Love movies as we do, you had to assume there would be a “mini-Oscar preview” from Margaret….so here it is; her predictions, faves…
First predictions; “Sunday night….The Oscars. My fave night of the year. I have seen all the nominated films. My predictions (see below for my faves/picks):
Best Picture: Boyhood; Best Actor: Michael Keaton; Best Actress: Julianne Moore; Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons; Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette; Best Director: Richard Linklater; Best Foreign Film: Ida; Best Cinematography: Birdman; Best Costume Design: Grand Budapest Hotel”
Her Faves; “Now……my Oscar “faves” for a few categories:
Best Picture: Whiplash – wonderful little movie with something for everyone and not a bit of controversy; Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne (Theory of Everything); Best Actress: Juliane Moore (Still Alice) no competition here; Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) she had NO vanity here, what woman would want to watch herself age over 12 years in “real time” and no botox/surgery?!; Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons (Whiplash) best SOB in years; Best Foreign Language: Ida (personally, one of the BEST of any category); Best Documentary: Life Itself (doc of Roger Ebert’s life – which btw was not even nominated – what a travesty!) Now on to 2015! ; )”
And Peter says; I mostly agree with Margaret’s predictions for winners in the big categories. Unfortunately winners seldom mean they’re the best in a category; often it means the studio or producers spent the most to promote their film with the Academy voters, which I don’t agree with. Let the films, actors and production people stand on their own merit (guess I’m an idealist). That said, this year has no big studio blockbuster up for best picture….mostly smaller films, which is good. We haven’t seen all the foreign or documentary films…regardless I agree that both Ida and Life Itself are excellent; see them!
Speaking Of Life 
Agree with Margaret: Saw “Still Alice” last night and no doubt Julianne Moore will and should win, and JK Simmons is a cinch for “Whiplash” as well. I didn’t see “Ida” but did see “Life Itself”, and liked it very much. Moreover, I came away with a greater appreciation for Roger Ebert and his incredible perception and writing skills. Unfortunately, as much as I like docs, I haven’t seen any that were nominated.
Like Margaret says, the Best Film is “Boyhood”, and there’s an interesting nexus between it and “Life Itself.” If you like “Boyhood”, you must watch the 7-UP series by famed director Michael Apted. Roger Ebert placed it in his top ten films of all time. Only it’s not one film, it’s now 8 films. And while “Boyhood” followed a boy through 12 years of his life, the “UP” series has now followed a group of English children for 49 years, starting from age 7 to now 56 years old. Maybe Richard Linklater was inspired by the UP series? At any rate, both are, as Ebert is quoted about the UP series, “an inspired, even noble, use of the film medium.”
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Stacy…great insight comparing Boyhood to the 7-UP series….never thought of that. We have seen either 2 or 3 of the 7-UP movies and they really are amazing. And I totally agree with your comment about Life Itself….wish it received an Oscar nod…
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We (my husband, Andrew, and I) marveled at Birdman all the way through it. It deserved every Oscar it got + we’d have given Best Actor to Michael Keaton and Best Soundtrack, too. We actually applauded in the theater (and then these 2 women came over to us and wanted us to explain the film: Andrew actually tried! Silly husband~).
Surprised Budapest Hotel won so many. We definitely dug it and found it to be a sweet, entertaining film, but not especially Oscar material.
Have yet to see Still Alice or Whiplash. Andrew saw Ida and predicted it’d win.
Peter, I’m surprised you didn’t make the Boyhood (which we haven’t seen)/7-Up connection. I kept getting confused when Boyhood first came out, thinking it was the next one of those, or somehow related because the concept of Boyhood sounded so similar. However, I’ve yet to see any of them.
I think either Life Itself or a film about the making of it, with Roger, Chaz and other family members was on PBS/WTTW- Chicago. Watched some of the end of something with them in it, and then he died.
Looking forward to seeing Whiplash. What’s next for you two in the film department?
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You definitely need to see Whiplash…deserves all the accolades. It’s just a well made film with a real story and real characters….quite refreshing with all the junky movies out there. Still Alice is very disturbing but again, Julianne Moore totally deserves all the praise; she was amazing. Can’t believe they cast Kristen Stewart as one of her daughters; she’s a terrible actress.
Ida is a piece of art….everything about it is great. We haven’t seen the movies in best doc category but will watch the Snowden doc tonight.
We spent the last 3 weeks seeing movies that were part of the Atlanta Jewish Film Fest; saw 6 excellent films…some docs, some not. Among our favorites were Deli Man, Serial (Bad) Weddings (French comedy), My Italian Secret, Raise the Roof and The Farewell Party (a comedy about assisted suicide…really). Some of these may be available on demand or DVD. The festival screened about 65 films.
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