The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present) (2025)

So I approached our forum's beloved Oscar scholar, domino harvey, about opening up the next round of Alternate Oscars: Best Picture discussion. Here's a recap of the idea behind the previous thread (1927-1968), and I'll expand afterwards:

domino harvey wrote:Every year gets one vote for one film, just like the real Oscars.

What I'd love to see in the meantime though is people posting about years where they've seen all the nominated films, and weighing in on their thoughts of all five (or ten!) of a year's nominees in relation to each other-- though obviously any discussion is welcome. I think unless you're steeped in Oscar lore, some of these choices are surprising and not all have stood the test of time. Besides the fun of making another list, I think there's a real wealth of untapped discussion here. I suspect this thread will be best served as a means of reassessing, reevaluating, and rediscovering films that were at one time inducted into an artificial canon.

When it comes to actually breaking down a complete year's worth of nominees and making a choice for the best, I think it's in our best interest on this thread to stay adherent to what proved a winning formula on the previous thread, and avoid some of its pitfalls.

I know that some posters on this forum seem to have a natural aversion to following guidelines when it comes to voting and analysis - but this is truly something that works best when most cut and dried. A quick look through the previous thread proves that the contributions of domino harvey, reno dakota, and movielocke tend to be easy to navigate and pleasantly formatted; while other posts diverge into star ratings, rankings, sub-lists, etc - and tend to stray from the intended point of the thread.

I'm going to quote one of reno dakota's posts from the previous forum to give a good idea as to what the thread is all about, and what an ideal format for a post in this thread should be:

reno dakota wrote:1944:

Double Indemnity – A finely crafted film that manages to spin some rather grim material into an exciting entertainment. I had a lot of fun following the tightly plotted story as it unfolded, and Barbara Stanwyck’s performance is wonderfully sultry and alluring. Despite the film’s strengths, I do have one quibble concerning the voiceover/flashback framing device. For a screenplay that is so concerned with details—make that plausible details—the time and place of MacMurray’s delivery of the narration struck me as very strange and unlikely. Nonetheless, Wilder’s film is a very deserving nominee, even though Preminger’s Laura is the noir film that ought to have been recognized from this year.

Gaslight – A dark and atmospheric film from Cukor that, in a number of ways, feels like it could have been directed by Hitchcock. The screenplay is masterful in its steady pacing and slow revelation of crucial details, and the performances are just right for this sort of material. Charles Boyer, who is perfectly unnerving in his role, deserves a fair amount of the credit for the film’s mysterious and tension-filled texture, but the confining sets and tightly controlled camerawork also contribute a great deal to the suffocating mood the film evokes.

Going My Way – A real misfire from McCarey. There is craft here, but no spark to animate any of it. There is no urgency in the narrative and it never feels like there is anything at stake, despite the story ostensibly concerning a financial crisis within the church. And then there are the side-plots that go nowhere and the music that serves only to distract us from the film’s lack of narrative substance. At one point, a publisher listens to the title song and concludes that “It doesn’t say enough. It hasn’t got that, uh . . . .” That about sums up this film as well.

Since You Went Away – A remarkably assured and inspired piece of filmmaking that struck me as a sort of Little Women for the World War age. The writing is skillful in the way that it balances delicate and joyous coming-of-age material with the more somber realities of living through a war. And the story itself is anchored by some really fine performances, particularly from Jennifer Jones, and an intimate tone that runs throughout. I did find the last few minutes a bit too jarring, given the bittersweet conclusion that seemed to be in store, but this final shift in tone didn’t dampen my appreciation of the film.

Wilson – A bloated and bloodless biopic. Everything about it feels compulsory, from its stale writing and passionless performances, to its patriotic soundtrack, which swells to accentuate each historically significant detail as it passes by. I knew I was in for a long sit when the film bogged down only half an hour in, during its long convention sequence. I think we’re supposed to get swept up in the political zeal of this material, but it is so labored that the energy just goes right out of the picture. And then the film drones on for another two hours, coming to life only briefly once the war begins, but never does it rise to the level of compelling storytelling.

