There was a period around the late 90s when I actually cared. I always get all of those from that time... even while missing the bulk of the winners from the past decade.
A few years ago the Oscars changed the way that they vote. Source. The change has hurt big-budget blockbusters and helped small art house films. While well-intentioned, the change has been bad for the awards. The winner is now, more often than not, a film that few people have seen or even heard of. The Oscars are increasingly irrelevant.
The winners for the past four years have been especially forgettable. My sense is that studios are now going all-in on mega-budget movies to turn their profits, and then supplementing with a lot of comedies, horror, etc. that is really cheap to make. There appears to be very little interest among studios to throw money into great drama, so you no longer get sprawling and memorable movies like Gladiator, Private Ryan, Braveheart, and the like. They're seen as too risky compared to superheroes and pre-sold franchises. So we got a lot of quirky indie stuff that is usually well-written and well-directed, but doesn't have the big studio support to give it that real movie magic you feel with on-location shooting, massive sets, or top-flight cinematography. It's a lot of people having layered conversations, filmed at odd angles. And I enjoy that, but those movies rarely stay with you.
Yeah, as soon as I saw how much praise Black Panther was getting when it came out, I knew it was gonna get a Best Picture nomination solely because there's barely any white people in it. The Oscars used to be not "woke" enough, now they're too woke.
Same. I remember when I watched "Madea Goes to Jail" and saw there were no white people in it, I knew it would be nominated for Best Picture for sure.
Responding for an old comment, but anyone who knows anything about this history of the academy knows these winners have reflected cultural issues of the time since the beginning.
"Black Panther" is good, not great IMO, but it meant so much to so many people. It wasn't the worst film nominated that year.
It wasn't the worst but I still don't think it was Best Picture worthy. I'll admit I probably shouldn't have said "barely any white people" was the reason it got nominated, but I still feel like there was a bit of pandering involved to the point that it didn't really feel like the Oscars were being authentic.
I actually think Get Out earned its accolades. It's rare to see a horror movie that is more than dumb jump scares. The movie is about something. It's funny; it's scary; it's philosophical; it's well-written and very well-acted. It was a real high-wire act. But Black Panther...yeah. We all know what that was about.
In the years since I've left this comment I rewatched Get Out and am actually more positive to it now, though I still don't know if it deserved to be nominated for that many Oscars.
I honestly think that Black Panther is the best Marvel movie, though. Yes, the racial message may have been the reason it was nominated while other MCU films were not, but I really think that the acting, cinematography, and direction were on par with the other nominees. The story had some true plot twists that were better than what most movies of any kind usually give us. It was fun, powerful, entertaining, and artistic all at once. No, it is not the greatest movie of all time, but I think it deserved to be there.
And, if it matters much, know that I am a white male, and a movie being about Africa does not make it any better for me.
In my opinion Black Panther was one of the most boring and lazily-written movies in the entire MCU. And... actually part of the reason I disliked it was that the movie seems pretty racist to me. Which is ironic since most everyone else found it empowering or something. I mean... spears? animal skins? War rhinos? Government by absolute monarchy decided by ritualistic combat to the death? And everyone in Wakanda has a random mix of accents, clothing, hair styles, body scarification and other cultural traditions from various African tribes thousands of miles apart as if Africa is a single tiny country? This is supposed to represent African culture? If a "white" guy had written and directed the film they probably would have been criticizing it for being a collection of horribly offensive clichés.
My gender and the racial labels others ascribe to me are irrelevant to my opinion.
If any film in the MCU deserved to be nominated for Best Picture it would have been Infinity War or Endgame. Those were actually landmark achievements in filmmaking. Black Panther was just another pretty cookie-cutter superhero film. A badly written one, at that.
I think I should rephrase my earlier statement about Black Panther being nominated for Best Picture. I knew it was going to get nominated not because of the cast being majorly “non-white,” but because the Oscars are losing relevance and they were trying to avoid criticism for not giving enough appreciation to filmmakers of various ethnicities. That said, while I still don’t think it needed a Best Picture nomination, I still find it somewhat enjoyable, and is definitely not an awful movie by any means.
So now you include this in ANOTHER badge? That's so terribly unfair... Seriously, you should think of a set of clues for those movies, that would be a better way to learn than a stern list.
I don't think you understand what I meant. I would like to expand that knowledge and it would be more fun and more efficient with clues. And you don't need to be cutting either...
That may be because of my poor english, but I thought it was obvious that my first sentence was not serious (you know, the one before "seriously", right?). Anyway, I admit that 20 is not that much, and I got the welcome badge today (it would be much harder to get to 45...)
Well I apologize if I came off as kind of a jerk in my first response. Sometimes it’s much harder to tell if someone’s joking just based off of text alone. And in all honesty, adding clues isn’t a bad idea. Maybe this quiz will add some in the future, maybe not, but I wouldn’t mind either way.
This quiz would be a lot more interesting if you were given a picture from the film. Several of these have incredibly iconic shots that would work really well here.
It also deserved editing and production design too if we're being real. The fact that the house was a set built for the movie went really underappreciated and the design contributed a lot to the atmosphere and tension in many scenes.
