OSCAR WRAP UP

What a night!  It was a show full of surprises, fun numbers, and beautiful speeches.  I'll let the fashion police monitor the quality of the outfits, and I'll share what I thought about the winners.

Let's start with everyone's favorite host, Neil Patrick Harris.  The opening number was wonderful and showcased what makes NPH such a heartthrob.  By my count, there was more host time than ever before, where in year's past the host has not been on stage and in the audience nearly so much as Harris was, but he kept the night moving and even some of his dumb jokes were funny.  (Edward Snowden is not here tonight for some t-reason.  Genius!)  The magic briefcase was a little overdone, but had a fun payoff at the end.

Gaga, oh the Lady Gaga, all hail. Behind the meat dresses and the shenanigans, there is one hell of a powerful and beautiful voice.  That woman is a true talent.  When she got emotional at the end and Julie Andrews came out, I had a severe allergic reaction.  Ok, I cried.  What am I, made of stone???  (On the other hand, Gaga, leave the dress alone, stop playing with it.  It looks weird.)  On the other hand, the Jennifer Hudson song was beautiful, but unnecessary.  As in years past, the live performance behind the in memoriam would have done better.

Glom Gazingo and Adele Dazeem, the perfect pair.  I had read that John Travolta was game for poking fun at his gaffe from last year, and boy, they did such a great job with the schtick to make up for it.

Kudos to the orchestra conductor for knowing when to let a person continue and knowing when he or she has lost his way and just doesn't know how to wrap up.  Some very nice speeches owe their thanks to the maestro.  On the other hand, SHAME ON YOU multiple winners who didn't figure out in advance how you would divide the time, so only some people got to thank their families.  I really hate when one of the winners uses up all of the time.

Finally, an interesting note - this was the first time in Oscar history that every single Best Picture nominee received at least one award.  Wow!

Ok, now to the winners.

Best Picture: I still think that the Imitation Game was the best of the films, but as I predicted, The Academy went with the quirky film that resonates just a little too well with those voters who dream of making their own comeback.

Best Actor: For the transformation in every part of his body, Eddie Redmayne deserved it.

Best Actress: Sorry, Julianne Moore, there IS a best actress and it was you.  But there was not a single misstep among the other women in your category.

Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons deserved it and gave a very sweet speech (do I have to call my parents if they watched the show with me???), that maybe lost its way as he spoke.  (A little more prep, and you nailed it, JK)

Best Supporting Actress: You go, Patricia Arquette!  Get down with your bad self.  Despite the income inequality jokes on Twitter, she used a very public moment and her fame to bring attention to a serious issue.

Best Director: Though Inarritu did a great job with a crazy vision, Richard Linklater was the deserving director, and this was an injustice, in my opinion.

Best Original Screenplay: This was a shocker, but along the lines of Birdman's dominance of the awards.  I'm still shocked, and I still think The Grand Budapest Hotel should have won.  Sorry to those who followed my advice on this one!

Best Adapted Screenplay: I have been an Imitation Game backer for a long time now.  But Graham Moore's speech only codified my love for the film.  His openness about his own struggles followed by the charge to pass on the inspiration made his speech one of the winners of the evening.

Best Cinematography:  Now, I know a very little bit about Cinematography, and one of the things that I have come to understand is that the long one shots in Birdman are extraordinary accomplishments (for the actors, as well!), and required the best of the best.  I thought this was an outstanding representation of Cinematography, especially in light of my complaints that this same Director of Photography got too many accolades for Gravity.

Best Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel was a good winner, though many of the nominees could easily have done as well.

Animated Feature: Oh, the irony.  And the powerful lesson - when I saw Big Hero 6, the first thing I said was, "that's the winner."  Then, I did all my research listened to the pundits, and picked a different film.  But I loved Big Hero 6, and am thrilled that it won.

Documentary Feature: Though I did pick CitizenFour to win, and it did, and it was important, I still stand by my original contention that Virunga was the more important film.  Plus, gorillas.

Documentary Short: Crisis Hotline is playing on HBO, and you should see it.  It's serious and these featured crisis hotline workers are true heroes.

Film Editing: This category had a serious upset when Whiplash was declared the winner.  It was extraordinary when you think about multiple takes of drumming and music and then edit that into a coherent film.  But I really think Boyhood deserved the award - that film's success entirely boiled down to the quality of the editing.

