After a write up consisting of four different parts, it is time to talk about the one category that is always fun to debate about: Best Picture!
So who do I think is going to win the big prize? Let's not start with a long paragraph this time. Let's just get right to it!
BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
The thing that jumps out for me on this list is that frankly, this really is a really great list of films this year. There is no one film that is in here that makes everyone groan. I could make an argument for Foxcatcher being included on this list but other than that. I have no problems with the nominees listed here.
So to start, who has no chance of winning? I think that honor has to go to The Theory of Everything. It's a fine movie no doubt. Well acted with a great subject matter. But it's the kind of biographic film you see at the Oscars every year and the film just doesn't really scream "BEST PICTURE!" Maybe Best Actor, but not Best Picture. The same I think goes for the other British film on this list, The Imitation Game. It is really odd with this movie because on paper, you think this would be an easy win for Best Picture. It's a prestige British Film. It is on the subject of World War II. You have two big name actors in Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. It is also about a gay man being persecuted which is a big hot topic issue going on right now. But it seems that many people think that it is one of those movies that is really good, just not best of the year good.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a movie that a lot of people really do love though. It's hard to find someone that hated it. However it has been put in what I call "the Moulin Rouge spot." It is going to win a good number of technical awards and be a film that many people admire for years, it is just not going to win Best Picture. The same thing can be said for Selma. This film will be remembered for years to come. It is an important historical film. Many people are upset that it will not win Best Picture and they have every right to be that way. But it is also going to join a list of amazing films that have also not won Best Picture. Seriously, go to Google and look up the list of nomintated movies that have lost Best Picture. It's not a bad list to be on.
Now if I had my pick, Whiplash would win Best Picture no questions asked. It is the first movie that I can think of in years that I had a visceral reaction to. The movie moves you with the story, the acting, and especially the music. But the fact that the movie is such a gut punch at times I think is what's going to scare off the voters. It happens a lot. Why else could you explain why similar gut punch films like Raging Bull and Brokeback Mountain lost out on Best Picture to the more accessible to watch films like Ordinary People and Crash?
Oddly enough, I think this also will apply to American Sniper. True it is a dark horse pick. It is the most popular film nominated. As of this writing, the film has made $308 Million Dollars at the U.S. box office. That is not a number to sneeze at. Also, it is directed by past Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood. But I have a feeling that even though it is raking in piles of money, the Academy is not going to give it Best Picture. You have a lot of liberal members in the voting branch and they really will not respond to the right leaning ways of the main character of the film. Also, you know they have to worry about a Crash-like backlash happening again if they let the movie win Best picture.
So that leaves two films. The first one being Boyhood. For awhile, it was the presumed front runner. It has popped up on a slew of best of the year lists. Richard Linklater is a very popular director. It was filmed over a 12 year period, which definitely an interesting story to voters watching the film. It's also well acted which had to be a hard thing to continue to do over the years of filming. But the one thing that I think it is a determent to the movie is that it came out in the summer. Thus, people have had a long time to watch in theaters, watch it on DVD or on their computers. That is enough time for one movie to be picked apart and talked about by many people. So much so, that complaints about the film being gimmicky have started to surface.
Because of that, I believe that Birdman is going to be the film that wins Best Picture. That is not a bad thing in the least. I love the movie. It's well acted with a career defining performance by Michael Keaton. It is well directed. It also has great camera work by Emmanuel Lubezki, who is hot at the moment coming off of a win for the similar one-take film, Gravity. Also if there is one type of film that the Academy in recent years have loved to honor, it is films that celebrate the world of cinema and the theater and the power they have over people. The Artist and Argo are two recent examples that come to mind. Expect Birdman to soar up into the air and join the list of Best Picture winners.
Should Win:
Whiplash
Will Win:
Enjoy the show this Sunday!
- Hash
No comments:
Post a Comment