It’s that time of year again; time for the Academy Awards,
the biggest film award show of the year. And of course that also means that
it’s time for me to list my choices predicting who will be winning awards this
Sunday. This year’s show is being hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, which is a
pretty good choice if you ask me. However, this year’s list of nominations have
attracted quite a lot of controversy, primarily the fact that all of the 20
nominees for Best Actor/Actress (Leading and supporting) are white, which is
actually the third time this has happened since 1995. But… because I’m not one
to talk about race-related controversy on this site I won’t be saying anything
further about it, nor will I be focusing that much on ‘potential’ snubs this
year either. I’ve come to the point where I realize that criticizing award
snubs is a very clichéd thing to do. Because film is so subjective, awards
shows like this are fundamentally flawed because they obviously aren’t going to
please everyone given the fact that only about 5 or so films/performances get
nominated for the major awards every year. Some may call the Oscars ‘bulls***’
but in reality they’re usually the ones who stir up all of the controversy
surrounding the Oscars in the first place.
From this point on, I’m just going to accept the annual
Oscar nominations for what they are and not complain that much about what didn’t
get nominated. So because of this, unlike the ‘Oscar Predictions’ post I did
last year, I’m not going to list any snubs for each of the award categories
though I will probably mention some here and there while discussing my picks,
the only thing being that I won’t make that big a deal about them. Also, I
won’t be looking at every single one of the Oscar categories for one of two
reasons; A.) Because I haven’t seen any or all of the films in that category
(e.g. Foreign Films, Short Films) or B.) I’m really not that familiar with that
particular aspect of filmmaking (e.g. sound mixing). Finally, and most
importantly, please bear in mind that this is all just my opinion. Obviously
I’m not going to predict every single one of these winners correctly (I doubt
anyone can) and some of you will no doubt disagree with my picks because you’re
always going to get that with film. All I ask is that you please be respectful
not only to what I have to say but everyone else’s opinions as well. In other
words, don’t be a jackass and trash someone else for liking something that you
didn’t. So without further ado, here are my picks for the 87th
Annual Academy Awards.
BEST 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
My Pick: Interstellar
Quite frankly, I’m fine with any of these five films winning
this award as they all had some really nice special effects. While last year’s
winner ‘Gravity’ was obviously going to win the award regardless of who else
got nominated, thankfully this year doesn’t seem so ‘obvious’. In the end, my
vote goes towards ‘Interstellar’, a film that once again showcases the strength
of practical visual effects, a common trait of the films of Christopher Nolan.
They created an actual dust storm for the scenes on Earth. They created the
space visuals beforehand so that the actors wouldn’t have to act in front of a
green-screen. And the planets that are explored in the film were filmed in real
locations. Sure, they were fairly simple in design but if you ask me, that
works much better for the kind of movie that ‘Interstellar’ was. The other four
films’ visuals are mostly CGI-based so out of them, my runner-up choice would
probably be ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’, which once again featured exceptional
motion-capture visuals for the ape characters. I mean it’s clear that the whole
controversy surrounding whether or not motion-capture performances should be
nominated for any major acting awards is still out there, hence why there’s no
nomination for Andy Serkis’ work in the film. Ultimately though, like I said
before, I’m fine with any of these films taking home this award and unlike last
year, it’s not 100% certain which one will.
BEST MAKEUP/HAIRSTYLING
*FOXCATCHER
*THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
*GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
My Pick: Guardians of
the Galaxy
Admittedly there isn’t really that much to say about
‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ when it comes to hairstyling considering that quite a
few of the characters are bald (Drax, Nebula, etc…). Still, you really got to
give the makeup artists a lot of credit for their work here. Now you can make
the joke that most of the ‘aliens’ in the film were just humans who had paint splashed
on them and for the most part that’s kind of true. But I’m mainly referring to
the makeup effects for some of the main characters, namely Drax, Nebula, and
Ronan, who had unique looks to them in terms of the makeup design. The work for
Ronan and Nebula is so effective that Lee Pace and Karen Gillan are pretty much
unrecognizable in these two roles. And as for Drax, Dave Bautista literally had
to stay standing for the whole time that his makeup was being applied. That
takes a lot of patience to get through and ultimately I feel that it paid off
nicely. I have the feeling that ‘Guardians’ probably won’t be a ‘front-runner’
for Best Visual Effects so I think it has a better chance at winning this
award. If not ‘Guardians’, then ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ which I think is
going to win big in the next two categories coming up.
