2015 Academy Award Nominees + my thoughts
Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
The Academy can fill 10 slots, yet they only pick 8. They picked 9 the past two years. Why not just pick 10? Films like Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, and Gone Girl all deserve to be here too. Selma's nod feels like a "Don't worry! We're not racist" nod at this point. It only got nominated here and for original song.
Best Director
Alexandro G. Iñárritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game
Tyldum and Miller were surprises for me. I wasn't sure how this was going to go outside of Linklater, Iñárritu, and Anderson.
Best Actor
Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything
You cannot tell me that Bradley fucking Cooper was better in American Sniper than Jake Gyllenhaal was in Nightcrawler. (Or David Oyelowo, Ralph Fiennes, or Miles Teller for that matter) Where the fuck did this movie come from and why is it taking away from Gyllenhaal? This is by far the most annoying thing.
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
That coveted 5th spot ended up going to Cotillard! I was expecting Amy Adams, though I think I can hear Jennifer Aniston crying in the distance. This is Gone Girl's sole nomination, which is a fucking travesty even though Pike deserves it.
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash
Robert Duvall? Was he really that great in The Judge? He looked pretty bland. And Hawke wasn't anything special in Boyhood, but I still saw that coming.
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Laura Dern - Wild
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Emma Stone - Birdman
Meryl Streep - Into the Woods
Larua Dern is a big surprise here. I thought she was great in Wild. I wish someone like Carrie Coon, Tilda Swinton, or Jessica Chastain wouldve gotten in over Streep though.
Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki - Birdman
Robert Yeoman - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski - Ida
Dick Pope - Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins - Unbroken
Ida really deerves this, it's shot beautifully. Too bad the rest was lackluster.
Best Foreign Language Film
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales
I'm pretty pumped for Tangerines and Timbuktu, since those are both countries' first nominations. I threw Leviathan in my Netflix queue after the Globes. I strangely get a lot of page views from Russia, so I'm happy for them too. lol
Best Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Whiplash made it in! There was some question on whether or not it would since they switched from Original to Adapted so late in the game. Gone Girl not being here is ridiculous though. Fuck you again, American Sniper. No women has ever been nominated for adapting her own novel. Gillian Flynn should have.
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
I love that Nightcrawler got nominated here. (too bad it didn't get nominated anywhere else) but Boyhood was not original. At all. How many times can I say this? Interstellar was more original than Boyhood.
Best Make Up and Hair Styling
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything
Aleandre Desplat got nominated twice. He deserves them, but I really wish Gone Girl would've gotten in here too. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did wonders with that. What the fuck is Mr. Turner anyways?
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
I'm so happy that "Everything is Awesome" and "Lost Stars" are both in here. I don't even care about anyone else!
Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
I am aways team HTTYD2, but Lego Movie not being in here is fucking insulting. What were they thinking? Fuck you, American Sniper! (Yeah, I know it's not here, but another fuck you can't hurt.)
Best Documentary Short
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth
Best Film Editing
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
Best Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Again with Mr. Turner. Maybe I should go find this? I remember a few people talking about it. Interstellar surprises me here for some reason. It's not as showy as the rest. I would've put Snowpiercer here, that film deserved more love.
Best Animated Short
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life
Best Live Action Short
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call
Best Sound Editing
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
Fuck yooouuuu American Sniper. I would've put Winter Soldier here.
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
X-Men being in here surprised me. I would've put Godzilla's special effects above it. Same with The Hobbit's, and probably even what little I've seen of Transformers.
Best Documentary
Citizenfour
Finding Vivien Maier
Last Days of Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
No Life Itself? You couldn't give a documentary about the most celebrated film critic of all time an Oscar nomination? Ugghhh.
Best Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
All period pieces.
Good recap Brittani. Agree all the "fuck yous" here :D Single nomination for Gone Girl is just a shame and especially in Adapted Screenplay category. Flynn did a masterful job.
ReplyDeleteSelma nomination feels exactly how described it. And BP nominee with merely Original Song nomination? It's ridiculous. The Blind Side had also two noms, but it won for Best Actress.
I also don't think Ava was robbed. The movie was damn boring. But, once again, there should have been Fincher instead of Miller.
Even though I did not love The Lego Movie that much and that I'm a huge fan of HTTYD, I was surprised for its snub.
P.S. I love the Eastwood gif
Thank you! It's probably the only time anyone will see something from Girls on my blog.
DeleteWith Selma, I haven't seen it yet, but it feel too important to just leave out like that. If they weren't going to give Gyllenhaal a spot, why not Oyelowo?
I figured Lego Movie would've beaten HTTYD2 in the long run, but I can't even be happy about them having a better chance now. Lego Movie deserved to be there.
Urgh, American Sniper. I can't even type the name without wanting to explode. That Eastwood gif is so accurate too. Overall, Gone Girl, Selma and Nightcrawler have a total nomination count of 4. That's two less than American Sniper.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Song of the Sea, but The Lego Movie should have had a place on the Animated Feature list. I liked it a lot more than Big Hero 6.
I actually loved Mr. Turner a lot, but Mike Leigh can turn off a lot of people. I'd still recommend it though.
I'm all for Grand Budapest and Birdman leading. My favourite film of the year was Boyhood, and while I am definitely rooting for it, I honestly don't think I would mind all that much if Birdman, Grand Budapest or Selma snuck in and took it. But omg, people are saying that American Sniper might win Best Picture, which will never happen, and even if it does... I don't even want to entertain the notion.
Great recap!
College Humor's honest Oscar poster for American Sniper is "Zero Dark Hurt Locker" That's so accurate, that movie looks like a carbon copy of those two films and uuggghhh why is it taking away from other good films? I don't even feel hypocritical for bashing it when I haven't seen it, it just looks bland.
DeleteTANGERINES!!!! (All I care about now because there's so much utter crap in that list!)
ReplyDeletelol I don't blame you.
DeleteHaven't seen American Sniper, but it doesn't look like the greatest thing since sliced bread like it's being made out to be. Lol on the Eastwood gif. I'm almost afraid to ask, but where is that from?
ReplyDeleteVery disappointed The LEGO Movie is not up for Best Animated Feature. Very, very disappointed.
Same for Gone Girl and it's lack of noms.
Nice recap, very fun to read.
Thank you! That gif is from the newest episode of Girls. I don't watch the show, but that thing was everywhere after it aired.
DeleteOnly one nomination for Gone Girl? Really? What are those people smoking?
ReplyDeleteNo kidding. The old men hated it, apparently.
DeleteI was surprised for this year's turnout. I would have thought there was more love for Gone Girl. Enjoyed your recap, and how is American Sniper snatching all categories?!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I have no idea, that film came out of nowhere.
DeleteCan we just have that Joaquin gif on repeat for the rest of the year??? I'm literally obsessed with that moment haha. And basic is right...this is the first year where I'm absolutely 100% bored with how blatantly basic and safe the Academy chose to be. *Yawn*
ReplyDeleteI guess the drinking game this year is "drink every time something predictable happens."
DeleteI can tell you that Bradley Cooper was better, for me, than Gyllenhaal and Oyelowo, and I am telling you. Sorry. While I'm at it, that Girls GIF is hilarious! Despite the fact that American Sniper is actually a great film that deserves to be there. It is anything but bland. To be sure though, I agree. If you have 10 slots, fill them, Academy, so as to not leave any doubt. Totally with you on the Life Itself miss.
ReplyDeleteI admittedly don't care for war movies, and I'm sure Cooper isn't bad (though that accent sounds a bit over the top in clips) but I just can't with Gyllenhaal not being there.
DeleteI see Girls continue to be high class :P
ReplyDeleteDid you see American Sniper? There's a lot of bashing but I wonder if anyone actually saw it. Selma on the other hand is undeserved in both nominations.
Not yet. I have to buy a stupid festival pass from my theater to see Whiplash so I might see it then, but God all the clips I've watched are so bland.
Deletesuper disappointed that gone girl didn't get more love, that gif is deeply disturbing to me lol, STILL need to see nightcrawler, i didn't really like whip lash but i am happy for j.k. simmons..., disappointed that there weren't more acting nods for selma since that was its bread and butter, i'm glad someone else agrees with me about interstellar (tho i do think boyhood was a better film lol), i thought the lego movie was pretty unremarkable, the life itself snub is a HUGE misstep, i generally like clint as a director, but this american sniper business came out of nowhere to me
ReplyDeleteI think American Sniper just demonstrated A) How much pull Eastwood actually has the with Academy and B) How much those old, white dudes love war movies.
DeleteI liked Interstellar, I wanted it to be better, but it was in no way bad and I would have it in places over Boyhood any day.
You NEED to see Nightcrawler, Gyllenhaal is so beyond belief fantastic.
LOL. Those gifs.
ReplyDeleteAside from The LEGO Movie and Life Itself missing in the animated and doc categories, I wasn't too upset with any of these. I'm just glad "Lost Stars" got in. Thrilled for Beyond the Lights as well, since its nod should lead to more people actually seeing it (and Gugu's amazing performance).
Same here with Lost Stars. I would've raged had that been left out.
Delete