Hi guys! Just a quick post this morning and it is my 200th post! Can you believe it! Thanks for making this such a fun part of my life. My other personal blog http://smilingldsgirl.com is just about to get 1000 posts (and has 500 followers!) but I’ve had that for 7 years. This has only been since August Crazy!
Just thought I would give a little response to the Oscar noms, not that these awards matter that much. Still, it is nice to see quality praised.
I’m still working on seeing the nominated films and of the Best Picture noms I’ve seen Boyhood, Grand Budapest Hotel and Selma and they all deserve their noms. Probably the surprise was only 8 noms this year when they can have 10 (the best picture nomination process is so convoluted and ridiculous).
I’m going to see Whiplash on Saturday so excited for that and should get to everything else in the next couple of months. What’d you think of list?
Best Picture:
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
The biggest surprise is no nomination for Lego Movie. This is probably the result of it being an early 2014 release and it being a comedy. The academy tends to praise dramas at the expense of comedies which I think are in many ways harder to pull off especially for kids. It was also a definite tip of the hat to hand drawn with Tale of Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea both getting nominated.
The fact is it was an incredibly competitive year in animation. I know a bunch of you disagree with me but I still think this is the strongest year in animation since the 90’s. Just my opinion but for a movie as inventive, creative and funny to be off the list as the Lego Movie says something about the strength of the year.
While I haven’t seen Song of the Sea it looks amazing, so I can’t argue with the 5 on the list. They were all great. Of the one’s I saw I gave them all A’s.
Best Animated Feature: (click film for link to my review)
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Other surprises- no nom for Life Itself which I thought given Ebert’s popularity would be a shoe-in but it is kind of appropriate as the documentary branch consistently let Ebert down (example- Hoop Dreams not being nominated in 1994).
No nom for David Oyelowo for Selma is a big surprise because it is a great performance and typically the academy loves actors who portray famous people well. Also it would have been one non-white nominee (amazing how non-diverse Hollywood can be?). All the 20 nominees for acting are white.
Surprised but not surprised with a Meryl Streep nom for Into the Woods. She is great and it was a fun performance, but at this point her getting nominated has become such a bore. I almost wish she’d just take herself out of contention. I would be stunned if Patricia Arquette doesn’t win in that category.
Robert Duvall is kind of the same way with his nom for The Judge which I haven’t seen but didn’t hear great things. I am also a little surprised Ethan Hawke got nominated but happy.
No nom for Gone Girl (or its director David Lynch) which is a surprise although I haven’t seen that yet either.
Tom Hardy deserved to be nominated for Locke. I mean who else can say they kept audiences transfixed talking on a car phone for 84 minutes? Oh well. Not enough room on the list. I’m surprised no love for Nightcrawler which I probably won’t see because of the violence but heard is pretty great.
While not a surprise, disappointing to only have 1 nom for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for visual effects. Andy Serkis deserves to be recognized for the amazing ACTING he does. Apes really affected me and made me think about life and conflict. It was a fun blockbuster but with something to say.
My prediction is it will be a big night for Boyhood. It certainly was the movie that impacted me the most in 2014. I think it will win picture, director, and supporting actress.
I also think Big Hero 6 will win for best animated movie. It’s a battle between it and How to Train Your Dragon 2. Both deserving.
What did you guys think? What surprised you?
To 200 more posts!