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2015 Academy Award Nominations (with Predictions)!

1/17/2015

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The long-awaited announcement of this year's Academy Award nominations has arrived at last! Thank God Almighty, they are here at last! Oh wait, what? Bad time to reference Dr. King? Oh, wow, would you look at that? Selma got snubbed! Didn't see that coming! I expected Best Picture to be a battle between it and Boyhood, but without even a Best Director nomination, it looks like Selma's chances at taking the top prize are gone, gone, gone! Huh? Wait, what? Gone Girl got snubbed too? All it got was a nod for Best Actress? Not Best Director? Not Best Score? Not even Best Adapted Screenplay? Ouch! How did that happen? Well, it looks like there are quite a few notable omissions in this year's list of nominees, but before I get into all of that, let's check out what did get nominated. Ladies and gentlemen, here are your 2015 Academy Award nominees!

Best Motion Picture of the Year
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash


Since 2010, the Oscars have allowed up to 10 nominations for Best Picture, and yet only in 2010 and 2011 did we actually see 10 nominees. That's because in order to be a nominee, a film has to receive at least 5% of the total votes, which lessens the likelihood of a major upset. Having only 8 nominees this year is disappointing, especially when films like Gone Girl, Nightcrawler, Interstellar, and Foxcatcher are noticeably absent.
Allow me a moment to speak a little more in depth about this year's top nominees. Ever since I saw Boyhood earlier this year, I've been saying that it's a total lock for Best Picture of the Year. I still think that's true, and even moreso now. The only film that I thought could possibly end up throwing a wrench into this category was Selma, and after seeing that incredible film, I really thought it had a legitimate chance at pulling off an upset. However, since it failed to earn any other nomination other than Best Original Song, I think it's safe to say it's no longer a real contender. On the contrary, we have The Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman, which each scored 9 nominations apiece, to Boyhood's 6 nominations. Could they take the Academy's top honors this year? It's certainly possible,  but given how off-the-wall those films are, I don't expect that to happen. Make no mistake, this is Boyhood's year. It is a film that has been 12 years in the making and it is a truly special and unique piece of cinema that will be recognized and awarded with the highest honor bestowed by the Academy.

While I did really enjoy The Theory of Everything, I'm a little perplexed that it found itself nominated for Best Picture. There are plenty of other films I would have rather seen in its place, namely Gone Girl, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Fury or The Drop. The unfortunate thing about these award shows is that the most popular films don't tend to get much love from voters. In fact, I'm willing to bet that most people haven't seen any of these nominees. I've personally watched 50 movies in theaters in 2014 and yet I've only seen half of them so far. Heck, the highest grossing film nominated is The Grand Budapest Hotel which reached a lackluster box office total of $59.1 million (making it the 53rd highest grossing movie of the year). None of these movies are exactly drawing the masses here, and likely won't be drawing too many viewers come Oscar Sunday.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Steve Carrell - Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything


Truthfully, I'd love to see Michael Keaton get the win here. His performance in Birdman is brave, bold, and wonderful. The film's tongue-in-cheek parallels to Keaton's career as Batman make it all the more perfect. Considering the Academy tends to favor awarding older actors, his chances are looking great.
Eddie Redmayne may have won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, but despite his impressive portrayal as Stephen Hawking, my money is on Keaton for the win. Jake Gyllenhaal's performance in Nightcrawler failed to make the best actor list, and even worse is that Selma's David Oyelowo is missing. I am borderline appalled that Oyelowo didn't earn a nomination for his outstanding portrayal as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma. Oyelowo brilliantly captured one of the most important and revered figures in history, with a performance so captivating, so inspiring, and so passionate, that I thought he was on his way to Oscar glory. As far as I'm concerned, the voters made the wrong choice. This is the true upset of this year's nominees.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon - Wild


Not much I can say about these nominees except I'm glad Rosamund Pike got nominated. I haven't seen Witherspoon's, Moore's, or Cotillard's performances, but I think Julianne Moore may have this one on lock. This is her fifth nomination and would be her first win. She's the favorite here.
The big shocker here is that Amy Adams just won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for Big Eyes, but she isn't even nominated. Instead, we get Marion Cotillard. Granted, she's a great actress, and she even won an Oscar playing Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, but this feels like a pretty big snub. Especially when you consider that pretty much no one this side of the globe has actually seen Two Days, One Night.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo
- Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash


