Oscar Predictions: Round #1

Its that time of year again, Award Season! As always I'll be posting my Oscar predictions in three rounds. This first one will be the first one, the second will be the day before the Oscar nominations are announced and the last one will be who I think will win and it will be posted the night/day before the Oscars.

Much like last year these predictions are made by a certain system where I follow a certain amount of award shows and tally up who has been nominated and winning, these aren't necessarily "my picks" just who I think will be nominated based on wins and nominations.

Also, in case anyone is wondering why there are no mentions of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - the film has not been screened for critics and such for awards season, this was done to avoid any possibility of spoilers, so there's are no nominations for the film as of yet. That doesn't mean it won't get nominated of any Oscars. As of right now I'm willing to bet it'll get nominated for technical categories at the very least.

With that said let's get started with the nominations

Best Picture:

1. Spotlight

2. Carol

3. Mad Max: Fury Road

4. Room

5. The Martian

6. The Revenant

7. Brooklyn

8. Sicario

9. The Big Short

10. Bridge of Spies

Best Director:

1. Tom McCarthy - Spotlight

2. George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road

3. Ridley Scott - The Martian

4. Todd Hayes - Carol

5. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - The Revenant

Best Leading Actor:

1. Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs

2. Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

3. Matt Damon - The Martian

4. Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

5. Johnny Depp - Black Mass

Best Actress

1. Cate Blanchett - Carol

2. Brie Larson - Room

3. Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn

4. Charlotte Rampling - 45 Years

5. Charlize Theron - Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Sylvester Stallone - Creed

2. Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies

3. Michael Shannon - 99 Homes

4. Paul Dano - Love & Mercy

5. Idris Elba - Beasts of No Nation

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Rooney Mara - Carol

2. Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs

3. Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl

4. Rachel McAdams - Spotlight

5. Helen Mirren - Trumbo

Original Screenplay:

1. Spotlight

2. Inside Out

3. Ex Machina

4. Bridge of Spies

5. The Hateful Eight

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Room

2. Steve Jobs

3. The Martian

4. Carol

5. Brooklyn

Art Direction:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Bridge of Spies

3. The Danish Girl

4. Brooklyn

5. The Martian

Cinematography:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Carol

3. Sicario

4. The Revenant

5. The Martian

Costume Design:

1. The Danish Girl

2. Cinderella

3. Brooklyn

4. Mad Max: Fury Road

5. Carol

Film Editing:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. The Martian

3. Spotlight

4. Sicario

5. Steve Jobs

Makeup & Hairstyling:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Carol

3. The Danish Girl

Sound Editing

1. Inside Out

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

3. The Martian

4. Sicario

5. Jurassic World

Sound Mixing:

1. Inside Out

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

3. The Martian

4. Sicario

5. Jurassic World

Visual Effects:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. The Martian

3. The Walk

4. Jurassic Park

5. Ex Machina

Original Score:

1. Carol

2. Spotlight

3. The Revenant

4. The Danish Girl

5. The Hateful Eight

Original Song:

1. “One Kind of Love” - Love & Mercy

2. “Till I See You Again” - Furious 7

3. “Writing’s On the Wall” - Spectre

4. “Love Me Like You Do” - Fifty Shades of Grey

5. “Till It Happens to You” - The Hunting Ground

Animated Film:

1. Inside Out

2. Anomalisa

3. Shaun the Sheep

4. The Peanuts Movie

5. The Good Dinosaur

Documentary:

1. The Look of Silence

2. Best of Enemies

3. Amy

4. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

5. Cartel Land

Foreign Film:

1. Mustang

2. Son of Saul

3. The Assassin

4. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

5. Goodnight Mommy

Rest in Peace James Horner

On June 22, 2015: a plane crashed killing both the pilot and its one-person passenger, that passenger was the legenday, two-time Oscar winner James Horner. Horner was responsible for composing some of the most memorable scores and songs that have ever been recorded. In this post I'll post some of his most notable films scores and songs. Mr. Horner, thank you very much for your contribution to cinema, we'll carry on your legacy by sharing it with future generations.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982, Dir. Nicholas Meyer)

Krull (1983, Dir. Peter Yates)

Aliens (1986, Dir. James Cameron)*

An American Tail (1986, Dir. Don Bluth)*

The Land Before Time (1987, Dir. Don Bluth)

