Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

There are still plenty of movies I need to get to, including Norte, the End of History and Two Days, One Night. Oscar-movie wise, I haven't caught up with American Sniper (will see it eventually), The Imitation Game (ambivalent about seeing it), Wild (ditto), Whiplash (ditto), The Theory of Everything (don't want to see it), Birdman (don't want to see it), or Foxcatcher (ambivalent about seeing it). I have seen Selma and Mr. Turner, both of which I like, as well as Inherent Vice, which wasn't really for me.

In roughly descending order, here are some favorites of what I've seen so far, based on US theatrical releases 2014 ...

Goodbye to Language (JLG)
See You Next Tuesday (Drew Tobia)
Dumb and Dumber To (Farrelly Brothers) - not joking about this, I adore it, it's like late period Jerry Lewis
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
Memphis (Tim Sutton)
Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie)
Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Beyond the Lights (Gina Prince-Bythewood)
The Strange Little Cat (Ramon Zürcher)
Venus in Fur (Roman Polanski)

List-worthy, but I excluded them for reasons of no theatrical US release as far as I could tell: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, from 2013-2014 festival circuit, would be #2 but I guess it hasn't opened in this country until its recent run in New York), Field Niggas (Khalik Allah, incredible "amateur" documentary you can find on YouTube or Vimeo), Welcome to New York (Abel Ferrara), The Black Box (Stephen Cone; I think this is only now getting a VOD release), Transformers: The Premake (critic/filmmaker Kevin B. Lee's wonderful and smart documentary about the geographical production of anticipation, also available on YouTube), Person to Person (Dustin Guy Defa's short film, yet another available to view online for free).

My top ten in no particular order:

Ida
Gone Girl
Foxcatcher
Wild
The Homesman
Boyhood
Whiplash
Chef
Nightcrawler
Birdman

I've seen most all Oscar-buzzed films except A Most Violent Year, Still Alice, Cake and Mr. Turner

I guess it all depends on year of release wherever he is. I go by U.S. release dates personally.

anonymous1980 wrote:10. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski)

Not yet seen: CITIZENFOUR, Birdman, Into the Woods, Foxcatcher, Selma, Inherent Vice, Goodbye to Language 3D, Wild Tales

Did not count: Norte, the End of History & Like Father, Like Son as they are officially 2013 films.

And "Ida" isn't?

My list (as of 1/17/14, not yet final; will edit as I go along):

01. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
02. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
03. Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh)
04. Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu)
05. Life Itself (Steve James)
06. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Isao Takahata)
07. Selma (Ava DuVernay)
08. Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund)
09. The LEGO Movie (Phil Lord/Christopher Miller)
10. Gone Girl (David Fincher)

Not yet seen: CITIZENFOUR, Foxcatcher, Inherent Vice, Goodbye to Language 3D, Wild Tales

Did not count: Norte, the End of History & Like Father, Like Son as they are officially 2013 films.

Added in Selma.

1. Two Days, One Night
2. Boyhood
3. Birdman
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. Force Majeure
6. Wild Tales
7. Begin Again
8. Pride
9. The Imitation Game
10. Love Is Strange
10. Snowpiercer

Haven't seen yet: A Most Violent Year, Wild, Rosewater, Mommy, Leviathan, Winter Sleep, Inherent Vice, White God

Big Magilla wrote: Ida (Pawel Palikowski)

Not Ida again! Not you, Big Magilla!

I haven't seen most of the Oscar contenders, but to be honest with the exception of Birdman none of them interest me. I am missing a couple of major international films from 2014 so I will update this list around April/May.

1. Stations of the Cross (Dietrich Bruggemann)
2. Maps to the Stars (David Cronenberg)
3. Amour Fou (Jessica Hausner)
4. Gone Girl (David Fincher)
5. Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund)
6. White God (Komel Mundruczo)
7. Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (Nicholas D Wrathall)
8. Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh)
9. Abuse of Weakness (Catherine Breillat)
10. Welcome to New York (Abel Ferrara)

Ten Best Films of 2014

Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
Birdman (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum)
Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
Calvary (John Michael McDonagh)
Ida (Pawel Palikowski)
A Most Wanted Man (Anton Corbijn)
Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho)
Pride (Matthew Warchus)