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Best Pick: A Journey through Film History and the Academy Awards
A fascinating history of motion pictures through the lens of the Academy Awards, the Best Picture winners, and the box-office contenders.
In Best Pick: A Journey through Film History and the Academy Awards, John Dorney, Jessica Regan, and Tom Salinsky provide a captivating decade-by-decade exploration of the Oscars. For each decade, they examine the making of classic films, trends and innovations in cinema, behind-the-scenes scandals at the awards ceremony, and who won and why. Twenty films are reviewed in-depth, alongside ten detailed “making-of” accounts and capsule reviews of every single Best Picture winner in history. In addition, each Best Picture winner is carefully scrutinized to answer the ultimate question: “Did the Academy get it right?”
Full of wonderful stories, cogent analysis, and fascinating insights, Best Pick is a witty and enthralling look at the people, politics, movies, and trends that have shaped our cinematic world.
In Best Pick: A Journey through Film History and the Academy Awards, John Dorney, Jessica Regan, and Tom Salinsky provide a captivating decade-by-decade exploration of the Oscars. For each decade, they examine the making of classic films, trends and innovations in cinema, behind-the-scenes scandals at the awards ceremony, and who won and why. Twenty films are reviewed in-depth, alongside ten detailed “making-of” accounts and capsule reviews of every single Best Picture winner in history. In addition, each Best Picture winner is carefully scrutinized to answer the ultimate question: “Did the Academy get it right?”
Full of wonderful stories, cogent analysis, and fascinating insights, Best Pick is a witty and enthralling look at the people, politics, movies, and trends that have shaped our cinematic world.
332 pages, Hardcover
Published February 15, 2022
7 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
John Dorney
166 books26 followersJohn Dorney is a British writer and actor best known for stage roles including the National Theatre, the BBC Radio 4 sitcom My First Planet; and his scripts for the Big Finish Doctor Who range. His script 'Solitaire' was rated the most popular Doctor Who Companion Chronicle of 2010 on the Timescales website and was the runner up in Unreality Sci-fi net's poll for Story of the Year 2010-11.
As well as Doctor Who, he has written for Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel series and on radio co-wrote three series of BBC Radio 4's Recorded for Training Purposes. He won the BBC Show Me the Funny 'Sketch Factor' competition, was a finalist in the BBC 'Laughing Stock' competition, and has performed in Mark Watson's Edinburgh Comedy Award winning long shows as 'The Balladeer'. On stage, he has written plays for the Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead and Soho Theatres.
He trained at LAMDA.
As well as Doctor Who, he has written for Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel series and on radio co-wrote three series of BBC Radio 4's Recorded for Training Purposes. He won the BBC Show Me the Funny 'Sketch Factor' competition, was a finalist in the BBC 'Laughing Stock' competition, and has performed in Mark Watson's Edinburgh Comedy Award winning long shows as 'The Balladeer'. On stage, he has written plays for the Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead and Soho Theatres.
He trained at LAMDA.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
March 25, 2023
Anyone who's going to write a book about the history of the Academy Awards had better bring their A game, because the only people interested in them are die-hard fans. I'm an Oscar zealot, so I was not only eager to read Best Pick but also ready to torch the authors if they made any errors (and they did: Olivia de Havilland did not win an Oscar for The Snake Pit). Dorney et al. are clearly film lovers and Oscar devotees, but they aren't film scholars, and that hurts what could have been an essential text on the Oscars. But as a fellow cinephile, I admire their passion and knowledge about cinema.
The primary struggle with this book is its structure. The authors spend too much time giving an overview of each decade of cinema, and while mildly interesting it doesn't add much to the discussion of why certain films won the Oscar for Best Picture while others did not. What the authors fail to grasp is that the Academy bases its choice for Best Picture on myriad qualifications. As the most recognizable award in the world, the Oscar not only represents the most artistic achievement in cinema for a given year, it also marks a point in history, corrects past wrongs and omissions, and emblemizes where the zeitgeist is at the moment. (Had it not been for Russia invading Ukraine and the general downbeat cultural ethos of winter 2022, The Power of the Dog would have won Best Picture over CODA, but that's a whole other discussion.) This is something Dorney et al. don't take into consideration. And while they each offer alternatives if they don't agree with the Academy's pick for a given year, some of their choices
are just inane.
