Watching Every Oscar Best Picture Winner Ever

2002 and time to head to 1920s Chicago for the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! in 1968. The 2000s rebirth of the musical is in full swing. Chicago succeeded where Moulin Rouge! could not so surely we are in for something spectacular? Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a vaudeville musical theatre star who finds herself on death row for the murder of her adulterous husband and her sister with whom he was having an affair. Meanwhile, Roxie Hart (Renée Zellw

We come to 2001 but it’s not a Space Odyssey waiting for us – instead it’s Ron Howard’s mathematical drama. This was a fantastic year in film. Mulholland Drive, Amelie, Donnie Darko and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring all made it to the silver screen but they were unable to come away with the Best Picture prize. The stage is surely set for something spectacular? In place of Middle Earth, we arrive at the University of Princeton where we meet the genius mat

A new millennium and where better to start than with the empire that founded Western civilisation. Gladiator takes us to 180 AD. The Roman Empire stretches across the known world and Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) is a successful general, seeing off the last European resistance from Germanic tribes in Central Europe. All seems well and Maximus is keen to return home after all of this hard work, fighting, leadership and management. However, DreamWorks have other id

1999 was an excellent year in film. The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Magnolia and Toy Story 2 all made it to the silver screen. However, there can only be one winner for each year and Sam Mendes’ American Beauty made it over the line. The last year of the second millennium AD takes us to suburban America. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is struggling in his upper-middle-class existence. He doesn’t enjoy his job in advertising and his marriage to his house-proud wife i

1998 and, in one of the biggest Academy Award shocks, the top prize went to Shakespeare in Love in place of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. It is therefore time for a romantic comedy set in Elizabethan England rather than a gruesome march through the 1944 D-day landings with Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. It’s 1593 and a 29-year-old Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is struggling to find a flowing iambic pentameter. He leans on Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett) for advice

It’s March 23rd 1998 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Sean Connery talks through the impressive list of nominees for Best Picture: As Good as it Gets, the Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential and finally Titanic. A hush descends upon the room as Sean opens the envelope. He squints at the winner written before him, pauses and then announces in his Scottish tone, “Titanic”. The room erupts in applause. James Cameron rises to his feet, flanked by his wife Lin

1996 takes us to North Africa in the late 1930s. Count Laszlo Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), Peter Madox (Julian Wadham), Geoffrey Clifton (Colin Firth) and his wife Katharine (Kristen Scott Thomas) embark on an exciting geographical survey of the Sahara desert. What follows is a relentless pursuit of emotional truth amidst sandstorms and ancient cave paintings. Does love trump duty? Loyalty? Marriage vows? National identity? Does the lingering spectre of war and death make love m

It’s 1995 and time to visit 13th century Scotland. Mel Gibson stars, directs and produces this epic historical war drama. Winner of 5 academy awards, it grossed $209 million worldwide but does it still gain traction with audiences over 700 years after the Battle of Stirling Bridge? King Edward “Longshanks” the First of England (Patrick McGoohan) holds a tyrannical grip on the Scottish Kingdom. William Wallace (Mel Gibson) is descended from a line of Scottish warriors but a

1994 was an extraordinary year for cinema. The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction and The Lion King all reached the big screen. Yet only one film could claim the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Forrest Gump took the crown. No pressure Forrest! Robert Zemeckis’ comedy-drama takes us to 1950s' Alabama. We meet young Forrest, a boy wearing leg braces due to spinal issues. His mother runs a boarding house and lots of people come to stay, including a random visit from Elvis

1993 takes us to Poland in World War II. We meet Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a metal goods factory owner in Nazi-occupied Krakow. He is a charismatic yet complicated man. A Nazi party member, he benefits from the slave labour imposed upon Jewish prisoners. However, his story is anything but typical; it becomes a story of extraordinary courage amidst the horrors of the War. Schindler’s desire for business productivity morphs into a genuine compassion as he sees the atroci

Actor, director and producer Clint Eastwood appears in the third western to grace this list. It’s the first time we’ve met Clint in this process, and he is approaching his very best. We head to 1881 and the fictional town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming. After cowboy Quick Mike disfigures a prostitute named Delilah, Sheriff Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) dispenses his own rough version of justice, ordering Mike and his associate Davey to compensate Delilah’s employee with a few ponies

1991 gives us the only horror film to ever win Best Picture. Based on Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel, The Silence of the Lambs became only the third film in history to win the so-called big 5 awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. For quiz knowledge purposes the other two were… It Happened One Night (1934) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). However, as those two films prove, sweeping the Oscars doesn’t guarantee top bill

The 1990s arrive! Can the decade of Britpop and the Sega Saturn set a new standard? It will have to surpass all of the previous 7 decades including the 1970s which scored a record 8.5/10 on average. Good luck to actor-director Kevin Costner and his team. Sadly Dances with Wolves is not available on any streaming platform so, for the second time, I have had to dig deep and find a DVD. I can only apologise to all of you blog fans out there for the delay. Only the 2 rd Wes

The 1980s has proved to be an excellent decade in film and who better to round it off than Morgan Freeman? Starring in this family-friendly classic, no PG-rated film has won the Best Picture Oscar since. This entry takes us to 1948 Atlanta, Georgia. Driving Miss Daisy centres around an elderly lady named Daisy (Jessica Tandy). Daisy, imitating Prince Phillip, crashes her car in the opening credits. Disturbed, her son hires a black chauffeur named Hoke (Morgan Freeman) to d

As the contemporary era comes ever closer, we meet another movie star of our times, Tom Cruise. Then 26 years old, Cruise links up with...

The 60 th Best Picture takes us to 20 th century China. Bernardo Bertolucci’s historical drama follows the life of Puyi, the 11 th ...

4 years into this blog and we visit the Vietnam War once again. Oliver Stone’s Platoon takes us to the height of the conflict in 1967....

Welcome to 1985 and yet more Meryl Streep. Enjoying a purple patch, Meryl returns for her 3 rd Best Picture in 7 years. Sydney Pollack’s...

Winner of 8 Academy Awards, 1984 takes us to the flourishing 18th century Viennese musical scene. Who shows up other than one of the most...

It’s 1983 and time for the “original chick flick”. Starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jeff Daniels and Jack Nicholson, Terms of...