence Malick, The Hangover, The Master, Tom Hooper, Tree of LIfe, Wet Hot America Summer, Zero Dark Thirty

January 6, 2013 · 1:57 pm

The Best Picture Project – Braveheart (1995)

Directed by Mel Gibson

Screenplay by Randall Wallace

Starring Mel Gibson, Brendan Gleeson, Patrick McGoohan and Sophie Marceau

Most of you know by now – at least my few, regular, cherished readers do – that I’ve been doing the Best Picture Project on and off for an ungodly number of years. To fill the space between those posts I’ve put in lists, product placements, and anything else I could think of. If I didn’t, months might pass between some of the posts in that series. Well, to be more regular with the posting, I started up a series called Terse Book Reviews. Obviously, these are what they are called – Terse Book Reviews. Continue reading →

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Tagged as 12 Monkeys, academy awards, Apollo 13, Babe, Best Picture Project, Brendan Gleeson, Casino, Dead Man Walking, Gibson, Gone With The Wind, Il Postino, Movies, Nixon, oscar, Oscars, Patrick McGoohan, Randall Wallace, Sense and Sensibility, Seven, Sophie Marceau, The Usual Suspects, Toy Story, William Wallace

November 30, 2012 · 1:53 pm

The Best Picture Project – Unforgiven (1991)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by David Webb Peoples

Starring Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Richard Harris, Saul Rubinek and Frances Fisher

Clint Eastwood’s career behind the camera had always been something of a grab bag prior to Unforgiven in that, when you stuck your hand in, you never quite knew what you were gonna get. Sometimes, you’d put your hand in and pull out High Plains Drifter or The Outlaw Josey Wales – both of which could make for a very good movie-night. Other times you’d stick your hand in and get bit by crud like Sudden Impact or The Rookie. Continue reading →

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Tagged as A Perfect World, academy awards, Best Picture Project, Bird, clint eastwood, David Webb Peoples, Frances Fisher, Gene Hackman, High Plains Drifter, Jaimz Woolvett, Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Movies, oscar, Oscars, Richard Harris, River Phoenix, Saul Rubinek, Sudden Impact, The Bridges of Madison County, The Cut Whore Killings, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Rookie, White Hunter Black Heart

October 29, 2012 · 2:12 pm

The Best Picture Project – A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Directed by Ron Howard

Written by Akiva Goldsman, based on the Sylvia Nasar book

Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Josh Lucas and Paul Bettany

Not all that long ago I covered the awful 2000 film Gladiator for the Best Picture Project and mentioned I thought Russell Crowe won an Oscar for the wrong film. Usually the Academy gets it wrong and honors an actor (or director) for some lesser work later in the career, usually to make up for overlooking them earlier in their career. Think about Al Pacino winning for Scent of a Woman but going empty-handed for everything he did in the 70s; Martin Scorcese taking gold for The Departed and not Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or Goodfellas; or Kate Winslet winning for The Reader despite previously being overlooked for Little Children and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. These are but three, but the list goes on. Continue reading →

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Tagged as academy awards, Adam Goldberg, Akiva Goldsman, al pacino, Anthony Rapp, arrested development, Best Picture Project, Bud White, David Cronenberg, Dead Ringers, Denzel Washington, Ed Harris, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Gladiator, Goodfellas, Gosford Park, Hurricane, Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Irons, Josh Lucas, Kate Winslet, l.a. confidential, Little Children, Marisa Ribisi, Martin Scorcese, Memento, Movies, oscar, Oscars, Paul Bettany, Raging Bull, Reversal of Fortune, Romper Stomper, Ron Howard, Russell Crowe, Scent of a woman, Sylvia Nasar, Taxi Driver, The Departed, The Reader, Training Day

August 26, 2012 · 10:59 am

The Best Picture Project – American Beauty (1999)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Written by Alan Ball

Starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, Mena Suvari, Allison Janney, Peter Gallagher and Scott Bakula

I love American Beauty and couldn’t be more pleased it was chosen as Best Picture, especially since it represents the one time in the last fifteen years where the Academy was really tempted to hang it’s hat on another picture – one that was less abrasive, less divisive, had less murder, drugs, Lolita storylines, and infidelity – and chose instead to honor the more challenging film. Continue reading →

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Tagged as academy awards, alan ball, Allison Janney, annette bening, Best Picture Project, Bob Fosse, Chris Cooper, Conrad Hall, Harold and Kumar, John Cho, Kevin Spacey, Mena Suvari, Miramax, Movies, oscar, Oscars, Peter Gallagher, Sam Mendes, Scott Bakula, The Cider House Rules, the sixth sense, Thora Birch, Titanic, Wes Bentley

Category Archives: The Best Picture Project

The Best Picture Project – Wings (1927/1928)

The Best Picture Project – On The Waterfront (1954)

The Best Picture Project – Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Oscars 2012 – Reflections and Notes

Oscar Race 2012 – The Other Races

The Best Picture Project – Argo, dir. by Ben Affleck

The Best Picture Project – Braveheart (1995)

The Best Picture Project – Unforgiven (1991)

The Best Picture Project – A Beautiful Mind (2001)

The Best Picture Project – American Beauty (1999)

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