This is the first year that there were only 8 Best Picture nominees. There were only 5 for the longest time, then they changed it to 10, then they created a bizarre algorithm where it could be anywhere from 5-10. Whatever math they used, it seemed like the magic number was 9, there were always 9 nominees and that seemed to be the new normal. Then this year it changed to 8 and there is an obvious omission. Foxcatcher, a movie I didn't care for at all, managed to get a Best Director nomination, 2 acting nominations and a screenplay nomination. It was suspiciously absent from the Best Picture lineup though. So that means that enough actors, directors and screenwriters liked it enough to put it on their ballots but when it came time for them to vote for Best Picture they thought, nah, I'm gonna vote for that lame Stephen Hawking biopic instead.
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
Best Picture
8. The Theory Of Everything - It's probably not a coincidence that my bottom 4 this year are biopics. I hate biopics. I really hate dull, beautifully shot, Oscar-bait biopics. This is about Stephen Hawking, his relationship with his first wife and when he first developed ALS which left him confined to a wheelchair and a computerized voice translator. This movie is bland as all hell. I understand the acting nomination for Eddie Redmayne but this did not need a Best Picture nomination.
7. American Sniper - Clint Eastwood is definitely a talented and skilled director but his films either really hit with me or completely miss. This is one of the misses. This is the story of Chris Kyle who became the deadliest marksman in military history with more confirmed kills than anyone else during his 4 tours of Iraq. The film paints him as a hero when it could have painted him with depth. I'm not saying the guy wasn't a hero but the movie about a perfect man is just not that interesting. The sad end to his life was that he was murdered by a soldier who suffered from PTSD when the movie makes it seem like his journey in life was to help other soldiers. So he died doing the thing he was born to do. It's a well made film that didn't connect with me and there's that fake baby.
6. The Imitation Game - Here's another biopic, this one is about Alan Turing who helped decrypt German intelligence codes for the British government during World War II. He was also homosexual which was basically a crime at that point in history. The movie is apparently very historically inaccurate but that doesn't bother me. I don't go to the movies for history lessons, I go for stories. This one has a good story but it comes after what Turing is famous for. The first half of the movie is all about code breaking and that's fine for what it is. Then the end of the movie deals with chemical castration and I'm thinking, why didn't we start here? It's not a bad movie but it does have plenty of those biopic tropes I hate, not as much as The Theory Of Everything, but enough of them.
5. Selma - This movie is about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the events that lead to the 1965 voting rights march in Selma, Alabama. This movie has a pretty great ensemble. I think if Dylan Baker played J. Edgar Hoover in that horrible Clint Eastwood biopic that movie would be watchable. This is yet another biopic but instead of going the cradle to grave route this movie narrows its focus to a single event, which I like better. The problem with that is you get the historical figure but you have to take the pre-requisite exam to make sure you are at least familiar with the story. Movies like this don't earn my respect, they demand it. I'm going into a movie about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., for some people I think that's enough. The movie has already done its job without you even seeing it. I can't say I didn't like it just like I can't say I didn't like Gandhi or Schindler's List. I can love the man and still think that the biopic is very run of the mill. Also, this movie couldn't get the rights to King's speeches so they just made them up. That seems weird to me. Still, the movie is powerful and David Oyelowo makes an excellent MLK.
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel - I've never been a Wes Anderson fan. I was turned around on this one. It's ironic because this is probably the most Wes Anderson-y Wes Anderson film and it's the one I enjoyed the most. Ralph Fiennes heads a huge and talented ensemble as we get several interconnecting stories all revolving around the titular hotel. My complaints with his films probably echo most other people's. Anderson tends to enjoy style over substance. This movie definitely has more of the former than the latter but I was completely swept away with the visuals of the film and it had just enough story to connect with me. Also, unlike most of his films I was left with a satisfying conclusion rather than just a mediocre ending.