Parasite defied all expectations of a Best Picture winner. Neither American nor set in America nor English-language, neither nostalgic and sentimental but rather sharply analytical, and it's actually the best movie of the year.
Your taste in films greatly confuses me. It was a pretty solid lineup but "most of the other films nominated" being better than Parasite is quite the take.
Like others, I strongly believe the quiz should be cued to year of release, not year of ceremony. AMPAS, which gives the awards, lists winners by release — that should be definitive. Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Brittanica do too. In my experience, people who keep track of what they see pretty much always remember year of release.
Only got 17 and missed a few movies that I really like: Birdman, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, On the Waterfront, Unforgiven, Casablanca, The Departed, The Silence of the Lambs.
Thanks for making the quiz! It's one of my favourites. Sorry, but I must argue that there is no reason to have the years line up the way they do. If you buy a DVD or Blu-Ray of a best-picture winner, it specifically says it's the "Best Picture Winner" of the year it came out. I collect DVDs and Blu-Rays of the best picture each year, and they use the year the movie came out as the year of the award. The Academy itself has standardized this format since it comes with a little picture of the Oscar and has a trademark symbol. Parasite won the 2019 Best Picture award. Look at a Blu-Ray of Parasite. It's labelled as the 2019 Best Picture winner. The way the quiz is set up now is definitely wrong and inaccurate for film buffs who are trying to remember what film won the best picture each year. I love the effort you put in, but it really should be changed back if you ever get the chance. :)
They pretty much are. People get so worked up over who won and who didn't, but five years after the fact, no one even remembers who won, but we know which movies were best. We all know Back to the Future is better than Out of Africa, and the fact that Goodfellas didn't win Best Picture has no bearing on its status as a classic. The criteria for winning an Oscar--especially Best Picture--are so strict that they discount the lion's share of movies. The English Patient and the French Connection, for example, each won on the strength of one technically challenging and remarkable scene, and were otherwise good-not-great movies. The category would more accurately be phrased "Best Somber Drama." Does anyone really think Spotlight was a better movie than Fury Road?
The second and third were dreadful, but the first one was inventive and charming. It's still fun to watch. I was using it as an example to make the more general point that the Oscars treats brooding dramas as the only kind of great movie (plus Pixar movies, which they also shower with praise). But lots of "fun" movies are great movies, and are much better than many Best Picture winners. Out of Africa is a snore. Greatest Show on Earth is unwatchable. But movies like E.T.; the Princess Bride; L.A. Confidential; Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, etc. are all great, and I think time has proven that they are better pictures than the movies that won Best Picture in their years of release.
I mean there's several films on this list that, while not exactly riveting or "fun" are still phenomenal films. Amadeus, The Last Emperor and Lawrence of Arabia are all masterpieces and deserved all of their wins. In the same manner that not every movie that wins should be a somber drama, simply being a somber drama shouldn't be a strike against any movie. Being a film that doesn't make you feel good by the end doesn't make a film any worse than a film that makes you feel great.
Oh, sure. I didn't intend to suggest it was. A great movie is a great movie. (And Amadeus is a particular favorite.) My point was not that somber dramas are bad, but that the Oscars *only* consider those kinds of movies. When a genuinely great somber drama comes around, it usually gets recognized by the Academy, but when choosing between a mediocre drama and a great adventure film, they'll still take the drama.
I thought Amadeus was riveting and I was a little girl when I saw it. I was captivated by his childlike persona and I hated jealous Salieri. I had an ugly Salieri I N my class named Krista.If you have a pretty child or you are a pretty child and there's a psycho girl jealous of you, that film can help you learn the motivation of such a miserable human being and how to deal with her. Distance.
I am a big fan of the LOTR books and movies, but really, The Hobbit films just weren't that good. Barely nominated for the technical awards, and failed to win those.
If you like movies, you are missing out big time if you've never seen any of these. There's every genre; war, crime, biography, romance, musical, fantasy, comedy and tragedy.
Put each movie name from 1970 to 2022 in a hat and pick one out. The odds are high that you'll enjoy whatever you pick.
Since 2010 I would consider Parasite and Moonlight only must-sees, though 12 Years a Slave, like Schindler's List before it, is probably a movie everyone should see at least once.
That's funny, me too. I left off with the Shape of Water. I started Nomadland but couldn't get through It. It was boring and depressing without interesting cinematography. Considering the importance of homelessness it should have been done much better.
100% with 6:44 left. I ignored the years altogether & created a list starting with 'Amercian Beauty' and then associated with the next - Amercian in Paris, French Connection, Gigi then movies with person names, Marty, Rebecca, Oliver>then musicals, etc. That left me with 3 movies I couldn't fit into the schema - CODA, Cimarron, Schindlers List. And my all-time favorite movie is 'The Black Stallion' simply for the beauty of the movie and Mickey Rooney. But if pushed to pick one from this list it would be Lawrence of Arabia.
