Oscars 2015

Today I’d like to shift gears a bit, and talk about something other than rock music.  The 2015 Academy Awards are next Sunday, February 22nd, and because I will be just arriving in New Zealand over that weekend, I will not be able to write this post then.  I would like to consider myself an amateur movie critic; I watch a lot of movies every year, including blockbusters, Oscar contenders, and some more obscure films.  With this post I will make my own Oscars list, based on my opinions about movies released in 2014.

Granted, since I am not a professional movie critic, I do not have the capability to watch all movies with awards potential.  In terms of films nominated for one of the major categories at this year’s Oscars, I have not seen The Theory of Everything, American Sniper, Selma, Gone Girl, Still Alice, or Into the Woods.

Best Picture:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Edge of Tomorrow

Foxcatcher

Interstellar

The Imitation Game

Two Days, One Night

Whiplash

Wild

Without any doubt, Interstellar and The Imitation Game are my favorite films of 2014.  Christopher Nolan is my favorite director, and I would place Interstellar in the same category as The Dark Knight and Inception, two of my favorite movies of all time.  Like all Nolan movies (with the possible exception of the slightly overrated The Dark Knight Rises), Interstellar necessitates a significant amount of thought to keep up with the plot, and I enjoy intellectually stimulating films.  There are very few films that make me tear up at several different points in the movie, and Interstellar is one of them.  And the visual effects are absolutely phenomenal.

The Imitation Game is an amazing true story.  Benedict Cumberbatch is astounding as Alan Turing, showcasing why he is a great actor outside of BBC’s Sherlock.  And Keira Knightley, who I couldn’t stand in The Pirates of the Caribbean, was exceptional in both significant movies she was in this year: The Imitation Game and Begin Again.  Every part of this film is sensational, and it is very difficult to place it behind Interstellar.  While Gravity and Captain Phillips were two of my favorite films in 2013 or any other year, if The Imitation Game had been released in 2011 or 2012, it would certainly have been my favorite movie of the year.  The real life Alan Turing was one of the most amazing and influential people of the 20th century, yet he was subjected to unimaginable hate and torment for his homosexuality.  This is one of the few scenarios where watching a movie leads me to read the book, instead of the other way around.

The unusual choices on my list here are Captain America and Edge of Tomorrow.  I don’t understand why these kinds of movies are always shunned by the Academy.  Yes, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a superhero blockbuster, but it plays out like an action thriller, and includes a good plot and dialogue.  Edge of Tomorrow was the most underrated film of 2014, losing money at the box office.  If you look past the decision to give the main character’s role to Tom Cruise, who has been failing to attract moviegoers outside of the Mission Impossible franchise for a while now, it is an awesome, high-paced thriller.

My honorable mentions go out to the hilarious 22 Jump Street (which avoided the sequel burden by making fun of it), Begin Again, St. Vincent, and The Judge.  I saw three Academy Best Picture nominees that did not make this list: Birdman, Boyhood, and The Grand Budapest Hotel.  Birdman features incredible acting and groundbreaking cinematography, but falls far short for me due to its strange plot, overreaching score, and lack of likable characters.  Boyhood is interesting, because of the unique process in which it was made, but in no way was I enthralled with the storyline or greatly vested in the character’s situations.  And The Grand Budapest Hotel was like any Wes Anderson film: way too weird for my liking.  I have never enjoyed any of Anderson’s movies, especially The Royal Tenenbaums and The Squid and the Whale.  While The Grand Budapest Hotel is visually striking, everything else about the movie lacks the quality I think would be necessary for an Oscar nominee.

Best Actor:

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Bill Murray (St. Vincent)

Channing Tatum (Foxcatcher)

Miles Teller (Whiplash)

Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

2014 was a banner year for main actor performances.  There are many actors that are also deserving of recognition, including Michael Keaton (Birdman), Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar), and Bill Hader (The Skeleton Twins).  It was really difficult to choose between Murray and Hader for the last spot on the nominations list.  But Benedict Cumberbatch rose above the rest, with his magnum opus in The Imitation Game.  Cumberbatch is undoubtedly a great actor, as evidenced by the miniseries Sherlock, and this was the perfect role for him.  It’s such an emotional storyline, and Cumberbatch is so memorable in the film.  It helps that the true story of Alan Turing is so poignant and relevant.  Carell certainly deserves second place, with his transformative performance in Foxcatcher.  It’s hard to believe this was the same actor who brought us the legendary Michael Scott.  Channing Tatum was severely underrated in Foxcatcher, and had arguably the most physically demanding job of any actor in the film.  Bill Murray was his usual hilarious and grumpy self (a little bit like Lost in Translation), and Miles Teller proved himself to be a future star with his drumming performance in Whiplash.

