In March, ScreenAge Wasteland will have its 4th annual Movie Madness tournament to determine the greatest film to take home the Oscar’s Best Picture Award.
Similar to the NCAA March Madness tournament that starts with 64 teams and ends with one winner standing tall, SAW is going to have 64 top Best Picture winners battle it out.
The great thing is you — our beloved Screenagers — will be able to help determine the winner by voting in the matchups!
You will have to check back on March 3, 2024, when voting begins, to see what the matchups are for each region. The movies were picked by an intricate scoring system to determine the best films from the decade with minimal opinions or bias involved. The top four movies to grade out the highest are your four #1 seeds in each region.
Coppola Region | Curtiz Region | Demme Region
Coen Region
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Directed by: Ethan and Joel Coen
Stars: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Directed by: Steve McQueen
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Directed by: Ron Howard
Stars: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly
A mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Directed by: Fred Zinnemann
Stars: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Robert Shaw
The story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
American Beauty (1999)
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Benning, Thora Birch
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter’s best friend.
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Directed by: Hugh Hudson
Stars: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell
Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, are driven to win in the 1924 Olympics as they wrestle with issues of pride and conscience.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Sally Field, Robin Wright Penn
The history of the United States from the 1950s to the ’70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Directed by: Norman Jewison
Stars: Sydney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
A black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.
It Happened One Night (1934)
Directed by: Frank Capra
Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly
A renegade reporter trailing a young runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York, and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops.
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman
Frankie, an ill-tempered old coach, reluctantly agrees to train aspiring boxer Maggie. Impressed with her determination and talent, he helps her become the best and the two soon form a close bond.
Moonlight (2016)
Directed by: Barry Jenkins
Stars: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes
A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
My Fair Lady (1964)
Directed by: George Cukor
Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway
In 1910s London, snobbish phonetics professor Henry Higgins agrees to a wager that he can make crude flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, presentable in high society.
Rain Man (1988)
Directed by: Barry Levinson
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise
After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn’t know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.
Rocky (1976)
Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
A small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
The Departed (2006)
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.
Titanic (1997)
Directed by: James Cameron
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
What do you think of the films in this region? Do you have any predictions regarding which film will make it to the Final Four?
