And the nominees are . . . (My two cents on this year's Oscar nominees)

Happy Oscar nominations day!!!

I do love this time of year.  The long nights, the cool weather, and of course the yearly announcement of the academy award nominations.  I’m a sucker for this annual tradition.  It’s like Christmas for me, only more exciting.

What do I think of the nominees this year?  I am more then pleased.

I love seeing The Grand Budapest Hotel with nine nominations including best picture and director.  I am a fan of Wes Anderson’s work.  This film is as out there as it can be.  It’s a fun adventure film that made an impression early in the year, and a lasting impression.  It’s also the first film since Silence of the Lambs to be nominated for best picture of the year that was released in the first quarter.

Birdman is another film that I love seeing nominated this year.  It was the most original film of 2014 and I’m glad to see Michael Keaton getting some awards attention.  Same goes for the cinematic triumph that is Boyhood.  The patience and skill involved in making that movie paid of well.

I was disappointed to see Jake Gyllenhaal not get nominated for his breath taking performance in Nightcrawler.  It’s an incredible performance and his best since Brokeback Mountain.

Another disappointment for me was the snub of The Lego Movie from the animated feature category.  (A consolation the song “Everything is Awesome” from the movie is nominated).  The Lego Movie is THE BEST ANIMATED MOVIE IN YEARS!!!

However, The Boxtrolls, is a great selection in the animated feature film category.  It’s an entertaining movie that has a great message about unique families such as families with same sex parents.  If a film that has that kind of message gets nominated I can be ok with The Lego Movie being snubbed.  Also How to Train Your Dragon 2 is in the running and that film was far superior to its predecessor in every way.

I didn’t really care for Wild that much and it disappoints me that Reese Witherspoon was nominated for it.  Mainly because that spot could of gone to Scarlett Johansson, who turned in an incredible performance in Under the Skin.

I love that Finding Vivian Maier is competing for documentary.  It’s the only one of the five I have seen.  I refuse to see CitizenFour.  Anything about the coward known as Edward Snowden I refuse to partake in.  I hope it looses.

I wanted more out of Interstellar and Selma.  Both were great movies, each ending up with only a handful of nominations.  Both movies are fantastic in very different ways.  It’s great to see though that Selma will be competing for best picture.

It’s a little weird seeing Steve Carell nominated for best actor.  I still need to see Foxcatcher and am really looking forward to it.  It’s odd for me to see the gentlemen who has a claim to fame as the lead actor in The 40 Year Old Virgin.

A few other loves include the duel nominations for Ida(Foreign language film & cinematography), Rosamund Pike’s nomination for Gone Girl, and the awards love for The Theory of Everything.

Anyways that’s my two cents.