BEST COSTUME/PRODUCTION DESIGN
COSTUME DESIGN
*THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
*INHERENT VICE
*INTO THE WOODS
*MALEFICENT
*MR. TURNER
PRODCUTION DESIGN
*THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
*THE IMITATION GAME
*INTERSTELLAR
*INTO THE WOODS
*MR. TURNER
I’m pairing these categories together because not only do I
feel that a lot of times they’re basically just the same thing (even though production
design is technically a different aspect of filmmaking than costume design),
but because my pick for both categories is the same film.
My Pick: The Grand
Budapest Hotel
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ was actually my first major
introduction to the films of Wes Anderson and right away I can say that one
thing that you can always expect from a Wes Anderson film is a top-notch
production design and colorful, zany visuals to boot. And that’s definitely the
case with ‘Budapest’. There was some pretty unique-looking model work done in
this film (namely wide shots) and the overall production design has a nice
wintery vibe to it. The costume design was also really solid too, with plenty
of colorful and eccentric outfits worn by the main characters. So that’s why my
vote goes towards ‘Budapest’ in regards to both its production and costume
design. I’m not sure if it has much of a chance at winning Best Picture but I
have the feeling it’s much more likely to win in these two categories. For my
runner-ups in these categories, I’ll be going with the simplistic but
visually-pleasing production design of ‘Interstellar’ and the eye-popping
fantasy costumes of Disney’s ‘Maleficent’.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
*BIG HERO 6
*THE BOXTROLLS
*HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2
*SONG OF THE SEA
*THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA
My Pick: Big Hero 6
Well seeing how a certain animated film didn’t get a
nomination in this category, I have to go with my second favorite animated film
from 2014, ‘Big Hero 6’, as my choice for Best Animated Film. In my review, I
referred to it as the animated equivalent of a MCU film, resulting in a fun,
colorful, and charming effort from Disney, who are clearly in their second
animated renaissance when it comes to their films. Not only that, but it is
coming off the heels of ‘Frozen’, which won this award last year so I think it
has a pretty good chance at a possible win. Though it does have some heavy
competition in the form of DreamWorks’ ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’, which has
won this same award at a lot of other award ceremonies including the Golden
Globes and the Annie Awards. But at the time I am writing this, I have not seen
it… nor have I seen the other nominees in this category. Let me reiterate… I’m
not going to complain about ‘The LEGO Movie’ not getting a nomination here.
