Million Dollar Baby

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... Million Dollar Baby!

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 77 (2004)

This one has been a long time coming. 
I guess comparisons to Rocky are inevitable as both are built around boxing and tells the story of an underdog giving it their all. The difference this time however is Clint Eastwood is in the director's chair and he is, for me, a favourite: This is due to the fact that Clint has proven time and time again he can eschew flashiness for taking what he has and doing a lot with it. 

Actually, I feel there this is one important similarity between Million Dollar Baby and Rocky: Both resemble a boxing movie but they aren't really about boxing. And that is the case here: Sure it's a compelling watch but it's only in the final half hour that it shows it's hand. I won't give too much away but throughout the movie there are meditations on poverty, striving to obtain a better life, knowing one can do better than their current situation, and dealing with those who try to disparage - and leech off of - one's success. 
It's a compelling watch with great acting all around, superb direction and a punch-in-the-gut finale. 

Truly a well-deserved winner of Best Picture.

Chicago

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... Chicago!

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 75 (2002)

Because of this year-long undertaking, I have found myself watching more musicals than previous years. So why not add one more to the pile?
Still, I didn't have to look far for this one as Kiera had on her DVD shelf. 

Last week, I mentioned how the unlikely victory of Shakespeare in Love has changed the Oscar for Best Picture. But there is another reason: It announced Grade-A scumbag Harvey Weinstein as the figurehead for a new era. So from here on, expect to see a lot more Miramax films. 

But ultimately this was a lot of fun. It's big, colourful, inventive and the songs are great. And it proves what can accomplished as a screen musical. 
It could be argued that this movie wouldn't exist without the success of Moulin Rouge. But I say bugger Moulin Rouge - give me this any day. 

A Beautiful Mind

And this week's Friday night movie has been... A Beautiful Mind!

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 74 (2001)

Yep, we're skipping over the 1990s simply because I have already seen them all. 
But in a way, perhaps it is fitting that I'm going straight from the 1980s to the 2000s. Why? Well, both decades share parallels: They both follow two heavyweight decades and, with the passage of time, look very pale compared to previous Best Picture winners. 
Still the eighties ending up surprising me so it would be interesting to see if something similar happens with the 2000s....

At time of writing, I am two thirds of the way through this year long undertaking. And it is at this point that I have come to recognise some recurring elements that appear in the Best Picture Oscar winners. Of course, it is not willingly but this notion of Oscar Bait seems to have up in the past two decades. 
Mind you, this is a post-Shakespeare in Love world we live in and now having a movie that has no other purpose other than to score big at the Oscars are now going to be more frequent. Indeed, I suspect that in the weeks ahead, I'm going to see Harvey Weinstein's name a lot....

But if this movie is a product of a post-Shakespeare in Love world, I would argue it owes it's existence more to Forrest Gump: It tells the story of a man of extraordinary ability and of a life lived. 
Personally, I found this movie very long and with some dull moments - seriously you could shave off twenty minutes and no one would've noticed - but the real strength of this movie is it's use of mathematics and it's portrayal of schizophrenia.
And hey: who wouldn't want Paul Bettany as their roommate? 

The Last Emperor

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Last Emperor!

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 60 (1987)

If the 1980s was the 'forgotten' decade of Best Picture Oscar winners then this must surely be the forgotten movie of the ten.
I will say this though: From the outset this has to be the most unique Best Picture Oscar winner: An all-Asian cast of no big names. A director who has hardly an Oscar favourite. An Asian story, told by Asian people in an Asian location. The sole Oscar winner in the cast playing a white man who disappears halfway through the movie. And an epic where the lead character is a passive one.

But much like it's fellow epics, this is staggering in its scale. The onsite footage of the Forgotten City as astonishing and the amount of extras used for particular scenes is unbelievable. Such visuals are worth the price of admission alone but what is of particular note is the narrative of a boy who is in command, for reasons he can't comprehend, over a region that has no purpose to exist. Thus the tragedy hits like a brick when our protagonist tries to assert some control over his life, well into adulthood, but is outdone at every turn. 

All in all, a triumph. So why is this forgotten? Buggered if I know.

And so, with that, we leave the 1980s behind. So what shall come next week....?