In which Jaime & I fight about the Oscars.
BEST PICTURE:
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
GOLDEN GLOBE: Boyhood & Grand Budapest Hotel
BAFTA: Boyhood
SAG: Birdman (best ensemble)
JAIME: I’m still kind of torn on this one. It’s definitely going to be either Boyhood or Birdman – I’m leaning towards Boyhood, and I think its status as a frontrunner in the writing and directing categories definitely gives it an edge. Birdman also has a really huge chance of winning given its win for best ensemble at the SAGs, but given the innovation of Boyhood, I don’t know if I can see it losing. But then I can’t tell if I’m being blinded by sentiment or not.
CHELSEA: SAG seems to be the worst indicator of Best Picture since they’ve only been right 9 times in 19 years. A better indicator is the Globes where Boyhood was victorious and Birdman was not. Birdman lost the Comedy Film Globe and the only Comedy Film to lose the Globe but go on to win Best Picture is Annie Hall and I don’t see history changing to award Birdman. The film has been so divisive to begin with whereas Boyhood is universally loved and it’s hard to hate the film especially given the story behind making it.
JAIME: Yeah, and I feel like Boyhood has more to say about making movies in the way that the Academy likes to see, you know? And the Academy just loves movies that are about movies. You shouldn’t have directed a play, Riggan Thomson.
CHELSEA: But for reals, had Birdman been about him trying to make a film comeback then I would be worried about it winning.
BEST DIRECTOR:
Wes Anderson
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Richard Linklater
Bennett Miller
Morten Tyldum
GOLDEN GLOBE: Linklater
BAFTA: Linklater
DGA: Inarritu
JAIME: Probably Linklater. Almost definitely Linklater. I’m officially saying Linklater. I still don’t understand why you’re here, Morten Tyldum.
CHELSEA: Linklater. The man is unstoppable I think. Yo, Morten Tyldeum & Bennett Miller, what are you doing? Explain yourselves. Neither of you would make my Top 25 directors of the year.
JAIME: I still cannot fathom why either of them are here. I can maaaaaaaaybe justify Miller, because while the directing in Foxcatcher was not in any way commendable or, like, good, but the visuals of the film and how it was constructed were I think moreso what people considered to be its strengths. Whereas The Imitation Game…no one was talking about anything other than Benedict Cumberbatch and maaaybe the script. Literally get out of here, Morten. What kind of name is Morten, anyway?
CHELSEA: Like neither of them are on the same level as the others. I’ve liked Bennett Miller’s past films for the most part but he has no business stealing space from people that did good work this year.
BEST ACTOR:
Steve Carell
Bradley Cooper
Benedict Cumberbatch
Michael Keaton:
Eddie Redmayne
GOLDEN GLOBE: Eddie Redmayne & Michael Keaton
BAFTA: Redmayne
SAG: Redmayne
JAIME: Not even a question.
CHELSEA: I’m super excited to see Eddie Redmayne looking dapper in his tux, awkwardly rambling his thanks.
JAIME: He’s going to be so cute and awkward! I can’t wait for it.
CHELSEA: Should we talk about the other nominees? Like everybody was great but look at all these biopic boys and think about all the other biopic boys that were so close to getting in. Redmayne and Cooper gave my favorite of those performances so I can live and Keaton played his downward spiral wonderfully.
BEST ACTRESS:
Marion Cotillard
Felicity Jones
Julianne Moore
Rosamund Pike
Reese Witherspoon
GOLDEN GLOBE: Julianne Moore & Amy Adams (irrelevant)
BAFTA: Moore
SAG: Moore
JAIME: Also not a question.
CHELSEA: Literally the most overdue working actress finally being awarded. Three 6 Mafia got one of these before her. What gives? Sad it wasn’t more of a competition this year though since Pike & Jones gave my favorite lead performances of the year.
JAIME: I know – I guess I can see why Rosamund Pike hasn’t gotten much attention in the awards race because Gone Girl just wasn’t a contender, but everyone’s talking about The Theory of Everything. I haven’t seen Still Alice but from what I hear, Moore absolutely deserves to win. So it’s not even that I think Felicity Jones is being robbed or anything, but there should be more conversations about her. I talked about this in one of our other posts, but the fact that it seems like the female race is always centered around one person is just so unfair. If everyone can be talking about the race between Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne, why can’t people talk about Moore vs. Jones? It doesn’t devalue Moore’s performance in any way to say that there were other strong, worthy performances. I hate the media.
