87th Academy Awards: Flat NPH, Great Speeches & Awful Jokes

Lets get this obligatory Oscars telecast review out of the way so that I and every one of you can move on with your lives and peacefully witness another year of great films that Academy wont award. So the basic thing I got away from the Oscars was that as usual, it was too long. It is always long but it felt much longer thanks to the writers who failed NPH. You see now I understand how such awesome, funny and exuberant hosts fall flat when they host the Oscars. It's the writers and their painfully unfunny and tired gags. When at one side of the stage you have these wonderful speeches, highlighting their personal journeys with their respective films and the great causes so close to their hearts.... on the other side, a horrible joke awaits. Two different ceremonies were going on and the one without NPH was the one I loved. We all spend like 70% of the year talking about the Oscars, predicting and scratching our heads. Then hoping the Academy wont embarrass themselves and award great works of art and cinema. Finally when the time comes, people are first too fixated on the red carpet, then distracted by the awful jokes and repetitive gags and then uninspiring 'wins' that people wont remember in a few years leaves a bad taste in mouth. I just had like 4 hours of sleep, maybe less and have been awake ever since. Tried to take a short nap in the evening but found myself thinking about Boyhood a lot. The images from the movie were playing in my head so I got up, took a shower and went out. At this moment, I have enough energy to write this quite lackluster post and be done with it.

So if I can just do a small glance over before I rank or rate things in categories... there were some really great musical performances. One specially that we thought wont work, did and it did and it brought me to tears. Wait! I am not talking about "Glory"... that actually made me want to stand up and sing along. The winners of course individually, great but overall, some weren't very pleasing choices. The speeches, now those were the best things about the wins. Such highlight moments.  There was this trend where winners were shining lights on issues and causes. There were some very awkward moments as well of course. The ceremony felt long, one gag in particular has to be the most boring in a decade or so.

Best Speeches

1. Graham Moore - Best Adapted Screenplay (The Imitation Game)

I tweeted too soon, a snark. Then upon a re-watch, this felt like the most genuine, human and profound speech of all. Moore was excited and cute at first thanking Oprah. Then he revealed something deeply personal about his past and spoke so greatly addressing others and encouraging them to be exactly who they are and spreading that sense of individual pride. "Stay weird, stay different".

87th Academy Awards: Talking Winners and Losers

First, lets see how I did predicting the Oscars:

Best Picture:
(Winner) Birdman
(Predicted Winner) Boyhood

Best Director:
(Winner) Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman
(Predicted Winner) Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Academy Awards 2015 Winners

I will share my thoughts in detail tonight or maybe tomorrow but here is the list of winners for now.... Birdman won yeah... actors had to award 'their' film.

Best Picture:
Birdman

Independent Spirit Awards 2015

Birdman, Boyhood, Nightcrawler and Whiplash were the big winners at the Independent Spirit Awards last night. The Indie Spirits are the last awards before the big one and they claim to honor the best in independent filmmaking. In fact, they are just 'dress rehearsals' for the Oscars as one of the critics put it on Twitter. They really have become one in the last few years, you can't blame them though, every award ceremony wants to be the Oscars and award the winners for them. You can see that here with all the talk of a Boyhood and Birdman split that they went for exactly that. "Birdman" won best picture as well as best cinematography and Michael Keaton won best male lead for the film. "Boyhood" on the other hand was awarded with two awards, Richard Linklater won best director while Patricia Arquette won best supporting actress for the film. A film that should have been more celebrated at the Oscars, "Nightcrawler" was given best screenplay and best first feature. "Whiplash" won best editing over Boyhood and also its supporting star J.K. Simmons won as well. The rest of the bunch were the obvious. Of course Justin Simien won best first screenplay for "Dear White People" and there were some special awards handed out to two films.

