What movies have deserved the best-picture Oscar?
Good morning Mick: Not all movies that win the Academy Award for best picture deserve to win. What movies have truly deserved the best picture Oscar?
Paul Sheinfeld, San Rafael
Good morning Paul: Of all the Oscar categories, best picture winners have dated the worst. At least a third of the movies are barely watchable. They’re just big and mediocre. But since you asked for the good news, I’ll give you my favorite winners for each decade. “The Broadway Melody” (1929), “Grand Hotel” (1932), “Casablanca” (1943), “All About Eve” (1950), “My Fair Lady” (1964), “The Godfather” (1972), “Amadeus” (1984), “Schindler’s List” (1993), “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) and “The Artist” (2011). That would make a good film appreciation class, wouldn’t it? Best of the best pictures. Dear Mick LaSalle: Seemingly, Academy voters yielded to pressure from the backlash of there having been no black nominations last year by voting “Moonlight” as best picture. Which is worse: Denying an award because of race or giving an award because of race?
Dan Wichlan, Pleasant Hill
Dear Dan Wichlan: That’s a trick question. Obviously, neither is worse because ultimately they’re identical. If you deny someone an award because of race, you’re giving it to someone else based on race. And if you give someone an award based on race, you’re denying it to someone else because of race. But that’s not really what happened with best picture this year. Look at it this way: Among the best picture nominees, there were four plausible winners — “Moonlight,” “Fences,” “La La Land” and “Hacksaw Ridge.” You could make a strong case for any one of those. At a certain level of quality, choosing just becomes a matter of personal preference. Sure, it’s possible that “Moonlight” would not have been released, distributed and promoted with the same fanfare without the protest of a year ago. Maybe, maybe not. But ultimately that’s irrelevant, because it really was one of the best movies of the year, and it compares well with best picture winners of other years. The reason “La La Land” lost in an upset has more to do with the ranked voting that was instituted in 2009. Since then, most of the morning-line favorites — “Lincoln,” “Revenant,” “Avatar,” “Boyhood,” “The Social Network” — have lost. Dear Mick: When I was an early teen, I became fixated on the French movie “Sundays and Cybele” (1962) and saw it five times. Of course, I’ve changed a bit since then, matured, probably, and consequently may have lost some of the staggeringly shattering emotions certain films engendered in me. I am wary of watching it again. If you were me, what would you do? Hang on to a vague but precious memory, or take a chance of spoiling it?
Rocky Leplin, Richmond
Dear Rocky: I’d see it again. I’d see it tonight. Ultimately, the important element here is not the movie, it’s you. You had a profound emotional response, which is real, whether you still love the movie or not. When you see it again, you’re not going to discover how the movie has changed, because it hasn’t. It’s been sitting in a film can minding its own business for nearly 55 years. You’re going to find out how you’ve changed. And given the fact that you still care about this experience you had so long ago, I don’t think you’re going to find out that you’re dead inside. If you were dead inside, you wouldn’t care. Rather, I think you’re going to find out that you’re alive inside in ways you weren’t before, and you’re going to come away with a deepened understanding of the movie, yourself and your younger self. Just one bit of advice: Watch it alone. This is a private thing. You have to honor that. Share it with someone else only after you’ve renewed contact both with the movie and the part of yourself that “Sundays and Cybele” represents. And then — most important of all — write back and let us know how it went.