In honor of the 83rd annual Oscars, here's MY list of
Top 5 Oscar Best Pictures
(These aren't my Top 5 Movies, per se, but just my Top 5 Favorites that won Best Picture. Sorry, Goonies. The Academy shut you out.)
#5 - My Fair Lady (1964)
Sure, they dubbed over Audrey Hepburn's singing voice with someone else, but you can't mask her terrific transformation from Cockney street flower seller to refined Englishwoman. And Rex Harrison is terrific as the pompous Professor Higgins. (Doesn't hurt that our high school did this musical when I was a sophomore. I can still sing "On the Street Where You Live" to this day.)
#4 - A Beautiful Mind (2001)
What starts out looking like a conspiracy theory story soon becomes a creepy true-life drama. Russell Crowe is more famous for his lead in Gladiator, but he's better here portraying real-life Nobel-prize winner John Forbes Nash, Jr.
#3 - Dances with Wolves (1990)
At first, I didn't like this movie because of its depressing resolution. But then I grew up and realized not all westerns need a happy ending. Kevin Costner's film makes me yearn for a Midwest view absent of highways and cell towers.
#2 - The Sound of Music (1965)
Another musical here, one that I've seen the most times out of all of these, thanks to growing up with only network TV. I have to admit, I still get nervous watching family von Trapp hide in the cemetery from the Nazis. Maybe this is the time they get caught!
(Bonus trivia: I acted in the stage version of this musical, too, as Fritz--the singing son that does NOT dance with Maria but does belt out a high G in "So Long, Farewell.")
#1 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Okay, I'm a geek. Gotta be true to self.
Return of the King received eleven Academy nominations and it won every one, including Best Picture. The recognition was well deserved, three years in the making for the complete trilogy of films.
And that's why it's on my list, too. Peter Jackson's masterpiece rivals only the original Star Wars trio for best movie epic ever. (I told you I'm a geek.)
