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.

“Whiplash” Review

Whiplash is one of those little indie films that I’ve been looking forward to seeing, but not super excited for. The trailer looked great and I love J.K. Simmons, but there hasn’t really been a big marketing push on Sony’s part. Makes sense for such a small film, but when Simmons is getting a lot of awards buzz you’d think they’d put some more effort into getting the word out. Well guess what? Sony had better get the word out fast, because Whiplash is great.

Premise: An ambitious young music student (Miles Teller) is put through Hell when his new instructor (J.K. Simmons) pushes him to his breaking point.

Pros: No one can talk about Whiplash without mentioning the performance of J.K. Simmons. As Terence Fletcher, he’s allowed to show how talented he is, especially if you’ve only seen him as J. Jonah Jameson (who’s still awesome). As a music teacher, Fletcher wants to find and cultivate someone with the potential to be the next great jazz musician. However, his methods include politically incorrect insults, sadistic mind games, and just being an all-around disgusting human being. He could’ve been torpedoed by a less skilled actor, but Simmons makes Fletcher one of the most terrifyingly effective villains of the year. I’ll be shocked if he isn’t nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Even with a phenomenal antagonist, Whiplash would not have worked without a strong lead. Fortunately, Miles Teller fits that bill. I’ve always liked Teller, even in garbage like That Awkward Moment. Here, he plays a different character then his fans might be used to. Andy is a great drummer, but like he says, he doesn’t want to be great, but one of the greats. His obsession with his psychopathic music teacher drives him to alienate everyone around, including his fellow students, his girlfriend, and even his own father. He’s a bit of a jerk, but he’s endearing and you always want him to succeed, or at least tell Fletcher what a douce he is.

On paper, Whiplash is a boring movie. But everyone found a way to make it a really engaging drama. It’s ultimately the story of how excessive ambition can destroy your life. Andy is so driven to be the best that he wants to be the next Charlie Parker, even if that means having no personal life. Fletcher wants to have a student be the best, but he takes everything so far that he ends up making them shells of their former selves. The line that distills his philosophy perfectly comes near the end; “There are no two words in the English language more harmful than “good job”.” Very powerful and dramatic.

Cons: There are parts where the story feels dragged out. Most of this comes from scenes with Andy’s father or girlfriend, or scenes when he’s practicing. I know that they had to be there, and they worked fine for the most part, but there were times when they just repeated themselves. There’s also a few scenes that could’ve been combined to make the pacing a bit tighter. It didn’t wreck the movie, but it was certainly noticeable.

The ending was very abrupt and didn’t really have a satisfying resolution. Everything was going really well until that last shot, and I thought to myself “is that it”? It was like they were leading up to a big emotional payoff that ended up not coming.

Verdict: Despite a few stumbles, Whiplash is a dramatic marvel. It takes a premise that could’ve been tedious and makes it engaging, powerful, and even a bit suspenseful. Oh yeah, and J.K. Simmons is the man.

Score: B+