My husband’s skateboarding buddy, Aaron Glascock, proudly announced today that he was nominated for sound editing for Birdman. Not necessarily the most exciting category, but an Oscar nomination nonetheless! Cross your fingers, CC!
I have an annual ritual, any film nominated for an Oscar I make a point of seeing (if available - some of the foreign films I am unable to get hold of) - doing this really heightens my experience of watching the award show.
I LOVED Grand Budapest Hotel - for me it felt like a modern-day Marx Brother’s film, with spectacular costumes, and hilarious antics.
I LOVED Birdman - Michael Keaton (in my opinion) did his very best work in this film. The long unbroken takes were especially pleasing to me.
I LOVED Boyhood - This entire concept was really satisfying to me. I was actually surprised to see Patricia Arquette nominated and not Ethan Hawke - I thought they were both wonderful.
I LOVED The Theory of Everything - Eddie Redmayne simply made me forget I was watching a film he so embodied Hawking.
I LOVED The Judge - and after seeing it said “Robert Duvall should get an Oscar nomination for his performance” - so I’m thrilled for him!
I LOVED (and was confused by) Inherent Vice - I thought Joaquin Phoenix was exceptional and was sorry he didn’t get an Oscar nod.
I LIKED (a lot) Gone Girl - but really didn’t think any one actor was Oscar worthy.
I LIKED (a lot) Selma, and am actually shocked that Ava DuVernay (director) as well as David Oyelowo (MLK) didn’t get nominated. The song Glory was 100% Oscar worthy and I am disappointed it didn’t get nominated. Shades of The Color Purple snub?
I LIKED (alot) Big Eyes, but NEVER felt that any of it was Oscar material.
I DISLIKED Wild, and especially disliked Reese Witherspoon (spoiler ahead). When I think about the many (MANY) actors who will literally transform their physical bodies to accurately portray a character (gain/lose amazing amounts of weight, etc.) Reese was an absolute disappointment when playing a heroin addict - and then to not become physically stronger or even build some (SOME!) leg muscles after hiking 1,000 miles. Bah! In my opinion she was not invested in the character.
Whiplash and Foxcatcher are on my list to see. Cake and Still Alice have not released here yet, and I will watch them. I’m not too interested in Amercian Sniper, but will watch it regardless. Same with The Imitation Game & Into the Wild.
^^ Really agree with most all of your assessment!
I watched the preview for Cake…it sort of had the same effect on me as Wild did for you. Not sure whether I’ll watch the film or not. Still have not seen Whiplash.
Inherent Vice was confusing…I think Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius director though (who else could coax real acting out of Tom Cruise?), will probably watch it again at some point. Have to watch Birdman again as well.
Unfortunately I fell asleep last night during Ida, which is quiet and beautiful (at least what I saw of it), am going to try to get back to that later tonight.
Saw The Imitation Game tonight. Great film, although I didn’t see why Keira Knightley would deserve an award for supporting actress.
I did not care for Boyhood. I liked Imitation Game and American Sniper, the acting was excellent in both but the stories as screenplays were just okay. I have not seen Selma, Whiplash and the Theory of Everything yet. It seems all of the nominee films are documentary types, except Budapest Hotel, which I liked best of those I have seen.
I just saw Boyhood and enjoyed it, and it’s one of the better films I’ve seen this year.
I saw Into the Woods tonight, and Streep definitely owned the screen whenever she was on, and I was particularly impressed with the kid who played Jack. H pointed out that every single character is morally ambiguous or downright nasty. I just noticed that there was not one piece of music I could hum after it was over.
Our friend had the screener for American Sniper and said it was very, very dark. His wife just shuddered. I think I’m more interested in the shorts.
Funny note: the Academy has gone to on-line ballots.There are lots of Academy members in their 90s. That is working about as well as you might expect.
One local radio station had a blast over this Oscar nomination blunder:
Hope he wins!!! 
For once I agree with Maureen Dowd! “Selma” played fast and loose with the truth about LBJ. If a movie pretends to tell history it better get the history right. This director admits that she rewrote history to suit her agenda.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/opinion/sunday/not-just-a-movie.html
^
If it was a documentary I would agree with you. But it’s not.
There is nothing demanding it be any more historically accurate than Oliver Stone’s JFK or Nixon.
My son saw Whiplash a couple of days ago and says it’s one of the best movies he’s ever seen. He usually doesn’t effuse about movies that much. He said he and his friend (both age 23) sat there during the credits stunned and practically in tears.
@TatinG - why? However nice it would be to trust in filmmakers (or historians, or journalists) to portray history the “right” way, it’s really much more practical for the viewer to hold in his/her head the possibility that what we see on the screen isn’t historically accurate. “Let the buyer beware” applies to movies and books, as well as merchandise.
I would highly recommend “Whiplash,” the only nominated film I’ve seen. To say it was intense is an understatement. Simmons’ performance was outstanding.
Off topic, haven’t seen the movie, but at some point I came to the uneasy conclusion that there is no such thing as unbiased. What we include, what we don’t include, how it’s presented, how it’s viewed. Granted, we can make an effort to be less biased. Muddle along as best we can, I suppose.
Selma is getting some criticism for not being historically accurate, But, I don’t find anything curious at all about any actor or actress or director not being nominated for an award. And, the movie was nominated for best picture which is the big one, after all. So, much ado about nothing, again. Biased and inaccurate are also not the same thing.
Agree biased and inaccurate are not the same thing, although in a Venn diagram there could be overlap.
Regarding the homogeneity of th awards, it is * not* much ado about nothing #54, but should be embarrassing to the industry, that the nominations are not sexually, and racially diverse, every year.
Like this film.
http://seattletimes.com/html/movies/2025468878_shesbeautifulxml.html
Sexually, there are categories EK. Maybe we should just have best acting person of any gender. lol.
Re: Selma. Having a point of view in a film is expected. But having LBJ not supporting the Civil Rights marchers is just outright wrong. And I am no fan of LBJ. In general he was a terrible president. But if a filmmaker mangles the facts completely then the film should not be taken seriously.
American Sniper blows it out of the park on its opening weekend.
http://www.wfaa.com/story/life/2015/01/18/american-sniper-box-office/21953225/