Schindlers List is a moving experience, but at the end of the day is a flawed film based on it's cookie cutter handling of the Nazi's. Definately deserved the best picture, and may just be the best out of this list(I voted for American Beauty based on it being a more complete film, but Schindler's List is top 3 easily to me) but I think it's scope will errode in history. There is no defense of what the Nazi's did, but at the same time, they weren't a secret society. German men not 7 years prior to the setting of Schindler's List we working and living alongside Jews and the other Holocaust victims, and it was regime that split some into soliders and some into victims.

Speilberg answers the most rudimentary question of holocaust, that being how Nazi's did what they did to Holocaust victims, but gives little exploration to the vastly more confounding, but interesting "Why" they did what they did. And this isn't really a critique of the film he made per se. I think these events are viewed differently if you lose family, ancestors or history in them, and I don't blame Spielberg for his potrayal of the soliders. But I do think that choice not to round the Nazi's out in any manner does hurt the overall film. It's easy to believe a monster to could do what these men did, but much harder to believe how a human being could.

Braveheart by a minute margin over Schindler's list.

It was a toss-up between American Beauty and Braveheart, but they're great for such different reasons, that it was hard to compare them, so I had to go to entertainment value . . . Braveheart wins that battle . . .

More members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted for them as Best Picture than any other film that year. That's how.

(Don't get me wrong, I dislike many of them myself.)

My rankings, since others are doing that, from best to worst:

Shakespeare in Love ('99) (excellent)
Titanic ('98) (excellent)
Braveheart ('96) (very good)
Schindler's List ('94) (good)
Gladiator ('01) (fair)
Beautiful Mind, A ('02) (fair)
Forrest Gump ('95) (bad)
English Patient, The ('97) (awful)
American Beauty ('00) (vile)

Haven't seen:
Chicago ('03)

I was expecting to see 100 votes counted and none for Shakespeare in Love ('99).
But then again there are people who buy full screen dvds over widescreen dvds.

Schindler's List and Titanic are the two films that will be "remembered" in the above list. for totally different reasons.

And that's why they'd be "best pictures", longevity says a lot.

You hit it right on the head. This is so true. Can you imagine Pulp Fiction did three times the business of Titanic? People would be annoyed as hell with the movie. They'd hate hearing of it every second. Can you imagine, for some reason, Titanic never made it to theaters, and was in select stores? People would be jumping up and down at the lost treasure they discovered! They're so fickle.

Incidentally, Titanic And The Making Of James Cameron is a hell of a read, although it doesn't always seem entirely 100% objective. The author can't help but praise the good direction in some instances..... I couldn't agree more......

Oh, and Titanic as BEST best-picture, of course.

Because Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient are terrific movies. Chicago, OTOH, blows.

Schindler's List is the only one apart of that list that actually deserved the best picture award.

But when you think about it, how many films actually deserving the best picture award have won it?

what movies deserved it over American Beauty and A Beautiful Mind?

I think Magnolia and Fight Club were much better than American Beauty. Of course, neither was nominated.

I'd have given the Award to FOTR way over A Beautiful Mind.

My opinion, of course.

I understand completely why Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture.

I also understand completely why so many dislike the film and are baffled by the win.

I say Braveheart is the best, despite the fact nobody wore kilts back then. I hope they come out with a SE dvd.

Gladiator I don't think was good enough to win, even a nomination was pushing it imo.

I say Schindler's list and Forrest Gump come 2nd and 3rd.

In case anyone wants to know, here were the Oscar noms from the last ten years (Winners are in Bold):

1994:
The Fugitive
In the Name of the Father
The Piano
The Remains of the Day
Schindler's List

1995:
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Forrest Gump
Pulp Fiction
Quiz Show
Shawshank Redemption

1996:
Apollo 13
Babe
Braveheart
Il Postino (The Postman)
Sense and Sensibility

1997:
The English Patient
Fargo
Jerry Maguire
Secrets & Lies
Shine

1998:
As Good As It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential
Titanic

1999:
Elizabeth
Saving Private Ryan
Shakespeare in Love
The Thin Red Line
La Vita è bella (Life is Beautiful)

2000:
American Beauty
The Cider House Rules
The Green Mile
The Insider
The Sixth Sense

2001:
Chocolat
Erin Brockovich
Gladiator
Traffic
Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

2002:
A Beautiful Mind
Gosford Park
In the Bedroom
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge!

2003:
Chicago
Gangs of New York
The Hours
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist

What an ugly group to pick from!

Titanic I guess.

1. American Beauty
2. Schindler's List
3. Titanic
4. Braveheart
5. Gladiator
6. Forrest Gump
7. Shakespeare in Love
8. The English Patient
9. Chicago
10. A Beautiful Mind


1-6 are excellent, 7-8 are good, Chicago was "eh," and A Beautiful Mind is pretty poor. Out of all the films, I think it has left the least of a lasting impression in the public consciousness and it is only two years old.

schindler's list
gladiator- the roman empire is much more interesting than scot's running around in linen and skirts. liked braveheart but maximus was a bad motherfvcker.

Braveheart, Schindler's, and then Gump. The rest blow goat cheese and shouldn't have even been nominated. Of the other 7 years I would have gone with:

1997: ?
1998: LA Confidential
1999: Saving Private Ryan (how SiL won I will never know)
2000: Green Mile
2001: ? Gladiator is so overrated it is unbelievable
2002: FOTR (Ron Howard got the sympathy oscar this year)
2003: TTT (although I haven't seen chicago yet)

And I have to say it is a close call between Shawshank and Gump. Gump wins just because of the scope and amount of detail that went into making it.

1 Schindler's List
2 Braveheart
3 English Patient

Personal fav:
Braveheart
Titanic
Shakespear in Love

no one's picked ABM.

my choice is Forrest Gump.

Such an easy choice...

Braveheart

Schindlers list.....followed by Saving Private Ryan hehe.

It's funny Braveheart's number one for a lot of people. Anyone ever been to the Braveheart Encyclopedia website? http://go.to/Braveheart Guess who's the webmaster.... It was a huge pet project for me five years ago.....

Braveheart
American Beauty
Shakespeare in Love
Gladiator

As those are the only four that were my favorite movies the year they came out, ranked in the order that I like them.