Road to Oscar

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

               Critics of the Academy Awards have been quick to point out that the awards ceremony has little to do with real art, or how the viewing public appreciates films in general. A fair point, when considering that the Academy itself is mostly made up of old white men. Still, the Oscars have a huge power over the industry, and it gives some fledgling independent filmmakers clout. This is the biggest reason that I watch the Academy Awards every year. That and I like to give my speech for Best Original Screenplay using my hairbrush, always to wild applause.

                In all the years that I have defended the ceremony to film friends, I have found that the one complaint among supporters is that it is very difficult to watch all of the films nominated before the ceremony, mostly because many are released in theaters at the end of the year. I too have floundered in this way, and therefore many of my views on who “should” win are biased. That’s why I think it’s important that this year I watch as many of the main nominees as possible. Because of the time crunch, some categories will be all but ignored, which is a shame because foreign, animated, and documentary films matter to me, and shouldn’t be overlooked. Here are the main films that I want to see before the ceremony begins:

·         American Sniper

·         The Imitation Game

·         Selma

·         Birdman

·         Boyhood

·         Whiplash

·         Foxcatcher

·         Two Days, One Night

·         Still Alice

·         Wild

·         The Judge

·         Into the Woods

·         Gone Girl

·         The Theory of Everything

Sadly, even just among these films, I won’t be able to reach my goal, because some of them are in limbo: between theaters and DVD/Blu-Ray/VOD release. I promise to rent these films further down the line, and then make a final decision based on all the criteria.

In the posts leading up to the awards I will chronicle my mission to watch as many of these films as possible. I will talk about each individually, the means to how I saw them, and my general thoughts. All of this will be in preparation for the biggest night in film: Oscars baby!