Or not.
How many of these best-picture Oscar nominated movies have you seen? Bold the ones you’ve seen, regardless of whether you saw them in the cinema, on TV/video, or on a plane years after they came out.
1980. Ordinary People, Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, Tess
1981. Chariots of Fire, Reds, Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982. Gandhi, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict
1983. Terms of Endearment, The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies
1984. Amadeus, The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, Places in the Heart, A Soldier’s Story
1985. Out of Africa, The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi’s Honor, Witness
1986. Platoon, Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room with a View
1987. The Last Emperor, Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck
1988. Rain Man, The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl
1989. Driving Miss Daisy, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot
1990. Dances with Wolves, Awakenings, Ghost, The Godfather Part III
1991. The Silence of the Lambs, Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, The Prince of Tides
1992. Unforgiven, The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Howards End, Scent of a Woman
1993. Schindler’s List, The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, The Remains of the Day
1994. Forrest Gump, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption
1995. Braveheart, Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino (The Postman), Sense and Sensibility
1996. The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies, Shine
1997. Titanic, As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential
1998. Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella), Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line
1999. American Beauty, The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider, The Sixth Sense
2000. Gladiator, Chocolat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, Traffic
2001. A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Moulin Rouge
2002. Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist
2003. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit
2004. Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways
2005. Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich
2006. The Departed, Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
2007. No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood
2008. Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader
(Via)
So, uhm, not terribly surprising that I got the most hits in my years at Uni, perhaps. Also not so surprising that I seem to have stopped seeing any movies at all after 2003. I have seen some movies after 2003, obviously, even at the cinema, but I no longer get along to seeing even the ones I want to see, never mind the masses that people tell me I ought to see or that we end up randomly picking because it happens to show at the right time. And I don’t seem to find the time to sit down to watch a whole movie at home much these days, either. There’s always a book I’d rather read when I have time and energy to concentrate.