Field of Dreams (1989, Dir. Phil Alden Robinson)*

Glory (1989, Dir. Edward Zwick)

The Rocketeer (1991, Dir. Joe Johnston)

Hocus Pocus (1993, Dir. Kenny Ortega)

Braveheart (1995, Dir. Mel Gibson)*

Apollo 13 (1995, Dir. Ron Howard)*

Titanic (1997, Dir. James Cameron)**

Avatar (2009, Dir. James Cameron)*

* = Best Score (or Song) Oscar nomination

** = Best Score Oscar Winner

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) Review - PLUS: A few announcements.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

D: George Miller

W: Nico Lanthouris, Brendan McCarthy, George Miller

S: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hault, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abby Lee, Courtney Eaton

After a long, VERY long delay I'm back! This time to take a look at the highly praised, fourth installment of the Mad Max series.

Before I get to the review I just want to take a moment and say three things:

1. I apologize again to those who follow the blog. This past month I've been dedicating my time to getting thing ready for a huge family event. I thought I would be able to squeeze in a few screenings and write something for you guys but given this and another piece of news I have for you, I've been swamped when it comes to writing for the blog. 

2. I recently started writing for the website Rebeatmag.com, a website that is all about the mid 20th Century (1950s-1970s), They mostly cover music but they've been expanding into tv and movies and you can guess which category I've been writing about. 

3. I've decided to use this blog to promote the good films that come out. Why is that? Because the film community (especially online) is already full of more than its fair share of negativity. That doesn't mean I won't still see bad movies, because one should see the bad so that you can better appreciate the good. 

Okay with all that out of the way, on the review!

"Mad Max" Rockatanksy (Tom Hardy) returns in the fourth installment of this post-apocalypse series as he joins the fierce female fighter Furiosa (Charlize Theron) as she rescues the five "wives" (he uses them for breeding purposes) of the tyrannical cult leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). The ragtag group of fighters are joined by one of Joe's "War Boys" named Nux (Nicholas Hoult) and a group of kick-ass motorcycle riding women from Furiosa's homeland as they try to find a new place to live while avoiding Joe and his convoy of killers. 

Before I saw this movie I really didn't have that much knowledge about the series so I decided to check them out, at least the first two, and I enjoyed them. Then I went and finally saw this film and... oh my giddy aunt. This has to be one of the most exciting, action packed, smart and... why am I even writing this review?! You've all seen it probably and if you haven't then what the hell are you doing here GO SEE IT!

Seriously, I could just end it here by saying "GO SEE IT!" Okay, fine I'll actually say a few things about the film. 

For one thing, I love the amount of detail director George Miller puts into this film production design. Take the cars for example: Those cars are so uniquely designed that I honestly believe Miller and his crew went out to a locate scrap yard and hand picked every piece to create the cars. 

Seriously! Look at that! That is a bad-ass truck!

But the attention to detail doesn't end with the cars, it applies to everything. The set, the costumes, the weapons, the mythos and community of the Joe's citadel and associates. I truly hope that around award season that at least the production and costume personnel get recognized.

The film also features awesome performances. Tom Hardy, who by the way is amazing actor who deserves more praise, does an amazing job taking over for Mel Gibson as the eponymous character, Charlize Theron is amazing as the true leader of the group, and Hugh Keays-Byrne (who played the villain from the first film, The Toecutter) is awesome as the main villain who has fairly awesome Darth Vader vibe to him. But if I had one performance to highlight as my favorite it would be Nicholas Hoult as the gung-ho 'War Boy' named Nux. Ever since I saw him scream, "What a lovely day!" in the trailer I knew I was going to like this performance. I don't think my words can do proper justice to performance you have to see it to believe it. 

Another aspect to praise in the film is the action. Everything done in the film is there, there's no green screen, no CGI people, blood squibs or settings, it's all there! Yes, Miller did use some CGI but it was only used to enhance the scenes and expand it, not substitute them entirely.  Take note, film makers! 

It's also phenomenal how Miller managed to convey the story and character just through the art film making. He doesn't bog down the story with long drawn out, and boring, speeches about life and what the backstories are with the characters. In other words: he shows, he doesn't tell. That doesn't mean everything is given a easy answer, which can be a good thing. One example of this is throughout the film Max is seeing hallucinations of several people whom he apparently couldn't save, it mostly comes in the form of a little girl and to my knowledge there's not a character like her in any of the other Max films. So, she could mean anything. If things are left to interpretation that's fine, it just adds to discussion.

