Best Motion Picture:
Selma
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Obvious Child
Foxcatcher
Whiplash
Only Lovers Left Alive
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Boyhood
Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Film ended up being the toughest category for me to fill out, only because the BIG Oscar movies this year are the ones that never really caught on with me. Films like The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything are good on paper and serviceable onscreen, but they’re nothing special. For the obvious choices I picked films like Boyhood and Birdman because they extend a medium in need of a little pushing every once and a while. Whiplash and Foxcatcher could both be nominees tomorrow, although I’d guess the former first and both are dark, grueling meditations on determination but in very different avenues. The Grand Budapest Hotel and Selma both feel remarkably singular, both proudly bearing the stamp of their directors’ styles. Only Lovers Left Alive, Guardians of the Galaxy, Obvious Child and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya will never, ever, happen, but I really can’t find an argument that convinces me of why other than Oscar’s dislike of genre films.
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