Here’s one final look back at the movies of 2014. I’ve already gone over my top ten movies, my top ten trailers, and my top 20 posters. Now I’m handing out my awards and nominations for the previous year.
Best Picture:
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Winner
Boyhood
Snowpiercer
The Immigrant
Inherent Vice
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these.
Best Director:
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel – Winner
Bong Joon-ho – Snowpiercer
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
James Gray – The Immigrant
Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice
Recognizing his style is merely level one of what Anderson brings to a film. A master.
Best Actor:
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel – Winner
Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
David Oyelowo – Selma
Tom Hardy – Locke
5 performances, not 1 nominated by the Academy. Fiennes unheralded because he makes it look so easy.
Best Actress:
Marion Cotillard – The Immigrant – Winner
Scarlett Johansson – Under the Skin
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Essie Davis – The Babadook
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Marion had a good year. A lot of layers in every one of these performances.
Best Supporting Actor:
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher – Winner
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Toby Kebbell – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Ben Kingsley – The Boxtrolls
Subtle, warm, and transformative. He does more than anyone tends to notice.
Best Supporting Actress:
Tilda Swinton – Snowpiercer – Winner
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Uma Thurman – Nymphomaniac
Dorothy Atkinson – Mr. Turner
Marion Bailey – Mr. Turner
A classic, over-the-top, scene stealer. Glorious to witness.
Best Original Screenplay:
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Winner
Boyhood
The LEGO Movie
Listen Up Philip
Nightcrawler
A delight of structure, tone, and dialogue.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Gone Girl – Winner
Inherent Vice
Snowpiercer
Under the Skin
We Are the Best!
Flynn wrangles her own material and expertly molds it for the screen. Enhancing, augmenting, and perfecting.
Best Editing:
Gone Girl – Winner
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Edge of Tomorrow
Boyhood
Nightcrawler
Bold clips. Clever matches. An appropriately fleeting style.
Best Cinematography:
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Winner
Mr. Turner
The Immigrant
Inherent Vice
Selma
Mixed aspect ratios and fantastic colors. It’s lovely and very playful with the vertical and horizontal mise-en-scène.
Best Production Design:
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Winner
Mr. Turner
Snowpiercer
Interstellar
Inherent Vice
It’s staggering. Undeniable.
Best Original Score:
Interstellar – Winner
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Under the Skin
Gone Girl
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
A hard category to narrow down. Zimmer’s has his bombast but also a tantalizing strangeness. Otherworldly.
Best Original Song:
The LEGO Movie – “Everything is Awesome” – Winner
Palo Alto – “Palo Alto”
We Are the Best! – “Hate the Sport!”
Frank – “I Love You All”
The Boxtrolls – “The Boxtrolls Song”
Fun and catchy but also hardwired into the narrative.
Best Costume Design:
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Winner
Mr. Turner
Inherent Vice
Selma
The Immigrant
Every new scene has a new group of impressively dressed characters. Detailed and slightly skewed.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Winner
Mr. Turner
Guardians of the Galaxy
The film is great okay. I’m not just rubber stamping. It really deserves this praise.
Best Sound Editing:
Godzilla – Winner
Edge of Tomorrow
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Interstellar
The Babadook
It stole a lot from Jurassic Park’s playbook especially how to make sound add to the thrills.
Best Sound Mixing:
Godzilla – Winner
Edge of Tomorrow
Gone Girl
Noah
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The sound of this film is the overlooked achievement of the year.
Best Visual Effects:
Under the Skin – Winner
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Interstellar
Godzilla
Noah
Because I’m not sure how they did it. And because they’re responsible for one of the most terrifying sequences of film I’ve ever seen.
And once again, I’m gonna go ahead and skip the shorts, docs, foreign and animated feature categories.
The Tally:
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 8 Wins, 10 Nominations
Gone Girl – 2 Wins, 5 Nominations
Godzilla – 2 Wins, 3 Nominations
Snowpiercer – 1 Win, 5 Nominations
The Immigrant – 1 Win, 5 Nominations
Interstellar – 1 Win 4 Nominations
Under the Skin – 1 Win, 4 Nominations
The LEGO Movie – 1 Win, 2 Nominations
Foxcatcher – 1 Win, 1 Nomination
Mr. Turner – 7 Nominations
Inherent Vice– 6 Nominations
Boyhood – 6 Nominations
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 4 Nominations
Selma – 3 Nominations
Nightcrawler– 3 Nominations
Edge of Tomorrow – 3 Nominations
The Babadook – 2 Nominations
We Are the Best! – 2 Nominations
Noah – 2 Nominations
The Boxtrolls – 2 Nominations
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya – 1 Nomination
Listen Up Philip – 1 Nomination
Palo Alto – 1 Nomination
Frank – 1 Nomination
Two Days, One Night – 1 Nomination
Nymphomaniac – 1 Nomination
Locke – 1 Nomination
Whiplash – 1 Nomination
Guardians of the Galaxy – 1 Nomination
Shooting the Script 