Awards are not about justice or fairness. Sometimes the Academy gets it right and sometimes it blunders (looking at you, Crash). But I think the industry, critics, and cinephiles like me all need to stop the shouting and hand-ringing that occurs each Oscar season and go with the flow. Also, I think the Oscars need to stop trying to make themselves hip, cool, and relevant and be satisfied being haughty and bougie. After all, that's what makes them so special and revered: their exclusivity. They've been evolving in recent years, and that's great. Women and people of color have been left out for far too long, and so have genre films. But I don't want to see the Oscars devolve into the People's Choice Awards. Anyway, this is an all right book, but if you're already an Oscars devotee these folks aren't telling you anything you don't already know.
The primary struggle with this book is its structure. The authors spend too much time giving an overview of each decade of cinema, and while mildly interesting it doesn't add much to the discussion of why certain films won the Oscar for Best Picture while others did not. What the authors fail to grasp is that the Academy bases its choice for Best Picture on myriad qualifications. As the most recognizable award in the world, the Oscar not only represents the most artistic achievement in cinema for a given year, it also marks a point in history, corrects past wrongs and omissions, and emblemizes where the zeitgeist is at the moment. (Had it not been for Russia invading Ukraine and the general downbeat cultural ethos of winter 2022, The Power of the Dog would have won Best Picture over CODA, but that's a whole other discussion.) This is something Dorney et al. don't take into consideration. And while they each offer alternatives if they don't agree with the Academy's pick for a given year, some of their choices
are just inane.
Awards are not about justice or fairness. Sometimes the Academy gets it right and sometimes it blunders (looking at you, Crash). But I think the industry, critics, and cinephiles like me all need to stop the shouting and hand-ringing that occurs each Oscar season and go with the flow. Also, I think the Oscars need to stop trying to make themselves hip, cool, and relevant and be satisfied being haughty and bougie. After all, that's what makes them so special and revered: their exclusivity. They've been evolving in recent years, and that's great. Women and people of color have been left out for far too long, and so have genre films. But I don't want to see the Oscars devolve into the People's Choice Awards. Anyway, this is an all right book, but if you're already an Oscars devotee these folks aren't telling you anything you don't already know.
March 6, 2023
Best Pick was a good book. It examined how the annual Academy Awards are handed out and the process in which they go through to pick the best candidates for nominations. I learned a lot from this book.
August 5, 2022
Half history/ half opinion. Really enjoyed the historical aspects. I would have enjoyed it more had the authors left out their politics. I’ve never listened to their podcast so I’m guessing that’s their thing. Ironic that the authors bemoan the fact that the Academy doesn’t choose anymore the movies that people actually go to see, and then they choose even more obscure movies as their picks.
November 2, 2023
Anyone who reads this book will find it interesting, to say the least, with lively discussions, and sometime disagreements among the three authors. But that makes this a fun read, and oh yes, wide open for the reader to dissent, sometimes strenuously, with their picks. One big bone I had to pick with them was their choice that Oscar "got it right" in choosing Moonlight as the Best Picture of 2016.
Sorry, but in my opinion, they most definitely got it wrong. La La Land was clearly the best picture. However, I did agree with them that the over-the-top, sometimes unintentionally funny Braveheart was the wrong choice in 1995. (Apollo 13 was the best, a complete triumph, even though they didn't think if was.) This book is ripe for endless discussion, and I am glad they wrote it. It was a real treat to read.
Sorry, but in my opinion, they most definitely got it wrong. La La Land was clearly the best picture. However, I did agree with them that the over-the-top, sometimes unintentionally funny Braveheart was the wrong choice in 1995. (Apollo 13 was the best, a complete triumph, even though they didn't think if was.) This book is ripe for endless discussion, and I am glad they wrote it. It was a real treat to read.
March 2, 2024
Great concept...okay in execution. Being that the whole book is opinion I went into it knowing I wouldn't agree with the 3 authors opinions at all times, and allowed that my differences wouldn't stop me from enjoying the book.
That remained true til they hit the around 80's decade. Suddenly the opinions became much more politically motivated and I felt like their thoughts were more in movies having to SAY something that they believed in moreso than was this a best picture. They began waxing exponentially about themes and messages and social justice bona fides rather than the complete movie experience. Movies that they began to attack seemed to correlate more with actors, producers, and directors who they didn't like, and alot of the movies they praised they seemed to be praising for their "message" more than the genuine film experience itself.
This was odd considering the amount of print they gave to the idea of The Oscars seemingly having become pretentious over the decades and rarely meshing with the most popular films of the year as had been so much the case since the 20's.
