Platoon (1986)

Directed by Oliver Stone

Starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Keith David, Francesco Quinn, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Reggie Johnson, Mark Moses, Corey Glover, Richard Edson, Tony Todd, Chris Pederson, Bob Orwig, Corkey Ford, David Neidorf, and Johnny Depp

The finest movie made about the Vietnam War, and one of the finest movies made about any war, Platoon examines a particularly tumultuous group of soldiers. "War is hell," and that's never been more evident than it is in this picture. The actors all portray what can happen to a man when he's put in a wartime situation. Charlie Sheen, trying to remain the voice of reason between two warring sergeants, played by Berenger and Dafoe, gives by far the best performance of his career, much like his father did in another Vietnam classic, Apocalypse Now. Hannah and Her Sisters is a favorite of mine, but I'm not surprised this took the prize. A deserving Oscar win for the controversial Oliver Stone.

Other nominees: Children of a Lesser God (Randa Haines), Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen), The Mission (Roland Joffe), and A Room with a View (James Ivory)

The Last Emperor (1987)

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

Starring John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Maggie Han, Ric Young, Vivian Wu, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

The Last Emperor is probably the least seen of any Best Picture winner in the last three decades. This is probably due to its long running time, lack of well-known Western actors, with the exception of Peter O'Toole, or the protagonist's ties to World War II Japan. Bertolucci's film is a beautiful one, but the story leaves something to be desired. The title character is not at all likeable, so his fate is not one that the audience has particular interest in. It won nine Oscars in 1987, but pretty much faded into obscurity afterwards, and not undeservedly.

Other nominees: Broadcast News (James L. Brooks), Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne), Hope and Glory (John Boorman), and Moonstruck (Norman Jewison)

Rain Man (1988)

Directed by Barry Levinson

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Gerald R. Molen, Jack Murdock, Michael D. Roberts, Ralph Seymour, Lucinda Jenney, and Bonnie Hunt

Rain Man is an unquestionable classic, and features one of the finest performances from one of filmdom's greatest actors. Hoffman is intriguing as Raymond Babbitt, the autistic man in middle age who is taken by his younger brother who he has never met (Cruise) so the brother can get what he feels he deserves from his father's will. The journey the two characters take, as well as Cruise's transformation from a cocky jerk into a man who genuinely care for his older brother, are a delight to watch. These are two actors in top form, and this movie is proof that two such performances can carry a work to greatness.

Other nominees: The Accidental Tourist (Lawrence Kasdan), Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears), Mississippi Burning (Alan Parker), and Working Girl (Mike Nichols)

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Directed by Bruce Beresford

Starring Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, Patti LuPone, and Esther Rolle

A delightful little comedy about the kind of friendship that develops over decades, Driving Miss Daisy is a lot different than a lot of the epic films that win the Academy's top prize. Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman are both wonderful as the central characters, a wealthy elderly Jewish woman and the driver her son hires against her will, who ends up in her service for over a quarter century. A lot of people dismiss this movie as a "Best Picture" for various reasons, but it is one of the better depictions of an unlikely friendship I have seen, mostly due to the script and the fantastic performances from the two leads.

Other nominees: Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone), Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir), Field of Dreams (Phil Alden Robinson), and My Left Foot (Jim Sheridan)

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Directed by Kevin Costner

Starring Kevin Costner, Graham Greene, Mary McDonnell, Rodney A. Grant, Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman, Tantoo Cardinal, Robert Pastorelli, Maury Chaykin, Charles Rocket, Wes Studi, Larry Joshua, Tom Everett, and Kirk Baltz

Kevin Costner turns in a sweeping Western epic that turns out to be less about the landscapes that most Westerns focus on, and more about acceptance of cultures other than our own. Controversial because of its depiction of the American military, this movie dares to claim that forcing Western culture on our Native American neighbors may not be the best thing to do. It's also notable for allowing the Native American characters speak in their own language. Really a fascinating film on many fronts, but not better than Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.

Other nominees: Awakenings (Penny Marshall), Ghost (Jerry Zucker), The Godfather Part III (Francis Ford Coppola), and Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Directed by Jonathan Demme

Starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, Ted Levine, Frankie Faison, Kasi Lemmons, Brooke Smith, Paul Lazar, and Dan Butler

In limited screen time, Anthony Hopkins creates one of the most iconic characters of all time and scored an Academy Award for Best Actor. The movie is really about Jodie Foster's rookie FBI agent's search for a vicious serial killer, but what everyone remembers is her relationship with the sinister Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant man in jail for his own serial killing. This relationship becomes one of the most interesting in film history, thanks mostly to the two actors. Horror movies are not usually the ones that win the industry's top awards, but this supurb example is an exception to that rule.

