Academy Awards 2015: Thoughts and Picks

Hopefully you have had a chance to catch our reviews of the eight Best Picture nominees! If not, you can find them all here. I promise - they're spoiler-free! :)

There were several of the other films I wasn't able to catch in the past year, mainly due to them being unavailable in my area (short films and documentaries don't get a lot of screen time around here). However, I've seen all eight Best Picture nominees and many of the acting/writing/directing nods, so here are my thoughts as we head into Oscar Night 2015!

Oscars 2015: Best Picture Reviews - The Theory of Everything

The last nominee I saw was The Theory of Everything, not because it was the one I wanted to see the least, but just simply because that's how things went. I was actually really impressed by the selections this year and wanted to see all of them.

The Theory of Everything is about Stephen Hawking, but not about science really. This is instead a biopic about his relationship with his wife from their college years and through his life with ALS. It's incredibly hard to watch at times, simply because it's so difficult to see someone go through what he went through with the disease. It's also impressive, because he was told in the 1960's that he had two years to live and he's now in his 70's.

There were so many moments in this film that were painful. ALS is a terrifying illness, because it's hard to imagine your brain functioning just fine while your body betrays you. Both the actors in this film are amazing. Eddie Redmayne needs to win Best Actor, because this is the kind of role that could have been terribly portrayed. He never strays into falseness, and he makes your heart hurt for each moment in Hawking's progressive illness. He is also really funny, giving so much humanity to a man that is admired for his mind, known for an illness and/or his science, but not always seen as a regular person. Felicity Jones as Jane is subtly wonderful. You feel for her throughout and she definitely shows the complexity of emotions that Jane experiences loving a man who is, at times, hard to love.

Oscars 2015: Best Picture Reviews - Selma

Wow, 2014 was an awesome year for film. There's been a lot of complaining that the Oscar nominees aren't diverse enough, but I think it's less about diversity and more about having such an exceptional pool to draw from in selecting nominees. I mean, the Best Picture nominees couldn't be more different and they address everything from mental illness to civil rights to homosexuality to ALS.

Selma is the kind of movie that, in other years, sweeps through the awards season collecting a million awards. It is well-acted, well-directed, well-written, engaging, and an interesting look at a major event in our history. Somehow it came out of the nominations without being a leading contender, but it's not an argument against the film. Instead, it's really a testament to the incredible film making that 2014 brought us.

This is the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. (I find it so strange that this is the first big movie about him!), but not of his entire role in the Civil Rights Movement. Instead, it's the story of Selma, Alabama, the march to Montgomery, and King's push to get the Voting Rights Act signed by President Johnson.

Oscars 2015: Best Picture Reviews - Whiplash

One of the last nominees, Whiplash, is such an interesting pick. Coming from a background in theatre and art, I have mixed feelings about the film and have a hard time deciding who is the hero and who's the villain. I think that's part of the point, of course.

This is the kind of movie you randomly see and then the Oscars come and spend all their nominations on a Lord of the Rings movie and you wonder what is happening. It's intense, engaging, and driven by nothing more than a great story and intriguing characters. It's really the story of two men and the film was shot in 19 days, because it's simple in many ways. On the other hand, there is so much happening that would go missing if you weren't paying attention.

Oscars 2015: Best Picture Reviews - Boyhood

I want to be clear about something. There is a huge difference between a gimmick and a risk. There's a lot of animosity towards Boyhood right now because it's getting such rave reviews and critics are saying people are just being suckered by its gimmick. However, this film easily deserves every bit of praise it has earned. It's currently the first film in nearly 15 years to have a 100% on Metacritic. Although that doesn't necessarily mean much, it's evident that people are impressed by something more than the fact that the film took 12 years to make.

This is the story of a boy, Mason, from the age of 5 until he turns 18 and heads off to college. Director Richard Linklater could have easily used several actors to play Mason at varying ages and used makeup on parents Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette to show aging. It's done all the time. However, he instead decided to find a five-year-old actor, invest in his life, and shoot footage every year for 12 years. The risk is phenomenal. What if the actor, Ellar Coltrane, went through some kind of weird puberty and suddenly couldn't act? What if he didn't want to? What if something terrible happened to him, or Linklater, or any of the film's stars? What if the money ran out? There are so many reasons no one does this when making a movie, and so many reasons why it's incredible that the film turned out the way it did.

Oscars 2015: Best Picture Reviews - American Sniper

Clint Eastwood is usually one of my favorite directors, mainly because I feel like he's not afraid of controversy when making films. So I was terribly disappointed in American Sniper, because it felt like everyone was afraid to shift the film in any direction out of fear of alienating another side. To me, that's dumb. Movies aren't about whether you agree with the politics of the story or character; they're about showing you the world through someone else's eyes.

I always liked Bradley Cooper when he was on Alias, but then he made The Hangover movies, which I hated. I held out hope, though, and I was so happy to see him in Silver Linings Playbook. I loved him in that movie and really wanted to see him win an Oscar, but he unfortunately was up against Daniel Day-Lewis. I feel like he's in the same situation this year, with much better performances likely to outshine his (and this wasn't as good as Silver Linings Playbook). Still, clearly the man can act and I am so happy he's taking on these more challenging roles, because I want to see him in movies like this. I will admit, though, that I dislike Sienna Miller, for no real reason but I don't like her acting very much, and there's basically no one else in this movie with anything resembling a character or traits.

Academy Awards 2015: Best Picture Reviews - The Grand Budapest Hotel

It's hard not to like Wes Anderson. There are not many filmmakers out there these days who have such a clear vision and a unique one at that, who also refuse to make anything but their own quirky brand of films. Everything Wes Anderson does is refreshingly different and, love or hate him, you can't deny he is one of a kind.

I think I've seen all of Wes Anderson's films except The Darjeeling Limited so obviously I was going to see The Grand Budapest Hotel. I saw this when it came out, so it's been a while. I loved this film and although it's not my pick for Best Picture, it would be well deserved if it won. I really want to see Wes Anderson win Best Director regardless, because I would love to see the Academy reward a director who has such a distinct style. There are only a few directors you can pick out within thirty seconds of a film, and that is worth praising.