Picking the best of the best pictures

90 years in, ‘Godfather’ still is Oscars’ choice

Imagine a buffet – nay, a smorgasbord – of the greatest culinary delights. The choicest cuts of steak. Dishes plated with a high-end caviar. Pizza to die for.

Now go ahead and pick the best ones. It’s a tough task, and one that’s very dependent on personal tastes (or what you’re feeling right that second).

That’s what ranking the greatest of the greatest in the Oscars’ 90-year history is like – hard choices need to be made but, man, it’s all pretty tasty.

In honor of Sunday’s 91st annual Academy Awards (ABC, 8 ET/5 PT), here are the 10 best of the best, with apologies to those hopelessly devoted to “Lawrence of Arabia,” “West Side Story,” “Titanic,” “Gone With the Wind” and many other fine flicks. (Also, we’re only including one “Godfather,” because two would be just a little unfair.)

10. ‘Moonlight’ (2016)

Is it a bit early to rank Barry Jenkins’ multilayered character study quite this high, especially over other recent winners such as “Spotlight” and “12 Years a Slave”? You could argue that. Or instead just watch this piece of beautiful elegance again – or for the first time – and immerse yourself in the unexpected story told over three time periods of an African-American man struggling to find his identity and sexuality.

9. ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975)

Milos Forman’s classic straddles the fine line between hilarious and serious business in chronicling the goings-on at a mental institution. Jack Nicholson is pitch-perfect as a patient who’s not as crazy as he lets on, locked in a battle of wills with a tyrannical nurse (Louise Fletcher). He also finds a close group of friends inside the asylum’s walls that makes for the movie’s most endearing moments.

8. ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)

“The Exorcist,” “Jaws” and “Get Out” didn’t win, so “Lambs” is still the freakiest best picture ever, and one that definitely gets under your skin (and puts the lotion in the basket). Anthony Hopkins is unnerving as cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, Jodie Foster is tremendous as FBI rookie Clarice Starling, and as good as the thriller and crime-solving stuff are, the lead actors’ conversational tangles are scary effective.

7. ‘The French Connection’ (1971)

If you’re still miffed that “Mad Max: Fury Road” didn’t win a few years back, the astounding car chase through Brooklyn in “French Connection” – with narcotics detective Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) tailing a hitman on a train – will leave you more than satisfied. Hackman is aces as the no-nonsense officer on the case of a French heroin smuggler, and William Friedkin’s fastpaced cop thriller is the epitome of the genre.

6. ‘Amadeus’ (1984)

A spiritual predecessor to the costume shenanigans of “The Favourite,” the over-the-top biopic focuses on the hedonistic life and early death of Mozart (Tom Hulce), a cackling dude with endless vices and musical talent, as well as his rivalry with fellow composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham).

5. ‘All About Eve’ (1950)

Bette Davis stars as a huge Broadway star fretting about her age (at 40!). She gets an equal foil in Anne Baxter as the understudy whose ambition knows no

bounds and, by the end, also knows all too well how there’s always someone younger and hungrier that wants your spot. Davis is especially fantastic in one of her greatest roles, and the film’s cutting exploration of ageism and celebrity ego remain fascinating.

4. ‘On the Waterfront’ (1954)

Rocky Balboa doesn’t make this list but Terry Malloy does. The New Jersey boxer-turned-longshoreman (played by Marlon Brando) who “coulda been a contender” instead becomes embroiled in the mob murder of a friend, steps up against corruption, and also navigates the complications of a blooming romance. Come for Brando’s brilliant Oscar-winning performance, stay for Leonard Bernstein’s all-timer of a score.

3. ‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)

Steven Spielberg’s best film without a globetrotting archaeologist is this black-and-white Holocaust tale about hope and kindness when surrounded by extreme hate, told through the lens of an empathetic German businessman (Liam Neeson). Its subject matter is raw and unrelenting as it puts you through

an emotional wringer, but Spielberg brings you out the other side deeply affected and with newfound respect for those who lived during this haunting chapter in world history.

2. ‘Casablanca’ (1942)

The romance has a bit of everything for everyone: a bunch of World War II intrigue, a thought-provoking love triangle, clever sense of humor, some schmaltz and a bevy of memorable lines and references that pretty much everyone knows. The tale of a club owner (Humphrey Bogart) who tries to remain neutral in war until love and righteousness walk through his doors and back into his life is as timeless as ever.

1. ‘The Godfather’ (1972)

If we left this one off the list, a horse’s head would probably be left in our bed. And for good reason, because the gangster epic centered on the Corleone crime family is just that good, from the acting (chef ’s kiss to both Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as two generations of mafia dons) to the masterful filmmaking to a narrative filled with violence, betrayal, drama and emotion worth every bit of its three-hour run time.

DAVID JAMES/UNIVERSAL Ben Kingsley, left, and Liam Neeson in “Schindler's List.”

PARAMOUNT PICTURES Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather.”

DAVID BORNFRIEND Mahershala Ali, left, and Alex Hibbert in “Moonlight.”