3. Boyhood - Richard Linklater spent 12 years making this coming of age tale. He started filming in 2002 when his star was only 6 years old then he would keep filming every few years or so until the child was 18 years old. What he ended up with was the quintessential coming of age drama and I would argue that it is impossible to top. For almost 3 hours we watch this boy age before our eyes as he sees his parents arguing, they get divorced, he goes to high school, deals with bullies and eventually goes off to college. Some may argue that the story could exist without the gimmick of filming over 12 years but I beg to differ. The gimmick certainly helps but this is less about telling a story and more about experimenting with film making and documenting a life. I actually watched this movie with a group of 12 year old boys and they were enthralled. We routinely paused the film to talk about how their lives related and it was a really incredible movie watching experience. I'm not sure how well it holds up without that but for me this was one of the best movie watching experiences I've ever had.
2. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) - This is hands down the most visually inventive movie of the year. Alejandro G. Inarritu orchestrates all of the madness in the film into a single take (or the appearance of a single take, skilled eyes will notice the cuts). Michael Keaton stars as an actor who gained fame as a movie superhero and is now mounting a Broadway production but plagued with voices of self doubt that manifest themselves as his superhero altar ego. It's almost impossible to describe but also impossible to forget. I very rarely am left speechless after I leave a theater but this movie left me silent the entire car ride home trying to piece together what I just saw.
1. Whiplash - Miles Teller is a gifted drummer in his first year at a music conservatory. J.K. Simmons plays his abusive and almost monstrous instructor. Every moment where Miles tries to prove himself Simmons is there to cut him down or throw a chair at him. This is one of the best edited films I've ever seen. It moves to the exhilarating beat of the percussion. Both Teller and Simmons are incredible and knowing that Teller learned to play drums for the film makes you really feel the blood on his drums. It's the anti Dead Poets Society.
Anything but the biopics would be a good winner. I would definitely understand Selma getting the win but American Sniper, Theory Of Everything and Imitation Game don't need to be here. All of my top 5 would hold up as a winner. I refuse to vote for a biopic so that knock Selma off. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a lovely film but for some reason I don't want to vote for it. That leaves Boyhood, Birdman and Whiplash. Something tells me that Boyhood would hold up the least. Once you get past the gimmick you are left with a story that isn't incredibly engaging (a boy grows up) and the same could be said for Birdman. That's why I'm voting for the film without any gimmicks. Whiplash is just a straight up great film with incredible performances, excellent dialogue, top notch directing and editing. What more do you want from a Best Picture?
Oscar Winner: Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
My Vote: Whiplash
GABBY Winner: They Came Together
Best Actor
Best Actor
5. Steve Carell - Foxcatcher - Carell puts on a fake nose, a lot of makeup and a weird voice to play John Dupont. With all that effort you would think that this was an accurate depiction of the real man. Turns out, it's not. He doesn't really resemble or sound like the real Dupont so I'm left thinking, what was the point? It's not just Carell in the film, both Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo also don prosthetics to play their characters and it all adds up to a lot of nothing. This is a true crime story about the murder of Dave Schultz so if you know that going into the movie then you know the ending and the movie gives you nothing more. Carell is certainly trying something here and I like the nomination because he's an actor I like but I can't vote for this.
4. Bradley Cooper - American Sniper - This was Cooper's 3rd consecutive nomination after Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. If there is a reason to like American Sniper it is because of his performance. I just wish the film did more for his character. Cooper plays Chris Kyle as a devoted soldier and family man with very little faults which is how the movie wants to portray him.
3. Eddie Redmayne - The Theory Of Everything - Redmayne plays Stephen Hawking, world renowned physicist who developed ALS and continued to work up until his death a few years after this movie was made. Redmayne does a fairly excellent job of portraying the debilitating effects of Hawking's disease and he looks an awful lot like Hawking which certainly doesn't hurt his performance. At the time the Academy was voting this year Redmayne was appearing in theaters in the horrible Jupiter Ascending (which he is quite terrible in) I'm a little surprised he didn't experience a Norbit like backlash.
2. Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game - Cumberbatch is an actor who caught me by surprise. I had never heard of him and then all of a sudden he was a huge star. Admittedly, I have never seen Sherlock so that pretty much explains it. He plays Alan Turing who, according to the film, pretty much single handedly won World War II. He helped break German codes using his brilliant mind. He was also homosexual which the movie doesn't cover enough of that portion of his life. He had to live in secrecy and suffered extreme repercussions because of his sexuality. It's a fairly good performance that is missing a certain something that makes me want to vote for it.
