And now comes the usual awards as seen in the likes of the Oscars and the Golden Globes. They will be presented in the standard order of the Oscars.
Best Supporting Actor
Side characters have a large importance in films, whether as the villain or just a companion to the lead. These male side actors are the best of the rest.
- Mark Strong - The Imitation Game
- Michael Fassbender - Frank
- Willem Dafoe - The Grand Budapest Hotel
WINNER: Michael Fassbender (Frank) - Acting without facial expressions is a hard job, so that's already a plus for the paper mached-titular character, but it's another to do so with such ease but with such gravitas that it allows a role filled with surprises.
Best Animated Feature
Animation is probably one of the most financially-successful elements of film these days, but in a Pixar-less year and Disney's Big Hero 6 not out until January, it has left the genre open to other studios to try and push through to be top dog. Here are the nominees for Best Animated Feature:
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- Mr Peabody and Sherman
WINNER: The LEGO Movie - This visually spectacular feature could have been a simple cash-in like the direct-to-DVD movies LEGO has, but thanks to Phil Lord and Chris Miller and their comedic genius this is a film of comedy gold. Add a great cast, with Chris Pratt in the lead as the lovable Emmet, and animation which looks like it could have been stop motion, and you have a solid film and one of the best of the year.
Best Original Song
For some films, songs drive the film and increase public appeal. For original music, it can be even more impressive - would Frozen have been as popular as it is without Let It Go? - so these songs are the best of the bunch, whether as a singular tune or as part of an ensemble of toe-tapping music.
- Cockatoo in Malibu - Muppets Most Wanted
- Everything is Awesome - The LEGO Movie
- I Love You All - Frank
- Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home - Begin Again
- We're Doing a Sequel - Muppets Most Wanted
WINNER: The LEGO Movie - Despite the great tunes from its counterparts, The LEGO Movie's deathly earworm is the song which has withheld the top spot since February. It's very catchy and fails to annoy, despite how easy it could have been.
Best Original Screenplay
In a time where everything seems to be an adaptation, sequel or a reboot, original stories tend to be a rarer thing in the mainstream. They don't always succeed financially by comparison, but they tend to be more critically praised come award season. But while these five films may not earn as much praise in this areas in proper award shows, here they get what they deserve.
- Begin Again
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The LEGO Movie
WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel - Slick, comedic, and incredibly enjoyable; Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel is by far one of the best scripts to come out of 2014. If its style didn't appeal to you from the outset, the screenplay is one which can hold onto its audience with ease.
Best Make Up and Hairstyling
Make up and hair styles can add more to a film, creating new and interesting characters or set up the setting of the film even more. Here are the nominees:
- Maleficent
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
WINNER: Guardians of the Galaxy - To create an alien world filled with life is a difficult one, so thanks to the make up team behind Marvel's most recent adventure did incredibly well at creating a large array of characters whether as prominent as The Collector, Gamora or Nebula or as unimportant as the various aliens on Xander.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Adaptations are always taken with a grain of salt, as they do have the capacity to drive too far away from the source material. Thankfully for these five nominees, they did a good enough job to stand by themselves away from the original.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Gone Girl
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- The Imitation Game
WINNER: The Imitation Game - A great retelling of Alan Turing's life, it's filled with the right amount of love, emotion and humour while allowing its lead actors to bring about some award-deserving performances.
Best Supporting Actress
This category was a trickier affair, as women became more of a frontrunner than a backdrop. But the women here are all great, and it's a pity that only one can be a winner.
- Jessica Chastain - Interstellar
- Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
- Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
- Saorise Ronan - The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Sarah Gadon - Belle
WINNER: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) - When you have 12 years to perfect a role, you use it to the best quality possible. Arquette does to the point where she's the biggest talking point of the film aside from its longevity of production, even gaining interest by award shows by her numerous nominations.
Best Costume Design
Unless your film revolves around nudists, clothes are a big part of the character, helping set the time period and the mood with ease or just appealing to jealous viewers craving to have that outfit come Halloween.
- Belle
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Maleficent
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel - How could anyone make that shade of purple work so well with Ralph Fiennes or the staff of the Hotel? Imaginative with no clear influence unlike the other nominees, it is visually pleasing and desirable.
Best Production Design
Clothes aren't the only way of telling what time period you're in, as setting, props and more all hep achieve a great looking film. The nominees are:
- Interstellar
- Maleficent
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- The LEGO Movie
WINNER: The LEGO Movie - Under the wrong supervision, The LEGO Movie could have just been LEGO minifigures against a natural backdrop. But thanks to the Production Design team, the vivid and incredibly imaginative visuals created a whole new world which everybody wants to live in.
Best Cinematography
Speaking of visuals, cinematography helps films look aesthetically pleasing, garnering increased appeal whilst allowing some blockbusters to be nominated for Oscars (unless they're being too uptight).
- Interstellar
- Noah
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The LEGO Movie
WINNER: Godzilla - Whilst the space sequences in Interstellar were superb, there was so much more appeasing with Godzilla, thanks to the likes of the skydiving scene, the beast fights and everything around it. Worth the ticket price alone.
Best Score
Music elevates the emotion of each scene it features in, but only so rarely does it work as well separately as it does. They can make waiting through the credits more bearable (most useful for the likes of Captain America: The Winter Soldier) or just great to listen to during the film itself.
- Guardians of the Galaxy - Tyler Bates
- The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat
- The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat
- The LEGO Movie - Mark Mothersbaugh
WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel - Whilst at times a little repetitive, Grand Budapest Hotel features the quirkiest and the uppermost charming score to come out of the year. Every tune is a delight thanks to its European flair and is a must-listen.
