Oscar 2015 – The ‘Other’ Oscars

The Academy can’t nominate every movie, it’s impossible.  There are always snubs and always a debate about which movie should have gotten in and which one shouldn’t be there.  For the eight nominees for Best Picture, there are eight other movies that could have been there instead.  So that’s what I’m going to do here.  I am going to nominate movies and performances in the major categories that I felt deserved a spot in their specific category.  The #1 choice in each section will be who I would personally choose to win.  These are the ‘Other’ Oscars.

 

BEST PICTURE

If these eight movies were nominated, I would have been ecstatic.  I could probably make another Top 8 and still be satisfied.  But these are eight of the fifteen best movies of 2015, in my opinion.  However, the top three films are far and away the best movies, and Creed edges out Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Straight Outta Compton for the top prize, as it was also my favorite movie of 2015.

1- CREED

2- STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

3- STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

4- JAMES WHITE

5- AMY

6- STEVE JOBS

7- SICARIO

8- SON OF SAUL

 

BEST DIRECTOR 

For the directors I chose, I feel they all had something to prove.  Steven Spielberg proves that he is as consistent as anyone, making yet another brilliant film.  F. Gary Gray proved how talented and gifted he truly is.  Laszlo Nemes made his film debut and proves he could be one to look out for.  And Ryan Coogler and Denis Villenueve proved that they are two of the best and brightest voices in Hollywood.

1- RYAN COOGLER – CREED

2- Laszlo Nemes – Son of Saul

3- F. Gary Gray – Straight Outta Compton

4- Denis Villenueve – Sicario

5- Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies

 

 

BEST ACTOR

Michael Caine and Johnny Depp returned to top form this year, giving some of the best performances of their careers.  Michael B. Jordan proved he is a star in Creed.  Geza Rohrig is heartbreakingly brilliant in Son of Saul.  And Christopher Abbot gives the breakout performance of the year in James White.  A lot of good acting here that missed the cut.

1- CHRISTOPHER ABBOT – JAMES WHITE 

2- Michael Caine – Youth

3- Michael B. Jordan – Creed

4- Geza Rohrig – Son of Saul

5- Johnny Depp – Black Mass

 

BEST ACTRESS

Unlike most years, this was a fantastic year for female performances.  So many good ones you could argue could have been nominated.  Cate Blanchett was excellent in Truth, even better than her nominated performance in Carol.  Carey Mulligan went unnoticed for her heart wrenching performance in Suffragette.  Amy Schumer capped off her great 2015 with a rounded and impressive performance in Trainwreck.  But the performances by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road and Emily Blunt in Sicario are two of the most badass, gritty, amazing performances I’ve seen in a long time.

1- EMILY BLUNT – SICARIO

2- Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road

3- Amy Schumer – Trainwreck

4- Carey Mulligan – Suffragette

5- Cate Blanchett – Truth

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

I actually thought Michael Keaton was going to get nominated and he should have been.  He follows up his brilliant performance in Birdman (2014) with a subdued and restrained dramatic performance in Spotlight, a rarity for the usual funny actor.  The rest of the list is full of surprises.  Jacob Tremblay and O’Shea Jackson Jr. were stellar in their film debuts Room and Straight Outta Compton.  Benicio Del Toro was scary good in Sicario, and funnyman Jason Segel flexed his dramatic chops like a pro in The End of the Tour.

1- MICHAEL KEATON – SPOTLIGHT 

2- O’Shea Jackson Jr. – Straight Outta Compton

3- Jacob Tremblay – Room

4- Jason Segel – The End of the Tour

5- Benicio Del Toro – Sicario

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Alicia Vikander may actually win the Oscar this year in this category for The Danish Girl, but she was incredible in the sci-fi masterpiece Ex-Machina.  We also got great performances from veterans Jane Fonda and Julia Roberts and breakouts from Olivia Cooke and Elizabeth Banks.

1- ALICIA VIKANDER – EX-MACHINA

2- Olivia Cooke – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

3- Jane Fonda – Youth

4- Julia Roberts – The Secret in Their Eyes

5- Elizabeth Banks – Love & Mercy

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

A relatively weak year for original screenplays, but we still have some good ones.  Quentin Tarantino’s words light up the screen in The Hateful Eight.  Sicario took us deep into the cartel war.  Dope reinvented the urban coming of age tale and Son of Saul reinvented the Holocaust film.  And Amy Schumer gave us comedy gold with the fantastic Trainwreck.

1- TRAINWRECK 

2- Sicario

3- Dope

4- Son of Saul

5- The Hateful Eight

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Aaron Sorkin wrote the best screenplay of the year and one of the best of his career.  The fact that he wasn’t nominated is a travesty.  Creed reinvented a dead franchise.  The Revenant is an expertly written survival film.  The End of the Tour turns this autobiography into a complex road movie.  And I simply fell in love with Goosebumps and thought it used the characters perfectly.

1- STEVE JOBS 

2- Creed

3- The End of the Tour

4- The Revenant

5- Goosebumps

 

What movies would you have nominated for your ‘Other’ Oscars?  Which ones did I miss?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.