This year at the Oscars

[crazyforkate]

Yes, we have a discussion thread about the fundie film that got a nomination, but this is more general.

 

So, what did you guys think of the nominations? Currently binge-watching so as to actually have an opinion on it, but so far I'm thrilled about Her and Dallas Buyers Club, and solidly Team Blanchett. Less than impressed with American Hustle. Also happy to add Hawkins and Fassbender to the Nominee Club. Anyone got a favorite? Least favorite? Maybe you're upset about a snub? Let's chat!

 

Oh, and HOW excited are you to see Ellen host again?

[GolightlyGrrl]

I haven't seen any of the nominations, will wait until they come out on DVD. I'm just too broke (and busy) too watch movies at the theater. Still, I always love watching the Oscars. It's kind of my Super Bowl.

[keen23]

DH & I have been wanting to see the Wolf of Wall Street, but haven't yet had the chance. My GBF said that Dallas Buyer's Club made him cry harder than any other movie in the history of cinema.

[nellautumngirl]

I have seen exactly one nominated film, Frozen :lol: I thought it was a beautiful winter movie and the animation, the characters and the jokes were all great. And I love the nominated song "Let It Go", it's up there with the songs from the Lion King or Pocahontas imo. I still want to see 12 Years a Slave, Her, Philomena and Saving Mr Banks. Which movies are you planning on watching?

[ADoyle90815]

I'm also on Team Blanchette, but I think there should have been more nominations for Saving Mr Banks. The only reason I'll see a Disney animated movie is if I'm taking my niece to see a movie, so I haven't seen Frozen.

[crazyforkate]

Reviving for this season. I can't decide whether I liked Boyhood or Grand Budapest better. Both brilliant films in their own, very special ways. At least this looks like it's very likely to be Julianne Moore's year. FINALLY. Nominations on the 15th...can't wait!

[crazyforkate]

Okay, so I'm one of those assholes who bumps threads for the hell of it, but the nominations came out so bear with me. First of all: YAY first-time nominee Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as Steve Carell, Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke! YAY Grand Budapest sweep! BOO Selma losing out on almost everything, even though that was totally predictable due to the abysmal way Paramount handled their marketing campaign! And BOO Meryl Streep getting nominated as a default yet again! And Gone Girl getting snubbed! What even is this! And I am using way too many exclamation points!

Who would have predicted Bradley Cooper getting three nominations in as many years?

Anyway, my predix: Boyhood, Linklater, Keaton, Moore, Arquette, Simmons. Selma takes song. Birdman takes cinematography. Budapest cleans up on several of the technicals. There's no way Budapest can go home empty-handed, right? Please god no.

[Coco]

Wasn't that great how Benedict Cumberbatch landed the award announcement at the Golden Globes? And Jennifer Aniston was kind of a crab about it :lol: But maybe she doesn't like surprises.

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[aquitana]

I liked Boyhood a lot better than Grand Budapest Hotel, but I think Grand Budapest Hotel looked cool, it should win set design or art direction or something.

[crazyforkate]

Yup, it was awesome. Just hit gold in every aspect. My personal hope is for score. And, uh, Male Specimen and I do agree that there's a universe where it could possibly be an upset BP winner. Think like The King's Speech coming out of nowhere a few years back.

[Coco]

This is a fun foodie blog post :D

blogher.com/brilliant-oscar-party-menus-every-movie?page=full

[crazyforkate]

Love it. Love it, love it. Might try making some of those.

Final predix: Boyhood, Inarritu, Keaton, Moore, Simmons, Arquette. I go back and forth in Actor and Picture all the time though.

In any event, NPH will be a terrific host. Their best choice in years IMO.

[CallmeChaCha]

I can't wait to see what NPH has in store for us. Kind of excited! :dance: :cracking-up:

[crazyforkate]

Did you see him and David Burtka on the carpet? So classy and handsome.

[CallmeChaCha]

Yes!! He looked great!

[ADoyle90815]

I actually had a chance to see the animated shorts this year, and I'll say that all of them were good. I'm happy that Feast won, as it was hilarious.

I loved the bit when NPH walked out onstage in his tightie whiteies as that was hilarious!

[CallmeChaCha]

OK.

I was expecting more from NPH. Weren't the media hinting at some sort of magic trick? Did I miss it? It was kind of like when Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosted, except less awkward.

Best acceptance speeches: Patricia Arquette (preach it, sister!), Graham Moore (loved, loved, loved! Stay weird!), Eddie Redmayne (his reaction when he looks at the Oscar!), and Alejandro Iñarritu because he's a homeboy from the mother country lol.

I realized I haven't watched ANY of the movies that were nominated... So... Yeah, gotta get watchin'! Eta: that's not true. I watched The Lego Movie. :? Eta2: was it even nominated? Can't remember lol.

[crazyforkate]

I managed to get in all the BP nominees and the major winners before the Oscars, for the first time in years. Someone give me an Oscar. Anyway, I thought it was a lot of fun. LOTS of excellent speeches - from Common and John Legend, from Arquette, from Eddie, Graham Moore. I'm thrilled that Inarritu finally has an Oscar, it's been coming for ages. Not to mention the fabulous Ms Moore. Sorry, Academy Award Winner Julianne Moore. We can say that now :D

This was a very good year for film. I can't think of a single BP nominee that was actually bad (no Blind Side or anything), and four of them were truly great. Whiplash, Grand Budapest, Boyhood and Birdman would all have been daring and worthy winners. I also liked Selma for its excellent performances and writing and could also see it winning, but the first four were something different. They were all heavily entrenched in the art of filmmaking, not just limiting themselves to a narrative tale - they literally would not have been the works they were without the unique characteristics of the medium, though I'd be interested in Whiplash as a symphony. All starkly and devastatingly original. I'm sad that Boyhood didn't go home with a big trophy (besides a deserving award for Arquette). It was too big an achievement to be ignored, and ultimately I think it could be remembered as a snub - but then again, it was such a good year!!!

