EPOCH6

I'm afraid it looks like I'm the odd one out here but I didn't find Selma very memorable. The Civil Rights Movement was memorable, MLK Jr. was a memorable man, but Selma just didn't blow me away like other films this year (Whiplash, Birdman, Grand Budapest Hotel etc). I think it really succeeded as a compelling story, I think David Oyelowo did an excellent job as MLK (as well as a fantastic job with his small part in A Most Violent Year), but I didn't feel like there was anything Selma had from a technical perspective that made it stand out. Birdman was a technical masterpiece, Boyhood was an ambitious 12 year act, and Grand Budapest Hotel was a massive fast-paced visual adventure. I don't think I'd argue with Selma replacing Imitation Game in Best Director but still I could never imagine it beating the top 3. Same with Best Actor, David Oyelowo was excellent but I couldn't imagine him beating out Michael Keaton's role in Birdman, but again I think it was at least on par with Cumberbatch in Imitation Game, I wouldn't have argued with a nomination. We have to remember that it takes a lot more than compelling emotional impact to succeed in a lot of these categories. I don't know if I'd go as far as calling its exclusion atrocious, this year has a lot of really tough competition, but I am surprised.

I'm also very surprised that Gone Girl didn't make it in for Best Adapted Screenplay, but I haven't read the book so who knows, maybe it actually botched it a bit.

I'm a little bitter that Nightcrawler only got one nomination (although it is a suitable nomination, Best Original Screenplay). I think Gyllenhaal could have easily competed with Steve Carell and Benedict Cumberbatch in Best Actor. His performance in Nightcrawler is burned into my memory.

I'm astounded that Fury didn't get nominated for Sound Editing or Mixing (or any nominations at all), but I suppose it's a small category and the ones that did get nominations were pretty amazing anyway.

I'm a little surprised that The Hobbit: BOT5A didn't make it in for Visual Effects, but it did have tough competition this year. I find it kind of puzzling that X-Men beat it to the punch, but I'd have to re-watch it.

Overall, I'm actually pretty satisfied with this year's nominations. I still need to watch Wild, American Sniper, The Theory of Everything, Mr. Turner, and maybe Unbroken.

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jacktricity

SPIDERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2

peter parker for the win

The Batlord

I like what you said about Selma, though I'm kind of burned out on Civil Rights movies. I teared up at Amistad, sure, but I'm kind of uncomfortable with being a white guy watching those movies. Like, I'm clearly down with black people being treated like human beings, but I can never shake the feeling that I and the black community in general are being exploited and made to feel like I should like this movie, just like WWII movies make me feel like I'm being expected to pay tribute to the Greatest Generation rather than enjoying it as a film.

Most of these movies (the Civil Rights ones) are probably being made by majority white guys, and there's usually some emphasis on white people overcoming their prejudices or showing that all white people aren't like those white people. It's why, god damn length aside, I liked Malcom X. It gave a look into Civil Rights not tarnished by some white guy's desire to look like the most enlightened white guy in white guydom.

I loved those prison scenes where Malcolm was being taught all these racist things, like, white people make black the "evil color" as a way to subliminally demonize black people, and that black people were the chosen of god, meaning that white people were of the devil (I think that was the gist of it, but it's been a few years since I saw the movie). Really gave the guy depth in an uncomfortable way that made his ultimate change of heart after going to Mecca all the more poignant.

I liked your description of Selma too. I'm lazy about checking out movies, but I really do look up to MLK, and a more true to life depiction of him would be refreshing.


And Gone Girl didn't even get nominated for anything? Bull****. I'm generally a shallow movie fan who digs Jason Statham and comic book movies, and that film just floored me in a way that more serious movies generally don't. I don't hesitate in calling it my fav movie of the year. My friend hasn't been buying into my being the Devil's Advocate about Ben Affleck having the chops to play Bruce Wayne, but he was at least slightly moved after seeing it. Hopefully with a few more movies like that he'll pull a DiCaprio, and all of his dreck will be forgotten in the wake of his redemption. I think he's 90% there already. Now he just has to make a good comic book movie to rinse the taste of Daredevil out of the nerds' mouths.

