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

I will keep being weird!

Kevlar stop shitting up the thread

Show took a fuckin' nosedive midway through. Birdman winning screenplay is the most underserving award of the night.

So far.

Or at least do it with some semblance of knowing what you are talking about.

I stand corrected.

I like this kid.

Whoa, Eddie.

wow that was interesting, didnt think they'd give it to Redmayne.

Oh look, Sean tried a joke.

Figured they wouldn't split Director and Picture this time.

So the year that started out looking like it could be one of the more interesting and unpredictable Oscar races in a while ended up being about as predictable as they usually are. Congratulations 'Birdman', but history shows that it will be forgotten this time next month.

Anyway, all the great Oscar speeches and the 'Glory' performance saved it from being a total disaster.

Oh please.

'Glory' and the following speech was bullshit propaganda.

I find it kind of odd that Birdman walks away with Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, but got no acting awards.

This is a travesty.

Boyhood is the most critically acclaimed movie in the last 25 years......doesn't win.

And notice how whenever critics gave awards, Boyhood wins, and when its the industry, Birdman? Hollywood is definitely out of touch with the audience.

Your irrational & ignorant stance on this - or terrible trolling - is totally unneeded in this thread. So either way...

@SaintLeonidas: I don't know, I kind of liked that Lady Gaga/Julie Andrews moment.

Birdman will be forgotten....not Boyhood however.

@SaintLeonidas said:

@Kevlar101 said:

@SaintLeonidas said:

So the year that started out looking like it could be one of the more interesting and unpredictable Oscar races in a while ended up being about as predictable as they usually are. Congratulations 'Birdman', but history shows that it will be forgotten this time next month.

Anyway, all the great Oscar speeches and the 'Glory' performance saved it from being a total disaster.

Oh please.

'Glory' and the following speech was bullshit propaganda.

Your irrational & ignorant stance on this - or terrible trolling - is totally unneeded in this thread. So either way...

No trolling here. I have been here long enough to know that trolling is not my thing.

It is, simply, bullshit to think that African-Americans are actually being persecuted.

That one was weird for me. Like, Gaga killed it - but the whole idea of honoring 'The Sound of Music' felt out of place. Especially when it ended up being one long lead into Best Score - and not Best Song.

What I find odd - and it plays right into it winning these specific awards - is that people (especially in this thread) gave 'Boyhood' crap for its supposed gimmick of being shot over twelve years...but say nothing of the "gimmick" of 'Birdman' being one (but not really) long shot.

people who give Boyhood crap for its "gimmick" are idiots. That's not why it has a 100 Metacritic.

You sound angry. Are you an angry Boyhood fan?

@Kevlar101 said:

@SaintLeonidas said:

@Kevlar101 said:

@SaintLeonidas said:

So the year that started out looking like it could be one of the more interesting and unpredictable Oscar races in a while ended up being about as predictable as they usually are. Congratulations 'Birdman', but history shows that it will be forgotten this time next month.

Anyway, all the great Oscar speeches and the 'Glory' performance saved it from being a total disaster.

Oh please.

'Glory' and the following speech was bullshit propaganda.

Your irrational & ignorant stance on this - or terrible trolling - is totally unneeded in this thread. So either way...

No trolling here. I have been here long enough to know that trolling is not my thing.

It is, simply, bullshit to think that African-Americans are actually being persecuted.

LOL

Aren't you like 15 or some shit? Pls go argue about Pokemanz

Why yes.

The best picture didn't win. Movie won everywhere except the industry.

@Aljosa23 said:

@Kevlar101 said:

@SaintLeonidas said:

@Kevlar101 said:

@SaintLeonidas said:

So the year that started out looking like it could be one of the more interesting and unpredictable Oscar races in a while ended up being about as predictable as they usually are. Congratulations 'Birdman', but history shows that it will be forgotten this time next month.

Anyway, all the great Oscar speeches and the 'Glory' performance saved it from being a total disaster.

Oh please.

'Glory' and the following speech was bullshit propaganda.

Your irrational & ignorant stance on this - or terrible trolling - is totally unneeded in this thread. So either way...

No trolling here. I have been here long enough to know that trolling is not my thing.

It is, simply, bullshit to think that African-Americans are actually being persecuted.

LOL

Aren't you like 15 or some shit? Pls go argue about Pokemanz

I would appreciate it if I was not told to go participate in activities "more suited to my age".

They are trying to forge a problem where there isn't one.

Birdman deserved it !

Those who say the movie will be forgotten in a few years are utterly wrong !

Birdman is unforgettable....Boyhood will always be in minds just for its "12" !

Wrong

Birdman has that forget factor. It has that political vote type of deal, and it won only because it was about show business, like Shakespeare in Love. What do you know, 3 of the last 4 BP winners were about movie biz.

Boyhood already is a classic. Once again, just because of the 12 years thing, that's simply not why it has a 100 Metacritic and 98% RT, which was for a long time at 100%. It absolutely cleaned up critic awards. We are talking about record acclaim here.

Boyhood wasn;t Hollywood, it was Texas...that's why it didn't win.

Depends on the audience, i mean Birdman is not a movie everybody likes....They would've gone with American Sniper if political stuff mattered....Why would u call Boyhood "classic"?

I don't believe in Oscar ....seriously this year was kinda exception , the awards were fair IMO....All i'm saying is that Birdman is one of the best movies ever created and it will remain masterpiece for a long time....

And this is how OT fare last year:

1/2 guys! Might look farther later.

Outside of Linklater, the real travesty is that Big Hero 6 beat out Kaguya.

And I've actually seen that one.

History says otherwise.