Original Score: This is a category where I should have learned from experience is often connected to the momentum a picture has.  Plus, statistically, Alexandre Desplat was nominated for 2 of the 5 choices, which gives him a larger chance of winning.  But I went with my heart and chose The Theory of Everything that had a stand out score.  Shame on me, and I should have warned you all that the momentum picture is usually the winner.

Production Design: Grand Budapest Hotel did win, should have won, end of story.

Animated Short Film: And HALLELUJAH!  Though I picked the Dam Keeper for fear of getting caught up in another Disney film that should have been the winner and then wasn't, I was happy to be wrong in this category.  Finally, the best film won.

Original Song: Ah, how great was the performance of the winning song, Glory?  All of the performances were strong and Tim McGraw's version of I'm Not Going to Miss You, was so touching.  But Glory stands apart.  And kudos to John Legend and Common for quite clearly preparing their speeches, which were transcendent.

Sound Editing: Of course, American Sniper.

Sound Mixing: This one was a surprise for me, but is really a tribute to how much the Academy wanted to honor Whiplash, a most deserving award winner.

Makeup and Hairstyling: The Grand Budapest Hotel was the winner, again on momentum.  Check out Guardians of the Galaxy - the makeup is amazing and critical to almost every single character in the film.  It's a bit of an injustice.

Live Action Short Film: The Phone Call was powerful, and I love Sally Hawkins.  But make sure to check out Boogaloo and Graham, which was so adorable.  I mean, chickens on leashes kind of adorable.

Visual Effects: Here, dear readers, is where I let you down.  On the day of the broadcast, I did indeed change my ballot to Interstellar, which means that if you used my picks, I got it right and you got it wrong.  As I mentioned in the Who Should Win post, I was wrestling with this one, and at the last moment changed my mind.  I should have let you know!

Foreign Language Film: As I've said, when it comes to the Academy, it's futile to compete with Holocaust movies.  This one was so beautifully done that it was a clear winner.  But there are some outstanding films in this category that you should see, especially Wild Tales and Tangerines.

One last note - did you notice how many "doubles" there were with this year's nominees?  Two Alzheimer's films (Still Alice, Glen Campbell), two films that Mark Ruffalo is in, two films that Keira Knightley is in, two films that TJ Miller does voices for, two films about suicide hotlines (The Phone Call, Crisis Hotline), two films about war veterans (American Sniper, Crisis Hotline), two films about Olympic athletes (Foxcatcher, Unbroken), two films about photographers (Finding Vivian Maier, The Salt of the Earth)... and those aren't even all of them!

Thank you for going on this journey with me, and I'll see you again at the Oscars!

Enjoy the performance of "Moving Pictures!"

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

Citizenfour - Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier - John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam - Rory Kennedy, Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth - Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, David Rosier
Virunga - Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara

Citizenfour
Citizenfour is the insider's view of the much publicized leak of NSA practices by Edward Snowden. He and his journalist partners are followed through their interviews, and we learn more about why he decided to do this, and we see him instructing the journalists and filmmakers about ways that people can be tracked and followed, even in ways that we wouldn't expect.  Snowden is a mild mannered and thoughtful person, and whether you agree with what he did or not, the film is a different view of the person who was represented in the media (much of which is shown, as well).  His journalist partners are also key figures in this story, with their own view on their responsibilities to the public.

Finding Vivian Maier
Finding Vivian Maier is an unexpected treat of a film.  It follows the discovery of a collection of over 100,000 superb photographs by a woman who worked as a nanny and housekeeper for upscale families in New York.  As the mystery is solved and we discover who took the extraordinary photos, we meet the people for whom she worked, and we discover darker elements of her personality.  The baffling thing is that though everyone knew she was obsessed with taking photographs, they never knew how truly talented she was.

Last Days in Vietnam
This is a powerful story as those who were in Vietnam and those serving in the American government at the time recount their experiences as Americans were being airlifted from a country being taken over by the North Vietnamese.  The Americans understood that the South Vietnamese who has worked for them and with them would most certainly be tortured, imprisoned, or killed, but that the number was far too many to help leave.  We see the obligation that those on the ground and those in President Ford's circle felt to the people - many of whom would be left behind.

The Salt of the Earth
The Salt of the Earth follows the remarkable life and photography career of Sebastiao Salgado through wars, famines, international conflicts, massacres, and later in his life, a commitment to environmental beauty and its rebirth in Brazil.  We see his priorities unfold as we review his work, and the striking photographs that are shown in the film are a retrospective of the last 40 years of world events.

