by Heath Lynch, Contributing Writer
We’re in the thick of Oscar season as the battle for Best Picture between Sinners and One Battle After Another is heating up! But, while we’re all excited to see what happens, we have yet another year to look back on. As a reminder, with our Oscars: What If… series we look at categories the Academy Awards should be honoring, but, for one reason or another, they aren’t. So, we’re going to imagine what could’ve been regarding past Oscar seasons. Hopefully someday the Academy will do right by these creative talents, but until then we must do the Academy’s job for them. Let’s look back at the year Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared over the Gulf of Thailand, the West African Ebola epidemic took thousands of lives, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, ISIS fully emerged and declared a global caliphate causing extreme violence in the Middle East, and Michael Brown was murdered by police, leading to mass protests in Ferguson, Missouri. You know, such a great year in our history… It is time to examine the films of 2014, celebrated at the Oscars in 2015. Let’s see what could have been!
Best Stunts and Choreography
Given to the best achievement in dance, stunts, related performances, and overall choreography for film.
And the nominees are… Captain America: Civil War, Edge of Tomorrow, John Wick, The Raid 2, Step Up: All In
And the winner is… John Wick!
For better or worse, we’ve got to award the origin of so much pain and redundancy in the modern action cinema landscape. It just has to be done. Because, while this spawned a massive billion-dollar franchise, and Hollywood cinema has been plagued with John Wick pretenders ever since this film’s release, this first film is pretty undeniable. There’s a reason this flick had such a transformative effect on the industry. I mean, an action thriller that’s written, directed, and choreographed by veteran industry stuntmen who specialized in making action thrillers seems like such an obvious formula you wonder why it took so long for something like this to happen and succeed so well. But the proof is in the pudding. From the brutal violence, long “oner” takes, mixing of melee combat with stylized gun-fu, and intense car chase sequences, this had it all, and it was all at a higher level than we were used to seeing. Although this first outing has been surpassed due to the movie industry’s relentless pursuit of bigger and better, this original John Wick is still a hard-hitting adrenaline ride jam-packed with impressive stunt work that will leave you astounded.
Best Performance by Voiceover or Motion Capture
Given to the best off-screen voice performance, or on-screen motion captured performance, for film.
And the nominees are… Elizabeth Banks as Wyldstyle/Lucy in The Lego Movie, Bradley Cooper as Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy, Toby Kebbell as Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Andy Serkis as Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Ben Whishaw as Paddington Bear in Paddington
And the winner is… Andy Serkis as Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes!
You just can’t keep a good Andy Serkis down. You think we’ve gotten past relentlessly awarding Serkis with Voiceover and Motion Capture Oscars, but then the man churns out yet another all-time classic performance in the history of this type of performance and all you can do is shrug, throw your hands up in the air, and accept what is. While I am genuinely tempted to gild Toby Kebbell for a truly underrated villainous turn as Koba, it’s Serkis’s wisdom, patience, and understanding in the face of adversity and possible extinction. Even with his own life on the line and his family in mortal danger sets this performance as Caesar apart from the rest. There’s a determined passion that runs underneath Serkis’ quiet leadership, that exudes confidence and trust, that makes this performance feel distinct and authentic. He brings Caesar to life, and delivers what is maybe the greatest motion capture work ever put to film, even beyond his great work as Gollum and Kong. Serkis, you legend, you earned this.
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast
Given to the best overall ensemble cast performance for film.
And the nominees are… Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Interstellar, Selma
And the winner is… The Grand Budapest Hotel!
While there are sincerely a lot of great ensemble options to choose from this year for nominations, there was only ever going to be one winner. One of Wes Anderson’s greatest works of art, that finally ascended the auteur to Academy status on the back of nine Oscar nominations and four wins, also just so happens to have one of the greatest ensemble troupes and performances in the history of his illustrious filmography. Ralph Fiennes highlights this entourage with, frankly, a stellar performance that should’ve been nominated for Best Actor in its own right. His charismatic statesmanship that evokes a different time is so magnetic, it’s no wonder why he’s such an alluring centerpiece. But, flanking him with talents like Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Owen Wilson is just… insane. They all so perfectly embody the Anderson aesthetic, with matching, dry, deadpan deliveries that exude style and purpose, while each bringing their own eccentricities and quirks to make each character feel distinct and sincere, fostering empathy, disdain, and so much audience investment. Couldn’t be happier to award The Grand Budapest Hotel with even more Oscar gold.
Best Directorial Debut
Given to the best achievement in direction by a debut directing talent for film.
And the nominees are… Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler, Jennifer Kent for The Babadook, Justin Simien for Dear White People, Chad Stahelski for John Wick
And the winner is… Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler!
