Oscars 2015 - The Year Nobody Watched?

[AndyDursin]

I didn't rush to post this since, well, I wasn't all that excited by most of these nominations.

One thing's for certain -- they will have their work cut out for them in generating ratings with this group of nominees...most of which very few people have seen.

At least GONE GIRL didn't get a nomination for Best "Score" lol

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
American Sniper
Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan, Producers
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole, Producers
Boyhood
Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland, Producers
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson, Producers
The Imitation Game
Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman, Producers
Selma
Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers
The Theory of Everything
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten, Producers
Whiplash
Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster, Producers

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Steve Carell in Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Robert Duvall in The Judge
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
Edward Norton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons in Whiplash

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon in Wild

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Laura Dern in Wild
Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game
Emma Stone in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep in Into the Woods

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Big Hero 6
Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
The Boxtrolls
Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
Song of the Sea
Tomm Moore and Paul Young
The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya
Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper
Written by Jason Hall
The Imitation Game
Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice
Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything
Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash
Written by Damien Chazelle

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Boyhood
Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher
Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler
Written by Dan Gilroy

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Robert Yeoman
Ida
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner
Dick Pope
Unbroken
Roger Deakins

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice
Mark Bridges
Into The Woods
Colleen Atwood
Maleficent
Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
Mr. Turner
Jacqueline Durran

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
CitizenFour
Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier
John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam
Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth
Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
Virunga
Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Joanna
Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse
Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper (La Parka)
Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth
J. Christian Jensen

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
American Sniper
Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
Boyhood
Sandra Adair
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game
William Goldenberg
Whiplash
Tom Cross

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (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

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
“Glory” from Selma
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
“Grateful” from Beyond the Lights
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” from Begin Again
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game
Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar
Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
Into the Woods
Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Mr. Turner
Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Bigger Picture
Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper
Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast
Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton
Torill Kove
A Single Life
Joris Oprins

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Aya
Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham
Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)
Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh
Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call
Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
American Sniper
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
Interstellar
Richard King
Unbroken
Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
American Sniper
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
Interstellar
Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
Unbroken
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
Whiplash
Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy
Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
Interstellar
Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer

[mkaroly]

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (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

My gosh...lol...who cares who wins that category this year?????

[jkholm]

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (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

My gosh...lol...who cares who wins that category this year?????

Desplat's score for The Imitation Game was all right. Nothing spectacular. There was some "Beautiful Mind" type tinkly ostinato stuff going on and a nice piece for the coda. I bet he'll win for Budapest though.

The most interesting category is Best Animated Feature with no nomination for The LEGO Movie, which seems to bother everyone except me because I'm one of the few people who think that movie is overrated.

[AndyDursin]

The most interesting category is Best Animated Feature with no nomination for The LEGO Movie, which seems to bother everyone except me because I'm one of the few people who think that movie is overrated.

I enjoyed the movie, didn't think it was as amazing as others felt either...I guess the issue, though, is what was better in that category? I have a hard time believing THE BOXTROLLS or BIG HERO 6 were more entertaining based on their reviews. Didn't see the others.

[TomServo]

The most interesting category is Best Animated Feature with no nomination for The LEGO Movie, which seems to bother everyone except me because I'm one of the few people who think that movie is overrated.

I enjoyed the movie, didn't think it was as amazing as others felt either...I guess the issue, though, is what was better in that category? I have a hard time believing THE BOXTROLLS or BIG HERO 6 were more entertaining based on their reviews. Didn't see the others.

I thought that THE BOXTROLLS was just more weird than it was enjoyable, but BIG HERO 6 (which I saw with my 6-year old neice) was more entertaining and engaging than I expected. I think I probably enjoyed it as much as I did THE LEGO MOVIE but I do give the latter major kudos for just sheer imagination and inventiveness. I'm surprised it wasn't nominated either, but who knows why it didn't garner as many votes.

As for the rest of the categories, I liked most of those films but you're right, though, that it's going to pretty tough to get interest from the rest of the public. The nominated movies are good, but they are of course under most everyone's radar. I enjoyed NIGHTCRAWLER, BIRDMAN and AMERICAN SNIPER more than most of the big blockbuster movies this year, with the exceptions being the latest X-MEN and APES installments. I guess this fact firmly puts me in the minority of movie-goers!