Ethan Hawke's touching and genuine performance was my favorite thing about Boyhood. He really helped bring the whole movie to life, playing a less-than-perfect dad who sincerely loved his children and wanted the best for them. I felt he gave the single best performance of any actor in 2014.
With a Golden Globe win, J.K. Simmons is now the frontrunner for this category, but I certainly wouldn't say he's a shoe-in for the victory here. While I don't expect Duvall to come away with the win, I do think Edward Norton may possibly be able to seize the golden statue. I'll shamelessly confess that I'm rooting for Hawke to win, and that his victory would mean more to me than any other win at the Oscars this year. I may be a little biased, but I'm predicting he's taking his first Oscar home this year.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Laura Dern - Wild
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Emma Stone - Birdman
Meryl Streep - Into the Woods


Like her Boyhood co-star Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette shows a lot of dedication and heart in her performance. She skillfully balances both the happiness and the heartache that comes with raising children as a divorced mother, portraying a character that feels authentic and identifiable.
While I fully expect Arquette to win this one, I would really like to take a moment to recognize the lovely and incomparable Meryl Streep for her 19th Oscar nomination! No one else even comes close! And I must say, her performance as The Witch in Into the Woods was astonishing and well-deserving of a nomination. In terms of the other nominees, Jessica Chastain's performance in A Most Violent Year was shut out in favor of Laura Dern's in Wild.

Best Achievement in Directing
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro González Iñárritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game


Again, I'm picking Boyhood for the win. The foresight required to film a movie over a period of 12 years, with the same actors, and to have it all come together as beautifully as Boyhood does is no small feat. Richard Linklater's vision, patience, and dedication in creating Boyhood deserve absolute praise.
So Selma gets a Best Picture nomination, but not a Best Director nomination, and vice versa for Foxcatcher. Something about that seems mistaken. The odds of either of them pulling off a win look pretty slim (nay, annorexic!) without nominations for both. I do have to give some props to Alejandro González Iñárritu for his work on Birdman, which he filmed as if the whole movie were one, long, singular take. It feels almost unfair for other nominees to go up against Boyhood as its filming has transpired over a dozen years to lead to this point, but I guess that's just the luck of the draw. That thought considered, it is certainly possible that voters may attempt to spread the wealth to give other great films a fighting chance against Linklater's juggernaut.

Best Original Screenplay
Boyhood - Richard Linklater
Birdman -
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone
Foxcatcher - E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler - Dam Gilroy


This category has a strong lineup of candidates, though it's another area where Selma should have got some recognition. I'm not as convinced Boyhood will win this one. It might, but I have a hunch that The Grand Budapest Hotel is going to get this Oscar. Birdman is most likely a little too risqu
é to win here.

Best Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper - Jason Hall
Inherent Vice - Paul Thomas Anderson
The Imitation Game - Graham Moore
The Theory of Everything - Anthony McCarten
Whiplash - Damien Chazelle


I have some issues with these choices. How in the world did Gone Girl not even get an Oscar nomination for Adapted Screenplay? That's outageous. No love for The Drop either? What about The Fault in Our Stars? Disappointing! Well, at least they gave Inherent Vice a much deserved nomination.

Best Animated Feature Film
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya


A lot of people are crying afoul about The Lego Movie not getting nominated here. I'm just happy that Big Hero 6 and How to Train Your Dragon 2 made the list. I would most like to see Big Hero 6 get the Oscar, but I think How to Train Your Dragon 2 will beat it, just like it did at the Golden Globes.

Best Achievement in Editing
American Sniper - Joel Cox, Gary Roach
Boyhood
- Sandra Adair

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game - William Goldenberg
Whiplash - Tom Cross


Boyhood seamlessly connects 12 years of this boy's life without any need to signal the passing of each year. It flows beautifully and effortlessly. Managing all of that with footage extending over such a long period of time makes it a shoe-in for this Oscar, as far as I'm concerned.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Birdman - Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Robert D. Yeoman
Ida - Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner
-
Dick Pope
Unbroken - Roger Deakins


Having only seen 2 of the 5 nominees (Birdman and Unbroken), I'm not the most qualified person to guess, but because Birdman is filmed to look like one long, continuous tracking shot, I think it has a great chance at winning this award. It was an impressive visual feat.

