Best "Best Picture Winners" - Part 2 of 4

- of the past 40 years. Part 1 (40-31) is here.

30. Kramer vs. Kramer – (1979) – Great (great!) acting by Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep as their marriage falls apart. As they fight over their son, the hypocrisy of the laws are exposed and the public’s assumptions are upended (the mother isn’t the best parent 100% of the time). The last courtroom scene is particularly moving. Not flashy or life-changing, but it is a good film.

29. Gladiator – (2000)
The action scenes are still stirring as is Hans Zimmer’s score. But the political mumbo-jumbo has grown stale over the past few years. The supporting characters mostly speak hollowly, but Russell Crowe is excellent as Maximus, the smart, vengeful general-turned-gladiator looking for one score to settle before he meets his wife and son in the afterlife. Director Ridley Scott stages and shoots all the action scenes so differently that they’re all memorable and thrilling.

28. Terms of Endearment – (1983)
Writer-director James L. Brooks manages to balance lots of great jokes with intense dramatic scenes. The hospital scenes are as alive as ever mostly due to Shirley McClaine’s brilliant theatrics. Jack Nicholson has all the lines, but McClaine and Deborah Winger give the film its resonance.

27. Chariots of Fire – (1981)
A devout Christian and a Jew compete in the 1924 Olympics for England. It’s rare that you get an intelligent sports film where the characters speak in complete sentences with multi-syllabic words. It’s even rarer to have those characters describe their motivations and the effect religion has on their lives. Eric Liddell gave up a promising athletic career and fame to become a missionary. He should be known better by all and is rightly celebrated in this film.

26. Driving Miss Daisy – (1989)
Unlikely and reluctant acquaintances become best friends over time. Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy perform every scene in perfect harmony and Hans Zimmer’s score is memorable and heartfelt. It's pretty great - as far as it goes. Remember when Morgan Freeman was great actor?

25. Forrest Gump – (1994)
The directing, special effects, and editing are much better than this overly ironic satire deserves. Tom Hanks inhabits the titular character, showing plenty of humor and heart. It’s endlessly entertaining and I watch at least parts of it once a year when I catch it flipping channels. Just ignore the dubious message of waiting for life to happen to you. You probably should get off your ass and make the life you want happen.

24. American Beauty – (1999)
It drops a notch or 2 every year with the emotions and motivations seeming more dishonest and forced. It doesn’t help that screenwriter Alan Ball would repeat his same themes of suburbia dissatisfaction and family turmoil for 5 years in the HBO series Six Feet Under. His original now seems watered down. But the acting is great (especially Chris Cooper – who has an impossible, even ridiculous, role) and while the music by Thomas Newman has been imitated too much since, the cinematography by Conrad Hall is beautiful and timeless.

23. Shakespeare in Love – (1998)
A superb script and cast propel this to one of the most enjoyable “period” films and romantic comedies of the past 20 years. Screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard propel the plot forward in unique ways and the 16th century story of William Shakespeare’s muse (Viola – the radiant Gwyenth Paltrow) is alive and vibrant. Did I mention the script’s pretty good?

22. Braveheart – (1995)
The action scenes are still stirring as is James Horner’s score. But the political mumbo-jumbo has grown stale over the past several years. The difference between the vengeance of William Wallace (Mel Gibson) and that of Gladiator’s Maximus is that we have spent time with Wallace and his (secretly wed) wife (Catherine McCormack). We watch her die and that time spent pays off viscerally and emotionally in a big way. Expert direction by Gibson.

21. Rocky – (1976)
This underdog story gave mid-70s audiences something to cheer about. The characters are real and memorable and some of the desperation of the characters (Rocky, Paulie, Mickey) must have come from the actors’ real lives. The film substitutes as a time capsule – you can actually feel the post-Watergate malaise. Bill Conti’s score soars and perfectly matches the physicality of the images.

Films by decade thus far:
2000s: 6
1990s: 6
1980s: 6
1970s: 2