Thoughts on 87th Academy Award Nominations

Well, it's that time of year again: to see what "surprises" that the Academy makes when it comes to their nominations. I'm only going to be talking about some major categories as listed. I'm not going to be covering the technical ones like editing, costume design, makeup, or visual effects and I haven't seen any of the Foreign Language movies to even talk about them. Though, I hope Birdman wins Best Cinematography, just to throw it out there. So what do this year's Oscar nominations have to offer?


Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Imitation Game
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Wow, I've actually seen almost all of them by the time I'm posting this blog. I haven't seen Selma and American Sniper, but they're playing in the theater that I work at, so I should check them out. Many of these don't come as a surprise, especially since most of them debuted in the fall, which is the season where all those Oscar-bait movies come around. If you've read my Top 14 Films of 2014, you should know how much I liked The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman, Whiplash, and Boyhood to even include them. I talked with a friend of mine about likely Oscar nominations and he thought Boyhood might be dominating the show. If this wins Best Picture, I would be proud.

I also enjoyed The Imitation Game for being all around interesting and well-done, though I didn't think it was THAT great. I didn't like The Theory of Everything that much. Of all these nominations, this one is the most typical and blatant when it comes to Oscar-bait movies, in which it is a biopic about a handicapped person that serves to be tearjerker, and a forced one at that. If you like it, that's good. I wish I could, too.

However, I am quite curious as to how they only came about to only eight nominations. Starting with the 2010 awards, they decided to list up to ten Best Picture nominees. So, they couldn't make room for other movies like Gone Girl or even How to Train Your Dragon 2? For the latter, I've read a couple of articles, including this one that explains why it should be nominated for Best Picture. Honestly, who's going to remember most of these choices years from now? It goes to show that the Academy hardly cares for animated features. In words of Brooke Augustine:

Best Director
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro González Iñárritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game

I haven't seen Foxcatcher, but I've seen the rest. It's kind of hard to judge who is going to win, but I'm leaning towards either Wes Anderson, Alejandro González Iñárritu, or Richard Linklater as I think they did terrific jobs for each of their films and if any of them win, I wouldn't care.

Best Actor
Steve Carrell - Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

While I haven't seen Foxcatcher, I am aware of Steve Carrell's performance, in which he plays a role that is not comedic this time around, which we've seen before like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. Benedict Cumberbatch was great in The Imitation Game, but not my favorite performance of the year. Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything was actually pretty convincing, but just didn't strike me as much. I'm definitely rooting for Michael Keaton in this one. He was just all around great with the role he's in, even if it's a form of meta-casting. It's a shame that Christoph Waltz wasn't nominated for his performance in Big Eyes because his eccentricities made his character all the more enjoyable, but at the same time, made us want to hate him.

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon - Wild

Kind of a tough one since I haven't seen Two Days, One Night and Still Alice, both of which I've never heard of. Felicity Jones and Reese Witherspoon were fine with their roles, but nothing quite memorable. I suppose Rosamund Pike stands out to me more. Having seen Gone Girl and enjoyed it, she does deliver a really twisted performance so the nomination is well-deserved. Though, I'm quite sad that Amy Adams wasn't nominated for her performance in Big Eyes. Well, at least she won a Golden Globe for it.

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J. K. Simmons - Whiplash

Also a tough one because I enjoyed Ethan Hawke, Ed Norton, and J. K. Simmons in their respective roles. Ethan Hawke's performance in Boyhood was a great one because he played a father who is quite funny and likable, but also growing to become a responsible adult. Ed Norton, as I mentioned in my favorite films list, did a great job playing a rude and self-absorbed actor stealing Michael Keaton's spotlight in Birdman. J. K. Simmons in Whiplash was quite insane and intimidating which won him a Golden Globe recently and deservedly so. If Simmons wins this one, too, I would be fine, same with the other two actors.

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Laura Dern - Wild
Keira Knightley - The Imitation
Emma Stone - Birdman
Meryl Streep - Into the Woods

The Academy nominates Meryl Streep for another Oscar? In the words of Heavy from Team Fortress 2, not big surprise. As for Laura Dern, I thought her performance in Wild didn't really leave much of an impact to be nominated. Personally speaking, I thought she was better in The Fault in Our Stars, especially that one scene where she talks about not being a mom anymore, which was really heartbreaking. Keira Knightley's performance in The Imitation Game didn't really stand out as well. She's likable, but that's it. In the end, I'm hoping either Patricia Arquette or Emma Stone win due to their respective roles being interesting and complex.

Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner - Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything - Johann Johannsson

I hate to speak like a spoiled brat but why the heck was John Powell's How to Train Your Dragon 2 score not nominated? It is very much on par with the original, which was nominated for this category, as it brought back familiar melodies and introduced new ones, still bringing a sense of adventure and emotion into it. Many of these choices were forgettable at best.

I mean, look at other winners of this category like Lawrence of Arabia, Jaws, Star Wars, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King that have stood the test of time. This is the same for other scores that didn't win or get recognized like On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Both How to Train Your Dragon and its sequel will pretty much be up there with them, yet they don't win or get nominated, respectively. All right, I'm going off-track here, so what's next?

Best Original Song
"Everything is Awesome" from The Lego Movie
"Glory" from Selma
"Grateful" from Beyond the Lights
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again

Once again How to Train Your Dragon 2 was snubbed. Neither "Where No One Goes" nor "For the Dancing and the Dreaming" are nowhere to be found. And you know what's also disappointing? No sign of "Big Eyes." Well, at least "Everything is Awesome" is nominated, but I can't say much about the rest. Chances are "Glory" is going to win because... I don't know.

Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

The last, but certainly not least category to talk about. All of these are good choices, though I haven't seen the last two movies. You guys should already know which one I'm rooting for, but wait a minute, something's not right here... where's The Lego Movie?

Yup, The Lego Movie was snubbed. I understand that some foreign films had to be added because they deserved it, but wow, the Academy made a huge mistake. Now, I liked The Boxtrolls, but it's weak in comparison to Laika Entertainment's last two movies. I guess they just wanted to add a stop-motion film alongside the CGI and traditionally animated movies. Still, this is just mind-blowing. There was an article describing why it was snubbed, to which I call nonsense.

I know, Emmett. I feel bad, too.

And those are my thoughts on this year's Oscar nominations. Seriously, some movies were snubbed big time. It's like the Oscars don't want to repeat this year's Golden Globes so they wanted to try something different, only to result in backlash. They also don't give credit where credit is due. Some movies were far more deserving than others. No recognition to Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel? No Best Picture nomination for How to Train Your Dragon 2? No Best Actor nomination for Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler? No other nominations for Interstellar besides the technical ones?

I get it, you can't please everyone, but you know it's a bad sign when people cry foul more than usual. But despite all my complaints, I'm still going to watch the Oscars next month. Hopefully Neil Patrick Harris is an entertaining host and that some of the winners will prove to be satisfactory. I'll definitely make a follow-up post after its broadcast to recount any controversial stuff or whatever so stay tuned.