Moviefone Picks The Best of Oscar's Best

Great movies. Casablanca is a timeless classic, and it gets better with each viewing; though, there is nothing like that first viewing. To add, Million Dollar Baby should not be shortchanged. That movie was astounding, as everyone in the theater was stunned and heartbroken at the conclusion. MDB deserves to be up there with the great-great movies; I mean 2004 was supposed to be the year of Scorsese, DiCaprio, and The Aviator. How quickly we forget what a spellbinding movie can do to leave another great movie in the dust. I hope MDB stands the test of time; I'm sure it will.

Reply

For the cineaste who wanted to know why "The Wizard of Oz" wasn't on your Top 25:

Since I'm not part of the braintrust responsible for the list, let me just say I think the Best Picture statue taken home by the team who made this "Classic Baumbastic" is every bit as real as the infamous "man behind the curtain" was in the Emerald City.

Which, again ~ I cannot stress enough how little it is of which I profess to know ~ but, that there "Emerald City?"

Didn't exist.

That's right.

No "Snip snip, here! Snip snip, there!"

Let's see now (FOR THOSE KEEPING SCORE AT HOME)...

NO Dorothy.

NO Toto. Or Toto 2, the natural selection in the imaginary sequel, "Return of the Wizard: He's Back and Sad to Say ~ He's Gained Weight."

NO Scarecrow. There's a Sheryl Crow. But she's not all that scary. Of course, Lance Armstrong might beg to differ.

NO Cowardly Lion.

Oh, wait! I forgot about Mark McGwire testifying to Congress!

NO Tin Man.

NO WickedWitchOfTheWest. (ROSIE?)

NO Oscar.

The yellow brick road led that year to a li'l place...

Called Tara.

Well, if you have to come in second...

Reply

Another film that didn't earn Oscar's attention, but is the single greatest film I've seen, is "The Great Santini."

I think it was one of those cases where the title of the film was off-putting or at the very least, misleading to film lovers.

If not for the persistence, and insistence of a new friend at the time, I too would never have gone to see a movie I figured was set in a circus. Hey, if I want to be surrounded by a bunch of foul-mouthed drunken carnies, I don't have to go sit in a dark theater for two hours. I'd just spend Thanksgiving with my family in Georgia.

As great as Robert Duvall has been in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Godfather, Tender Mercies, Ramblin' Rose and my second-most fave in the Bobby Duvall catalogue, The Apostle, his Bull Meecham is to this day the most indelible image edged in my hard drive.

Just like another masterful, more recent work, Sexy Beast, sometimes a film title just works too hard or tries to be too cute. Just as there are no whips, chains OR Great Danes in Sexy Beast, there is nary a trapeze to be found in The Great Santini. Just great acting.

Reply

It's time for studios to fire ALL writers and hire new non-union writers. Follow Pres. Reagan steps when he fired air traffic controllers, things got better.

Reply

IMHO, the Best of the Best was "The Sting": great acting, sets, music and most of all... The Sting was as much on the audience as the "mark", Doyle Lonigan.
Peter Hess

Reply

How about Patton, The French Connection, The Sting, From Here To Eternity, Ben-Hur, Platoon, Titanic and forget
Midnight Cowboy, In The Heat Of The Night, An American In Paris, Unforgiven, Lord Of The Rings, Annie Hall and My Fair Lady. Simply just better movies. If The English Patient made the list I was going to scream, that has to be the most boring movie ever made. Schindler's List was deserving but one oscar it should not have gotten, Best Musical Score to Randy Edelman for Gettysburg. I don't think it was even nominated but it sends chills up and down me everytime I hear it.

Reply

Your omission of "From Here to Eternity" and inclusion of overblown nonsense like "Lord of the Rings" is, I think, silly.

Reply

I would just like for ONCE to be able to view ALL the pictures OF The Pictures, when I select NEXT, instead the hit-and-miss one, which loads, and the next, which after about 45% or so just won't completely load. Very confusing as well quite annoying to me, and has become very routine as well.

Reply

The list is ordinary.
Only On The Waterfront, Casablanca and The
Godfather films achieve greatness.
The Departed is Donnie Brasco (and no better).
The Unforgiven is an average film (with a tremend-
ous ending).
The Technicolor films have the weakness of that
style of presentation.
Annie Hall is not even Woody Allen's best.
This list is forgettable.

Reply

unbelievably stupid people on here. "where's shawshank redemption?!?" etc.
anyway i think the unforgiven is overrated. malcolm x should've won that year

Reply

I don't buy "The Silence of the Lambs" on this list, especially at number eight. I've always felt it was a terribly overrated movie and that Hopkins' overblown performance paled in comparison to Brian Cox's subtle and, to me, vastly more disturbing portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in "Manhunter." I still don't believe that a nut job who was as obviously crazy as Hopkins' Lecter could go unnoticed by any moderately capable investigator. Or was I supposed to believe that Lecter came across as a totally normal guy right up until they locked him up in that basement with everyone else?

I do like their top 5, though I might switch "The Godfather, Part I" with "Lawrence of Arabia."

Reply

This is a horrible list. How do Terms of Endearment, My Fair Lady, In the Heat of the Night, the Departed, and An American in Paris make it (LOTR Return of the King was iffy too but I'm sure the Academy meant to give the award for the entire trilogy) and the following pictures not:

Best Years of Our Lives
Amadeus
Patton
How Green Was My Valley
All The King's Men
From Here To Eternity
Marty
Ben-Hur
The Last Emperor
Braveheart
Shakespeare in Love

I would clearly replace any of the movies from the bottom list with any of the movies from the top one.

Reply

Where's Platoon??

Reply

Where's The Sound of Music? It was the biggest Box Office Hit for years and not to mention one of the best movie musicals of all time. I don't buy the My Fair Lady and An American in Paris are better. I really think it should have been on the list.

Reply

overall, pretty impressive. the list really makes one remember all the great films of the past. I was happy to see "On the Waterfront" receive it's due and be in the top 10. Some others I would have put on the list include Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca", From Here to Eternity, Ben Hur, and Forrest Gump.

Reply

I was overall pretty happy with the list. I would have liked to see The Sting on the list as it really is a perfect script along with two of the greatest actors of all time. Oh and Lord of the Rings ROTK should have been number 1.. nothing will ever pass that piece of cinema. Truly unbelievable achievement.

Reply

I would take out the overrated All About Eve. Yes it's still timely but the far superior Sunset Boulevard was robbed that year. I also couldn't stand Bette Davis's character. In its place should be All Quiet on The Western Front. That movie had such impact, the star of that film became a contentious objector during World War II. I also think The Best Years of Our Lives should be on instead of Terms of Endearment, which I have never seen. Patton should also be on the list instead of Gone With The Wind, which goes on and on and on and on. Finally, I never understood the love affair with Godfather Part II. The young Don Vito footage simply doesn't work and should have been its own separate movie.

Reply

Lord of the Rings? No way? I don't think Unforgiven should have made the list either. Hats off to the Godfather I and II! Somewhere The Wizard of Oz should have been listed.

Reply

Some of the choices are questionable, and a lot of good movies missing. Where is Citizen Kane?

Reply