Thursday Movie Picks: Oscar Winning Movies

With the Oscars coming up this weekend, it’s a fitting theme for this week’s Thursday Movie Picks, hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. I don’t forcefully watch a lot of Oscar movies; instead I tend to stumble upon them and discover they were nominated or they won for their year. I don’t like the pressure of having to see said film because it’s award-winning. So I try to watch most nominees before the actual nomination itself.  This week's theme doesn't only limit to best picture winners, but from the pool of animation and foreign film winners as well. Here are my picks this week:

The final film of the Lord of the Rings franchise, The Return of the King finalizes the battle between good and evil, as Rohan and their allies rise to fight orcs and their allies over at Minas Tirith. This is happening while Frodo, Sam and Gollum are making their way to the Mountain of Doom to finally rid themselves of the Ring, taking the longer route as to avoid being seen by Sauron. As much as I love this film, I was surprised that this was in the running and won for Best Picture. It seems so far off to be Oscar bait. 

My first experience of watching those two-VHS tapes long movies come from Titanic, the production that introduces Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet to the world. I still find myself watching this from time to time (whenever it’s on television), and I still get heartbroken by the latter half of the film. 

For my last pick, I decided to go with an animated film, Spirited Away. This is one of the best animation films I have seen, with the fantasy aspect weaving through the story of Chihiro, as she finds herself trapped in a world where her identity was stripped from her. There's a lot of character growth from this one, and the characters themselves were great additions to the film. They only started the category in recent years, and this is the first and so far the only non-English film to have coveted the award. 

20 comments:

  1. Oh, I love all your picks! Perhaps, I do not really love Titanic, but I love how the filmmakers made it grand! Oh, Return of the King and A Spirited Away might be as grand as Titanic but on a different league. Love it!

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  2. I haven't seen Titanic in a long time. I remember the movie looked beautiful and all but I guess what was missing for me was the human drama beyond the romance and the final moments of the passengers as the ship sunk.

    Love LOTR..The Hobbit movies don't hold a candle to it...anyway. Return of the King getting the nom and winning was certainly surprised just because liked you said...it isn't the kind of movie that they usually award.

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    1. Titanic did just focus on Jack and Rose (and those remotely connected to them). It did try to inject some human drama into it (for like one scene), so I understand what you mean. The LOTR trilogy was amazing in all accounts; I think The Hobbit movies could have been better than they are if it wasn't turned to a trilogy.

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  3. I initially picked Titanic for my list, but you preceded me.
    Great choices by the way!

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  4. Great picks! I never saw Spirited Away, but I will be watching it later this year. ROTK is one of my favorite movies, and LOL, I had those two VHS tapes for Titanic as well!

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  5. I still haven't seen any of the Lord of the Rings films...I really need to get on that one!

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  6. Return of the King is not my favorite LOTR film (that'd be the first one), but it is the most impressive - a truly epic film. I was so happy when it swept the Oscars that year.

    Titanic is one of the best films to win Best Picture and I will not hear any opinions to the contrary.

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    1. My favorite LOTR film is the second one, but I definitely agree to Return of the King being impressive.

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  7. The only part of Titanic I can watch is the last half(for obvious reasons). I really love the acting from Winslet while on the door after Jake dies.

    Spirited Away is one of the most beautifully animated films in history!

    Great choices!

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  8. They have two sided DVDs as well, I was watching Gone With the Wind but I played part 2 before part 1, didn't clock it until almost an hour later.

    I think LOTR: The Return of the King won the Oscar for the series as a whole, that's my guess to why it was nominated for an Oscar eventually winning one. That and it's quite good.

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    1. The whole LOTR trilogy was amazing, it wasn't just something that the Academy really takes notice of, which is why I was surprised that it won the Oscars.

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  9. The Return of the King is amazing, but I always like Fellowship a bit better. I would've been fine with it winning in 2001, honestly. Titanic is way played out for me. 1997 is one of the best Best Picture lineups of all-time. L.A. Confidential would've been my choice that year. Will be seeing Spirited Away very soon as part of a new project I'm involved in. Good picks!

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    1. Spirited Away is one of the best animated films I have seen; I hope you enjoy it as well!

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  10. LOVE all your picks! Spirited Away is the only Studio Ghibli I've seen so far and I enjoyed it. Haven't seen Titanic in ages but I just featured its soundtrack on my latest Music Break and it made me want to see it again soon.

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    1. You might like the other Studio Ghibli movies, the ones I've seen are very vibrant and imaginative!

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  11. Haven't seen the other two but Titanic is one of my all-time faves. I know it has a reputation for being cheesy but there are a lot of great qualities I love about it. It definitely has an air of nostalgia to it too.

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    1. Titanic was wonderful, loved Leo and Kate in it, not to mention the grandeur of the whole production.

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