1. Michael Keaton - Birdman - Keaton plays aging actor Riggan Thomson who is only famous for a set of superhero movies he did years ago. Wanting to prove himself as a true actor he mounts a Broadway production where he writes, directs and stars. Through the film he is plagued with self doubt and routinely sees himself as his superhero altar ego sometimes flying through the streets or performing acts of telekinesis. Keaton is perfect for this role, not just because he himself was famous for a certain superhero film, but because he can handle both comedy and drama exceptionally well. I think a number of actors would have approached this as a straight drama and it would lose not only the fun of the film but also some of the heart. Keaton is an every man that we can all relate to.
More often than not you are voting for the actor rather than the performance. Taking the performance out of the equation, Redmayne and Cumberbatch's careers are just starting, Carell is just starting to veer into drama and even though Cooper is on his 3rd nomination he's still under 40 and should have plenty more chances. Michael Keaton has been delivering quality work for over 30 years and this is a definite highlight in his filmography. Giving him the win here would not only award a great performance but give an Oscar to an actor who has proven himself as worthy of recognition. Keaton has had a few missteps in his career but right after The Theory Of Everything, Redmayne does Jupiter Ascending. That's Academy Award winning Eddie Redmayne screaming incoherent nonsense in front of a green screen.
Oscar Winner: Eddie Redmayne
My Vote: Michael Keaton
GABBY Winner: Paul Rudd for They Came Together
Best Actress
4. Felicity Jones - The Theory Of Everything - Felicity Jones plays Jane Hawking, Stephen's wife and author of the book on which the film is based. I'm not really sure what she did to deserve a nomination. I found her character and her performance pretty unmemorable.
3. Reese Witherpsoon - Wild - Witherspoon won an Oscar in 2005 for playing June Carter Cash and she really shouldn't have. It's a shame she won that year because she's a really good actress that is capable of delivering great performances but I can't vote for her because she already won for something she shouldn't have. For her to win a 2nd time she either has to completely blow me away or be the best in an extremely weak category. This is leaps and bounds better than her performance in Walk The Line. This is a true life tale of a woman who went on a 1,000 mile hike to find herself. We see her overcome some adversities, we flashback to what brought her here and she meets some people along the way. The movie is pretty good and Witherspoon gives one of those performances where as soon as it starts you just know that she would get a nomination.
2. Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl - Spoilers ahead but, come on, you should have seen Gone Girl by now if you had any interest in ever seeing it. We start with Ben Affleck thinking his wife has gone missing, we see their courtship in flashback. Detectives are investigating the disappearance and start to think that Ben killed his wife, a media sensation follows. Turns out she staged her murder so she could pin it on her husband. She's alive and well and laughing it up. The movie is a throwback to the thrillers you would have seen in the 80s and 90s and Pike plays the femme fatale that would have been played by Kathleen Turner or Melanie Griffith. By the end of the film she pretty much turns into full on cuckoo crazy pants and she does a nice job of playing her character just on the fringe of never being able to fully believe her.
1. Julianne Moore - Still Alice - Moore plays Alice Howland. She's a linguistics professor who gets diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease shortly after her 50th birthday. She starts to slowly forget things or get lost and then her condition starts to worsen. This is a case where the performance is better than the film. The movie has a definite Lifetime movie of the week kind of feel but Lifetime movies don't star Julianne Moore. Moore excels in the moments where she gets to play the incredibly difficult parts of the disease but also in the quiet moments like when she just forgets what she was about to say. It's a great performance from an actress who is overdue for an Oscar win.
I usually try to rationalize why I'm voting the way I am but I can't really do it this year because this was just a case of it's about damn time that Julianne Moore won a damn Oscar. She was overdue, this is a performance that just screams 'Oscar!' and she's really the only one to vote for. Cotillard and Witherspoon already won, Jones isn't very good and Pike is good but her movie isn't really the kind of thing that wins an Academy Award. I gave Moore a win for Far From Heaven so I could go elsewhere for my awards but the Oscars had no choice.