The last 2 decades became nearly unbearable to read as when they didn't agree with the Oscar choice, their film choices were even more obscure and pretentious than the obscure pretentious film that did win. And they definitely became way more interested in films being political vs being excellent. Except for the guy who kept thinking the best film of the year was a Disney/Pixar film for several years. Started to seem like a commercial for them and that a payoff for increased blu-ray sales was part of his deal of mentions.
Overall, I am glad I read this. There was alot of info mixed in with the interesting opinions. And books like this are always fun to read, as it reminds you of films you need to finally watch, or rewatch, or never watch.
A side note...if you are feeling overwhelmed by how much is left in the book as you're reading along...take heart. My Kindle read 65% of book completed when i reached the end. The rest is acknowledgements, bibliography, and a strangely laid out index. So it's really not the epic tome it appears to be.
That remained true til they hit the around 80's decade. Suddenly the opinions became much more politically motivated and I felt like their thoughts were more in movies having to SAY something that they believed in moreso than was this a best picture. They began waxing exponentially about themes and messages and social justice bona fides rather than the complete movie experience. Movies that they began to attack seemed to correlate more with actors, producers, and directors who they didn't like, and alot of the movies they praised they seemed to be praising for their "message" more than the genuine film experience itself.
This was odd considering the amount of print they gave to the idea of The Oscars seemingly having become pretentious over the decades and rarely meshing with the most popular films of the year as had been so much the case since the 20's.
The last 2 decades became nearly unbearable to read as when they didn't agree with the Oscar choice, their film choices were even more obscure and pretentious than the obscure pretentious film that did win. And they definitely became way more interested in films being political vs being excellent. Except for the guy who kept thinking the best film of the year was a Disney/Pixar film for several years. Started to seem like a commercial for them and that a payoff for increased blu-ray sales was part of his deal of mentions.
Overall, I am glad I read this. There was alot of info mixed in with the interesting opinions. And books like this are always fun to read, as it reminds you of films you need to finally watch, or rewatch, or never watch.
A side note...if you are feeling overwhelmed by how much is left in the book as you're reading along...take heart. My Kindle read 65% of book completed when i reached the end. The rest is acknowledgements, bibliography, and a strangely laid out index. So it's really not the epic tome it appears to be.
December 17, 2024
✨✨ 3.5 ✨✨
This is a great overview of all the best picture winners up until the pandemic. I already had some knowledge as it’s an area of interest to me so I’m not sure it would work as a start for people wanting to read more on the topic but it was a good insight into its history once you got used to the format.
I know this is a book they’ve written following on from a podcast (that I did not listen to). So as someone not familiar with the podcast it worked well for me. I did feel that they worked too hard to get it away from feeling like a podcast that it went to far away and ended up feeling quite list like at times. I also found I missed some debating over the films but I guess that is hard to get across in written form.
They did a good job of setting you in the moment of the decade they were discussing and any dramas surrounding the award shows. I do wish they’d picked more than one film at random each decade to discuss the making off, it’s not like the book is too long you could add more than one movie each decade.
I enjoyed the best of the best and worst of the best categories as they managed to get across a feeling for the films ahead of any opinions they might have on the film so it felt well rounded.
I especially loved that when picking their own best movies of the year they didn’t feel restricted to “expected” film choices and one of them would often pick a Disney film or a family film as their favourite of the year. This acknowledgment of the different meaning of a favourite film was wonderful, you one film might be an amazing spectacle but is it one I’d choose to watch over and over again? Is that what makes it a best picture?
I felt more could have been said as an overview, after literally going over all the winners are there any more conclusions to be drawn or discussion to be had other than just stating the need to include more diverse stories and people in front of and behind the camera and actually give them the attention they deserve.
This is a great overview of all the best picture winners up until the pandemic. I already had some knowledge as it’s an area of interest to me so I’m not sure it would work as a start for people wanting to read more on the topic but it was a good insight into its history once you got used to the format.
I know this is a book they’ve written following on from a podcast (that I did not listen to). So as someone not familiar with the podcast it worked well for me. I did feel that they worked too hard to get it away from feeling like a podcast that it went to far away and ended up feeling quite list like at times. I also found I missed some debating over the films but I guess that is hard to get across in written form.
They did a good job of setting you in the moment of the decade they were discussing and any dramas surrounding the award shows. I do wish they’d picked more than one film at random each decade to discuss the making off, it’s not like the book is too long you could add more than one movie each decade.
