OK so I have failed miserably in my self-challenge to watch all 2015 Oscar nominated films. I’m sorry to drop the petals off the daffodil folks, but occasionally this humble book blogger only reaches a 99.9% rate of perfection.
Thus far, I have only seen American Sniper, Birdman, and The Imitation Game (I still owe you a review). I have Boyhood loaded into my iTunes but have yet to get around to it.
So I’m a bit handicapped having not seen everything, which begs the question:
Bookshelf Q. Battler, are you really going to opine on things you know nothing about?
Um…yeah. I do that everyday. My original title for this blog was “Opinions on Stuff I Know Nothing About.” Writing opinions on stuff I know nothing about is my God given right as an American.
Without further ado, my predictions:
BEST FILM – Birdman
All the commentary out there suggests there is a horse race going on between Boyhood and Birdman. From what I’ve heard of Boyhood, it’s basically a “meh” sort of film and without the novel idea to shoot the young boy protagonist at different stages of his life, it probably wouldn’t have made it to the Oscars.
Meanwhile, Birdman has been winning many other awards and that’s a strong sign.
I’m going to flip a coin here and say Birdman. Birdman has a lot of messages that Hollywood wants you to hear, namely a) Stop complaining we feed you so much crap when you’re the ones who are eating it b) Stop complaining we don’t make enough artsy fartsy movies when you never watch them and c) being an actor isn’t all its cracked up to be
BEST ACTOR – Michael Keaton (Birdman)
I’ve got to go with Keaton. He’s been around for so long, he’s been in many amazing movies, and well, sad to say but, time keeps a-moving on whether we want it to or not, and he may not have many more chances to appear in Oscar buzz worthy work. Carrell, Cooper, Cumberbatch, Redmayne all turned in great performances, but they still have time and haven’t been around as long. It’s Keaton’s turn.
BEST ACTRESS – Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
I really, really want Rosamund Pike to win this for Gone Girl. SPOILER ALERT – in that movie, she plays the Amy whose safety you’re very concerned about when she goes missing as well as the Amy who…well, just go watch it.
But this is the year where Hollywood settles its debts and like Keaton, Moore is also overdue. That’s not a knock on Still Alice. I’m sure it’s great. She’s certainly been in a lot of other great films and is deserving.
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – JK Simmons (Whiplash)
The King of the Actors Long Overdue for Recognition. He’s that guy in every movie, you recognize his face as soon as you see it, but up until this nomination, you didn’t really know his name. He’s also the voice of the Yellow M and M.
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
When it comes to “long overdue” Arquette and Laura Dern (Wild) are both deserving. However, Boyhood has had more attention than Wild, so I think it’s going to go to Arquette. Emma and Keira turned in great performances, but they still have plenty of time. And Meryl? Jesus, she must be using these awards as paperweights at this point.
BEST DIRECTOR – Richard Linklater
Come on. Filming a kid at different stages of life and mixing it all into one film. Creative. Give him an award.
SNUBS
Finally, here’s my list of snubs:
Interstellar – the movie laid out a roadmap on how to get to deep space. Completely ignored! What? Who cares about outer space travel? Michael Keaton’s pretending to be a bird!
The Lego Movie – Best animated movie of the year no matter what. I assume it got turned down because it was seen by some as just a big commercial for legos but come on, most kids movies do lead to big time toy merchandising. If it was a commercial, it was a commercial with heart.
Saint Vincent – That old grumpy person you know might not actually be a jerk. He might have experienced some heinous crap that you can’t begin to comprehend. He may have earned the right to be grumpy. So cut him some slack.
The Drop/James Gandolfini – I wish James Gandolfini could have received a posthumous Best Supporting Actor nomination since, sadly, he’ll never have a chance at another one. It was a decent film and in my opinion, Gandolfini’s best performance since The Sopranos.
What are your picks? Who do you think got snubbed? Inquiring Bookshelf Battlers want to know.
Bookshelf Battle 