CHELSEA: And Rosamund didn’t campaign for it cause she had a child in early December. But the media has been focusing on this idea that there weren’t many strong female performances this year, which is bullshit because there are always tons of strong female performances, just not a lot of strong female parts. Guys are nominated all the time for roles in shitty films so why isn’t it the same for women? Scarlett Johansson is wonderful in all her films this year and I would place her role in Lucy up here in a heartbeat. Sure, the film itself is nonsensical but she gives such a multifaceted performance that I could ignore how ridiculous the science of the film was.
Do we have to take down every aspect of women in minority positions in Hollywood? Can we actually start celebrating them? An article about Moore vs. Jones would be great and would actually celebrate more than one actress at a time. It’s not pitting them against each other but debating the merits of each of them. The only time I can really think of there being a real competition in recent memory was Viola Davis vs. Meryl Streep. I loved that year because we had two great actresses in the conversation and they are really good friends so you couldn’t pit them against each other. It was awesome.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Robert Duvall
Ethan Hawke
Edward Norton
Mark Ruffalo
J.K. Simmons
GOLDEN GLOBE: J.K. Simmons
BAFTA: Simmons
SAG: Simmons
JAIME: I have been saying this entire awards season that this is the biggest lock. Love you, Papa MacGuff.
CHELSEA: Papa MacGuff FTW! I’m just so excited I’ll be able to call him an Academy Award winning person. I didn’t even like Whiplash but he deserves all the shiny things.
JAIME: Well, you’re wrong about that, and I will physically fight you at a later date, to be determined. But he definitely was the best part of the movie; he personified the tension and claustrophobic feeling that the whole movie created, and you’re wrong for not liking it, but I digress.
CHELSEA: Oh I loved him and his character in the film. Him tormenting Miles Teller was delightful. He earned his Oscar. I’ll still fight you on whether it was a good film or not, so meet you in the parking lot after lunch.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Patricia Arquette
Laura Dern
Keira Knightley
Emma Stone
Meryl Streep
GOLDEN GLOBE: Patricia Arquette
BAFTA: Arquette
SAG: Arquette
JAIME: I’m thrilled that the four acting winners are going to be the same throughout the awards season. It last happened in 2010, and it’s just so nice and symmetrical, I love it.
CHELSEA: I got so preemptively indignant last summer when I saw Boyhood and was convinced Arquette would be snubbed because usually we never get nice things. It’s a unicorn of a year.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
GOLDEN GLOBE: Birdman
BAFTA: Grand Budapest Hotel
WGA: GBH
JAIME: I think when we first did our reactions post, I was pretty sure it would be Boyhood, but Grand Budapest Hotel’s wins at the BAFTAs and Writer’s Guild makes me a lot more confident in its chances here. I mean, no matter what, I’d be making it my official pick, because Wes Anderson is a genius and hands down my favorite filmmaking voice, but honestly it just thrills me that he’s probably the frontrunner here.
CHELSEA: Yup. Boyhood is my wish it would win but I can see them honoring Anderson here. The Globes are generally shit at predicting screenplay.
JAIME: I don’t think I could be mad if it went to Linklater over Anderson – both were probably the strongest screenplays of the year, and the differences in how they wrote both films were huge, but like I’ve said many, many times, the innovation of Boyhood was just so vast that I couldn’t complain if it won in all the categories it innovated.
CHELSEA: I won’t be mad at Anderson winning. Writing has always been what he’s best at but I’m such a Linklater fan with the Before films and just how he always pushes boundaries with him filmmaking and writing.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
BAFTA: The Theory of Everything
WGA: Imitation Game
JAIME: This I’m less sure about – personally, I think I’d go with The Theory of Everything, because while it was overall sort of meh, it was a brilliant adaptation, and even without reading Jane Hawking’s book, I can tell how accurately it preserved her voice and how carefully it presented their story. I’m surprised The Imitation Game won the WGA, actually; it was a good movie, but not a particularly well-made movie. I get why it’s nominated for everything because I do think it’s worthy of recognition, but it shouldn’t win anything. I’d also be thrilled if Whiplash snuck in, but that’s probably a long shot. Going with Theory of Everything.
CHELSEA: Sometimes you just look at a category and give zero shits about all the nominees. Imitation Game is pretty bad and more than a little poorly made. Theory of Everything please. It actually made me want to go back and read the book. Still not over Gone Girl not being here or even Still Alice.
JAIME: Yeah, no, this is probably the category I care about the least. Unless Whiplash wins. Then it will be my favorite category.
CHELSEA: How are you so wrong with your wrongness?
