My Reaction to the Oscar Nominees

The Oscars are always one of my favorite events of year. Even when I don’t agree with some of the nominees and winners, it’s still a fun show and I love having a celebration of the year in film. Well, the nominees for the 87th Academy Awards were announced a few days ago, and I’ve finally gotten all my thoughts on them straight.

DISCLAIMER: All film is subjective, so just like my reviews this list will be completely opinion-based.

BEST PICTURE

American Sniper: This should definitely not be on here. Great lead performance, bad movie.

Birdman: Terrific. This belongs here, and is probably gonna be the winner.

Boyhood: This is my pick for most overrated movie of the year. It wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t enthralled by it like most people.

The Grand Budapest Hotel: Sure, why not?

The Imitation Game: My favorite movie on this list, but it doesn’t have a strong chance of winning.

Selma: CONTROVERSY: It was just okay. Not worth a nomination in my opinion.

The Theory of Everything: Very nice to see this nominated.

Whiplash: Even nicer to see this nominated. One of the best movies of the year, and it gets better every time I see it. If I haven’t seen it I won’t comment.

Will win: Either Birdman or Boyhood

Should win: The Imitation Game

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carrell, Foxcatcher

Bradley Cooper, American Sniper: In a weaker year, I would’ve put him on here. But this was a stacked year, and I would rather have seen David Oyelowo or Jake Gyllenhaal in his spot.

Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game: He belongs here for sure.

Michael Keaton, Birdman: So does he. One of Keaton’s best performances.

Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything: Yet another extremely strong contender. This is Redmayne’s best performance to date.

Will and should win: Michael Keaton, Birdman

BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night

Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything: I loved her performance. She belongs her for sure.

Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl: YES YES YES!! I would’ve freaked out if she wasn’t nominated.

Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Will win: Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Should win: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Duvall, The Judge: He’s got no chance, but he was the best part of that movie and deserves a nomination.

Ethan Hawke, Boyhood: He should be on here. The parents in Boyhood were much more compelling than Mason.

Edward Norton, Birdman: Another great performance in a movie filled with them.

Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons, Whiplash: This is a very strong category, but I don’t see how he doesn’t win.

Will and should win: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood: She and Ethan Hawke made the movie watchable for me. That enough is worth win.

Laura Dern, Wild

Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game: Knightley has come a long way in the last few years, and this is a vindication of all her efforts.

Emma Stone, Birdman: She was terrific.

Meryl Streep, Into the Woods: I didn’t like the movie. It was about an hour too long. But Streep was great, same as always.

Will and should win: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: I don’t like this category. It exists only to give the Academy an excuse not to nominate animated films for Best Picture. BUT HOW THE HELL DOES THE LEGO MOVIE NOT GET NOMINATED? I don’t use the term snub lightly, but this is a snub.

Big Hero 6: I loved it. Lots of fun, and yet another credit to Disney.

The Boxtrolls: I enjoyed it, and it’s nice to see it get nominated.

How to Train Your Dragon 2: Without The Lego Movie in competition, this is my clear favorite.

Song of the Sea

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Will and should win: How to Train Your Dragon 2

BEST DIRECTOR

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman: This is the first time that I can honestly say he did a great job directing. He did a truly amazing job.

Richard Linklater, Boyhood: I wouldn’t put him on here. I don’t think he did a very good job creating a compelling story. But I appreciate his ambition.

Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel: A good one for Anderson to get nominated for.

Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game: It wasn’t very showy direction, but Tyldum told this story very well and pulled good performances out of everyone.

Will and should win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Jason Hall, American Sniper: No thanks.

Graham Moore, The Imitation Game: I’m surprised this is Moore’s first screenplay. He did a fantastic job.

Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice: I love PTA, but this screenplay was not a strong one.

Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything: A great screenplay. He deserves the nomination.

Damien Chazelle, Whiplash: Yet another great screenplay.

Will win: Too close to call.

