Oscar Nominations Are Here!

BEST PICTURE

                         

American Sniper                   Birdman                   Boyhood                  

                                       

The Grand Budapest Hotel                          The Imitation Game

                     

 Selma                                 The Theory of Everything

  

     Whiplash

Alright, so there it is, we have the “Best Pictures” of 2014 according to the Academy. They only selected eight films this year instead of the usual nine of prior years.  Ever since expanding from five films they have the ability to select up to ten but have only selected nine.  Nightcrawler or Foxcatcher definitely could’ve taken up those spots. Not that it really matters since this is Boyhood‘s category to lose

DIRECTING

Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Richard Linklater

Bennett Miller

Wes Anderson

Morten Tyldum

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Steve Carell

Foxcatcher

Bradley Cooper

American Sniper

Benedict Cumberbatch

The Imitation Game

Michael Keaton

Birdman

Eddie Redmayne

The Theory of Everything

Super strong category here and lots of deserving people (Jake Gylenhaal, ahem) got left out. I think this is a two man race between Keaton and Redmayne. I still have to see American Sniper though, and I’ll be doing that this weekend.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Marion Cotillard

Two Days, One Night

Felicity Jones

The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore

Still Alice

Rosamund Pike

Gone Girl

Reese Witherspoon

Wild

My personal favorites in this category are Jones and Pike, but this is going to go to Julianne Moore. Her career is longer and her role more daring. A perfect recipe to win. All are amazing actresses. Still need to see Two Days, One Night, though that isn’t scheduled to screen anywhere close.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Robert Duvall

The Judge

Ethan Hawke

Boyhood

Edward Norton

Birdman

Mark Ruffalo

Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons

Whiplash

Very bummed that Duvall got a nomination at all for a subpar typical picture like The Judge. I don’t like career achievement awards in categories like this. Simmons has it in the bag though. But it just would’ve been nice to see someone actually deserving of the award or someone who’s career it would boost.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Patricia Arquette

Boyhood

Laura Dern

Wild

Keira Knightley

The Imitation Game

Emma Stone

Birdman

Meryl Streep

Into the Woods

I think Patricia Arquette should win this, and she probably will. Though lately I have been rooting for Keira Knightley because she was so good. Either would make me happy. Well, anyone winning except Meryl Streep would make me happy. There must be a rule that she get nominated every year despite what role she is in. This is just as bad as the Duvall nomination.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• 
  Ida
  Poland
• 
  Leviathan
  Russia
• 
  Tangerines
  Estonia
• 
  Timbuktu
  Mauritania
• 
  Wild Tales
  Argentina

I’ve actually only seen Ida and I’m upset that Force Majeure wasn’t nominated. Leviathan is supposed to be great, but it won’t hit screens here until February 27th which is a week after the awards show. The others likely won’t be on screens anywhere near where I am unfortunately. Hopefully they pop up online somehow.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

• 
  Big Hero 6
• 
  The Boxtrolls
• 
  How to Train Your Dragon 2
• 
  Song of the Sea
• 
  The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Obviously the biggest disappointment of the whole nominations is that The Lego Movie was left out. A crime! After that I’m pulling for Big Hero 6, because that’s the only other one I’ve seen yet. I do want to see The Princess Kaguya because I love Japanese animation and Song of the Sea because it’s from the makers of The Book of Kells and is just another example of how Irish cinema is on the uptick.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• 
  CitizenFour
• 
  Finding Vivian Maier
• 
  Last Days in Vietnam
• 
  The Salt of the Earth
• 
  Virunga

Here I’ve see Citizenfour, Finding Vivian Maier, and Virunga. All are great. I think Citizenfour is too timely and makes such amazing suspense out of just hotel room interviews that it will be impossible to ignore as the winner. The other two I haven’t seen but will check out. There were others on the short list of potential nominees hat I think deserved those spots more, but who knows. I won’t be definitive on the matter until I see them all.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman
• Robert Yeoman for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski for Ida
• Dick Pope for Mr. Turner
• Roger Deakins for Unbroken

DICK POOP! LOL. Ok, I think Dick Pope will win this for Mr. Turner. Amazing painterly shots. Though Lubezki is my favorite current cinematographer, he could win for the great work in the editless Birdman. Deakins is a god amongst cinematographers, but his work in Unbroken was just not as good as his prior works. Would’ve loved to see Hoyt Hoytema get a nomination for Interstellar here instead. A nomination for Ida here is great. Usually foreign films get ignored in categories except their own, but this was well deserved. I love cinematography! One of my favorite categories outside the major ones.

