Friday, March 14, 2008

Oscar Project, Revisited

A few years ago, I set out to watch every Oscar-winning film in my lifetime. Then I expanded that to every Oscar-nominated film. Then I realized I'm older than dirt, so adding in all the films back to 1929 wasn't that much more. My categories were Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Director. It actually took me a while to assemble the database: There are 1,148 individual films in that list.

Three years later, I've seen 532 of them, or 53.7%

I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew. Especially since so many of them aren't readily available. Turner Classics has churned up a few that were never released on DVD or even VHS, but a few remain, I color them dark blue in my database. And, sadly, five nominees are lost for ever (so I can knock that number down to 1,143! Woohoo!)

In this project, I've encountered some absolutely wonderful movies that I probably never would have watched, had I not assigned myself this task: "Best Years of our Lives" is one of the best films I've ever seen. "Gentleman's Agreement" was ahead of its time, "The Apartment" is still funny and charming. Even "The Broadway Melody of 1929," a title that made me cringe, was fun. I generally loathe musicals, but thought "Gigi" was enjoyable, and I liked the way the music was integrated into "An American in Paris."

On the other hand, there are some unmitigated disasters on that list, and they represent a few hours that I will never get back. "Around the World in 80 Days" was unbelievably pretentious; "Quo Vadis" was beyond absurd; and I'll never understand how "Ordinary People" beat out "Raging Bull" for Best Picture.

So my next goal is to check off all the Best Picture winners. I have 12 to go (well, 11.5 -- I started "Wings" but didn't finish it, it's still on the DVR). They are:

1 Greatest Show on Earth
2 All About Eve
3 All the King's Men
4 Going My Way
5 Mrs. Miniver
6 How Green Was My Valley
7 You Can't Take it With You
8 The Great Ziegfield
9 Cavalcade
10 Grand Hotel
11 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
12 Wings (finish it)

I have a feeling I'm going to despise "Greatest Show," but the rest, from what I've read the rest should be treats.

After that, what should I do? Crank out the Best Picture nominees? Or fill in the winners from the other categories? If I do that, at least I could make the claim that I've seen every winner in every major category for every year -- not many people can say that.

I just don't know if I have 500 more movies in me...