Battle of the Best Picture Nominees

Battle of the Decades

The Sweet 16

The Freewheelin' Fifties

Team Coop and Dracula

The 1950's as described by Wikipedia: The 1950's was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. By its end, the world had largely recovered from World War II and the Cold War developed from its modest beginning in the late-1940's to a hot competition between the United States and the Soviet Union by the early-1960's.

Clashes between communism and capitalism dominated the decade, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. The conflicts included the Korean War in the beginnings of the decade and the beginning of the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik 1. Along with increased testing of nuclear weapons (such as RDS-37 and Upshot–Knothole), this created a politically conservative climate. In the United States, the Second Red Scare caused Congressional hearings by both houses in Congress and anti-communism was the prevailing sentiment in the United States throughout the decade. The beginning of decolonization in Africa and Asia took place in this decade and accelerated in the following decade.

12 Angry Men

Selected by: Cooper and Dracula
Released: 1957
Directed By: Sidney Lumet
Who Directed: 3 Films in the 1950's

A Decade in Music:


Thoughts from the Team:
Coming at a time when Hollywood was going for bigger thrills of epic scale Sidney Lumet made impeccable drama from 12 guys in a room talking at each other. The film's casual opening begets a bitter struggle of life and death and by the end it's clear you've been through something momentous, even if it was really just an afternoon of some dudes talking. -PG Cooper

Visual Enhancements:


What Happened... in the 1950's:
Kermit the Frog makes his earliest debut on "Sam and Friends," Jim Henson's live action/puppet show that aired on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C, in 1955.

Versus

Vertigo

Selected by: Cooper and Dracula
Released: 1958
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Who Directed: 11 Films in the 1950's

A Decade in Music:


Thoughts from the Team:
Vertigo is a movie that is deeply Hitchcockian while also being a little bit of an aberration in his filmography. It has his visual style and keep themes in full effect, but it's not necessarily made to be an audience pleasing movie filled with overt suspense, instead it's this rather haunting character piece about obsession and grief which really sticks with you after you watch it. -Dracula

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What Happened... in the 1950's:
Tenzing Norgay, a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer, is the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. He was traveling with mountaineer and explorer Sir Edmund Hillary.

My Vote: Vertigo

Battle of the Decades

The Elite 8

1990's Finals 


The Naughty Nineties

Team Coop and Dracula

The 1990's as described by Wikipedia: The 1990s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1990, and ended on December 31, 1999. Culturally, the 1990s are characterized by the rise of multiculturalism and alternative media, which continued into the 2000s and 2010s. Movements such as grunge, the rave scene and hip hop spread around the world to young people during that decade, aided by then-new technology such as cable television and the World Wide Web.

A combination of factors, including the continued mass mobilization of capital markets through neo-liberalism, the thawing and end of the decades-long Cold War, the beginning of the widespread proliferation of new media such as the Internet from the middle of the decade onwards, increasing skepticism towards government, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to a realignment and reconsolidation of economic and political power across the world and within countries. The dot-com bubble of 1997–2000 brought wealth to some entrepreneurs before its crash between 2000 and 2001. The 1990s saw extreme advances in technology, with the World Wide Web, the first gene therapy trial, and the first designer babies all emerging in 1990 and being improved and built upon throughout the decade.

Pulp Fiction


Selected by: Cooper and Dracula
Released: 1994
Directed By: Quentin Tarantino
Who Directed: 3 Films in the 1990's

Tomatoes/Meta: 91/94

Cinematography: Andrzej Sekuła
Score: N/A

Defeated: Heat, The Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven

Siskel/Ebert:
"It is part of the folklore that Tarantino used to work as a clerk in a video store, and the inspiration for Pulp Fiction is old movies, not real life. The movie is like an excursion through the lurid images that lie wound up and trapped inside all those boxes on the Blockbuster shelves.” R.Ebert

A Decade in Music:


Thoughts from the Team:
Does this really require an explanation? One of the definitive movies of the 90s and one of the cleverest screenplays ever written. Tarantino weaves these disparate stories together expertly and in a way that's almost effortless (there's a reason you rarely hear anyone say they don't "get" the movie despite its chronological shenanigans). Beyond that Tarantino simply directs the movie with a ton of energy and confidence and creates a movie which is truly a blast chalk full of iconic scenes. -Dracula

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What Happened... in the 1990's:
In 1992, McDonald’s released their famous super size fries and drink. The upside option stayed on the menu until 2004, as the fast-food chain strived for healthier food choices.

Lets Talk Tarantino:


Versus

The Big Lebowski


Selected by: Cooper and Dracula
Released: 1998
Directed By: Joel and Ethan Coen
Who Directed: 6 Films in the 1990's

Tomatoes/Meta: 83/71

Cinematography: Roger Deakins
Score: Carter Burwell

  Siskel/Ebert:
“I just think the humor is uninspired. Jeff Bridges plays a too self-consciously created character named Jeff Lebowski, a laid-back ’80s dude in surfer shorts…Isn’t kidnapping for ransom a tired plot these days? Kingpin was a much funnier film set in the world of bowling. Jeff Bridges’ character wasn’t worth my time. There’s no heart to him like, say, the Frances McDormand character in Fargo. The Big Lebowski, a big disappointment.” - G. Siskel

Defeated: Fargo, Rushmore, Goodfellas

A Decade in Music:


Thoughts from the Team:
One of the few comedies that truly gets better with time. Every rewatch reveals a new joke you missed, a new gesture, or a line you once overlooked that's now the funniest thing in the world. We can talk about how the film reinvents noir tropes or critiques masculinity and while I do find all that interesting, Lebowski's greatest strength is that it's mad funny and super creative. -PG Cooper

Visual Enhancements:


What Happened... in the 1990's:
In 1999, when more than 2 million children in America owned at least one of these talking toys, the NSA declared the Furby an international threat and actually banned people from carrying them. According to CBS News, they were trying to prevent the Chinese government from installing secret listening devices into the Furbys that they were manufacturing at the time.

Lets Talk Coen(s):