Other nominees: Beauty and the Beast (Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale), Bugsy (Barry Levinson), JFK (Oliver Stone), and The Prince of Tides (Barbra Streisand)

Unforgiven (1992)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett, Saul Rubinek, Frances Fisher, Anna Levine, David Mucci, Rob Campbell, and Anthony James

If Clint Eastwood knows anything, he knows the Western. Having starred in countless entries in the genre, many with his own direction, his 1992 offering may be the best of the bunch. There's an interesting comment on the futility of the violence that fills these kinds of movies. I remember, in Eastwood's own Pale Rider, a posse using about two hundred bullets to kill one man. Gene Hackman is great as a sherriff that only answers to the law. This is a significant film, as it represents the high point of an entire genre.

Other nominees: The Crying Game (Neil Jordan), A Few Good Men (Rob Reiner), Howards End (James Ivory), and Scent of a Woman (Martin Brest)

Schindler's List (1993)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, and Embeth Davidtz

The Holocaust is perhaps the worst event in the history of the world. Many films have been made about these atrocities, but none are finer that Steven Spielberg's modern classic. It would have been easy to depict the Holocaust through the eyes of a victim, or a non-Jewish crusader trying to liberate the oppressed Jews, but Spielberg instead tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a money-grubbing, lecherous member of the Nazi party who saves scores of Jews from the concentration camps, at first just as a war profiteer. By making his hero someone who would have been a villain before the war, Spielberg shows the transforming nature an event such as the Holocaust had on the people who witnessed it. Ralph Fiennes is terrifying as the sadistic Nazi officer who Schindler must deal with. A true classic if there ever was one.

Other nominees: The Fugitive (Andrew Davis), In the Name of the Father (Jim Sheridan), The Piano (Jane Campion), and The Remains of the Day (James Ivory)

Forrest Gump (1994)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field, and Haley Joel Osment

Tom Hanks turns in the best performance of his career in Forrest Gump. The movie is a touching portrait of a mentally-challenged man, but does not hold up on repeat viewings as well as some other classics of the 90s. The story is rather unbelievable, with one man being a witness to so many important events of the 20th Century. However, if you're able to suspend your disbelief, it's quite an enjoyable film. Many aspects of the script were found fourteen years later in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, written by the same writer, but finding less success during awards season. The best movie of the year was probably The Shawshank Redemption or Pulp Fiction, but those movies took a few years to be appreciated, and Forrest Gump is a worthy inclusion on the Best Picture roll call.

Other nominees: Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell), Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino), Quiz Show (Robert Redford), and The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)

Braveheart (1995)

Directed by Mel Gibson

Starring Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Brendan Gleeson, Patrick McGoohan, Angus Macfadyen, Peter Hanly, Ian Bannen, and David O'Hara

The status of this one as a classic baffles me. It's basically a two and half hour male fantasy, as manly men run around, brutally kill people, and have sex with beautiful princesses whose husbands are sissies. If that's the kind of thing that appeals to you, than this is the ideal movie. Anyone interested in an ounce of nuance or some kind of three-dimensional character may need to look elsewhere for a worthwhile night at the movies. However, the Academy seemed to disagree with me, and in a weak year, this took home the statue.

Other nominees: Apollo 13 (Ron Howard), Babe (Chris Noonan), The Postman (Michael Radford), and Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee)

The English Patient (1996)

Directed by Anthony Minghella

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth, Julian Wadham, and Jurgen Prochnow

A character's disdain for this movie served as the basis for an episode of Seinfeld. It is really an "Oscar-like" movie if there ever was one, but it has probably remained popular less than any other Best Picture winner of the 90s. Ralph Fiennes' character is a totally unlikeable protagonist, so it is nearly impossible to become invested in his story. Juliette Binoche is fine as the nurse caring for Fiennes, so the scenes featuring her and her romance with Naveen Andrews are a welcome reprieve from the selfish love story between Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas. This may have won the award, but Fargo has proved to be the breakout classic of 1996.

Other nominees: Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen), Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe), Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh), and Shine (Scott Hicks)

Titanic (1997)

Directed by James Cameron

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Bernard Hill, David Warner, Victor Garber, Jonathan Hyde, and Suzy Amis

It's the most successful movie of all time. I remember girls I knew going to see this thirteen or fifteen times in the theater. Personally, I don't get it. It's a well-made movie, and visually stunning, especially by 1997 standards, but there's not a whole lot there. The central love story is totally unbelievable. What would Jack and Rose do if the Titanic had not struck that iceberg? A real relationship would have been impossible, and since this supposed love is key to the whole story, I find the film disposable. I recently watched it for the first time since I saw it upon its release, and realized I'll have no problem waiting another twelve years to see it again.

