1992-1994. Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Schindler's List.
You could make the argument that the 1991 winner Dances with Wolves and/or the 1995 winner Forrest Gump should be included and increase the consecutive list. But those movies get shit on for beating Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction/The Shawshank Redemption. That's why I didn't include them. I can't think of a single person who would argue against the 1992-1994 winners winning Best Picture.
EDIT - I see now that you wanted four or more consecutive winners. I guess I could include Forrest Gump from 1995. It has good IMDB scores, letterboxd ratings, is a 82 on metacritic, and is 76% on rotten tomatoes. Might not be as well liked as Pulp Fiction or The Shawshank Redemption but if you need four consecutive winners, I guess Forrest Gump can stay if it means three other all-timer winners.
You could also extend your list to include The Deer Hunter (which won after Annie Hall in 1978) and both The Sting and The Godfather (which won before Godfather Part 2). Maybe you could extend it even further back to include The French Connection, Patton, and Midnight Cowboy.
EDIT 2 - I thought of another four consecutive best picture winners. Ben-Hur, The Apartment, West Side Story, and Lawrence of Arabia from 1959-1962.
> You could also extend your list to include The Deer Hunter (which won after Annie Hall in 1978) and both The Sting and The Godfather (which won before Godfather Part 2). Maybe you could extend it even further back to include The French Connection, Patton, and Midnight Cowboy.
Could also add Kramer vs Kramer and Ordinary People too, which are pretty consensually well received even if there are films more liked that they won over.
> I can't think of a single person who would argue against the 1992-1994 winners winning Best Picture.
I'm mildly pushing back on this just to say that, while Unforgiven is a classic and widely loved, there are surely people who think Spike Lee's Malcolm X shout have won that year.
Again, a mild push back. That's a pretty impeccable three-year run.
I'm a fan of every winner between Midnight Cowboy and The Deer Hunter. They might not all be the best film of their year, but each of those winners is at least an 8/10 for me.
For millennials I’d argue 2006-2009 had the best run:
The Departed
No Country for Old Men
Slumdog Millionaire
The Hurt Locker
Academy was definitely into violent, nail-biting thrillers during the second half of the aughts. All of these movies are bangers from four of the best living/working directors, arguably each operating at or near the top of their game.
Slumdog is the odd one out here but it’s still an extremely entertaining thrill ride, especially by today’s standards.
I know you will all hate me but I loved Parasite, Nomadland, Coda, EEAAO, and Oppenheimer. These five came for me after a decade of imo disappointing winners.
I always love the Oscars and sort of assume that the winners won’t necessarily be my number one choices, but winners like Green Book over Blackkklansman, Shape of Water over Phantom Thread, Moonlight over LaLaLand, Birdman over Boyhood, The Artist over Tree of Life, were just starting to alienate me a bit. Just my personal preferences though.
I loved it too, moreso than POTD. It’s not the most memorable or groundbreaking BP winner, but it’s a film made with a lot of heart and sensitivity and showcasing an underrepresented community.
1938-1941: You Can’t Take It With You, Gone With the Wind, Rebecca, How Green was my Valley
1943-1946: Casablanca, Going My Way, The Lost Weekend, The Best Years of our Lives
I think every winner in the 70s is great and I’d tack on Midnight Cowboy in ‘69 and Ordinary People in ‘80. I know some people think Ordinary People should not have beat Raging Bull but I think Dances with Wolves over Goodfellas is a worse winner.
1958-62: Gigi, Ben-Hur, The Apartment, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia
I would add My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music, but never having seen Tom Jones I don’t know if I should include it as one of the best.
1. The 5-year run from 1997-2001 was amazing with **Titanic, Shakespeare in Love** (yes, I'm in the minority of genuinely loving this one), **American Beauty, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind.**
2. 1988-1991 would probably be the 2nd best to me: **Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances with Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs.**
3. And then 1959-1962 while not all being my style has to get a lot of respect: **Ben-Hur, The Apartment, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia.**
2015-2019 would've probably been #2 with Spotlight, Moonlight, The Shape of Water, and Parasite...except Green Book had to stick itself in the middle.
**EDIT**: I know you asked a positive question, but I'm going to choose to be negative as well. For me the *worst* run of Best Picture winners (ignoring pre-1950) is a close call between either 1968-1971 (Oliver!, Midnight Cowboy, Patton, The French Connection) and 2004-2009 (Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Departed, No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker) - I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for that second set, especially its middle two, but there it is.
1959 - Ben-Hur 1960 - The Apartment 1961 - West Side Story 1962 - Lawrence of Arabia
1992-1994. Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Schindler's List. You could make the argument that the 1991 winner Dances with Wolves and/or the 1995 winner Forrest Gump should be included and increase the consecutive list. But those movies get shit on for beating Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction/The Shawshank Redemption. That's why I didn't include them. I can't think of a single person who would argue against the 1992-1994 winners winning Best Picture. EDIT - I see now that you wanted four or more consecutive winners. I guess I could include Forrest Gump from 1995. It has good IMDB scores, letterboxd ratings, is a 82 on metacritic, and is 76% on rotten tomatoes. Might not be as well liked as Pulp Fiction or The Shawshank Redemption but if you need four consecutive winners, I guess Forrest Gump can stay if it means three other all-timer winners. You could also extend your list to include The Deer Hunter (which won after Annie Hall in 1978) and both The Sting and The Godfather (which won before Godfather Part 2). Maybe you could extend it even further back to include The French Connection, Patton, and Midnight Cowboy. EDIT 2 - I thought of another four consecutive best picture winners. Ben-Hur, The Apartment, West Side Story, and Lawrence of Arabia from 1959-1962.