BEST ANIMATED FILM:
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
GOLDEN GLOBE: How to Train Your Dragon 2
BAFTA: The Lego Movie (irrelevant but correct)
JAIME: The Lego Movie. THE LEGO MOVIE IS THE BEST ANIMATED FILM OF 2014.
CHELSEA: DRAGONS WAS THE BEST ANIMATED FILM AND SUCK IT STUPID LEGOS!
JAIME: You are uninvited from this post.
CHELSEA: GO WATCH DRAGONS AND CRY LIKE THE REST OF US WITH HEARTS!
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything
GOLDEN GLOBE: Theory of Everything
BAFTA: Grand Budapest Hotel
JAIME: Ugh, I hate when my top two picks both win other big awards, because then it makes it harder for me to pick which will win at the Oscars. The Theory of Everything and Grand Budapest Hotel have been my two frontrunners for this category, and I can see either winning. I’m maybe leaning a little more towards Theory of Everything, but for no real reason that I can concretely point to.
CHELSEA: As I was watching Theory of Everything, I kept noticing the score and usually when that happens it’s distracting but with this it felt like it was telling the story in those silent moments and passing of time. It was quite lovely. Would not mind AT ALL if Desplat won for either of his nominated films though. His two nominated scores were my favorite part of both his films and he’s done so much incredible work in the past.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
“Everything is Awesome”
“Glory”
“Grateful”
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You”
“Lost Stars”
GOLDEN GLOBE: Glory
JAIME: It’ll be Glory, but what a world it would be if The Lonely Island won an Oscar.
CHELSEA: I got so sad when I read that Lonely Island isn’t actually nominated and only one person is credited for Everything is Awesome (I call BULLSHIT). I’ll be dead when Tegan and Sara perform the song with the boys though and I’m hoping it upsets Selma.
JAIME: WAIT WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW THAT. This is bullshit. This is bullshit of a day.
CHELSEA: I was looking on the Academy site and it’s the worst thing about this year and I don’t even care about this category anymore because of it.
BEST SOUND EDITING:
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit
Interstellar
Unbroken
BAFTA: Whiplash (Best Sound)
JAIME: I’m thinking American Sniper or Birdman here – I think you were leaning towards American Sniper when we posted our initial reactions, right? I actually noticed a lot of really interesting sound editing during it, so I would be thrilled if it won.
CHELSEA: This category loves big showy action films so I can see it going to Sniper. Having had time to sit with the film, the sound really helped create the atmosphere of war and it could have easily gone wrong. I think it’s cute that Whiplash won the BAFTA for this.
JAIME: I agree – you never lost one element in favor of another during the more action-heavy sequences, and there was a really strong sense of place created by the sound. And it helped create an atmosphere without doing that “look this is stressful look how stressed the characters are aren’t you stressed too?” thing that a lot of action movies do.
BEST SOUND MIXING:
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash
BAFTA: Whiplash (Best Sound)
JAIME: Always and forever pulling for Whiplash here.
CHELSEA: I’m on the record with how mad I am that Interstellar got this nomination. Like, it failed at what this category is trying to achieve. Whiplash will probably get it. They love honoring musically heavy films like it (see Les Mis, Dreamgirls, Ray, Chicago) but again, you cannot count out Sniper. They also really love to honor war films.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
BAFTA: Grand Budapest Hotel
JAIME: The BAFTA win for Grand Budapest gives it a leg up, and the film was just so immersive and gorgeous. I’m pretty confident it’ll win again here.
CHELSEA: I see Budapest taking a lot of these tech design awards. I think it and Interstellar were wonderfully designed.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Birdman
Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken
BAFTA: Birdman
JAIME: Birdman Birdman Birdman Birdman.
CHELSEA: BIRDMAN!!! I walked out of the theater saying that if it didn’t win this then I’ll be burning some shit down.
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:
Foxcatcher
Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
BAFTA: GBH
JAIME: I don’t think I really made a prediction in our reaction post, but the BAFTA win points me toward Grand Budapest Hotel. I’m more than fine with it.
CHELSEA: I feel like this is another place where they’ll want to honor Budapest. This category feels so boring without Maleficent.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
BAFTA: Grand Budapest Hotel
JAIME: Same thing here – I’m thinking Grand Budapest Hotel now.
CHELSEA: Logically, I think it will go to Budapest but I would love if Maleficent or Into the Woods took this. The costumes actually really helped define each of the characters.
