Oscar Predictions 2015

With the awards season consisting mostly of talk surrounding snubs, it will be nice to finally have the actual Oscars ceremony and be done with it. I’m a firm believer that this year is top heavy in regards to movies that will be remembered far in the future. At the same time, I think it’s a diverse year with lots of races far from wrapped up. There probably won’t be any dominant film like Gravity was last year or The Artist 3 years ago. Maybe that’s because none of the Best Picture nominees look capable of sweeping any of the technical awards.

My bold prediction is that best picture nominees Selma, The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game get shut out.

Here are my predictions for the 2015 Oscars. (And here’s a look at all the nominees)

Oscar Predictions 2014

Here we go again. It’s about to be March and we’re still talking about these movies? For the love of God, Academy, please move the Oscars up in the calendar. I’m sure America would have taken one night off from Bob Costas and NBC to watch your ceremony. I would consider myself a pretty big Oscars fan but having it so late in the year wears on movie-goers.

This year’s race is actually full of unknowns and tight races (the most notable being best picture) and should make for an entertaining ceremony.

Here are my predictions for the 2014 Oscars.

The importance Cannes has on American cinema

With the Cannes Film Festival less than a week away, I’m deciding to take a closer look at some of the films in competition.

I’ve always regarded Cannes as the “world’s festival” as opposed to other popular festivals. If you look at the lineups year in and year out, they are purposefully international and deliberately created to highlight auteurs. Of course every festival wants great films and great directors, but Cannes has garnered a reputation of finding small films by great filmmakers while also honoring filmmakers that have made their name at Cannes. I’m talking about Haneke, Tarantino, Soderbergh, Malick, Herzog, Bresson, Coen Bros, Almodovar, Fellini, Kar-Wai, Leigh, Coppola, Scorsese, and dozens of others. It’s hard to pinpoint the kind of film that Cannes likes to have in its competition, but one could easily say it is in most cases anti-Hollywood. Now, that doesn’t mean a film can’t compete in Cannes and then go on to be successful in the States, but looking at Cannes’ past, although classic films both compete and win, there doesn’t seem to be any correlation between Cannes success and box office success in America.

Amour

 

(2012 – Director: Michael Haneke Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva)

Georges and Anne (the title characters) don’t have a magical love that one would expect in a movie titled Love. Rather, it’s that George and Anne’s love for one another shows us that love isn’t about emotion at all. It’s about companionship, and bravery. Amour will hit you in the gut with its authenticity and boldness, but also with its simplicity and openness of what the human spirit can withstand.