My vote: Gaslight

Eventually, a few years from now, when aliens land on Earth and immediately log onto the Criterion Forum (obviously), they're going to be really bummed out if they find out that people used this thread for evil and ranked all sorts of films, gave them star ratings, decide to list other films that should have been nominated instead, etc. Analysis should be limited only to the films listed below, the films that were nominated for Best Picture.

It also will never hurt to revisit each film before posting - especially if your memory is hazy as to the quality of one or a few of them. One of the recurring themes of the previous thread is people's perceptions of certain films changing having revisited them, and watching the films is half the fun of a thread like this.

Also, one more thing: This thread goes up to 2011, the last completed Oscar year to date. Any discussion of current and forthcoming nominees and winners should still go in the Awards Season thread (2012 is the current one).

Alright, here goes nothing: The complete list of nominees (1969-2010, winner is in red) along with DVD and/or Blu-ray availability details. The list will have a R1/A/NTSC bias where possible, because I just don't have the time and resources to make it international-friendly. Discs marked as OOP can range from still very inexpensive (particularly used) to prohibitively expensive, in which case an extra effort was made to try to find an alternative English-friendly in print release internationally. As with domino's thread, if there's a blank detail or one that you consider to be trumpable (i.e., there's a better edition out there), feel free to PM me and I'll update this thread accordingly. The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present) (1)

1969
Anne of the Thousand Days (Jarrott): R1 Universal
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Hill): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)
Hello, Dolly! (Kelly): R1 Fox
Midnight Cowboy (Schlesinger): R1 MGM (DVD and Blu)
Z (Gavras): R1 Criterion

1970
Airport (Seaton): R1 Universal
Five Easy Pieces (Rafelson): R1 Criterion (DVD and Blu)
Love Story (Hiller): R1 Paramount
M*A*S*H (Altman): R1 Fox
Patton (Schaffner): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)

1971
A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Fiddler on the Roof (Jewison): R1 MGM (DVD and Blu)
The French Connection (Friedkin): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)
The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich): R1 Criterion (DVD and Blu)
Nicholas and Alexandra (Schaffner): R1 Sony

1972
Cabaret (Fosse): R1 Warner
Deliverance (Boorman): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
The Emigrants (Troell): R1 (VHS only)
The Godfather (Coppola): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Sounder (Ritt): R1 Sterling Entertainment [P&S]; R0 Koch Vision [OAR]

1973
American Graffiti (Lucas): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Cries and Whispers (Bergman): R1 Criterion
The Exorcist (Friedkin): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
The Sting (Hill): R1 Universal
A Touch of Class (Frank): R1 Turner [OOP]; R2 Arrow

1974
Chinatown (Polanski): R1 Paramount
The Conversation (Coppola): R1 Paramount
The Godfather Part II (Coppola): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Lenny (Fosse): R1 MGM [OOP]; R2 MGM
The Towering Inferno (Guillermin; Allen): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)

1975
Barry Lyndon (Kubrick): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Dog Day Afternoon (Lumet): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Jaws (Spielberg): R1 Universal
Nashville (Altman): R1 Paramount [OOP]
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Forman): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)

1976
All the President's Men (Pakula): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Bound for Glory (Ashby): R1 MGM
Network (Lumet): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Rocky (Avildsen): R1 MGM (DVD and Blu)
Taxi Driver (Scorsese): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)

1977
Annie Hall (Allen): R1 MGM
The Goodbye Girl (Ross): R1 Warner
Julia (Zinnemann): R1 Fox
Star Wars (Lucas): R1 Fox
The Turning Point (Ross): R1 Starz/Anchor Bay [OOP]; R2 Fox [UK]

1978
Coming Home (Ashby): R1 MGM
The Deer Hunter (Cimino): R1 Universal
Heaven Can Wait (Beatty; Henry): R1 Paramount [OOP]; R2 Paramount
Midnight Express (Parker): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
An Unmarried Woman (Mazursky): R1 Fox

