2015 Academy Awards (Oscars). Which Film Should Win Best Picture?

I think it is much more fun to pick who you think should win, instead of who will win or that's how I prefer it anyway.

FiveThirtyEight’s Election-Style Oscar Predictions

I'll go with Birdman, not only it had good acting but I liked the way it was shot, it was continuous. But I think the leading actor in Theory of Everything should win best lead actor. I haven't seen Selma, Budapest and Whiplash though and I couldn't finish Boyhood.

I'll take none of those choices!

Seriously, anytime I see these nominee lists it just reminds me of how shitty these award shows are...

Well considering I haven't seen any of those...none?

Then add your own nominees! I thought The Dark Knight should had won Best Picture in 08' but it didn't even got nominated (this is the reason that now we can have up to 10 nominees for Best Picture, the so called "Dark Knight" rule).

You think Guardians of the Galaxy is the Best Picture of the year (for example)? Good! Let OT know!

I've only seen Grand Budapest Hotel, it's good, but not Best Picture good.

I would imagine Birdman will most likely win the Oscar, but god did I love The Grand Budapest Hotel.

And yes Eddie Redmayne will/should take best actor. Michael Keaton is good, but Eddie was stunningly good at his portrayal of Hawking.

This time next week no one will remember what 'Birdman' is. I am hoping 'Boyhood' or 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' manage to pull the upset.

Also, Cotillard being at the bottom of that list is just shameful.

That's a sad list imo. Days of Future Past was the only movie I liked this year.

Harry Potter

Yeah, but how many films have you watched in the last 6 weeks?

How many of them have you seen? I think this is a pretty strong lineup of films.

you'd be surprised,

but none of them were from 2014.

On second thought Inherent Vice was ok.

But 'Days of Future Past' was from 2014.

I agree, I've seen two of those films "American Sniper" and "Theory of everything" and they were both decent that was it. This year I have seen a couple of films I think are better

The kingsman secret service

Ex Machina

I think are both better than the two films above that were nominated

it's not included in the list of movies i watched in the last 6 weeks. I saw it last May or whenever it was.

But you said it was the only movie you liked this year...are you okay Storm? How many fingers am I holding up:

This is pretty obvious, who should win Best Picture.

EDIT: Although I'm on the wrong website for this kind of discussion anyway.

@Aljosa23: Of the noms I have seen Boyhood (AKA the most psychotically overrated movie of all time) and American Sniper. Both are merely okay movies and FAR from the best movies of the year. In fact I feel this was a supremely awesome year for movies and have probably seen close to twenty movies in theaters (and many were excellent IMO) yet not a single one of the movies I loved get even a damn nom in categories even outside of best picture.

How do you overlook movies like Interstellar, a masterful performance by Jake Gyllenhal in Nightcrawler, and then the fucking Lego movie (AKA the best animated movie since Wreck It Wralph) doesn't even get nominated for best animated picture?

It is like these award shows are trying to piss me off with their choices.

For the record (since Master asked) movies I would say were my fav of the year were Interstellar, Gaurdians of the Galaxy, The Raid 2 (best action movie EVER!), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and perhaps Days of Future Past.

Cotillard being at the bottom of the predictions tells you everything you need to know about the Oscars.

They better not sink as low as they did last year by splitting Director and Picture. It should always go hand in hand.

Birdman without a doubt.

I've heard the worst things about boyhood. Not sure how it came second.

I think Foxcatcher and Ida should had been nominated for Best Picture. Selma had no business being there. Most of these are good pictures but I don't feel any of them is great, kind of underwhelming in general. I didn't made a pick for Best Actress even though I have seen 4/5 of the performances since the one I actually have not seen supposedly is the "best of the year" by Julianne Moore in Still Alice so I will refrain. Of the other 4 I would choose Reese Witherspoon in Wild.

And here are the ratings for 2014!

I'm torn between Boyhood and Birdman as both mesmerized me in their own way. I'm inclined to take Boyhood's side simply because of the scale and ambitiousness of the movie. But the indisputable is that both are amazing masterpieces.

Also, I'm not sure what The Theory of Everything is doing on that list. It was nothing more than a liberal propaganda fest, and a badly executed one I might add. I watched half the movie and couldn't get myself to see it through.

I applaud you for your vote. As for boyhood, as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating so I implore you to give it a shot as I'm fairly confident you'll like it considering the fact that you liked Birdman. Those who vilify Boyhood are uncultured philistines incapable of appreciating the work for what it is but instead opt for the petty criticism of "but nothing happens in the movie".

Then I'm going to give it a shot in the coming days and see what the fuss is about.

Birdman.

Boyhood very overrated. Yea it took years to make and you see the kid grow up. Saw the same on Deep Space 9 over 7 years. That had space ships shooting each other.

Nothing wrong with that. It's a great movie. About the only negative thing that stands out is how Magneeto told them they needed Magneeto (and they accepted it), and he basically done nothing else but **** up things . You'd think after 6 xmen movies they would have learned by now.

@GazaAli: Holy head up your ass Batman! Not sure if I have seen a more stuck-up post in my life!

As for Boyhood, the ONLY thing special with that movie is that they filmed it over such a long period. The drama and storylines are the same shit we have seen done a billion times before in other dramas and the acting wasn't anything spectacular either even if it was solid. Yet, that movie gets a perfect 100 on metacritic? Puhlease.