Moving on…
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
*THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
*THE IMITATION GAME
*INTERSTELLAR
*MR. TURNER
*THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
My Pick: Hans Zimmer-
Interstellar
While ‘Interstellar’ was a fairly polarizing film amongst
critics and audiences, the score by Hans Zimmer wasn’t so it earns my vote for
this award. Anyone who went into this movie expecting Zimmer’s score to be too
similar to his work on the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy were more than likely
pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn’t the case. A very organ-based
score, Zimmer delivered some truly epic motifs as well as some genuinely
emotional beats that resulted in a nicely balanced sci-fi film score. In the
terms of the former, the best example of this came during the docking scene
(‘No Time for Caution’) and, in terms of the latter, was best exemplified in the
scene where Cooper leaves home (‘Stay’). Some people felt that the score was
too bombastic though I think that was more a problem of the sound design… and
yet the sound design was nominated in both ‘Sound Mixing’ and ‘Sound Editing’
(go figure). I guess the Academy wasn’t too bothered by it. I mean, to be fair,
it didn’t bother me ‘that much’ either but for the record, it doesn’t get my
vote in either of those two categories (that honor goes to ‘Whiplash’ and ‘American
Sniper’, respectively). Anyway, my runner-up in this category will be ‘The
Imitation Game’, specifically for the final track of the score ‘Alan Turing’s
Legacy’. Alexandre Desplat has delivered some truly excellent scores in the
past and this one is no exception.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
*EVERYTHING IS AWESOME- THE LEGO MOVIE
*GLORY- SELMA
*GRATEFUL- BEYOND THE LIGHTS
*I’M NOT GONNA MISS YOU- GLEN CAMPBELL: I’LL BE ME
*LOST STARS- BEGIN AGAIN
My Pick: ‘Glory’-
Selma
I’ll just be honest… I had never heard of ‘Grateful’, ‘I’m
Not Gonna Miss You’, or ‘Lost Stars’ before these nominations were announced. In
fact I’m a little disappointed that ‘The Last Goodbye’ from ‘The Hobbit: The
Battle of the Five Armies’ wasn’t nominated. Anyway… this category looks to be
a contest between the emotionally rousing tune ‘Glory’ by Common and John
Legend and the annoyingly catchy ‘Everything is Awesome’ by Tegan and Sara (featuring
The Lonely Island). While it was definitely one of those songs that immediately
got stuck in your head, ‘Everything is Awesome’ was also a pleasantly upbeat
tune that fit perfectly with the overall tone of the film. But in the end my
vote goes to ‘Glory’ for its empowering themes and beat that, like ‘Everything is
Awesome’, also fit well with the film that it was made for. ‘Selma’ may not
have been nominated for Best Actor or Best Director, and it probably won’t win
Best Picture, but it definitely looks like it will win for Best Original Song.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
*BIRDMAN
*BOYHOOD
*FOXCATCHER
*THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
*NIGHTCRAWLER
My Pick: ‘The Grand
Budapest Hotel’
Wes Anderson’s films are full of quirky and hilarious
dialogue; ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’ is no exception. My favorite moment, you ask?
When Gustave is hanging off of the cliff and Jopling starts stomping the ground
trying to knock him off. Gustave seemingly accepts his fate… and then Zero
pushes Jopling off (‘Holy S***, you got him!). For my runner-up pick, I’m going
with ‘Birdman’ for both its excellent portrayal of an actor trying to recapture
his former glory and its fair share of humorous bits of dialogue.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
*AMERICAN SNIPER
*THE IMITATION GAME
*INHERENT VICE
*THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
*WHIPLASH
Quite a bit of controversy surrounding this group of adapted
screenplay nominees this year. One of them, ‘Whiplash’, technically isn’t an
adapted screenplay at all. Now it’s true that ‘Whiplash’ was originally a short
film but that was done just so that investors would sign on to produce the
full-length film. So really it should be in the ‘Original Screenplay’ category but
it isn’t, apparently due an error by the Academy. And then with the two biopics
‘American Sniper’ and ‘The Imitation Game’, both films attracted controversy
for their alleged ‘historical inaccuracy’. In the case of ‘Imitation Game’, it
was for ‘allegedly’ underplaying Alan Turing’s homosexuality. And ever since it
became a major hit at the box office, ‘American Sniper’ has been criticized by
many people for its stance on the war in Iraq and the ‘questionable’ heroism of
Chris Kyle. The other major biopic in this category, ‘The Theory of
Everything’, has gone by unscathed for the most part. So with that said, where
do I stand on this category?
My Pick: Any of the
following 3: ‘Whiplash’, ‘American Sniper’, or ‘Imitation Game’
In a sense, I should probably go with ‘Whiplash’ just on the
grounds that it should probably win anyway due to it being put in the wrong
category. But I also really liked ‘American Sniper’ as well. Now of course I’m
aware of all of the controversy surrounding the film but because I’m not really
that much of a political person, I’m not really going to say anything about it.