It would be easy to shrug this off as being undeserving, proclaiming that it’s really Jake Gyllenhaal carries this film, and you could always ask what Dan Gilroy has done ever since this, but I feel this would be a grave disservice to what is a genuinely compelling directorial debut. I mean, yes, cards on the table, Gyllenhaal does elevate this film to tremendous heights. It would not be nearly as good without him, no doubt. But Gilroy’s understanding of pacing, tone, atmosphere, character relationships, and tension, is fantastic. At no point does Gilroy take his foot off the gas, pummeling you with disgusting and reprehensible behavior that you can’t take your eyes off. His vision shows us not just the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles, but of America, and our media’s all-too-willing desire to glorify our trauma. While his work since has been more than a bit underwhelming, Gilroy’s debut is handled with a mature and deft hand that’s worthy of this Oscar.
Best Popular Film
Given to the best audience supported motion picture that earned a spot as one of the top 25 box office films of the year.
And the nominees are… Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lego Movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past
And the winner is… Guardians of the Galaxy!
It may be hard to believe now, with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies being so beloved, considered by many to be the highlight of the MCU, and these films earning over two billion at the worldwide box office, but in 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy movie was the biggest risk in the history of the still fledgling movie universe behemoth. For Kevin Feige to proclaim from his MCU throne that James Gunn, a man known for his PG Porn web series, was going to make a movie about an orphan’s ragtag, Star Wars knockoff, space adventures alongside a talking racoon, was nothing short of jaw-dropping. I mean, this was released just two years after The Avengers. The MCU wasn’t small peanuts anymore, it was becoming the blockbuster face of Hollywood. Why are we giving the keys to this series to a guy who helped make Movie 43, and who wants to make a movie about a talking tree?
Well, thank Walt Disney that it happened, because Guardians of the Galaxy became instantly iconic, and still stands as one of the greatest films ever made in the entire nearly 20-year history of the MCU.
Wait, 20 years? 2008, to 2026… carry the one… ewww. We’re just two years away from 20 years. ‘Nearly 20’ applies. Whelp, don’t we all feel old now? I hate everything. Time is a construct, let’s move on before getting sucked into a world of existential dread.
Look, 2014 was a big box office year. The comic book 2010s had fully locked in and we were being overrun. But, luckily, most of them were good back then so we didn’t care yet. Six of the top 15 domestic earners of the year were comic book movies. We were also in full franchise mode as 14 of these 15 were franchise/IP films, with the lone outlier being American Sniper. Which, for the record, was actually the number one grossing film of the year. But, as this is my article, it’s not nominated, as I cannot stand that movie, its glorification of military murder, nor its fake babies. Which means we were destined for a lot of comic book clutter in these nominees. Spice it up with family IP about toys you could buy and sci-fi IP about vastly underappreciated apes films, and you’ve got the best films from this year’s big blockbuster earners. But, with Guardians of the Galaxy earning $333.7 million domestically and $773.3 million worldwide, this earned the number three spot on both the domestic and worldwide earners lists from this year. That’s damn impressive for a film no one wanted, about a team of goofy characters no one knew anything about, from a controversial director that most people had never heard of at the time. This is beyond impressive. To say Guardians of the Galaxy was popular is an understatement, which is even more impressive that this came out of nowhere.
In terms of the ‘Best’ part of the Best Popular Film equation, this is where things get more subjective. Sure, this got a 91% certified fresh critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside a 92% audience score, so that’s really good, especially for a blockbuster. We can hang our hat on that. But honestly, there’s not much going for this in terms of accolades. Don’t get me wrong, Guardians still got some love. It received two Oscar nominations for Best Makeup and Hairstyling as well as Best Visual Effects, two BAFTA nominations, as well as two wins off the back of five nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards. That’s nice. But that’s not much more than any of the other nominees from this year. There just weren’t many big blockbuster awards earners, outside of American Sniper, which, as established, we don’t feel is a good film. So… It’s kinda all vibes. I sit here and think, attempting to recall from my ever-depleting Millennial memories, which movies were people really talking about? Which flicks were the topic of water cooler conversations? This is where Guardians clinches things. Because, as much as these other films were good, even great in some instances, there didn’t seem to be any bigger blockbuster that people were talking about and obsessing over more than Guardians of the Galaxy. The dance-off that saved the universe, the needle drops, the comedic performances, and how we are all Groot were topics of much love and adoration and remain so to this day. Even now, over a decade removed from this film’s release, it’s still commonplace to hear people praise this movie and how it stands out from the crowd, despite audience’s growing resistances towards the MCU at large and comic book movies in general.
So, against all odds, the trash panda and his friends bring home the gold. The first Best Popular Film winner in the entire MCU. Hot damn.
That’s gonna do it! Thanks for joining me on another trip down memory lane to see what could’ve been! We got to talk about a beloved Wes Anderson favorite, the beginning of one of the biggest modern action franchises, and the start of a new era in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Be sure to come back next time when we look at films like Mad Max: Fury Road, Spotlight, and Straight Outta Compton as we’ll examine the Oscars of 2016, celebrating the films of 2015!
You can read more from Heath Lynch, and follow him on Letterboxd