Best Visual Effects
These days, visual effects are incredibly prominent to modern movies. From the smallest indie flick like Snowpiercer to the biggest at the box office Transformers, every film has it in some shape or form. But the best tend to be the most spectacular too.
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Godzilla
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Interstellar
WINNER: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - CGI has gone to incredible heights here, as the Apes look more real than ever, save for the human eyes on each one. The detail on Caesar and Koba are immensely awesome, and the sequences are amazing.
Best Film Editing
Editing makes a film. Without good editing comes uncomfortable viewing and a willing to leave the film midway through. But it's also whether you bring in the right footage and keep with it for the right amount of time. To perfect editing would be to perfect the film itself.
- Boyhood
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Interstellar
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The LEGO Movie
WINNER: Boyhood - What other film has 12 years of footage to muster down into a 160 minute feature? Despite how long the film is (for good reason), it's got all the right footage and has clearly cut the right stuff.
Best Actor
We're now at the nitty-gritty, as we get to the big four awards. With actors, they are what brings the audience in, they are the deciding point in whether or not to watch the film that they feature, and then whether they're good or not can alter the overall film perspective. The nominees are:
- Andy Serkis - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
- Chris Pratt - Guardians of the Galaxy
- Matthew McConaughey - Interstellar
- Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel
WINNER: Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) - Much like Michael Fassbender acting through a giant head, Serkis has constantly succeeded in acting in the motion capture industry thanks to his roles as Gollum, King Kong, and Captain Haddock. But as Caesar, Serkis throws in all his might in so few words that he embodies the ape leader with absolute ease. He deserves more attention by the Academy, and he earns it here.
Best Actress
Next to every great actor is a great actress. They have the greater challenge of elevating themselves against the more popular male star, but often manage to push themselves higher than any actor - male or female - around them.
- Emily Blunt - Edge of Tomorrow
- Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Belle
- Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
- Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
- Scarlett Johansson - Her
WINNER: Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) - How can you transform yourself from a quiet kind missing woman with much charm and delight to an utter sociopath who'll go to any means to feel the thrill of danger without it being off? Well, Rosamund Pike did so in a career-turning role as "Amazing" Amy Dunne, worthy of any and all praise she's receiving.
Best Director
The director is the big man in charge. He choses what the film looks like, who stars in it, where it'll be set, what will be kept from the script, and what remains in the final cut. He's in control of everything and deserves any good comments given (unless you're a bad director. In which case...boo!).
- Chris Miller and Phil Lord - The LEGO Movie
- Christopher Nolan - Interstellar
- Gareth Edwards - Godzilla
- Richard Linklater - Boyhood
- Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
WINNER: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) - Who else but one of the biggest directors working today? The main highlight of Interstellar was its visuals, and Nolan's direction embodies this and turns the film into something more than just good.
Best Picture
The big one. With 10 films up for the award, each of these films can be classed as great, enjoyable, funny or emotional. Each film is ranked with 4 or more stars, or 8/10 and above, and worthy of any award even if they don't win here.
12 Years a Slave - Released in the US in 2013 and later winning Best Picture at the Oscars, 12 Years a Slave is a masterful retelling of Solomon Northup's troublesome run as a slave. The imagery is shocking, the ending is upsetting, and it sheds light on just how awful slavery was.- Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The first review to come out of this blog, this Marvel sequel is incredibly riveting and filled with intrigue and great action. A refreshing change from the 2011 opener and a great precursor to 2015's Avengers Age of Ultron.
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- Also continuing a 2011 opener, Dawn is a visual great which did the rare thing of surpassing the first film and the original. Not the most original for story but a darn good one.
- Guardians of the Galaxy - One of the riskier films released this year, this zany comedy was a hilarious delight filled with action, laughs and heart. Plus, how else could you make a raccoon and a tree so darn loveable?
Her - Another Oscar winner from 2014, Her is a film that plays it safe in terms of the romance genre. But despite that it comes across as an original heartfelt story between a man and a machine, with an upsetting conclusion and some great performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. - Interstellar - At this point, it's hard not to like Christopher Nolan's work, as he makes everything look stylish and aesthetically pleasing whilst not phoning out on heart and story. It lends itself to a riveting adventure through time and space whilst avoiding a hard push into the environmental message.
- Paddington - A film which should have been bad, Paddington features consistent humour throughout its 90 minute runtime whilst featuring a large amount of love for the source material. Despite all its production issues, the film pulls through triumphantly.
The Grand Budapest Hotel - As a first step into the magical mind of Wes Anderson, a booking at The Grand Budapest was the perfect way to explore his world. Filled with utter hilarity and never overstaying its welcome, it is a grand adventure through the fictional European world. - The Imitation Game - It may not touch upon a specific area of Turing's life as much as hoped, but this year's big Oscar frontrunner is an enjoyable piece of art. The actors are delightful, the script is surprisingly witty whilst keeping true to the real story, and it is a lovely creation.
- The LEGO Movie - A cash grab done completely right, this animated feature became the building blocks towards a new age for the genre of comedy, with laugh-a-minute jokes and a deserving all-star cast whilst looking incredibly colourful and charming.
WINNER: Guardians of the Galaxy - A majority of these films had ample time before being as acclaimed as they would become here, whilst others perhaps downgraded slightly upon second thoughts and repeat viewings. Guardians is the film that I went out to see twice and loved on both occasions, and have enjoyed repeat viewings since its home release. It's an incredibly joyous ride from Xander to Knowhere with a lovable gang slap-bang in the middle of it all. A true highlight for 2014.
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