BEST EDITING:
American Sniper
Boyhood
Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
BAFTA: Whiplash
JAIME: Well, as always, Birdman should be nominated here, let’s never stop talking about that. I’m so thrilled Whiplash won the BAFTA, partially because I think it’ll give it some more attention at the Oscars. This actually might be one of the more loaded categories this year; besides The Imitation Game (which I know you actively disliked. I was fine with it, I just don’t think it’s on par with the other nominees), everything else was so tightly and interestingly edited. Like, I can pick up on good editing, but usually it’s not something that I’ll notice on my first watch of a film. I’ll see it more on a rewatch, when I have a better sense of how the film was put together. But the first time I watched all of these films (save TIG), I could feel the editing, and paid a lot of attention to it. I couldn’t pick one that I want to win because I think any of those four films deserve it, but in terms of what will win, my instinct is to lean towards Boyhood, but honestly, I’m just not sure.
CHELSEA: Oh my god, the editing in The Imitation Game was the WORST. You don’t edit a scene that is suppose to be a tense 7 minutes of time into a freaking decades worth of fading transitions. I loved the editing in Boyhood so much and how it wasn’t distracting aging from 7 to 8. It felt just like a natural progression of time. I am totally bias in wanting the woman nominee to win as well. Sniper was also so well edited in with its war scenes and you never felt lost in those locations.
JAIME: Dude, there were a lot of times during Boyhood when I wasn’t even sure if we had progressed in time, because it was just so subtle. And it could have been so, so easy to edit the film in a way that felt like chapters, you know? Or where each sequence has a very clear beginning and ending, and then it’s on to the next year. But everything flowed from one year to the next, to the point where you didn’t feel like you were only seeing the span of a few days at a time. You weren’t going in and out of these characters’ lives; you were going with them and seeing how things progressed and built and developed. But really, as long as it’s not The Imitation Game, I’m fine.
CHELSEA: Exactly. Like, I’m so glad they didn’t mark each progression with a year subtitle. The fact that they used technology and music to indicate where we were was so subtle and it helped add to the nostaglic feel of childhood.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Captain America
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
BAFTA: Interstellar
JAIME: Interstellar, hands down.
CHELSEA: I mean, I really loved three of these movies and would be so happy if Captain, Interstellar, or X-Men won. Interstellar is the obvious clean choice but I think Captain America would be a fun choice.
JAIME: You know I would never, ever be mad about Captain America winning an Oscar.
CHELSEA: BRB, starting my Oscar campaigns for Chris Evans & Scarlett Johansson for Captain America 3.
RANKINGS:
JAIME
Boyhood
I’ve talked so much about this movie in these posts, and why I love it so much, and why I think it’s so brilliant and unique. There just has never been another film like this, and it’s hands down the defining film of the year. Seriously, 2014 is going to be remembered as the year Boyhood came out, and these Oscars are going to be remembered as the one when Boyhood was nominated.
Birdman
It’s just flawlessly made. This and Boyhood are the two films of the year that make me so excited to love film, and that I was alive when they came out, you know? They’re both going to be considered classics.
Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson is my favorite director, due in large part to the gorgeous visuals he creates, and how cheerfully and brightly he packages these dark, terrible events. This movie feels like you’re watching an old, sad book, and it just shouldn’t work. But Wes Anderson is brilliant, as ever, and everything about this movie is perfect.
Whiplash
The hardest decision I had to make in coming up with my rankings was whether or not I would put Whiplash above Grand Budapest Hotel. Originally I did, then I decided I was wrong and switched them. They both did different things for me: both are beautifully made, with incredibly compelling stories, but when I think about them, Grand Budapest seems like something I love more because of personal attachment? But Whiplash is so well done, and is probably closest to Birdman in that everything about its construction reflects its content. It achieves that same fever dream-esque quality that pulls you in, and that makes you more and more stressed as it goes on.
American Sniper
I really was not expecting to like this movie. Like, at all. But it was so compelling and its technique gave me so much to think about. I hate Clint Eastwood, like a lot, but even I can admit that he made a pretty great movie.
Theory of Everything
EDDIE AND FELICITY. They absolutely made this movie. Overall, it wasn’t particularly special; the directing was pretty average, the cinematography was pretty average. But the acting elevated it to a whole different place. We’ve yelled at each other a lot about how much we love Felicity Jones, and I wish she had gotten more attention this awards season because she was just so brilliant in this movie. Eddie Redmayne was too, as I mention a lot, but I don’t think people are really talking about their performances in the same way, but they absolutely were on par with each other. In fact, I don’t think either of them could have delivered the performance they did without each other.