Should win: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo, Birdman: With a movie this good, how can the screenplay not be nominated?

Richard Linklater, Boyhood: I wouldn’t give it to him, but I understand why he’s nominated. I was an ambitious effort.

E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher

Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness (story), The Grand Budapest Hotel: I’m kind of surprised to see this get so many nominations, but I can’t complain.

Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler: A better movie than any of these, and yet this is its only nomination. Glad to see it get something.

Will win: All those unpronounceable names, Birdman

Should win: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

So, there’s all the big ones. I might not agree with all the Academy’s decisions, but that doesn’t matter. Like all art forms, film is subjective, and it’s nice to see that people have varying opinions. I’m sure this year’s show will be a lot of fun, especially with all of the surprises. The Lego Movie not getting nominated is insane, though.

“Big Hero 6” Review

Starring Ryan Potter, Scott Asdit, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Génesis Rodriguez, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk, and Maya Rudolph. Rated PG for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements. 105 minutes.

It seems that ever since about 2009, Disney has been on top of the world. They’ve acquired Marvel and Lucasfilm, they’re making huge amounts of money, and after a bit of dry spell in the mid-2000s, they’ve gone back to making quality animated films. After Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen, Disney has gained my complete trust. So does their new film Big Hero 6 live up to the Disney name? Yes, yes it does.

Premise: Robotics enthusiast Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) teams up with lovable medical robot Baymax (Scott Asdit) in order to track down his brother’s killer.

Pros: Visual excellence is to be expected from Disney, but Big Hero 6 is nothing short of breathtaking to look at. The animation, character and location designs, and cinematography (or the closest animation equivalent) were all crisp, clear, and utterly dazzling. The film also delivers on the action front, taking sequences that would be difficult to create even in live-action and making them really exciting.

The film strikes a great tonal balance. On one hand, all of the humor works very well. There’s several really big laughs and a bunch of good giggles, probably making Big Hero 6 one of the best comedies of the year. But there’s also a lot of heartfelt scenes, with Hiro trying to grapple with the loss of his brother and learning the value of friendship. Even the death of Tadashi, which I saw coming, was handled in such a way that its predictability didn’t matter and the tragedy completely took over.

I really liked the main cast. Hiro and Baymax get the most screen time and are clearly the focus of the story, and their interactions are funny and touching. But they’re not alone in their quest for justice. Backing them up are are a diverse group of heroes with fun personalities. GoGo (Jamie Chung) is the cool, edgy tomboy, while Honey Lemon (Génesis Rodriguez) is geeky, intelligent, and downright adorable. Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.) is probably the most realistic character in the whole movie, being as terrified as any of us would be if we had to be superheroes. Even Fred (T.J. Miller) is a great addition, and Miller bounces back after an abysmal performance in the latest Transformers movie. All in all, a wonderful group of characters that are all very fun and lovable.

Big Hero 6 does what a lot of superhero movies fail to do; make the origin story fresh and new. The characters and world are built to perfection, and there’s not a moment wasted on unimportant things. The focus here is on the story and characters, and exploring their origins works toward the benefit of the movie.

Cons: Disney has created some of my favorite villains in cinematic history. When you’ve made characters as cool as Scar, Maleficent, Jafar, Gaston, Ursula, Shere Khan and Judge Claude Frollo, you’ve got the benefit of the doubt when it comes to villains. Sadly, the villain in Big Hero 6 isn’t very interesting. Before his identity is revealed Yokai is menacing and a competent threat. But as soon as his true identity is revealed he falls apart. His motivation made no sense, and the way his character arc is resolved leaves a lot to be desired.

Verdict: It may not reach the heights of Wreck-It Ralph and has a fairly lame villain, but Big Hero 6 is an exciting, funny, dramatic movie that offers further proof that Disney is the boss when it comes to movies. Kids are sure to enjoy it, but more mature audiences will be enthralled by the endearing characters and good storytelling.

Score: 8/10