I DID IT! (1 Viewer)

battlebeast · Mar 6, 2011

SORRY EVERYONE, BUT I HAVE TO GLOAT.

I DID IT!!!!

On March 10th, 2010, I started a challenge to watch all 475 Best Picture Academy Award nominees in 365 Days. NOT ONLY THAT, but I watched ALL 10 OF THIS YEARS Best Picture nominees, too, making it 485 FILMS!

Well, as of 7:47 PM, March 6th, 2011, I DID IT!!!! AND, I DID IT FOUR DAYS UNDER!!! ALL 485!

I started on March 10th, 2010 with Up in the Air (2009) watching AT LEAST a film per day, and I finished today, March 6th 2011, with The Great Zeigfeld (1936). Actually, the final film was The Patriot (1928), but since it is a lost film, I could only watch the trailer.

I am sooooo proud of myself! I had to gloat! What an accomplishment!!!

I sacrificed A LOT to be able to watch all the films. First of all, I had almost all the films on DVD, and I thought to myself, unless I watch them all in a challenge, I'll never watch them at all. So I started with Up in the Air and also tried to review each one as I watched it. That became an impossibility, so I stuck to just watching the films.

I realized I had to find some of the films I didn't have copies of. So, I went on eBay and bought copies of the rare films. I also bought copies from the UK, downloaded the ones the studios won't release, and also recorded them off TCM (I owe them a GREAT BIG THANKS!)

In one way or another, one form or another, I now have a copy of 472 of the Best Pictures (Two are at UCLA, One is lost [Although I have the trailer].) I had to spend over $700 to go to UCLA in Los Angeles and view two films located ONLY in their Archives. I watched films while bathing, at a christmas dinner party, on vacations in florida and California, and I EVEN took a week off of work to watch films.

Crazy? Yup.

There were MANY nights I lacked sleep because I had to watch a movie or two; some days I watched up to FOUR films, all while still managing to have a life!

But I DID IT!!!! I have now seen ALL 485 films!!! AND IN ONE YEAR! GO ME!!!

BUT THANK GOD IT'S OVER!!! *collapses*

Bob Cashill · Mar 6, 2011

Ah, big deal. When you've watched/purchased all the Foreign Film nominees, call me.

No, that is seriously something, congratulations. Thoughts? Observations?

battlebeast · Mar 6, 2011

LOL.

Well, it's like the old addage: "Never judge a book by it's cover."

I have seen a great many films that I thought would be lame or boring, or films I never thought I would like, but ended up loveing (Metropolis {not a nominee, but watched it and LOVE IT], Mississippi Burning, Life is Beautiful)

Conversely, I have seen some films that are critically acclaimed and considered classics (Apocalypse Now, Kramer v. Kramer) that I hated or couldn't understand how or why it was a great film.

There are some films, I have now seen, which I CAN NOT, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, understand how they were nominated (or even WON! [The Rose Tatoo, The Hollywood Revue of 1929]

It was a long process, but I have a much better appreciation for films, filmmakers, actors and actress in general.

And, after seeing many of her "classic" films, I can honestly say, I STILL can't stand Bette Davis!

(Neither could Joan Crawford.)

ahollis · Mar 7, 2011

Originally Posted by battlebeast

LOL.

Well, it's like the old addage: "Never judge a book by it's cover."

I have seen a great many films that I thought would be lame or boring, or films I never thought I would like, but ended up loveing (Metropolis {not a nominee, but watched it and LOVE IT], Mississippi Burning, Life is Beautiful)

Conversely, I have seen some films that are critically acclaimed and considered classics (Apocalypse Now, Kramer v. Kramer) that I hated or couldn't understand how or why it was a great film.

There are some films, I have now seen, which I CAN NOT, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, understand how they were nominated (or even WON! [The Rose Tatoo, The Hollywood Revue of 1929]

It was a long process, but I have a much better appreciation for films, filmmakers, actors and actress in general.

