I've actually never seen any of the other nominees that year, but even I know this was an awful pick. Crash was the type of movie that the 14-year old me who saw it in theaters would've thought was deep, but was actually so damn surface level. I'm sure there are worse Best Picture winners that I've never seen, but out of the ones I have, there's a huge gap between this and the next.
Snubbed: Brokeback Mountain (granted, I've never seen it, but enough people are convinced)
41.) Ordinary People (1980)
I guess the acting was good, and the subject was a pointed look at a taboo subject (teen suicide) at the time, much like the best picture winner the year before was on divorce. But in reality, this movie just never really captured me, and the fact it won over Raging Bull is just a disgrace. This isn't the worst movie to beat out a Scorsese film for best picture. But this is the type of movie that the Oscars gave too much love to over the years.
Snubbed: Raging Bull (a crazy decision made worse over time)
40.) American Beauty (1999)
My view on this movie got a lot lower over time, and not only because this was Spacey the creep acting creepy. Anyway, this was another pointed look at a small issue, much like the Ordinary People of its day. At the end of the day, either The Green Mile or The Sixth Sense would've have been better chjoices (granted, if it was The Sixth Sense, I don't know how much higher it would've been).
Snubbed: The Insider (I don't talk about it above because I hadn't seen it when I first wrote this, but The Insider is awesome, so much better than American Beauty it is laugh-inducing)
39.) Forrest Gump (1994)
I think over the years the backlash against Forrest Gump has been largely either misplaced or mixed up. I think Tom Hanks very much deserved that Best Actor oscar for lifting up a paper thin, ridiculous movie and making it watchable. The plot, the silliness, the surfaceness, it was just slightly more viable than Crash was all those years later. But let's not drag Tom Hanks down.
Snubbed: Pulp Fiction (yeah, we all know...)
38.) The Sound of Music (1965)
This is not an anti-musical pick - I have a bunch of the other musicals that have won best picture higher up the list. What I've come to realize after watching it a couple times is how little of the movie actually featured music and how overly drawn out the plot was of the actual story. It's wholly made up, and even worse than that really it was trying to tell a redemptive WWII story without focusing on any Jewish characters. The best songs are great, but everything else is overrated. Admittedly, I haven't seen any of the other movies from that year.
37.) The King's Speech (2010)
Fine story, fine acting, spotlighting a somehow undertold and not well known story about the Royals. All of that is true. Still a bit surprised this won best picture. From here on out, I would say these are all good movies, all worthy of watching, if not outright rewatchable, but still a bit shocked it won. Maybe it's because I've seen a bunch of the 2010 nominees, but I would've gone for Black Swan, The Fighter, The Social Network, Inception or Toy Story 3 over this one.
Snubbed: The Social Network (given Fincher still doesn't have an Oscar and is now mostly doing NETFLIX movies, this may be a legacy-defining snub)
36.) An American in Paris (1951)
I love these types of movies, am a huge fan of Gene Kelly, and found myself totally engrossed in every bit of that 20-minute dance sequence to end it. Call this a protest drop of a few spots because I'm still retroactively annoyed the superior Gene Kelly flick, Singing in teh Rain, wasn't just not named best picture in 1952, but not even nominated. That's blasphemy.
Snubbed: A Streetcar Named Desire (honestly shocking A Streetcar wasn't picked, and probably then opens the door for Singing in teh Rain the next year)
35.) Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
At the time, I was excited that this movie won Best Picture. Over time, my emotions are more mixed as I don't know how to think about how they represent India, the slums, and everything else. What I do know is it was a well acted, stunningly well shot, and quite fun movie at the end of the day. The song, the dancing, the moments - it was a soft entry to many into Bollywood, and a worthy winner given the other candidates that year.
34.) The Sting (1973)
Was it a bit too silly? Yes. Was the big reveal a bit too choreographed? Maybe. But was it superbly well acted, well scripted and an incredibly good time? Yes, 100%. I have not yet seen American Graffiti, but The Sting deserves its place for pairing up Butch & Sundance one more time in a very different movie and still making it about as well made and entertaining as you would want.
33.) Gladiator (2000)
Was it a bit too over the top? Yes. Was it a bit too masculine? Maybe. But was it superbly well shot, acted and an incredibly good time? Yes, yes it was. Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix were on one in this film. Honestly, I think Traffic was better (I'm a Soderberg-stan in general) but even then Gladiator was a more than fine film achievement. Spectacle matters, as we'll get too in more serious detail in The Titanic section.
Snubbed: Traffic (again, this isn't a huge snub, but was also probably Soderbergh's best chance to win Best Picture)
32.) Gigi (1958)
It was a small movie in terms of plot, but was just so sweetly made, and in a weird way really progressive for its time, with the titular Gigi fighting to be something more than a courtesan which all expected her to be. Not going to say its some #FemaleEmpowerment film, but it comes close for its day. I was somewhat surprised to learn it won all nine oscars it was nominated for, but it was excellently made and looked stunning and had great music - for both it won most of its oscars.