Oscar Winner: Julianne Moore
Best Actress
5. Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night - Foreign performances always land in the 5th spot. Also, I wasn't a big fan of this film. Cotillard stars as a woman who goes on a medical absence at her job. While she is away her job is covered by her co-workers who end up getting a bonus for covering her shifts. When she returns she is forced to visit every one of her co-workers over a weekend to get them to vote to let her keep her job. If she does come back they lose their bonus so she has to plead her case against their pocketbooks. Cotillard is fine in the role but this isn't second Oscar worthy.
4. Felicity Jones - The Theory Of Everything - Felicity Jones plays Jane Hawking, Stephen's wife and author of the book on which the film is based. I'm not really sure what she did to deserve a nomination. I found her character and her performance pretty unmemorable.
3. Reese Witherpsoon - Wild - Witherspoon won an Oscar in 2005 for playing June Carter Cash and she really shouldn't have. It's a shame she won that year because she's a really good actress that is capable of delivering great performances but I can't vote for her because she already won for something she shouldn't have. For her to win a 2nd time she either has to completely blow me away or be the best in an extremely weak category. This is leaps and bounds better than her performance in Walk The Line. This is a true life tale of a woman who went on a 1,000 mile hike to find herself. We see her overcome some adversities, we flashback to what brought her here and she meets some people along the way. The movie is pretty good and Witherspoon gives one of those performances where as soon as it starts you just know that she would get a nomination.
2. Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl - Spoilers ahead but, come on, you should have seen Gone Girl by now if you had any interest in ever seeing it. We start with Ben Affleck thinking his wife has gone missing, we see their courtship in flashback. Detectives are investigating the disappearance and start to think that Ben killed his wife, a media sensation follows. Turns out she staged her murder so she could pin it on her husband. She's alive and well and laughing it up. The movie is a throwback to the thrillers you would have seen in the 80s and 90s and Pike plays the femme fatale that would have been played by Kathleen Turner or Melanie Griffith. By the end of the film she pretty much turns into full on cuckoo crazy pants and she does a nice job of playing her character just on the fringe of never being able to fully believe her.
1. Julianne Moore - Still Alice - Moore plays Alice Howland. She's a linguistics professor who gets diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease shortly after her 50th birthday. She starts to slowly forget things or get lost and then her condition starts to worsen. This is a case where the performance is better than the film. The movie has a definite Lifetime movie of the week kind of feel but Lifetime movies don't star Julianne Moore. Moore excels in the moments where she gets to play the incredibly difficult parts of the disease but also in the quiet moments like when she just forgets what she was about to say. It's a great performance from an actress who is overdue for an Oscar win.
I usually try to rationalize why I'm voting the way I am but I can't really do it this year because this was just a case of it's about damn time that Julianne Moore won a damn Oscar. She was overdue, this is a performance that just screams 'Oscar!' and she's really the only one to vote for. Cotillard and Witherspoon already won, Jones isn't very good and Pike is good but her movie isn't really the kind of thing that wins an Academy Award. I gave Moore a win for Far From Heaven so I could go elsewhere for my awards but the Oscars had no choice.
Oscar Winner: Julianne Moore
My Vote: Julianne Moore
GABBY Winner: Amy Poehler for They Came Together
Best Supporting Actor
4. Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher - Ruffalo plays Dave Schultz, the ill-fated wrestler who joins John Dupont in his dreams of building an Olympic team. He's perfectly fine in the film but I had the same issues with his performance that I did with Carell's. They spent so much time on the makeup and the voices and the mannerisms for people I had never seen before that I didn't understand the point. I was focused more on his hairline than the acting.
3. Ethan Hawke - Boyhood - Not only does young Ellar Coltrane age 12 years during the course of the film but so does Ethan Hawke and we see him grow and mature as not only a character but an actor. He plays the father of the main character and he's the fun dad who turns into the lackadaisical single dad and then the dad who is more a buddy than a father.
2. Edward Norton - Birdman - Norton plays Mike Shiner, an arrogant method actor working with Michael Keaton on his Broadway show. Norton is hilarious here as he is unquestionably aping his own image as a difficult actor. He is trying to search for meaning in everything and never realizing that acting is, for the most part, bullshit.