Virunga
Virunga follows an area of the Congo that houses mountain gorillas, and the people who risk their lives every day to preserve their habitat and the animals themselves.  As the film progresses, militants who seem to be working for a foreign company looking for oil get closer and closer to the national park.  It's a complex story of aggression, money, and who is really threatening the park.  The leader of those defending Virunga is a Belgian-born Prince who understands the politics and the money better than most, but is unyielding in his commitment to preservation.  Those who work directly with the gorillas are brave and kind - some of whom escaped their lives as child soldiers and are now proud to be doing good in the world.  This film is touching and meaningful, and is one of the best I've seen.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST - 1 nomination

Visual Effects - Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

X-Men: Days of Future Past is the next installment of the Marvel comic book series in which robots called Sentinels have been sent with tremendous power to kill all mutants.  Mutants living in this current era decide to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to the 70's to prevent the production of the Sentinels, which appears to be the only solution available to combat the terror they are raining down.

The visual effects in this film are incredibly cool.  First, X-Men in general has fantastic visuals because mutants don't exist.  (Much like The Hunger games series, it has been overlooked in the makeup category, and it shouldn't have been.)  Then, add in the amazing effects produced for the Sentinel robots, and it's easy to see how this film was finally nominated for this category.  The Marvel universe films, in general, should be contenders each year for visual effects nominations, and this film is a very deserving for this one indeed.  

WILD - 2 nominations

Actress in a Leading Role - Reese Witherspoon
Actress in a Supporting Role - Laura Dern

Wild is the story of a woman absorbed in grief over the loss of her mother who becomes seriously self destructive and makes dangerous choice after dangerous choice.  Sexual promiscuity and drug abuse become central to her life story, until she decides that she must go on a journey of over 1000 miles hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.  She is relatively unprepared and sincerely unqualified to make this journey - especially alone - and through a series of very lucky coincidences and support from fellow hikers, she not only survives the journey but finds herself.

There is a strange tension in the film wherein she often seems on the verge of being raped that makes it hard to focus on the storyline.  That aside though, the movie was very compelling, and it almost feels like we are partnering with her on her journey.

Laura Dern is the real standout in this film.  It is interesting to juxtapose that it was only last year that Dern's father was nominated for an outstanding performance in Nebraska which he did not win, and that Dern is nominated for an outstanding performance for Wild, which she will likely not win.  In both cases, the recognition is absolutely deserved.

Reese Witherspoon was very good, as she always is, and I suspect that any really good actress like her would be nominated for this role because of how grueling it appears to be to pull off.  I'm a fan of Witherspoon's, and I generally think she picks good projects.  In this case, she truly selected this one, having optioned the book before it was even published.

Overall,  a really good solid film.

WHO SHOULD WIN? WHO WILL WIN?

The time has come – my most intimidating moment of the year, the moment I go on record with my predictions.  I’ve had really good years (21 out of 24 in 2014), and really bad years (15 out of 24 in 2011), and this is the first time I’ve ventured out where my idol critics have gone before me.  (Steve Pond, if you’re reading this, I had no idea how stressful this is, so thank you!)  However, in addition to the films and artists I think will win, what’s more important to me is who I think should win, now that I have seen all 60 films with nominations.  Here we go! (and don’t forget that if you win your pool with my picks, I get 10%!)

Best Picture

This is a very close race this year between Birdman and Boyhood.  The numbers have changed since last week!  So I’m going for a pick, and we’ll see…

Will Win: Birdman – in the end, I think audiences will remember that though the “gimmick” of Boyhood was interesting and compelling, the story is not necessarily an original one.  I think Academy voters may see something of themselves in Birdman and will pick it as the winner.  But I have to admit I'm not confident, and my Oscar critic idol thinks Boyhood will eke it out in the end.

Should Win: The Imitation Game – I know this film is not even a contender for the big award, and Vegas’ odds would tell you to bet against it.  But it was an important story and a critical social commentary on prioritizing moral judgments versus actual accomplishments.  It was an outstanding film.

Director

Will Win: This is another tough call and the tides have turned in only the last week.  The DGA award is always the best predictor of this winner, and so I’m going with Alejandro G. Innaritu.  Not to mention the VERY few number of times that the Director of the Best Picture has not also won.  So if you pick Boyhood, I recommend you pick Richard Linklater.

Should Win: Richard Linklater – for all my criticisms of the over-hype of a basically regular movie, the execution of the movie was based on Linklater’s singular vision and experimentation.  He deserves it.  In my heart, I hope that Linklater wins, even if it means that I'll have one less point in my pool.

