Horrible job this year -- 16/24. Ugh. Unfortunately, the worst Best Picture nominee took home the big award (in my opinion). However, I will take solace in the fact that Whiplash took home three awards -- two of which were somewhat surprising (although not necessarily entirely unexpected...it was my second choice for Editing and Sound Mixing). Neil Patrick Harris was disappointing. The show was bland and all of his jokes (with the exception of the Benedict Cumberbatch/Ben Affleck/John Travolta bit) fell flat. Just poorly written one-liners that didn't land. Certainly "pleasant," but that doesn't cut it, in my opinion.
Other quick notes:
- Biggest surprise of the night was the win for Big Hero 6 as I thought How to Train Your Dragon was kind of a lock after Lego Movie was passed over.
- Nice win for Eddie Redmayne over the overrated Birdman's Michael Keaton.
- The three Selma standing o's -- so pandering it was disgusting. (And I REALLY liked the film.) And Terrence Howard being unable to make it through a teleprompter read because he got too emotional talking about the film?
- I can't believe that for the second time, the fantastic special effects work on The Planet of the Apes films was overlooked. The work those fx artists are doing on this series is, quite frankly, mind-blowing.
- Poland finally lands a Best Foreign Film award! Yay!
This blog will continue down its path of catching up on 2014 films with the RyMickey Awards arriving sometime in the summer.
While I'm not quite over the nearly complete dissing of Gone Girl, most of this year's nominees are actually a fairly deserving bunch. I'm not quite as well-rounded this year as I'd like to be -- missing out on Foxcatcher and a few Best Actress pictures -- but what I did see I enjoyed for the most part. Some films have aged well in my mind since I've seen them -- Whiplash -- and some have not -- The Grand Budapest Hotel -- but 2014 was overall a solid year for film (which I'm obviously still exploring and will continue to do until the summer's RyMickey Awards).
Listed below are my predictions for what will win along with some thoughts on certain categories about what should win and/or should've been nominated. (Reviews can be found by clicking on any underlined films.)
Best Picture (listed in order of my personal ranking)
Whiplash (A-)
The Imitation Game (A-)
The Theory of Everything (B+)
Selma (B+)
Boyhood (B)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (B-)
American Sniper (C+)
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (C+)
The Imitation Game (A-)
The Theory of Everything (B+)
Selma (B+)
Boyhood (B)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (B-)
American Sniper (C+)
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (C+)
Will Win: Birdman
Should Win: Whiplash
Should've Been Nominated: Gone Girl
Best Director
Alejandro G. Inarritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game
Will Win: Richard Linklater
Should Win: Richard Linklater
Should've Been Nominated: Damien Chazelle - Whiplash
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
Will Win: Julianne Moore
Should Win: Felicity Jones
Should've Been Nominated: What a blah year for women for the most part...
Best Actor
Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything
Will Win: Eddie Redmayne
Should Win: Eddie Redmayne
Should've Been Nominated: Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel; David Oyelowo - Selma; Jake Gyllenhaal - Enemy/Nightcrawler
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash
Will Win: J.K. Simmons
Should Win: J.K. Simmons
Should've Been Nominated: Chris Pine - Into the Woods; Henry G. Sanders - Selma
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Laura Dern - Wild
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Emma Stone - Birdman
Meryl Streep - Into the Woods
Will Win: Patricia Arquette
Should Win: Blah...
Should've Been Nominated: Agata Kulesza - Ida; Tilda Swinton - Snowpiercer
Writing - Adapted Screenplay: The Imitation Game
Writing - Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Animated Film: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Cinematography: Birdman
Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Documentary Feature: CitizenFour
Documentary Short Subject: Joanna
Film Editing: Boyhood
Foreign Language Film: Ida
Makeup and Hairstyling: Grand Budapest Hotel
Music - Original Score: Theory of Everything
Music - Original Song: "Glory" from Selma
Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Short Film - Animated: The Dam Keeper
Short Film - Live Action: The Phone Call
Sound Editing: American Sniper
Sound Mixing: American Sniper
Visual Effects: Interstellar
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