FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
TWITTER
The Oscars are just around the corner and everyone is so excited about them they even feature this week's Thurday Movies Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. As every other Thursday, those joining have to pick three to five films to fit the theme, this week being Best Pictures nominees that, in our opinion, should have won.
Well, without further ado, here are my picks
Black Swan (2010) instead of The King's Speech
After years of hard work, Nina finally wins the lead role in a production of the Swan Lake. But her obsession with achieving perfection will drive her insane. This is one of the most twisted, dark movies I've ever seen and it's perfect from every point of view. And it's easily Aronofsky's best.
L.A. Confidential (1997) instead of Titanic
In 1950s corrupted Los Angeles, three very different cops investigate a series of murderds to find the truth behind the world of L.A. crime. This is such a compelling and fascinanting mystery film. The twists are brilliant and instead of solving the mystery they make it even deeper.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) instead of Forrest Gump
Though he proclaims his innocence, Andy Dufresne is convicted for murdering his wife and her love and he is sentenced to two life sentences at the Shawshank State Penitentiary. 1994 was a great year for movies (of course it was, I was born that year) but this one is one of the most beautiful and powerful movies about hope and freedom and totally deserved to win.
I never saw LA Confidential but I agree with your other two. I actually picked The King's Speech year as well but I went with Inception. There were just so many other movies I liked more than The King's Speech that year.
ReplyDeleteI liked The King's Speech (and I'm probably the only one) but basically every other movie was better than it. You need to watch L.A. Confidential asap!
DeleteI liked The King's Speech too, just like you said there were better films.
DeleteI also went for Black Swan this week. Shawshank Redemption was fantastic; I think any of the nominated ones were better than Forrest Gump, though it isn't a bad film.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on that. Either Shawshank Redemption or Pulp Fiction deserved to win over Forrest Gump. It's a great movie and I love it but the other two are on a complete different level.
DeleteOoh I agree about Forrest Gump, thought I went with Pulp Fiction for that year.
ReplyDeleteI didn't do 2011 because of our podcast episode on it but it would be almost impossible for me to choose between Black Swan and The Social Network as they are both masterfully done. However, as personal favourites go, Black Swan all the way.
I still have not seen LA Confidential 🙈
I wanted to go with Pulp Fiction too as it also is one of my all-time favourites but I already picked it last year :(
DeleteGirl you need to watch L.A. Confidential asap!!!
Absolutely yes to your second two choices especially L.A. Confidential which is just a brilliantly constructed and acted picture. Titanic is a visually impressive achievement but the story they tacked on is pure hooey.
ReplyDeleteI detested Forrest Gump and think any winner would have been better than that piece of drivel and out of the actual nominees Shawshank was the best movie though I loved Four Weddings and a Funeral.
I liked The King's Speech and didn't really mind that it won, anything but the noxious Social Network, but I would have gone with Inception rather than Black Swan out of the possibles.
Tons of alternate choices and I could only get down to four out of them, all better than the film that defeated them.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)-Just after the end of the First World War vet James Allen (Paul Muni) decides to ramble around the country working odd jobs before settling down. Striking up a casual acquaintance with another drifter he is implicated in a robbery and despite his innocence sentenced to several years on a Southern chain gang. Faced with intolerable conditions he manages to escape and over time build a new and successful life but fate intervenes. Powerful indictment of prison conditions and man’s inhumanity to man with brilliant work by Muni and a haunting ending. There is no way in hell this should have lost to the ponderous Cavalcade.
A Tale of Two Cities (1936)-Solid extremely well-acted version of the Dickens story of the French Revolution and some caught in its web. Handsomely mounted with Ronald Colman a strong Sydney Carton, Blanche Yurka a terrifyingly unhinged Madame De Farge and a lovely small performance by Isabel Jewell as a doomed seamstress. Again vastly superior to the corny and lumbering winner of its year-The Great Ziegfeld.
Grand Illusion (1938)-Eloquent treatise on the futility and senseless of war defies easy synopsis without sounding trite but the basic story is of two French fliers shot down during WWII and their relationship with their cultured German captor. Gripping and profound.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)-Spirited, lively, colorful and flat out fun version of the legend pulsates with vivid colors and a sense of joy. Masterfully lead by director Michael Curtiz with performances full of joie de vivre from Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, the Warner’s stock company and Olivia de Havilland but driving the entire enterprise is the perfectly cast Errol Flynn who is obviously having a great time. You will too. Either this or Grand Illusion should have emerged triumphant over the ultimate winner, the scattered and foolish You Can’t Take It With You.
Double Indemnity (1944)-Rapacious Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) ensnares hapless insurance man Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into killing her husband in such a way that they can collect the double indemnity policy on him. As Neff’s boss and mentor Barton Krebs (Edward G. Robinson) begins to suspect foul play things spin out of control and the depths of Phyllis’s maliciousness rise to the surface. Seminal noir that is expertly written and directed by Billy Wilder and memorably performed by Stanwyck and MacMurray in huge breaks from their established personas at the time. The winner this year was the genial but flyaway Going My Way, a pleasurable watch but nothing compared to this trendsetting masterwork.
I loved The Social Network and Inception as well from that year. The King's Speech was the weakest of the bunch in my opinion.
DeleteI haven't seen any of your picks.
I agree with all of your picks.
ReplyDeleteTotal yes for Black Swan! My #1. Though I thought AKS was lovely.
ReplyDeleteShawshank and Forrest are both my favourites so it's hard to really pick one over the other. Both are such different movies too, so whatever I feel like, I like the one over the other. At the moment, I agree, Shawshank is brilliant from start to finish, but on another day, Forrest is just as brilliant but in a whole different kind of way!
ReplyDeleteI loved Forrest Gump too. I just loved Shawshank more.
DeleteWe match with Shawshank! I love The King’s Speech but I know l am in the minority so I didn’t mind that they won and I was so happy that nut swan lost! I hate that film and found it annoying. Yup, I know I am in the minority with that statement too. Anything other than Titanic but I so agree with you about L. A Confidential because it was so well written and slick. Titanic had great special effects but it is basically the Love Boat sinking.
ReplyDeleteOmg I didn't think it was even possible to hate Black Swan.
DeleteHahahaaaa, oh yeah, it’s possible. We nicknamed our one cat, Psycho Swan, because she would purr and enjoy your pets and then She would bite you.
DeleteOmg she's terrible!
DeleteI love Black Swan, so I would have definitely be fine with that winning over the King's Speech. I really like LA Confidential too. Not really a big fan of Forrest Gump, I mean it's fine. As for The Shawshank Redemption, it was just fine too, didn't quite won me over.
ReplyDeleteWho was your winner that year then?
Delete