The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

In 1946, Americans, like millions of people around the world, were settling back into life post World War II. It is only fitting that the Best Picture winner from that year follows the lives of three men from the same town as they come home from the war on the European and Pacific fronts.

The three men are Al, a married man with two grown children; Fred, a guy from the wrong side of the tracks who married a blonde military groupie just before leaving to fight; and Butch, a sweet guy with a great gal that he feels deserves better than him now that he is returning from war after losing both of his hands.

Butch begins to push his girlfriend away, even though she does not seem to have a problem with his injuries.

As luck would have it, Al's wholesomely beautiful daughter (Peggy) meets Fred and the two fall for each other. Of course Blondie is in the way but she is quickly losing interest in her husband now that he is out of uniform and working his pre-war job as a soda jerk in a local pharmacy.

Peggy admits to her mother that she feels Fred deserves better than his current wife and that she intends to break up their marriage. Her mother tells her that her own marriage to Al was faced with the same problem in the past but they overcame it. When Al hears of this, he quickly tells Fred to stay away from his daughter. A little hypocritical there, Al. Men are fine with women chasing after them and ruining marriages, unless of course one of the women is his own daughter.

Fred is absolutely adorable and even knocks around one of his customers for having negative things to say about the war. He of course loses his job for this and his wife, who is courting other men, tells him that she gave him the best years of her life and is now leaving him. Men still are fascinated by shallow women like her so it shows men may never evolve.

In the end, Fred plans to leave town and move on with his life elsewhere. While at the airport, he happens to stumble into a better job dealing with the planes he flew in the war. Butch does marry his girlfriend and it is at the wedding Fred and Peggy see each other again. Peggy, unlike his charming ex-wife, seems happy to struggle along side him. While it never says, one can assume that Fred and Peggy added to the Baby-Boomer generation.

The Best Years of Our Lives is one of my favorite Oscar winning films. I am not saying that any war should be romanticized. However, World War II is the last time in American history that the unquestionable majority stood behind the country's fight. Korea seems to be a war forgotten by anyone not directly involved. Vietnam was the first time the country really divided and generations openly disagreed with each other. The Cold War cannot really "count" as a war. The streets of NYC did not fill with people following any news in either Iraq conflict. Americans pulled together for the war effort in the 1940s. The end of the war and the boys coming home was a huge reason for celebration for the nation. Perhaps one of the greatest moments on film is the nurse-sailor kiss in Times Square on V-J Day. I mean, does a world war really have to end to get kissed like that? Unless you are staring in a major motion picture, I am assuming so.

Gandhi (1982)

Anytime an actor seems to become another real person in film, he or she tends to be rewarded with the one of the best acting awards for that year. Ben Kingsley did so when he played Gandhi.

Gandhi was a lawyer and gave up the profession to help lead India to their independence from Britain. He also was a believer in peace and equality. He was a typical Libra, which is always a good thing (I know because I am one as well).

The movie clocks in at over 3 hours long. Best Picture winners tend to be super long movies. The movie begins with Gandhi's assassination and then goes back to tell the story of his life. It is always amazing to me that people who promote peace or are non-violent people seem to meet death through acts of violence. MLK is another example of this scenario.

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Prior to watching The Tudors, my only knowledge of Thomas More was that he wrote Utopia. It was a book that I had to read and report about in my World Civilizations class in college.

Years later I got caught up in the story of the Tudor dynasty and the serial-marrying man, Henry VIII. Back in the time of the Tudors, hell, even now in some parts of the world, having a son is the greatest thing a man can accomplish. Henry VIII married his older brother's widow. They got the Pope to swear Henry's bride-to-be had never had carnal relations with the brother so it was okay with the Catholic Church that they marry.

Well, poor Katherine of Aragon managed to get pregnant several times but the only child to survive was a daughter. For an ego-maniac like Henry VIII, that was just not going to cut it. So the formerly devout Catholic king starts insisting that because it says in the Bible that a man shall not take his brother's wife, their marriage is cursed and God is punishing them with no sons. Truth be told, Henry was obsessed with Anne Boelyn and she wouldn't put out until Henry put a ring on her finger.

So Henry asks the Pope to grant him a divorce from Katherine because he feels the marriage was never legitimate anyway. There is just one problem - Catholics and divorce do not mix. Thomas More and a great many British subjects love Katherine and feel Henry is going too far. When the Pope refuses to grant a divorce, Henry just starts his own church. Men in lust will do anything. He has his church say his marriage was never valid and clears the way to marry Miss Boelyn.

To an insult to injury, Henry makes all the British subjects, including his former Queen and their daughter, swear their allegiance to Queen Anne and that any children she bears are the rightful heirs to the throne. Thomas More is one of those who refuses to take the oath so he is tried and executed for it. He was made a saint 400 years later so as far as Catholics go, he went straight to the top.

Henry went on to be kind of a joke, at least in my humble opinion. When Anne Boelyn was only able to provide a living daughter, he had lies created about her that resulted in her head being severed. His third wife died giving birth to his precious male heir. But Henry did not stop there. He agreed to a political marriage to a woman he saw only in a portrait. After meeting her, he decided she wasn't pretty enough for him. This coming from a man that looked like Fat Bastard by this time. He then marries a teenager that is also sleeping with one of her distant relatives. Henry has her killed and moves on to the sixth and final wife. Catherine Parr was lucky enough to have Henry die while married to her or she probably would have been disposed of for some reason or another too. Although, this Catherine did die not long after Henry. She died giving birth to her next husband's child.