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Chula Vista

Have you seen this? He's really good in it.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

JennyOndioline

I know it will never win Best Picture (damn you, Boyhood) but I'm seriously hoping for a Best Supporting Actor win for JK Simmons and a Best Editing win for Tom Cross, because both of those aspects of the film were absolute perfection. I'd cross my fingers for Sound Mixing too, but for some reason I have a feeling Interstellar is going to snag that one.

Reiterating that snubbing Essie Davis, though expected, is a god damn shame.

EPOCH6

Whiplash getting 5 nominations was such a massive relief, it's doing so well for a low-budget underdog. It's a nice feeling seeing such a relatively small production making such a massive splash. **** is going to hit the fan in the best way on Oscars night if J.K. Simmons actually manages to scoop Best Supporting Actor over Edward Norton and Ethan Hawke. I think Sound Mixing is going to be a close race, Interstellar and Birdman were actually very impressive in that category but I'm certainly rooting for Whiplash. However I don't think Whiplash stands a chance against Boyhood or Grand Budapest in Film Editing, I'm rooting for Grand Budapest Hotel in that category.

EDIT: To be honest I don't think Boyhood is going to dominate much this year, I'm thinking Birdman is going to take home the most. Not only is it a technical masterpiece, it's a film about the film industry being voted upon by film industry professionals.

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Chula Vista

I actually think he's a shoo in. He's sweeping up everywhere else.

Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Indiana Film Journalists Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Supporting Actor
Palm Springs International Film Festival Spotlight Award
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuoso Award
St. Louis Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Village Voice Film Poll Award for Best Supporting Actor
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

EPOCH6

Wow, I had no idea, that's insane. There is hope after all.

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JennyOndioline

I could see all of these things happening, for sure. I think Keaton is a lock for Best Actor, but for some reason I think the Academy might pull out BP for Boyhood as a sort of lifetime achievement award for Linklater. Actually, now that I think about it, they might give Birdman BP and Linklater director. Enh.

Sad to see Selma being pushed to the wayside. I guess we assuaged all our white guilt last year with 12 Years A Slave, right folks?? Sigh.

James

Dude, I'm a film major - I know how films are made, and that is one well directed film. Better directed than The Imitation Game by a longshot. It's an insult. You'll seldom find better photography than Selma's this year. The three films you mentioned are well directed too, and I think Linklater deserves it far more than anybody else - but a nomination for an Oscar goes a long way in building someone's career, this is Ava DuVernay's third feature and it's incredibly accomplished. An Oscar nomination could have given her the opportunity to become the world class filmmaker I know she can be.
With David Oyelowo, again the wins don't matter. He deserved a nomination. I would put his performance on a par with Keaton's, and it dwarfs the work of Cumberbatch, Carell, and Redmayne. Jake Gyllenhaal does too. I've not seen American Sniper yet, but I don't have high hopes for Cooper.
Oyelowo's performance is subdued, subtle, but ultimately human, and incredibly painful at points. This role could have become a parody so easily, but Oyelowo makes it his own and challenges history's image of MLK, avoiding simple public perception and playing him as a real person. Astounding performance in my eyes. Every movement of King's eyes perfectly relays his doubts, his inner conflicts, his morals, and the heavy weight racism has placed on his shoulders.


I love Malcolm X and I believe Selma belongs in the same category. Hey, now they share an Oscar snub! Selma was made by a black woman. and the film has a lot of emphasis on the women that made change possible as well as the men. I also despise films made by old white men about race, and gender too. Hence why the idea of Steven Spielberg making his own MLK film a few years down the line is gross to me.
Hell, that's what pissed me off about 12 Years A Slave last year. Steve McQueen is black yes, but he's British! How can a British man make a film about slavery, something so deepy ingrained in America's history and culture, and put the same passion and emotions into it as a native? Still a good film, but it ultimately bothers me. Ava DuVernay as a black woman has clearly experienced her fair share of both the change MLk helped bring around, and the lingering backlash against it.