It really is the most overrated movie I have ever seen. Wouldn't put it in the top 10 movies of last year, or at best it would squeak in around the 8-9-10 mark. It was just a B grade movie and I think critics just want to mess themselves because of the filming over such a long period.

I would say:

• Best Picture:
  
  • The Theory of Everything

• Best Director
  
  • Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

• Best Actor
  • Steve Carell, Foxcatcher

• Best Supporting Actor
  
  • Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher

• Best Supporting Actress
  • Patricia Arquette, Boyhood*

*Have not seen Meryl Streep's performance in Into the Woods*

• Best Adapted Screenplay
  
  • The Theory of Everything, Anthony McCarten

• Best Original Screenplay
  
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness

• Best Visual Effects
  • Interstellar, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher

• Best Makeup and Hairstyling
  • Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White, Guardians of the Galaxy

The Theory of Everything was a solid, well done movie but I don't feel strongly about it just a pick to make a pick. I could have easily chosen Boyhood instead.

God. The level of arrogance in this post is cringe worthy. So you didn't like it. Who. The. ****. Cares. That doesn't mean the opinions of hundreds of critics and millions of others in the general audience, are wrong. I mean it is one thing to claim it is overrated (one of the dumbest terms possible to apply to art) - and it is a whole different level or arrogance, and ignorance, to claim not only are those opinions wrong...but are only as high as they are because of one specific thing. Get over yourself. Seriously, and you think Gaza is the one with his head up his ass?

It's not that "nothing happens in the movie"; it's that it doesn't do anything particularly exceptional. Take away the age gimmick, and what do you have? A movie that probably could easily be a decent movie of the week on terrestrial tv.

On British tv we had a documentary series called "7 and up" that has followed people for 49 years, so from my perspective, the gimmick used us not really groundbreaking or impressive in any way shape or form. It's been done; it's been done more extensively and better. With real peoples life's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series

If you don't vote for American Sniper, you're not a patriot.

I'll definitely go with Birdman !

It's sad that Interstellar is not on the list .....Dunno why they have such a hard-on for Nolan ...

Imitation Game but I have no idea why Nightcrawler and Jake Gyllenhaal weren't even nominated.

@SaintLeonidas: Actually I never said I din't like it, just that it was vastly overrated which it's metacritic score is proof of. I have NEVER seen a movie that deserves a perfect score. Even my favorite movies have flaws. Critics want to go give a perfect score to a movie that as I mentioned has quite a few different areas that were not too spectacular.

That is wrong. They can like it and give it a high score, but everyone giving the movie a perfect score? That is just asinine and the definition of overrating something.

Just cause you really like it, doesn't make it a masterpiece nor does it stop it from being a very flawed movie that is quite obviously riding on a gimmick.

I'm with you on this. There's nothing special about the movie except that its filming period was long..to be honest the only sequences worth watching were the ones with Ethan Hawke ..I'd rather watch movies like Birdman for gazillion times than sitting through Boyhood again...

@SaintLeonidas I'd appreciate it if you elaborate why did u like this movie....

We're here to discuss and opinions tend to be different so i think it'd be great if we don't end up at each other's throats...

Well, then no critic might ever give a perfect score. I will talk about my case, when I rate a movie 10/10 doesn't mean I think it is perfect, it just mean I loved it, or in case of others you could see it as "10/10" = "Excellent" = "Masterpiece". To me a masterpiece doesn't inherently mean that it is perfect. I rate The Godfather 10/10 but I don't think it is perfect. But that's just me and I know others do ascribe perfection to their scores of 10/10.

Damn right !

But not all critics think like you ...some consider this movie "perfect" which is laughable...

I agree with this. Boyhood is a good movie but I don't think it is special. Some might think the long filming period made it special in and of itself but I don't.

You did nothing in this response to negate anything I said. Again, if critics think it is a great film, then that is their opinion. It isn't wrong just because you disagree. Also, giving something a 10/10 doesn't mean they think it is "perfect". No work of art can ever truly be perfect. Why? Because reviews and opinions of films are mostly subjective. You can find a film flawed in some ways, but still be affected by it emotionally and appreciate it on a technical level, enough to think it deserves the highest of ratings. This idea that films, or any art, can be view as overrated is completely arrogant. Ratings are based on opinions, to claim someone else's score is too high - to claim that their opinion is wrong or to assume their are specific reasons why they are rating something higher than you would - is the only asinine, and incredibly arrogant, thing about this situation.

Also, I find it equally hilarious and cringe worthy that you ended your response by trying to tell me that just because I liked it doesn't make it a masterpiece. I never once said I liked it. I never even gave me opinion on it. Yet, you try to defend your position by saying "just because you think one thing doesn't make it so"...the very same applies to YOU. Just because you don't think it is a masterpiece doesn't mean OTHERS are wrong to think so.

This thread makes my head hurt.

It's telling that most of the worthwhile reviews that comes from Boyhood don't revolve around its so-called gimmick. It's just as easy of a target as Birdman's structure, while completely ignoring the fact that this corresponds with what it's attempting to say.

Yes. Anyone who has actually read a majority of even the most positive reviews, would know that it being filmed over a few years plays very little - or at all - into why they loved it so much.