Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Paul Schrader, and Mardik Martin
Based on the book by: Jake LaMotta, Joseph Carter, and Peter Savage
Produced by: Robert Chartoff, and Irwin Winkler
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriaty, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Mario Gallo

Robert DeNiro gives a brilliant performance in this breathtaking film by Martin Scorsese. Jake LaMotta is a boxer trying to make it big. With the help of his brother, Joey, Jake becomes a famous boxer. He soon falls for Joey's girlfriend, Vickie. They fall in love, and get married. Jake stops his boxing career to open his very own bar. Robert DeNiro gives his best performance, along with Joe Pesci as Joey. Martin Scorsese wonderfully choreographs the fight scenes with style. Scorsese always has a way with getting actors to deliver stellar performances and wonderful cinematography and he manages that wonderfully with Raging Bull. This is one of those films you have to see before you die.

Oscars: Best Actor (Raging Bull), Best Film Editing
Other Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci), Best Supporting Actress (Cathy Moriaty), Best Director (Martin Scorsese), Best Sound, Best Cinematography

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Lawrence Kasdan
Produced by: Frank Marshall
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliot, Ronald Lacey, Wolf Kahler, Anthony Higgins

Indiana Jones is a college professor, and archaeologist. Whe he finds out that the Nazis are planning to the finds the Lost Ark. He doesn't know what might happen to the original Ten Commandments in the hands of the Nazis. He finds goes off to Nepal, where his ex-girlfriend, Marion lives and has a medallion that can find the Ark. He soon goes to Egypt, where he meets his friend, Sallah, who helps him to find the Ark which soon leads to a desert. Jones is the perfect hero. The only problem is he is afraid of snakes. Spielberg and Lucas's original action-adventure for the entire family. It's special effects are great without the use of computers, and I have not met anyone who does not remember the opening scene.

Oscars: Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing
Other Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Original Score, Best Cinematography

Directed by: Barry Levinson
Written by: Ronald Bass, and Barry Morrow
Produced by: Mark Johnson
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valerina Golino, Gerald R. Molen, Jack Murdock, Ralph Seymour, Michael D. Roberts

Charlie Babbitt's father has died, and he his given his prized car and rose bushes. He wants something else, though. He wants his father's $2000. They are given to his autistic brother, Raymond. Raymond doesn't even know what money is, even though he is really good at mathematics, can remember specific dates and numbers, and knows the Abbott and Costello skit, "Who's on First" by heart. Charlie uses this as an advantage to get the $2000, while also brining him to Las Vegas to help him gamble, and win a lot of money. It is then that Charlie learns the meaning of family, and brotherly love. Dustin Hoffman gives probably his second best performance (just behind The Graduate) and Tom Cruise is also amazing (how could he have not been nominated for Best Supporting Actor), along with a quotable screenplay and nice direction. Oh, and a memorable score, too.

Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman), Best Director (Barry Levinson), Best Original Screenplay
Other Oscar nominations: Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing

Directed by: Taylor Hackford
Written by: James L. White
Produced by: Taylor Hackford, Howard Baldwin, Karen Elise Baldwin, and Stuart Benjamin
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Sharon Warren, Curtis Armstrong, Clifton Powell, Harry J. Lennix

Jamie Foxx gives an incredible performance in this biopic of Ray Charles, and actually becoming the legendary jazz singer. The supporting females also provide wonderful performances with Kerry Washington giving the best overall as Ray's wife. We follow Ray Charles to his days as a child witnessing his brother's death and then turning blind. When he grows older he becomes a sensation releasing hit records to hit records. However, he is later arrested for a drug overdose and soon starts cheating on the wife he loves. Regina King supplies a lot of energy to playing one of Ray Charles's singing partners as does Sharon Warren playing his mother. Taylor Hackford's direction is also brilliant and Craig Armstrong's captures the jazz of that time. However, the star of the film is still Jamie Foxx who completely embodies Ray Charles.

Oscars: Best Actor (Jamie Foxx), Best Sound
Other Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Taylor Hackford), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing

"Film Website" Award: Best Actor (Jamie Foxx)
Other "Film Website" nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Kerry Washington), Best Director (Taylor Hackford), Best Original Score, Best Cinematography

Directed by: Bill Roberts
Produced by: Walt Disney

For those Disney fans who want this cartoon, I warn you, before hand. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Goofy, Pete, and all his other precious characters do not appear in this short film. I just wanted to tell you that before you watch it and say "where's the gang?" Anyway, onto my review. This is a very ingenious animated short film from Walt Disney and one of the many anti-Nazi cartoons he made during the early to mid forties. The story follows through man's journey from baby to fully-grown adult. We are given a peak inside the person's brain, which is being controlled by the title little men. We soon go to World War II and how Emotion caused Hitler's hatred towards the Jews. It's a very well done and different cartoon from the usually family-oriented animation studio, but it's a great watch nonetheless.

