Ranking Oscar's Best Picture Winners from 1997 to 2006

When Oscar night comes and goes, the biggest news of the ceremony will be who wins Best Picture. "No Country for Old Men" has been in the Best Picture lead for months, and will likely go down as one of the best recent Oscar winners if it holds on. However, the last 10 years of Oscar Best Picture winners has been filled with a bit more controversy. Some Best Picture winners have maintained a high status, others have received huge backlash over the years, and others received worse backlash the minute they won. In hindsight, we can look back at the last 10 Oscar Best Picture winners and rank them according to how good they are now. Here are the worst and best of the last 10 Oscar movies that were labeled the best in their respective year.

10. "Shakespeare in Love" best picture of 1998.
To this day, "Shakespeare" is regarded as a triumph of Oscar campaigning, rather than a deserving winner over "Saving Private Ryan." If "Ryan" got the bleak war Oscar vote, "Shakespeare" got the comedy and British vote. Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench were less controversial Oscar winners for the film, Joseph Fiennes briefly reached the same heights as his brother Ralph, and the script was tailor made for Shakespeare buffs. All those things would be more remembered if not for this upset, and Harvey Weinstein's campaign to secure it.

9. "Crash" best picture of 2005.
"Crash" is now best remembered for proving that Oscar voters are homophobic bigots on a par with gay bashing murderers, if the most vocal protesters of that year's Oscar night are to be believed. As "Brokeback Mountain" took all the pre-Oscar awards, "Crash" remained stealthy and slowly crept up. It received a lot more mixed reviews from critics, but did have the benefit of an all-star cast and a few actual important things to say about race relations. But today, those race relations themes are attacked as simplistic and overheated, even more so with the Oscar target on it's back. Would those opinions be better or worse if only the white characters had racist thoughts?