Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

01. Boyhood
02. Birdman
03. Unbroken
04. Whiplash
05. Selma
06. A Most Violent Year
07. Gone Girl
08. The Imitation Game
09. The LEGO Movie
10. Foxcatcher

1. Boyhood
2. Birdman
3. Unbroken
4. Foxcatcher
5. A Most Violent Year
6. The LEGO Movie
7. Selma
8. The Imitation Game/The Theory of Everything
9. Whiplash
10. Gone Girl

Difficult this year, Not all his reviews are out and he often ranks ***1/2 reviewed films higher than **** reviewed films when he compiles his list. So far this year there have only been three *** reviews: Boyhood, Birdman and Foxcatcher, but we don't know what he thinks of The Imitation Game, A Most Violent Year, Selma, Unbroken with its screenplay by the Coen Brothers (one of his faves) or Into the Woods (probably not his cup of tea or whatever he's drinking these days). With all of this in mind, I'd say:

1. Boyhood
2. Birdman
3. Foxcatcher
4. Selma
5. The Imitation Game
6. A Most Violent Year
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel
8. Gone Girl
9. Unbroken
10. Whiplash

My own entry.

01. Boyhood
02. Birdman
03. Foxcatcher
04. The Grand Budapest Hotel
05. Ida
06. The LEGO Movie
07. CITIZENFour
08. Gone Girl
09. Whiplash
10. Interstellar

Sonic is busy so I volunteered to do the contest. The rules will be the same. Here they are to jog your memory:

As the reigning champion of this beloved contest (as well as the standard-bearer for pathetic performance in the contest), I'll borrow the mantle from Sonic Youth this year and run the contest for him.

Here is how Sonic himself describes the contest: "The Peter Travers contest, which I started here I think 10 years ago, is really a statement disguised as a contest. The statement is, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine is the most unoriginal, unidiosyncratic, yet highly dependable film critic around, both in his writing style - it's not for nothing that he's "the most blurbed film critic", according to Wiki - and in his taste in films. He slightly defies convention by positioning his tastes moderately left-of-center, very much like a white, college-age male just discovering "cool" movies would. That's not a bad starting point, but Travers has never opened his tastes up from there. And what better way to expose his predictibility than to build a contest around it?"

Furthermore, I am keeping the rules the same as last year:

a). One (1) point is awarded for correctly guessing which films will be on his top ten list.

b). One (1) additional point is awarded for accurately guessing precisely where on the list a film will end up. (Total: two (2) points.)

c). One (1) more additional point is awarded for accurately guessing the number one film of the year. (Total: three (3) points)

d). Three (3) bonus points for accurately predicting which movies will result in a tie, if any. Remember, there may or may not be a tie this year. Travers is one of those critics that likes to put ties in his lists, so you may want to take that under consideration. That said, not every yearly list has ties, so predict at your own risk. (Accurately predicting that there will be no tie gets you zero (0) points. Nice try, but no.)

e). One (1) point is docked for every inaccurately predicted tie. This is to discourage contestants from predicting too many ties.

f). The poll is officially closed when his list is released, and it's authenticity has been verified to my satisfaction.

g). Anyone caught revising his or her list after Travers releases his list will be disqualified.

h). In the event of a first place tie, the completely arbitrary solution is: whoever has guessed more higher-ranking movies on the list wins. If there is still a tie, then the winners will agree to share the honor with grace and humility.

i). Sonic Youth and anonymous1980 are not prohibited from winning their own contest. (This rule has never been applied, but probably will be this year!)