The wonderful irony of the Tudors family is that the only male heir was sickly and died young. After Jane Grey, the daughter from the first marriage became Queen. By that time she had become slightly unbalanced and started killing those who were now not Catholics. When she died in her 40s, her half-sister, Anne Boelyn's daughter, took over. Elizabeth I ruled for almost 45 years. Girl Power! Elizabeth I was loved by her people and was the ruler during the whole Spanish Armada thing. Maybe fathers should be a little more proud of their daughters. Because let's face it, the women usually outlive the men.

Casablanca (1943)

I know I am going to be criticized and picked apart by most film lovers for not liking Casablanca. The movie was released 40 years before my birth so I grew up seeing this film spoofed so much that by the time I had to sit through the film in a college class, I felt I had already seen it.

It is your everyday boy meets girl, they have an epic love affair, turns out girl is married to anti-Nazi who is imprisoned at the time, "time goes by," boy opens a cafe in Casablanca, girl walks into his gin joint with husband, boy helps girl and husband flee the country. In the words of Peter Griffin, "I just saved you 2 boring hours."

The movie is also so over-quoted that it is annoying. "Play it again, Sam," is never even said in the movie yet people will argue tooth and nail that it is. I also could never bring myself to like Humphrey Bogart. I once read that he treated Audrey Hepburn terribly while filming Sabrina so I cannot like someone that treated her poorly, I am sorry. I am however, more fascinated with his marriage and love with Lauren Bacall than I am with this movie.

It is a classic and it is because of that I knew all the lines, how it ended, and the scene set-ups prior to viewing the actual film. I am not saying it would not be impressive to someone seeing it for the first time but I was left cold.

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Is Shakespeare in Love cute? Sure. Was it enjoyable? Yeah. Did it deserve to win Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan? Wait, what? It beat Saving Private Ryan for the Best Picture of 1998? That was my initial reaction when seeing what the other Best Picture Nominees were that year.

I mean, it was a fun movie and I liked it but I don't think it was the Best Picture of 1998. I am going to guess that the Academy still had their heads up their asses because a year earlier they awarded Titanic the coveted award. Apparently the Academy needed more of the pretty, young, English girl (this time an American playing a Brit, the opposite of Kate Winslet the year before) engaged to be married to the stiff, upper class man but secretly wanting more. So she goes and screws the first artist she stumbles upon. In this case, he is a playwright, not a live-nude artist named Jack Dawson.

Again, I would pick the man the girl doesn't seem to want - in this case it is Colin Firth! I have nothing against Joseph Fiennes but he's not Colin Firth. In the same year, Joseph Fiennes played Shakespeare (who is told by Elizabeth I that Gwyneth needs to be with Colin) and Robert Dudley (who was shagging Elizabeth I). Oh, and I forgot Ben Affleck is in this movie. *groan* This was also the year that he was supposed to be left on an astroid but Bruce Willis had to go and be noble.

The opening music of the film is delightful though. I do own the soundtrack and I really did not mind the movie. I just think Saving Private Ryan was a better film and should have won.

Dances with Wolves (1990)

I am going to come out and just admit it; I cannot stand Kevin Costner. Mainly because he is an actor that cannot act. When he tries to do an accent, he fails miserably. Yet, he makes more money than anybody who actually does their job and does it well. That being said, he should stick to his baseball movies because he plays an arrogant son-of-bitch better than most because I maintain he is one.

I began watching Dances with Wolves secretly hoping I would not like it so I could go on about how awful it was and how terrible he is. Much to my displeasure, I loved the movie and Mr. Costner did not get under my skin like he usually does.

What really pisses me off about this movie is the killing of the animals. First the horse then the wolf. There is a short list of things that are going to really upset me when I watch a film and killing animals (although I know it is fake) is right at the top. I think it should be listed somewhere on the box of a film, "Animal Death Included" so I know to pass by it and go for another title.

It also really bothers me how those of European descent felt entitled to drive the Natives off of the lands they inhabited for thousands of years prior and think it was acceptable. This would include my own ancestors, at least on my father's side.

Even though I hate to admit it, Kevin Costner is credited with 2 Oscars assocaited with this film. He won for Best Director and Best Film. Although, I am just saying, neither award was for his acting. He has won a few Razzies for his acting though. Apparently, I am not alone in my thinking. You stick to those sports movies, Kevin and leave the real work to those who know how.

Schindler's List (1993)

I somehow managed to get through high school and college, as a history major no less, without ever having a single lesson on World War II. I fully intend to do more research on my own but I am not sure yet where to begin or how to go about it.

It was not until recently that I first saw Schindler's List. I hate to admit it but until the end of the film, I had no idea it was a true story. Seeing the survivors walk up to the real Schindler's grave and put roses on it was when it clicked for me.

This blog is meant to be about film so I will not go into my feelings about how negative and harmful religions can be. I just need to say that the events of the Holocaust were not in Biblical times. It was all happening less than a century ago. People being brainwashed by charismatic, yet vile, leaders is not something new and it is bound to continue into the future. We need to not be afraid to think for ourselves. It is important to education yourself and not be taken in by someone else's beliefs, thoughts, or actions.

I have yet to watch a film about the Holocaust that did not make my cry and really upset me. I am not Jewish and I cannot even say I am close to anyone that is. There is just something about hatred based on religion, a sin all religions are probably guilty of doing by at least some of its members, that is inherently hypocritical.

Ralph Fiennes always plays evil well. This role for him was no exception. Liam Neeson also does a stellar job, as he usually does. The film won 7 Oscars and Steven Spielberg won his first Best Director Oscar for the film.

If the viewer takes away nothing else from the film, just remember that if a self-serving business man can be changed into saving 1,100+ people from certain death, maybe you can do a little more to be a better person.