Because I had already seen the Best Picture Nominee I want to win (‘Winter’s Bone’), I decided to just try and watch other nominees I had not seen. And what a great week to do it with all the snow days! However, what I thought would be a great movie watching week turned into a nightmare. Ok, I am exaggerating a little, but not that much.

On Tuesday night, while the blizzard was raging outside, my family and I decided to watch ‘The Kids Are All Right’. I was pretty excited to watch this movie, considering it is one of the few comedies nominated for Best Picture. A short 20 minutes later, we were done watching the movie. No, it was not the shortest movie in the history of the Oscars, but it might be the most graphic! Let’s just say it is not the kind of movie you would want to watch with your parents. My advice: watch nine of the Best Picture nominees, not this one. So my family and I enjoyed a marathon of ‘The Office’ instead.

While I encourage you to keep working on the 2011 Best Picture list, this week’s challenge will take us more through the history of the Oscars. (And quick side note, the Oscars and the Academy Awards are the same thing. I realized this week that a lot of people did not know that, and it is something I myself did not realize until about a year ago.) This week’s challenge will require you to watch the Best Picture winner from the year you were born.

Here is a quick breakdown of the winners from the years most STA students were born:

• 1992: ‘Unforgiven’ is a western about an outlaw who comes out of retirement. If you like this, check out this year’s western nominee ‘True Grit’.
• 1993: ‘Schindler’s List’ is a biographical drama about a man who saves the lives of people in concentration camps during WWII.
• 1994: ‘Forrest Gump’ is dramedy chronicling the life of an Alabama man during the second half of the 20th century.
• 1995: ‘Braveheart’ is a historical drama about a Scottish knight in his fight against the king of England during the First War of Scottish Independence. If you like this, you might also like this year’s historical drama nominee ‘The King’s Speech’.
• 1996: ‘The English Patient’ a romantic drama about four people in an Italian monastery during WWII. Each person has flashbacks of their lives, especially the English burn patient.

If the Best Picture winner from your year doesn’t sound appealing, consider watching one of the nominees from the year you were born. You are sure to find something you will like. In addition to doing this challenge, try to watch at least one Best Picture nominee from this year. There are only 21 days until the Oscars. So let’s go out this week, watch some movies from Oscars past, Oscars present and conquer this challenge!