Best Picture: #29Original Release Date: October 17, 1956Rating: GRuntime: 2 hours, 47 minutesDirector: Michael Anderson Quick Impressions:“Is this a children’s movie?” my daughter would ask in concern every few minutes. “I don’t think they would have conceived of it that way at the time,” I kept answering. “It has an …
Rating: PG-13Runtime: 1 hour, 31 minutesDirector: Andrew Patterson Quick Impressions:It’s almost Halloween, and my husband loves true stories about unexplained phenomena and U.F.O. sightings, so when I was looking for something to watch for date night, this Twilight-Zonesque fictional tale of a strange frequency haunting a small New Mexico Town …
Best Picture: #28Original Release Date: April 11, 1955Rating: Not RatedRuntime: 1 hour, 30 minutesDirector: Delbert Mann Quick Impressions:Marty is that rare thing–a Best Picture winner that my mother actually likes. (There are others, of course. She’s a Casablanca fan, too, but in general, my mom and the Academy have vastly …
Rating: RRuntime: 2 hours, 14 minutesDirector: Charlie Kaufman Quick Impressions:I read somewhere that the Netflix Original movie Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was out this week. It’s not. Did I get ahold of bad information? Did the release get postponed? Did the film release at a festival or in select theaters? …
Best Picture: #27Original Release Date: July 28, 1954Rating: ApprovedRuntime: 1 hour, 48 minutesDirector: Elia Kazan Quick Impressions:On the Waterfront is a great film. As far as entertainment goes, it is every bit as suspenseful and captivating as more recent movies about crime syndicates and whistle blowers (movies that have the …
Rating: RRuntime: 2 hours, 34 minutesDirector: Spike Lee Quick Impressions:Thanks to COVID-19, I haven’t been to a movie theater since March, and because I don’t know when I’ll go back, I’ve been pointedly avoiding all the Oscar-related articles and videos I normally devour rapaciously on a daily basis. (Why sadden …
Best Picture: #26Original Release Date: August 28, 1953Rating: PassedRuntime: 1 hour, 58 minutesDirector: Fred Zinnemann Quick Impressions:So many movies and television shows have parodied From Here to Eternity. I’m pretty sure that everyone knows that iconic image of waves crashing over two prone lovers locked in a sandy embrace. Even …
Best Picture:#25Original Release Date: January 10, 1952Rating: PassedRuntime: 2 hours, 32 minutes Quick Impressions:Since childhood, I have seen The Greatest Show on Earth denounced as the worst ever Best Picture winner again and again. But I’m always wary of such claims because it’s also enduringly popular to bash Oliver!, the …
Best Picture: #24Original Release Date: November 11, 1951Rating: PassedRuntime: 1 hour, 54 minutesDirector: Vincente Minnelli Quick Impressions:I’d never seen An American in Paris before. My mother’s not a huge fan, and now that we’ve seen it, my daughter isn’t either. For her, Gene Kelly’s character’s particular style of being a …
Best Picture: #23Original Release Date: October 27, 1950Rating: PassedRuntime: 2 hours, 18 minutesDirector: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Quick Impressions:All About Eve has such a great script that my daughter and I hardly talked while we watched the movie, quite unusual for us. I’ve seen the film several times, but I’m only a …
