BY CALEB KEYES
There’s only one place you can find America’s best sniper, a homosexual coder, our generation’s greatest scientist, a narcissistic film star (actually there may be a few of those), an aspiring young drummer, one of the most influential Civil Rights activists in history, a hotel concierge, and a normal, teenage guy… and it’s in the movies nominated for Best Picture of the Year Sunday night at the 2015 Oscars.
Below are the prestigious candidates, their trailer, and the reasons they should win the prestigious title.
American Sniper
A stunning drama following the life of Chris Kyle (played by Bradley Cooper), the greatest sniper in American history, American Sniper investigates the nature of war and the horrors it causes.
Why American Sniper should win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year: riddled with juxtapositions, namely an enemy sniper whose goals are eerily similar to Kyle’s, Clint Eastwood’s illustration of the environment of the Iraqi war and closeness to the novel on which the movie is based and for which it is named are as on-point as Bradley Cooper’s characterization of the Kyle.
Boyhood
Filmed over the course of twelve years, Boyhood depicts the coming-of-age of a boy named Mason (played by Ellar Coltrane) through single, important events that helped to shape his persona.
Why Boyhood should win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year: this is the best movie I have ever watched. Normally, you watch a movie to enter into another reality and escape into its action, its beauty, and (if you are seriously critiquing the film) its underlying themes and metaphors. With Boyhood, you cannot do this, for this movie depicts the reality we all experience, complete with all its beauty and hideousness.
The Imitation Game
A true story following the life of Alan Turing (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), The Imitation Game reveals the nature of war, the struggle for identity, and the birth of computer science.
Why The Imitation Game should win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year: “It’s a creative and intense movie shedding light on the struggles that Alan Turing and his team were faced with during WWII and after. Both the movie and the cast were wonderful,” says senior film aficionado Mauri Hogan.
The Theory of Everything
The Theory of Everything is the story of the futility and beauty of time. At 21, Stephen Hawking (played by Eddie Redmayne) learns that he has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and he decides to use the last, precious moments he may have of life to explore it.
Why The Theory of Everything should win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year: “I liked it a lot. I thought the acting was wonderful, the cinematography was great, and it was very well executed… It’s a beautiful movie, both the story and the filming, showing the love, hardship, and life of Jane and Stephen Hawking,” says Hogan.
Birdman
Birdman follows the search for significance of actor Riggan Thomson (played by Michael Keaton), a man striving to obtain a power as large as his ego. Unlike Boyhood, Birdman tells the story of manhood and the struggle between meaning something and leaving the world nameless.
Why Birdman should win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year: Philosophical and artistic, the famous film ironically documents the nature of Hollywood and its denizens. Using long shots with a single camera, the film doesn’t give a reprieve to the actors–much like the lives of Tinseltown celebrities: under continuous scrutiny of the media.
Whiplash
Whiplash recounts the experiences of the film’s writer and director, Damien Chazelle, at Princeton High School, where he aspired to be a jazz drummer. Starring Miles Teller, the film conveys the lengths to which Chazelle’s fearsome teacher (played by J.K. Simmons) pushed the aspiring adolescent.
Why Whiplash should win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year: “It’s this weird narrative for this movie that keeps surprising at every level. It opened the Sundance Film Festival–historically a spot reserved for average-at-best movies–and winds up winning the festival. Then, everywhere it goes, it just keeps getting accolades… everyone who sees it really loves it. Even the people who don’t love it don’t dislike it. I don’t think it will beat ‘Imitation Game’, but, I think, right now, based on what we’ve seen, it has the best shot,” says Mike Ryan in a review of the film for ScreenCrush.
Selma
Retelling the story of the 1960’s peaceful political activist Martin Luther King Jr. (played by David Oyelowo), Selma illustrates the struggle to desegregate America amidst opposition.
Why Selma should win the Oscar for the Best Picture of the Year: “Ava DuVernay’s drama is nicely paced, beautifully shot and impeccably acted. She managed to revive the musty biopic genre with a movie that’s as focused as it is emotionally charged, and that alone could give the movie an edge. But the fact that her subject is so historically important — not to mention overlooked by Hollywood — should make Selma the obvious choice. The Academy also owes her, considering she was egregiously overlooked for a best director nomination, and David Oyelowo, who plays King, also failed to get a nod,” said Stephanie Merry in a review of the film for The Washington Post.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a comedy placed in a 1930’s European resort, where the owner, Gustave H. (played by Ralph Fiennes) is made the owner of a priceless painting and the chief suspect in the case of the previous owner’s murder.
Why The Grand Budapest Hotel should win the Oscar for the Best Picture of the Year: “Wes Anderson’s film teems with delights, including his regular — and highly reliable — stable of stars; visual style out the wazoo; and a wildly entertaining narrative centering on a missing painting. It provides pure moviegoing pleasure, which is something of an anomaly in a field characterized by various forms of cinematic angst. (Even Boyhood is about the the minefield of adolescence),” said Michael O’Sullivan in a review of the film for The Washington Post.
The Victor
Though each of the films have distinct features that separate them from the others, Birdman captured the Oscar for Best Picture.