And, after seeing many of her "classic" films, I can honestly say, I STILL can't stand Bette Davis!

(Neither could Joan Crawford.)

Some very astute observations and congratulations on your achievement. I think you will find that a lot of best film nominations and winners, are a product of their time and only their time. Those films spoke to the audience and to Hollywood and in a few years, the films were irrelevant. Kramer Vs Kramer can out when divorce was becoming the norm and The Hollywood Revue was the first time many saw their favorite actors talk and attempt to sing. I know that The Hurt Locker is a powerful film as is Slumdog Millionaire and Crash, but in ten to fifteen years, will they still be has relevant as when they won the Oscar? Where as Titanic and Oliver crosses over the different generations, as does Gone With The Wind and All About Eve.

DeWilson · Mar 7, 2011

Congratulations!

You should write a bout about your options/thoughts/ review of all these films,and your related experience to view them all!

battlebeast · Mar 7, 2011

Originally Posted by DeWilson if anyone cares to view my site. It also has extensive Oscar Trivia.

Eric Peterson · Mar 7, 2011

Congrats! I've only seen 308 of the nominees and 74 of the winners. I'm working my way through a number of lists, but I'm trying to focus on the "They Shoot Pictures Don't They?" list.
http://www.theyshootpictures.com/

You can track a bunch of lists and your progress on Icheckmovies.

http://www.icheckmovies.com

I've found this to be extremely addictive, but have a found a number of great films that I otherwise may have never watched. I watched "The Lives of Others" and "Rififi" this weekend and was amazed by both of them!!

Colin Jacobson · Mar 7, 2011

Amazing accomplishment!

I went through the list and think I've seen 299 of the noms. I've seen all of the winners except for "Cavalcade"...

battlebeast · Mar 7, 2011

Originally Posted by Eric Peterson

but [I} have a found a number of great films that I otherwise may have never watched.

Me too! It's is fun to find a diamond in the rough. I knew the films must have had to been good to be nominated for Best Picture, but I further realized that this isn't always the case.

In most cases, I can see how a film was nominated; most time, they have some big gimmick; The stampede scene in Cimmaron (1931), for example.

LIfe is Beautiful is one film that truely surprised me... I didn't realize just how good the film was untill I saw it and Benigni's performance. Made me bawl at the end.

Yup... found some great films and some REAL duds.

battlebeast · Mar 7, 2011

Originally Posted by Colin Jacobson

Amazing accomplishment!

I went through the list and think I've seen 299 of the noms. I've seen all of the winners except for "Cavalcade"...

I got Cavalcade from my Work. I work at Costco, and they had a bunch of the big sets at Christmas... well a couple of them were opened to see what was inside... they ended up throwing them away, because that's what Costco does... they throw away next to everything. So I asked,ince they were throwing the sets away, could I have the Cavalcades? I know the guy and he gave 'em to me.

It's an OK film; not the best from that year, I think.

Martin Teller · Mar 8, 2011

Originally Posted by Eric Peterson .

Ronald Epstein · Mar 8, 2011

Warren,

I wanted to pop into this thread and also congratulate

you on your accomplishment.

I wish I had the time to watch all those films.

Question: Any film in particular that stood out as

being a favorite? If you already had a favorite, any

title that surprised you as being far better than you

thought it would?

Eric Peterson · Mar 8, 2011

Impressive!! I thought I was doing good at 450.[/url]

I've been working through this list too. Only 5 movies left to go. Mini-reviews of most of them are at my website.

[/quote]

Ruz-El · Mar 8, 2011

Aa someone not new to going through lists (currently listening to all 1001 Albums you must hear before you die), I know what an accomplishment, and sometimes a chore this can be! Great job on sticking to it and meeting your goal!

battlebeast · Mar 8, 2011

RONALD: My Favorite has always been The Shawshank Redemption; However, I have LOVED The Ten Commandments for YEARS and watch it EVERY Easter Saturday.

