2015 Best Picture Nominees

With the 2016 nominees out last week, here are my grades for the 2015 crop. (I never expected these movie grades to be keeping the blog alive.)

The Theory of Everything – It never felt boring, and scratched the surfaces of potentially interesting topics, but rarely went beyond the surface. I'm sure the portrayal of Hawking was difficult, but I wouldn't recommend this for the acting alone. Maybe it was inspiring? Either way--not inspiring enough for me to remember feeling inspired. A perfectly good movie, but I preferred the others.

Grade: B-

American Sniper – It's what you expect, which isn’t bad. And I enjoy movies that seem to have big budgets. This took a few more liberties than I think biopics should. If you want to learn about Chris Kyle, there are better places to go, but if you’re in the mood for a modern war movie with a memorable character, this is probably fine choice (though a friend who served in Afghanistan--along with a few other vets I've met--all insist that the most realistic modern war portrayal is the HBO miniseries, Generation Kill --- which I recommend.)

Grade: B

The Imitation Game – These biopics must be hard to execute faithfully. The Imitation Game had better dialogue than Theory of Everything and dug deeper into characters (and tries to make more of a political statement.) But plenty of details were invented for the film, and genius-in-action-montages are so awful that I longed for Rocky training montages.

Grade: B

Grand Budapest Hotel – A hilarious character, gripping at times, and an interesting story, but Wes Anderson’s aesthetic feels a bit too cartoonish and zany. Maybe he’s too smart for viewers like me?

Grade: B

Selma – Showing a different side of MLK was long overdue, and it was done well. (But the actor looked so unlike him that it took some getting used to.) Worth watching.

Grade: B+

Interstellar – was not nominated, but Cindy and I enjoyed it. (I think I spent the entire weekend doing bad McConaughey impressions.)

Grade: A-

Whiplash – Sacrificing joy for excellence seems common in a society that rewards extreme focus, and Whiplash really nails a story of it.

Grade: A-

Boyhood – We were sleep deprived at the time, and since it’s three hours long we expected to watch it over two nights. And though it’s far from a cliffhanger, at the halfway point I kept telling Cindy, “One more scene.” … “Ok, one more scene.” … “Just one more scene.” (Could be called motherhood because Patricia Arquette stole the show.)

Grade: A

Birdman – Great acting, story, dialogue, score, cinematography, and pace. Worth watching twice.

Grade: A+