Topic: 2015 Oscars Thread

So, anyone else watch the Oscars tonight?

Spoilers below:

Overall, I thought it was a good night, and thought Ellen did a good job.

EDIT: Updated title so we can discuss this year's nominees (and winners).

In terms of my personal opinions, I thought they were pretty spot on. Also feeling good because I predicted a lot of them with the people I was watching with . Gravity completely deserved all seven that it won, and I'm really glad Alfonso Cuaron won best director. His work and direction completely elevated that script far beyond what should have been possible. And while I haven't seen it yet, from what I've read and seen 12 Years A Slave completely deserved best picture.

I'm glad to see Spike Jonze win an Oscar for his screenplay Her. In case anybody didn't know, Spike Jonze is actually the old lady in Jackass the Movie 2. Pretty much a shift to the other side of the spectrum as far as creativity goes

Honestly I'm really glad that Gravity didn't win best picture. Although it's a stunning movie visually, I do think it was a tad bit overrated.

Also, Matthew McConaughey totally deserved Best Actor. It's great to see his career grow from all the date night movies he was doing, and his performance in Dallas Buyer's Club was pretty great.

@MuchoMoci I love Gravity, and I don't believe it deserved best picture. But not because it was overrated (as bad a criticism as can be made for anything imo), but because while nearly every aspect of the film is top notch, the screenplay is only good, not great, and has a fair share of flaws. And thus Gravity was wisely not nominated for best original screenplay.

I'm surprised American Hustle didn't win any oscars, but I can't say I'm displeased at that.

Oh, my dad was furious that he won an Oscar for that, & the fact it was nominated for anything in the first place (Her). He said you'd have to be an idiot to think a movie about a guy dating his phone would be a good idea.

Personally, I won't judge it unless I see it, but from what I've seen, I feel that it has to be an aquired taste? Certainly seems like an odd premise.

I think it may just be my opinion of Gravity because I have family and friends who keep claiming it's the greatest movie ever. The story is pretty similar to Apollo 13 but updated to allow more technological and beautiful visuals. Although I can understand people's high opinion of it I really don't think it deserves some of the insane amount of praise I have seen it given by people within my social circle. I didn't expect American Hustle to win Best Picture (or anything else really) but I have to say it was probably my favorite of the films nominated this year besides Dallas Buyer's Club.

Miyazaki should have totally won the Best Animated Film for The Wind Rises. Frozen really pales in comparison, but since it's 2014 I don't think 2D cuts it in the academy's eyes.

EDIT:
One more grievance with the night, I LOVED Inside Llewyn Davis and it got pretty much snubbed this year. It may have been a flawed movie with a less than satisfactory ending but still that's the Cohen bros. man, everything they make is great. I may be a little biased though as Folk music is one of my favorite genres.

I think your father doesn't really understand because he is a generation back, but coming from someone who is growing up within this generation it is actually kind of a scary possibility. I mean we are already becoming very detached from society as it is. Do I think people are going to try and marry the Siri's on their Iphones? No, but it definitely makes you think of what could possibly be the future of the human race in some circumstances.

@MuchoMochi I gotcha. I've certainly heard far more damning criticisms of Gravity than yours.

I did expect American Hustle to win something, because it's actors gone wild the movie made for an actor dominated academy of motion picture arts and sciences. But that's not really why I didn't care for it to win, but because it has no message, no thematic purpose. Basically because the story is an afterthought. Essentially I felt it was oscar pandering, and I'm glad the academy seemingly saw through it.

@RR520 It is a good idea when it lets you explore human relationships, about as good a topic as any to write about.

@hylianhalcyon I think that tends to happen with movies that are very loosely based on true stories. I can't say it was the best movie of the year but I really did enjoy it. It did definitely seem like it was made to win an award, I thought Christian Bale was great though, and the movie certainly made me laugh a lot. I didn't like Amy Adams at all though.

And how bout ole Leo . Personally I think they're throwing him a bone even nominating him, but I know quite a few people that think he's the greatest actor of this generation and that he should have won multiple oscars by now. Idiots.

It's pretty damn funny that he doesn't have an oscar yet. Every other year it seems like he is in the role that'll be the shoo in for the award but then it is swooped up from underneath him poor old Leo.

Yeah, he's consistent, I'll give him that. But they don't give oscars out for consistency. They give em out based on single performances in a single film, and I don't think Leo has done anything oscar worthy.

As for other categories, I did like the fact that Frozen's "Let it Go" won for best song. I haven't seen the film itself yet, but out of all the live performances of the nominees, I thought it was the best (though Pink's rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was the best performance overall).

It also brought a smile to my face when they had their "hero" tribute video (which had clips from Marvel, DC, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc. films). Even though those aren't the great artsy high brow films the awards celebrate, they're good fun, and I enjoyed seeing them referenced.

maybe good old Leo will have a lifetime work Oscar at last after some couple of ten years

I didn't watch it, because I didn't see any movies last year I thought deserved an award.

@puravik Yeah, I could see that.

@CanisWolfred Do you mean that you saw movies that were nominated and didn't think they deserved their nominations? Or that you just didn't see any of the movies that were up for awards?

Well I stayed up to watch the whole thing, which being in England meant a laaaaate night (there's a point where it's 3.40 in the morning and for some reason Pink's singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow when you begin to think you're losing it a little). It was a good show, a couple of bits fell flat but Ellen was good for the most part (the pizza and selfie bits were certainly fun - although I'd argue that it's only a selfie for the person who took the photo so that's Bradley Cooper's record-breaking selfie in my books - probably doesn't make up for the scratch cards mind...).

Anyhoo, a night of absolutely no surprises other than best doc (I've not seen 20 Feet from Stardom so I won't bemoan its win but The Act of Killing was the clear favourite, perhaps some of the Academy couldn't stomach that one), every other category went as predicted and I'd agree with most of them methinks.

Some important points to mention:

-Someone needs to recharge the batteries on that Harrison Ford android that's taken his place for the last two decades.
-There was a moment where Johnny Knoxville's face filled the entire screen at the Academy Awards.
-John Travolta should probably learn the name of the person he's introducing.

^that's somehow Idina Menzel in case you didn't see the show.

I didn't see any that were nominated (I think, I didn't pay attention to the nominations either), but honestly, most of the movies I did see last year weren't that good anyways.

Sounds like a case of picking the wrong movies if you didn't see any that were nominated. No wonder you didn't see many good films.

Probably. Not that I care. I'm not a big movie watcher, I just watch whatever my family watches. Only good one we saw last year was Ender's Game, which was great, but not without its flaws (but said flaws mostly came from the source material itself).

That said, looking at the nominations, I did see a few that were nominated for best visual effects, but none of those were any good, and I'm glad none of them won.

On a side note, the animation of Ernest & Celestine brought a tear to my eyes. It's beautiful compared to most of what came out in the last few years. Too bad it otherwise doesn't seem like that interesting a movie...