1979
All That Jazz (Fosse): R1 Fox
Apocalypse Now (Coppola): R1 Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)
Breaking Away (Yates): R1 Fox
Kramer vs. Kramer (Benton): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
Norma Rae (Ritt): R1 Fox

1980
Coal Miner's Daughter (Apted): R1 Universal
The Elephant Man (Lynch): R1 Paramount [OOP DVD]; R2 StudioCanal (Blu)
Ordinary People (Redford): R1 Paramount [OOP]; R2 Paramount [UK]
Raging Bull (Scorsese): R1 MGM (DVD and Blu)
Tess (Polanski): R1 Sony [OOP]

1981
Atlantic City (Malle): R1 Paramount [OOP]; R2 Network
Chariots of Fire (Hudson): R1 Warner
On Golden Pond (Rydell): R1 Lionsgate
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg): R1 Paramount
Reds (Beatty): R1 Paramount [OOP]; R2 Paramount

1982
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Spielberg): R1 Universal
Gandhi (Attenborough): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
Missing (Gavras): R1 Criterion
Tootsie (Pollack): R1 Sony
The Verdict (Lumet): R1 Fox

1983
The Big Chill (Kasdan): R1 Sony
The Dresser (Yates): R1 Sony
The Right Stuff (Kaufman): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Tender Mercies (Beresford): R1 Lionsgate
Terms of Endearment (Brooks): R1 Paramount

1984
Amadeus (Forman): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
The Killing Fields (Joffé): R1 Warner [OOP]; R2 Optimum [UK]
A Passage to India (Lean): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
Places in the Heart (Benton): R1 Sony
A Soldier's Story (Jewison): R1 Image

1985
The Color Purple (Spielberg): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Babenco): R1 City Lights (DVD and Blu)
Out of Africa (Pollack): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Prizzi's Honor (Huston): R1 MGM
Witness (Weir): R1 Paramount

1986
Children of a Lesser God (Haines): R1 Paramount
Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen): R1 MGM
The Mission (Joffé): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Platoon (Stone): R1 MGM (DVD and Blu)
A Room with a View (Ivory): R1 Warner/BBC (DVD and Blu) [OOP]; R2 Channel 4 [UK]

1987
Broadcast News (Brooks): R1 Criterion (DVD and Blu)
Fatal Attraction (Lyne): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Hope and Glory (Boorman): R1 MGM
The Last Emperor (Bertolucci): R1 Criterion (DVD and Blu)
Moonstruck (Jewison): R1 MGM

1988
The Accidental Tourist (Kasdan): R1 Warner
Dangerous Liaisons (Frears): R1 Warner
Mississippi Burning (Parker): R1 MGM
Rain Man (Levinson): R1 MGM
Working Girl (Nichols): R1 Fox

1989
Born on the Fourth of July (Stone): R1 Universal
Dead Poets Society (Weir): R1 Buena Vista/Touchstone
Driving Miss Daisy (Beresford): R1 Warner
Field of Dreams (Robinson): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
My Left Foot (Sheridan): R1 Miramax

1990
Awakenings (Marshall): R1 Image (DVD and Blu)
Dances with Wolves (Costner): R1 MGM (DVD and Blu)
Ghost (Zucker): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
The Godfather Part III (Coppola): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Goodfellas (Scorsese): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)

1991
Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale; Wise): R1 Disney (DVD and Blu)
Bugsy (Levinson): R1 Sony
JFK (Stone): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
The Prince of Tides (Streisand): R1 Sony
The Silence of the Lambs (Demme)

1992
The Crying Game (Jordan): R1 Lionsgate
A Few Good Men (Reiner): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
Howards End (Ivory): R1 Criterion (DVD and Blu)
Scent of a Woman (Brest): R1 Universal
Unforgiven (Eastwood): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)