Actor

Will Win: Eddie Redmayne

Should Win: Eddie Redmayne – of course there is a lot of buzz about Michael Keaton and I am among the many who was thrilled to see him in this amazing role.  But Eddie Redmayne became Stephen Hawking, and he deserves the accolades.

Actress

Will Win: Julianne Moore

Should Win: Julianne Moore with Marion Cotillard a close second.

Supporting Actor

Will Win: JK Simmons

Should Win: Channing Tatum – yes, I know he’s not nominated.  But I really thought the Academy would do for him what they did for Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist and nominate him in the Supporting Actor category to give him a chance for having so completely transformed himself in Foxcatcher.  Without that option, yes, JK Simmons was superb and he is the clear winner among the nominated group.

Supporting Actress

Will Win: Patricia Arquette

Should Win: Patricia Arquette or Laura Dern, who was also marvelous.

Original Screenplay

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel – it’s always funny to me that so many times, the Best Picture winners and the screenplay winners are not the same.  The implication of this award being, this was a great film that could have been the best picture, so it will be the best screenplay.  (Look it up!)

Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: The Imitation Game

Should Win: The Imitation Game – see my comments about Best Picture!  If it can’t win for Best Picture, it should at least get this award.

Cinematography

Will Win: Birdman

Should Win: Birdman, no contest.

Costume Design:

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel – without an amazing period piece this year (Mr. Turner was a contender, but not enough to be the winner), the whimsy of this film’s costumes make it a clear standout.

Film Editing

Will Win: Boyhood

Should Win: Boyhood - the film just doesn't work without the outstanding editing.

Makeup and Hairstyling

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel - but mostly because of momentum of the film, not necessarily because it was the best of the lot.  This category usually honors the truly best makeup and hair, but I have a feeling that they will go with Grand Budapest.

Should Win: The Guardians of the Galaxy – come on, the makeup turning Zoe Saldana green alone should make this the winner.  This team created aliens, not just old people out of young people.

Production Design

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel, not just for the exquisite settings they created, but also for the shabby run down versions, as well.  The attention to detail is beyond description.

Original Score

This is a very hard category – The Grand Budapest Hotel has momentum, The Theory of Everything has a beyond beautiful score.  So…

Will Win: The Theory of Everything

Should Win: The Theory of Everything, so let’s hope I’m right about the first one!  Again, a win for Grand Budapest would be a win for the popularity of the film, not for the best Original Score.

Original Song

Will Win: “Glory” from Selma

Should Win: “Glory” from Selma, with a very close runner up in “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie.  Try to get it out of your head.  You can’t.  And you’re welcome.

Sound Editing

Will Win: American Sniper – it’s very hard to beat war movies in this category.

Should Win: It’s a toss up for me between American Sniper and Birdman.  Though war movies are a strong contender in Sound Editing, there’s something about the cinematography combined with the incredible jazz drumming that deserves recognition.

Sound Mixing

Will Win: American Sniper

Should Win: American Sniper

Visual Effects

Will Win: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – it had the most supporting from the Visual Effects awards

Should Win: Interstellar – the visuals in the film are exquisite.  (And I may change my vote to this one by Sunday, so make your own call!)

Animated Feature

Will Win: How to Train Your Dragon 2 – a movie that I loved.

Should Win: The Lego Movie (not nominated) or The Boxtrolls (nominated but won’t win).  Don’t get me wrong, Dragon 2 was wonderful, but the Boxtrolls and the Lego Movie were so innovative and original.  The Lego Movie was a two hour commercial for Legos, and didn’t feel that way for one minute.  I’m still mad at its exclusion from this category.

Documentary Feature

Will Win: CitizenFour

Should Win: Virunga – while Edward Snowden and his story are interesting, Virunga is a tale of unequaled bravery and dedication in the face of life threatening danger.  Plus, gorillas.

Foreign Film

Will Win: Ida - no one can compete with a well done Holocaust movie, nor should anyone.  Especially one told through a different set of eyes.

Should Win: Wild Tales – don’t get me wrong, I loved Ida and I support its potential win.  But Wild Tales was a movie beyond all description.  It’s too funny to win an Oscar, but it was insanely good.