Really, the key to the film wasn’t its views on the war in Iraq or how cohesive
the overall story was. Where it succeeded the most was how it portrayed the
struggles of Chris Kyle, specifically how he felt compelled to keep going on
tours of duty because he struggled to adjust back to normal life at home.
Kyle’s story is a very fascinating one and Kyle himself is a fascinating
person. Another equally fascinating person was Alan Turing and that is why I
also give credit for ‘The Imitation Game’ for being a very compelling war story
through the eyes of a man whose work forever changed the world. Personally I
didn’t think the film ‘underplayed’ Turing’s homosexuality; I think it was
handled very subtly showing the personal struggle Turing must’ve gone through
his interactions with his co-workers, like how in one scene he risks it all so
that he can reveal to his superiors that one of his co-workers was a Soviet
spy. Ultimately, I’d be fine with any of these three films winning this award.
‘American Sniper’ and ‘Imitation Game’ were my favorite biopics from a year
that was full of great biopics. But ‘Whiplash’ also had a great screenplay too;
too bad it accidentally ended up in the wrong category.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
*PATRICIA ARQUETTE- BOYHOOD
*LAURA DERN- WILD
*KEIRA KNIGHTLEY- THE IMITATION GAME
*EMMA STONE- BIRDMAN
*MERYL STREEP- INTO THE WOODS
My Pick: Patricia
Arquette- Boyhood
This year I’ve made an effort not to read a lot of ‘Oscar Coverage/Predictions’
posts for fear of this year’s event turning out as ‘predictable’ as it was last
year due to the fact that I read a lot of posts that discussed all of the major
front-runners for each award. But it’s safe to say that for the Supporting
Acting categories this year, we have clear front-runners. In the case of
Supporting Actress, it’s Patricia Arquette for her role as the Mom from
‘Boyhood’. Now I’m just going to lay this out there… I wasn’t really that big a
fan of ‘Boyhood’ compared to, well, pretty much everyone else in the world
given the fact that this is easily the most critically acclaimed film of last
year. Now I’m not faulting the film for its ambitious production technique
(being shot over 12 years with the same main actors) and I do think it did a
great job at capturing the childhood experiences of the main character. But
ultimately it didn’t really connect with me that much and I think that is
because I never really had a childhood like the one Mason has in the film where
my parents were divorced and my family moved around a lot. Now if you did have
a childhood like that, then I perfectly understand why you’d connect with this
film and really I feel that this will be the key factor as to whether or not
you like the film. Again, let me be clear; I don’t hate it, and for the record
I hate to use this following term, but I do feel that it’s a bit overrated and
it’s ultimately my least favorite out of these 8 Best Picture nominees… boy I
can already expect a lot of cinephiles giving me a lot of unfair s*** for this
one.
But I will give credit where credit’s due in that Patricia
Arquette does a fantastic job in this film as the mother; she and her husband
(played by Ethan Hawke, who for the record I would have probably picked as my
choice for Best Supporting Actor had there not been a different frontrunner in
that category (more on that in a sec)) are probably the most interesting
characters in the film. Personally I would’ve loved to see them reconnect as a
couple (especially after she went through a series of, to quote the film’s
‘Honest Trailer’, drunken a-holes) but in the end Arquette did a great job
portraying the emotional struggles of this character, as shown in scenes like
the one near the end where she breaks down as Mason prepares to leave for
college as she realizes how fast time has flown by. If I had to choose a
runner-up, I’d go with either Keira Knightley from ‘The Imitation Game’, who definitely
held her own against Benedict Cumberbatch in that film, or Emma Stone from
‘Birdman’. I’ve heard a lot of people say that Stone was the weakest part of
‘Birdman’ but I disagree. I think she did a really nice job in that film but in
the end, I think it’s safe to say that Arquette is going to win this one.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
*ROBERT DUVALL- THE JUDGE
*ETHAN HAWKE- BOYHOOD
*EDWARD NORTON- BIRDMAN
*MARK RUFFALO- FOXCATCHER
*J.K. SIMMONS- WHIPLASH
My Pick: J.K.
