Academy Awards: Best Picture preview

With the Academy Awards tonight, here are short plot summaries and my opinions on each of the Best Picture Nominated movies tonight.  I’ve listed them form my least favorite to my absolute favorite.

8. American Sniper 

Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is a cowboy turned Navy Seal in this movie. Based on his real life, Kyle was known as the most lethal sniper in U.S. Military history. The movie follows Kyle through his four tours in the Iraq War as well as his growing family back in the U.S.

I wanted to leave the theatre halfway through. I am a fan of dramatic movies, but really this film had no anticipation or shocking moments. It’s straightforward and there is just one death after another that over time is extremely anxiety inducing. Cinematically it was standard and at some points the storyline rushed and choppy. I’m glad I saw this movie once, but I don’t think I will ever see it again.

7. Boyhood

The whole idea of Boyhood was to have the actors grow with the movie so the whole film took 12 years to film and followed Mason Evans (Ellar Coltrane) from the age of six to the beginning of college. We also see the lives of his divorced mom (Patricia Arquette) and dad (Ethan Hawke) and his sister (Lorelei Linklater).

I respect that this movie tried to portray growing up in the most honest way that it could. However honest can also mean boring. Besides his mom’s bad relationships, nothing really happens to this kid. He just kind of slumps around and he doesn’t even have very many lines. Without the gimmick of “shot over 12 years” this movie would not be nominated for best picture.

6. The Theory of Everything

Everyone knows of the physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) with his famous computer voice. Hawking was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s that gradually paralyzed him and confined him to a wheelchair and limited his communication and yet he is one of the worlds most famous scientists. The movie is based on a novel written by his ex-wife, Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones), so while the story does focus on Hawking’s scientific accomplishments, a lot of the story is based on his relationship with his wife and family. However the all encompassing theme of this movie is Hawking’s struggle to accept his body’s limitations while his brain is unaffected by his disease, and he still operates on a highly scientific level.

This is a great feel-good movie. Going into the theater I already knew that, so I could count out some sort of twist dramatic ending. I have to admit I did shed some tears. The film captured Hawking’s struggle to live a normal life on his own but realizing that he did need help doing day to day things. Unfortunately, the movie feels more like a string of events that doesn’t really go anywhere, chronicling Hawking’s life from college up until now. What really saves this movie is Eddie Redmayne. He physically changes his body to mimic Hawking’s progression with disease and it’s convincing. All in all it’s a cute movie to see but it lacks depth.

5. Selma

Selma follows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo). through three months of trying to secure equal voting rights for African Americans. The plot is centered on a march led by King from Selma to Montgomery that was faced with violent oppression.

Selma provides a new face to the civil rights movement. I had always learned about the civil rights movement in school but large, peaceful demonstrations seemed almost too good to be true because they just don’t happen anymore. Selma really helped put a visual with what I learned in school. It’s a powerful movie with a powerful message.

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel 

The story follows an author (Jude Law) who travels to a sparsely populated hotel called The Grand Budapest. The author meets Zero (Tony Revolori), the hotel manager who used to be the lobby boy. Zero tells the author about the former hotel manager, M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), who was accused of murder after one of his elderly female guests had died and left him a priceless painting, “Boy with Apple.” The movie follows M. Gustave and Zero’s journey to clear M. Gustave’s name.

If you’ve seen Wes Anderson films before, you probably kind of have an idea of what it’s like. There a lot of bright, bold colors and the sets are not spectacular but on purpose. It’s loaded with irony and subtle humor. It always seems like Wes Anderson is trying to make fun of his own movies. In all, this is a light hearted movie anyone can enjoy.

3. Whiplash

Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) is a band teacher at a fictional music school, Shaffer Conservatory of Music. The main character, Andrew Niemann (Miles Teller), is a passionate drummer who catches the attention of Fletcher. Fletcher builds Andrew up with praise, only to bring him down again through erratic rages filled with verbal abuse and and chair throwing. This treatment causes Andrew to focus on nothing but drums. He plays until his hands bleed every night, and he ignores all outside relations with his girlfriend and father. This grueling schedule of nothing, but drums eventually leads Andrew near insanity.

This is a hard movie to watch. When I went to see a movie about drumming I never knew there would be so much blood, or really any at all. The really uncomfortable part is the psychological mistreatment from Fletcher. The intimacy of a small cast that mainly focuses on Fletcher and Andrew really makes Andrews pain feel all the more real. Just because this movie is uncomfortable, doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it; I really did. I applaud Whiplash for staying away from normal movie tropes and being a really hard-core movie about drumming.

2. The Imitation Game

Another movie about a British scientist, but compared to Stephen Hawking, Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is not a household name. The movie centers around the issue of breaking the German code making machine called Enigma used in World War II. Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, works on a decoding machine that is able to solve all Nazi messages sent using Enigma. The breakthrough inevitably leads to the Allies having a great advantage in the war.

If there was one great thing this movie did, it was letting people know who Alan Turing was. Having a computer nerd father, I heard of Turing as a one of the fathers of modern computers, but I really knew nothing else about him. It’s really a tragic story; Turing breaks the Enigma code, saving an estimated 14 million people from dying in the war, while also pioneering new technology for computers. Most of his memory is lost though because he was found out to be a homosexual back when it was illegal in England. Instead of going to jail, he opted for chemical castration, which led to his mental deterioration. The movie does a great job paying homage to a forgotten hero. The movie itself,  however, can be cheesy at times. I doubt Turing proposes, cracks the Enigma code, and comes out as gay all on the same day as a major World War II battle, but hey, that’s Hollywood. This is a great movie I would recommend for anyone.

1. Birdman

Birdman follows Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), who lives in the shadow of his previous role of the super hero, Birdman. He now adapts a short story by Raymond Carver to be on Broadway. Riggan struggles to find whether his motives for doing the play come from his love of acting or just his need to stay relevant.

This movie did not have a weak spot. The script is original and the shooting style is unique. One thing I loved about this movie is it felt small. The whole movie takes place in one theatre and the close surrounding area. The cast is also a small and star-studded with Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Zach Galifianakis. The movie is labeled as black comedy, which is completely true because it will make you laugh, but parts are very harsh and sad. But with the great concept and acting in this movie I would encourage everyone to see it.