Other nominees: As Good as It Gets (James L. Brooks), The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo), Good Will Hunting (Gus van Sant), and L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Directed by John Madden

Starring Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Tom Wilkinson, Imelda Staunton, Simon Callow, Martin Clunes, Rupert Everett, and Judi Dench

I think this movie gets a bad rap. It should not have won the Oscar, but it is still a pretty good film. There is an obvious love for Shakespeare here, and anyone who at all enjoys Shakespeare's work will enjoy this work. The cast of mostly British actors turn in enjoyable performances, and it is refreshing to see Shakespeare presented as a normal guy in real world situations, even if they are not historically accurate. It's not better than Saving Private Ryan, but it's still more worthy than some of the other films that have taken home the statue.

Other nominees: Elizabeth (Shekhar Kapur), Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni), Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg), and The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)

American Beauty (1999)

Directed by Sam Mendes

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

One of the better films to take home the Oscar for Best Picture, American Beauty also has the distinction of being maybe the best of the myriad of films and television shows examining life in suburbia. Kevin Spacey is brilliant as the frustrated Lester Burnham, attracted to his teenage daughter's friend, and trying to find some excitement in his life. The script is often morbidly funy, and the lines are delivered perfectly by the talented cast. It often turns up on "overrated Best Pictures" lists, but I never, for the life of me, will understand that.

Other nominees: The Cider House Rules (Lasse Hallstrom), The Green Mile (Frank Darabont), The Insider (Michael Mann), and The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan)

Gladiator (2000)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi, David Schofield, John Shrapnel, Tomas Arana, Ralf Moeller, Spencer Treat Clark, and David Hemmings

Gladiator re-introduced the "sword and sandal" epic that had been so popular in the 1950s and 1960s with a 21st Century sensibility. This one is bloodier than classics like Ben-Hur and Spartacus, but the basic themes are the same. Russell Crowe is very good as the former general who loses his family and is forced to compete as a slave in the Arena. Oliver Reed, in his final performance, does well as the slave trader that trains the gladiators. This one is similar in many ways, but far superior, to the Best Picture winner of five years earlier, Braveheart.

Other nominees: Chocolat (Lasse Hallstrom), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee), Erin Brockovich (Steven Soderbergh), and Traffic (Steven Soderbergh)

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Directed by Ron Howard

Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, Jason Gray-Stanford, Judd Hirsch, and Austin Pendleton

A very entertaining story about mental illness that features touching performances from Crowe as John Nash, the brilliant mathematician with paranoid delusions, and Connelly as his nurturing wife. Harris and Bettany are also interesting as the people Nash discovers too late are figments of his imagination. Howard brings his trademark sentimentality to the piece, but here, it works. The story is interesting, if historically innacurate, and this is the kind of movie the Academy eats up. Moulin Rouge! was a particularly interesting musical, but the Oscars would wait a year, with 2002's Chicago, to award a musical with its top prize.

Other nominees: Gosford Park (Robert Altman), In the Bedroom (Todd Field), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson), and Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann)

Chicago (2002)

Directed by Rob Marshall

Starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, Queen Latifah, Colm Feore, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, Mya, Dominic West, Susan Misner, Denise Faye, Deidre Goodwin, Ekaterina Chtchelkanova, Chita Rivera, and Lucy Liu

I love musicals. Stage musicals, that is. Unfortunately, a lot of the movie versions of classic stage musicals tend to disappoint, lacking the same energy and life that make the stage versions such successes. Luckily, the 2002 winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture does not fall into that category. Rob Marshall creates a wonderful film here. The roles are perfectly cast, all with movie actors who few knew as singers, and Marshall creates a stunning visual world that would be impossible to create on the stage. Chicago was the first musical to win the Oscar for Best Picture in thirty-five years, since 1968's Oliver!. This success caused an influx of movies based on hit stage musicals that hadn't been seen in decades. Unfortunately, most of these, including 2005's The Producers and Rent were nothing more than watered-down, inferior versions of their stage counterparts.

Other nominees: Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese), The Hours (Stephen Daldry), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson), and The Pianist (Roman Polanksi)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Directed by Peter Jackson

Starring Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, Karl Urban, Ian Holm, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving, and Cate Blanchett

The finale of Peter Jackson's film version of J.R.R. Tolkein's epic fantasy trilogy is certainly a sight to behold. Like the first two entries, Jackson spares no expense to make his film as visually stunning as possible. It seems that this film was rewarded as a way to reward the entire trilogy, as it is not necessarily the strongest of the three. It suffers from being overlong, and seemingly over up to three times before the credits actually roll. Still, it's a worthy conclusion to an important series, and I'm sure the Academy saw the need to recognize it.