Selma
So, obviously there was a lot of controversy about Selma not getting many nominations, but I was happy with what it got. I mean, David Oyelowo was deserving, sure, but what wowed me about this film wasn’t how it was made, but rather how it told its story. It’s one of the few examples I can think of where the overall film was worlds better than any of its individual elements. To me, the strongest part of Selma was in its presentation of the story; not the acting, not the cinematography, not the directing. It just told a very powerful story that you couldn’t look away from. As a film, is it particularly memorable or revolutionary? No, but it’s definitely worth seeing.
Imitation Game
I loved The Imitation Game, which is more than my co-writer of this post can say. Again, was it the best movie ever made? No, definitely not, but it was entertaining and engaging, and brought intimacy to what could have been a pretty run of the mill biopic. Plus, I love Benedict Cumberbatch, I love Keira Knightley, put them together and it’s basically the perfect movie for me.
CHELSEA
I’m basing my ranking off of what I actually think was the best and what were my favorites because I do think my top 2 are the best and my last place is the worst but everything in the middle is more or less how much I liked it. Oh, and if we could not have 400 biopics in 2015 that would be great.
Boyhood
I love Boyhood. If I had to make my Top films of the past decade then it would probably be in the Top 5. To make a film like this and not even know how it will end or if the actors would still be around to make it is just so impressive. Actually watching it just made me fall in love with this family and took me back to my childhood, growing up with divorced parents, and seeing how they told this simple story of an average family and made it compelling. It pushed the boundaries of what we can do with filmmaking and how we tell our stories. We aren’t confined to six week production schedules and can broaden our scope. And there is the fact that the film made money. The $4 million budget over a period of 12 years made over $44 million worldwide. That’s a big deal especially for when a film is nearly 3 hours long. People are willing to sit through that long of a film and support it. We will be talking about this film for years to come.
Birdman
Another film that we will be talking about for years. It took a visual risk to tell its story and nailed it. The story itself isn’t anything new but how it was told was what made it interesting. You can literally blink and miss something because the film cuts out all the fluff that helps transition from scene to scene and creates this frantic rush to emulate what is happening in Riggin’s head.
The Theory of Everything
It’s the rare film where the male and female leads are pure equals. Eddie has gotten so much praise for his physical transformation but we will continue to gush over Felicity being just as good and even better in some scenes for her subtle work as the devoted wife that wants more. Like purely based on acting and the relationship between the two leads is why this ranks so high. It was so sweet watching them fall in and out of love and watch their struggles along the way with his illness, their differing views in religion and how they try to bridge that, and the fidelity of both of them. I just really enjoyed my time with the both of them and was actually compelled to want to read Jane Hawking’s book after I left.
American Sniper
I’m still surprised at how much I enjoyed this film and how it made me feel while watching it. I know next to nothing about the actual real story but what Eastwood put on the screen works. Cooper continues to amaze me with his wonderful performance and made me sob by the end of it all.
Selma
I’m with Jaime in that this film really succeeds not as a biopic but as a movement. It’s great to watch especially with all the racial issues we had in 2014 and like Lincoln before it, it will be shown in history classes, historical flaws and all.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
I liked the movie while I was in the theater and it was super fun. Then I forgot about it for like 8 months until the awards season came into full swing. It’s cute but nothing original and not nearly as captivating as Moonrise Kingdom. It’s so clean and safe though that I’m not surprised it got nominated. Wes Anderson finally made something that the Academy would actually watch.
Whiplash
I love Miles Teller. 2013 was the year of The Spectacular Now. J.K. Simmons is the Dad I’ve always wanted. I would’ve awarded him for Juno. I did not like Whiplash. It’s part Black Swan, part privileged white boy struggles and I just did not care. J.K. Simmons is fantastic though and I will not be mad when he wins the Oscar but Whiplash just did not do ANYTHING for me. And the music is not that great.
The Imitation Game
There are just so many things wrong about this movie and I’m just so angry at it. It’s like, they had the chance to make a great film but washed away so much of what made these people interesting and made the film look terrible. Like, how dare you Morten Tyldum. You should’ve been fired along with your editor. They needed to get rid of all those awful childhood flashbacks. I get that you’re trying to humanize the character but sometimes you can just let your characters be dickish and it’s FINE. Those parts of the film dragged so much. And how they handled him being gay and the “crime” he committed is just terrible. Actually show some of his suffering. I looked sicker than he did when I had a cold less than 2 weeks ago. Tossing him in that bathrobe was just embarrassing. Don’t half-ass this man’s story. Also, what a waste of Keira Knightley’s talents.