- Bridge of Spies (Matt Chairman & The Coen Brothers)
- Ex Machina (Alex Garland)
- Inside Out (Pete Docter, et. al)
- Spotlight (Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy)
- Straight Outta Compton (Jonathan Herman & Andrea Berloff)
SHOULD BE HERE: Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman)
In an era where Hollywood is making pictures based upon already existing name brands, the contenders that have a legitimate stake at being a snub in this category is deep. People love Mad Max: Fury Road and I would champion for films like The Hateful Eight, Creed, and Dope. However, one of my favorite films of the year is Anomalisa. A lot of the success of the film is through the final direction by Kaufman and the use of only three voices in the film, but even without that, Kaufman wrote a brilliant script about a man struggling to deal with the banalities of life. I think it's an incredible script and has several little nuances to it that I didn't realize until after I started thinking of the film days later.
THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINATIONS:
BRIDGE OF SPIES: For starters, Bridge of Spies is too long. Immediate thoughts: the film could cut out almost all of the scenes that Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance aren't in. But that being said, the film is a pretty tight script considering this film is two movies in one (the first half of the American trial of a Russian spy at the height of the Cold War with the second half being the negotiations between USA, East Germany, and USSR over the exchange of enemy spies). Ultimately, it's hard for me to endorse this film, just because another period piece, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg movie doesn't need to exist. I didn't find this story compelling enough that it needed to be told.
EX MACHINA: Ex Machina is a deliberately paced thriller starring Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander. It's a really interesting story about three people (well, Vikander technically plays a robot) stuck in a house together in the middle of nowhere trying to out trick, outsmart, and one up each other. The film uses traditional horror and thriller tropes, but does so in an extremely inventive science-fictiony way. The problem is that I didn't really enjoy the film and mostly found it dull and boring, so it's hard for me to say it deserves a nomination. At the same time, I can see why people like it, it has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's never a bad thing when American Indie films get the credit they deserve.
INSIDE OUT: If you want to nitpick at this film, then you're more than welcome to, but like most of the great Pixar films, Inside Out is fucking brilliant and wildly creative. It's able to tell a simple adventure story to keep children entertained while telling a complex and layered saga about growing up for the adults. Plus, any film that can makes you cry about an imaginary cotton candy animal thing is worthy of an Oscar nomination.
SPOTLIGHT: A lot of the credit of this film goes towards its simple, yet effective direction, but it's the solid foundation of the script that makes Spotlight the best film of the year. It is an incredibly difficult job making reporters asking questions both interesting and entertaining, yet Josh Singer's and Tom McCarthy's script found a way to do it.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON: Here's a dirty little secret about Straight Outta Compton- it is not a very good movie. It's an important one chronicling the rise of one of the greatest bands of all time as well as race in America, but it is not a good movie. Compton suffers from the problem that almost all biopics do- they have to show important scenes because that's what happened in real life, but those scenes do not come together coherently or cohesively. Everything leading up to and including the Detroit concert was really good, but everything after that was just the broad strokes of what happened to Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Easy-E. It is interesting to learn about N.W.A., but that didn't translate into a good movie.
IF I HAD AN OSCAR VOTE
- Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman)
- Creed (Ryan Coogler & Aaron Covington)
- The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino)
- Inside Out (Pete Docter, et. al)
- Spotlight (Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy)
WHAT SHOULD WIN (ENTIRE ELIGIBLE FIELD): Anomalisa
WHAT SHOULD WIN (ACTUAL NOMINEES): Inside Out
WHAT WILL WIN: Spotlight
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