An epic joint production in which Mike (Goatdog's Movies), Nathaniel (The Film Experience) and Nick (Nick's Flick Picks) look at two Oscar winners from either end of Oscar's 80 year timeline, working our way inward, heading straight for Oliver! (1968)
Companion Pages @ Nick's Flick Picks
Nick's rankings of Best Picture Winners (and nominees)
BP Tournament (updated every five episodes)
Corresponding Reader Polls (updated every five episodes)
SEASON 1Episode 1 Wings (1928) and No Country For Old Men (2007)
The Coen Bros's near silent crime drama and the only actual silent picture to win.Episode 2 Broadway Melody (1929) and The Departed (2006)
Dancing sisters struggle for fame in the Big Apple in the first Oscar'ed musical while rats in human form plague Boston in Scorsese's crime drama.
Episode 3 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Crash (2005)
Oscar and The Message Movie -- they can't resist them. One is a masterpiece.
Episode 4 Cimarron (1931) and Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Clint Eastwood wows the Academy with funereal grace and focus and the first Western to win Best Pictures wows the Academy with... with... we're still not sure.Episode 5 Grand Hotel (1932) and LotR: The Return of the King (2003)
The first "hyperlink" all star ensemble winner and the last of a gargantuan fantasy trilogy.
Episode 6 Cavalcade (1933) and Chicago (2002)
The letter of the day is "C" as in chaos.Tempers flare as merry murderesses reach Oscar glory and a historical epic refuses to end.
Episode 7 It Happened One Night (1934) and A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Clark Gable vs Russell Crowe Round 1: Frank Capra's legendary romantic comedy is pure bliss. Ron Howard's disability/drama/ spy/biopic/ romance/mathematics lesson is a muddle.
Episode 8 Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Gladiator (2000)
Clark Gable vs. Russell Crowe Round 2: Adventure and betrayals on the high seas and in CGI colisseums in this extremely macho episode.
Episode 9 The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and American Beauty (1999)
We discuss two hits with identity issues. The first is a biopic that's almost a musical and the second is a satire that's also... all things to all people?Episode 10 The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Two literary giants get bios: One goes somber and traditional, the other fictional and frothy.
Episode 11 You Can't Take it With You (1938) and Titanic (1997)
Split decisions on James Cameron's sinking ship and Frank Capra's chaotic comedy.
Episode 12 Gone With the Wind (1939) and The English Patient (1996)
Romantic Epic Edition: the most MOVIE ever as a southern belle commandeers the biggest hit of all time and a modern throwback as war-torn lovers get swept off their feet in the desert.SEASON 2
Episode 13 Rebecca (1940) and Braveheart (1995)
Two notoriously sadistic directors (Alfred Hitchcock and Mel Gibson) burn people alive. Mel fancies himself a Warrior Poet but only Hitchock has cinematic poetry in his blood and he doesn't need to spill so much of it.Episode 14 How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Forrest Gump (1994)
Run Forrest, Run. Walk Huw, Walk. The Academy sees sentiment and corn. And loves both.Episode 15 Mrs. Miniver (1942) and Schindler's List (1993)
Two spouses, both far from the front lines and fond of frivolity, are greatly changed and sobered by World War II. Both films deeply affected their audiences, too. Do they hold up?Episode 16 Casablanca (1943) and Unforgiven (1992)
A loner fails to escape his past in the morally ambiguous landscape of Morocco/WyomingEpisode 17 Going My Way (1944) and Silence of the Lambs (1991)
In which Hannibal Lecter eats liver with a nice chianti while Clarice Starling eyes him warily and Father O'Malley serves up communion with song while Father Fitzgibbon judges him.NEW Episode 18 The Lost Weekend (1945) and Dances With Wolves (1990)
Kevin Costner loves everything: his bum leg, a Little Hut on the Prairie, a wolf, journal writing, Stands With Fist, the Lakota Sioux. Ray Milland loves only booze.
Episode 19 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
We're trying for July. Stay tuned.Episode 20 Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and Rain Man (1988)
after that...