Best Achievement in Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice - Mark Bridges
Into the Woods - Colleen Atwood
Maleficent - Anna B. Sheppard, Jane Clive
Mr. Turner - Jacqueline Durran


Personally I think Johnny Depp's Wolf outfit alone is enough to prevent Into the Woods from getting the win. And aside from Angelina Jolie's outfits in Maleficent, I don't remember other costumes in the film being particularly striking. Maybe this is a wild guess, but Inherent Vice for the win!

Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game
-
Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner - Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything
-
Jóhann Jóhannsson


Alexandre Desplat got nominated twice in the same category! Impressive! Well,  I'm not really sure who's going to take home this award, but I'm surprised Gone Girl failed to get nominated.
Jóhannsson won the Golden Globe, but I thought Hans Zimmer's score was super epic, so he gets my vote.

Best Original Song
Begin Again - "Lost Stars" by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois
Beyond the Lights - "Grateful" by Diane Warren
Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me - "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" by Glen Campbell, Julian Raymond
The Lego Movie - "Everything is Awesome" by Shawn Patterson
Selma - "Glory" by John Legend, Common

I'm predicting Selma's "Glory" is going to win this category. It's a moving and powerful song with a strong message, performed beautifully by John Legend and Common. It's truthfully the only song of the bunch I like at all. Glen Campbell's heart-breaking final song could possibly win instead, but I would be seriously surprised if any of the other three songs won.

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Foxcatcher - Bill Corso, Dennis Liddiard
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier
Guardians of the Galaxy - Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White

Hey look! A category that Guardians of the Galaxy has a good shot at winning! With all of their different colored characters and whatnot, there's no way Guardians is going to exit the show empty-handed. This one is in the bag. On another note, I do wonder if Steve Carrell's nose prosthetic alone was enough to get Foxcatcher nominated here. It's quite a nose!

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Dan Deleeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill, Daniel Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy - Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould
Interstellar - Paul J. Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott R. Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past - Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

I think this one is going to be between either Dawn of the Planet of the Apes or Interstellar. I'm giving the edge to Interstellar because of its creativity. While Planet of the Apes does outstanding things in bringing life to the apes, we have seen it all before. In terms of visuals, I've never seen a movie quite like Interstellar. It was a feast for the eyes and the brain!

Best Achievement in Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar - Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
Into the Woods - Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock
Mr. Turner - Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

I don't know much about production design, but given Interstellar's amibitous nature and the fact that director Christopher Nolan insisted on creating functional sets rather than relying completely on special effects, I think it's going to win this award. My second guess would be for The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
American Sniper - John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Walt Martin
Birdman - Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Thomas Varga
Interstellar - Gary Rizzo, Gregg Landaker, Mark Weingarten
Unbroken - Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, David Lee
Whiplash - Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley



As for the rest of these awards, I don't know, and I'm not even going to attempt to guess...

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
American Sniper - Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
Birdman - Aaron Glascock, Martín Hernández
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Brent Burge, Jason Canovas
Interstellar - Richard King
Unbroken - Becky Sullivan, Andrew DeCristofaro

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Ida - Pawel Pawlikowski
Leviathan - Andrey Zvyagintsev
Tangerines - Zaza Urushadze
Timbuktu
-
Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales - Damián Szifrón
Best Documentary, Feature
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

Best Documentary, Short Subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 - Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Dana Perry
Joanna - Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse - Tomasz Sliwinski, Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper - Gabriel Serra
White Earth - Christian Jensen

Best Short Film, Animated
The Bigger Picture - Daisy Jacobs, Chris Hees
The Dam Keeper - Robert Kondo, Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi
Feast - Patrick Osborne, Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton - Torill Kove
A Single Life - Joris Oprins

Best Short Film, Live Action
Aya - Oded Binnun, Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham - Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp - Wei Hu, Julien Féret
Parvaneh - Talkhon Hamzavi, Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call - Mat Kirkby, James Lucas

Well, that just about sums up my thoughts on the list of nominees. Considering I haven't seen so many of these films, I'll give another update as we get closer to Oscar night. It's on February 22nd, so mark your calendars! What do you guys think? What movies would you like to see win? Share your thoughts on the comments below!
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The 2015 Golden Globe Awards!

