Happy Halloween

2000s: My Ballots

Due to time constraints, I am only doing ballots for the Academy's top eight categories. Until I get to the other decades, enjoy my ballots from 2000-2009 after the jump.

2009:

Best Picture:
The Hurt Locker
In the Loop
Lorna's Silence
A Prophet
Summer Hours (winner)

Best Director:
Olivier Assayas, Summer Hours (winner)
Jacques Audiard, A Prophet
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, Lorna's Silence
Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon

The Decades: 1940s

1940: The Philadelphia Story

Oscar winner: Rebecca
Was this film nominated?: Yes

1941: The Maltese Falcon

Oscar winner: How Green Was My Valley
Was this film nominated?: Yes

1942: The Magnificent Ambersons

Oscar winner: Mrs. Miniver
Was this film nominated?: Yes

1943: Casablanca

Oscar winner: Casablanca

1944: Double Indemnity

Oscar winner: Going My Way
Was this film nominated?: Yes

1945: Brief Encounter

Oscar winner: The Lost Weekend

Was this film nominated?: No (wasn't eligible until 1946)

1946: Notorious

Oscar winner: The Best Years of Our Lives
Was this film nominated?: No

1947: Black Narcissus

Oscar winner: Gentleman's Agreement
Was this film nominated?: No

1948: The Red Shoes

Oscar winner: Hamlet
Was this film nominated?: Yes

1949: The Third Man

Oscar winner: All the King's Men
Was this film nominated?: No (wasn't eligible until 1950)

Oscar Oddity #2: The Bad and the Beautiful

This 1952 film earned five Oscar wins from six nominations, which is not that odd. However, the film was not even nominated for Best Picture. As such, this film holds the distinction of winning the most Academy Awards without being a Best Picture nominee. Other films have come close with four wins, but none have eclipsed this record.

The Decades: 1930s

Here are my picks for best of the year for films released in the 1930s.

1930: Under the Roofs of Paris

Oscar winner: All Quiet on the Western Front ('29/'30)
Was this film nominated?: No

1931: City Lights

Oscar winner: Cimarron ('30/'31)
Was this film nominated?: No

1932: Love Me Tonight

Oscar winner: Grand Hotel ('31/'32)

Was this film nominated?: No

1933: 42nd Street

Oscar winner: Cavalcade ('32/'33)

Was this film nominated?: Yes

1934: It Happened One Night

Oscar winner: It Happened One Night

1935: The 39 Steps

Oscar winner: Mutiny on the Bounty
Was this film nominated?: No

1936: Modern Times

Oscar winner: The Great Ziegfeld
Was this film nominated?: No

1937: The Awful Truth

Oscar winner: The Life of Emile Zola
Was this film nominated?: Yes

1938: Grand Illusion

Oscar winner: You Can't Take It with You
Was this film nominated?: Yes

1939: The Rules of the Game

Oscar winner: Gone with the Wind
Was this film nominated?: No

Updated: 9/5/14

Double Feature: Gaslight (1944) and Since You Went Away (1944)

Gaslight:

Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman star in the George Cukor's 1944 version of Gaslight. As a woman being driven into insanity, Bergman is sublime, and Boyer is well-suited as her treacherous husband. Joseph Cotten and Angela Lansbury also give fine supporting performances.

The film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (Lansbury), Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. Fittingly, Bergman won her first Oscar, and the film won a second Oscar for Best Art Direction.

Since You Went Away:

As a product of producer David O. Selznick, this 1944 wartime drama stars Claudette Colbert as a housewife whose husband has gone to fight overseas, leaving her with their two daughters (Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple). It is an enjoyable, sentimental film, akin to films like Mrs. Miniver, and also stars Joseph Cotten.

The film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (Monty Woolley), Best Supporting Actress (Jones), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Score (Drama or Comedy), and Best Special Effects. Despite its nine nominations, Joseph Cotten was unfortunately overlooked for a Best Supporting Actor nom.

Double Feature: Friendly Persuasion (1956) and The Nun's Story (1959)

Friendly Persuasion:

Gary Cooper and Dorothy Maguire headline this William Wyler-directed story of a Quaker family dealing with the onslaught of the Civil War in rural Indiana. The cast is wonderfully-suited for the material, and Wyler turns in yet another great (Best Picture-nominated) film.

The film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Perkins), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song ("Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)"), and Best Sound. This a very worthy Best Picture nominee, and it's just a shame that Cooper and Maguire weren't nominated for their work.

The Nun's Story:

Interestingly, this 1959 period piece was directed by William Wyler's chief competitor: Fred Zinnemann. The film is a bloated spectale starring Audrey Hepburn as a woman who becomes a nun to work in medicine and struggles for years to become a good nun.

The film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Score (Drama or Comedy), and Best Sound. Though the film is not one of the best Oscar movies, it does feature good performances from Hepburn and the wrongfully-snubbed Peter Finch.