1993
The Fugitive (Davis): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
In the Name of the Father (Sheridan): R1 Universal
The Piano (Campion): R1 Lionsgate [OOP]
The Remains of the Day (Ivory): R1 Sony
Schindler's List (Spielberg): R1 Universal

1994
Forrest Gump (Zemeckis): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (Newell): R1 MGM (DVD and Blu)
Pulp Fiction (Tarantino): R1 Miramax
Quiz Show (Redford): R1 Disney
The Shawshank Redemption (Darabont): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)

1995
Apollo 13 (Howard): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Babe (Noonan): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Braveheart (Gibson): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Il Postino (Radford): R1 Miramax [OOP]; R2 Disney [UK]
Sense and Sensibility (Lee): R1 Sony

1996
The English Patient (Minghella): R1 Miramax
Fargo (Coen): R1 MGM (DVD and Blu)
Jerry Maguire (Crowe): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
Secrets & Lies (Leigh): R1 Fox [OOP]; R2 Spirit [UK, only available as part of the Mike Leigh Film Collection boxset]
Shine (Hicks): R1 New Line

1997
As Good as It Gets (Brooks): R1 Sony
The Full Monty (Cattaneo): R1 Fox
Good Will Hunting (Van Sant): R1 Lionsgate/Miramax (DVD and Blu)
L.A. Confidential (Hanson): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Titanic (Cameron): R1 Paramount [OOP]; R2 Fox [UK]

1998
Elizabeth (Kapur): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Life Is Beautiful (Benigni): R1 Miramax/Lionsgate
Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Shakespeare in Love (Madden): R1 Miramax/Lionsgate
The Thin Red Line (Malick): R1 Criterion (DVD and Blu)

1999
American Beauty (Mendes): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
The Cider House Rules (Hallström): R1 Miramax
The Green Mile (Darabont): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
The Insider (Mann): R1 Disney
The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan): R1 Disney (DVD and Blu)

2000
Chocolat (Hallström): R1 Miramax
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Lee): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
Erin Brockovich (Soderbergh): R1 Universal
Gladiator (Scott): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Traffic (Soderbergh): R1 Criterion (DVD); R1 Universal (Blu)

2001
A Beautiful Mind (Howard): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Gosford Park (Altman): R1 Universal (DVD); R1 101 Entertainment (Blu)
In the Bedroom (Field): R1 Miramax
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson): R1 New Line (DVD and Blu)
Moulin Rouge! (Luhrmann): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)

2002
Chicago (Marshall): R1 Miramax/Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)
Gangs of New York (Scorsese): R1 Miramax/Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)
The Hours (Daldry): R1 Paramount [OOP]
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Jackson): R1 New Line (DVD and Blu)
The Pianist (Polanski): R1 Universal (DVD); R2 StudioCanal (Blu)

2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Jackson): R1 New Line (DVD and Blu)
Lost in Translation (Coppola): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Weir): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)
Mystic River (Eastwood): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Seabiscuit (Ross): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)

2004
The Aviator (Scorsese): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Finding Neverland (Forster): R1 Miramax/Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)
Million Dollar Baby (Eastwood): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Ray (Hackford): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Sideways (Payne): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)

2005
Brokeback Mountain (Lee): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Capote (Miller): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
Crash (Haggis): R1 Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)
Good Night, and Good Luck (Clooney): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Munich (Spielberg): R1 Universal

2006
Babel (González Iñárritu): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
The Departed (Scorsese): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Letters from Iwo Jima (Eastwood): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
Little Miss Sunshine (Dayton; Faris): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)
The Queen (Frears): R1 Miramax/Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)

2007
Atonement (Wright): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Juno (Reitman): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)
Michael Clayton (Gilroy): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
No Country for Old Men (J. Coen; E. Coen): R1 Miramax/Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)
There Will Be Blood (Anderson): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)

2008
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher): R1 Criterion (DVD and Blu)
Frost/Nixon (Howard): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Milk (Van Sant): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
The Reader (Daldry): R1 Weinstein (DVD and Blu)
Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)