1. J.K. Simmons - Whiplash - Ever since he played Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man J.K. Simmons has quietly (or not really quietly as he is prone to yelling) become one of my favorite actors. He is consistently the best part of any film he's in. In Whiplash he plays a sadistic jazz instructor who almost seems to get a perverse pleasure out of torturing his students. He delivers his lines like a drill sergeant and he makes you hang on every syllable he speaks. Not to mention that he is able to find the dark humor in every line so even when he's tearing a kid apart he's also hilarious in doing so.
Best Supporting Actor
5. Robert Duvall - The Judge - I remember watching the Oscar race this year, there just seemed to be a lack of supporting male performances. Everyone seemed to think J.K. Simmons was a lock for the win then there was Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke. There was just nobody to take that 5th spot. Then Robert Duvall's name started showing up for The Judge, a movie nobody remembered or seemed to care about. Somebody had to get that 5th spot so they might as well throw a bone to a guy that's been in a million movies. The movie isn't very good. Robert Downey, Jr. plays a hotshot lawyer who has to defend his father for murder. They don't get along and they rebuild their relationship over the trial. This nomination doesn't seem to make any sense but you have to understand, there was nobody else.
4. Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher - Ruffalo plays Dave Schultz, the ill-fated wrestler who joins John Dupont in his dreams of building an Olympic team. He's perfectly fine in the film but I had the same issues with his performance that I did with Carell's. They spent so much time on the makeup and the voices and the mannerisms for people I had never seen before that I didn't understand the point. I was focused more on his hairline than the acting.
3. Ethan Hawke - Boyhood - Not only does young Ellar Coltrane age 12 years during the course of the film but so does Ethan Hawke and we see him grow and mature as not only a character but an actor. He plays the father of the main character and he's the fun dad who turns into the lackadaisical single dad and then the dad who is more a buddy than a father.
2. Edward Norton - Birdman - Norton plays Mike Shiner, an arrogant method actor working with Michael Keaton on his Broadway show. Norton is hilarious here as he is unquestionably aping his own image as a difficult actor. He is trying to search for meaning in everything and never realizing that acting is, for the most part, bullshit.
1. J.K. Simmons - Whiplash - Ever since he played Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man J.K. Simmons has quietly (or not really quietly as he is prone to yelling) become one of my favorite actors. He is consistently the best part of any film he's in. In Whiplash he plays a sadistic jazz instructor who almost seems to get a perverse pleasure out of torturing his students. He delivers his lines like a drill sergeant and he makes you hang on every syllable he speaks. Not to mention that he is able to find the dark humor in every line so even when he's tearing a kid apart he's also hilarious in doing so.
It's J.K. Simmons all the way. He finally got a role that let him chew every piece of scenery until there was nothing left. Nobody else even showed up, this category was really hard to fill this year. Duvall is a total filler nomination, Ruffalo and Hawke are fine but not win material. Norton would be a fun winner in another year but there's nothing you can do to convince me that J.K. Simmons didn't deliver the performance of the year.
Oscar Winner: J.K. Simmons
My Vote: J.K. Simmons
GABBY Winner: J.K. Simmons
Best Supporting Actress
4. Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game - Knightley plays Joan Clarke who assisted Alan Turing in decoding German messages. She is introduced finishing a test that was supposed to be impossible to pass in record time. She then acts as the love interest in the film until Turing reveals to her that he's gay. She doesn't do enough in the film to really warrant a nomination but she was terrific in Begin Again this year so I condone the nomination.
3. Laura Dern - Wild - Dern plays Reese Witherspoon's mother whose death from cancer contributed to Reese's depression which in turn contributed to her hike. Dern is seen only in flashback in scenes with Witherspoon. She's good in the film but the movie is pretty much a one woman show and if I'm not voting for Reese I can't really vote for Laura.
2. Emma Stone - Birdman - I was originally against this nomination because I thought Naomi Watts gave the better performance in Birdman and should have been nominated. After watching the film again I still think that but I can also admit that Emma Stone gives the second best supporting female performance in the film and deserved to be nominated as well. She plays Michael Keaton's daughter and assistant who is also a recovering drug addict. There is something behind Stone's eyes in the film that just gives her the look of someone who has lived a rough life. It's a very good performance.
