Last year I set myself a goal of watching all the movies in the major categories at the Oscars. I wanted to have an informed opinion on the films that were and were not honoured. I also wanted to be able to bestow or beseech the Academy with some level of authority. So, over a few weeks I watched about twenty films, including many I would never have chosen to watch without this ‘challenge’. Some of them were surprisingly good (such as Bruce Dern’s Nebraska) and some were quite a chore (like Meryl Streep’s August Osage County).
A comparison of my choices and the actual winners is below…
For 2015 I wanted to take things to the next level and see how my opinions fared against not only the US centric Academy Awards (Oscars), but also the flagship British equivalent, the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs). This was quite a mammoth task as there were 31 films in the 18 major, non technical BAFTA categories. Adding in the additional 13 films that were nominated in the 16 Oscar categories takes the total up to 44 films!
I started watching the films on 12th January 2015 (although a couple of films I had already seen, such as Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men) and managed to watch them all in less than a month.
So to celebrate this weekend’s BAFTA ceremony, here are my choices from their nominations…

Nominees: Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything

Nominees: The imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, ’71, Pride, Under the Skin

Nominees: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), Ralph Feinnes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nighcrawler), Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Nominees: Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Reese Witherspoon (Wild), Amy Adams (Big Eyes), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Nominees: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher), Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Edward Norton (Birdman), Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Nominees: Keira Knightly (The Imitation Game), Imelda Staunton (Pride), Emma Stone (Birdman), Patricia Arquette (Boyhood), Rene Russo (Nightcrawler)
I can’t believe they were nominated: Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game) and Emma Stone (Birdman)

Nominees: Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), James Marsh (The Theory of Everything), Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Damien Chazelle (Whiplash), Alejandro G. Inarritu (Birdman)

Nominees: The Imitation Game (Graham Moore), American Sniper (Jason Hall), Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn), Paddington (Paul King), The Theory of Everything (Anthony McCarten)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson), Boyhood (Richard Linklater), Whiplash (Damien Chazelle), Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy), Birdman (A Inarritu, N Giacobone, A Dinelaris Jr, A Bo)

Nominees: The Boxtrolls, The Lego Movie, Big Hero 6

Nominees: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Interstellar, Mr. Turner, Birdman, Ida

Nominees: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, Mr. Turner, Into the Woods

Nominees: Guardians of the Galaxy, Into the Woods, Mr. Turner, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Theory of Everything

Nominees: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Interstellar, Birdman, Under the Skin, The Theory of Everything

Nominees: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Mr. Turner, Interstellar, Big Eyes

Nominees: American Sniper, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Whiplash, The Imitation Game, Birdman

Nominees: The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Interstellar

Nominees: Stephen Beresford and David Livingstone (Pride), Gregory Burke and Yann Demange (’71), Elaine Constantine (Northern Soul), Hong Khaou (Lilting), Paul Katis and Andrew De Lotbiniere (Kajaki: The True Story)

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