Below is the full list of winners:

Best Feature:
Birdman

87th Academy Awards Predictions (The Bird/Boy Dilemma)

Its happening guys, all will end soon. What I mean to say is that the biggest and the final award of this season, the Oscars are this Sunday. Months of predictions and headaches, closely following the race and analysing every rise and fall of the contenders will all come to an end. Until it came to the Oscars nominations, I was enjoying this season a lot. Now the direction everything is going towards, I feel worse. If you are a smart person or you are taking part in Oscar pools etc for prizes... then you know which film to pick exactly. With such an overwhelming support from the industry voters and guilds, "Birdman" is the one to watch. I don't want to let go of my favorite film of the year "Boyhood" hence I just can't bring myself to not pick it. They are the frontrunners in categories followed by "The Grand Budapest Hotel". A film that may surprise would be "Whiplash". Forgetting my personal love for the masterpiece that is Boyhood, looking at the possibilities of wins, the race is still interesting enough. If you think Birdman wins both picture and director (along with cinematography) while lead actor goes to Eddie Redmayne, original screenplay to The Grand Budapest Hotel (also keeping in mind that Birdman isn't nominated for editing and score)... the things that drives Birdman, then it just doesn't make sense to award it best picture. What are the voters thinking? On the other hand, if Boyhood takes both picture and director along with supporting actress and editing while Birdman wins screenplay and cinematography and The Grand Budapest Hotel takes the tech awards... that would please me considering things would be evenly divided. But the actors and filmmakers seems to be behind Birdman. The film about actor, filmmaking, struggles of bringing something worthy to the audience, fame, criticism, constant pressure from the outside world... that makes for a perfect film to be awarded the Oscar. Why would they care for a beautiful indie feature about a kid growing up that was made over 12 years and yet didn't ham-fist the 12 year thing in the film? Subtlety my friends is not Academy's forte, loudness and boldly petting their own egos is.

Birdman is a great film, one of the best of the year. But Boyhood IS the best film of the year and one of the most truly magnificent pieces of filmmaking and storytelling to come out in years. Academy has a great opportunity to award it or they will inadvertently give birth to another martyr (check out the list of great movies that didn't win yet are more remembered and celebrated). If Boyhood doesn't win, I may stop following or caring for the Oscars season. In just 5 years, I have grown weary of the Academy. How do the critics/journalists who've been following this for years do this?

Below are my predictions:

BEST PICTURE:

Will Win - Boyhood
Could Win - Birdman (it may, it will I guess...)
Should Win - Boyhood

Writers Guild of America Awards 2015

The WGA announced their winners for best screenplays of 2014, the last of the top tier important guilds. "Birdman" was ineligible so of course, the critical favorite "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won best original screenplay while the more predictable baity adaptation of an 'inspiring' story award went to "The Imitation Game". I shouldn't be making jokes because well, none of the adapted screenplay contenders are my outright favorites. I have preferences but oh well. Both of these winners may repeat at the Oscars but I believe "Birdman" will win original screenplay there.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" - Screenplay by: Wes Anderson, Story by: Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
"The Imitation Game" - Written by: Graham Moore, Based on the book "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges

BEST DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY:
"The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz" - Written by: Brian Knappenberger

BAFTAs Winners 2015

After much speculations, the BAFTAs went with "Boyhood" for picture and director Richard Linklater. Many were skeptical after back to back guilds win but I stuck by it. This is where the race gets interesting, can the American Academy follow the same route? Boyhood also won another award, supporting actress for Patricia Arquette which was predicted. So that makes only three wins. "Birdman" on the other hand walked away with a single award for cinematography. Oscars may still be more kind to this film, its more a "Hollywood satire" than something you would expect to cause a big storm at the BAFTAs. Still though, just a single win! "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was expected to walk away with most because of its tech brilliance, it won a total of five including original screenplay which I predicted Birdman would win. It also win original score which looked like it would go to "The Theory of Everything". Now that film surprised the most by winning in categories over much favorite "The Imitation Game". It won adapted screenplay and British film alongside lead actor for Eddie Redmayne. Another film that surprised was "Whiplash" winning best sound and editing (the latter being a surprise) and of course, supporting actor for J. K. Simmons.

Check out the full list of winners below:

Best Picture: Boyhood

Directors Guild of America Awards 2015

The winners of the Directors Guild of America were announced today. As feared, Alejandro G. Inarritu won for directing "Birdman". PGA, SAG and now DGA, the film has build a strong case for itself. It can go all the way, I am still sticking with "Boyhood" because there is still time. If BAFTA goes with Birdman as well then well... its a goodbye. Mr. Inarritu has no doubt directed a brilliantly manic satire of all things contemporary. The observations in the film are pointed and the filmmaking itself is quite absurdly audacious. It may go all the way and it wont be worthless, not at all. But Richard Linklater's Boyhood is in my eyes the better film. One of the greatest films to come out in years and one of the most honest depictions of life in all of cinema. Academy, for once, go for something profoundly simple.