[AndyDursin]

The major problem continues to be that they are no longer producing movies for adults -- at least, not nearly in the amounts they used to.

While the best projects seem to be migrating to television (FARGO was phenomenal), the cineplex is turning into an exclusive playground for "tentpole franchises" and effects blockbusters. Movies for kids and teens, and some of us aging nerds who want sequels and remakes.

I kept waiting for that wave of "adult" movies to come out in the fall and take hold. This year, that didn't even happen. The major nominees are films that opened back in the spring! (i.e. GRAND BUDAPEST, which wasn't even Anderson's best work).

[sprocket]

I think the 'adult' films are still out there, but they aren't promoted. They have zero promotion budget and they survive on word of mouth. The exceptions are the 'Oscar bait' films which are promoted specifically to win Oscars (whether or not their inherent quality deserves such recognition). Its all politics and money now.

I think many of the overlooked filmmakers and craftspeople (including the actors) understand this. Ultimately, if their films make a profit, they get good reviews within the industry (as opposed to through the marketing machinery) and they see an impact in the market, I'm sure they are happy.

[Paul MacLean]

A nomination for Zimmer and two for Desplat?

I just don't understand film music anymore.

No, actually, I do understand film music. People making feature films just don't.

[TomServo]

I think the 'adult' films are still out there, but they aren't promoted. They have zero promotion budget and they survive on word of mouth. The exceptions are the 'Oscar bait' films which are promoted specifically to win Oscars (whether or not their inherent quality deserves such recognition). Its all politics and money now.

I think many of the overlooked filmmakers and craftspeople (including the actors) understand this. Ultimately, if their films make a profit, they get good reviews within the industry (as opposed to through the marketing machinery) and they see an impact in the market, I'm sure they are happy.

Additionally, the "adult" films out there don't get the screen space at movie theaters across the country. It'd be great if everyone discovered BIRDMAN and NIGHTCRAWLER, but it doesn't seem as if most of the moviegoers have this option. Of course here in L.A. I can talk to most anyone and they've seen them, but when I talk to my sister in North Carolina, she has no idea what these movies are. The local cineplex is too top-heavy with the blockbusters.

[TomServo]

A nomination for Zimmer and two for Desplat?

I just don't understand film music anymore.

No, actually, I do understand film music. People making feature films just don't.

Like it or not, those are two of the best guys in the movie music business now. You can't nominate what doesn't exist and there are no scores from Barry, Bernstein or Goldsmith in 2014. I've actually come around to Zimmer in recent years, finding much to enjoy in his music. I have to be in the right mood, as with Rosenman or Alex North, but when that mood strikes nothing else will suffice!

[AndyDursin]

Zimmer's INTERSTELLAR score gave that movie nothing. Added nothing to it, enhanced not one part of it, and showed, sadly, he has no grasp whatsoever of dramatic underscore. Cut and paste one minute of that score from the first 5 minutes to the 60 minute mark or the 100 minute mark or the last 5 minutes -- makes no difference. When you don't modulate, the music becomes like a screaming child in the back row of the theater. That's how (in)effective that score was.

But...at least it's better than what Reznor and Atticus Ross "wrote" for GONE GIRL. (Then again, so is static!)

[AndyDursin]

Additionally, the "adult" films out there don't get the screen space at movie theaters across the country. It'd be great if everyone discovered BIRDMAN and NIGHTCRAWLER, but it doesn't seem as if most of the moviegoers have this option.

It's interesting -- you might think this is the case, but it's really not. I just looked it up and nearly all of these films have expanded out of limited release and have played nationally.

They simply haven't made very much money, even when they went into wider release -- look at BOYHOOD, which expanded to 700 screens and made peanuts on a per-screen average last summer. BIRDMAN expanded out to 800+ screens and similarly did unspectacular numbers. They're trying to roll it out again this weekend with another expansion since the Oscar nominations came out.