As an example?

Um, a majority of past BP winner. The best recent example being 'The Artist' - another film reliant on its production value that was critically praised and loved by audiences, and yet is hardly remembered.

Agreed.

This is the first time maybe in a long time that my fav movie of the year won the BP...

As i said , Birdman will be remembered because it's a masterpiece.....not for its Oscar....

..."masterpiece" is subjective, many people - those who study, analyze, or even make films - do not think it is a masterpiece. It isn't widely accepted as being one - and past BP winners, including 'The Artist', were called a masterpiece by one person or another - yet their fate remained the same.

However, once again......Boyhood has record critical acclaim, its the film that will stand the test of time.

Birdman won't, it will end up just like the Artist or Crash.

@texasgoldrush We'll see....

Really, Oscars are pretty bad with Best Picture....

For every best picture that does stand the test of time, 2 do not, even having a loser become a classic, while the winner is forgotten.

American Sniper, but I haven't seen any of the other ones.

Surprise, surprise

"I am an actress." Hardly, girl. Hardly.

I guess she didn't get the memo...or NATIONAL COVERAGE...of the Sony hacks in which Charlize Theron was offered much less for her role in 'Snow White and The Huntsman' than Hemsworth - something that happens far too often in this "industry" that she loves.

Haha I didn't see a single movie nominated this year. I generally hate biopics, always seem like Oscar bait to me. I'll probably get around to seeing them. To everyone who has seem them, were best actor/actress winners generally worthy? I generally disagree with almost every year's winner.

It seems I hit a nerve with this one. I'm not saying that everybody should give the movie a perfect score or anything, in fact I generally speaking am not enough of a movie aficionado to care about reviews and ratings and what have you so it is worth mentioning that it was in this topic that I first knew that the movie received such high ratings and exceptional critical acclaim. I'm making you aware of this in order to demonstrate to you that I wasn't influenced by whatever hype or alleged overrating the movie generated among fans and critics of the industry. That aside, the movie was spectacular and a solid piece of creative work irrespective of the "gimmick" of having been shot over an extended period of time. I watched it in one session despite its length and the lack of exceptionally intense plot twists, or to be perfectly honest despite the lack of plot twists altogether. It just felt like a surreal and hazy life experience somehow. I'm not sure whether it was the settings, the cast, the cinematography or a blend of these elements that made watching the movie such an exceptional experience to me but it just happened and at the end of the day I was pleased.

That aside, you may argue that the movie didn't deserve a 10 in which case you'd be making a trite and platitudinous statement seeing how nothing in life deserves a perfect score for everything is flawed one way or the other. So it should go without saying that a score of 10 doesn't suggest perfection entire but it simply indicates that the rater was immensely satisfied and content with whatever he was rating. And to touch on the "gimmick" aspect of the movie, for the movie to have been shot over an extended period of time is not necessarily in itself an exceptional feat. That's not an invitation however to take it to the extreme and suggest that the thing itself is inherently gimmicky. Considering the plot of the movie and its theme (boyhood, growing up, parenthood...etc), having been shot over a period of ten years using the same cast throughout the process does add a tremendous value to the work and its realism and authenticity. Entirely failing to recognize that does make one an uncultured philistine in a way I'm afraid.

Lastly, you may also argue that the movie is not a timeless masterpiece that shall be commemorated throughout the generations for decades to come, but to argue that it doesn't even deserve to be among the top 10 movies of its year of release is absurd really. You said it yourself, you'd "squeak" it in the 8-9-10 mark and that alone would make it a top 10 contender.

Sometimes something doesn't have to comprise some particular, standalone exceptional element for it to be exceptional itself. Its possible for the exceptional execution of a conventional idea to render the end result exceptional. I already mentioned Birdman in that regard. The plot is nothing special: the story of a washed-up actor trying to revive the heyday of his career and restore his sense of self-worth has been done before many times that it has become a trope really. However, the execution of the idea in the movie was original, was authentic and was exceptional at the end. The same argument applies to Boyhood. I shall reiterate what I already stated in my last post to lostprophet and say that for a movie to have been shot over an extended period of time isn't necessarily in itself a gimmick that adds some unique and fresh value to the work at hands, but nor is it necessarily a gimmick. In the context of the movie Boyhood and considering the plot and its theme, this component of the movie did definitely add a sense of realism and contributed to the authenticity and reception of the work at large. It wouldn't have been enough to make the overall work a good one but it made its contribution.

I may actually watch this it sounds intriguing. But I really don't see the connection here. As I already said, it can or can't be a gimmick depending on how it is employed. In Boyhood it has been employed satisfactorily and in appropriate measures too taking into account again the plot of the movie and its theme. This is not about sheer volume in which case 49 years>>10 years; rather, this is about using or manipulating the temporal aspect of the movie in a way that serves a purpose and introduces fresh value to the movie.

Wanted inherent vice to win adapted screenplay but knew it was going to ig

I applaud the Academy for not giving into the gimmicky Oscar-bait this year.

My sentiments exactly.

For this poll I chose Imitation Game, that one should have won. I found it far more entertaining than Birdman.

I don't know what it is about this Birdman movie, I saw it, and if I was able to give out awards, I'd award it the most overrated movie of the year award.

And I'd say one of the few saving graces about that movie was the good acting, but it appears none of the main characters in that movie won best actor, go figure.

I don't pay much attention to the Oscars, so I'm not sure if its like that every year, but this year I know, the Oscars bombed out.

I know. It's great. That alone made it worth watching.

Pity Michael Keaton didn't win; aside from a great performance, it is most likely the only shot he will ever have.

At least he's still Batman.