1/12/2015

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Did you guys catch the Globes tonight? Maaan! I totally missed them! I had to work and forgot to set the DVR. Oh well! In truth, I usually don't watch them anyway, but I wanted to this year for the sake of the site. I promise I won't miss the Oscars though. I'm planning on doing a live feed blog this year as I watch the show and I'm really excited about that. Anyway, as I've said before, I don't watch television shows, so half of the Golden Globes are meaningless to me, which is why I don't usually bother tuning in. However, now that awards season is in full-swing, I thought I'd share the results of Sunday's show, as well as my thoughts on some of the nominees and winners. Look alive, people! Golden Globe spoilers abound!

Best Animated Film
Nominees:
Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie



Winner:

How to Train Your Dragon 2
I'm a little disappointed that I won't be having this category featured in my own upcoming 5MMG Awards since I haven't seen 5 animated films this year to make it eligible. I did, however, see all of these minus The Lego Movie, and I think How to Train Your Dragon 2 is an excellent choice. It really was a beautiful and impressive film that was brimming with creativity.

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Nominees:
Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game
Jóhann Jóhannsson for
The Theory of Everything
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross for Gone Girl
Antonio Sanchez for Birdman
Hans Zimmer for
Interstellar

Winner:


Jóhann Jóhannsson
(The Theory of Everything)
I wasn't about to listen to 5 or more hours of musical scores to give more thorough feedback on this award, but the movie that had the most memorable score to me was Birdman. It's just so fresh and unique with its emphasis on drum use. Gone Girl's score is perfectly eerie and unsettling, while Interstellar's is about as epic as humanly possible. What I recall of The Theory of Everything's score was that it was whimsical and delightful and felt very fitting to the film.

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Nominees:
"Big Eyes" by Lana Del Rey for Big Eyes
"Glory" by John Legend, Common for Selma
"Mercy Is" by Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye for Noah
"Opportunity" by Sia for Annie
"Yellow Flicker Beat" by Lorde for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

Winner:


"Glory" by John Legend and Common
(Selma)

I just went ahead and listened to all of these nominated songs, and I definitely think the best song won. Glory is a powerful, uplifting song with great lyrics and an even greater message. It is beautifully sung and is a wonderful collaboration between Common and the always impressive John Legend. Nothing will stand in the way of this song winning an Oscar.

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Nominees:
Birdman by
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Armando Bo, et al.
Boyhood
by Richard Linklater
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
The Grand Budapest Hotel
by Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness
The Imitation Game
by Graham Moore, Andrew Hodges

Winner:

Birdman
(Alejandro González Iñárritu, Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone)

Considering how off-the-wall and brilliant Birdman is, I'm think it's a worthy winner here. It's even more impressive when you discover the ways it parallels Shakespeare's Macbeth. It's fresh, bizarre, and completely fascinating.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees:
Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
Jessica Chastain for A Most Violent Year
Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game
Emma Stone for Birdman
Meryl Streep for Into the Woods


Winner:

Patricia Arquette
(Boyhood)
This win should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the buzz of the awards race or who has actually seen Boyhood. Patricia Arquette gives a deeply insightful and touching performance in the film. I think she has a great shot at winning the Oscar too, but then again, I haven't yet seen A Most Violent Year nor The Imitation Game. As for Meryl, I was astounded by her performance in Into the Woods. How foolish of me to ever underestimate Meryl Streep!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees:
Robert Duvall for The Judge
Ethan Hawke for Boyhood
Edward Norton for Birdman
Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons for Whiplash


Winner:


J.K. Simmons
(Whiplash)
I would have put my money on Ethan Hawke pulling away with this win, but then again, I haven't seen Whiplash. Still, I think Hawke was the best thing about the brilliant and magical film Boyhood. I can't knock Simmons until I see Whiplash myself, but in the meantime, I still have my fingers crossed for Ethan Hawke when Oscar night comes around.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Amy Adams for Big Eyes
Emily Blunt for Into the Woods
Helen Mirren for The Hundred-Foot Journey
Julianne Moore for Maps to the Stars
Quvenzhané Wallis for Annie

Winner:


Amy Adams
(Big Eyes)

It's strange to me how the Golden Globes break up the Best Acting awards into drama and musical or comedy. It gives more actors a chance to win, but it also leads to some suspicious categorization. I personally wouldn't consider Big Eyes, Maps to the Stars, or The Hundred-Foot Journey as being comedies, but I guess that's just how the Globes want to roll. I'm pleased to see Emily Blunt and Helen Mirren score nominations here, but I can't comment on the other performances.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama
Nominees:
Jennifer Aniston for Cake
Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore for Still Alice
Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon for Wild


