What a night! The drum beats and jazz tunes still ring fresh in our minds. Birdman raked up Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
Whiplash secured Best Supporting Actor, Best Sound Editing and Best Film Editing.
The Grand Budapest Hotel got Best Costume Design, Best Make-up, Best Original Score and Best Production Design.
Boyhood was robbed. Big time. Yeah that dampened the whole mood didn’t it? Patricia Arquette secured the only win for Boyhood in Best Supporting Actress. For Boyhood fans like me, perhaps we can admit that other than Best Director and Best Picture, Boyhood wasn’t likely to win for Original screenplay nor Film editing. Best Director was a battle well fought that could have gone either way. I won’t deny that Inarritu’s directing was phenomenal.
But the Academy screwed up for the most important prize of the night. Birdman was a decent movie about the inner ego and the need for validation and relevance. It tried to be deep, but was perhaps, not as genuinely deep as it presented itself. Boyhood was better. It’s study on life and on bildungsroman (coming of age story) is presented through very organic and natural relationships and dialogue. It doesn’t try to be profound but it’s effortlessly philosophical and insightful. I’m sure it’s a huge disppointment for the Boyhood cast and crew.
Anyways, I’m happy that Whiplash got the recognition it deserved with 3 awards. Well deserved.
J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette won for their supporting roles, it would be absurd if someone else had won!
I’m glad Eddie Redmayne won for his Hawking role, it’s just slightly too good for Keaton’s Riggan.
Best Director was a close one. Richard Linklater’s work in Boyhood is truly defining because it’s almost impossible to recreate something like it. However, Alejandro Inarritu deserved it too so I’m not too upset.
And Rosamund Pike was the bomb! Aww I feel bad that she didn’t win Best Actress, I was rooting for her the whole time! But it’s ok, she’s the best dressed tonight.
What are your thoughts? Are you happy with the winners? Let me know!
P.S. For the poster image, I overlayed Boyhood’s, Whiplash’s, Birdman’s poster image and one of Gone Girl’s stills with some light setting changes. Used BeFunky, check it out 🙂
Film and Nuance 
I also hoped for Pike to win, and to be honest, I had hoped for more nomination for gone girl. I like Julianne Moore, but I can’t imagine her role was better than Pike’s. She was unbelievable.
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Absolutely! She left such a deep impression on me. Yeah Gone Girl should have at least 3 other nominations, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. What’s even worse is that it’s won Adapted screenplay from other awards, but it’s not even nominated here.
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I so agree. Birdman was fine and looked good but how many movies have been made about the conflicted washed up movie star? Boyhood reminded me of Hoop Dreams. It was about life and how the smaller moments are what matters. I think this will be a lot like American Beauty winning which most people I know think is pretentious junk.
I’d love to have you read my thoughts
http://wp.me/p4VRGy-16s
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I haven’t seen American Beauty, but I wouldn’t call Birdman pretentious. I mean it’s fine but I agree, it isn’t great. Yeah and Boyhood was more subtle and simple but more effective 🙂 Sure!
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It’s a little artsy and pretentious but not that bad. I just meant most people i know don’t like American Beauty but it was all the rage when it won. I see Birdman having a similar arc
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Ah I see, I’m going to watch it and see how I feel! Yeah, Birdman’s a little too in your face kind of artsy. It’s almost too concerned with itself.
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Cool. Will be interesting to see what you think.
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Nice summary of a terrific awards show. Does Rosamund Pike not remind you of a young Kathleen Turner? She does me. She is gorgeous.
I haven’t seen Whiplash, Boyhood, or the Grand Budapest Hotel, but can’t wait; I just hope they are re-released.
I have been watching “Oscar” for about 60 years, and can honestly say they’ve never been better (the show, that is). The one disappoint to me has been the dearth of worthwhile original songs. I cannot for the life of me understand what the nominating committee is thinking when it names the songs it does. I learned that “Hero,” which was the song used for Boyhood, was not written specifically for that movie, but I imagine that if it had been eligible, it would have won, hands down.
I miss the beautiful Henry Mancini songs (Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses), and others by the likes of Paul Williams & Barbra Streisand (Evergreen), Dolly Parton (Fame), Paul Francis Webster & Johnny Mandel (The Shadow of Your Smile), and so many more. Lately, the award-winning song is never heard again, and deservedly so, sad to say.
Anyway, I agree totally with your well thought out assessment.
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Thanks! Yeah Hero was a great song! But Glory deserved the award. Watch them, they are all fantastic movies!
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I disagree about the best Picture Oscar — I think the correct film won. Personally, I rather hated “Boyhood”, and I actually disagree with a lot of the praise it’s getting. Here’s why, briefly:
1) Mason has no character or arc. Sure, he’s a philosophizing photographer at the end, but how did he get that way? Where did that come from is what I’m asking.
2) It’s full of cliches. For example, the mother marrying a series of jerks is practically a soap opera standard.
3) It’s predictable. I saw the mother’s arc coming when I first saw her flirting with the professor, and they might as well have shouted the return of the contractor having taken her advice.
4) It’s not terribly well acted. Hawke and Arquette are fine, but everyone else is passable at best.
5) The idea is not unique either. Documentaries have done this style of filming for ages, so adapting it for a fictional story isn’t a stretch, the commitment from the recurring actors isn’t that great (about 4-5 days a year), and you get the same effect with more character from long running TV shows.
6) Are the stepfathers REALLY that mean to Mason and his sister? Yes, they’re jerks, and the first is definitely abusive to the mother, but what of the kids? Oh, he made Mason get a haircut… uh, so? They’re going to spend the day with their father, and he tells them they’ll have to finish their chores when they get back. I’m not seeing how that’s unreasonable. Then, Mason breaks curfew and his second stepfather… waits up for him and mildly chews him out. Yeah, there’s some stuff that makes them dangerous, but those in particular seemed to be framed as the stepfathers being unreasonable, and I just don’t get why. Speaking of.
7) Is alcohol supposed to be bad, or not? Almost everyone is shown drinking at some point, but it’s singled out with the stepfathers. To me it seemed to be saying the alcohol is the reason they’re jerks, but it also shows everyone else drinking casually, so I don’t get why the attention was put on the fathers drinking.
There are other points, but this is long enough. I seriously have never understood the praise people gave to the film. Usually if there’s an acclaimed film that gets praise I can see what people are praising in it, but this film is probably the first time I’ve actively disagreed with those reasons.
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Hmm you made some valid points and I get that people think that it’s just any other film about growing up and that it isn’t anything more than that. Yet, it’s a very real and organic film. I think you’re missing out on the point that Boyhood’s is a great achievement simply because of it’s sheer scale spanning 12 years. Of course to me it’s more than that. Birdman too, is so hyped up because of it’s one-take style but we don’t discredit it either. I see where you’re coming from and not everyone will like it as with all films, but I really feel like Boyhood is a great film that will probably have something like it made again.
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