Out of Africa for a 13 year old was a nightmare as bad as Yentyl which is the most painful movie next to Out of Africa, I was forced to sit through. My cousin and I left the theater laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. We laughed all through the film it was hysterical because Meryl Streep sounded like a goat Not a Dane" iiii had a fahm in Aaafrica" she repeated a million times. It was the worst movie and Yentyl well I don't have to even describe how horrible that movie was.
Technically it won a different "best picture" prize that subsequently ceased to exist. The Academy doesn't refer to 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans' as a Best Picture winner.
Eh... I don't know. I enjoyed it but I wouldn't call it one of Scorsese's better efforts. Way too long (as usual for Scorsese) and I felt like DiCaprio was miscast.
I hate to be the one to beat a dead horse, but I still don’t understand the logic of updating only a few Oscar quizzes every other year? Like why do the lead/supporting actress categories and animated feature need to wait until 2025 for an update when you just updated five Oscar quizzes this year? It doesn’t make any semblance of logical sense. Can we please just get all the featured Oscar winners quizzes updated together, yearly?
I'm still in agreement with you, but I'm afraid it will fall on deaf ears here. They've made it very clear they don't consider the Oscars relevant anymore, which is...an opinion. Meanwhile, enjoy hundreds of MLB, NHL, NFL, and NBA quiz updates until the end of time!
Can you please provide your reasoning for which awards this year were awarded on a basis other than talent? That would be much appreciated. I didn't necessarily agree with all the winners this year but to say the winners were untalented is a grossly false statement.
I can't speak for any of the other Oscar quizzes, but the two that I made where you have to nominate every person who was nominated for an acting Oscar... I decided to update those every two years simply because I wouldn't want to have to type in nearly a 1000 names just to refresh my points once a year.
im guessing a lot of people like me just wrote 'Oppenheimer' or 'titanic' and left (I cheated though cause this was the only one left to get the badge)
Did anyone see the film Magnolia directed by PT Anderson? It should have won best picture. The first half of the movie is depressing but unlike the hours which I thought was an awful film, it ends well. I prefer a movie to redeem itself than eNd by giving up. magnolia is a masterpiece from the opening scene to the closing credits.I like intellectually stimulating films and PT Anderson delivers with Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love. I I also love Wes Anderson more of his early work. Also does anyone remember the jagged edge? Watch It if you like thrillers. It's great and stars Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close. At least it was terrifying when I was 13. i think it will hold up with those actors. It is a great premise. And finally, I really loved Nocturnal Animals as a study of the self. Some people didn't get the allegory but it is great. Her ex- husband is a representation of her creative self and the selling out of her dreams. He doesn't exist. I mostly watch indies so I'll recommend a few fav
Italian for Beginners, the original After the Wedding in Danish( the American version is awful), Babette's Feast, Hunt(Danish) Amorres Perros, Nueve Reinas, Y Tu mama tambien, Vive lalgerie(I speak Spanish not french so that title is probably spelled wrong), La Moustache(french) these are a good start, really well done films and one inuit thriller called Fast Runner, a masterpiece. You would think filming in the frozen tundra would be boring but it is a thriller like no other. The most uplifting ones are Babette's Feast and Vive Laalgerie. Enjoy!
Also 8 women (french) is hilarious and Run Lola Run(German) and Hunt(Danish) Is good. Bodres(Danish) is also great much better than the American version. The only American version or 2 actually that I thought were ok compared with the originals are Vanilla Sky I actually thought Cruise did an okay job and I actually forgot the other one. Lol. There also is Almodovar. He's hit or miss. Talk to her is a hit and women on the verge ..is a hit but he has some misses. People either love his work or hate it. A really great film is the Mexican Like Water For Chocolate. And of course everyone knows Amelie. A hilarious dark comedy is the Czech Little Otik. I would not see the lives of others because surveillance is actually happening in the US now and it's nothing to feel warm and fuzzy about it is an awful thing to do to your neighbour.
God, if you only know how much ado did this Anora here, in Russia...Year ago, I never would believe that a picture with Russian actors could take a Best Picture, even be nominated on that.
Responding for an old comment, but anyone who knows anything about this history of the academy knows these winners have reflected cultural issues of the time since the beginning.
"Black Panther" is good, not great IMO, but it meant so much to so many people. It wasn't the worst film nominated that year.
Although I will give Jordan Peele credit in that the Screenplay Oscar was pretty well-deserved.
Also, I thought Us was better. And I'm surprised it got ZERO nominations.
In the years since I've left this comment I rewatched Get Out and am actually more positive to it now, though I still don't know if it deserved to be nominated for that many Oscars.
And, if it matters much, know that I am a white male, and a movie being about Africa does not make it any better for me.
My gender and the racial labels others ascribe to me are irrelevant to my opinion.
Gone with the Wind was a 1939 film. Not 1940. Ridiculous way of thinking! And who even watches the awards anymore??
Nowhere near enough time really though.
Just about missed "The Great Ziegfield", whew!
Put each movie name from 1970 to 2022 in a hat and pick one out. The odds are high that you'll enjoy whatever you pick.
Only those. I’m ashamed.
i got nothing
I saw TWELVE of the 20 years before that. I may be anecdotal, but it should be indicative of how little we as a society value these modern movies.
thanks for a great quiz and keeping it up to date