Winner:


Julianne Moore

(Still Alice)
Julianne Moore has been the frontrunner of the award buzz and she delivered with an important win here. Can she win the big one from The Academy? She's been nominated four times already but has never earned Oscar gold. I think this will be her year.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Ralph Fiennes for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton for Birdman
Bill Murray for St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix for Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz for Big Eyes


Winner:


Michael Keaton
(Birdman)

I'm elated to see Michael Keaton walk away with the win here. He's outstanding in Birdman. I loved every moment of his ballsy performance. It'll be interesting to see how well he fares against the tougher competition he'll no doubt face during the Oscars.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Drama
Nominees:
Steve Carell for Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler
David Oyelowo for Selma
Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything


Winner:


Eddie Redmayne
(The Theory of Everything)
When I first heard that Eddie Redmayne was a Best Actor contender, I easily dismissed him. I didn't think he had any shot at actually competing with the big boys. Then I went and saw The Theory of Everything, and I made a complete 180! Not only did I realize he belonged, but I felt he had a legitimate chance at winning. He proved that here at the Golden Globes. His touching transformation as Stephen Hawking as he succumbs to motor neutron disease is nothing short of remarkable. Bravo, Eddie!

Best Director - Motion Picture
Nominees:
Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ava DuVernay for Selma
David Fincher for Gone Girl
Alejandro
González Iñárritu for Birdman
Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Winner:

Richard Linklater
(Boyhood)

What Richard Linklater did to create Boyhood is a landmark achievement in cinema. He spent 12 years putting his masterpiece together, and it's a joy to see the hard work of his incredible vision pay off. Did you know the movie was filmed in just 39 days? He would film for one weekend each year. There's no telling how many hours he put into perfectly editing it all together.  It was an ambitious project and I admire that he has devoted himself to it for over a decade. This win is well deserved!

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Birdman
Into the Woods
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Pride
St. Vincent


Winner:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
I haven't yet seen The Grand Budapest Hotel, and I do think it looks delightful, but I'm quite surprised it pulled off the win over Birdman. I thought Birdman had this one in the bag. This win just makes me want to watch The Grand Budapest Hotel even more.

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Nominees:
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything


Winner:

Boyhood
I've been saying all year that Boyhood was going to win Best Picture, so it's no surprise to me that it nabbed the top Golden Globe award. The only movie that has a chance at keeping it from winning the top Academy Award now is Selma. Now that I've seen Selma for myself, I can say it's going to be one heated race. They're both worthy winners in my book.

Well, it looks like that's it on the movie side of things. There were a few big surprises, but none that I can strongly object against. The Globes are always a nice preview of what's on the horizon, with several award shows soon to follow. On Thursday morning, Oscar nominations will be revealed, and I'm still hard at work on the even more illustrious 5MMG Awards. Now is the perfect time to start paying attention to the movies you've missed this year and to start watching some of the award show favorites!
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2014 - The Year in Review

1/1/2015

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Happy  New  Year!!

I hope you all had a great time last night ringing in the new year, and that you had a wonderful holiday season too! I personally really love the holidays and Christmas time is my favorite of the year. I've been awfully busy the last few weeks interning part-time as one of Santa's helpers, but now I'm back and ready to get the ball rolling towards bigger and better things!

2015 is now officially underway and we have some huge blockbuster films to look forward to over the next 365 days of the year. We also have a jam-packed January to kick things off as we head into awards season in the quest for that coveted Academy Award! In light of the New Year, I'd like to take a moment to look back and reflect on the year and give you all some insight into what it's been like running my very first website here at 5 Minute Movie Guy.

Before I get into that, I'd like to announce that I'm going to be holding a 2014 Awards ceremony of my own. I'm excited about it and hope you will be too! Rather than telling you what I think are the best movies and performances of 2014, I'm going to focus instead on my own personal favorites and least favorites. I've decided that I'm going to save my "best of the year" selections for when I do my Oscar predictions in a few months from now. Why? Well, just because you can respect and appreciate a film, it doesn't necessarily mean you like it. Plus doing it this way also gives me the opportunity to make my own silly categories, so I intend to have plenty of fun with that. Anyway, let's get started by breaking down the first half-year of 5minutemovieguy.com with some statistics:


