Kim (Dan really) asks us "Your own, personal all-time Oscars - Best Actor, Actress, and Movie".
I love, love, LOVE this topic. I am such a movie fan and will watch any AFI tribute that is on, even to the point of taping it, which seems pretty silly really. (And yes, I said "taping", I do not own a TIVO/DVR thingy, nor do I really want to at this point. Hell, it was only 2 years ago that I bought a DVD player, as a VCR/DVD combo, and only 4 years ago that I bought a cell phone. And, to make matters worse I have never, ever upgraded from the simple basic cell flip-phone they start you out with. Pathetic or practical, you decide.) So on to my own personal, all-time Oscars.
Best Actor ever - Daniel Day Lewis. He has been my favorite actor since I saw "A Room with a View" at 13, then "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and "My Left Foot" sealed it. I prefer the character actors (William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Chris Cooper, Harvey Keitel, Kevin Spacey, David Straithairn, Samuel Jackson, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, etc.) to actors like Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jim Carey, Matthew McConaughey, Patrick Dempsey, Dennis Quaid, Tommy Lee Jones, etc., who always seems like themselves to me, never the character they are playing (Sean Connery is the exception to this rule because, well, he is Sean Connery.) It is not that I mind their movies, just do not watch them with the same level of enthusiasm. I have several actors I respect immensely for their work (include the character actors mentioned above) - Robert Downey Jr., James Stewart, Donald Sutherland, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Ewan McGregor, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Viggo Mortensen, Marlon Brando, Anthony Hopkins, Cary Grant, Jeremy Irons, Ralph Fiennes, Paul Newman, Humphrey Bogart, Russell Crowe, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Pierce Brosnan, Guy Pearce, Johnny Depp, and Greg Kinnear.
Best Actress ever - Meryl Streep. She can become anyone and is absolutely incredible in every role (Not that all the movies have been great, but that is neither here not there.) First movie I remember seeing her in was "Silkwood". Then when I watched "Still of the Night", "The French Lieutenants Woman", "Out of Africa" and "Kramer vs. Kramer" a few years later on video, I could not believe it was the same person. She is just awe inspiring. Best movie of hers, I feel, is "Sophie's Choice". My other choices in this category are Jessica Tandy, Katherine Hepburn, Diane Weiss, Nicole Kidman, Audrey Hepburn, Mary McDonnell, Juliette Binoche, Marilyn Monroe, Emma Thompson, Judi Dench, Kiera Knightley, Bette Davis, and Angelia Jolie.
Best Film ever - It's a Wonderful Life. This was so hard, so very hard to pick one movie out of all those that I love. But, if I had to watch one film for the rest of my life, this would be it. It is a tradition that D and I started to stay up on Christmas Eve, light a fire, make some popcorn and watch this together. No matter how late it is. So that factors into the decision, but you can not deny the quality and message of this movie. Besides the fact that "Capraesque" is a part of our vocabulary.
I had to also create a list of favorite movies in other categories, as picking just one overall movie did not seem fair. So yes, I am cheating.
Best Drama - Fargo
Best Sci-Fi - A Clockwork Orange
Best Romantic Comedy - Some Like it Hot
Best Gangster - The Godfather
Best Fantasy - The Princess Bride
Best Mystery - Rear Window
Best Epic - Schindler's List (Ok, personal bitch for a second. The fact that the hack of a movie Titanic is even on the list for Epics, let alone won an Oscar over the phenomenal LA Confidential is a travesty. The only injustice more severe was when Shakespeare in Love won over Saving Private Ryan. Hello?!)
Best Courtroom Drama - To Kill a Mockingbird
Best Sports - The Natural
Best Western - Dances With Wolves
Best Musical - A Hard Day's Night
Honorable mentions that are favorites - The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Graduate, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, No Country for Old Men, Last of the Mohicans (DDL version), Singin in the Rain, Rebel Without a Cause, The Philadelphia Story, Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey, Silence of the Lambs, The Sound of Music, American Graffiti, LA Confidential, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Streetcar Named Desire, Jaws, and Magnolia, Goodfellas, There Will be Blood, Memento, Platoon, Seabiscuit, Star Wars, Untouchables, Witness, Sophie's Choice, Amadeus....and I could go on and on, and on!
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