1. Patricia Arquette - Boyhood - Arquette plays the mother of the family and also ages 12 years through the film. While little Ellar Coltrane is growing up before our eyes, his parents are inching closer and closer to the end of their lives. Arquette is very believable and warm in the maternal role and then has a very good scene at the end of the film that encapsulates the film. Life is a series of moments and before you know it, it's over. You're always left thinking that there should have been more.
It's not that Patricia Arquette gives a performance that deserves an Oscar, so why was she such a lock going into the ceremony? She's kind of the only one to vote for. You can't give Meryl a 4th Oscar for Into The Woods and if you're not going to vote for Benedict Cumberbatch, Reese Witherspoon or Michael Keaton it's kinda hard to make a case for Knightley, Dern or Stone. Arquette went from being someone you didn't think would win an Oscar to someone who couldn't lose.
Oscar Winner: Patricia Arquette
Best Supporting Actress
5. Meryl Streep - Into The Woods - Meryl's a singing witch.
4. Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game - Knightley plays Joan Clarke who assisted Alan Turing in decoding German messages. She is introduced finishing a test that was supposed to be impossible to pass in record time. She then acts as the love interest in the film until Turing reveals to her that he's gay. She doesn't do enough in the film to really warrant a nomination but she was terrific in Begin Again this year so I condone the nomination.
3. Laura Dern - Wild - Dern plays Reese Witherspoon's mother whose death from cancer contributed to Reese's depression which in turn contributed to her hike. Dern is seen only in flashback in scenes with Witherspoon. She's good in the film but the movie is pretty much a one woman show and if I'm not voting for Reese I can't really vote for Laura.
2. Emma Stone - Birdman - I was originally against this nomination because I thought Naomi Watts gave the better performance in Birdman and should have been nominated. After watching the film again I still think that but I can also admit that Emma Stone gives the second best supporting female performance in the film and deserved to be nominated as well. She plays Michael Keaton's daughter and assistant who is also a recovering drug addict. There is something behind Stone's eyes in the film that just gives her the look of someone who has lived a rough life. It's a very good performance.
1. Patricia Arquette - Boyhood - Arquette plays the mother of the family and also ages 12 years through the film. While little Ellar Coltrane is growing up before our eyes, his parents are inching closer and closer to the end of their lives. Arquette is very believable and warm in the maternal role and then has a very good scene at the end of the film that encapsulates the film. Life is a series of moments and before you know it, it's over. You're always left thinking that there should have been more.
It's not that Patricia Arquette gives a performance that deserves an Oscar, so why was she such a lock going into the ceremony? She's kind of the only one to vote for. You can't give Meryl a 4th Oscar for Into The Woods and if you're not going to vote for Benedict Cumberbatch, Reese Witherspoon or Michael Keaton it's kinda hard to make a case for Knightley, Dern or Stone. Arquette went from being someone you didn't think would win an Oscar to someone who couldn't lose.
Oscar Winner: Patricia Arquette
My Vote: Patricia Arquette
GABBY Winner: Tilda Swinton for Snowpiercer
Best Director
I usually say that you can figure out the Academy's top 5 films by looking at the Best Director nominees but you can't do that this year because Bennett Miller scored a nod for Foxcatcher which didn't make it into the Best Picture field. Since the expansion of the Best Picture race this is the first time that a film was nominated in this category without being nominated for Best Picture. He is joined by Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Morten Tydlum and the winner Alejandro G. Inarritu. Knowing that he's gonna win next year makes me wish they had given Linklater the win here but I can't really argue, Birdman is an artistic triumph.
Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay
The Original Screenplay category is filled with films where I would say that the script is not the most memorable part of the film. Birdman beats Boyhood, Foxcatcher, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Nightcrawler. The Imitation Game wins the Adapted Screenplay category over the more deserving Whiplash.
Best Animated Feature
The real snub this year came in this category when The LEGO Movie failed to earn a nomination. In its absence, and because Pixar didn't have a film released in 2014, Big Hero 6 wins.