Simmons- Whiplash
There’s no contest here… on pretty much all accounts, it
looks like the former boss of the Daily Bugle is going to win the Oscar for his
turn as the tough-as-nails music conductor Terrence Fletcher in ‘Whiplash’.
Seriously, J.K. Simmons is so frigging amazing in this film and is guaranteed
to make you terrified of him whenever he goes all out on any of his students;
all those years playing J. Jonah Jameson in the Sam Raimi ‘Spider-Man’ films
really paid off. I mean it’s pretty much a given that Simmons is going to win
Best Supporting Actor on Sunday. But what if, on the off chance, he doesn’t win
it? I mean, this is a really solid list of nominees we have here… and yes I’m
saying this even though a lot of people are bashing the nomination of Robert
Duvall for ‘The Judge’ due to the mixed-to-negative reactions towards the film.
I’m not one of those people (I did like the film) but I think it’s safe to say
that Duvall isn’t going to win anyway. As for the other three, like I noted
earlier, I’m going with Ethan Hawke as the dad from ‘Boyhood’. The dad was
actually my favorite character in that film, primarily due to his all-around
likable personality (again to quote the ‘Honest Trailer’, he wasn’t that bad,
especially compared to his ex-wife’s other husbands). But like with Best
Supporting Actress, I don’t think we’re really going to see an upset here.
BEST ACTRESS
*MARION COTILLARD- TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT
*FELICITY JONES- THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
*JULIANNE MOORE- STILL ALICE
*ROSAMUND PIKE- GONE GIRL
*REESE WITHERSPOON- WILD
My Pick: Rosamund
Pike- ‘Gone Girl’
Out of all of the acting categories, this is the one where
my choices are the most limited because I’ve only seen two of these films;
‘Gone Girl’ and ‘The Theory of Everything’. And while Felicity Jones did a
phenomenal job in ‘The Theory of Everything’, my vote goes to Rosamund Pike for
his stand-out performance as Amy Dunne in ‘Gone Girl’. Once the big reveal of
‘Gone Girl’ occurred showing that Amy was the mastermind behind her own
disappearance, Pike commands the film from that point on and as I noted before
I didn’t expect this character to be as, to put it simply, committed as she
was. Regardless of your overall stance on the character, Pike’s performance in
the film was outstanding. But of course, Jones’ work as Jane Hawking was also
superb so of course, given the fact that I haven’t seen ‘Two Days, One Night’
(which from what I hear only played in like two or three theaters nationwide),
‘Still Alice’, or ‘Wild’, she is my runner-up pick. But it’s looking like we
have a different front-runner for this category in Julianne Moore for ‘Still
Alice’ given the fact that she’s pretty much won every other major award in
this category from the Golden Globes to the SAG Awards.
BEST ACTOR
*STEVE CARELL- FOXCATCHER
*BRADLEY COOPER- AMERICAN SNIPER
*BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH- THE IMITATION GAME
*MICHAEL KEATON- BIRDMAN
*EDDIE REDMAYNE- THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
My Pick: Eddie
Redmayne- The Theory of Everything
In a category full of fantastic performances that all
deserve their nominations, I’m going to go with Eddie Redmayne for his turn as
Stephen Hawking in ‘The Theory of Everything’. It was a role that required
quite the transformation and Redmayne handled that perfectly. I mean, I’m kind
of rooting for him anyway in the hopes that the alleged ‘Norbit’ curse that
affects actors who have a critically maligned movie come out a few weeks before
the Oscars won’t occur for him. Personally, I think this ‘curse’ is a bunch of
bull but Redmayne did recently star in ‘Jupiter Ascending’ and of course as we
all know, his turn as the villain in that film was one of the biggest acting
misfires in recent memory. Still, that doesn’t take away the fact that he was
brilliant in ‘Theory of Everything’ so that is why he earns my vote here. On a
side note, Julianne Moore is arguably in the same boat as well giving the poor
critical and commercial performance of ‘Seventh Son’ but again I really don’t
believe in this ‘curse’ so I think that both of them will be fine. Runner-Up?