Animated Short

We have arrived at my rant for this year’s Oscars.  Be prepared… soap box, ascended so…

Will Win: The Dam Keeper

Should Win: Feast – Every year that I bet on a Disney short that is far superior to the rest of the candidate, I’m somehow shocked when it doesn’t win.  And once again, Feast was the best of the group – by far – but I’m not getting shafted again on this one.  The Animated Short category seems to have an aversion to honoring Disney, which is a shame because they make some really great animated shorts.

Soap box, descended.

Documentary Short

Will Win: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – a truly superb documentary that combines tension and emotion, and honors the work of people who have very hard jobs serving people who genuinely deserve it.

Should Win: Crisis Hotline, but my runner up is Our Curse, a heartbreaking and at once uplifting story of parents nurturing their child who has a life threatening illness.

Live Action Short

Will Win: The Phone Call, starring one of my favorite actresses, Sally Hawkins, as a determined suicide crisis line worker trying to help a man who has called for company as he dies.

Should Win: Boogaloo and Graham – this is one of the few Oscar categories that often honors comedies, and Boogaloo and Graham was absolutely terrific, with two little boys and their pet chickens.  It has a chance.  But most of the experts (a category in which I would NOT place myself) are calling it for The Phone Call (by a very wide margin), so I'm not feeling brave enough to go with B&G.

So, those are my picks.  Do you agree?  Do you disagree?  Only Sunday will tell.  Happy Oscar viewing… you know I’ll be emotional the first time they say, “And the Oscar goes to…”

WHIPLASH - 5 nominations

Best Picture - Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook, David Lancaster
Actor in a Supporting Role - J.K. Simmons
Film Editing - Tom Cross
Sound Mixing - Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley
Adapted Screenplay - Damien Chazelle

By now, most people know the basic premise of the film, Whiplash.  An ambitious, driven young drummer, Andrew, played by Miles Teller gets into a highly selective music school, and then is taken into the elite jazz band led by a teacher who is a ruthless bully (J.K. Simmons).  There is nothing Andrew won't do to please his teacher, and he will stop at nothing to become a great musician.  He is driven by the same unflinching focus that one sees in Olympic athletes, who train 8 hours a day to achieve their dreams - he does nothing in the world save practicing the drums.  His father (played sweetly by Paul Reiser) doesn't understand his son's drive, and is troubled by seeing his son hurt.  The teacher, Fletcher, is manipulative, abusive (mentally and physically), and believes himself to be working for the good of the students - though it is unclear why his tactics have been allowed or overlooked by the school.

This film pushed a lot of buttons for me - bullying in any form is very hard for me to take, and I have seen ruthless bullies in the workplace who go unchecked for one reason or another.  J.K. Simmons took this character to the extreme, supported no doubt by the excellent screenplay that built his back story.  It is hard to believe that any one person could be so ruthless all the time, and yet Simmons manages to convince us that his one-note personality is authentic.  He has his own undaunted eyes on his own prize, and there is a certain parallel between him and his student in that they both have greatness on their minds.  There is something about this film and determination to succeed that is inspiring.

As I have shared in prior posts, films with lots of music, especially complicated rhythmic music are perfect candidates for technical awards like editing and sound mixing.  The difficulty rating on these kinds of achievements is very high, and in this case, it was done flawlessly.

This is a hard film to watch, so I recommend being thoughtful about whether this is the kind of film that is for you.  If you do choose to see it, I believe you will not regret it, it is superb.  Just make sure you go out for ice cream afterward for a palate cleanse. 

SONG OF THE SEA and THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA - 1 nomination each

Animated Feature: Song of the Sea - Tomm Moore and Paul Young
Animated Feature: The Tale of Princess Kaguya - Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Song of the Sea is a sweet tale of a family whose mother and daughter are both selkies, or people who can transform into seals and back into humans.  The film is based on Irish and Scottish legends. When the mother dies birthing the family's second child, the son who adored her struggles with his relationship with the younger sister, who is the selkie.  Both children are taken away to live with their grandmother, and the daughter, Saoirse sneaks off to her destiny while her brother chases after her to protect her.  The animation in this film is absolutely beautiful and the story was surprisingly engaging for a movie about a child's legend. 

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is based on a Japanese story, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter."  A man who makes his living as a bamboo cutter finds a miniature person born out of a bamboo stalk in the woods.  He brings her home and he and his wife decide to raise her.  In her youngest years, she grows extraordinarily fast moment by moment, and she makes friends with children in the area.  Convinced by discoveries of gold and fine kimonos in the bamboo, the bamboo cutter builds a palace to nurture the child into becoming royalty so that she can fulfill the destiny he believes she has.  As she grows into the fine young lady he envisions, she receives numerous proposals of marriage from local nobility, including the Prince, though she still is unable to find happiness in anything more than the natural world.  In order to become who she really is, she must find her own destiny.  Though this film was a bit long for a full length animated feature, it is extremely well done.  Though it has been translated into English with an American cast, I highly recommend starting with the original, and the one which has received the Oscar nomination.