In the very first year of the Oscars ('27), they actually had two categories for films - Best Picture, won by Wings, and Unique and Artistic Achievement, won by Sunrise. They got rid of it by the second year. I think such a split might have been useful in this case - but then, years like this don't happen very often. Again, probably four or five of the BP nominees would have been clear frontrunners in weaker lineups. Maybe not Whiplash. But the others, yes.

The musical performances, oh god, the musical performances. NPH's opening. Lady Gaga and Julie (like holy hell, I didn't know Gaga could do that, and then Julie came out and I melted). Glory. Everything is Awesome. Oh my god that was brilliant. I would call those the highlights of the evening.

NPH had a lot of hype going for him, and in the end he didn't quite live up to it, but was still decent enough. We need Jon Stewart back, or - hey - Tina and Amy? A girl can dream.

Also, because they were kind of "weird" movies, one rather quirky and the other rarely-seen, I think it's a true testament to their quality that Grand Budapest and Whiplash were the only multiple-award winners besides Birdman!

Chacha, The Lego Movie was indeed not nominated, and as you can imagine there were a lot of angry people!

[CallmeChaCha]

Ermagerd, yes! Gaga! I loved her performance, and I think I actually squealed, like really, when Julie Andrews came out. I seriously didn't know how Gaga contained herself. I would've been all ugly-crying and maybe peeing myself lol.

[happy atheist]

I saw Birdman and Grand Budapest. That's it for best picture nominees. I enjoyed them both, but I'm glad Birdman won. It was so different and unpredictable.

My son plays drums, so I get enough noise in my life. No Whiplash for me.

[PennySycamore]

OK.

I was expecting more from NPH. Weren't the media hinting at some sort of magic trick? Did I miss it? It was kind of like when Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosted, except less awkward.

Best acceptance speeches: Patricia Arquette (preach it, sister!), Graham Moore (loved, loved, loved! Stay weird!), Eddie Redmayne (his reaction when he looks at the Oscar!), and Alejandro Iñarritu because he's a homeboy from the mother country lol.

I realized I haven't watched ANY of the movies that were nominated... So... Yeah, gotta get watchin'! Eta: that's not true. I watched The Lego Movie. :? Eta2: was it even nominated? Can't remember lol.

It was NOT nominated for Animated Feature, but was for Original Song, which it lost to Glory from Selma.

[PennySycamore]

crazyforkate, I think that this year might make a good case for reviving the Unique and Artistic Achievement category, maybe not every year, but when it's warranted. If you've never seen Sunrise, I recommend it highly. They show it occasionally on Silent Sunday Nights on TCM and for a week or so after that they will probably have it available for viewing on the Watch TCM app. It's excellent. It's easy to see why Janet Gaynor won the first Best Actress Academy Award for her role in Sunrise.

[crazyforkate]

Oh, I love Sunrise and think it far outstrips Wings. It was my FB cover pic for a while. Really, silent films in general just need to be revived. Most of the big ones are on YouTube, actually, so that's a good place to start (though there's nothing like a cinema with live piano, which I'm lucky enough to have seen - one professor went so far as to engage students from the music faculty to play as a combo :clap: ).

It would be nice maybe to award it for a work that did something really new in cinema - like what Boyhood did this year, maybe LOTR back in the day (though they won enough Oscars to drown Peter Jackson anyway, but you get my drift). Roger Ebert used to give out a special "award" (really just a mention in the article) at the same time that he did his rankings, which essentially had the same purpose. Just helping to distinguish the real milestones along with run-of-the-mill good filmmaking.

[GolightlyGrrl]

Ermagerd, yes! Gaga! I loved her performance, and I think I actually squealed, like really, when Julie Andrews came out. I seriously didn't know how Gaga contained herself. I would've been all ugly-crying and maybe peeing myself lol.

Lady Gaga hit it out of the park. I got goosebumps. And when the wonderful Julie Andrews came out and hugged her, I got all misty-eyed.

Loved Patricia's speech. Get it girl!

JK Simmons is a great character actor, and I'm thrilled he's getting all the recognition he deserves.

Glad to see two talented fair-skinned redheads like Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore get Oscars. They are amazing actors, and interesting enough Ms. Moore played Redmayne's mother in the movie Savage Grace. Their relationship can best be explained as dysfunctional.

"Glory" was soul-stirring, and "Everything is Awesome" was so much fun.

So cool to see Wes Anderson truly happy for his peeps winning Oscar gold for Grand Budapest Hotel.

I like NPH hosting the Tonys, but for some reason I was a bit underwhelmed this time out. But I'll give him props for taking on the challenge.

And not surprising to find out the extreme right is pissed that American Sniper didn't win for best picture. Probably Obama's fault. Snerk.

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/23/sean_ha ... scar_loss/

[CallmeChaCha]

Hmmm. I wonder if these same people are equally outraged that Selma also didn't win :think: