Nothing But the Best: "Cimarron" (1931)

Scene from Cimarron

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

A Theory on Why "Boyhood" Could Win Best Picture

Ellar Coltrane

As I wrote in the past with articles on Selma and Birdman, I feel like there is a three way tie for Best Picture between these two and director Richard Linklater's Boyhood. Where Selma captures a historical drama with a modern poignancy and Birdman captures cinematic passion through technique, neither has the emotional core that has made Boyhood a runaway hit during awards season. True, between Boyhood and Birdman, the honors have been almost predominantly split with the Best Picture equivalents looking like 26 to 22 wins. Still, with the BAFTA win this past Sunday, Boyhood is looking to be the clear favorite for a lot of reasons. The most notable of which is that it is ripe with ambition and wasn't made to be an Oscar darling, but just an impressively crafted film.