The documentary prize went to Laura Poitras for "Citizenfour" which was predicted. This was a great night for female directors, Poitras won alongside three others from the TV side.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FEATURE FILM:
ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU (Birdman)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DOCUMENTARY:
LAURA POITRAS (Citizenfour)

ACE Eddie Awards 2015

The American Cinema Editors announced their winners of the 'Eddies' for 2014. "Boyhood" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won the best edited feature film drama and comedy respectively. I stuck with my prediction for a "Birdman" win till the end but that didn't happen. That is a film with recent wins from guilds and an edited feat that many consider as "non-editing" or no real editing. I mean is that the reason why it didn't win? Last year "Gravity" with a similar one-take premise lost the award as well. Birdman is also not nominated for the Oscars and there is that whole... a movie can't win without an editing nomination thing. Anyways, below are the winners:

Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic):
Boyhood (Sandra Adair, ACE)

Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy or Musical):
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Barney Pilling)

Best Edited Animated Feature Film:
The Lego Movie (David Burrows & Chris McKay)

Best Edited Documentary (Feature):
Citizenfour (Mathilde Bonnefoy)

Screen Actors Guild Awards 2015

The Screen Actors Guild announced their winners of the year in a ceremony last night. Mostly the predicted winners were awarded. Julianne Moore won for her lead performance in "Still Alice" while Patricia Arquette and J. K. Simmons won supporting awards for their work in "Boyhood" and "Whiplash" respectively. As overseen by many, "Birdman" won the ensemble prize. A film packed with actors on their toes, with a subject like stage production and a feeling of true ensemble, it was poised to win. This is of course coming fresh from the PGA win, watch out for the Bird. But the surprise of the evening for many was Eddie Redmayne winning lead actor for his portrayal of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything". Now Michael Keaton was a favorite with critics but I had this suspicion at the back of my head regarding actors usually responding well to these 'portrayals' where the actors go through physical transformations. A fresh example would be Matthew McConaughey for "Dallas Buyers Club" (albeit a much stronger performance than Redmayne). McConaughey didn't win much or almost nothing with the critics until the industry awards started to happen. Chiwetel Ejiofor was the better one, giving an audacious performance in "12 Years a Slave". Forget that he was playing a real-life figure as well. I see Keaton in the same vein but then this is also a 'comedy' film so it shouldn't come as a surprise when the Academy decides to award Redmayne instead of Keaton. The actors have spoken and they love him.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE:
Birdman

Producers Guild Awards 2015

Best Picture: Birdman
Best Animated Feature: The Lego Movie
Best Documentary Film: Life Itself

And the PGA throws a big surprise by awarding best picture to Birdman over much predicted, much beloved Boyhood. This certainly adds a bit doubt to the whole thing, curiosity is raised but it still may be Boyhood at the Oscars. Both Birdman and Boyhood are the frontrunners. I think SAG is next for the Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu directed film with DGA and BAFTA awarding Boyhood. On the other hand, animated and documentary prizes went to the snubbed films, "The Lego Movie" and "Life Itself".

20th Critics Choice Awards Winners

Critics' Choice Awards were given out last night for the films of 2014. "Birdman" received most wins at 7 while "Boyhood" came in second with 4 total wins. Of course Boyhood received the best picture award along with best director for Richard Linklater, best supporting actress for Patricia Arquette and best young actor for Ellar Coltrane. Birdman won awards for lead actor Michael Keaton, who also won best actor in a comedy. Other wins include original screenplay, ensemble, score, editing and cinematography. The three winners of foreign language, animated film and documentary feature were all Oscar snubbed contenders. The same goes for some technical categories. Julianne Moore won best actress for her marvelous work in "Still Alice". "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was awarded with best art direction, costumes and comedy film. "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" won visual effects prize. While Jessica Chastain was given the inaugural MVP award for her multiple performances this year.

