Tuesday, March 5, 2013

PLEASE PASS THE POPCORN



A few days ago I watched Argo, the 2012 Academy Award for Best Picture.  The remaining nominees were AMOUR, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, LIFE OF PI, LINCOLN, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK,  Zero Dark Thirty. Remarkably, five of these movies I’ve heard of with two of the movies I defiantly want to see.

Not to spoil the movie but the Argo is about a spy, Tony Mendez casted by Ben Affleck, whose objective is extract 6 Americas from the Canadian diplomats home in Iran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis (I was four then FYI). What is remarkable about this flick is that Argo won the Academy Award for Best Picture but the director, Ben Affleck, was not even nominated as the possibility for the Academy Award for Best Director. All five of the other movies nominated for best director were also nominated for Best Picture (IN CAPS ABOVE).

After seeing Argo on my drive home, I was pondering how many of the past winner for Best Picture have I seen, have I heard of, or if my artistic knowledge would be better if I saw the movie. So I researched the past winners to see how many I’ve watched or even knew.  To keep the list short I’ve only listed the movies since 1975 with a few exceptions. The movies I’ve watched are bolded.

  • 1928 (1st) Sunrise Wings – Just because it’s #1 & we all should be smarter.
  • 1939 (12th) Gone with the Wind – Who hasn’t, Oh wait me!! But I know It’s a big collector item among older folks.
  • 1959 (32nd) Ben-Hur – Watched in film class in college but don’t remember the movie.
  • 1965 (38th) The Sound of Music – Who hasn’t, Oh wait me!! 
  • 1967 (40th) In the Heat of the Night – I’m really curious if this movie is based off of the TV show which is a favorite of my maternal grandfather
  • 1972 (45th) The Godfather – When I had my deviated symptom drilled through I watch the entire Godfather series.  A few weeks ago I learned there was a book too based on the movie.  Can’t wait to read.
  • 1974 (47th) The Godfather Part II               
  • 1975 (48th) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest             
  • 1976 (49th) Rocky             
  • 1977 (50th) Annie Hall – I think, maybe??
  • 1978 (51st) The Deer Hunter
  • 1979 (52nd) Kramer vs. Kramer     
  • 1980 (53rd) Ordinary People            
  • 1981 (54th) Chariots of Fire             
  • 1982 (55th) Gandhi           
  • 1983 (56th) Terms of Endearment 
  • 1984 (57th) Amadeus       
  • 1985 (58th) Out of Africa
  • 1986 (59th) Platoon           
  • 1987 (60th) The Last Emperor        
  • 1988 (61st) Rain Man       
  • 1989 (62nd)  Driving Miss Daisy     
  • 1990 (63rd) Dances With Wolves – One of my All-time favorites right next to Bull Durham
  • 1991 (64th) The Silence of the Lambs         
  • 1992 (65th) Unforgiven – Great movie, never a clue the flick won this award     
  • 1993 (66th) Schindler's List
  • 1994 (67th) Forrest Gump – Once again great movie, never a clue the flick won this award
  • 1995 (68th) Braveheart – AWESOME MOVIE
  • 1996 (69th) The English Patient
  • 1997 (70th) Titanic – took a girl on a date to this movie however I drank so much soda that half way thru the movie I had to wee and interrupted many people in my row on my way to the water closet.  Needless to say I’ve never seen the movie from point A to Z.  But I know the boat sinks.
  • 1998 (71st) Shakespeare in Love    
  • 1999 (72nd) American Beauty        
  • 2000 (73rd) Gladiator      
  • 2001 (74th) A Beautiful Mind
  • 2002 (75th) Chicago          
  • 2003 (76th) The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King – The worst part is I’ve seen the first two
  • 2004 (77th) Million Dollar Baby
  • 2005 (78th) Crash – I should because I own his entire music libary        
  • 2006 (79th) The Departed
  • 2007 (80th) No Country for Old Men            
  • 2008 (81th) Slumdog Millionaire    
  • 2009 (82th) The Hurt Locker           
  • 2010 (83th) The King's Speech        
  • 2011 (84th) The Artist       
  • 2012 (85th) Argo               

So after reviewing the list I’ve watched 9 out of the last 37 movies honored with Academy Award for Best Picture. (I’ve only included Titanic because I’ve watched most of the movie)  Can you do better?  Any one movie a must see?  Any single lady want a date night with me to watch Titanic?

Anyway until next time, be safe & have fun,

unc

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