Screw it, I’m fine with any one of these five brilliant performances taking
home the Oscar. All five of these performances were brilliant and while it’s
looking like it’s mainly a toss-up between Redmayne and Keaton, there’s no denying
the phenomenal work that these five actors did in their respective films. In my
opinion, this is the best group of nominees from any of the Oscar categories
this year.
BEST DIRECTOR
*WES ANDERSON- THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
*ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU- BIRDMAN
*RICHARD LINKLATER- BOYHOOD
*BENNETT MILLER- FOXCATCHER
*MORTEN TYLDUM- THE IMITATION GAME
My Pick: Richard
Linklater- Boyhood
While I’ve already made it very clear that I’m not the
biggest fan of ‘Boyhood’, my vote for Best Director goes to Linklater for his
work on the film as this is a case similar to Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Gravity’ last
year. He worked on this film for 12 years and it got to the point where
Linklater was going to put Ethan Hawke in charge of finishing the film in case he
ended up dying at one point. Thankfully he didn’t and he was finally able to
finish the film this year so ultimately he basically deserves this award anyway.
I mean to be perfectly honest, this is a rather dull list of nominees for Best
Director this year. I’m not discrediting any of the work done by these five
directors but I do wish that there were some more ‘interesting’ nominees in
this category, like Ava DuVernay for ‘Selma’ (not going to bring up the ‘race’
issue) or David Fincher for ‘Gone Girl’. So from the other four nominees, I
guess my runner-up will be Wes Anderson for ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ though
it’s unlikely that he’ll actually win.
BEST PICTURE
*AMERICAN SNIPER
*BIRDMAN
*BOYHOOD
*THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
*THE IMITATION GAME
*SELMA
*THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
*WHIPLASH
Just for reference,
here are my ratings for these 8 films:
American Sniper- 5/5!
Birdman- 4.5/5
Boyhood- 3.5/5
The Grand Budapest
Hotel- 5/5!
The Imitation Game-
5/5!
Selma- 5/5!
The Theory of
Everything- 4.5/5
Whiplash- 4/5.5
Personally I feel that this is one of the best groups of
Best Picture nominees that I’ve ever seen. And while I may not have been the
biggest fan of the critical darling that was ‘Boyhood’, I would be fine with
any of these eight films winning Best Picture… but if I had to choose one…
My Pick: AMERICAN
SNIPER
.jpg)
Is this the ‘best’ film of 2014? Probably not, but from a
personal preference, ‘American Sniper’ was my favorite out of all of these
nominees. Is the film perfect? No. Has there been a whole lot of controversy
surrounding the film since it became a box-office hit? Yes. But like I said
before, I’ve ignored most of this controversy due to the fact that I’m not that
much of a ‘political’ person. Besides, there have been quite a few times where
the ‘audience favorites’ have won Best Picture before. Remember in 2003 when
‘Return of the King’ won this award? Or when ‘Titanic’ did it back in 1997?
Heck, you may even argue that ‘Argo’ was probably the fan favorite a few years
ago. My runner-ups for this category are the three other films that I gave 5/5
ratings to. That includes ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, which probably won’t win
but was still very entertaining, ‘The Imitation Game’, my second favorite
biopic from last year and one that did really hit me on an emotional level, and
‘Selma’, and again I’m not saying anything about the controversy surrounding
this film’s snubs.
So those are my picks for the 87th Academy Awards.
Obviously many of you are going to have different picks so feel free to share
them in the comments below.
No comments:
Post a Comment