But of course the one thing everybody has been talking about is that this film has some of the best written female characters. We all need to face the fact that Furiosa is the leader and the real hero. Sure, Max does a lot to help but he's mostly there to just get away from the bad guys who were draining his blood. Max's involvement with the film is more of transition from brooding loner who doesn't care about anyone to someone who realizes the value of human life and genuine interest in helping. But again, it's the ladies who are the bad-asses in this movie. From Furiosa defying her former leader and rescuing five women who are being used as basically sex slaves to the motorcycle riding, sharpshooting women from Furiosa's home village. Seriously, there's a lot to talk about with this aspect, it's that amazing. And yes I've seen the Feminist Mad Max posts and they are indeed awesome. 

I could go for hours and hours about this film and everything is awesome but I'll end it here and let you go see it for yourself if you haven't and I'll summarize my review by saying - Oh, what a film! What a lovely film! 

Agree? Disagree? Share you thoughts in the comment section.

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Follow me on @DocJohn90.

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Review

Avengers: Age of Ultron
D: Joss Whedon
W: Joss Whedon
S: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson

The Avengers strike back in their latest outing, this time facing off against a foe that maybe unstoppable. That unstoppable force being super interlligent A.I. - Ultron (James Spader). Will Earth's mightiest heroes be able to defeat this new nemesis, or will they fall to his mighty metal fist?

Do I even need to write this review? Chances are, you've already seen this and unless you're a DC person you probably love this or at the very least enjoy it. 

I'm still debating on whether or not I prefer this film over the first film, as of right now it is beating out the first film. But none the less this is film has both the good and the bad when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

The bad things though are very small, for me at least. The major issue is that it's trying to cram in so much in an attempt to setting up future films. One clear example of this is the number of heroes in the film. I mean just look at the cast listing above! That's 17 cast members! There's also Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue - "a black-market arms dealer, smuggler and gangster, who is a former acquaintance of Stark’s from his weapons-dealing days," and Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton, the wife of Avenger member Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) just to name a few. But that's bound to happen and unlike The Expendables 3 we've had multiple movies to get introduced to a lot of the characters and get to known them and they're all distinct enough to where we can tell the difference between them. So I give Joss Whedon enough credit when it comes to juggling these characters while trying to set up stuff for future films.

Speaking of character time: THANK GOODNESS Hawkeye is finally given enough some screen time to show that there's plenty to the guy. Hopefully we can finally stop those, "Hawkeye is so lame" and "Hawkeye is so boring" or "A bow and arrow? That's stupid!" crap. Seriously, I don't think people realize it takes a lot of skill to shoot a compound bow, let alone get multiple ridiculously accurate shots.

I never got why people felt that way about him. Grant it he never got as much development at the time as the others but he still got enough to where he could seen cool and useful, but apparently not. So in this film he probably has the most attention given to him which I am okay with. Hopefully this will put an end to the stream of Hawkeye jokes that are spewed by people. I'm not holding my breath on it though.

I love how Whedon decided to have a scene taking place at Hawkeye's farm where we get a hint of who he is. It's a nice touch, good on Whedon for defending the scene and keeping it in.

But what about the newest editions to the Avengers, the Maximoff Siblings - Pietro/Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen)? Both do a fairly good job on the team and are portrayed very nicely. Although I will admit I think I prefer X-Men: Days of Future Past version of Quicksilver (Evan Peters), that's not to say Taylor-Johnson is bad in the role. Though their transition from siding with Ultron to siding with the Avengers does just sort of narrow down to,

SCARLET WITCH: You're a villain!

ULTRON: Yes I am.

QUICKSILVER: We're not siding with you anymore!


Speaking of the villain - HOLY CRAP is Ultron awesome! While the previous Avengers adversary Loki (Tom Hiddleston) had a little more to him character wise, I think Ultron beats out as the best Avengers villain because he is legitimately terrifying. I mean this dude wants to wipe out the human race and in a way that makes for a tense and suspense third act. Another reason is because this guy seems almost unstoppable, while Loki seemed to get his butt handed to him more than regularly. James Spader was a more than perfect for this role as the condescending, smooth and creepy A.I. who seems to represent the fears of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.).  It's amazing how he can lyrics from the Pinocchio song "I've Got No Strings" and make them creepy. I want to see that happen with more classic Disney songs, like The Yodel Song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Now before all the Loki fans get made at me, rest assure I do still like Loki, okay? He's still a pretty good character and Tom Hiddleston is an awesome actor who brought a lot to the character. Okay? We clear? Good!

