# Do You Make It A Point To Watch Best Picture Nominees? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358 "2015-02-22T18:04:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/1 "2015-02-22T18:04:08Z")
Of the eight movies nominated for Best Picture this year, I’ve seen exactly one (_The Grand Budapest Hotel_). That’s one more than I saw the previous year. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen more than two Best Picture nominees in a single year, ever. Most years I see zero. I’m not the stereotypical American rube who only enjoys movies with explosions and titties - I enjoy more challenging fare from time to time. But it seems, rightly or wrongly, that the vast majority of Academy Award-nominated films were made specifically to get an award. Anyway, is my experience typical? Does the average moviegoing Doper make it a point to see awards-season movies? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/2 "2015-02-22T18:07:49Z")
I don’t _make a point_ of watching them. I saw more than usual this year, (five) and thought they were all good. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/3 "2015-02-22T18:08:26Z")
I don’t know whether I am an average doper, but no, I don’t make a special effort. I watch the movies that appeal to me. Whether they win Awards or not doesn’t matter. I find I rarely agree with the Academy, but that’s another question. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/4 "2015-02-22T19:31:52Z")
I have made an effort to see as many nominated films as possible (certainly the major categories, anyway) over, say, the past 20 years or so. Some years are better than others - for 2012 and 2013 I did extremely well, but last year was not so good. Part of the issue is living in a smaller city in the Midwest. _Boyhood_, for example, stopped by here for about a week last fall, then disappeared. _Birdman_ didn’t even open here until a week ago; _Still Alice_ just now opened. _Whiplash_ never appeared in my city at all, but was playing 25 miles away. Couple that with some family medical issues over the past two months, and I blame the studios for hosing me over this year. Making this effort has given me the chance to see quite a few movies I probably wouldn’t have chosen on my own - _The Last Emperor_, for example (complete with intermission), or _The Triplets of Belleville_, or even _The Imitation Game_, which I likely would not have seen were it not multiply nominated. Just because my personal tastes may not align with the Academy, I appreciate the opportunity to see for myself why they might hold a film or a performance in such high esteem. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/5 "2015-02-22T19:46:45Z")
Kind of. I realized I could stream them on Amazon for less that the price of a movie ticket and watched _Wolf of Wallstreet_ and _American Hustle_ shortly after the Oscars. The rest are still in my Watchlist - I’m not much of a movie person. Still haven’t watched _12 Years a Slave_. After the Golden Globes this year I put a lot of the movies in my Watchlist. Probably all of this year’s Oscar Best Picture nominees made it. I did watch _Grand Budapest Hotel_ without any prompting when it first came to streaming. Go me! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/6 "2015-02-22T19:58:55Z")
I’ve usually seen all the films to be nominated for Best Picture long before the nominations come out, so it’s less a mission and more an inevitability because of the number of films I typically see every year. The only movie nominated for Best Picture in the last 20 years that I didn’t see in the theaters was **The Blind Side** (though I eventually caught it when it popped up on TV, out of curiosity). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/7 "2015-02-22T20:09:17Z")
I just took a look through all the nominated films and noticed that I’ve only seen Guardians of the Galaxy, Winter Soldier and X-Men, and two of those I waited for them to come out on DVD. So, no, I don’t seem to make any effort to see them. I gotta get out more. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/8 "2015-02-22T20:13:46Z")
I try to watch most of the “important” nominated movies. I enjoy most of them. Usually skip war movies (private ryan, schindler list, amer sniper) this year I saw 6 of 8, only one I saw and didnt like was hawking movie. I like seeing good movies. I think that the big nominees are a great place to start finding good films. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/9 "2015-02-22T20:20:39Z")
Nope. Not in the least. I watch movies for entertainment, and personally, not a one of the nominated movies looked the least bit entertaining. _To me_. YMMV, and it obviously did for a majority of the movie-going public. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/10 "2015-02-22T21:07:35Z")
Last year I made it a point to see all nine nominated films and only liked half of them (I half liked American Hustle.) I’ll never bother doing that again, intentionally anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/11 "2015-02-22T21:07:56Z")
Nope. I watch what I think will interest me. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/12 "2015-02-22T21:44:20Z")
Yes. Usually I have seen all or almost all before the nominations are even announced. This year I have seen all of them, and except for **Grand Budapest Hotel,** I enjoyed them all. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/13 "2015-02-22T23:14:33Z")
We usually see most of them. Not because they are nominated (usually) but because they are typically good films. Seen them all this year except _American Sniper_ (probably won’t ever see) and _Selma_ (maybe when it comes on HBO). Of the ones nominated that we did see, only _Boyhood_ was on the “Well, we should probably see it anyway.” list. And _Grand Budapest Hotel_ wins our award for Wish We Had That Time Back. Not even in the top 5 of Anderson’s work. Similarly for previous years, especially with the expanded list. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/14 "2015-02-22T23:16:04Z")
I did before my wife and I had kids. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/15 "2015-02-22T23:24:43Z")
I love movies, so I generally see most of the movies that get nominated. This year I’ve seen everything except Whiplash. I even saw the animated shorts at our local art house theater and loved them! Whether it was pre or post Oscar, I’ve seen all but two of the Best Picture winners since 1978 (the year I turned 18). ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/16 "2015-02-23T00:40:35Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I did before my wife and I had kids. Same here. Babysitters are much too expensive and hard to arrange, so we can only go to movies rarely nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/17 "2015-02-23T01:32:43Z")
Yes, I try to see the nominees in time (even years later), but don’t get bent out of shape if I miss them. Oddly enough, the B. Picture nominees was expanded from 5 to (up to) 10 so that more popular movies can be nominated (this was a result of _The Dark Knight_ not being nominated), but the opposite has occurred - since the expansion, fewer popular movies have been nominated and the winners have not been popular films at all. For example, from 1980 to 2006, the B. Picture winner was a top-10 grossing movie 14 of 26 years and a top-15 grossing film 21 of those 26 years… but since then, none of the winners have been a top-15 film, with three of those winners ranking 116, 71, and 65 in box office rankings for their respective years. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/18 "2015-02-23T02:03:20Z")
I used to. The expansion of the list has made it a harder task. I’ve seen just about every Best Picture winner from Wings on. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/19 "2015-02-23T05:27:17Z")
There are three kinds of movies. Ones I definitely want to see, ones I definitely _do not_ want to see, and those where I have no opinion and might see if the opportunity came up. Most of the award-bait kind of movies are usually “do not want to see” because they tend to be heavy on the emotional rollercoaster, and light on the fun. I don’t want to be deliberately emotionally manipulated, I want escapism. Arguably all entertainment is emotionally manipulative, but there’s some where that’s secondary, and some where that’s primary. I prefer secondary. Promise me fun, then take me on an emotional journey. Don’t promise me an emotional journey, then depress me afterward. I’m not sure if I’m explaining myself very well. All I know is, if I ever end up seeing a movie that I had previously marked as “do not want to see ever” I never change my mind, it remains a movie I wish I hadn’t seen and I regret having watched it. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358/20 "2015-02-23T06:53:23Z")
I do, but not all of them. When the nominations are announced I go through the list and make a point to see any that interest me. This year I saw Gone Girl, Interstellar and American Sniper. I also _could_ see Birdman, but haven’t gotten up the motivation to. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-make-it-a-point-to-watch-best-picture-nominees/713358.md?page=2)