list: 5-10-15-20 (oscar 2012 edition)

the oscars this weekend kind of closes the books on 2011, finally. since i don’t get paid to do this, i don’t get invites to screenings and see as many movies as i like. while still catching up on 2011 releases, here are some year-end list from five, ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. like most lists, it’ll probably be different if i were doing it at another time, or in a different mood. unlike the pros, i don’t have to worry when i put weird choices on my list but nevertheless, i would say they are more favorites than bests-es of each year.

2006 (oscar best picture: the departed; highest grossing: pirates of the caribbean: dead man’s chest; razzie worst picture: basic instinct 2: the cougar years)

• district b13 (2004)
• wordplay
• this film is not yet rated
• the protector (2005)
• jesus camp
• the wicker man (2006)
• the departed
• the fountain

worst: conversation(s) with other women

(i don’t know what i was doing that year but there seems to be a lot of movies i need to catch up on. some things are more important than movies, like meeting my girlfriend.)
 

 
 
2001 (oscar best picture: a beautiful mind; highest grossing: harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone; razzie’s worst picture: freddy got fingered)

• in the mood for love (2000)
• memento
• time and tide (2000)
• series 7: the contenders
• ghost world
• wet hot american summer
• zoolander
• donnie darko
• heist (2001)
• ocean’s eleven (2001)
• not another teen movie
• vanilla sky

worst: double take (2001), out cold (2001)
 

 
 
1996 (oscar best picture: the english patient; highest grossing: independence day; razzie worst picture: striptease)

• breaking the waves
• paradise lost: the child murders at robin hood hills
• swingers
• bound
• big night
• the rock
• welcome to the dollhouse
• hate (la haine) (1995)
• chungking express (1994)
• fargo
• bottle rocket

honorable mentions: beautiful girls, things to do in denver when you’re dead, rumble in the bronx (1995), the last supper (1995), the truth about cats and dogs, supercop (1992), trainspotting, the long kiss goodnight, the english patient, the people vs. larry flynt

worst: a time to kill, sleepers
 

 
 
1991 (oscar best picture: silence of the lambs; highest grossing: terminator 2: judgment day; razzie worst picture: hudson hawk)

• l.a. story
• defending your life
• hudson hawk
• slacker
• terminator 2: judgment day
• barton fink
• homicide
• the double life of veronique
• the last boy scout
• jfk

worst: sleeping with the enemy