Before I go any further I just want to take a moment and say that the music by Danny Elfman is amazing! Can we get him to do music for superhero movies from now on?

Now there are some of character who sadly don't get a lot of screentime when it comes to recurring characters Captain America (Chris Evans) is sadly the biggest victim of that, but I think the one that suffers the most when it comes to new characters is Vision (Paul Bettany). But I did find him interesting enough and he'll surely get some screen time in future Marvel films, the dude is way to weird to not to. I also look forward to seeing the new Avengers line up they hinted at the end.

One final thing I'd like to talk about is about how the Avengers put a great amount of effort into making sure that they save as many civilians as possible. Nice little touch in response to the criticism of Man of Steel and the first Avengers film. It's also a nice to touch that does show that there are consequences to their actions and that they're acknowledging it and learning from their past.

These positive aspects and more are why I've been enjoying the hell out of these movies. These films manage to combine excellent action, character moments and continue to build this universe in a fun and exciting way which is what I want with these summer blockbusters. Are there some their problems with this film and the other Marvel cinematic films? Yes, there's no doubt about it. But as long they keep me entertained they don't bother me as much. If you want to kick the summer movie season off on a good note then go and check out Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

By the way, this is the ranking of the M.C.U. movies, as of right now:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Avengers: Age of Ultron 

The Avengers

Captain America

Iron Man 3

Iron Man

Thor

Iron Man 2

The Incredible Hulk

Thor: Dark World

Agree? Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comment section. Thank you for reading.

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Furious 7 Review - Update about the past few months.

Furious 7

D: James Wan

W: Chris Morgan

S: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou

I'm back! Let me start off by saying that I apologize to all those who read my blog for the lack of content these past couple of months. I've been handling two jobs and dealing with other miscellaneous malarkey but hopefully I'll get more reviews out to you. I'll even publish the reviews I had published while taking my news writing courses. In the meantime, here's my Furious 7 review. 

The crew is taking one last ride in, what appears to be, the final installment of the Fast & Furious franchise with Furious 7. This time around Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew are being hunted down by the skilled British assassin Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) who was the brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), the antagonist in the previous film, to avenge his nearly dead brother. Dominic go to great lengths to protect his family (both literal and figurative) and does whatever it takes to stop Deckard.

I’ll be perfectly honest with you readers, this is as of right now the only Fast & Furious movie that I've seen. For some reason this franchise has never really interested me, which is weird. I've always been a fan of the ridiculous over-the-top action films, within reason of course, but with this franchise I can’t put my finger on why I don't care for it.

This film didn't really help get me that interested in checking out the previous movies. For one thing, this movie was clearly made with the fans in mind. There are a ton of references and call-backs to previous installments that I had to look up to understand. Which isn't a bad thing, I say that because one of my favorite franchises has a whole ton of inside jokes. I’m of course talking about The Expendables franchise. That’s a film series that features such bits of dialogue as, “Why don’t you give the job to my friend here. He loves running around in the jungle.”  Heck, they even throw in a Chuck Norris joke in the second movie. Though even those could get tiresome, in the third film they throw in a Wesley Snipes tax evasion joke.

What I'm saying is that it can be damning to your film if you want to expand and gain a bigger audience. But what do I know?

 But anyway back to Furious 7. I think the biggest problem I have with the film is that it seems to lose focus on what it wants to do plot wise. We get a fairly good set up on the villain of the movie but he disappears throughout a good chunk of the movie and instead they focus on a story involving a computer hacker (Nathalie Emmanuel) and her special computer chip that is apparently God, it’s even called the God Chip. Deckard pop-ups every now and then disappears. It’s pretty much just “Hi Deckard,” action scene occurs, “Bye Deckard!” Speaking of Deckard, as I said, this guy was given one hell of a introduction but then afterwords what he does just kind of comes off as lackluster. Though Statham is excellent as always.

Referencing The Expendables in comparison again, their plots were very basic. First one - help rescue girl and take down a dictator. Second film - avenge a murdered friend. Third film - rescue friends and take down a former associate. Grant it the third one is the weakest with its over stuffing of actors. But they seem to know what they wanted to do, with this film it seems like they're trying to hard.

One of the other things that was testing my patience was the character Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson). I seriously couldn't stand this guy and I was baffled as to what he had to offer to the group. Grant it, I haven’t seen the other films but I still don’t know why this guy is involved. Every time this guy opened his mouth I just shouted in my head, “Shut up!” Even the more comedic characters in The Expendables franchise could at least fight in a battle scene, Gibson at one point wants to back out before the mission begins. Seriously?

Oh also, these guys were chosen by Kurt Russell's character, a special ops leader, to get the hacking chip and rescue the hacker. My question about this is: WHY?! I mean I can't think of a legitimate reason why you'd pick a bunch of guys who take part in illegal street racing for this stuff.

Also, the cars they use are just a bunch of souped up hot rods. Which I can't imagine being very useful in a non-racing mission. The only one who has a practical car is Chris Bridges, also known as LUDACRIS! By the way, Ludacris does a pretty good job in the movie as an actor. But the only one who seems suited to do this kind of thing is Paul Walker's character who is a former FBI agent (had to look that up).

One other plot element that bothered me was the fact that our "heroes" brought the final fight to the streets of Los Angeles. Keep in mind that they're not only bringing a very dangerous vengeance seeking assassin to Los Angeles, they're also bringing a heavily armed mercenary (Djimon Hounsou). His weapons include a helicopter with their regular weapons but also a drone that has mini-guns and missiles which take heavy damage on the buildings and probably killed a bunch of cops just doing their job.

But with all of that being said there were a few things that were rather good. The best performance was by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I can’t help but love this guy, he has the charisma and physical prowess to do these kind of action films. Kurt Russell was also really cool in the movie, though sadly he is way underused in the movie.

The other really good thing about the film is its tribute to Paul Walker. For those unaware, actor Paul Walker died in car crash during a break from filming the movie in 2014. Many of his scenes were left un-complete. So with Walker’s two lookalike brothers and stock audio of Paul they managed to complete his scenes and I couldn't tell the difference. So props to them.

In the final scene Vin Diesel gives a very touching speech about how he and Walker will always be brothers. It truly did show that Diesel and company really cared about their friend.

I can never claim to be a big Paul Walker fan, the only other film of his I've seen is Flags of Our Fathers (2006, dir. Clint Eastwood) where he played U.S. Marine Sgt. Hank Hansen, a Marine who was accidentally credited with raising the U.S. flag in the famous Iwo Jima picture and one that was killed during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

But even I can admit that they did a good job at paying tribute to the late actor. I also have to give them credit for having his character retire instead of just writing him out or killing him.

To conclude: This film, while having some good elements in them, didn't exactly win me over. If you’re a fan, chances are you’ve already seen, but none the less if you are a fan then this film will be satisfying to you.

Agree? Disagree? Share you thoughts and be sure to like the blog on Facebook
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John's Film Awards - THE WINNERS

Picture: IT'S A TIE!
Birdman
Boyhood
The Drop
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Selma
Whiplash

Director:
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
J.C. Chandor - A Most Violent Year
Damien Chazelle - Whiplash
Ava DuVernay - Selma
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Michael R. Roskam - The Drop

Actor:
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Tom Hardy - The Drop
Michael Keaton - Birdman
James McAvoy - Filth
David Oyelowo - Selma
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

Actress:
Amy Adams - Big Eyes
Emily Blunt - Edge of Tomorrow
Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon - Wild
Shailene Woodley - The Fault in Our Stars

Supporting Actor:
Jon Bernthal - Fury
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Zach Galifinakis - Birdman
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash

Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Jessica Chastain - A Most Violent Year
Karen Gillan - Guardians of the Galaxy
Maika Monroe - The Guest
Emma Stone - Birdman
Tilda Swinton - Snowpiercer
Naomi Watts - Birdman

Screenplay:
Birdman 
Captain America: The Winter Soldier 
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
A Most Violent Year
Nightcrawler
Whiplash

Animated Film:
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie

The MEL BLANC Award - Voice Actor:
Scott Adsit - Big Hero 6
Gerard Butler - How to Train Your Dragon 2
Bradley Cooper - Guardians of the Galaxy
Vin Diesel - Guardians of the Galaxy
Craig Ferguson - How to Train Your Dragon 2
Ben Kingsley - The Boxtrolls
Liam Neeson - The Lego Movie