COSTUME DESIGN

• Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Mark Bridges for Inherent Vice
• Colleen Atwood for Into the Woods
• Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive for Maleficent
• Jacqueline Durran for Mr. Turner

Couldn’t care less about Into the Woods or Maleficent. Usually this category goes to period pieces so Mr. Turner has to be a frontrunner, but the costumes in Inherent Vice were so much fun. Tough one to call.

FILM EDITING

• Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach for American Sniper
• Sandra Adair for Boyhood
• Barney Pilling for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• William Goldenberg for The Imitation Game
• Tom Cross for Whiplash

Whiplash all the way here. Such inventive and frenetic editing. Loved it.

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

• Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard for Foxcatcher
• Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White for Guardians of the Galaxy

Would love to see Guardians of the Galaxy win something, so why not here? I think everyone is enamored with the work done in Foxcatcher, so that will probably win.

MUSIC – ORIGINAL SCORE

• Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game
• Hans Zimmer for Interstellar
• Gary Yershon for Mr. Turner
• Jóhann Jóhannsson for The Theory of Everything

A double nomination for Desplat. That’s pretty much a death knell since his votes will be split. I think Johannsson wins after picking up the Golden Globe last weekend. I am really pumped to see Hans Zimmer here. That was my personal favorite score.

MUSIC – ORIGINAL SONG

• “Everything Is Awesome”; Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson from The Lego Movie
• “Glory”; Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn from Selma
• “Grateful”; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren from Beyond the Lights
• “I’m Not Gonna Miss You”; Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond from Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me
• “Lost Stars”; Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois from Begin Again

Not a category that I care about, though I hope The Lego Movie gets some love. Selma would also be a good choice.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration) for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Maria Djurkovic (Production Design); Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration) for The Imitation Game
• Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Gary Fettis (Set Decoration) for Interstellar
• Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration) for Into the Woods
• Suzie Davies (Production Design); Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration) for Mr. Turner

I think The Grand Budapest Hotel deserves this, though Interstellar’s design was absolutely epic.

SOUND EDITING

• Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman for American Sniper
• Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock for Birdman
• Brent Burge and Jason Canovas for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Richard King for Interstellar
• Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro for Unbroken

SOUND MIXING

• John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin for American Sniper
• Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga for Birdman
• Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten for Interstellar
• Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee for Unbroken
• Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley for Whiplash

I’ll talk about Editing and Mixing here. Nolan’s films always get nominated. I know there is a big controversy over the sound in Interstellar but I think it will go down in history for being innovative. The Hobbit is also always a contender in these categories. Otherwise Birdman would be my third choice. I might have to revisit this after seeing American Sniper soon. You can toss Unbroken aside in this category entirely.

VISUAL EFFECTS

• Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick for Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould for Guardians of the Galaxy
• Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher for Interstellar
• Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer for X-Men: Days of Future Past

Can’t there be a tie? I think Interstellar’s practical effects are more innovative, but Guardians of the Galaxy is more fun. I’d rather innovation win over fun. GotG didn’t offer anything new.

WRITING – ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Written by Jason Hall for American Sniper
• Written by Graham Moore for The Imitation Game
• Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson for Inherent Vice
• Screenplay by Anthony McCarten for The Theory of Everything
• Written by Damien Chazelle for Whiplash

Whiplash should win, though it’s not really adapted. The Academy considers this adapted because he made a short film from a scene in the full feature to get investors in on the project. This short screened at Sundance which then makes the feature film an adaptation. What? Well whatever. P.T. Anderson could win here too and I wouldn’t be mad one bit, his characters are so crazy it’s hard not to love his screenplays.

WRITING – ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo for Birdman
• Written by Richard Linklater for Boyhood
• Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman for Foxcatcher
• Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Written by Dan Gilroy
  for Nightcrawler

I’d like to see Dan Gilroy win here for Nightcrawler but that’s a bit of a long shot. Otherwise it’s a hard fight between Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel. A real toss up.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

• Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry for Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
• Aneta Kopacz for Joanna
• Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki for Our Curse
• Gabriel Serra Arguello for The Reaper (La Parka)
• J. Christian Jensen for White Earth

SHORT FILM – ANIMATED

• Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees for The Bigger Picture
• Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi for The Dam Keeper
• Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed for Feast
• Torill Kove for Me and My Moulton
• Joris Oprins for A Single Life

SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION

• Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis for Aya
• Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney for Boogaloo and Graham
• Hu Wei and Julien Féret for Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)
• Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger for Parvaneh
• Mat Kirkby and James Lucas for The Phone Call

I won’t say much about the shorts since I haven’t seen any yet. Luckily the Oriental Theatre puts on a program with all the shorts for Live Action and Animated and it’s a really fun time at the movies to go see those. I’ve done that the past two years and will do so again this year. They’ll be playing starting the weekend of January 30th. Unfortunately the Documentary Short Subject are pretty impossible to see anywhere. Maybe I can be sneaky and find them online.