Best Actress:

Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow)

Keira Knightley (Begin Again)

Kristen Wiig (The Skeleton Twins)

Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

I’d give this award to Reese Witherspoon, in her singularly powerful movie Wild.  In terms of entertainment, Wild didn’t quite live up to my expectations (I was hoping for a greater emphasis on hiking and nature), but Witherspoon certainly contributed an Oscar-worthy performance.  My silver medal would go to Marion Cotillard, who is one of my favorite actresses (Inception, Midnight in Paris, etc.).  The idea for the plot of Two Days, One Night was risky, because the plight of the movie fell directly on the shoulders of the main actress.  Cotillard made the movie great, and certainly deserved the relatively surprising nomination she received from the Academy.  Keira Knightley stepped out of her comfort zone and sang in the musical/drama Begin Again, Kristen Wiig appropriately alternated between humor and depression in The Skeleton Twins, and Emily Blunt showed that having a female lead in an action movie can be a great decision.

Best Supporting Actor:

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

Robert Duvall (The Judge)

This is the only scenario in which I strongly agree with the probable Oscar decision.  J.K. Simmons won best supporting actor at the Golden Globes, and is the favorite for this Oscar.  His tyrannical performance in Whiplash certainly was the defining moment in his career, and he stole every scene he was in.  Edward Norton added another exceptional acting performance in Birdman, my favorite of his since Fight Club.  Ethan Hawke was the best actor in the 12-year epic Boyhood, and Mark Ruffalo and Robert Duvall both deserve the nominations they received.

After writing this section of my post, I checked the Academy Awards website to see their nominations, and was surprised to see that my nominations were the same as theirs.  While my nominations include two Oscar nominees in both Best Actor and Best Actress, and three in Best Supporting Actress, somehow I ended up with the same ballot as the Academy for Best Supporting Actor.

Best Supporting Actress:

Anne Hathaway (Interstellar)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Jessica Chastain (Intersteller)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

So it’s pretty obvious that I loved Interstellar.  Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway are both good actresses, and Christopher Nolan made a great decision in casting both.  Chastain was not in as many scenes as Hathaway, but she took advantage of the screen time she was given, adding even more emotion to a beautiful script.  Emma Stone was also remarkable in Birdman, a film that required amazing actors due to its extremely long scenes.  She rightly received her first Oscar nomination for the film, after starring in some of my favorite movies from the 2000’s (Zombieland!!!).  I gave Keira Knightley two nominations (the other was as Best Actress for Begin Again), and she complimented Benedict Cumberbatch in one of the best acted films of the year.  For my last nomination I went with Patricia Arquette for Boyhood.  Arquette won the Golden Globe, and Laura Dern (Wild) was nominated by the Academy, but I think both of their performances were overrated.  Arquette was certainly good in Boyhood, but she wasn’t too memorable, especially compared to Ethan Hawke.

Best Director:

Christopher Nolan (Interstellar)

Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow)

Joe & Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)

I love Christopher Nolan movies, but The Imitation Game was so flawlessly directed that I have to choose Morten Tyldum.  Tyldum is a Norwegian director who actually made his English language debut for The Imitation Game.  Thanks to his directing in the film, Tyldum has been attached to direct a potentially ambitious sci-fi movie (called Passengers) in which Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are possible lead actors.  I love Interstellar for its visuals, emotion, and intellect, and I love The Imitation Game for its plot and dialogue.  You can’t go wrong either way.

Of course, I highly doubt the Academy shares my opinions about 2014’s movies (you need to check out this article about Oscar voters).  Last year, I though Tom Hanks’ performance in Captain Phillips was definitely deserving of a third Oscar for my favorite actor.  He wasn’t even nominated.  So, I’m almost certain the only consistency between my rankings and the Academy come next Sunday will be J.K. Simmons’ win for Whiplash.