I enjoyed the best of the best and worst of the best categories as they managed to get across a feeling for the films ahead of any opinions they might have on the film so it felt well rounded.
I especially loved that when picking their own best movies of the year they didn’t feel restricted to “expected” film choices and one of them would often pick a Disney film or a family film as their favourite of the year. This acknowledgment of the different meaning of a favourite film was wonderful, you one film might be an amazing spectacle but is it one I’d choose to watch over and over again? Is that what makes it a best picture?
I felt more could have been said as an overview, after literally going over all the winners are there any more conclusions to be drawn or discussion to be had other than just stating the need to include more diverse stories and people in front of and behind the camera and actually give them the attention they deserve.
November 26, 2023
While not being the highest quality film history book, Best Pick is exactly what I needed it to be, and it more than makes up for its shortfalls with the unbridled passion of its authors. The typographical, factual, and grammatical mistakes that are all too prevalent distract from the book's content to an extent, but no one person or group of people are necessarily to blame. The achievement of not only adapting a book from a long-running podcast, but for also categorising every Best Picture race from 1927 to 2019 is an achievement in and of itself.
My mileage varied on my agreement with the cinema-loving trio, but I was always encouraged to reach my own conclusions (e.g. if Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven was released as he intended in 2005, it would have won Best Picture). However, the contributions of Tom Salinsky to this project were very enjoyable. His acerbic wit, scorching hot takes (e.g. Finding Nemo over Return of the King in 2003) and overall style made the at times seemingly impenetrable history of an awards show engaging and even somewhat meaningful. There is one passage concerning Sam Smith which I'll remember for a while.
Overall, Best Pick may not be the scholarly work that my next film literature voyage (Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman) will be. But its care and attention shown to nearly a century's worth of races make it enjoyable enough reading for casual moviegoers and cinematic connoisseurs alike.
My mileage varied on my agreement with the cinema-loving trio, but I was always encouraged to reach my own conclusions (e.g. if Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven was released as he intended in 2005, it would have won Best Picture). However, the contributions of Tom Salinsky to this project were very enjoyable. His acerbic wit, scorching hot takes (e.g. Finding Nemo over Return of the King in 2003) and overall style made the at times seemingly impenetrable history of an awards show engaging and even somewhat meaningful. There is one passage concerning Sam Smith which I'll remember for a while.
Overall, Best Pick may not be the scholarly work that my next film literature voyage (Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman) will be. But its care and attention shown to nearly a century's worth of races make it enjoyable enough reading for casual moviegoers and cinematic connoisseurs alike.
September 1, 2022
Much of this was not a revelation to me, knowing way too much about the history of the Oscars. But this book did have some stories that surprised even me, and was delightful to read. The authors bring their insights and very sharp opinions from their podcast to what won the Best Picture Oscar every year. Did it deserve the win? Why or why not? And if not, what SHOULD have won? I can't say I agreed with all their choices, but I liked most of them. The main problem with this book, of course, is...you start thinking about all the Oscar winners (and nominees) you still haven't seen (for me the list includes Lawrence of Arabia...don't yell at me, I know...we've tried twice and both times the library DVD was cracked) or want to see again (It Happened One Night). Let's just say I'm compiling a list, and now that it gets darker earlier and earlier I'll be catching up on many of those. Will I finally break down and see the movies I haven't brought myself to see yet - Birdman, No Country for Old Men, Unforgiven, and Green Book? Jury is still out despite the raves or rants this book gives them. Anyway, a fun read.
April 28, 2025
The problem that comes with a book mixing opinion and history is that my subjectivity also comes into play, and I find myself jeering the authors for their replacement selections for the year’s Best Picture. Best Pick is still, though, a fun listen. It made me want to quickly check off all the best pictures winners I haven’t seen yet off of my watchlist. It also made me want to do my own year by year breakdown to determine if I felt the Academy got it right. When it comes to being a book on film history, this is mostly the Cliff’s notes version as we quickly rush through each decade’s highlight instead of a deeper picture of what the whole cinematic landscape looks like at that time. While I have my criticisms, this still is a gem of a book. A lot of fun to listen to and enough to remind my movie loving heart why I continue to get so excited for the pomp and circumstance of Oscar season.
