Welcome to the Fourth Oscar History Challenge, a challenge I designed in order to bring some love to one of my favorite things to hate in cinema, the Academy Awards. Last year, this challenge got more attention than ever before which was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one! So, I hope more will join me again this year as we continue to dive into the long, often contentious, but always fascinating history of the Oscars in Round Four!
As for the rules:
1. Please tag the lists and reviews with either "oscars history challenge 2025" or "ohc25".
2. The films must have been nominated for Oscars. Being shortlisted doesn't count. They can be nominated in any category,…
Welcome to the Fourth Oscar History Challenge, a challenge I designed in order to bring some love to one of my favorite things to hate in cinema, the Academy Awards. Last year, this challenge got more attention than ever before which was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one! So, I hope more will join me again this year as we continue to dive into the long, often contentious, but always fascinating history of the Oscars in Round Four!
As for the rules:
1. Please tag the lists and reviews with either "oscars history challenge 2025" or "ohc25".
2. The films must have been nominated for Oscars. Being shortlisted doesn't count. They can be nominated in any category, including if they won any Honorary Awards, unless the criteria specifically names a category.
3. If the criteria says "features an Oscar nominated person", it means they had to have been nominated for that film.
4. The films can be watched in any order.
5. The films do not have to be first time watches but the more first time watches, the better!
List of all Academy Nominees
And the Challenges!
1. A film nominated at the Fourth Academy Awards
2. A film nominated at the Ninety-Sixth Academy Awards
3. A 1930's film
4. A 1940's film
5. A 1950's film
6. A 1960's film
7. A 1970's film
8. A 1980's film
9. A 1990's film
10. A 2000's film
11. A 2010's film
12. A 2020's film
13. A film used by anyone for last year's challenge
14. A film with a write in nomination
15. A film featuring an Oscar nominated performance from Robert De Niro
16. A film featuring an Oscar nominated performance from Jodie Foster
17. A film which earned Dede Gardner a nomination for producing
18. A film with Oscar nominated songs from Diane Warren
19. A film with Oscar nominated music from John Williams
20. A film with Oscar nominated sound recording from John P. Livadary
21. An Oscar nominated Fisher Family Film
22. A film nominated for Best Story
23. A film nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling
24. An Oscar nominated film produced or distributed by Annapurna Pictures Film
25. An Oscar nominated film depicting Hispanic/Latino lives
26. An Oscar nominated film about civil rights
27. An Oscar nominated film about organized labor
28. An Oscar nominated about filmmaking
29. A Kaiju movie
30. A Vampire movie
31. An Apocalypse movie
32. A Disaster movie
33. An AI movie
34. An Alien movie
35. A Soviet movie
36. A Hungarian movie
37. A Taiwanese movie
38. An Irish movie
39. An Australian movie
40. A Greek movie
41. A film based off a stage play or musical
42. A film based off a comic book or strip
43. Any feature film that was the most nominated of its year without a BP nomination
44. Any feature film that was the least nominated of the BP nominees of its year
45. Preserved in the Academy Film Archive - National Film Registry Collection
46. Featured during the Academy Museum Branch Selects Series
47. Hopelessness at the Oscars
48. Comfort at the Oscars
49. A film that won an Emmy
50. A film that won a Grammy
51. A film that won a Razzie
52. Any film off your watchlist
Progress: 51/52
Participants:
Nick Atkins//Mark Kaiserman//Heather Culbertson//Alex A.//devi123//Lastyearat.quarantine//sulienyx//pei 🫧//pulsatingmass//LauraCid//Mr_Goose_//Charcastrology//Germano Dutra Jr//Mostafa Saad//JJ//Alex Simeon//Jon//Destanie//silviubalea//Rachel Rhodes//Gemma//David Diamond//ThiagoHercules//Not_Normall//Cat Leigh//JLoRabbit//Kevvik//adamstyles//WittyNameHere//Bolsa//Rudy Politano//circlesquared//Dylan Phillips//Bea H.//JZizzle//Richie//cursivewolf00//Historian in the Making//Nadine/a>//Xellence//Jason Cimon//con40things//Brian Mac//Tami//evilchachouuu//Alessandro Canonici//Julia
***Completed
This challenge took from January 6, 2025 to Nov 3, 2024. The average score I gave for this challenge was a 3.6
The biggest surprise was Shadow of the Vampire. I have not had a good experience with Nosferatu remakes. I did not like Eggers' or Herzog's takes on the film. But Merhige managed it somehow and I was astounded by that. The biggest disappointment was The Last Tycoon. Elia Kazan's last film, starring Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum, and Jack Nicholson, and it's a film about film. Should have been tailor made for me but unfortunately it was just not good.
Top Three:
1. Shadow of the Vampire
2. Arrival
3. Pepe
Bottom Three:
1. Nell
2. Summer of '42
3. The Brothers Karamazov
Other Superlatives:
Best Performances: Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire/Emma Stone in La La Land
Worst Performances: Michael York in Logan's Run/Jodie Foster in Nell
Most Beautiful: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Most Thought-Provoking: Arrival
Made Me Cry: La La Land
Most Fun: Pepe