Check out the full list of winners below:

Best Picture:
Boyhood

Academy Award Nominations 2015

After months of predictions, speculations, headaches... Academy announces their nominations for 2014. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Birdman" leads the pack with 9 nominations each. For the first time since the rules change, there are 8 nominations in best picture instead of 9. Other films nominated are Boyhood, Selma, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything and Whiplash. For the first time since the picture field expanded, we have a best director nominee with no best picture nomination, Bennett Miller for "Foxcatcher". A big surprise. There were major shut outs in animation and documentary, no "The Lego Movie" or "Life Itself". "Gone Girl" is missing from many categories including picture, editing, score and adapted screenplay. PTA's "Inherent Vice" had a surprise showing in costume design and adapted screenplay. Laura Dern nominated for "Wild" in supporting actress after being overlooked almost everywhere. That means no Jessica Chastain for "A Most Violent Year". Selma itself was overlooked everywhere... the biggest of all in best actor. David Oyelowo's remarkable performance was snubbed, also Jake Gyllenhaal for "Nightcrawler". One of the most welcome surprises came in lead actress with a nomination for Marion Cotillard in "Two Days, One Night". Bradley Cooper got his 3rd consecutive nomination after being recognized for lead in "Silver Linings Playbook" and supporting in "American Hustle". American Sniper itself got editing, the 2 sound nominations and adapted screenplay. "Foxcatcher" had a good showing which I wasn't expecting.

In the foriegn language category, "Force Majeure" was snubbed for "Tangerines". Birdman didn't make it in editing despite huge support elsewhere. No The Hobbit or Godzilla in visual effects. Great to see "Mr. Turner" in a few technical categories. And who can forget that amazing mention of "Ida" in cinematography? Oscars nominations this year are a mixture of good and weird surprises. Confirmation of our usual fears and well... bad luck!

Check out the full list of nominations below:

Best Picture:

“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Whiplash”

Directors Guild of America Nominations 2015

Directors Guild of America announced their nominations for 2014. Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater and Morten Tyldum each received their first ever DGA nominations for their respective films. Alejandro G. Inarritu and veteran Clint Eastwood rounding out the list had nominations before. So are these nominations surprising? No! Except maybe Clint Eastwood because "American Sniper" hasn't truly been among the most rewarded and acclaimed films with critics or the guilds, it has received a few nominations but I wasn't confident about it breaking in with the DGA. My alternate picks were both Ava DuVernay for "Selma" and David Fincher for "Gone Girl". Of course I had Damien Chazelle predicted for "Whiplash", meaning I got four right so that is good. Linklater, Innaritu and Anderson have all been receiving so much love and very deserving. Tyldum has a prestige British biopic backed by Weinstein so that is a no-brainer. Lets see what the Academy nominates.

1. WES ANDERSON - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Mr. Anderson's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Miki Emmrich
First Assistant Director: Josh Robertson
Second Assistant Director: Ben Howard 

2. CLINT EASTWOOD - American Sniper

Mr. Eastwood's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Tim Moore
First Assistant Director: David M. Bernstein
Second Assistant Director: Paula Case
Second Second Assistant Director: Clark Credle
First Assistant Director (Morocco Unit): Ahmed Hatimi
Second Assistant Director (Morocco Unit): Yann Mari Faget
Second Second Assistant Directors (Morocco Unit): Andrew Madden, Khalil Zghayou

3. ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU - Birdman

Mr. Iñárritu's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: James W. Skotchdopole, Robert Graf
First Assistant Director: Peter Kohn
Second Assistant Director: Amy Lauritsen
Second Second Assistant Director: Catherine Feeny
Location Manager: Joaquin Prange

4. RICHARD LINKLATER - Boyhood

Mr. Linklater's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Cathleen Sutherland
First Assistant Director: Vince Palmo Jr.
Second Assistant Directors: Susana Jasso, Kathleen Tull
Second Second Assistant Directors: Mary Beth Chambers, Brian Franklin

5. MORTEN TYLDUM - The Imitation Game

Mr. Tyldum's Directorial Team:
Production Manager: Suzie Shearer
First Assistant Director: Phil Booth
Second Assistant Director: James Manning

Denver Film Critics Society Awards 2015

Denver Film Critics Society awarded their best picture prize to... "American Sniper". There was a tie in best actor category, both Ralph Fiennes and Bradley Cooper won for their respective films. "Boyhood" won the awards for director Richard Linklater and supporting actress Patricia Arquette. "Birdman" won the most awards in categories best original screenplay, score and cinematography. "Two Days, One Night" was given best foreign language film award.