UNBROKEN - 3 nominations

Cinematography - Roger Deakins
Sound Editing - Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Sound Mixing - Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano, David Lee

Unbroken is the real life story of Louis Zamperini, US Olympian and war veteran whose plane was shot down while serving during World War II.  He, and others in his unit, live for almost two months on a raft until they are discovered by a Japanese war ship.  They are taken to a prisoners of war camp, where the senior officer of the camp takes a particular interest in torturing Zamperini.  Throughout all of the challenges thrown at him, Zamperini maintains an outlook in which he is determined to survive.  He is a leader and believes in himself no matter what he faces.

The sound categories for which this film is nominated are basically no brainers - as I have described in the past, these categories usually fill with war movies and musicals.  As a war movie with plenty of action and a strong story, Unbroken was destined for these nominations.

The cinematography was absolutely breathtaking, and it is easy to see how this film would wind up in this category.

Unbroken is a good solid film with an uplifting and inspiring central character.  It was a little bit long and could have used a little bit more editing, but overall, it was well done and worth seeing.

ANIMATED SHORTS AND LIVE ACTION SHORTS

Wow, there are a lot of films nominated for Oscars this year!  Because of that challenge, I need to do a little bit more combining of reviews in order to make it to next Sunday and fit in all of the films.  So today's selection means all 10 narrative shorts in one sweet review!  Enjoy!

ANIMATED SHORTS
The Bigger Picture - Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper - Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast - Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton - Torill Kove
A Single Life - Joris Oprins

The Bigger Picture
The most interesting part of The Bigger Picture is the combination of flat drawing and 3-D pieces that get combined into this one animated short about two brothers who are caring for their elderly mother as she needs more and more attention.  The creativity of the animation is most certainly why it is nominated for an Oscar.

The Dam Keeper
This is a sweet little film whose message is about the devastating effect that bullying can have on a person. A lonely little pig who bears the responsibility of monitoring and maintaining the town dam is at the center of the story and when he finally makes a friend, we find it is more difficult to be betrayed than to be ignored.

Feast
Feast is an adorable story about a dog who is adopted by a single man and lives the bachelor life with him until his owner meets a woman who changes their lives forever.  It is so well done and the story is terrific, but it is produced by Disney so it most certainly will not win the category.  Having said that, if you sit in the audience of a theater and judge solely on audience reaction, Feast would win every time.

Me and My Moulton
This cute little film is about three sisters whose parents are avant garde architects so their lives are just a bit different than their friends.  Their clothes are artistic, their house has nutty furniture, and when they get their dream of owning a bicycle, it turns out to be unique in its own right.

A Single Life
This film is a true short - about 2 minutes - and is just hilarious.  It focuses on one person and what happens to her when a record arrives and once put on the record player, some crazy stuff happens depending on which part of the record you'd like to play.  Move it forward, the world moves forward in time.  Move the needle backward, the world moves backward in time.

LIVE ACTION SHORTS
Aya - Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham - Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (Le Lampe au Beurre de Yak) - Hu Wei and Julien Feret
Parvaneh - Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call - Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

Aya
Aya is the story of a woman who accidentally picks up a man at the Israeli international airport who thinks that she is his arranged driver.  We see the sadness in her life and they connect during the drive in a meaningful way.  He touches her in ways that she couldn't have expected when they started this journey.

Boogaloo and Graham
This charming film is about two brothers who are given chickens as a gift from their father, which they name Boogaloo and Graham.  They grow to love the chickens and are not happy to discover that their mom is pregnant, and she wants the chickens gone.  Now they must scheme to save their little pets.

Butter Lamp
This one is a funny one as a photographer and his assistant take pictures of families who live in a remote Tibetan village.  They bring every possible backdrop, allowing the subjects to appear at a holy shrine or Disneyland, and we get to see the families get prepared and gussied up for each individual shot.

Parvaneh
Parvaneh is a young Afghani woman who is living in a refugee center in Switzerland when her mother phones that the family needs money to pay for an emergency operation for a member of her family.  The challenge is that she is unable to wire money without an official ID, which she doesn't have.  She solicits the help of a young Swiss woman, and an unlikely friendship grows between the two.

