The Oscars 2015: And the best film goes to…

The gowns are ready to leave the ateliers, the gold statuettes are being given one last shine and Jennifer Lawrence is practising her inevitable tumble down the red carpet. Yes, the Oscars, filmdom’s biggest award show, is only a week away.

At this point, we usually know enough about the films to come out tops in our Oscars office pool, but the normally reliable tea leaves have been sending contradictory signals this year. While the Golden Globes, British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and assorted guilds (Screen Actors, Directors, Writers and Producers) have given us an inkling of who the favourites are, it still seems to be a nail-biting race to the finish line for the coveted Best Picture Oscar, particularly between the contrarily-styled indies Birdman (which we think will win) and Boyhood (which we would like to win).

While we still can’t get over the glaring omission of three films that should at least have been in the running — Gone Girl, Foxcatcher and Night Crawler — you can’t discount the other six nominated films. Which is why we’ve compiled a quick cheat sheet to remind you how brilliant or bad, deserving or devastating each of the eight nominees are.

Plus, you can use this to help distract inquisitive relatives during your Chinese New Year visits this week. You’re welcome.

***

BIRDMAN (OR THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE). Comprising every brilliant thing that makes up the complete movie-going experience, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s tragi-comedy was shot entirely in one long continuous take and stars a once-popular ageing star of a blockbuster superhero film (Michael Keaton) as a once-popular ageing star of a superhero film who is definitely-maybe-probably going insane. Art imitating life much? It has nine Oscar nominations, including those for Inarritu (director), Keaton (actor), Edward Norton (supporting actor) and Emma Stone (supporting actress). All in all, it really is a superb motion picture with powerhouse performances (especially from a charismatic Keaton) that dissects Hollywood and fame as acutely as it hilariously entertains. And, well, it didn’t take 12 years to make. (See next film.)

Hashtag Reviews: #TheMostCinematicallyAudaciousFilmOf2014 #DidNotNeed12YearsToMake

***

BOYHOOD. Assemble Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and an unknown eight-year-old, Ellar Coltrane, in 2002 to meet up every two years and film what is genuinely ordinary, awkward, scrupulously observed life and you get Boyhood. It’s no secret that this writer worships at the altar of director Richard Linklater. Sure, shooting a coming-of-age story over the course of an incredible 12 years may seem a little gimmicky and indulgent on the surface, but in Linklater’s deft hands, growing up with heartbreak, puberty, dysfunction, political changes and pop culture is made all the more astonishing, intriguing and resolutely real.

With six Oscar nominations, including those for Linklater (director and original screenplay), Arquette (supporting actress) and Hawke (supporting actor), this other Oscar Best Picture front-runner, with all its deservedly rapturous reviews, is most importantly a powerful reminder of the passage of time, a philosophical treatise that not only comforts and disquiets, but also forces the audience to examine their own lives.

Hashtag Reviews: #PhilosphicalTourDeForceThatTook12YearsToMake #Yes12YearsTheySlavedAway

***

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL. Style and substance perfectly meet in this fusion of imagination, hilarity and ramshackle adventure that sees one heck of a cast frolicking in a tragi-comedy and giving their all for director Wes Anderson. In this hilariously quirky film, the inimitable auteur gives us what he does best — only better. By juxtaposing his meticulously manicured signature whimsical story-book world against real-life pre-World War II Europe, Anderson’s frivolity finally finds a purpose. And boy, is that purpose so much more impactful in this achingly poignant and larger portrait of civilised society and the foreboding devastation of war.

Hashtag Review: #FirstClassAccomodationsWithAListCast #WhimsyIsWorthFightingFor

***

AMERICAN SNIPER. Actually, we don’t think this one should even be on this list at all. Clint Eastwood’s film based on the autobiography of Chris Kyle — a real-life celebrated Navy SEAL sniper with a claimed record 160 confirmed kills out of 255 — evokes conflicting emotions that run the gamut from powerful to propaganda. It’s all in there: The flag waving and muscular posturing in a movie that treats killing with video-game impersonality. It touches ever so slightly — and ever so late — on the psychological fallout of those acts, which would have made it a far more interesting and nuanced film.

Hashtag Reviews: #JingoismMisfire #WhyClintWhy

***

WHIPLASH. Taking the inspirational teacher-student trope and turning it on its head, Damien Chazelle’s drama about a young drummer tortured by his cruel teacher (Spider-Man’s J K Simmons) has won acclaim for its surprisingly brutal take on a potentially tired concept. There’s something wonderfully unique at play here. First, the tough teacher in question is more Full Metal Jacket than Dangerous Minds and second, there’s more blood, sweat and tears in this music-school-based masterpiece than most sports films. One of the most thrilling and surprising experiences you’ll have at the cinema this year.

Hashtag Reviews: #TheBeatIsOn #JKSimmonsNeedsAnOscar

***

THE IMITATION GAME.

A real-life tale of doomed codebreaker Alan Turing has Oscar written all over it. In code. Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Mark Strong and Matthew Goode are all superb as they tell the all-important but not well-known story of an extremely significant man in history, charting his turbulent life from the highs (he is considered by many as the father of the computer) to the devastating lows (he was prosecuted for homosexuality). Morten Tyldum’s film earns its stripes by not only honouring the magnificent wartime achievements of Turing, but also by shedding light on the ridiculous laws that would later embarrass and marginalise a hero of his calibre.

Hashtag Reviews: #InspirationalMovieAboutInternationalTriumphIsReallySoberingFilmAboutNationalTragedy #NotSherlockHolmes

***

SELMA. This stirring tale of the voting rights marches in 1960s America and the influence Martin Luther King had on US politics had received rapturous reviews. But that wasn’t enough to make an impact during awards season. Seeing how it’s as Oscar-friendly as they come (based on a true story, it’s triumph over adversity, and Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt are producers), it was the biggest Oscar snub of all, specifically and criminally in the Best Actor category (David Oyelowo’s performance as King was commanding and nuanced). The consensus is that this stirring and overwhelmingly emotional civil rights drama deserved plenty more awards recognition, especially given the recent racially-charged events in America.

Hashtag Reviews: #DaylightRobberyOfDirectorAvaDuVernayAndActorDavid Oyelowo #WeShallOverCome

***

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING. We know what you’re thinking: A film about the complete works of Stephen Hawking’s pondering of the cosmos and everything in it? Don’t worry, it’s not 72 hours slumped inside a cinema like everyone expects. Instead, this biopic of the renowned theoretical physicist, which charts his early years at Cambridge University — where he received the medical diagnosis which would shake his world at the tender age of 21 — is, at its heart, a love story powered by the excellent chemistry between Best Actor Oscar front-runner Eddie Redmayne and wonderfully on-point Felicity Jones (who plays Jane, Hawking’s first wife). Their delicate, detailed performances are enhanced by an unsentimental screenplay based on Jane’s memoir Travelling To Infinity: My Life With Stephen, and the sure-footed direction of James Marsh, who won the 2008 Best Documentary Oscar for Man on Wire.

Hashtag Reviews: #EddieRedmayneForBestActor #TheGeekShallInheritTheEarth

Catch the Oscars live on HBO (StarHub TV Ch 601) on Feb 23, Monday, at 6am (red carpet), 8am (pre-show), 9.30am (awards proper) and 12.30pm (winners’ red carpet). The same-day encore telecast is at 7.30pm (red carpet) and 9pm (awards proper).