Oscar nomination: Best Animated Short Film

Directed by: Richard Marquand
Written by: Lawrence Kasdan, and George Lucas
Produced by: Howard G. Kazanjian
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, James Earl Jones (voice)

Luke has just found out that the evil Darth Vader is his father. While dealing with it, he goes to Jabba the Hut requesting to unfreeze his friend, Han Solo. After rescueing him, they are sent on a mission on the moon of Endor. First, Luke goes to his master, Yoda to finish his Jedi training. When Yoda dies, he goes to Endor to start the mission. It seems the Darth Vader is using it to rebuild the Death Star. There, the droid C-3P0 is considered a god by the Ewoks. Then, Luke has his final battle with his father. This is an amazing end to the Star Wars trilogy. Although the weakest of them all, the music, special effects, and acting are still top-notch.

Oscar nominations: Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Art Direction

Directed by: Benjamin Ross
Written by: John Logan
Based on the documentary by: Richard Ben Cramer, and Thomas Lennon
Produced by: Su Armstrong
Starring: Liev Shreiber, John Malkovich, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, Roy Scheider, Fiona Shaw, Liam Cunningham, David Suchet

Citizen Kane is one of the greatest films of all-time and that it was never released is quite interesting. This brilliant TV-movie features an all-star cast and delves into the controversy of Kane. After scaring America with his broadcast of "War of the Worlds," Orson Welles moves onto Hollywood where RKO gives him full creative control to make any picture he wishes. Welles decides to make a film based on the life of newspaper tycoon, Randolph William Hearst which results in the millionaire wanting to burn the negative. The cast in this film are extroadinary, most especially Liev Shreiber as Welles and James Cromwell as Hearst. John Logan's screenplay gives much detail about the making of the classic film. RKO 281 is actually more interesting the documentary on which it is based upon.

Golden Globe: Best Mini Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Other Golden Globe nominations: Best Actor in a Mini Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Liev Shreiber), Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Melanie Griffith)

Directed by: Sam Mendes
Written by: David Self
Based on the book by: Max Allan Collins
Produced by: Sam Mendes, Dean Zanuck, and Richard D. Zanuck
Starring: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Tyler Hoechlin, Daniel Craig, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Liam Aiken, Dylan Baker

This is an excellently-crafted film with a brilliant cast helping it, too. Tom Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, a gangster who keeps his job from his loving family. His older son, Michael, decides to follow him to his job to discover him kill a man. Now, the two Michaels have to travel to Perdition away from the gangsters, before he gets killed. A crazed photographer, meanwhile, is on their trail to kill Sullivan and take his picture. Sam Mendes makes a film that's very well constructed with brilliant sets, and photography by the late, great Conrad Hall. The cast lead by Tom Hanks are all great, too. The best performance comes from Paul Newman as Michael Senior's father. This is a great picture that evokes all the old gangster pictures of the late 60's, and early 70's.

Oscar: Best Cinematography
Other Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Paul Newman), Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Art Direction

"Film Website" Award: Best Art Direction
Other "Film Website" nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Paul Newman), Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing

Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Written by: Sylvestor Stallone
Produced by: Robert Chartoff, and Irwin Winkler
Starring: Sylvestor Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith, Carl Weathers, Thayer David, Joe Spinell, Jimmy Gambina

Sylvestor Stallone only made one great film in his lifetime and that film was his inspirational boxing drama, Rocky. Along with a brilliant direction by John Avildsen, and a wonderful screenplay by Stallone himself, the film should be watched by anyone who dreamed to "go the distance." Rocky Balboa wants to one day become a big boxing champ, but he is never given the opportunity. When Apollo Creed, the champion of the world decides to challenge an unknown he chooses the "Italian Stallion." Soon, Rocky is famous, but all he really wants to do is to marry his girlfriend, Adrian. Brilliant performances are given by the cast all around, including Talia Shire, Carl Weathers, and Burt Young. This is a wonderfully captavating feature.

Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director (John G. Avildsen), Best Film Editing
Other Oscar nominations: Best Actor (Sylvestor Stallone), Best Actress (Talia Shire), Best Supporting Actor (Burgess Meredith), Best Supporting Actor (Burt Young), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song ("Gonna Fly Now"), Best Sound