Oscar's Bitches

Starting in the holiday season and ending at the Academy Awards ceremony, The Saint and I try to see all of the movies nominated for best picture. We really don't care who wins the Best Picture Oscar, but it's always fun to discuss the nominees with our friends and be able to say that we saw all of them.

We don't always make them all. As we start the attempt before the nominees are actually announced, we sometimes see films that we THINK might be nominated. This year, Saving Mr. Banks is an example of that. As the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expanded the number of nominees a few years back, sometimes we just run out of time and don't get them all in. Last year we missed two.

Yesterday, after a two film double header, we can say that we saw all of the movies nominated for the 2014 best picture Oscar. We deserve a freaking medal, or at least a free t-shirt or tub of popcorn.

They were all good movies, but there at least one that didn't deserve a nomination and a couple more that wouldn't have been nominated had the number of nominees been limited to five.  There were a couple that we didn't like, despite being brilliant movies. Just because a movie is good, doesn't mean I have to like it.

Click to enlarge. I have the order in which I think the voting

should be cast and the actors who I think should win for their

roles.

As you can see, I really liked Nebraska. Philomena was a real close second. Both of these films were superbly cast, shot and directed. The writing was excellent as was the editing. I think Bruce Dern's performance put Nebraska just a tad over Philomena.

As you can also see, I didn't think much of Gravity. To me, the whole film was contrived. Though entertaining, it was not worthy of a Best Picture nomination. Sandra Bullock doesn't deserve a Best Actress nomination either. This movie was more about hype and special effects than it was quality movie production.

Her was one of those movies that was a brilliant film, I just didn't like it. It was deeply disturbing on many levels. It is a statement on how detached some of us have become and how detached we could become. I might have missed the final message, but I don't think so.

The Wolf Of Wall Street was a great movie, one about excess. Everything about it is excessive, including it's length. Leonardo Dicaprio deserves the best actor for his role in it, though Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyer's Club is only very slightly behind for it.

The Saint pointed out that of the nine best picture nominees, six were at least partially based on true events. That has to be some kind of record, I just don't feel like doing the research.

We really aren't Oscarphiles.  We don't host Oscar parties, nor have we attended any. We do like movies and we like seeing them on the cheap if we can. We like seeing movies that we wouldn't ordinarily see and occasionally are very pleasantly surprised. Our plan of catching all of the Best Picture nominees before the Oscars allows us to see great movies and provides us with a lot of entertainment - even after the Oscar winners are announced. 

Win Win for us.

Thanks for reading,

Schmoe.