Best Original Score/Original Song
The Grand Budapest Hotel is definitely the best nominated score and deserved the win. Selma only managed to get two nominations, one for Best Picture and one in this category so there was no way they were gonna let it leave empty handed as Common's Glory wins easily. I had no doubts that it would win on Oscar night but I was holding out hope that maybe Lost Stars from the enchanting musical Begin Again or the catchy, silly, stupid and fun Everything Is Awesome!!! from The LEGO Movie might prevail.
Best Sound Mixing/Sound Editing
While not technically a musical Whiplash is about music and has a lot of scenes involving people playing music. It wins Best Sound Mixing and while it doesn't exactly prove my theory that musicals always win this category, it doesn't disprove it either. Over in the Sound Editing category American Sniper wins its only award of the night.
Best Production Design/Costume Design/Makeup And Hairstyling
The Grand Budapest Hotel wins all 3 of these technical categories and deservedly so. Without a doubt it had the best production design of any movie of the year. I would probably argue that Guardians Of The Galaxy had more impressive makeup. Costume design is kind of a toss up, Into The Woods would have been a good winner too but a tie goes to the better film.
Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki wins his 2nd of 3 consecutive wins in this category for his revolutionary work on Birdman. The real story of this category came when Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs misread Mr. Turner's director of photography's name wrong. Dick Pope was announced as Dick Poop and the laughs of a million 12 year old boys could be heard round the world.
Best Film Editing
Whiplash is one of the most deserving winners of this award ever.
Best Visual Effects
Interstellar is probably the lamest choice in a category that includes Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Guardians Of The Galaxy and X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
Up Next
2017
Best Director
I usually say that you can figure out the Academy's top 5 films by looking at the Best Director nominees but you can't do that this year because Bennett Miller scored a nod for Foxcatcher which didn't make it into the Best Picture field. Since the expansion of the Best Picture race this is the first time that a film was nominated in this category without being nominated for Best Picture. He is joined by Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Morten Tydlum and the winner Alejandro G. Inarritu. Knowing that he's gonna win next year makes me wish they had given Linklater the win here but I can't really argue, Birdman is an artistic triumph.
Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay
The Original Screenplay category is filled with films where I would say that the script is not the most memorable part of the film. Birdman beats Boyhood, Foxcatcher, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Nightcrawler. The Imitation Game wins the Adapted Screenplay category over the more deserving Whiplash.
Best Animated Feature
The real snub this year came in this category when The LEGO Movie failed to earn a nomination. In its absence, and because Pixar didn't have a film released in 2014, Big Hero 6 wins.
Best Original Score/Original Song
The Grand Budapest Hotel is definitely the best nominated score and deserved the win. Selma only managed to get two nominations, one for Best Picture and one in this category so there was no way they were gonna let it leave empty handed as Common's Glory wins easily. I had no doubts that it would win on Oscar night but I was holding out hope that maybe Lost Stars from the enchanting musical Begin Again or the catchy, silly, stupid and fun Everything Is Awesome!!! from The LEGO Movie might prevail.
Best Sound Mixing/Sound Editing
While not technically a musical Whiplash is about music and has a lot of scenes involving people playing music. It wins Best Sound Mixing and while it doesn't exactly prove my theory that musicals always win this category, it doesn't disprove it either. Over in the Sound Editing category American Sniper wins its only award of the night.
Best Production Design/Costume Design/Makeup And Hairstyling
The Grand Budapest Hotel wins all 3 of these technical categories and deservedly so. Without a doubt it had the best production design of any movie of the year. I would probably argue that Guardians Of The Galaxy had more impressive makeup. Costume design is kind of a toss up, Into The Woods would have been a good winner too but a tie goes to the better film.
Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki wins his 2nd of 3 consecutive wins in this category for his revolutionary work on Birdman. The real story of this category came when Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs misread Mr. Turner's director of photography's name wrong. Dick Pope was announced as Dick Poop and the laughs of a million 12 year old boys could be heard round the world.
Best Film Editing
Whiplash is one of the most deserving winners of this award ever.
Best Visual Effects
Interstellar is probably the lamest choice in a category that includes Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Guardians Of The Galaxy and X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
Up Next
2017
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