  • 5minutemovieguy.com launched on May 15th, 2014.
  • From launch date until the end of the year, I saw a total of 50 films in theaters. (Prior to starting the website, I would typically only see 2-3 films a year in theaters).
  • That means that over a period of 7 and a half months, I saw an average of 6.66 movies a month in theaters (Man, I am so heavy metal! Oh yeah!)
  • Yet I've only reviewed a total of 10 films. (About that... you see, uhh... well...)
  • My average review score was 3.3 stars.
  • Total movie pages on 5 Minute Movie Guy: 88
  • Of those 50 films I watched, 6 of them were seen in IMAX (Edge of Tomorrow, Forrest Gump, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Interstellar, Transformers: Age of Extinction).
  • 4 of those films were seen in IMAX 3D (Edge of Tomorrow, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, Transformers: Age of Extinction).
  • Of the 50 films, there were 12 sequels, 2 reboots, and 2 re-releases.
  • Movies I walked out of: 1 (It was for personal reasons and was nothing against the film, so it will not be named.)
  • Movies I wanted to walk out of: 6 (Blended, Godzilla, If I Stay, Lucy, The Purge: Anarchy, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For)
  • My highest number of page views in a single day was 962.
  • My highest number of unique website visitors in a day was 640.
  • Total number of movie pages on 5 Minute Movie Guy: 88
  • Total number of movie theaters visited this year: 4
  • I still don't have Netflix. Nor Amazon Prime. Nor Hulu or any other rental service.

All in all, it's been a long and arduous year. Starting my own website turned out to be a far more ambitious and rigorous project than I had ever anticipated. Still, I'm happy with what I've accomplished, and I'm grateful for any help I received along the way. To be perfectly honest, however, I feel as though I'm at a crossroads here with this website. I'm not really sure how much longer I'm going to continue to do this. While I've enjoyed having this website, it may very likely end up getting put on the backburner while I pursue my dream career. The immense time investment required to run this website without a staff makes it illogical to attempt to juggle both. I had thought that perhaps this site could potentially end up turning into a career of sorts, but after sixth months of hard work, I'm not seeing any indication of that happening. Still, no matter what happens, I'm not just going to pull the plug on the site, as I still have lots to share with you and I love having it as a platform to write about my passion.

While it's evident that I'm feeling burnt out at the moment, there has been a lot of fun and satisfaction in creating something of my own and watching it grow. For me, there's a tremendous thrill in creating something from an idea. I love losing myself in that conceptual stage and seeing my ideas realized and transformed. I vividly remember the day I opened my website, when I was finally able to show my creation to the world. I had been preparing for that day for weeks, and although I didn't have too much to show for it that day, it was the start of something fresh and exciting. The feedback was outstanding and it felt so immensely rewarding. This little website grew from being just a blog page and a couple reviews into having news, galleries, polls, trailers, interactive features, and more. It's been a fun ride even if I ended up getting myself in way over my head. I'd like to clarify that I'm not finished and I'm not calling it quits. I'm just interested in exploring some new avenues, here and elsewhere. I want to thank you all for the support you've given me. I greatly appreciate your feedback and interaction, and most of all, your time. It means a whole lot to me that you guys spend your time taking a look at my site and reading what I have to say (no matter how ridiculous some of it is). That's truly invaluable to me, and I sincerely thank you for that.

So what lies on the horizon for 5 Minute Movie Guy? There's still something really big and crazy and stupid I'd like to tackle this year. Another idea of mine that I've kept mostly under wraps, and I'd really love the chance to make that dream come true. While that idea is currently on hold, I'm certainly not giving up on it. I'd really like to also get a youtube channel up and running for the site this year. It'll allow me to combine my passion of filming with my passion of talking about movies. Plus I think it would just make things easier for me, and simultaneously would allow me to improve my social skills as well as my comfort level in front of the camera. I'm personally really pumped for the Oscars this year, and I think you should be too. Despite what box office sales may suggest, it has been a fantastic year for movies. I think this year, it really will be a pleasure just to be nominated, given how strong the competition is. The Academy Awards are my favorite event of the year and for the first time ever, I'm going to have seen all of the Best Picture nominees before the big show. It'll be even cooler to watch after having actually seen so many of the films and performances that are going to be nominated. In the meantime, my year-end awards are on the horizon and they are in progress! Stay tuned! Nominees and winners are coming soon to a 5MMG blog near you!
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    5  Minute 
    Movie  Guy

    I'm just a movie-crazed dude
    with a love for Tom Cruise.

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