Favorite "Best Picture" winner from the past 10 years?

[ute4ever]

Poll coming.

[TheSizzle36]

I've seen The Departed, Crash, and Gladiator on that list. I actually liked all three of them. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably put Gladiator 1st, followed by The Departed and Crash, but they were all good flicks. I have little to no interest in Chicago, Return of the King (not a Lord of the Rings fan) or Shakespeare in Love. But I should probably watch some of the rest.

Any suggestions on which of the above I should watch first?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by TheSizzle36

I've seen The Departed, Crash, and Gladiator on that list. I actually liked all three of them. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably put Gladiator 1st, followed by The Departed and Crash, but they were all good flicks. I have little to no interest in Chicago, Return of the King (not a Lord of the Rings fan) or Shakespeare in Love. But I should probably watch some of the rest.

Any suggestions on which of the above I should watch first?

I loved American Beauty. But maybe you have to be middle-age to fully appreciate it. Million Dollar Baby is outstanding, as is No Country for Old Men. A Beautiful Mind didn't do much for me.

[Brian]

Ditto on American Beauty.
I just sat there for a long time after I saw it. Same w/ Million Dollar Baby, though not as powerful. I loved the ending of B.Mind, seeing his "friends" at the Nobel ceremony.

On the LOTR, how did a movie with such horrible acting ever win best picture?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Great poll idea, ute4ever.

Looking at this list, I pondered how I would rank the movies. Out of curiosity, I went over to www.imdb.com to see what kind of viewer ratings the ten movies have. Here is what I found, in order:

The Return of the King 8.8
American Beauty 8.6
The Departed 8.5
No Country 8.4
Gladiator 8.3
Million Dollar Baby 8.2
Crash 8.1
A Beautiful Mind 7.9
Shakespeare in Love 7.4
Chicago 7.3

That's actually very close to how I would order them. My only change is that I would knock Return of the King down to the middle somewhere. I guess I got a little tired of the LOTR trilogy. Too many viewings, probably.

Interesting to note that Saving Private Ryan has an 8.4 rating while Shakespeare in Love (the movie it lost to) has only a 7.4 rating.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Brian

Ditto on American Beauty. I just sat there for a long time after I saw it.

Me too. And I was blown away again the second time I watched it a few years later. It's a masterpiece.

[ute4ever]

I thought Shakespeare in Love was intriguing, but then again I was an English Literature major who took two Shakespeare courses where we studied his less-common works such as Cymbeline and Pericles, along with the history and culture behind everything from his personal life to the Queen. BTW that's a run-on sentence at its worst.

It's actually a PG film (no blood, violence or language), that received its R from three brief, nude love scenes. The "clean flicks" version had less than 40 seconds of editing.

[SeattleUte]

Crash was the worst. I turned it off halfway through.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by ute4ever

I thought Shakespeare in Love was intriguing, but then again I was an English Literature major who took two Shakespeare courses where we studied his less-common works such as Cymbeline and Pericles, along with the history and culture behind everything from his personal life to the Queen. BTW that's a run-on sentence at its worst.

It's actually a PG film (no blood, violence or language), that received its R from three brief, nude love scenes. The "clean flicks" version had less than 40 seconds of editing.

Don't get me wrong. I liked it.

[Venkman]

Chicago won BP? Wow. That movie sucked.

Gladiator is my top pick. The Departed, LOTR-ROTK, No Country for Old Men were also great. I didn't like American Beauty or Shakespeare in Love.