Off Topic Thread too point uh

I don't think it'll win anything. Looks like the main categories are all sown up according to paddy power.

The only exception is best actor which is very much a two horse race between Michael Keating and Eddie Redlmayne. I haven't seen theory of everything but birdman

RuggieBear wrote: »

Oscar movies are becoming increasingly insipid imo. Have **** all interest in most of the favourites tbh.

I disagree this year in particular. Of the top 20 films on Paddy Power in the running for best film I've seen 10 and intend to see about 3 more. I think in the past lots of oscar nominated films were all the same, this year I think directors experimented way more, and are trying to be different.

Birdman was class - like it was funny, the camera work was excellent, the acting was good the script was sharp. The only problem I had with it was a movie kinda satirising Broadway for being pretentious, while also being pretentious.

The Imitation game was very good. I am a big fan of Benedict Cumberbatch, and Alan Turing. So seeing it made into a biopic made me very happy. The last few years have some awful Biopic's like "Iron Lady" "Diana" and "Princess Grace" but they did very well with it. Good watch.

Foxcatcher I watched last night was a very enjoyable sports drama. Could have been shorter, but the true history is in some ways weirder than fiction. If you don't know the true story, watch the movie. If you do know the true story it spoils the movie (apparently). Also imagine Steve Carrell's character is Bath's Bruce Craig. Striking similarities!

Whiplash is my surprise of the group. JK Simmons I guess has had some fairly minor roles, but is an absolute shoe in for the Oscar at 1:7 on PP. It's worth it for the intensity of his performance alone. I know this is about Jazz music, but watching it, it's actually much more like the coach boxer dynamic. Very intense, I loved it.

Grand Budapest hotel was wonderfully colorful and different. Great dialogue and acting, it was a while ago I watched it, I want to watch it again.

Interstellar was mind-blowing in terms of special effects and scale. The music was great. The scene where MMcC gets all the messages from home was genuinely brilliantly acted. Touching moment, although some parts of the movie fell a bit flat.

Gone Girl was a really good novel adaption and a brilliantly shot film. I hadn't read the book, and loved the movie start to finish. It was my favourite film of 2014, I left it feeling so fulfilled. The evil characters are so chilling, and the good characters so flawed.

Big Eyes contained my favorite actor Christoph Waltz. The movie wasn't perfect, but it drove the emotions well.

Nightcrawler was weird in a good way. It asked questions and gave you an insight into delusional desperation. I thought Gyllenghal (or however that is spelt) nailed it. The movie was just lacking another strong performance for him to bounce off, its really a one man movie.

Fury rounds off the top 20. A world war 2 drama. Pitt is pretty good Shia La Beouf is somehow not an asshole. It does well to show the horrors of war, before a going a bit too close to Rambo at the end.

Before the Oscars I will watch Boyhood, Unbroken, Theory of Everything, American Sniper and Into the Woods I think.

I didn't post this list as a bunch of mini-reviews. It just highlights the width of movies that are nominated for this years Oscars. There really is an excellent film from most genres there.

Comedy: Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Suspense / Thriller: Night Crawler, Gone Girl,
Wartime: Fury, Unbroken, American Sniper
Sports: Foxcatcher
Biopic: Theory of Everything, Imitation Game,
Sci-Fi: Interstellar
Musical(ish): Whiplash

I accept all of them are also drama, but it's better than years which are dominated by movies with main characters in awfully bleak circumstances living a meager existence and then dying so the actor can pick up a gold statue!

Synode wrote: »

I heard Birdman is excellent. Haven't seen it yet though. Grand Budapest Hotel is brilliant. Ralph Fiennes has to be a contender for best actor for it. Superb performance

GBH is the much better movie. Birdman is complete oscar fodder. Not terrible but its a movie that thinks its a great movie.

awec wrote: »

Hart of Dixie.

Does anyone else's girlfriend / wife / boyfriend / significant other inflict this sh**e on you?

What is it - tv or a band?

On a happier note, i've a massive roasting tray in the oven filled with pork ribs using gordon ramsey's youtube recipe for sticky ribs!!

Wife "i wouldn't really like those as my dinner"

Me "you're in luck because I didn't make them for you"

pickarooney wrote: »

Share the recipe there like a good lad

If it's this one, it's delicious. Did it once before, been looking for an excuse to do it again. **** you, January diet.

awec wrote: »

It's a TV show.

And it's tripe.

I can second that. Awful drivel.

awec wrote: »

Hart of Dixie.

Does anyone else's girlfriend / wife / boyfriend / significant other inflict this sh**e on you?

Bastard. I've gotten away without having seeing it for ages. Missus saw your post and now wants to know when the series is back