Other nominees: Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir), Mystic River (Clint Eastwood), and Seabiscuit (Gary Ross)

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Lucia Rijker, Brian F. O'Byrne, Anthony Mackie, Margo Martindale, Riki Lindhome, Michael Pena, and Bruce MacVittie

It's good. It shouldn't have won. I've always found Eastwood and Swank a little overrated, and their work in this one isn't any different. For whatever reason, boxing movies have managed to break free of the "sports movie" mold and find critical success outside of the genre, and this movie is a fine example of a boxing film. The movie suffers at times from the lack of subtlty in Paul Haggis's script, a problem that would plague the next year's Best Picture winner even more. Morgan Freeman turns in one of the best performances of his illustrious career, and Eastwood and Swank, while overrated, are both good as well. This is definitely a movie worth seeing, but The Aviator was better.

Other nominees: The Aviator (Martin Scorsese), Finding Neverland (Marc Forster), Ray (Taylor Hackford), and Sideways (Alexander Payne)

Crash (2005)

Directed by Paul Haggis

Starring Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Tony Danza, Keith David, Loretta Devine, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Nona Gaye, Terrence Howard, Ludacris, Thandie Newton, Michael Pena, Ryan Phillippe, Bahar Soomekh, Larenz Tate, and Shaun Toub

I'll admit it. I was happy when Jack Nicholson read Crash instead of Brokeback Mountain on Oscar night. Seeing the film again a few times since then has made me realize how wrong I was to prefer this to Ang Lee's important, if flawed, film. Good Night, and Good Luck is actually my favorite film of the year, but that never seemed to have the support needed to win. Paul Haggis once again proves that subtlety is something he has never heard of in this self-righteous, heavy-handed, and contrived work. Matt Dillon turns in an interesting performance as a racist police officer, but the material he is given, like his castmates, is so absurd and preachy, that the performance becomes nearly irrelevant. This seems to be a movie I like less and less every time I see it, and I have a feeling that the Academy is disappointed that they made this an upset winner.

Other nominees: Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee), Capote (Bennett Miller), Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney), and Munich (Steven Spielberg)

The Departed (2006)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Anthony Anderson, Mark Rolston, David O'Hara, Kevin Corrigan, James Badge Dale, and Alec Baldwin

He finally did it. Martin Scorsese, after one of the most critically successful careers a Hollywood director had ever had, managed to direct the Academy's pick for Best Picture of the year. This is a very interesting work, featuring strong performances from DiCaprio, as a troubled policeman posing as a criminal, Damon, as a privileged and cocky criminal posing as a policeman, and Nicholson as the sinister crime boss both must deal with. The twists and turns, with the exception of a key one at the end, are believeable and drive the story forward. Is this Scorsese's best film? No. Is it the best American film of 2006? Yes, and that's what's important.

Other nominees: Babel (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu), Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood), Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris), and The Queen (Stephen Frears)

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

Starring Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Barry Corbin, and Stephen Root

No Country for Old Men is one of the better films to be released in the 21st Century. It looks beautiful, features brilliant performances, and leaves the viewer enthralled for every second of its running time. This film features the finest examples of what the Coen Brothers do best, namely finding humor in the most grim of circumstances. Javier Bardem manages to create one of the most frightening movie villains of recent memory, yet we still find ourselves laughing at some of his most diabolical actions. No Country for Old Men is undoubtedly the best picture of 2007, a particularly strong year for American film.

Other nominees: Atonement (Joe Wright), Juno (Jason Reitman), Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy), and There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Directed by Danny Boyle

Starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Madhur Mittal, and Mahesh Manjrekar

Slumdog Millionaire is a very good film, I'm just not sure it was the masterpiece it was made out to be. Danny Boyle provides a visually stimulating experience and a genuinely moving story, but the absurdity of the convenience of the questions on the central game show detracts from the film as a whole. The cast, made up of Indian actors unknown in the United States, make the most of the material. I just found it hard to get past the idea that the fifteen facts this young man learned in his life happened to be the fifteen questions asked of him on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It was a weak year for movies overall, so even if Slumdog is not as good as some of the other most recent Best Picture winners, it is difficult to argue that it did not deserve its award, especially considering the other films nominated. Although I may have preferred Milk, this is the more "Oscar-like" of the two, so I'm not surprised that it won.

Other nominees: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher), Frost/ Nixon (Ron Howard), Milk (Gus van Sant), and The Reader (Stephen Daldry)