The Best and Worst in Film 2014: OSCARS & RAZZIES REPORT
5:44 PMThis post is going to be a little different. I will be covering the main 'winners' of 2 big award ceremonies that have occurred over the last 7 days. I will look at the best and worst: film, director, actor, actress, supporting actor & supporting actress. I will also cover the big winners and big surprises of both awards evenings.
The Oscars:
Best Picture - Birdman - I haven't actually seen this yet but I really want to so hopefully I will in the near future. I was actually surprised Boyhood didn't pick up this award (only ended up winning 1). According to IMDB, Birman is about: 'A washed-up actor, who once played an iconic superhero, battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself in the days leading up to the opening of his Broadway play.' The film has a 8.1/10 on IMDB and 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. On the latter, the critics consensus is 'A thrilling leap forward for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman is an ambitious technical showcase powered by a layered story and outstanding performances from Michael Keaton and Edward Norton.' Also, from our poll for Best Film, it was a draw between American Sniper & The Imitation Game - both received 25% of your votes.
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything - Throughout the run up to the Oscars, it has been a two horse race: Redmayne v Keaton (Birdman) - I hadn't seen either films so I was routing for Cooper (American Sniper). However, after a fantastic acceptance speech from Redmayne, I am glad he won - despite his Razzie worthy performance in Jupiter Ascending.
Best Director - Alejandro González Iñárritu - Birdman - Once again, this award was mainly between Boyhood and Birdman. I think after the praise and awards acclaim that Birdman has gotten, it has moved up a lot of spots on my films to see list! Rotten Tomatoes describe the directing in this film as 'a thrilling leap forward'.
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Julianne Moore - Still Alice - This film hasn't been released in the UK yet so I haven't had a chance to see it - I will definitely try to once it comes out. From the clips I have seen, Moore puts on a fantastic performance - I also really liked her in Mockingjay: Part 1 so it will give The Hunger Games franchise some more credibility for Part 2. Moore's acceptance speech was also very humble and uplifting.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - J.K. Simmons - Whiplash - This is probably the one Oscar film that I really want to see. As soon as I get the chance, I will watch it! I think Simmons must put on a good performance as he has sweeped this award at basically any other award show.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Patricia Arquette - Boyhood - I have seen Boyhood and thought it was a very original type of film. I think Arquette deserves this award purely for the amount of commitment she must have put in (12 years worth of it). Even though she didn't really have to challenge herself, she definitely deserves recognition. However, I would have preferred Streep for Into the Woods to have won this award. Arquette's speech was also very moving and empowering.
Best Animated Feature Film - Big Hero 6 - This was the biggest but most positive surprise of the evening. I really though How to Train Your Dragon 2 would win but I thought Big Hero 6 deserved it. Disney are just great and putting really meaningful messages into their films. I really enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would.
The Biggest Winners:
Birdman - 4
The Grand Budapest Hotel - 4
Whiplash - 3
The Razzies:
Worst Picture - Saving Christmas - Thankful that I haven't seen this film as it led this years Razzie winners. The film has a 1.5/10 on IMDB and has 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. According to IMDB, the film is about: 'Kirk is enjoying the annual Christmas party extravaganza thrown by his sister until he realizes he needs to help out Christian, his brother-in-law who has a bad case of the bah-humbugs. Kirk's fresh look at Christmas provides Christians the chance to see Christ is where He has always been: at the center of our Christmas celebrations and traditions'. There are only 12 reviews of this on Rotten Tomatoes so a consensus hasn't been created.
Worst Actor in a Leading Role - Kirk Cameron - Saving Christmas - I doubt any film company is going to be trusting Cameron to make another film - this is a disastrous result!
Worst Director - Michael Bay - Transformers: Age of Extinction - Transformers is actually lucky Saving Christmas was released or else it would have probably led the 'wins' instead. I haven't had the chance to see this yet and on the basis of this Razzie win, I'm not going to rush to see it! Michael Bay just likes to see weird creatures fight with a really thin and stupid story. And don't get me started on his objectification issues.
Worst Actress in a Leading Role - Cameron Diaz - Sex Tape, The Other Woman - I actually disagree with this win. I think Jason Segel was awful in Sex Tape compared to Diaz. I also really liked The Other Woman so I think the voters did this just to give Diaz a Razzie. She deserved the win for worst supporting actress in Annie but not this!
Worst Actor in a Supporting Role - Kelsey Grammar - The Expendables 3, Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, Think Like a Man Too, Transformers: Age of Extinction - Doesn't look like 2014 was a great year for Grammar - 4 critically panned films - ouch! With that resume for 2014, Grammar seems to deserve this award even though I haven't had the 'pleasure' of watching him in any of these films.
Worst Actress in a Supporting Role - Megan Fox - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - I think Fox has actually gotten better as an actress since the Transformers films. I thought she was the most likeable person in TMNT and was only awarded this because the Razzie committee can't forgive her for her previous work.
Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel - Annie - I thought Annie was a nice movie - it was heavily autotuned but I don't think it did anything majorly wrong - it was a fun family film. I'm actually surprised Transformers didn't take this award as they usually do.
The Biggest Losers:
Saving Christmas - 4
Films Starring Cameron Diaz - 3 (or 2.5)
Transformers: Age of Extinction - 2
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I hope you enjoyed this post and it gave you some ideas on films to watch and films you shouldn't (please give 'The Other Woman' a chance though!)
The films that I have mentioned above that have a review on this blog are: Big Hero 6, Into the Woods, American Sniper, The Imitation Game & Boyhood.
See You Soon!
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