Guide For Gamers: How To Catch Up On Your Best Picture Viewing

I always find myself amazed at who reads this site. People send me e-mails all the time telling me how much they learn about film from me, how they appreciate certain movies more after reading reviews of them, and so forth. Surprisingly, many of my readers are video game fanatics. Being a someone who is "plugged in" with the video game culture (so to speak) I figured I would take this moment to let all you gamers out there catch up on great movies. Many of you gamers are Oscar fans (well, of course you are, why else would you be here?), but from what I've read most of you guys don't know where to find all the Best Picture winners. Oh sure there's Fry's Electronics, Suncoast, and Blockbuster out there to help, but what about some of the more abstract films? Not only that, but since everyone is more concious of their budget these days, they don't want to spend money watching a Best Picture movie that might not have aged well (*cough*"Out of Africa"*cough*).

Well my gamer friends I have a solution for you: Netflix. More specifically, Netflix on XBox 360. Now please rest assured that, no, Netflix has not paid me to write this article. In fact, if Netflix wants to advertise they can, but at the moment they aren't. No, I'm writing this because this is the most logical, most ecconomic way to watch some of the Best Picture winners you might not have seen. Below is a list of Best Picture winners that are available for streaming free through XBox 360:

• All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
• Cimarron (1931)
• It Happened One Night (1934 - Oscar Grand Slam)
• The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
• You Can't Take It With You (1938)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Going My Way (1944)
• The Lost Weekend (1945)
• Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
• Around The World In 80 Days (1956)
• Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
• Ben-Hur (1959)
• A Man For All Seasons (1966)
• Oliver! (1968)
• Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
• Ordinary People (1980)
• Chariots of Fire (1981)
• Gandhi (1982)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991 - Oscar Grand Slam)
• No Country For Old Men (2007 - Yeah, I'm surprised this one's available too)

See, that's about twenty movies up there. Or in other words, it's about a quater of the winners. Some really old stuff as well as a few recent winners. By the way, for those who might not know, the term "Oscar Grand Slam" refers to a film winning all five major Oscars: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. Only three films have done this, and with Netflix on XBox 360 you can view two of those (you'll have to rent "One Flew Over The Cukoo's Next"). See, that's a huge plus right there.