Action Choreography and Stunts:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Fury
John Wick
The Raid 2

Cinematography:
Birdman 
The Guest
The Grand Budapest Hotel
John Wick
The Judge
A Walk Among the Tombstones
Whiplash

Costume:
Fury
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
A Most Violent Year
Snowpiercer

Film Editing:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Drop
Fury
The Guest
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Snowpiercer
Whiplash

Makeup:
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Into the Woods
Snowpiercer

Production Design:
Big Eyes
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guest
Into the Woods
John Wick
Snowpiercer

Score:
Birdman 
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Homesman
The Imitation Game
The Judge
The Monuments Men
The Theory of Everything

Song:
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 - "The Hanging Tree"
Joe - "For Anyone's Sake"
The Lego Movie - "Everything is Awesome"
Muppets Most Wanted - "I'm Number One"
Muppets Most Wanted - "We're Doing a Sequel"
Selma - "Glory"

Sound:
American Sniper
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Fury
Guardians of the Galaxy
Nightcrawler
Whiplash

Special Effects:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Edge of Tomorrow
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

John's Film Awards! - The Nominees

Now that the awards season is over I've decided to do my own awards. Yeah I know you're probably bored of this stuff but I thought, 'Why the hell not? I'll do my own!'

Just a few things:
1. I still haven't seen every single movie of 2014.
2. The maximum amount of nominees per category is 7, the minimum is 3.
3. I'll be announcing the winners within the next few weeks. I'll have my picks and an audience selection. (See below for details)
4. This is just for fun. So please no one freak out if you're pick favorite film was nominated for anything.

I'd also like to involve you - the audience. Down below are the nominees and I'd like you pick your favorite of each category and then message me on my Facebook page with your selections. I'll tally the picks and announce the winners when I announce my picks.

Picture:
Birdman
Boyhood
The Drop
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Selma
Whiplash

Director:
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
J.C. Chandor - A Most Violent Year
Damien Chazelle - Whiplash
Ava DuVernay - Selma
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Michael R. Roskam - The Drop

Actor:
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Tom Hardy - The Drop
Michael Keaton - Birdman
James McAvoy - Filth
David Oyelowo - Selma
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

Actress:
Amy Adams - Big Eyes
Emily Blunt - Edge of Tomorrow
Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon - Wild
Shailene Woodley - The Fault in Our Stars

Supporting Actor:
Jon Bernthal - Fury
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Zach Galifinakis - Birdman
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash

Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Jessica Chastain - A Most Violent Year
Karen Gillan - Guardians of the Galaxy
Maika Monroe - The Guest
Emma Stone - Birdman
Tilda Swinton - Snowpiercer
Naomi Watts - Birdman

Screenplay:
Birdman 
Captain America: The Winter Soldier 
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
A Most Violent Year
Nightcrawler
Whiplash

Animated Film:
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie

The MEL BLANC Award - Voice Actor:
Scott Adsit - Big Hero 6
Gerard Butler - How to Train Your Dragon 2
Bradley Cooper - Guardians of the Galaxy
Vin Diesel - Guardians of the Galaxy
Craig Ferguson - How to Train Your Dragon 2
Ben Kingsley - The Boxtrolls
Liam Neeson - The Lego Movie

Action Choreography and Stunts:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Fury
John Wick
The Raid 2

Cinematography:
Birdman 
The Guest
The Grand Budapest Hotel
John Wick
The Judge
A Walk Among the Tombstones
Whiplash

Costume:
Fury
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
A Most Violent Year
Snowpiercer

Film Editing:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Drop
Fury
The Guest
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Snowpiercer
Whiplash

Makeup:
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Into the Woods
Snowpiercer

Production Design:
Big Eyes
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guest
Into the Woods
John Wick
Snowpiercer

Score:
Birdman 
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Homesman
The Imitation Game
The Judge
The Monuments Men
The Theory of Everything

Song:
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 - "The Hanging Tree"
Joe - "For Anyone's Sake"
The Lego Movie - "Everything is Awesome"
Muppets Most Wanted - "I'm Number One"
Muppets Most Wanted - "We're Doing a Sequel"
Selma - "Glory"

Sound:
American Sniper
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Fury
Guardians of the Galaxy
Nightcrawler
Whiplash

Special Effects:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Edge of Tomorrow
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past