I’ve been a bad film fan this year. I haven’t made it to all the Best Picture nominees, which is the very least I could do in the name of objectivity, but I still want to see if that changes how I think the whole shebang will turn out.
On #Oscarssowhite, Ava DuVernay was a not surprising (given the make up of the Oscars voters) but a disappointing omission. As Selma points out, if you aren’t able to have a voice to vote, how will that voice be heard? That said I don’t think she was the Best Director so I hope she keeps making films the academy can’t ignore and gets the recognition she deserves. I am equally annoyed that Mike Leigh, Damien Chazelle and Amma Asante weren’t nominated, but hey I love Iñárritu & Linklater. The weakest director in this category is The Imintation Game’s Morten Tyldum (although I loved the film- he’d make my top 10) but didn’t effect me nearly as much as Belle, Whiplash, Selma or Mike Leigh every time he makes a film.
This is less informed than I’d like, however my final predictions are:
| Category | Seen | Of | Will Win | Should Win |
| Best Picture | 7 | 8 | Boyhood – I am flipflopping bewteen this and Birdman but I think that the pure innovation of Linklater’s idea and scope of the film will win out over Birdman’s creativity and intensity. | Whiplash. Whilst I thought both lead characters were irredeemably psychotic, I do see that they had a passion about something that wiped every sense of decency out of them. It was an interesting balance and i perversely enjoyed watching the car wreck(!) Andrew’s life became. |
| Best Actor | 3 | 5 | Eddie Redmayne- The Theory of Everything | Timothy Spall/ Miles Teller – although if Steve Carell pulled this off I’d win a nice bit of cash! |
| Best Actress | 2 | 5 | Julianne Moore, Still Alice | Due to UK release dates, I haven’t seen enough of these all fine actresses and love that a fellow Brummie Felicity Jones was nominated |
| Best Supporting Actor | 3 | 5 | J.K. Simmons, Whiplash | JKS – Gripping! |
| Best Supporting Actress | 3 | 5 | Patricia Arquette, Boyhood | You’re so cool! |
| Best Director | 4 | 5 | Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman | I think, maybe, also the Director’s Guild gave it to him so I think he’ll beat Richard Linklater to this one. |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | 3 | 5 | Inherent Vice | I find the screenplay race incredibly difficult to judge, but of the one’s I’ve seen would be happy with any winner. I went with Inherent Vice just because I like that it’s a comedy. |
| Best Original Screenplay | 3 | 5 | Wes Anderson- The Grand Budapest Hotel | The product of several coin tosses. Although I think maybe Boyhood will get it. |
| Best Foreign Film | 0 | 5 | Ida,Poland | I have disgracefully seen none of them, basing this entirely on the reviews of friends. |
| Best Documentary Feature | 1 | 5 | CitizenFour | As with Best Foreign Film, I fully intend to catch up on these. |
| Best Animated Feature | 0 | 5 | Song of The Sea | Looked at the trailers – this is the one I wanted to see most. In another note Everything is NOT awesome. |
| Film Editing | 4 | 5 | The Grand Budapest Hotel | It was between Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel for me. |
| Best Song | 2 | 5 | Glory | I thing that although Every Thing is Awesome was fantastically singable, Glory sits so beautifully with the film, I think it’ll get the win. |
| Best Original Score | 3 | 5 | Alexandre Desplat – TGBH | So good he was nominated twice. Although that didn’t work out for Roger Deakins |
| Best Cinematography | 2 | 5 | Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman. | Roger Deakins – I say it every year, the man is a legend! Ryszars Lenczewski – Ida. With an added bonus of seeing how the awarder pronounces his name |
| Costume Design | 1 | 5 | The Grand Budapest Hotel | I’d be happy with this but loved the costuming in Belle/ and Lorraine Toussaint’s glasses in Selma |
| Makeup and Hairstyling | 2 | 3 | Foxcatcher | Although TGBH is a steady contender. When I watched the Foxcatcher trailer it took me a while to realise Steve Carrell was in it! |
| Production Design | 2 | 5 | The Grand Budapest Hotel | The Grand Budapest Hotel – such lovely detail |
| Sound Editing | 2 | 5 | Interstellar | Not a clue about this |
| Sound Mixing | 2 | 5 | Whiplash | How could it not win?! |
| Visual Effects | 4 | 5 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Apes on horses people! |
| Short Film, Live Action | 0 | 5 | Boogaloo and Graham | Randomly selected – we all now your speech will be one of the best of the night – Shorts generally are |
| Short Film, Animated | 0 | 5 | Feast | As Above |
| Documentary Short Subject | 0 | 5 | Crisis Hotline | As Above |
So here we go! Bring it on Neil Patrick Harris, but please keep it short I have an early meeting! See you on the flipside.
ELC
What Have You Done To Deserve This? 