Best Picture Oscars (2010s)

I've been won round to the idea of producing a guide to film. The best place to start is probably with award ceremonies, so given that the Oscars are the most prestigious, that's where we'll begin. It is my aim to do the BAFTAs at some point down the line as well. I'm beginning with the most recent Best Picture winners with a view to going backwards through time.

*Note: The conclusions to these films are in the main pretty obvious, but there are minor spoilers in this article.
Bold = Won the Oscar, underlined = nominated

83rd Academy Awards - 2010/11
Winner: The King's Speech
Defeated: Inception, The Social Network, The Fighter, Toy Story 3, Black Swan, 127 Hours, True Grit, Winter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right

Synopsis: Albert, Duke of York (future King George VI) has a pronounced stammer that makes it difficult to perform his royal duties. His wife suggests that he sees speech therapist Lionel Logue in order to combat this and the film is centred on the relationship between the two men. When his brother Edward VIII abdicates, George VI becomes the new king shortly before the outbreak of World War II and is consequently required to address the nation over the airwaves at a critical point in the nation's history.
Setting: October 1925 - September 1939, United Kingdom (mainly London)
Screenplay: David Seidler (Length: 1 hour 58 mins)
Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Colin Firth (King George VI), Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue), Helena Bonham Carter (Queen Elizabeth), Guy Pearce (King Edward VIII), Timothy Spall (Winston Churchill), Derek Jacobi (Archbishop Cosmo Lang), Jennifer Ehle (Myrtle Logue) Michael Gambon (King George V)
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Distributed by: Momentum Pictures (UK), The Weinstein Company (US)
Tagline: The nation awaits...
Also won: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay
Total: 4/12
BAFTA Best Film: Yes
Golden Globe Best Motion Picture (Drama): No (The Social Network)
Box Office Success: Yes
Significant historical inaccuracies:  - The Duke of York made much faster progress with Logue than is shown in the film, opening the Australian Parliament without incident in 1927
- Stanley Baldwin did not resign over the issue of rearmament, instead retiring with his integrity intact, boosted by his effective handling of the abdication crisis
- Winston Churchill actually encouraged Edward VIII not to abdicate, quite at odds with the film
Trivia: - David Seidler also suffered with a stutter in his youth. He originally intended to write the film in the 1980s but the Queen Mother asked him not to until after her death
- Hugh Grant was Tom Hooper's preferred choice for George VI
- Ramona Marquez (best known as Karen in Outnumbered) plays the young Princess Margaret


84th Academy Awards - 2011/12
Winner: The Artist
Defeated: Hugo, The Iron Lady, The Help, Midnight in Paris, The Descendants, War Horse, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Moneyball, The Tree of Life

Synopsis: Silent film star George Valentin spots newcomer Peppy Miller and insists that Kinograph Studios hire her for their next film. As Peppy's career takes off, George's begins to decline as more films make the transition to become 'talkies'. Financially ruined after his latest outing flops during the Wall Street Crash, George's wife kicks him out. Setting fire to his collection of earlier films, George succumbs to the smoke, but his pet dog, Jack, runs for help. Peppy visits him in hospital and takes him into her home, convincing Kinograph Studios to cast them both in a new musical.
Setting: 1927 - 1932, Los Angeles, California
Screenplay: Michel Hazanavicius (Length: 1 hour 40 mins)
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin (George Valentin), Berenice Bejo (Peppy Miller), Uggie (Jack), John Goodman (Al Zimmer), James Cromwell (Clifton)
Music: Ludovic Bource
Distributed by: Warner Bros (France), Entertainment Film Distributors (UK), The Weinstein Company (US)
Tagline: None
Also won: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Score, Best Costume Design (Mark Bridges)
Total: 5/10
BAFTA Best Film: Yes
Golden Globe Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy): Yes
Box Office Success: Yes
Significant inaccuracies: None evident
Firsts: - First French film ever to win Best Picture
- First mainly silent film to win Best Picture since Wings (1927) in 1929
- First totally black and white film to win Best Picture since The Apartment (1960)
Trivia: - The director of the musical, Al Zimmer and George Valentin all have speaking roles at the end of the film. Valentin's 'With pleasure!' is the only audible sentence spoken on screen
- Director Michel Hazanavicius and actress Berenice Bejo are married
- It was actually filmed in colour and the black and white effect was added later
- Uggie the Jack Russell, who plays Jack, has his own memoir


