Oscar Picks 2015 Best Picture

With the Oscars upon us I put together a few thoughts on this year’s Best Picture nominees.  All you can do is judge the films in front of you for how they made you feel. Every year has its controversies and snubs. My favorite film of the year was “Interstellar”.  It’s not even nominated.  I’ll live.  The fact is every movie based on actual events contains inaccuracies. It’s the same case this year. Three movies about real events and I guarantee you every one of them takes significant, artistic license and portrays historical inaccuracies.  You know what else?  Poop stinks, sugar makes you fat and not everybody is going love you.  Life goes on.   These are listed in my personal order ranked by how I would vote if I were voting.   For the record the two movies I liked the least are the most likely to win the Oscar.  My bet is that “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) takes the prize.  Guess we will find out Sunday.

American Sniper – One of the two best movies I saw this year. The other one wasn’t nominated (Interstellar).  More than any other film it stayed with me after I left the theater. Rarely will you see a movie about war that you can describe as subtle and understated, at least not a great one. Bradley Cooper enveloped his character every bit as much as Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything”. It just isn’t as obvious due to the subject matter.  Eastwood is consistently one of the finest directors Hollywood has ever produced. His handling of this film (especially the ending) and the choices he makes (fake baby aside) just proves it even more.

Whiplash – If it weren’t for American Sniper this would get my vote. It is powerful, fast, emotional, disturbing and deceptively one of the most technically brilliant movies of the year.  This one stuck with me as well. JK Simmons’ brutal portrayal of a megalomaniacal music instructor is something most actors only dream of doing. He crushes it as does his student played by Miles Teller. This isn’t a quiet, little drama with two main characters that could have just as easily been a stage play. The technical prowess used by the filmmakers interweaving intricate jazz compositions with mind-boggling editing really transform this into a film to be studied.  I cannot recommend this movie enough.

The Imitation Game – A historical drama about a little known aspect of the espionage and science used to the defeat the Germans is right up my alley.  Cumberbatch is superb as is all the cast. In a lot of ways it reminded me of “The Social Network”. The way the film makes the “invention” of computer science suspenseful is a bit of minor miracle.  

“Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.”  AMEN

Selma – Strong Film. Important Film.  The part I liked most about the film was that it showed King in a much rawer light that I have seen him in the past. So often and rightly so he is shown as the figure head and CEO of the movement. He was also a “roll up your sleeves” activist. He was a tactician and planner and I think that gets lost at times. The acting was excellent all around. I do find it interesting that we often get British actors to portray some of our most American of icons.  I don’t have a problem with it. I just find it interesting. Seems to me Denzel was a marvelous Malcom X and George C. Scott was and still is George Patton. We didn’t have a single long tall Texan who could take on LBJ or a black actor who could bubble up the spirit of MLK?  If we ever sent Martin Sheen to play Churchill the Brits would start another war.

The Theory of Everything – As a rule I like biographies. There is something inherently dramatic about the lives of people who have overcome obstacles and struggles. It is almost cheating in a way because you don’t have to manufacture the drama. Regardless it usually works and it works here. That being said I don’t know if it works so well as to make it a Best Picture of the Year nominee.  I’ve seen this movie before. “Ray”, “My Left Foot”, “A Beautiful Mind” and two dozen more to boot were all practically the same movie.  “The Theory of Everything” is that movie this year. Take a predictable script with a phenomenal performance of a famous icon by a great actor and it is a winning formula. It works.  I enjoyed it. But, as in 99% of these films the true, lasting emotion is our connection to the brilliance of the portrayed and not the art of those who portray them.

The Grand Budapest Hotel – A Wes Anderson film that made me laugh a few times and I didn’t hate.  That alone makes it worthy of a nomination.  Beautifully shot and designed it is the same quirky, pretentious and “seriously artistic” movie we expect from Anderson.  If you like him then bully for you. If you hate him you may not hate this movie as much as all his others.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – I hated it. I got it. I recognize the artistry. I appreciate the performances. Keaton, Norton, and Stone were wonderful.  The script is sharp and the technical aspect of shooting in long, uninterrupted scenes was effective if not necessarily ground breaking. All that being said I still hated it and should have just taken a walk.

Boyhood – Ambitious to be sure with it being shot using the same actors over a period of 12 years. At times it is a really nice film. At other times it is an “Afterschool Special” with a few F-bombs. The movie does a really nice job of portraying “real life”.  The scenarios and life events are realistic and make sense. It is an extremely, believable journey of this young man’s life. Some of the dialogue however is just bad and the moments of philosophical enlightenment from the boy are sophomoric at best. If somebody had asked “If I were a tree what kind of tree would I be?” I would not have been surprised.