The 87th Annual Academy Awards: Nominations & Thoughts

Today brought us the nominations for the 87th Annual Academy Awards and I thought I'd throw out a few opinions. Now unfortunately, I have not had the time to see everything so this is just my opinion of films I've seen and what I would have chosen or gotten rid of in my opinion.

As "Selma" has only been released for a short period of time, I haven't seen it, but I don't understand how a film gets nominated for Best Picture yet only has one other nomination (Best Original Song at that). Most people seem to love the film, so it is surprising that it ONLY got 2 nominations. Along with that, American Sniper really didn't seem to have as much momentum as some of Clint Eastwood's past Academy Award contenders. At least it seems like a step above Clint's past failed Oscar bait: J. Edgar, Changeling or Flags of our Fathers.

A lot of this year's nominees, though, really didn't fail to surprise. The front runners prior to the nominations are still the front runners. Boyhood still seems to be the leading horse with Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel close on its heels. I am especially glad that Grand Budapest Hotel has been able to keep its award momentum up, especially since it opened in March. Birdman, my favorite film of 2014, tied for the most nominations with nine. Hopefully, Birdman will walk away with some gold, come Oscar night.

I think the biggest snub of this year's nominees belongs to The Lego Movie. Granted, I haven't even seen it, but the fact that the film was loved by critics and audiences alike--on top of being one of the biggest hits of the year; seemed almost like a shoo-in for Best Animated Film. Not even seeing the film, I could sense after seeing the nominees, that the lack of The Lego Movie being omitted was a huge snub.

Overall, in my opinion, this year's nominees fell in line close to where I would have predicted. The fun part will be when the awards are handed out as a lot of the films nominated this year, I did enjoy.

Go, Michael Keaton!

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

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

Best Actor
Steve Carell, "Foxcatcher"
Bradley Cooper, "American Sniper"
Benedict Cumberbatch, "The Imitation Game"
Michael Keaton, "BIrdman"
Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"

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"

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

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

Best Adapted Screenplay
"American Sniper" (Jason Hall)
"The Imitation Game" (Graham Moore)
"Inherent Vice" (Paul Thomas Anderson)
"The Theory of Everything" (Anthony McCarten)
"Whiplash" (Damien Chazelle)

Best Original Screenplay
"Birdman" (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo)
"Boyhood" (Richard Linklater)
"Foxcatcher" (E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Wes Anderson, Hugo Guiness)
"Nightcrawler" (Dan Gilroy)

Best Cinematography
"Birdman" (Emmanuel Lubezki)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Robert D. Yeoman)
"Ida" (Ryszard Lenczweski; Lukasz Zal)
"Mr. Turner" (Dick Pope)
"Unbroken" (Roger Deakins)

Best Costume Design
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Milena Canonero)
"Inherent Vice" (Mark Bridges)
"Into the Woods" (Colleen Atwood)
"Mr. Turner" (Jacqueline Durran)
"Maleficent" (Anna B. Sheppard)

Best Film Editing
"American Sniper" (Joel Cox, Gary Roach)
"Boyhood" (Sandra Adair)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Barney Pilling)
"The Imitation Game" (William Goldenberg)
"Whiplash" (Tom Cross)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
"Foxcatcher"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"

Best Music (Original Score)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Alexandre Desplat)
"The Imitation Game" (Alexandre Desplat)
"Interstellar" (Hans Zimmer)
"Mr. Turner" (Gary Yershon)
"The Theory of Everything" (Jóhann Jóhannsson)

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

Best Production Design
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Adam Stockhausen; Anna Pinnock)
"The Imitation Game" (Maria Djurkovic; Tatiana Macdonald)
"Interstellar" (Nathan Crowley; Gary Fettis, Paul Healy)
"Into the Woods" (Dennis Gassner; Anna Pinnock)
"Mr. Turner" (Suzie Davies; Charlotte Watts)

Best Sound Editing
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"
"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"
"Interstellar"
"Unbroken"

Best Sound Mixing
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"
"Interstellar"
"Unbroken"
"Whiplash"

Best Visual Effects
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier"
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"
"Interstellar"
"X-Men: Days of Future Past"

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

Best Foreign Language Film
"Wild Tales" (Damián Szifrón; Argentina)
"Tangerines" (Zaza Urushadze; Estonia)
"Timbuktu" (Abderrahmane Sissako; Mauritania)
"Ida" (Pawel Pawlikowski; Poland)
"Leviathan" (Andrey Zvyagintsev; Russia)

Best Documentary Feature
"CITIZENFOUR"
"Finding Vivian Mayer"
"Last Days in Vietnam"
"The Salt of the Earth"
"Virunga"

Best Documentary (Short Subject)
"Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1"
"Joanna"
"Our Curse"
"The Reaper"
"White Earth"

Best Short Film (Animated)
"The Bigger Picture"
"The Dam Keeper"
"Feast"
"Me and My Moulton"
"A Single Life"

Best Short Film (Live Action)
"Aya"
"Boogaloo and Graham"
"Butter Lamp"
"Parvaneh"
"The Phone Call"

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson drops his latest film upon us, and if you weren't a fan of his before, it will continue that way.

Set mainly in a fictional European country in the 1930's, The Grand Budapest Hotel tells the story of Zero (Tony Revolori) who trains as a lobby boy of the titular hotel, under the tutelage of Monsieur Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). Monsieur Gustave runs the hotel like a well-oiled machine and ensures that all guests are promptly taken care of, especially the females.

One female in particular, Madame Celine Villeneuve Desgoffe-und-Taxis aka Madame D (Tilda Swinton) eventually is found dead under suspicious circumstances. As Monsieur Gustave took special care of her during her time at the Grand Budapest Hotel, a journey begins where Monsieur Gustave takes Zero to Madame D's will reading. As Madame D's family expects to be bequeathed all of her fortune, the family is shocked that Monsieur Gustave has been granted a very expensive painting. This especially enrages Madame D's son, Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis (Adrien Brody) who employs his loyal assassin J.G. Jopling (Willem Dafoe) to try and stop Monsieur Gustave and retrieve the painting.

This really is only the start of the plot and does not include an extended prison sequence featuring Harvey Keitel or the brief cameos by Anderson regulars Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. Edward Norton also shows up, sporting an ungodly accent, as an inspector that is really forced by the screenplay into tying up the remainder of the plot.

The film itself is filled to the brim with all of the standard Wes Anderson tropes that you have come to expect. The film may not be making fun of itself, but also really doesn't push any new limits that you haven't seen before from a Wes Anderson film. In regards to Wes Anderson films, this doesn't reach the heights of his latest efforts like Moonrise Kingdom or Fantastic Mr. Fox and certainly doesn't compare to my personal favorite: The Royal Tenenbaums.

As it is, though, with most Wes Anderson films, you know what you are getting, and this film certainly provides that. Even when Wes Anderson doesn't give you his best film, it's still better than most of what's currently playing at the cinema.

7.8/10