海角大神

Oscar night: At the movies, we all get a vote

Best film? Best actor? There are dozens of ways of ranking films besides the Academy Awards. But the most important way is how you rank them.

One tradition of Oscar night 鈥� besides the red carpet, the musical numbers, and Jack Nicholson grinning in the front row 鈥� is the self-referential film clip. You know the one: Judy Garland, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Ingrid Bergman, or some other combination of famous faces speed by, smiling, grimacing, and dropping signature lines (鈥淕o ahead, make my day鈥�) while the music swells and Hollywood tells us that movies make us laugh and cry, touch our hearts, change our thinking, yadda, yadda.

Movies aren鈥檛 as profoundly important as Hollywood wants you to believe. But movies aren鈥檛 piffle, either. Some have powerful messages. You can talk movies with strangers. When a must-see blockbuster is at the multiplex, you can feel the national conversation changing. People suddenly start dropping lines like 鈥淭o infinity and beyond!鈥� or 鈥淟ove means never having to say you鈥檙e sorry.鈥�

Movies mean something, but what? Do they capture the national zeitgeist or are they just escapism? Can they lift a nation鈥檚 mood or are they merely made to separate you from your dollars? Critic Neal Gabler, author of this week鈥檚 cover essay, makes a strong case that recent movies reflect our mental state, meaning our collective worry and uncertainty because of the economic difficulties we have been going through.

Although ... one could argue that 鈥淭he King鈥檚 Speech鈥� was more touching and inspiring than bleak. And 鈥�Inception,鈥� like mind-bending shows every year (鈥淎vatar鈥� last year, 鈥�The Dark Knight鈥� the year before), was visually impressive but didn鈥檛 seem particularly applicable to daily life.

Or take 鈥�Toy Story 3.鈥� It was just as much a mix of adventure, comedy, and separation anxiety as 鈥�Toy Story鈥� 1 and 2 a decade and more ago. (Exhibit A: the toys trying to rejoin Andy鈥檚 family in 鈥淭S-1.鈥� Exhibit B: the heartbreaking neglect of Jesse the cowgirl as her owner grew up in 鈥淭S-2.鈥�) And besides, making a movie takes three years on average, so nailing the national mood on premi猫re day would be quite a trick.

Neal鈥檚 the critic. He鈥檚 thought about these things professionally. As has Peter Rainer, whose writing graces our pages each week. I鈥檓 a rank amateur. But that鈥檚 really my point. When it comes to movies, we all get a vote. We all have our reasons why some movies are great, some are howlers, and some are like a warm blanket that we turn to over and over again.

Is it any wonder that there are a dozen different ways of measuring the best movies of all time? Besides the impressively named Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, there鈥檚 the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, People鈥檚 Choice, Cannes, and many more contests that combine serious judging with the opportunity to showcase celebrities on red carpets.

Best movie of all time? Critics have their considered opinions. You can also check IMDb, the big Internet site, where visitors have voted the 1997 prison film 鈥�The Shawshank Redemption鈥� No. 1.

Go to Metacritic.com and you鈥檒l learn that the way-serious art film 鈥淏althazar鈥� (1966) heads the list.

鈥�Citizen Kane鈥� (1941) is at the pinnacle for the American Film Institute.

Rottentomatoes.com likes 鈥�Toy Story 2鈥� (1999).

Blockbuster, Netflix, and Redbox also rank top movies, as do cable companies like Comcast and Time-Warner.

It doesn鈥檛 stop there. All of us have movies we are fond of. Richard Nixon famously watched 鈥淧atton鈥� over and over while embattled in the White House. Howard Hughes loved 鈥淚ce Station Zebra鈥� for some reason.

I need to watch 鈥淕roundhog Day鈥� at least once a year. I have friends who never miss a chance to see 鈥�The Big Lebowski,鈥� 鈥�Shakespeare in Love,鈥� or the first and second (never the third) 鈥淕odfather.鈥� And on any list of favorites, most people would say 鈥�The Wizard of Oz鈥� is one because, well, because of the wonderful things it does.

We all get a vote. Drop me a line and tell me what your all-time favorite is. I鈥檒l tally them and publish the Academy of Monitor People鈥檚 Screen Guild list in a future issue.

John Yemma is the editor of 海角大神.