Oscars - 2015

[RobertR]

Here are the Academy Award nominations.

 

BEST MOTION PICTURE:

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

 

 

DIRECTOR:

Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Birdman

Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game

 

ACTOR:

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher

Bradley Cooper, American Sniper

Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game

Michael Keaton, Birdman

Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

 

ACTRESS:

Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night

Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

Reese Witherspoon, Wild

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Robert Duvall, The Judge

Ethan Hawke, Boyhood

Edward Norton, Birdman

Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Laura Dern, Wild

Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game

Emma Stone, Birdman

Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Nightcrawler

 

 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

American Sniper

The Imitation Game

Inherent Vice

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

 

 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

Ida (Poland)

Leviathan (Russia)

Tangiers (Estonia)

Timbuktu (Mauritania)

Wild Tales (Argentina)

 

ANIMATED FILM:

Big Hero 6

The Boxtrolls

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Song of the Sea

The Tale of Princess Kaguya

 

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Interstellar

Into the Woods

Mr. Turner

 

 

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert Yeoman)

Ida (Lukasz Zal & Ryszard Lenczewski)

Mr. Turner (Dick Pope)

Unbroken (Roger Deakins)

 

 

COSTUME DESIGN:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Inherent Vice

Into the Woods

Maleficent

Mr. Turner

 

 

DOCUMENTARY:

Citizenfour

Finding Vivian Maier

Last Days in Vietnam

The Salt of the Earth

Virunga

 

 

DOCUMENTARY SHORT:

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

Joanna

Our Curse

The Reaper (La Parka)

White Earth

 

 

EDITING:

American Sniper

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Whiplash

 

 

HAIR & MAKE-UP:

Foxcather

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Guardians of the Galaxy

 

 

ORIGINAL SCORE:

The Theory of Everything (Johann Johannsson)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Alexandre Desplat)

The Imitation Game (Alexandre Desplat)

Interstellar (Hans Zimmer)

Mr. Turner (Gary Yershon)

 

ORIGINAL SONG:

“Everything is Awesome” from The LEGO Movie

“Glory” from Selma

“Grateful” from Beyond the Lights

“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me

“Lost Stars” from Begin Again

 

SOUND EDITING:

American Sniper

Birdman

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies

Interstellar

Unbroken

 

 

SOUND MIXING:

American Sniper

Birdman

Interstellar

Unbroken

Whiplash

 

 

VISUAL EFFECTS:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Guardians of the Galaxy

Interstellar

X-Men: Days of Future Past

 

 

ANIMATED SHORT:

The Bigger Picture

The Dam Keeper

Feast

Me and My Moulton

A Single Life

 

 

LIVE ACTION SHORT:

Aya

Boogaloo and Graham

Butter Lamp

Parvaneh

The Phone Call

 

------

 

Some general thoughts.

 

The Academy loves Clint Eastwood. And Robert Duvall.

 

I expect that the general public will be mostly bored with these Best Picture nominations. People turned out to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, for pleasure, but otherwise these are mostly unknowns to the general public. I expect people will turn out to American Sniper, that The Imitation Game will take it's nomination and run with it like The King's Speech, and that Selma will get a boost, but, for the most part, the Academy is inferring importance on these films instead of the audience. Gone Girl, for instance, would have gone a ways towards adding sizzle to the awards.

 

Few of the films could be described as cutting edge in form in any way. Boyhood is the big elephant in the room, obviously, but the next biggest experiment might be the sound mix of Interstellar. Or the cinematography of Ida. Other than that, it's a pretty unexciting year. A score nod for Under the Skin or a Supporting Actress nod for Tilda Swinton in Snowpiercer would have livened up things.

 

Biggest snubs. Ana DuVernay. The Lego Movie. Life Itself. Force Majeure.

 

Biggest surprises. Bennett Miller. Bradley Cooper. Robert Duvall. Steve Carell.

 

People really think the fake nose on Steve Carell looks good?

 

I've seen 3 of the Best Picture nominees, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Imitation Game. My interest in the rest, ranked from most to least, is Whiplash, Selma, Birdman, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything.

[bjkrautk]

Birdman is the only one of the Best Picture nominees I've seen; that is one meta, odd film.

 

Shocked Gone Girl only received one nomination out of the major categories, even if Pike was the best part of the film. With only 8 Best Picture nominations, it's not like they'd have to have displaced another film to make room for it.

 

 

Hoping Marcus Theaters does a similar promotion to the one they did last year (4-5 movies in a day), so I will manage to see a few more of these before the awards are given out.

[Outlander]

Out of the best pictures I have only seen Boyhood and liked it. Since it also has the Brewers in it I'll predict they are the big winner at the Oscars.

[RobertR]

Apparently, judging by the box office of American Sniper, the Oscars can still make a difference at the box office. Obviously, it was primed to be a success, but the size of that opening surely had something to do with the Oscars stamp of approval.

