1991

For the 1990 Awards, I had previously seen a majority of the Best Picture nominees when they came out in the theaters and it was really only a question of seeing Goodfellas to complete the list. 

However, something that happened in future years is that there would be a movie nominated that I was really not that interested in seeing... but I would go and see it anyway just to be thorough and open-minded.

Occasionally, I was pleasantly surprised.  For the most part, my preconceived notion was on the money, and I disliked the movie intensely.  Sometimes that movie was the prohibitive favorite to win and it did, but at least I could say I saw it. 

I would love to say that the 5 nominees are selected by experts, but the reality is that it is first and foremost a popularity contest and has nothing to do with my personal tastes. 

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Best Picture Nominees:

Beauty & The Beast
Bugsy
JFK
The Prince of Tides
Silence of the Lambs *

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Beauty and the Beast - First ever full-length animated Best Picture nominee.  Good songs, good story, beautiful animation.  I still know the songs and if it comes on TV, I would still linger on the channel and watch it.

Bugsy - Warren Beatty and Annette Bening in a partially biographical story of "Bugsy" Siegel.  Interesting take on the mob and the forming of a desolate desert city into Las Vegas.

JFK - A pseudo biographical fable about what really happened to JFK.   Really well done, though some of it was Oliver Stone's take on what might have happened.

The Prince of Tides - A movie I was not wild about seeing.  Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand.  Bleh.  At least it was a long-shot to win and won no awards.

Silence of the Lambs - Amazing thriller with lots of unexpected twists and turns.  Command performance by Anthony Hopkins.  I thought of him as Hannibal Lecter and not Anthony Hopkins AS Lecter.  First horror film (psychological thriller horror) to win and also first movie released to video before winning.  I LOVE this movie a lot.

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I was torn between Silence of the Lambs and Beauty & the Beast. I mean, how cool would it be for an animated film to win?  In my opinion, an animated film has a lot to overcome because they don't have to deal with location problems, cast members (replace divas in the studio), or lighting issues.  When Silence of the Lambs won (also becoming the third film to win "the Big Five" (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay)), I was satisfied with that selection.

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My rank of the nominated pictures:

1.  Silence of the Lambs
2.  Beauty & the Beast
3.  Bugsy
4.  JFK
5.  The Prince of Tides