hnpcc | Best picture meme (Reply)

Best Picture Academy Award nominees from 1980-2008, bolding the ones I've seen. This could be a very short list.

1980 Ordinary People, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, Tess

Raging Bull I saw the year I had the ACMI subscription. Along with The Fearless Vampire Killers, which is an absolute hoot. Raging Bull I'd probably have to see again, it didn't do much for me at the time. Not a huge boxing fan.

1981 Chariots of Fire, Reds, Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Although I've played the "Theme from On Golden Pond" (aka "Canon in D major" by Pachbel) quite a bit, mostly in high school. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark some time around 2003, so quite considerably after the rest of the world. I think part of the problem is that I saw "Temple of Doom" first, and haven't liked any of the Indy series since.

1982 Gandhi, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict

Wow, three! Gandhi I saw as part of year 7 social/religious studies. The only thing that's really stayed with me from that entire semester of classes was the stuff about Gandhi actually. ET I saw some time in the mid-90s. Tootsie I think I saw on TV. It's what happens when you're living more than 60km from a cinema.

1983 Terms of Endearment, The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies

The Big Chill I saw in 1992, at a MUCS night. My memories of it are slightly blurred, possibly due to alcohol. I'd probably need to see it again - my main memory is of thinking "oh get over it William Hurt".

1984 Amadeus, The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, Places in the Heart, A Soldier's Story

I don't think I've seen The Killing Fields, but I think I may have read the memoir it's based on. Amadeus was great, and still is. Places in the Heart I saw at a friend's 15th birthday sleepover - we hired it, Plenty and one or two of the Molly Ringwald ones. My friend's mum, who was in the kitchen, unconsciously joined in the hymns sung at the end of Places in the Heart. Plenty is a very strange film. It should be good, at least based on the cast list, but really? Don't hire it.

1985 Out of Africa, The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi's Honor, Witness

Both of these I saw on TV some time during the late 80s. I feel like I should have seen at least one of the others, but I've got no memory of ever having done so.

1986 Platoon, Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room with a View

OK, technically I haven't actually "seen" Platoon. However given that I've sat through Dean and Nolan quoting the Entire Bloody Film at each other I don't feel I need to. Actually I think I've seen 10 minutes, all of which I could quote along with the film. Argh. A Room with a View I saw as part of English class in Belgium (no, I don't know why either.) It's a fun film. Hannah and her Sisters I've seen, but I've no idea when - we probably got it out on video at some point. Children of a Lesser God we needed last week at trivia when the question was which three actresses have one Oscars in non-English speaking roles. We're still disputing the call on that one.

Edit: and I've just realised I haven't seen Platoon, it's Full Metal Jacket I'm thinking of. Close enough. ;-)

1987 The Last Emperor, Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck

Wow, only one? Mind you, a very good and visually sumptuous one.

1988 Rain Man, Dangerous Liaisons, The Accidental Tourist, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl

Rain Man was OK. I was sure I'd seen Mississippi Burning, but I think I'm thinking of In the heat of the night. I studied the novel of The Accidental Tourist for year 12, and saw the film then. By that stage I was seriously over the book, so my memories of the film are also negative (that and by that stage I was really over William Hurt. Meh.) Thank God there's no film of Fly Away Peter.

1989 Driving Miss Daisy, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot

Dead Poets Society - OK. I slept through Field of Dreams during "Baseball Month!" on a United flight. Driving Miss Daisy I've never managed to see all of, although I've seen the last 5 minutes a couple of times. Technically I've seen Born on the Fourth of July but it was dubbed in French, and there's an awful lot of shouting in it. Which means I really didn't get most of what was going on. Same with Roadhouse, although that has considerably less plot happening.

1990 Dances with Wolves, Awakenings, Ghost, The Godfather Part III, Goodfellas

Dances with Wolves I enjoyed, although to quote my brother "I think the Sioux could sue." Awakenings I saw after having read the book and the biochemical stuff on it - so the film was interesting to me from a number of perspectives. I've seen the start of Ghost twice, but never managed to get further in to it.

1991 The Silence of the Lambs, Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, The Prince of Tides

Heh. Everyone saw The Silence of the Lambs. OK, in my case it was several years later so I could hide behind a cushion, but whatever. Why do none of the movies I've seen at a cinema make it onto the Oscars lists? ;-)

1992 Unforgiven, The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Howards End, Scent of a Woman

By the time I saw The Crying Game the twist was common knowledge. Which meant that I saw the character strangely through the entire movie.

1993 Schindler's List, The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, The Remains of the Day

Holy crap, all but one. AND I saw all but The Piano at the movies. In fact I saw Schindler's List, In the Name of the Father and Philadelphia in the same week - and then didn't go to the cinema again for a year due to the emotional strain.

1994 Forrest Gump, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption

Fortunately I went to a preview screening of Four Weddings and a Funeral, and went in completely blind with no knowledge of the film beforehand. Because if I'd seen the ads on TV I would never have gone (as it was the ads gave away all the best lines and about half the plot). Even more fortunately I went with

astrocave, who's been asked ever since that movie if he knows he looks like Hugh Grant. As recently as last week, in fact. Heh. Pulp Fiction I think I saw on video, but I've no idea when. Or where.

1995 Braveheart, Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino (The Postman), Sense and Sensibility

I still like Babe, and I saw it at the cinema as well. I'm surprised I didn't see Il Postino, that was a time when I saw a lot of arthouse films.

1996 The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets and Lies, Shine

I'm going to include Fargo even though I don't think I've seen the entire film sequentially. I think I have seen pretty much all of it though.

1997 Titanic, As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential

Did anyone on the planet not see Titanic? Yep, saw it at the cinema. Same with The Full Monty - a charity screening IIRC. I love L.A. Confidential - I'd read the book and the film is just fantastic.

1998 Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella), Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line

And we hit the first year where I'm fairly sure I haven't seen any of the films. I'm blaming the thesis.

1999 American Beauty, The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider, The Sixth Sense

Yep, definitely thesis. Course that doesn't explain how I've missed them in the intervening years but you know how it is.

2000 Gladiator, Chocolat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, Traffic

Gladiator I know I've seen, but I've no idea where/when. Erin Brockovich I saw in flight from LA. It seemed appropriate (and thank God it wasn't baseball themed like everything else on United that month.)

2001 A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Moulin Rouge

Dean dragged me to LOTR:FOTR on Boxing Day and it was fantastic. Moulin Rouge I saw on video with a friend last year.

2002 Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist

Dean taking me along on Boxing Day again. It's a source of conflict that I never go to the cinema.

2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit

And then I missed part three. Did I mention the source of conflict? I did take Dean to see Mystic River though, and that was a fantastic movie.

2004 Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways

Can I just say if you make a point of telling the audience that the main character has burns to 60% of his body and is lucky to survive, you might want to put some prosthetic scarring on the actor when the audience next sees him half-naked? Just, you know, for continuity's sake?

2005 Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich

2006 The Departed, Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen

2007 No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood

2008 Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader

Yeah, I haven't been to the cinema much recently. Although given how long films are at the cinema these days it's easier just to pick up the DVD.