Bottom line is if a movie doesn't do well on a set number of screens, they're not going to push them out any further, which is why, collectively, this is the lowest-grossing group of films I believe have ever been nominated for Oscars. The reality is that there was not a really big viewer interest in these films.

NIGHTCRAWLER, on the other hand, opened as a wide release -- opened on just under 3000 screens which is huge for that kind of film.

GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL also went wide (not on 3000 screens but a very good amount) and did well for a Wes Anderson film...right now it's the highest grossing film of the entire batch! THE IMITATION GAME is currently wide (1500+ screens), THEORY OF EVERYTHING is limited but it's out there in most states (400 screens), and SELMA and AMERICAN SNIPER just went/are going national this weekend. I'm guessing the latter will end up being the highest-grossing film of the group when all is said and done, and probably the only, real "commercial" hit of them too.

If you want to look at per-screen averages, AMERICAN SNIPER on a half-dozen (or less) screens made more money than any of the other "smaller" films did on a comparable number of theaters. Not even close.

WHIPLASH is really the one that was hard to catch...they never bothered expanding it beyond a handful of major markets and it goes to video next month.

[DavidBanner]

This year was frankly a "meh" year for movies overall, and for Oscar Bait movies in particular. I totally agree that the nominations are unexciting, to say the least. Pretty much what you'd expect, with no real surprises. A snub at Jennifer Aniston by Academy voters who weren't going for her performance in "Cake". A misunderstood situation with "Selma", which never built any momentum because they premiered it late and chose not to send any screeners to any of the guilds. In the future, it's likely to be known as a symbol for movies where the studio PR team went cheap and paid dearly for it. Some truly odd choices here and there - Bennett Miller for "Foxcatcher"? Really?

I have to admit having no real enthusiasm to watch the Oscars this year. That happens from time to time. Not every year is a banner one for movies.

I'll again have to disagree about the merits of "Interstellar" and its score by Hans Zimmer. I realize he's unpopular here, but that was not a wallpaper score by any means. There were repeated motifs, but ones that resonated with the characters and the story. As always of late, it was bombastic at points, but it also had some great moments of heart. And the use of the pipe organ kept bringing up thoughts of John Carpenter scores from days past. I would also venture to say that Nolan's direction of that movie was several miles ahead of "Foxcatcher" and "Boyhood". The former movie was an embarrassing mess, from the main performances to the story. (I'll exempt Mark Ruffalo, who was actually as good as he could be under the circumstances) The latter movie was a great concept ruined by a pedestrian execution. If anything, it was an example of why you don't stretch out a movie production over 12 years - it's a better idea to just make your movie at one time and use things like makeup, double casting and design to connote passage of time.

Of the favored movies being nominated by guilds and the Academy, I was only impressed by "Birdman" and "Whiplash". "The Imitation Game" is a nice movie that would have done better as an HBO movie of the week. "American Sniper" is a well-produced movie that worked better when it initially previewed in 2009 as "The Hurt Locker". "Unbroken" was an example of a well-produced movie that forgot to cast a compelling lead to make the story worth following. "Incoherent Vice" was a total waste of time - and that's the second time Paul Thomas Anderson has gotten away with inflicting something like this on unsuspecting audiences.

I still have a couple of the awards bait movies to catch up on - "Theory of Everything", "Grand Budapest Hotel", "Still Alice". I've held back on "Grand Budapest Hotel" due to the unhappiness I had with "Moonrise Kingdom". The others have seemed like noble efforts that didn't motivate me to rush to watch them yet.

I seriously hope that 2015 sees a more interesting bumper crop.

[AndyDursin]

I felt his use of pipe organ was a direct and obvious homage to 2001 if nothing else.

While we clearly disagree on that issue, on almost every front otherwise though I agree. I didnt see Foxcatcher but a friend of mine was utterly baffled by it!

[DavidBanner]

You're absolutely right that Zimmer and Nolan were referencing the use of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" as heard in 2001. Particularly the moments of letting the organ note carry like the very end of the 2001 piece.

I should also mention that I agree with you about the bizarre score on "Gone Girl", which seems to mostly consist of atonal mood riffs and bass purrs.