How It All Began

Earlier this year, in trying to find the answer to some Oscar-related trivia, I looked up the list of all of the films that have been nominated (and won) Best Picture. It's a pretty impressive list overall, with a few odd choices here and there. I decided that I would attempt to see all of the nominated films. It would certainly give a focus to my movie viewing for a while, and it would give me a chance to acquaint or reacquaint myself with some memorable films.

According to at least one "official" count, the Academy has nominated 458 films for Best Picture; eighty of those have won. In looking over the list today, I realized that I have already seen about 180 or so, including 57 of the winners. I've managed, for example to see everything nominated for the past five years. (The most recent nominee that I've not seen: In the Bedroom from 2001, but I have seen the other four nominees from that year). It doesn't seem quite as daunting to contemplate watching a bit more than half of the overall list.

Naturally, the largest number of movies that I've not yet seen are from the earlier years of the awards. Only one of them, The Patriot, a 1928-29 nominee--not the awful Mel Gibson movie of recent years--is lost to us. (Could someone try to ensure that we lose the Gibson movie by that name?) So that means only 457 to go, I suppose.

Since I first started this project, I have managed to catch quite a few movies. You might be surprised how many of them show up each week on television (and not just on Turner Classic Movies, which has the lion's share of them). While I realize that watching on the small screen is not the ideal situation, the odds are against me ever getting to see many of these the way they were intended to be shown.

I may "leave out" of this project some great movies that I've seen dozens of times (although I might just sit down and enjoy them again). The overall plan is for this blog to capture my reactions to the movies I watch. I don't expect that I'll be doing much analysis of them in the academic sense. Instead, I hope to discuss what I enjoyed about them, why I thought they might have been good choices for their time, or why I think the Academy made one of its somewhat frequent mistakes.

Enjoy.