Best Picture: #61Original Release Date: December 16, 1988Rating: RRuntime: 2 hours, 13 minutesDirector: Berry Levinson Quick Impressions:“I love this movie,” I told my daughter in excitement as we prepared to watch Rain Man. Then I realized I had only seen it once (as a new release on home video when …
Best Picture: #60Original Release Date: April 15, 1988Rating: PG-13Runtime: 2 hours, 43 minutesDirector: Bernardo Bertolucci Quick Impressions:The Last Emperor is bewildering to experience. I know very little Chinese history, and Emperor Pu Yi’s life unfolds in such a dramatic, startling way that my daughter and I could not help frequently …
Best Picture: #59Original Release Date: February 6, 1987Rating: RRuntime: 2 hoursDirector: Oliver Stone Quick Impressions:Just because I watched Platoon with my twelve-year-old does not mean you should watch Platoon with your twelve-year-old. This is a disturbing film that might traumatize children (or even adults). I’ll talk more about that later, …
Best Picture: #58Original Release Date: December 20, 1985Rating: PGRuntime: 2 hours, 41 minutesDirector: Sydney Pollack Quick Impressions:Autobiographical writing is difficult to do well. I remember once having a conversation with my daughter in the park about which is true, fiction or non-fiction. I told her, “It really depends. Non-fiction can …
Best Picture: #57Original Release Date: September 19, 1984 (theatrical version)Rating: RRuntime: 3 hours (director’s cut)Writer: Peter ShafferDirector: Milos Forman Quick Impressions:Finally I can write about Amadeus! I’ve loved this movie since I first saw it when I was seven, and multiple people have now asked me if I’ll be watching …
Best Picture: #56Original Release Date: December 9, 1983Rating: PGRuntime: 2 hours, 12 minutesDirector: James L. Brooks Quick Impressions:For her own capricious and mysterious reasons, my grandma could not stand Shirley MacLaine. (She had bafflingly strong feelings about actors. If it hadn’t been for Lauren Bacall, who miraculously escaped her wrath, …
Best Picture #: 55Original Release Date: December 6, 1982Rating: PGRuntime: 3 hours, 11 minutesDirector: Richard Attenborough Quick Impressions:I’ve been meaning to write this review for over a week, but I’ve been totally consumed with watching the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, then writing about my experiences participating in it on the …
Best Picture: #52Original Release Date: December 17, 1979Rating: PGRuntime: 1 hour, 45 minutesDirector: Robert Benton Quick Impressions:Kramer vs. Kramer has haunted me my whole life—not in the sense that I’ve seen it and found it moving. It was simply Best Picture the year that I was born. (At least, in …
Best Picture #: 51Original Release Date: December 8, 1978Rating: RRuntime: 3 hours, 3 minutesDirector: Michael Cimino Quick Impressions:For the sake of completion, we did watch Annie Hall, and I wrote up my thoughts. But Woody Allen is getting enough press right now. The thought of posting something about him at …
Best Picture: #49Original Release Date: December 3, 1976Rating: PGRuntime: 2 hoursDirector: John G. Avildsen Quick Impressions:How did Rocky sneak in with the other 1970s best picture winners? They’re all about the Mafia, and narcotics detectives, and mental patients, and people going through a painful divorce, and Vietnam vets, and murdered …