85th Academy Awards - 2012/13
Winner: Argo
Defeated: Life of Pi, Les Miserables, Django Unchained, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty, Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Synopsis: During the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979, 6 U.S. Embassy staff manage to escape and are given refuge in the home of the Canadian Ambassador. CIA employee Tony Mendez hatches a plan to extract them, posing as a filmmaker with producer Lester Siegel, ostensibly looking for locations to shoot a new science fiction movie, Argo. Once in Iran, the exfiltration plan is fraught with difficulties, but eventually Mendez safely escorts the hostages onto a Swissair flight to Zurich and is awarded the Intelligence Star for his efforts.
Setting: November 1979 - January 1980, Tehran, Iran; USA (mainly Los Angeles)
Screenplay: Chris Terrio (Based on 'The Master of Disguise' by Antonio J. Mendez, 'The Great Escape' by Joshuah Bearman - Length: 2 hours)
Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck (Tony Mendez), Bryan Cranston (Jack O'Donnell), Alan Arkin (Lester Siegel), John Goodman (John Chambers)
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Distributed by: Warner Bros.
Tagline: The movie was fake. The mission was real.
Also won: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing (William Goldenberg)
Total: 3/7
BAFTA Best Film: Yes
Golden Globe Best Motion Picture (Drama): Yes
Box Office Success: Yes
Significant historical inaccuracies:  - Alan Arkin's character Lester Siegel is made up for the film
- The role of Canada is significantly downplayed in the film. When interviewed, Jimmy Carter expressed the opinion that Ken Taylor was the 'main hero'
- The British and New Zealand embassies did not turn the escaped hostages away and actually provided them with necessary assistance
- President Carter did not attempt to cancel the mission at the last minute
- The dramatic chase scene at the end did not occur
Trivia: - Somewhat controversially, Affleck was not nominated for Best Director
- This is the second Best Picture film in a row to feature John Goodman


86th Academy Awards - 2013/14
Winner: 12 Years a Slave
Defeated: Gravity, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Phillips, Nebraska, Philomena
Synopsis: Solomon Northup is tricked into travelling from his home in New York to Washington D.C., where he is drugged, kidnapped and sent on a ship to New Orleans. After a scuffle with his first overseer, where he is nearly lynched, Solomon is sold to Edwin Epps, a man who believes that slavery is sanctioned by the Bible and who constantly abuses and rapes Solomon's fellow slave Patsey. Determined to escape, Solomon eventually convinces a Canadian labourer, Samuel Bass to deliver a letter to his wife and his freedom is finally restored.
Setting: 1841 - 1853, Various plantations in Louisiana; Saratoga Springs, New York
Screenplay: John Ridley (Based on 'Twelve Years a Slave' by Solomon Northup - Length: 2 hours, 14 mins)
Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor (Solomon Northup), Michael Fassbender (Edwin Epps), Benedict Cumberbatch (William Ford), Paul Dano (Tibeats), Paul Giamatti (Freeman), Lupita Nyong'o (Patsey), Sarah Paulson (Mistress Epps), Brad Pitt (Samuel Bass), Alfre Woodard (Mistress Shaw)
Music: Hans Zimmer
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures (U.S.), Entertainment One (U.K.)
Tagline: The extraordinary true story of Solomon Northup
Also won: Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay
Total: 3/9
BAFTA Best Film: Yes
Golden Globe Best Motion Picture (Drama): Yes
Box Office Success: Yes
Significant historical inaccuracies:  - The scene where a sailor stabs a slave to death did not happen
- Northup contracted smallpox on his voyage, resulting in permanent scarring to his face
Firsts: Steve McQueen is the first black director to have a film win Best Picture
Trivia: - McQueen won the Turner Prize in 1999 for his video 1997 short film Deadpan, based on a Buster Keaton stunt
- Michael Fassbender has appeared in all 3 of McQueen's feature films to date (Hunger, 2008; Shame, 2011)