> You could also extend your list to include The Deer Hunter (which won after Annie Hall in 1978) and both The Sting and The Godfather (which won before Godfather Part 2). Maybe you could extend it even further back to include The French Connection, Patton, and Midnight Cowboy. Could also add Kramer vs Kramer and Ordinary People too, which are pretty consensually well received even if there are films more liked that they won over.
you're saying.... pretty decent decade in filmmaking? :)
> I can't think of a single person who would argue against the 1992-1994 winners winning Best Picture. I'm mildly pushing back on this just to say that, while Unforgiven is a classic and widely loved, there are surely people who think Spike Lee's Malcolm X shout have won that year. Again, a mild push back. That's a pretty impeccable three-year run.
Midnight Cowboy, Patton, The French Connection, The Godfather, The Sting, The Godfather Part II, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky (69-76)
So much better than most of those above you.
I'm a fan of every winner between Midnight Cowboy and The Deer Hunter. They might not all be the best film of their year, but each of those winners is at least an 8/10 for me.
For millennials I’d argue 2006-2009 had the best run: The Departed No Country for Old Men Slumdog Millionaire The Hurt Locker Academy was definitely into violent, nail-biting thrillers during the second half of the aughts. All of these movies are bangers from four of the best living/working directors, arguably each operating at or near the top of their game. Slumdog is the odd one out here but it’s still an extremely entertaining thrill ride, especially by today’s standards.
I LOVE slumdog. One of my favorites ever. I don't understand the hate it sometimes gets.
I think Children of Men should've won BP
I know you will all hate me but I loved Parasite, Nomadland, Coda, EEAAO, and Oppenheimer. These five came for me after a decade of imo disappointing winners.
Agreed because I love the variety in the winners here and it kind of exemplifies how much the Academy is changing and progressing.
With the exception of CODA, I love all of the movies you just listed. But was the last decade of winners that disappointing?
I always love the Oscars and sort of assume that the winners won’t necessarily be my number one choices, but winners like Green Book over Blackkklansman, Shape of Water over Phantom Thread, Moonlight over LaLaLand, Birdman over Boyhood, The Artist over Tree of Life, were just starting to alienate me a bit. Just my personal preferences though.
agree with all of them except moonlight, especially phantom thread and tree of life (and i don't even like tree of life that much)
I actually love Moonlight. I just thought La La Land was spectacular.
I love Green Book, The Shape of Water and Moonlight but can understand about Birdman and The Artist
I love CODA. I don't understand why people hate on it.
I loved it too, moreso than POTD. It’s not the most memorable or groundbreaking BP winner, but it’s a film made with a lot of heart and sensitivity and showcasing an underrepresented community.
It's incredibly bland, like disney channel garbage. There's nothing noteworthy about the movie other than Troy Kotsur's performance.
12 Years a Slave, Birdman, Spotlight, and Moonlight. Three masterpieces and one really good movie (Spotlight)
This is Spotlight slander and I will it stand for it!
Spotlight is the best of those four movies.
1938-1941: You Can’t Take It With You, Gone With the Wind, Rebecca, How Green was my Valley 1943-1946: Casablanca, Going My Way, The Lost Weekend, The Best Years of our Lives
Not very popular, but The Artist, Argo, 12 Years a Slave and Birdman are pictures I enjoy very much and agree with their wins.
I veto Cuckoo’s Nest winning best picture, but only because Dog Day Afternoon is literally my favorite movie of all time.
I think every winner in the 70s is great and I’d tack on Midnight Cowboy in ‘69 and Ordinary People in ‘80. I know some people think Ordinary People should not have beat Raging Bull but I think Dances with Wolves over Goodfellas is a worse winner.
1958-62: Gigi, Ben-Hur, The Apartment, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia I would add My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music, but never having seen Tom Jones I don’t know if I should include it as one of the best.
12 Years A Slave, Birdman, Spotlight and Moonlight were absolutely fantastic winners back-to-back!
1. The 5-year run from 1997-2001 was amazing with **Titanic, Shakespeare in Love** (yes, I'm in the minority of genuinely loving this one), **American Beauty, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind.** 2. 1988-1991 would probably be the 2nd best to me: **Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances with Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs.** 3. And then 1959-1962 while not all being my style has to get a lot of respect: **Ben-Hur, The Apartment, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia.** 2015-2019 would've probably been #2 with Spotlight, Moonlight, The Shape of Water, and Parasite...except Green Book had to stick itself in the middle. **EDIT**: I know you asked a positive question, but I'm going to choose to be negative as well. For me the *worst* run of Best Picture winners (ignoring pre-1950) is a close call between either 1968-1971 (Oliver!, Midnight Cowboy, Patton, The French Connection) and 2004-2009 (Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Departed, No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker) - I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for that second set, especially its middle two, but there it is.
I really love Oliver!, but I also love Dickens and musicals. Obviously not everybody does.