1. I have not seen most of the movies that were nominated, and therefore had no emotional attachment or personal preferences regarding any of them.
2. I was on a very long, extended Skype call with Oz in Kansas, which I consider much more important and entertaining.
3. J Word and I got rid of our regular TV after football season ended, and subsist entirely on Hulu and Netflix now...so I couldn't have watched them, even if I wanted to.
I do admit to clicking through one online photo gallery of best dressed today at lunch because I happen to like pretty ball gowns (sorry I'm not sorry!) But that will likely be all of my Academy Award related festivities so...yay Oscars!
While we were dating, J Word and I had numerous conversations about movies, particularly because he has a penchant for choosing very weird movies to watch! As such, he claims he will not watch most of the Oscar winners because they are too mainstream, and not weird enough. (I think some of them look plenty weird...but not in a way that is necessarily appealing!) That said, I've watched a fair number of movies this year that I found highly entertaining that weren't nominated for anything last night, but I would still recommend, and how are you supposed to know about those movies unless someone shouts them into the void of the internet for those looking for a little cinematic inspiration.
And so, I give you my 2014-2015 "Un-Oscars" - The movies that won nothing...but are still worth two hours of your life!
Oscar Nominated Movie that I'm Most likely to Watch: Grand Budapest Hotel - This looks just weird enough that I can probably almost convince J Word to watch it with me...plus, of all the Oscar noms, it's the only one that everyone I know who's seen it has said positive things about. Close 2nd would be Big Hero 6.
Oscar Nominated Movie that I already saw and Love: How to Train your Dragon 2 - Cute, entertaining, worth the hour and a half to watch. Can't compare it to BH6 because I haven't seen the latter...but worth a movie night despite it's lack of an Oscar.
"Un-Oscar" for best action: Edge of Tomorrow: Live, Die, Repeat - Shoot 'em up, action-adventure is definitely not my type, but I really enjoyed this movie. Tom Cruise, though I find him annoying as a person, was good as a leading actor. The story got science fiction-y, but not in a bad way. I've recommended this movie to a bunch of people...and J Word enjoyed it as well, so it made for a good date night.
"Un-Oscar" for best comedy: The Internship - This movie actually came out in 2013, but I didn't find it until it hit on demand. Classic comedy set-up...Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson pairing. A bit predictable, but a funny look into the world of Google, which I have a feeling is probably a pretty accurate representation. I was entertained. Close runner-up, Chef which is funny in a different kind of way...in case you're not a Vaughn/Wilson kind of comedic fan.
"Un-Oscar for best drama/romance: The Last Five Years - This is probably the first one that J Word would definitely disagree with me on because while he tolerated watching it with me, I'm pretty sure he didn't love it. I'm not even sure I loved all of it...but as a movie adaptation of a broadway production it worked really really well! Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick were awesome! The score is amazing. Great story telling. It only got a little bit of press...in which it was well hyped. The hype is well deserved! See it!
"Un-Oscar" for Oscar nominee from last year that I saw this year and scratched my head as to what the Academy thought was "award winning about it: Her - Have you seen this movie? Do you know what it's about? He has a relationship with his computer server...which is also having a relationship with 1000s of other people. So so so so weird.
"Un-Oscar" Actress of the Year: In lieu of a best actress or actor for a single movie, I think the Academy should look at an actress/actor's body of work for the year, and consider who's repeatedly good at what they do...not just who took a great roll and made it exceptional. They can keep best actress/actor too...and it could even go to the same person if they're doing multiple, great things at a time. This year I'd three way tie Anna Kendrick (who can currently do no wrong on film...Pitch Perfect 2 will be a hit, The Last Five Years, Into the Woods...), and Shailene Woodley, who somehow managed to become both the face of the Divergent franchise, and Hazel in The Fault in Our Stars, and Emily Blunt who starred in the aforementioned Edge of Tomorrow and alongside Anna Kendrick in Into the Woods. I'm not saying any performance was "OH MY GOD!!" amazing...but they were all big blockbuster successes...so kudos to you!
"Un-Oscar" Actor of the Year: I'm a little less certain in this category. Benedict Cumberbatch is a good choice because of his work in The Imitation Game while also being Sherlock...though that crosses TV and movies, and only the Emmy's like to do that! Ansel Elgort also managed to snag parts in both Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars...so again, kudos to that!
So...in case you got lost somewhere in my stream of conscious ramblings...your list of should sees:
- Into the Woods
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Grand Budapest Hotel
- How to Train your Dragon 2
- Big Hero 6
- The Internship
- Chef
- The Last Five Years
- The Fault in Our Stars
- Divergent
- The Imitation Game
- Sherlock (on TV)
- Pitch Perfect 2 (when it comes out)
And anything else that won an Oscar last night...because obviously someone thought it was good, I guess!
Happy Trails,
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