February 27, 2024
This is a well-constructed book, if a bit narrow in scope. While it’s incredibly well-researched, taking a podcast with fluid discussions and turning it into a book with hard and fast copy that will never change feels a bit antithetical to the point — I adored the podcast because I liked hearing people go on at length about film in the off the cuff, unrehearsed way that’s typical of the format. Cutting up that concept into strict, narrower categories (decades as opposed to each individual year) kills all of the fun, especially when it feels like most of the book is being overrun by Salinsky, who was my least favorite host to begin with. In that sense, it turns to pretention a little too often, and by the back half of the century (so to speak) I found myself skimming the “did they get it right” sections in order to move on to the next bit of history.
February 24, 2023
Right away I noticed that the reviews for this book were all over the place. Although I thoroughly enjoyed “Best Pick,” the hesitation to celebrate the book can mean that I’m validating the variety of opinions expressed in it… I don’t. Yet that’s also the beauty of “Best Pick” because it’s three different voices fused into this 90-year history of the Oscars and filmmaking. There were dozens of times I said “no” with some of their opinions, yet there were an equal amount of times, if not more, where I agreed with them, and they enhanced the hundreds of films addressed throughout the book. It’s a must read, even though I wanted to “Sharpie”-out paragraphs from it.
March 25, 2023
Given the form and structure of this book, I knew I was going to love it. Personally, I loved the historical overview of each decade, both of the Oscar’s specifically as well as of the movies in general. This broad overview of film history is right up my alley, paired perfectly with an opportunity for the authors to offer their own idiosyncratic takes on the best film of each year (even if there were truly some wild choices). It’s not a perfect book, but I loved reading it! An entertaining and informative introduction to the academy awards.
February 25, 2023
I enjoyed this overall. I am not familiar with the podcast that this book is a result of, but I have been enjoying the Oscars since I was a kid, and it was fun to revisit some Oscar history and learn something new as well. I also enjoyed their choices of whom they would chose among the nominees even if I did not always agree. Finally, this perhaps will inspire me to get back to my bucket list of watching the Best Picture winners as I have been ignoring Ben Hur for a few years now.
September 18, 2024
ok i read this and “oscar wars” back-to-back, so i couldn’t help but compare the two. while i loved “best pick,” at times i felt like we could’ve dove deeper, had a little bit more throughout it all. i enjoyed “oscar wars” slightly more, but that’s not to say this wasn’t quite the entertaining read! i loved the breakdowns by decade and how the movies changed throughout history. highly recommend both books.
March 10, 2022
This will become a great reference book to settle many debates.
April 10, 2022
So interesting! The “best pick”for a long car journey.
July 15, 2022
I listened to this on audio. It's an engaging walk-through of the Oscars through the ages, with lots of humor and information. Very enjoyable! A movie-fan must.
August 19, 2022
Full of interesting info about not only the Oscars, but the entire film industry. Enjoyable read, and also learned a LOT from this book.
October 25, 2022
Thoroughly enjoyable and the right book at the right time. Really scratched the itch for a movie book.
January 18, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this brilliant book whilst in the Mecca of film making , Los Angeles… I t had made me want to see quite a few of the films discussed that I am unfamiliar with.
March 13, 2024
And the Oscar goes to... This is truly a fantastic book. After listening to some of the podcast episodes, I found out that the book had also been released. It's great that the chapters broadly follow the same structure as the podcasts. Always enjoyed the question: did the Academy get it right?
I've added a lot of titles to my watch list. And finally I dare to accept the conclusion that the Best Picture Oscar winner does not always have to be the best film that year (did someone say Oppenheimer?)!
Highly recommended for every film lover; this book and the podcast!
I've added a lot of titles to my watch list. And finally I dare to accept the conclusion that the Best Picture Oscar winner does not always have to be the best film that year (did someone say Oppenheimer?)!
Highly recommended for every film lover; this book and the podcast!
June 26, 2022
“You’re experts of the Oscars. Then get your facts right. So many factual errors.”
The above comments are more to the publishers that no longer have editors that are experts in the field that they are editing, than the writers themselves. I reread the book last week and it is a exhaustive, enjoyable read, with fantastic facts as well as the three authors’.own picks for each years’ Oscars. It is a combination of the late Bona and Wiley’s seminal “Inside Oscar” and Danny Peary’s “Alternate Oscars”. Two books I read over and over.
The above comments are more to the publishers that no longer have editors that are experts in the field that they are editing, than the writers themselves. I reread the book last week and it is a exhaustive, enjoyable read, with fantastic facts as well as the three authors’.own picks for each years’ Oscars. It is a combination of the late Bona and Wiley’s seminal “Inside Oscar” and Danny Peary’s “Alternate Oscars”. Two books I read over and over.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews