Best Pick

John Dorney is an actor and a writer. He’s acted at the National Theatre, had a script on at the Royal Court Theatre, and won the BBC’s Sketch Factor and Show Me the Funny talent searches. He's written over a hundred audio dramas for Big Finish Productions, for which he’s won two Scribe Awards, an Audie, and a BBC Audio Drama Award. Jessica Regan is an award-winning, RADA-trained Irish actor, writer, and podcaster based in London. She has performed on many UK stages, including the National Theatre and on the West End, as well as BAM in New York and the Wallis Annenberg in LA. Regan has appeared in multiple television shows, primarily for the BBC. She is a prolific audio artist, especially in gaming, and likes using her voice to help people find theirs.Tom Salinsky is a writer, podcaster, communications coach, and improviser. As a founding member of the London-based improvisation company The Spontaneity Shop, he co-wrote The Improv Handbook. As well as the Best Pick podcast, he is the producer of the award-winning podcast The Guilty Feminist. With Robert Khan, he is the author of five plays and several audio dramas for Big Finish.The authors live in London, England.

Drawing from their award-winning podcast, actor and writer Dorney, actor and audio artist Jessica Regan, and Tom Salinsky take readers on a warm and witty trip through motion picture history, weaving in the story of the Academy Awards. Decade by decade, they explore the Oscars, who won them and why, and what happened backstage. Each chapter begins with lists of the decade’s best pictures and its biggest earners, and the contrasts between the two are striking. The authors examine film trends and technical innovations in moviemaking and provide brief reviews the winners of the Best Picture award thus far, as well as immensely entertaining discussions that attempt to answer the question, “Did the Academy get it right?” (Midnight Cowboy is dubbed “a deeply affecting and confidently made film”; the authors critique the racism of The Green Book and its use of the white savior trope.) Rounding it out is an extensive bibliography. Neither dry academic treatise nor gushing fanzine, this is an informative and entertaining book for anyone who adores movies, written by three people who love them and are adept at expressing their views. A treat for movie fans: Two thumbs up!

• AcknowledgementsForewordIntroductionA pedantic note about yearsChapter 1: The 1920sChapter 2: The 1930sChapter 3: The 1940sChapter 4: The 1950sChapter 5: The 1960sChapter 6: The 1970sChapter 7: The 1980sChapter 8: The 1990sChapter 9: The 2000sChapter 10: The 2010sAfterwordAppendix: Our cinematic journeyNotesIndexAbout the Authors