The Phone Call
I have talked about how much I love Sally Hawkins many times, and she is the star of this short.  She plays a woman who works at a suicide and support hotline, when a man calls in who has taken an excessive number of pills to reunite his wife who died recently.  Hawkins relentlessly pursues clues to figure out who and where he is so she can try to save his life.

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT - 1 nomination

Actress in a Leading Role - Marion Cotillard

Two Days, One Night portrays the desperation of a woman whose co-workers have to choose between receiving a significant monetary bonus and allowing Sandra (Marion Cotillard) to stay on staff.  Because her family relies on her salary to get by, she spends the weekend going from person to person asking them to save her job over their own interests.  

Along the way, we learn that Sandra has also suffered from depression and that her challenge is not to let this setback plunge her back into being unable to manage her emotions and her life.  Watching Cotillard find her voice and her strength, even in the face of her own moral dilemma, is a powerful experience.  

The movie is simple and complicated at the same time, and the nomination for Marion Cotillard is well deserved.

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING - 5 nominations

Best Picture - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten
Actor in a Leading Role - Eddie Redmayne
Actress in a Leading Role - Felicity Jones
Original Score -  Johann Johannsson
Adapted Screenplay - Anthony McCarten

The Theory of Everything is a biopic chronicling the life and relationships of Stephen Hawking, noted physicist.  Diagnosed at 21 with a fatal illness, the majority of the film follows Hawking's body's deterioration as his scientific theories achieve monumental success.  It is fascinating to watch the science develop which allows him to communicate ever more effectively, until he is equipped with a voice translator, becoming the famous figure we know today.

Lead characters with physical disabilities yet brilliant minds do well at the Oscars, partly because of the challenge to the actor playing the part.  My Left Foot is an example of this genre, and I suspect Redmayne's fate will be that of Daniel Day Lewis', that is, holding the statue at the end of the night. And the truth is that Redmayne will have deserved the accolades, having so transformed himself to become the man he portrayed.  

Also of note was the incredible Original Score, which was the very first thing I noticed about the film the moment it began.  This is the kind of film that showcases a score so well because of the open spaces without dialogue.  It rises to the occasion.

Having said all of this, the film, for me, was good, solid, but I'm not sure that it really deserves to be in the Best Picture category, nor would I necessarily have placed Felicity Jones above some of the performances that were not nominated.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film from top to bottom, I'm just not sure that without Redmayne's performance, any of these nominations would be where they are, except for Original Score.

STILL ALICE - 1 nomination

Actress in a Leading Role - Julianne Moore

Still Alice is the amazing film about its lead character (played by Julianne Moore) who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease.  She has spent her life as a linguistics professor, so the cruelty of losing her words and language is not lost on us - Moore wrestles so brilliantly with the variety of emotions facing her character, and we easily empathize with her plight.  Equal to the challenge of coping with Alzheimer's, is the awareness that it is a genetic disease for which at least one of her children has tested positive.  Watching her family members navigate their way through coping with caring for Alice, we blame, we judge, and we appreciate the care that they give her and the unconditional love that surrounds her.  Alzheimer's is such a cruel disease plaguing not only the person who has it but all of the people in her life, as well, and this film does such a wonderful job of showing each painful and funny moment.

Julianne Moore is nominated for Best Actress, and it is no surprise that she has swept the awards for which she has been nominated.  She manages to portray all of the emotions and challenges one would expect from a woman in that situation - fear, frustration, anger, sadness, and even occasional bouts of good humor, and sometimes, all of these at once.  This film is a multi-tissue kind of film, so when you watch it - as you must - bring a box for everyone.

SELMA - 2 nominations

Best Picture - Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
Best Song - "Glory"  Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn

Selma is the story of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King's vision to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to protest the laws keeping African Americans from voting.  Inherent in that struggle is the demand for equal rights across the board - working for the demise of segregation altogether.  The key challenge was not only to have institutionalized racism overturned, but also to ensure that the laws that had already passed protecting African American citizens were actively enforced.  It may have been legal for African Americans to vote, but that doesn't mean that the person working in city government was actually allowing people to register.

