First Film Challenge Selection

I actually went about selecting the first film for my 52 Week Film Challenge somewhat systematically. The first category is "A film that won Best Picture" and you can find the full list of Best Picture winners in my previous post.

So how did I pick my film? I reviewed the list of films and in the interest of time, looked for films I hadn't already seen that are currently available through a streaming service I already pay for (Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime in this case). Sure, I could pay a few bucks to rent something else, but if I don't have to shell out the cash, why would I?

After going through most of the list (I've only seen about 25% of the winners) I had a list of about 15 films that I hadn't seen and that were also available to stream right away. Most of them come from the 2000s as the recent films are in higher demand. I considered filling in the most recent gaps in my Best Picture viewing resume and finally checking out Parasite, Spotlight, or 12 Years a Slave. Any one of those would have gotten me close to completing all the winners from the 2010s.

In the end, I decided to fill in an older gap in my resume with Oliver Stone's 1986 film Platoon. I have been interested in stories about the war in Vietnam for some time, ever since reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien in high school. Add to this my extreme interest in Coppola's Apocalypse Now when I got to college (thank you file sharing sites) which only grew when I took a course all about Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, upon which Apocalypse Now is based.

Now I am happy to add Platoon to my film resume and will relish watching young up and coming actors of the time like Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, John C. McGinley, Keith David, and Johnny Depp. The fact that so many of these actors have become household names is incredible, and even more so that all those listed above are still working, with recent credits in the last year or two.

If you have already joined the challenge for this year, I would love for you to leave a comment down below with the film you've chosen for this challenge. Remember, if you need a refresher, the films are in my previous post and if you haven't joined the challenge yet, just click the button below and jump on the train. It's going to be a fun ride!

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