2009
Avatar (Cameron): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)
The Blind Side (Hancock): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
District 9 (Blomkamp): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
An Education (Scherfig): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
The Hurt Locker (Bigelow): R1 Summit (DVD and Blu)
Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Daniels): R1 Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)
A Serious Man (J. Coen; E. Coen): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
Up (Docter; Peterson): R1 Disney/Pixar (DVD and Blu)
Up in the Air (Reitman): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)

2010
127 Hours (Boyle): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)
Black Swan (Aronofsky): R1 Fox (DVD and Blu)
The Fighter (Russell): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Inception (Nolan): R1 Warner (DVD and Blu)
The Kids Are All Right (Cholodenko): R1 Universal (DVD and Blu)
The King's Speech (Hooper): R1 Weinstein/Anchor Bay (DVD and Blu)
The Social Network (Fincher): R1 Sony (DVD and Blu)
Toy Story 3 (Unkrich): R1 Disney/Pixar (DVD and Blu)
True Grit (J. Coen; E. Coen): R1 Paramount (DVD and Blu)
Winter's Bone (Granik): R1 Lionsgate (DVD and Blu)

2011
the Artist (Hazanavicius): R1/A Sony
the Descendants (Payne): R1/A Fox
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Daldry): R1/A Warner Brothers
the Help (Taylor): R1/A Dreamworks
Hugo (Scorsese): R1/A Paramount
Midnight in Paris (Allen): R1/A Sony
Moneyball (Miller): R1/A Sony
the Tree of Life (Malick): R1/A Fox
War Horse (Spielberg): R1/A Dreamworks

2012
Amour (Haneke): R1/A Sony
Argo (Affleck): R1/A Warner Brothers
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Zeitlin): R1/A Fox Searchlight
Django Unchained (Tarantino): R1/A Anchor Bay
Les Miserables (Hooper): R1/A Universal
Life of Pi (Lee): R1/A Fox
Lincoln (Spielberg): R1/A Fox
Silver Linings Playbook (Russell): R1/A Sony
Zero Dark Thirty (Bigelow): R1/A Sony

2013
American Hustle (Russell): R1/A
Captain Phillips (Greengrass): R1/A
Dallas Buyers Club (Vallee): R1/A Universal
Gravity (Cuaron): R1/A Warners
Her (Jonze): R1/A Warners
Nebraska (Payne): R1/A Universal
Philomena (Frears): R1/A Lionsgate
12 Years a Slave (McQueen): R1/A Fox
The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese): R1/A Paramount

2014
American Sniper (Eastwood): R1/A Warners
Birdman (Iñárritu): R1/A Fox
Boyhood (Linklater): R1/A Paramount
the Grand Budapest Hotel (Anderson): R1/A Fox
the Imitation Game (Tyldum): R1/A TBA
Selma (DuVernay): R1/A Paramount
the Theory of Everything (Marsh): R1/A Universal
Whiplash[ (Chazelle): R1/A Sony

2015
the Big Short (McKay): R1/A Paramount
Bridge of Spies (Spielberg): R1/A Dreamworks
Brooklyn (Crowley): R1/A Fox
Mad Max: Fury Road (Miller): R1/A Warners
the Martian (Scott): R1/A Fox
the Revenant (Iñárritu): R1/A Fox
Room (Abrahamson): R1/A Lionsgate
Spotlight (McCarthy) R1/A Universal

2016
Arrival (Villeneuve) R1/A Paramount
Fences (Washington) R1/A Paramount
Hacksaw Ridge (Gibson) R1/A Lionsgate
Hell or High Water (Mackenzie) R1/A Lionsgate
Hidden Figures (Melfi) R1/A Fox
La La Land (Chazelle) R1/A Fox
Lion (Davis) R1/A Lionsgate
Manchester by the Sea (Lonergan) R1/A Lionsgate
Moonlight (Jenkins) R1/A Lionsgate

2017
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

2018
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice

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