Some Films that really made an impact on me were

Wings, Mississippi Burning, Life is Beautiful, Five Star Final, Fatal Attraction, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Ox-Bow Incident, Pulp Fiction, Born on the Fourth of July, High Noon, The Killing Fields, All That Jazz, The Great Dictator, Inglourious Basterds, On Golden Pond, JFK, Lost Horizon, Schindler's List, The Color Purple, The Elephant Man, 7th Heaven, From Here to Eternity, The Pianist, All Quiet on the Western Front, In the Name of the Father, A Clockwork Orange

Some of the Films I HATED were: Bad Girl, Tom Jones, Apocalypse Now, Chariots of Fire, Henry the Fift, The Red Shoes, The Rose Tatoo, Gigi, District 9, West Side Story, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hello Dolly!, Dr. Doolittle, Nashville.

I still Maintain that the best film ever made is Casablanca.

If I had to do a top ten, that would be very hard, l though I do intend to rank them soon enough.

JFK, Casablanca, The Godfather, Shawshank, Born on the Fourth of July, Killing Fields, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Mississippi Burning and Life is Beautiful will all be top 20, for sure... (IN MY OPINION)...

ERIC...

Try eBay and TCM (if you get it),,, I found several best picture nominees on eBay, although the prices very wildly for the DVD-R copies they sell... if you want to see the film, this is one option... and the quality is usually good. (Except for State Fair (1933)...

Dirk06 · Mar 8, 2011

Congratulations! That's an enormous undertaking. How many of the films had you seen before you began the challenge began?

Also, maybe I'm crazy, but I might consider this idea for myself. I definitely don't have enough time to do it in one year, that's for sure, but I don't think I'd want to rush through that many films anyway. I really think I'd want to take the time to journal about each movie, if only so that I can have a reference if I were to try to remember what I thought about one of the lesser known films. Out of curiosity, what were the two films that you had to watch at UCLA?

Martin Teller · Mar 9, 2011

Originally Posted by Eric Peterson Which 5 do you still have to see? I know there are a number of the list that are very hard to come by.

We All Loved Each Other So Much

Platform

Rocker

The Art of Vision

Landscape in the Mist

I think Art of Vision is pretty much impossible to get hold of, so I'll probably be stuck at 999. Rocker might be tricky too, but I believe a solution is on the horizon. The other three are all new additions to the 2011 revision and shouldn't be a problem... I'll probably watch them this weekend. Looking forward to Platform especially.

Colin Jacobson · Mar 9, 2011

Originally Posted by battlebeast

I got Cavalcade from my Work. I work at Costco, and they had a bunch of the big sets at Christmas... well a couple of them were opened to see what was inside... they ended up throwing them away, because that's what Costco does... they throw away next to everything. So I asked,ince they were throwing the sets away, could I have the Cavalcades? I know the guy and he gave 'em to me.

It's an OK film; not the best from that year, I think.

Now that they've actually produced a DVD for "Cavalcade", I would assume Fox would make it available individually before too long. Why not? Keep it exclusive to the box for six months and then put it out solo.

No, it won't move a lot of units, but they've already done all the work, so any sales would be pure profit...

battlebeast · Mar 10, 2011

Originally Posted by Dirk06

It was really neat going to UCLA to see the films, and the fact that NOT MANY people have seen them makes it a little more special. The White Parade (1934) is in terrible shape and needs a great deal of Restoration work; East Lynne (1930-31) is in much better shape but needs work, too. They were both better than I thought they would be.

ANOTHER film I HATED was, unfortunatly, my favortie Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). What a horrible adaptation!

I also reviwed this film on my site, too. I was really dissapointed with it...

battlebeast · Mar 15, 2011

I just realised, today, that I lied about my Movies. I DID NOT WATCH 485 FILMS IN ONE YEAR.

I WATCHED OVER 490 IN ONE YEAR.

Yes, all 485 best picture nominees, but also Tron Legacy, The original Tron, Metropolis, Alice in Wonderland, Barney's Version and acouple of other films.

That's even MORE impressive... to me, at least.

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