It's a very powerful, very moving film, with phenomenal performances, especially by David Oyelowo who embodied the spirit of MLK.  The best part of the film is that although we do follow Martin Luther King and his actions to make change, it equally lauds the people of Selma who endured humiliations, beatings, and other forms of degradation.  The victories do not rest solely on the charismatic leader, they sit in the hands of the people who made these tremendous sacrifices every day, in every possible way.  The choice to make MLK a very real person and show all sides of him (including that he was cheating on his wife), was a brave one. Ava DuVernay, as the Director of the film, did an outstanding job of personalizing the struggle and showing the realities of that time - not everyone believed that the chosen way was the correct way.  In some ways, MLK was seen in the film as a carpet bagger, picking the best towns to drop in on and do his work, which was not appreciated by everyone already working in that town.  I must admit that of all of the categories in which Selma was overlooked, Ava DuVernay not being nominated for Best Director is the most upsetting to me.  She did a brilliant job with this film.

The bottom line of what makes this film so well done is how real the portrayals are.  Now, this is a film so it would be foolish to assume that everything portrayed is accurate to the actual history of struggle.  There are those who are furious that President Johnson is portrayed as working against MLK, but we have to remember that this is a film in need of conflict.  I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.  There are those who are unhappy that other communities who were active and supportive of the efforts were not highlighted - I do not agree with those voices.  This film is one lens of the story, and what I sincerely hope is that people are inspired by the film to learn the true history of the struggle.  That would be a real victory.

Finally, I have to mention the song that is nominated for an Oscar, "Glory."  I believe this song to be absolutely the most powerful of the category.  John Legend and Common knocked it out of the park, and I'm sharing a video here that includes the lyrics so you can really be moved by its power.

FOREIGN FILMS

Ida - Poland, Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
Also nominated for Cinematography - Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Ida is a powerful story of a young woman about to take her vows as a nun with the Catholic Church when she discovers that she was the child of a Jewish family who was hidden during World War 2. Before the convent will allow her to take her vows, they insist that she spend time with her aunt and learn about her true identity, and in the process, she also learns the details of her family's fate.  Issues of faith, identity, justice, and forgiveness are explored.  The cinematography in this film is very well done, and this is the second year in a row that a black and white film is honored for its visual artistry.

Leviathan - Russia, Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Leviathan examines power and corruption in modern day Russia.  The mayor of the city decides that he wants to appropriate the land and home of a member of his community, and the courts are indifferent to the situation.  As the homeowner fights for his rights, his family is harassed and attacked.  We see the utter uselessness of the justice system, and the very definition of absolute power corrupting absolutely.  With such a powerful story, it would be easy to assume that the film would be outstanding, and unfortunately, it just wasn't.  It was painfully slow, had some scenarios that were barely believable, and was just a frustrating film to watch.

Tangerines - Estonia, Directed by Zaza Urushadze
Tangerines takes place in the country of Georgia during the most recent war.  Most of the Estonians have fled back to Estonia, but Ivo has stayed behind to harvest his crop of Tangerines with his friend and neighbor.  During this period, soldiers from both sides of the conflict are wounded, and he takes each of them in successively to help nurse them back to health.  The tensions of the debate play out under his roof, as they begin to see each other through unexpected lenses.  Tangerines, though it may not be a new story, is an excellent film with well drawn characters and engaging dialogue.  It's a film that must be seen.

Timbuktu - Mauritania, Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako
Timbuktu shows the captivity under which a village lives while Jihadists take over and rule the area, imposing stricter and stricter laws and harsher and harsher punishments for the violation of those laws.  Every situation has the power to escalate from minor infraction to whipping, stoning, and execution.  The film shows every day people and how no one can escape from these tyrants.  Again, this is a film that could have been outstanding, but really wasn't.  It was also very slow and it took a long time to understand that there wasn't a plot, per se, but a set of circumstances that happened all in the same place.

Wild Tales - Directed by Damian Szifron
Wild Tales is a set of 5 short stories which start calmly and then go completely off the rails.  It is dark and funny, and each story becomes so outrageous and unexpected, that you just can't look away.  It was truly one of my favorite films of the year (not just in the foreign film category), and I understand why Damian Szifron is becoming one of the hottest and most sought after Directors.  Here is just a taste of the stories therein: a model gets on an airplane and discovers she has more in common with the other passengers than she thought, a waitress at a restaurant serves a customer who appears to be the person who killed her parents, a driver of a fancy car attempts to pass a truck who will not let him by and the most escalated versions of road rage ensue, a man tries to fight city hall for towing his truck in a spot where there is no signage, a rich father tries to handle the consequences of his son's hit and run, and a Jewish wedding that goes so off the rails that there is no simple description of it to be had.  It's an outstanding film and well worth seeing!