Damn, once again I missed out being on time for another of these presentations. Anyway, per usual, my thoughts per category:
Song - I've never even heard of
Over the Garden Wall, but glad to hear "Lost Stars" made it. Wish other
Begin Again songs or something from
Rudderless made the cut, but oh well.
Song of the Sea is nice, too. Also surprised nobody mentioned
Frank here. One of the most beautiful cinematic moments of 2014 is when Fassy sings "I Love You All".
Score - Pretty damn good line-up, though I wish Johannsson's
Theory of Everything score made it. I know it's easy to hate the movie (don't worry, I do too), but damn if his score wasn't one of the most beautiful I've ever heard. Still, Mica Levi is my win (probably for the decade), so I hope she wins here.
Sound - Not sure
Birdman truly fits in Editing (at least not over some other films, like where's
Apes?) But glad
Godzilla made it even if I didn't think to vote for it. Think
LEGO Movie, Edge of Tomorrow, and
The Raid 2 were all snubbed in these categories in addition to
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes being the biggest oversight I think (not seen
Fury so can't comment there).
Editing - All pretty great nominees, and glad
Birdman got a spot as the editing often goes unnoticed (which is its power, though). Wish
Edge of Tomorrow or
X-Men: Days of Future Past got spots here, if only because the fact that they're such muddled with time travel that the fact they make sense at all let alone keep us entertained are amazing feats by their editing teams.
VFX - Hey, hey, now we're talking with these. Thought for sure
Apes and
X-Men were gonna get shut out!
Choreography - There's
The Raid 2 and then there's everything else. Hope it wins. Surprised this is
Edge of Tomorrow's first nod so far...
Makeup -
Sin City deserved a spot here, but I'll bite if only because
Guardians is really the only worthy one from 2014. Not sure why
Inherent Vice is here unless it's just for some hair pieces...?
Costume - Not seen
Into the Woods or
Mr. Turner yet, but would be surprised if this isn't
Grand Budapest's to lose.
Production Design - Still not getting the crazy love for
Inherent Vice in these categories where it doesn't really belong (not over probably ten or twenty others at least), but oh well. How
Snowpiercer missed here is beyond me.
Cinematography - Whoa...
Whiplash missed here? That's insane. I'm still picking Yeoman, but that's really surprising honestly.
Adapted Screenplay - I think
Under the Skin's screenplay is the absolute worst aspect of the movie, but then again I wasn't that big on the movie either.
The Drop definitely deserved a spot here if nowhere else at least. The rest ain't bad (happy about
Edge of Tomorrow).
Whiplash will be my winner regardless.
Original Screenplay - Really happy about
Calvary and
Wild Tales making the cut here, even if
The Babadook, Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, and
The One I Love missing stings. Still giving it to
Grand Budapest anyway.
Ensemble - Whoa,
Guardians? Interesting... Kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel, ain't we? I say this as a fan of the movie, too, but there were better casts if you ask me.
The Big Ask, About Alex, The Drop, Joe, X-Men: Days of Future Past, etc. Even then,
Birdman's still my win so that works out alright I guess.
Supporting Actress - Still don't get the love for Watts here. She was
fine, but nothing special at all. Even Lindsay Duncan did so much more with her screentime than Watts, but she never gets love here (
stephen will back me up here). At least Rivas and Stewart made it, even if I consider Stewart 2015. Sarah Gadon was robbed for
Enemy.
Supporting Actor - Well there's J.K. Simmons and then there's everyone else. I realize that a lot of my picks are in the minority (Gene Jones in
The Sacrament, Bryan Cranston in
Godzilla, James McAvoy in
Days of Future Past, etc.), but kind of wish at least one slipped through the cracks here. At least we got Poulter and Norton, and I'm happy about Hawke as he was far and away the best thing about
Boyhood even if he still doesn't make my line-up. Not a bad line-up, just my own personal qualms. Much, much better than Supporting Actress.
Actress - FUCK YES ESSIE DAVIS!!! ALL IS RIGHT IN THE WORLD! My MVP of all performances for that year (possibly in my top 30 all-time), so I'm so happy she made it. Shailene Woodley and Jenny Slate would've been nice choices as well, but I'll live.
Actor - No Teller is surprising, but I guess people forget about him when J.K. Simmons is a thing. Agree with
Sharbs that the wrong Tom Hardy performance got in (
The Drop might be my favorite thing he's done thus far too), but it could be worse. Happy for Gyllenhaal and Fiennes, but those were to be expected. Wish more people saw
Lilting as Ben Whishaw is a miracle in it.
Director - Pretty happy Nolan managed to miss. Outside of Bennett Miller, that's one hell of a line-up. Though it's missing some Jennifer Kent, Denis Villeneuve, Ned Benson, and Michael R. Roskam (especially), but it could be worse of course.
Picture - Pretty expected line-up with the one surprise being
Nightcrawler. Didn't realize there was so much love for it outside of the acting and script. So that's cool, even if the two reasons listed are the only reasons I really care for it.
OVERALL - Really saddened by the lack of
The Babadook, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, The Drop, OBVIOUS CHILD (WTF?!), and
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but oh well.
Whiplash and
Grand Budapest just about destroy every part of my line-ups this year, and those made it so I ain't too upset.