I've gotta say, I'm pretty frustrated at all the hullabaloo I've heard this week over the Oscar winners. Folks seem to be complaining about two trends: none of the acting winners were made in the U.S.A., and the average viewer is unfamiliar with the films. I've got two responses: maybe American actors need to step up their game, and go see these great films!!
It's always bugged me that there even is a Foreign Film category, especially when so many of the categories overlap. I really have no idea why there is any differentiation. Who cares in what language a film is spoken? Are we really so ethnocentric that we can't trouble ourselves over a few subtitles?
This year, the Academy picked a great crop of films. Most films are far from obscure, with the usual exception of being able to catch all of the foreign, doc and short noms outside of fests. My hope is that people will use this year as a reason to check out films to which they may not otherwise buy a ticket, but my fear is that the Academy will succumb further to the populous and add more familiar fare just to up the viewing numbers.
Bah. In the meantime, check out Rotten Tomatoes top rated list of Best Picture winners:
1. The Godfather (1972)
2. All about Eve (1950)
3. On the Waterfront (1954)
4. Rebecca (1940)
5. Marty (1955)
6. Casablanca (1942)
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
9. Wings (1927)
10. Annie Hall (1977)
11. An American in Paris (1951)
12. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
13. Amadeus (1984)
14. Gone with the Wind (1939)
15. The French Connection (1971)
16. Sunrise (1927)
17. Patton (1970)
18. It Happened One Night (1934)
19. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
20. Schindler's List (1993)
21. Unforgiven (1992)
22. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
23. Silence of the Lambs (1991)
24. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
25. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
26. All the King's Men (1949)
27. No Country for Old Men (2007)
28. The Lost Weekend (1945)
29. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
30. The Sting (1973)