Oscars 2015

Last night was an important one in the movie world. It is the one that decides which films are good and which will be soon forgotten. Or something like that. The Oscars, known as the Academy Awards until 2013, were the most prestigious award for movie-makers. This year, the nominees were like snowflakes: each of them different, but all of them white. The movies selected here stopped being about art, about entertainment. There is a new genre called the „Oscar Movie”, and it always has to reflect the struggles of the white male. If God forbid, someone else makes it there, he/she should be seen as less, as a prop.

I have yet to see the ceremony, which I will sometimes soon. NPH is such a great presenter and I glad he got to finally host the Oscars.

Let’s see the winners:

Best Picture: Birdman

A movie about a washed-out actor who once played a super hero trying to make a comeback, played by a washed-out actor who once played a super hero trying to make a comeback. A lot of people really felt the message of the movie, thought t to be insightful, to speak about art and its challenges. This is still a movie you should watch.

Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking

This was an Oscar worthy performance. It is not an easy task to be able to portray Stephen Hawking. Biopics are in general Oscar favourites, but you so rarely hear of biopics based on people who are still alive. More than that, being able to showcase the depth of the character, the struggles of being a brilliant mind trapped inside a suffering body is something special. My vote would have gone to him.

Best Actress: Julianne Moore – Still Alice as Dr. Alice Howland

I did not see the movie, but I know enough to realise this was a powerful performance. She was as sure of a safe bet as Eddie was. Julianne seems like an actress cut out for dramatic scenes, borderline crazy. She takes no easy roles, just for the pay check. Being such a committed actress is what makes the difference.

Best Directing: Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Best Supporting Actor: J. K. Simmons – Whiplash as Terence Fletcher

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette – Boyhood as Olivia Evans

Patricia Arquette will always be Medium for me. I for one like seeing actors and actresses who can have successful runs both shows and movies. I think the movie has only one thing to be said about it: it filmed a boy over 12 years. But even if it didn’t, it would still remain just a movie you see when you have absolutely nothing else to see or do.

Yet, Patricia knows what this award means. She knows it gives her a stage, a few moments when everyone is watching. She USED that stage to make a powerful plea for equal pay. She probably made every male actor shift uncomfortably in their seats. The whole world saw that speech.

Best Original Screenplay: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Imitation Game – Graham Moore from Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

This is a movie I truly recommend. Sure, not everyone buys into the Cumberbatch mania, but it has a brilliant subject. It brings light to a subject not many want to talk about, giving it a face in the genius of Alan Turing, the father of modern computers

Best Animated Feature Film: Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli

I wanted to watch the movie because of Baymax, big fluffy white balloon. It was so much more than that. It teaches you about friendship, about duty, about values, it opens your eyes and simply makes you feel good at the end of it. Still, you should watch How To Train Your Dragon 2 for a better movie.

Best Foreign Language Film: Ida (Poland) in Polish – Paweł Pawlikowski

Best Original Score: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat

Best Original Song: „Glory” from Selma – Music and Lyric by John Legend and Common

I am glad the song won. It’s a beautiful song that captures the spirit of the movie, a movie overlooked by everyone. The reason we need more films like this one is the reason we needed a worldwide trending #blacklivesmatter. How is it 2015 and that is still not clear?

Best Visual Effects: Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher

This is the only option where you get to see movies that never make it big into the Oscars, like Marvel ones and X-men. Sure, they have super heroes, but Interstellar has space. Black hole, stars, 4 and 5 dimensions. Other planets. It’s where visual effects meets creativity. Hope you all watch the movie.

For a full list, click here.

Sure, there could not be the Oscars without having to discuss the outfits, choosing the best and worst dressed. Our vote goes to Jennifer Lopez, in this gorgeous Ellie Saab