Thursday Movie Picks: Oscar Winning Movies

Oscar is in the air. "The mood is tense!"...sort of. This week's edition of the Wandering through the Shelves Thursay Movie Picks Meme is all about "the big enchilada, ya dig?" You know, Best Picture, the last one of the night. But Oscar gives out more than one "Best Picture." Yeah, to spread it around, there's a category for Best Foreign Language Film and one for Best Animated Feature. Since it's an option and I'm doing another Best Picture post this weekend, I've decided to go ahead and spread it around myself. I'm giving you a favorite from each of the aforementioned Oscar categories, in order.


Here are my Thursday Movie Picks:

"Rain Man" (Barry Levinson, 1988)

Winner of 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Barry Levinson), Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman), and Best Original Screenplay.

Also nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer).

Watching "Rain Man" for the first time in at least a decade Tuesday night, I was reminded of just how accessible this movie is and how relevant it still is today. Sure, it's a bit dated in its political correctness, or lack thereof, as far as "the Autism Spectrum" is concerned, but it gets the job done and gets it done well as far as telling a totally immersive story with stellar acting from Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, especially Hoffman. His performance is one of the finest, probably of all-time. And this movie is iconic. The Vegas sequence alone is one of the most memorable Best Picture clips in the movie montage of our collective memory. It's not flashy, it's no epic, it's just a simple American road movie with a huge heart.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (Ang Lee, 2000)

Winner of 4 Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Foreign Language Film (Taiwan).

Also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Song ("A Love Before Time"). 

I realize that, with this pick, I am essentially picking the most "American' foreign film ever. Ang Lee had already been making movies in America and had achieved great critical success doing so, and, to this day, I'm fairly certain, this is still the highest-grossing foreign language film in American cinema history. But here's the thing: It's really that good. First, it is one of the most beautifully shot movies I've ever seen. Second, the score regularly haunts both my waking and dreaming lives, and I haven't seen nor heard it in at least five years. Finally, it represents the essence of good storytelling. It is legend, lore, myth, and epic.

"Finding Nemo" (Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, 2003)

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Also nominated for Best Original Screenplay (Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds), Best Original Score (Thomas Newman), and Best Sound Editing. 

My wife always says that "Finding Nemo" should be required viewing for all parents with children with disabilities. Isn't that the essence of this story? I think sometimes we forget that little Nemo, that beautiful bright-orange Clownfish, has a weak, small fin. He's not as strong a swimmer as the other fish his age. His father, Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks), is a worrier, an over-protector, not willing to let his little bird fly. Never has so little build up in a movie led me to rooting for characters so strongly. And the journey of the finding of Nemo is one of the most fun experiences I've had with a movie. And, finally, that it tells such a simple story and still moves me to tears every single time speaks to the love pumped into this thing by its creators in Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and the so many others working at Pixar. This is one of the most beautifully conceived and photographed films I've ever seen...period. It is certainly the finest animated movie I've ever seen, though I'm not a huge fan of animated movies. I get happy when I watch this and think, Kids love this movie, too.