Check out the full list of winners below:

Best Picture: American Sniper

Houston Film Critics Society Awards 2015

Houston Film Critics Society showered their love for "Boyhood". The film won six awards overall including picture, director, supporting actress, screenplay and two other special awards. Jake Gyllenhaal and Julianne Moore won actor and actress while "Birdman" won the award for cinematography.

Check out the full list of winners below:

Best Picture: "Boyhood"

72nd Golden Globe Awards Winners

HFPA gave out their annual awards last night in a ceremony full of jokes and drunk folks, I can only assume because I wasn't able to watch it myself. So the Globes winner for best picture drama 2014 is "Boyhood", as predicted by everybody. The film also won awards for its director Richard Linklater and supporting actress Patricia Arquette. A great win for the film that it is and also for the kind of filmmaking Mr. Linklater has been so great at. Continuing his love for films where the idea of time and relationships are explored. On the comedy/musical side, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won the big prize over "Birdman", a film I am sure everyone was predicting to win. The Wes Anderson directed film was my pick for screenplay instead but Birdman won that award, funny! The acting prizes all went to the predicted ones except for best actress in a comedy/musical which went to Amy Adams for "Big Eyes", I had Emily Blunt and Julianne Moore predicted for that. This is Adams' second consecutive win after "American Hustle" last year. Golden Globes had more surprises in stored as well. The foreign language award went to Russia's "Levitathan" over popular choices "Ida" and "Force Majeure". Animated award went to "How To Train Your Dragon 2" over "The Lego Movie". I was a bit confused predicting original score which I thought will go to either "Interstellar" or "Birdman" but instead, they gave it to "The Theory of Everything", boring! So what does Golden Globes tell us? Well they told us what was already being established that its between Boyhood-Birdman-The Grand Budapest Hotel. Keaton vs Redmayne and Julianne Moore will finally win something from the Academy.

Below is the full list of film winners:

Best Motion Picture - Drama:
Boyhood

Academy Awards Nominations 2015 (Final Predictions)

I am back with my final predictions for this year's Oscars. The nominations will be announced on January 15 and the anticipation is at its peak. This year I am having a tough time predicting nominations in many categories. The award season has been for the most part very typical (I mean its always like that) but still, we have had some delightful surprises throughout. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" would be on the top of my surprise-list. Two months ago, I thought it will only make it to three technical categories but now, I am predicting it for the most nominations. This Wes Anderson gem has done the best with guilds and industry apart from critics. Other surprises include "Whiplash" and "Nightcrawler". While "American Sniper" has been showing its face as well, I am still not 100% sold on it. On the other hand, "Foxcatcher" have had a weird trajectory. Snubbed by critics and making it to few of the guilds but again, I have lost confidence in that film. Of course there is the Angelina Jolie directed film "Unbroken" which most of us thought was the early best picture frontrunner (such awful times those were) and now it has really bad reviews. That may still not hurt it (I am looking at you EL&IC). I may be very wrong about most of these, I usually am but hey, lets not take this too seriously. Critics can't fully paint an early picture for the Oscars and guilds can only hint at the direction this race takes but we award watchers still follow every move and analyze things a bit too much. For me, awards season is both fun and agonizing. On one hand you play it as a game having a grasp on the mind of how these things work. Then also you see some of your favorites and deserving candidates go home with nothing.

BEST PICTURE:-

1. Boyhood
2. Birdman
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. The Imitation Game
5. The Theory of Everything
6. Whiplash
7. Gone Girl
8. Selma
9. American Sniper

Georgia Film Critics Association Awards 2015

Georgia Film Critics Association announced their winners a few minutes ago. They divided their awards love. "Boyhood" won best picture and director while "Selma" won best original song, breakthrough actor for David Oyelowo (winning for his other films as well) and also award for excellence in Georgia cinema. Jake Gyllenhaal won best actor for "Nightcrawler" and the film also won award for original screenplay. Tilda Swinton won her second supporting actress award for "Snowpiercer" within 24 hours. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Interstellar" received some notices as well. Check out the full list below:

Best Picture:
"Boyhood"

Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards 2015

Central Ohio Film Critics Association announced their winners for 2014. "Selma" won big time with the group, a clear sweep. The Ava DuVernay directed biopic won awards for best picture, director, lead actor David Oyelowo, original screenplay and Ava DuVernay being awarded breakthrough artist. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won three awards in tech categories. "Whiplash" was awarded best editing. Check out the full list of winners below:

Best Film:
Selma