Today is one of my favorite days of the year. It is the day on which I get to see a list of films that, had I not decided to have children, I would have seen some of. And it is a list of films that, again without the kids, I would attempt to check off, one by one, in an attempt to see all of them before my annual Oscars party. Yes, today is the day of the 2015 Academy Award Nominations! And there are a lot of great films (I assume) nominated. Although I would like to point out, with some pride, that with only 8 best picture nominations this year, I have seen 25% of them! And here’s the list:
American Sniper – I have not seen this. It sounds like it has a sniper in it, and it may be somewhat American. This makes me think of when I lived in America and there was a sniper roaming around the DC area and I was terrified to walk from my apartment building to the metro so I could get to work. This makes me not want to see it. However, it also sounds like it has Bradley Cooper in it, and as long as he is playing an anthropomorphic raccoon it will probably be a fine film.
Birdman (or the unexpected virtue of ignorance) – This is one of my two. I saw this! It was awesome! It was also really, really strange. Not what I was expecting at all. It is best picture material? Well, it is eccentrically brilliant and unlike anything else I have ever seen. Does that win best pictures? Sadly, the answer is often no. But in this case…? We’ll see.
Boyhood – This is a brilliant idea. I had this idea when I was ten. Make a movie, but film it over the course of a decade and a half so that the characters age appropriately. No silly flashbacks with random child actors playing your adult characters. No! The flashbacks ARE the adult characters, just filmed 15 years earlier! Brilliant! But this would never work. Who would take that long to film a movie and sit on all that footage for so long? Well, Richard Linklater would, and from what I’ve heard that results are astounding. And even though my 10-year-old idea was somewhat related to the Chronicles of Narnia, I’ll bet Boyhood is pretty good too.
The Grand Budapest Hotel – This is the other movie I saw. And for me, it is the best picture of the year. It was so, I don’t know, GOOD! I was drawn in to this little world, and the characters, the settings, the camera work, the music, oh it all fit together so brilliantly that it stands as a testament to the craft of film making. And no, it didn’t always make sense, but that’s besides the point. See this one.
The Imitation Game – Now this sounds like a movie I could get behind. Secret codes, personal struggle, and Bernadette Chambercrotch as Alan Turing. Put this on the top of my list to see! Everything turns out all right for ol’ Alan Turing in the end, right? Right?
Selma – Okay, maybe Alan Turing’s story didn’t have a happy ending because he was unjustly persecuted due to social injustice, but let’s move on to a story that has none of that. The biopic story of Selma Blair. I had a huge crush on Selma right up through when she was starring in Hellboy, and then she… what? Not Selma Blair? Selma, Alabama? Who is she? Oh man, this is about Martin Luther King, Jr., isn’t it? Well, I guess happy endings don’t win Oscars. And, in all seriousness, everyone I know who has seen this movie loudly proclaimed it a “must-see.” So I will. I must. See.
The Theory of Everything – Another biopic? Well, okay. This one tells the tale of the early years of “The Big Bang Theory” guest star Stephen Hawking. It tells a little bit about his life and what he was up to before appearing on a major network television sitcom. You might not know this just from watching the show, but he actually is a published author! So sit back and enjoy the saga of actor Stephen Hawking, played marvelously in an Oscar-nominated performance by that hot guy from Les Mis.
Whiplash – Finally! A superhero movie makes the cut! And ever since all of those Sony e-mails leaked, apparently the Spider-Man universe is back at Marvel, because this prequel to Iron Man 2 apparently stars Peter Parker’s boss and nemesis J. Jonah Jameson. At least that’s what I got from the one preview I saw. I actually don’t know much about this movie, and I didn’t see Whiplash in the trailer at all, which was weird. I assume it’s like how in the first Hulk previews we didn’t really see the Hulk. Anticipation and all that. Anyway, discover the untold story of how Mickey Rourke’s young Ivan Vanko becomes the cruel and evil Whiplash who will one day attack Tony Stark on a race track. And what role does The Daily Bugle play in all of this? We’ll all just have to watch the movie and see!
So there they are. The eight best picture nominations for this year. And I’ve seen two! And the best news of all? Boyhood is in the Redbox. I know what I’m doing this weekend! And after that, I’ll see you all at the movies!
Well, not really. I have kids. Anyone want to babysit?