31.) Platoon (1986)
I'm not a huge War Movie guy (admittedly, I have a war movie much higher up the list) but few movies actually showed the real, in the moment, front-lines cruelty of the Vietnam War with more raw honesty than Platoon. Yes, watching it in 2010s eyes it was a bit tough to look at Charlie Sheen as a dramatic actor, but he was good and the rest of the cast excellent. The direction and action was amazing. It was probably a bit too dour for my liking to be higher up, but it was an excellent movie.
30.) In the Heat of the Night (1967)
It's a beautiful bit of brilliance that both this and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? was nominated for best picture in the same year. Both feature Sidney Poitier cast as a black man in a white world, and had the movie lean 100% into that angle. It was risky, it was defiant, it was brilliant. The mystery storyline itself was a bit weak (though mystery plots in the 1960s were rarely all too deep), but the audacity of it all, and the brilliance of Poitier himself, makes it all work well.
29.) Rain Man (1988)
Oh yes, this was a great one. Honestly, after a couple watches, I think Tom Cruise is the better performance here. Was Dustin Hoffman did was very raw and portrayed with great intention, but in terms of the tougher role, us not absolutely despising the Cruise character is a testament to how effective at being smarmy and likeable he was in his co-leading man days (see A Few Good Men also). The plot is also better written and more intricate than I remembered after first viewing.
28.) Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
This is the highest ranking movie where I'm fully against it winning - in this case it should've been Apocalypse Now. Anyway, Kramer vs. Kramer itself is a testament to great acting, and man was it great. Sure, on its face just watching Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep act out a couple breaking apart, not through infidelity but just through natural separation, was worth the price of admission, but it really was. I don't know still if I've seen a better look at divorce than this one, and having it played out by two of the all time greats just make it all the better.
Snubbed: Apocalypse Now (just a ludicrous decision, and I think Kramer v Kramer is a brilliant film. But come on now, to pass on arguably the greatest War Movie ever made...)
27.) The Apartment (1960)
It's amazing looking back just how many romantic comedies used to win best picture. I guess a much higher percentage of movies back in the day were in that camp, but anyway while I think The Apartment is a tad overrated, it's that it is truly excellent vs. incredible. Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine were both excellent, especially Lemmon is so perfectly playing the down-on-his-luck climber. The plot itself was quite risque for its time and definitely humorous. In the end, it is a fantastic movie that has become a bit of a touchstone as being one of the best old classic hollywood movies, which I jsut think is not true.
26.) Birdman (2014)
Sure, the big takeaway was the one-er of it all, but even outside of that, I thought this was just a very good movie with some excellent performances, from Keaton to Norton to the understated star of it all to me in Emma Stone. Even some of the lesser roles in the ensemble were just perfectly acted. Add in the direction, which probably is overrated but still commendable, and you get an excellent winner that I actually find a bit underrated historically by this point. To me, it is one of the better winners of the 2010s.
25.) Chicago (2002)
I thold you I like musicals. Chicago was interesting because of how just out there Baz Luhrman was. Unlike most musicals that just make the songs part of the dialogue and the scenes, the idea to make most of the songs their own weird, atlernate fantasy dimension set pieces, was just brilliant. The showmanship of all the songs, especially my favorite in Cell Block Tango, was all great. The story itself was probably a bit thin, but the production of it all was the closest I've ever seen to watching a stage musical on the big screen.
24.) Anora (2024)
It's kind of crazy this won Best Picture, in a year where there wer at least other reasonable candidates. This weird little small story of a sex worker taken on a ride of her life by being given some exposure to the real world was played so real and somehow also so funny. Those scenes of Mike Madison's character yelling with various Russian henchmen was never not fun. The movie was improved for the fact that there was never really any risk that Anora was in. Sean Baker is not a filmmaker I knew a lot about before this, but when I watched Anora back in the January preceding the Oscars I was so damn entertained, and more so just happy when it got its plaudits. There's been a lot of 'how did that happen?' wins recently (many of which I haven't seen, like Shape of Water or CODA) but Anora will at least the version of that type that I did watch and absolutely loved.
23) Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Some have already said that EEAAO being such an Oscars juggernaut will not age well. For me, I saw it on a plane having heard a bit about it, and loved it the second I watched it. I had a dream it could win Best Picture. I saw a decent amount of the nominees this year, and I was overjoyed when it one. It was the closest thing to many of the TV shows I've often ranked #1 on my yearly lists: it was just the best piece of movie-making, the most entertaining and thought provoking one of the past year. The comedy, the questions it asked, all of it combined to something incredible.
22.) The French Connection (1971)
Is it weird to say taht this is ranked 22nd (and realistically everything from here on out are absolute classics) and if anything I'm sad it isn't higher. Like, the French Connection had all the ingredients of a top-10 type movie - a commanding lead performance by a Titan in teh field (Hackman), some great supporting roles and that blending of classic Noir with new Hollywood. I'm shocked it preceded things like The Godfather, or Chinatown. But ultimately, it was just a bit too "old" in some ways to go any higher and a bit too slow at times. Still, Hackman was easily worth the price of admission on this one.
Snubbed: A Clockwork Orange (only noting this because Kubrick somehow never won an Oscar. I don't think Clockwork was his best film, but easily could've won)