[homer]

I don't normally love Wes Anderson films but I really enjoyed Grand Budapest. His set design (which has me convinced he is OCD) is ridiculously detailed and especially gorgeous in this movie.

[bjkrautk]

Anyone else doing the Marcus Theaters thing?

 

I'm now 5/8 on seeing BP nominees. "The Theory of Everything" is my favorite of the 5 I've seen, though I suspect "Birdman" may get the Oscar.

There were quite a few aspects of "American Sniper" I found difficult to believe....only to come home and read that they're embellished from the book (most notably the Syrian / Iraqi sniper, who gets 1 sentence reference in the book, and is practically a super villain in the film). I have to wonder if I would have been more accepting of the film if I hadn't seen it coming just off the Brian Williams / NBC developments.

 

Still have to see "Grand Budapest Hotel," "The Imitation Game," and "Selma." Hoping to get those in next Saturday, before the awards on Sunday.

[RobertR]

I'm sitting at 4 of 8. I'd like to see Birdman and Selma this week (to go with Whiplash, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Boyhood, and The Imitation Game). Whiplash is my favorite of what I've seen, but I'd be just fine with The Grand Budapest Hotel or Boyhood taking home the big prize.

 

Overall, I think it's a good list of BP nominees.

 

It seems to be coming down to Birdman and Boyhood based on the buzz. I don't know how much suspense there actually is among the general public considering that both movies are modest successes at the box office, so this should be a good test case on whether "suspense" sells.

[SRB]

No movie in which this scene made the cut should be nominated for Best Picture.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLwAcU0bYl0

[RobertR]

I'll make some predictions.

 

BEST PICTURE:

Boyhood

 

DIRECTOR:

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

 

LEAD ACTOR:

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

 

LEAD ACTRESS:

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

 

ANIMATED FEATURE:

How to Train Your Dragon 2

 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

Citizenfour

 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

Ida

 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

The Imitation Game

 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Grand Budapest Hotel

 

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Birdman

 

COSTUME DESIGN:

Grand Budapest Hotel

 

FILM EDITING:

Boyhood

 

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLE:

Foxcatcher

 

MUSIC (SCORE):

The Theory of Everything

 

MUSIC (SONG):

"Glory" (Selma)

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN:

Grand Budapest Hotel

 

SOUND EDITING:

Interstellar

 

SOUND MIXING:

Whiplash

 

VISUAL EFFECTS:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

 

DOCUMENTARY SHORT:

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

 

ANIMATED SHORT:

Feast

 

LIVE ACTION SHORT:

Boogaloo and Graham

[Kelbysdaddy]

How is the Lego movie not nominated for animated feature? Also, everyone knows the 2 best movies of last year were guardians of the galaxy and John wick. The people that put this stuff together are dumb.

[Kelbysdaddy]

Here are axfords picks

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/how-to-pitch-a-perfect-game-at-your-oscar-party/

[superfly]

How is the Lego movie not nominated for animated feature? Also, everyone knows the 2 best movies of last year were guardians of the galaxy and John wick. The people that put this stuff together are dumb.

 

Guardians may be the worst movie I have seen since "The Bug." I must be a party pooper but I don't get that film.

[AZBrewCrew]

Millionaires stroking other millionaires egos. 'Merica.

[GAME05]

$150,000 gift bags and here I am eating hot dogs like a schmuck.

[superfly]

$150,000 gift bags and here I am eating hot dogs like a schmuck.

 

And Americans wonder why the rest of the world can't stand us...they turn on the Oscars and see this crap.

[Patrick425]

Wow..lot of cynics on this board. I love living in this country.

[FVBrewerFan]

Well, ratings were pretty bad so they may be right. I think people are sick of the whole format. It takes forever, you have to endure political causes from most winners, etc. It just gets old. Not to mention the movies weren't very good.

 

I figured either Boyhood or Birdman would win best picture, so I made sure to see them. Honestly, I thought Boyhood was just ok. Great concept for a movie, but the movie itself was meh. Birdman? Didn't like it at all. I understand box office shouldn't determine best picture, but these artsy depressing movies just don't do it for me- or most people for that matter.

 

They need to cut at least an hour out of the program, and maybe add new categories like "Comedy of the year" and "Action movie of the year." The Hollywood elites may cringe at these "low brow" movies, but that's what most people watch.

[RobertR]

Ratings would be helped if one of the two frontrunners made over $100 million at the domestic box office. "Suspense" over the winner only works if a lot of people care for at least one.

 

Oh, and maybe if they didn't gush all over movies about acting and how special movie-making is. The Artist, Argo, and Birdman all fall into that. Even The King's Speech is ultimately about coaching someone to give an important performance. 12 Years a Slave at least has that going for it.