I guess you could say the low point arrived on March 27, , with the broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards. Animation was maligned as mere kiddie fair, a handful of production awards were handed out while the stars were still walking the red carpet, and there was that whole OscarsFanFavorite thing. All this after two years of a pandemic that disrupted productions, neutered releases and shuttered the very spaces moviegoers called home for over a century.
Not that things were that rosy in the first place. A rise in fanboy culture poisoned the well, turning casual discourse into coordinated toxic affairs, while the streaming wars eroded the viability of communal conversation. Back before the launch of Netflix Instant in , the DVD mailing service offered a massive catalog of films from far and wide, old and new, for a relatively low price and the convenience of having the movies come to you.
Before that was Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and a battery of mom-and-pop rental shops across the U. Before them were film societies, second-run theaters and art house cinemas connected to museums and universities. It might take some doing, but the best moviesβnew and old, mainstream and underground, domestic and foreignβwere never out of reach. That was then. Once were the days when even the most casual moviegoer could watch the best picture nominees.
His solution: Teach film appreciation. Oakley was on to something; his suggestion of a top 10 is part of a long lineage of list-making and discussion. Eight decades later, here we are. It opened a door in my soul.
Either way, the pollβin its traditional 10 titles and expanded version, whatever count that may beβis destined to launch a thousand reactions, corrections and appreciations.
