A decade of Oscar
It’s 2020 and time to really start thinking about the 92nd Academy Awards, held in Los Angeles Feb. 9. All of the awards handed out are prestigious, but one stands above the rest: Best picture. Now that we’ve entered a new decade, we’re listing the best picture winners from the last 10 years.
THE KING’S SPEECH (2010)
Colin Firth is King George VI in this biopic that follows the royal as he overcomes difficulty with public speaking to properly address the British people. As events seed the Second World War, he receives speech therapy and makes his first wartime radio broadcast in 1939 to announce Britain is at war with Germany.
THE ARTIST (2011)
This mostly silent film brought in more than US$130 million at the box office on a budget of just US$15 million. The tribute to silent pictures of a bygone era was praised by critics and audiences alike. Aside from the soundtrack, sound is only heard twice throughout the entire picture.
Ben Affleck acted in, directed and produced this retelling of the true story of the Canadian caper. With six U.S. diplomats being held in Iran, the CIA and Canadian government join forces to orchestrate a rescue operation posing as a movie production company.
12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013)
Born a free man but kidnapped and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup must adapt to his new life quickly or risk severe and vicious punishment. The movie is based on Northup’s own memoir of the same name, which was published in 1853.
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (2014)
A former A-list actor, famous for playing the superhero Birdman in the ’90s, battles his own mind as he’s barraged with the character’s thoughts instead of his own. Michael Keaton stars in the title role. The movie was filmed and edited in such a way that it appeared to be one continuous shot for the nearly two-hour runtime.
Led by a cast that includes Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Mcadams, this movie follows a team of Boston Globe reporters in the early 2000s who uncover a network of Catholic priests who’ve been sexually abusing children for decades.
MOONLIGHT (2016)
The story is told through the eyes of Chiron, a troubled Miami youth who we watch transform from a boy to a man as he faces the obstacles of poverty, drugs, family and sexuality. Three actors portray Chiron in Barry Jenkins’ emotional story and Mahershala Ali plays the youngster’s mentor
THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017)
At the height of the Cold War, a cleaner discovers an abnormal creature in a government laboratory. She hatches a plan to bust him out before he is killed. Director Guillermo del Toro’s lessthan-normal love story between a mute woman and a fish-man was nominated for 13 Oscars.
GREEN BOOK (2018)
Don Shirley, a black pianist, is about to head out on a tour of the American South in 1962. He hires a white bouncer, Frank Vallelonga, to be both his driver and bodyguard for the duration. Along the way the two fight among themselves, but develop an understanding that helps them become friends.