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One of the less memorable scenes from American Beauty

You'd expect the winners of the Best Picture category at the Academy Awards to be the sort of movie that I'd like. After all, I'm a fan of quality cinema, I like to be challenged by it. Mind you, I also like Dougal and the Blue Cat. But you'd expect that the films that win would become instant classics. Wouldn't you?

So, let's run back the last 20 years, and see what I think.

• 2002. A Beautiful Mind is a film I'm not really interested in seeing. I'm prepared to believe that it looks great, but thanks to 2001's winner I'm not that interested. Because I saw
• 2001. Gladiator and while it was a stunning movie, I didn't believe that the central role was one that merited a best actor nomination. It's a popular choice, and one that has potential to become a classic. The jury's still out.
• 2000. American Beauty is a possible classic, but it's too recent to say.
• 1999. Shakespeare in Love is definitely a classic, though. It's a film that will still be relevant and fresh in ten years. Probably. Lines and scenes pop into my head as I write this. Impressive, that.
• 1998. Titanic or "the film with the boat" is quite an achievement. A memorable film, for sure. A classic? Actually, it probably is.
• 1997. The English Patient is a film I've never seen, but want to at some point. I believe it to be a classic.
• 1996. Braveheart looked good, but I don't want to see it again. Mind you, the competition wasn't great.
• 1995. Forrest Gump was a film I saw in Glasgow all those years ago. The soundtrack was good, but it merely served to cement my views on Tom Hanks (which I am aware have little to do with his acting ability). It's not a film I really want to see again. Unlike every other film nominated that year.
• 1994. Schindler's List is a film that I would argue is a masterpiece. I'm not in a rush to see it again, but only because my memories of watching it the first time are so vivid. An odd contradiction, there.
• 1993. The Unforgiven I've seen, but don't really remember.
• 1992. The Silence of the Lambs was great. I don't think I'd call it a classic, though - but that's just me.
• 1991. Dances with Wolves I first heard of described as an 'issues' movie - a sure fire way to put me off watching it.
• 1990. Driving Miss Daisy is a film I've only seen clips of. I'm kind of ashamed by that fact.
• 1989. Rain Man killed my interest with its hype. It's a film I'd like to see, though.
• 1988. The Last Emperor was stunning.
• 1987. Platoon came out and I thought 'war movie - yuck'. I was probably too young to appreciate Oliver Stone at the time, so it's worth re-evaluation.
• 1986. Out of Africa I think I've seen. Although I may be getting confused with something else.
• 1985. Amadeus was probably the earliest of these films that I saw at the time, and gave me an early interest in the works of musical geniuses Mozart and Falco.
• 1984. Terms of Endearment sounded too schmaltzy.
• 1983. Gandhi sounded too serious when I was 14.

I don't think there's actually any point to thinking about this, as I've got no real conclusion to draw from it.