Here are the five nominees: (Winner in Bold)
Biggest Snub:
Kim Dickens – Gone Girl
My Overall Thoughts:
This is a year where there was a clear front runner from the beginning of the awards season since she gives the most powerful performance of any of the nominees.
My Rankings:
Supporting Actress
5. Meryl Streep
4. Laura Dern
3. Emma Stone
2. Keira Knightley
1. Patricia Arquette
Movies
5. Into the Woods – I found this to be a very uninteresting musical despite the cute idea of mixing up a few fairy tales and their characters and creating a story revolved around them.
4. Wild – Often used plot line for movies about people seeking redemption. Adequately done here with a great performance by Witherspoon. Unfortunately, everything else seems too recycled to feel unique.
3. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Not your normal, mainstream kind of Best Picture nominee, but it has a strong case for being the best both in term of technical film making and giving us an interesting story and character that we want to know more about and understand him.
2. Boyhood – Very interesting and innovative kind of filmmaking but it’s still missing a real point in the end that keeps it from being spectacular. Linklater should be commended on his vision, but it feels too much like a documentary than a life changing story.
1. The Imitation Game – Excellent telling of this important story that most of us (probably) knew nothing about. Cumberbatch does a great job as the “spacey” professor whose mind works on a different wavelength than everyone else. I understand why it was done, but the social issues brought up seemed a bit too politicized instead of helping with the story.
Do I agree with the Oscar winner? – Yep! PA clearly gave the best performance of the 5 nominees and none come anywhere close to being as powerful.
Let me know what you think about these films and my rankings!
I might’ve gone with Carrie Coons from “Gone Girl”. Disagree with you on Arquette and that no one else even came close. NOT a fan of Boyhood. Arquette was good, but Knightley was better, so was Stone (IMO) in a smaller but flashier role. And Streep made a great witch – and she sang.
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