So … what nominees are you cheering for? The Awards will be announced Sunday February 22nd. I’ll be watching attentively. Not sure if I’ll live blog again. That was pretty damn exhausting!

Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing wins The Imitation Game

Benedict Cumberbatch probably has the most English name ever to exist. He’s been prolific as of late in films, TV series, and even voice work for animated or CG characters. Simply put, he’s on fire. It’s hard to think of anyone more in demand in prestige projects and blockbusters both. He is simply magnificent here as Alan Turing cracking the German Enigma code machine during WWII. Turing is a severely under-appreciated historical figure. His work in cracking the German messages by creating one of the first early computers saved millions of lives and helped bring Europe out from under years of devastating war. His legacy in electronics, math, and computers is unmatched. He is a huge reason we live in the modern world we do today. Cumberbatch is the main reason to show up for this film. The story is great and inspiring. The moment they finally crack the code will make you want to cheer. It is also rather heart rending because Turing was a homosexual and in the 1940s and 50s that meant he was considered a criminal. Really if you don’t know much about Turing first go watch this film and then hit the google machine and look into his amazing career. This is a man that deserves all the admiration there is.

The movie tells a story inspired by Turing’s time at a military research and intelligence park in the South of England mostly taking place in 1940-1943. However there are also flashbacks to his time at school in 1928 and flash-forwards to just before his death in 1954. This is a good framing narrative so that the movie never loses its pace and keeps you interested about various parts about Turing’s life, his motivations and his struggles. The filmmakers luckily don’t shy away from Turing’s homosexuality at all. They embrace that part of his life and make compelling storytelling from it. They also don’t make it his defining characteristic, it’s just his sexual orientation. Just like a heterosexual character doesn’t have that trait dominate their life, Turing’s homosexuality isn’t all of who he is, it’s an important part sure, but it’s just one part. It really tells more of the society he is working in and others perceptions of it than it does him. It makes for the saddest parts of the film, particularly in the early and late parts of his life.

It also makes for an interesting relationship with co-worker, friend and fiancee Keira Knightley’s Joan Clarke. I can’t speak highly enough of Knightley’s performance here. It is just as good as Cumberbatch’s and doesn’t have the luxury of pulling from such a historic figure. People don’t realize how good Knightley is. Most think she is just some action star girl accessory in The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. This is a wrong perception. Her work in such top notch films as Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, Never Let Me Go, and A Dangerous Method set her apart from her peers. She’s only 29 and we have a lot more great performances to look froward to from her. I suspect she’ll earn a nomination for Best Supporting Actress this year, though winning will be tough with Patricia Arquette leading things with Boyhood. Both she and Cumberbatch will walk away with Oscar gold someday, just not this year.  Alexander Desplat though might have the edge for Best Original Score though. My vote might go to Hans Zimmer’s work for Interstellar, but you can’t deny how great the score is here and what an amazing talent Desplat is. I just recently watched Roman Polanski’s Venus in Fur and Desplat scored that as well to equally great results. Desplat will also likely be considered for The Grand Budapest Hotel and Unbroken, which I intend to see sometime this week. He’s been nominated six times already so it’s probably time he win already.

The remainder of the cast is a who’s who of popular British actors, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech (from Downton Abbey), Mark Strong, and Charles Dance (from Game of Thrones). They are all solid supporting characters and all shine particularly when they are interacting with Cumberbatch’s Turing and don’t have as much to do when playing off the other supporting characters. Only Matthew Goode gives his best work with the other supporting cast. There have been complaints that they are not portrayed true to history and that the story takes too many liberties. The story does bend the truth quite a bit, but only to make a more interesting story. The Enigma code is formidable foe but it would make for a poor film just showing the intense efforts to defeat it, there has to be real human obstacles and interactions that drive the plot. They also have to be interesting and emotional. So that’s why I usually always give filmmakers and writers the freedom they need to keep the spirit of history while taking liberties to get the story to a wider audience. If you want the true story you’ll need to read a biography, but if you want to feel something and enjoy historical bio-pic filmmaking then watch this.  This movie comes highly recommended and tells a story about WWII (a subject that is overdone) that not everyone knows. It’s n about 800 theaters so it’s probably close enough to you to get out and see it, you should make that effort. You’ll be rewarded.