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 …
Rating: PG-13Runtime: 1 hour, 55 minutesDirector: Niki Caro Quick Impressions:I personally would not have paid the $30 premium to watch Mulan early, but my husband excitedly purchased it during the day Friday, to create a family event for the evening, a nice surprise. And I don’t mind paying to see …
Best Picture: #22Original Release Date: November 8, 1949Rating: ApprovedRuntime: 1 hour, 50 minutesDirector: Robert Rossen Quick Impressions:All the King’s Men is a timely and emotionally exhausting movie about the journey of a narcissistic and dangerous would-be dictator who becomes increasingly morally flawed on his meteoric rise to power until he …
Rating: PG-13Runtime: 1 hour, 31 minutesDirector: Dean Parisot Quick Impressions:I loved Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure as a kid. I still love it, actually, though I don’t watch it as often now as when I was young. For a few years, we lived just down the street (and kind of …
Best Picture: #21Original Release Date: May 6, 1948Rating: Not RatedRuntime: 2 hours, 34 minutesDirector: Sir Laurence Olivier Quick Impressions:Olivier’s Hamlet confused us so much. As I watched, I kept forgetting that we were doing a Best Picture project and imagining that in the future, I would show my daughter a …
Best Picture: #20Original Release Date: November 11, 1947Rating: Not RatedRuntime: 1 hour, 58 minutesDirector: Elia Kazan Quick Impressions:We did it! We still found time to squeeze in a Best Picture winner even though school started this week. (And it’s not been an easy transition, believe me. For the past two …
