Every year the members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote on what they think is the best picture of the year, and nearly every year they pick some sappy, corny-as-hell,  god-awful piece of shit.  There are lots of great articles out there pointing out the Academy voters’ dumbest pics in general, but I’m going to be focusing on the Best Picture category.  Let’s take a look at their worst, most egregious mistakes in their long history:

25.) Best Picture 2005

These films were overlooked…

IMDb - 8.3

IMDb - 8.2

IMDb - 7.7

IMDb - 7.7

IMDb - 7.6

In favor of…

IMDb - 8.0

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Here we are at the end of 2009, and the film industry is boasting its most profitable year ever.  And while I’m sure we’re all happy that Paul Blart: Mall Cop made nearly $150 million, I’d like to take this chance to look back to ten years ago, when I believe there was a renaissance in film.  1999 is by far my favorite year in movies, and I’m not the first to point out that it contains an unusually large number of stellar films as well as more than its fair share of masterpieces.  What follows is my own personal list of ’99 films that I felt worthy of highlighting.  Most of them I own or have seen multiple times, although there are a few I’ve never seen.  Some I don’t even like and are included purely for their reputation, good or bad, the point being that yes – amazingly – ALL of these movies came out in the same year.   As you peruse the list, make note of the titles you haven’t seen – I urge you seek out all of the lesser-known films.

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The title of the fourth Indiana Jones film has been revealed, and to celebrate, here’s a wallpaper with the official title included. Even the official site doesn’t offer this yet, so enjoy.

Fullscreen Monitors (4:3)
Widescreen Monitors (16:10)

1. Thou Shalt Not Pan and Scan

This is numero uno because the cropping of films is probably the worst plague in the world of cinema. An entire generation was denied the glory of widescreen; deceived even, into a false box of 4:3 damnation. If you think I’m exaggerating, consider this: Stanley Kubrick, the greatest filmmaker to ever live, after the advent of home video, never shot another film in widescreen ever again. Knowing that posterity, and thus the vast majority would view his film at home, he simply could not bear to see his meticulously crafted frame cropped ex post facto. Oh, if only he had lived to see the rise of widescreen home video.

If you think I’m crazy, try this little experiment:

1. Try watching any 70mm film (Try Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, The Sound of Music, 2001: A Space Odyssey or just about any classic John McTiernan film).
2. Then watch the same film on TV or VHS.
3. Try and avoid vomiting.

2. Thou Shalt Not Release a Featureless Disc

Although this is pretty rare nowadays, it was absolutely rampant in the early days of DVD. But since those releases were just to launch the format, is it forgivable? But shouldn’t the studios put out the highest quality releases at the launch of a new format? The real blasphemy is never releasing a nice feature-filled edition. Sure, some movies just don’t have any thing available for extras, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make it a nice edition. If it’s gonna just have the film, then don’t make me pay anything over $12 bucks.

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I’m sure many Star Wars fans have the Star Wars Fonts set, “SF Distant Galaxy” and/or “Star Jedi.” What these don’t have are the updated symbols from the new prequel trilogy. I’ve managed to update the font “SF Distant Galaxy Symbols” to include these new additions to the Star Wars Universe. I hope fans will find this font set useful in various fan projects.

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In honor of the unveiling of the title of Episode III, “Revenge of the Sith,” here’s a fan poster I made. It’s very rough and I didn’t bother to make it look professional, I didn’t see the point in wasting all that time for so little gain. Besides- you get the point.

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