BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Should have won: Selma
Not even nominated: Interstellar
Whether it was a bad campaign, a late release, or simply willful ignorance, Selma ended up with just two nominations: Best Picture and Best Original Song. It won the latter, but had no chance of winning the former, which looks dumber with each passing year. Despite career highs from Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater, Ava Duvernay’s biopic of Martin Luther King, Jr. is the best of this year. And by far the best of the Civil Rights-era films from the early 2010s (which ended with the embarrassing but financially successful Hidden Figures). It’s more than just a movie for history teachers to throw on after finals. It’s an urgent film that sadly has remained relevant, especially as minorities are under threat every single day and anyone who protests anything seems to be met with a baton and boot heel.
But strangely the most fondly remembered movie from 2014 was one even I wasn’t that keen on at the time. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar has been memed to death, but also eventually claimed as a messy masterpiece (see also: Cloud Atlas), a mind-bending, time-jumping piece of sci-fi that cares more about the heart than the brain. Its nakedly emotional third act didn’t work for me (and many others) then, but now it seems quite impressive.
BEST DIRECTING
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Should have won: Richard Linklater
Not even nominated: Jonathan Glazer, Under the Skin
I’m certainly no Birdman hater, but its achievement looks less impressive and more self-indulgent as time goes on. But Linklater, who filmed Boyhood over more than a decade, delivered a film that’s at once wholly natural, yet a jaw-dropping achievement at the same time. While he may be in awards contention again soon for this two upcoming period pieces, this was his moment, and the Oscars passed him over for a guy who simply doesn’t have the juice.
Glazer eventually found himself nominated for The Zone of Interest, his greatest film, but he had a case to be nominated here for his deeply unsettling alien invasion flick. Under the Skin is visually arresting and haunting, and far more impressive than the milquetoast Bennett Miller’s work on Foxcatcher (the only time since the expansion a director received a nod for a movie that wasn’t up for Best Picture).
BEST ACTOR
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Should have won: Michael Keaton
Not even nominated: Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Here’s where Birdman – which picked up four awards – should have triumphed. But dumbass voters went once again for a man “transforming himself into” a well-known celebrity. Their obsession with mimicry in this category is a big head-scratcher, especially when they had a chance to honor Keaton, who puts all the ups and downs of his career into a blistering performance.
In fact, he was the only person in this category not playing a real person. That’s especially absurd when you had Ralph Fiennes delivering comedic perfection in a movie that was otherwise well-regarded by the Academy.
BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Should have won: Rosamund Pike
Not even nominated: Essie Davis, The Babadook
Julianne Moore is quite good in Still Alice, but it’s one of those movies pretty much everyone has forgotten by now. (And it’s a makeup award for Far from Heaven.) But Rosamund Pike is absolutely tremendous in Gone Girl, a relentless and adaptable sociopath out for revenge. That she was the film’s only nomination is also cause for retaliation.
In a somewhat weak year for this category, I’d have booted Felicity Jones and taken Essie Davis as the frustrated, frightened mother in The Babadook. She’s no mere scream queen, giving a performance that makes you feel her terror at a situation she can’t comprehend and an annoying kid she can’t control.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Should have won: No complaints here
Not even nominated: Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Sometimes the choice is an obvious one, and the Academy gets it exactly right. Simmons is one of those actors like Willem Dafoe (someone long overdue for this award) who can radiate genuine warmth or evil depending on the role and nails it every time. As the psychotic conductor in Whiplash, he made me flashback to my own troubling experiences in music, though of course he’s far more menacing and dangerous than my high school band director was.
This is a fairly solid lineup, except for one glaring head-scratcher. The Judge is theoretically the kind of movie I complain they don’t make anymore: a serious drama for adults. Unfortunately it’s the worst possible example of one. Duvall certainly doesn’t lower himself to the movie’s mediocrity – though he does write on the walls in his own shit – this is obviously a case of a “let’s nominate this legend one more time in case it’s his last movie.” So instead I’d bring in Josh Brolin, absolutely hilarious as the corrupt cop and frenemy of Doc (Joaquin Phoenix).
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Should have won: Meh
Not even nominated: Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Hmm. Well. Patricia Arquette is a great actress, often in a supporting role. But this is both a career achievement Oscar and practically a one-scene win as well. Though she’s in several big moments in Boyhood, she basically won this for her monologue near the end where she laments that her kids moving out means all the milestones she has left will be depressing ones. It’s a good speech and hits hard for anyone approaching the second chapter of their lives. But that win, like this category, inspires little more than a shrug from me.
It’s even more disappointing considering the year’s best performance in this category wasn’t even nominated. Chastain was on an insane run here, and her turn as the malevolent housewife/criminal mastermind in J.C. Chandor’s underrated crime drama easily could have swept if voters were paying attention.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
Should have won: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Not even nominated: Calvary
Whatever Birdman‘s achievements, they are not really attributable to the script, which goes in far too many directions, punctuated randomly. It so clearly should have been Anderson’s script – with a story by him and Hugo Guinness and inspiration from Stefan Zweig – which lands every joke and every emotional beat.
I’d swap out Foxcatcher for Calvary, the very best film written by John Michael McDonagh. He’s the older brother of Martin, who’s had much more Oscar success. John Michael doesn’t mine as much humor out of life and death situations as his brother, but there’s still light and warmth in this occasionally bleak film about a priest (Brendan Gleeson) under threat from an anonymous confessor. It has the tick-tock of a thriller, but a deep well of emotions and righteous hatred for a religion that’s neglected and covered up abuse for centuries.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Should have won: Inherent Vice
Not even nominated: Gone Girl
This Imitation Game win is one of the worst of the decade, though American Sniper or The Theory of Everything would have been just as bad. A truly wretched year for this category. While Whiplash would have been fine, the complicated yet compelling mystery of Inherent Vice is the real achievement.
But an even bigger mystery is why the Academy absolutely ignored Gone Girl. A sizable hit with critical acclaim, it was one of the best movies that year at the time, and even more so in retrospect. Part of its great success is Gillian Flynn’s script, which is at turns terrifying, gripping, and often hilarious. A perfect marriage with David Fincher’s precision.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Should have won: Come on now
Not even nominated: The LEGO Movie
Big Hero 6 is a very entertaining superhero movie that unfortunately ends the way so many superhero movies of its era ended, with a mustache-twirling villain calling a big blue beam down from the sky. It’s good enough to win of these nominees, but what the hell did the animators branch have against The LEGO Movie? Was it the corporate partnerships? The brief live-action segments? Did they just not “get” the humor of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller? Whatever the reason(s), this is one of the more egregious snubs of the decade.
What else did they get wrong?
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken
Should have won: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Not even nominated: Interstellar
It’s pretty cool Emmanuel Lubezki won three awards in a row. He’s a legend in the field. But his long takes in Birdman are just showing off; just window dressing on an already empty movie. Compare that to Robert Yeoman’s precise work on Grand Budapest, which does more than just shift aspect ratios. Each shot is carefully composed for maximum tragedy, romance, comedy or thrills.
As good as the other DPs are, it’s surprising Hoyte van Hoytema had to wait for Nolan’s next movie for his first nod and two more for his first win. His work on Interstellar is an equally impressive part of the film’s jaw-dropping technical achievements.