The 3rd Annual BOFFY Ceremony - The Grand Budapest Hotel Dominates!

[BadAtGender]

just saying. if it's at least the second best in the category (which it is, don't bother telling me you disagree, i don't care) then hating is pretty dumb.

 

If hate were people, I'd be China.

[CoolioD1]

birdman has dialogue that sounds like it's been put through google translate a couple times. like, stuff that sounds like witty dialogue to someone who doesn't quite understand how the english language works.

Edited February 16, 2015 by ChlamydiaD1

[Ezen Baklattan]

Lucky Number Seven:
 

 

 

 
The Grand Budapest Hotel is classical Wes Anderson absurdity, but elevated to a next level of thoughtfulness and substance. The escapades of Zero, the lowly Bell-Boy, and Monsieur Gustave, the slick concierge of the titular hotel, constitute a thoroughly enjoyable and stylish journey, while subtly exploring some common Anderson themes of family, guilt and, of course, historic loss. While I have definitely not been the biggest Wes Anderson fan in the past, The Grand Budapest Hotel marks a significant turning point in Anderson’s progress as a filmmaker and represents his most mature and best film by far. It’s a coming of age of film for Anderson personally, almost like how the movie was a coming of age for Zero.
 
The most spectacular thing about the film, of which there are too many to enumerate, is undoubtedly the screenplay; the story opens with an intriguing story within a story within a story approach, not unlike Matryoshka dolls, serving to enrapture the audience’s attention and create a narrative that distances itself from reality enough that the general audience can reasonably suspend their disbelief to a level necessary for Anderson. The ensuing six sections constitute a thrilling and fast paced whodunit and fugitive movie that never loses momentum, carried on the back of a monumental Ralph Fiennes.
 
Ralph’s Monsieur Gustave, egregiously snubbed of an Oscar nomination, is an explosion of delight and energy on screen; no matter what is thrown at him, there is a certain perseverance and imperviousness to his character, from protecting Zero to tending to his guests to meeting his fellow inmates. However, that is not to say that the rest of the cast, in particular the marvellous William Dafoe, playing the assassin Jopling, and Tony Revelori, playing Zero, do not shine and contribute to the film; there is in fact no weak part of the cast and no part of the story that is unnecessary. Although absurd, the story is economical in a sense, every line and movement seeks to advance the chase and unfold the story. And of course, I cannot possibly write this without addressing the absolutely fantastic Legend Swinton, who although on screen for but a few short minutes, has a presence so huge that it towers and lingers over the rest of the film. In the epilogue, when all that is gold has faded, it is worth noting that Boy with Apple, that which was a labour of love and blood, is ignored, hanging skewed on the wall; this amusement was perhaps meant to pass judgement on the ridiculousness of human aggression and greed.
 
Looking back, Monsieur Gustave was like the last two lines of Ulysses, ‘Made weak by time and by fate, but strong in will/ To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.’ The Grand Budapest Hotel is a masterful ode to what we have lost and the importance on keeping it alive and passing it on to whatever few people are still willing to listen. This is why The Grand Budapest Hotel is the best picture of the year. 
 
-Riczhang

[Ezen Baklattan]

Now let us award the master actors of this year. The nominees are...

 

Michael Fassbender

FRANK

 

Ethan Hawke

BOYHOOD

 

Edward Norton

BIRDMAN

 

Mark Ruffalo

FOXCATCHER

 

J.K. Simmmons

WHIPLASH

 

And the winner is...

 

 

 

[Ezen Baklattan]

Here are the nominees for Best Supporting Actress.
 
Patricia Arquette
BOYHOOD
 
Emily Blunt
EDGE OF TOMORROW
 
Agata Kulesza
IDA
 
Emma Stone
BIRDMAN
 
Tilda Swinton
SNOWPIERCER

And the Boffy goes to...

 

 

[4815162342]

Arquette is good in the movie, but the collective resignation to bow to her award tsunami is kinda annoying.

 

Kulesza's easily the best of the five nominated.

[CoolioD1]

you might have noticed that your blood is pure gasoline...

[CoolioD1]

Arquette is good in the movie, but the collective resignation to bow to her award tsunami is kinda annoying.

 

I would say this about JK Simmons before I say it about Arquette. I think he's maybe 4th best in that category. 3rd best at the oscars.

[Ezen Baklattan]

4 categories left. We will be right back after these messages and one more write up:
 

 

 

 

My only real complaint with Interstellar is the first part of the movie, up to the moment Cooper leaves the earth. It just felt overly-long and slow. I felt that some scenes such as landing the surveillance drone and parent-teacher meeting wasn't really needed in the overall context of the film. I enjoyed the father daughter dynamic, which is really the key theme throughout, but I was often left wondering why there wasn't a similar dynamic between father and son. You always got the impression that Murph was at the forefront of his thoughts, rather than Tom. I feel that the film would have made more sense if Murph was an only daughter. As it is, I failed to see what Tom brought to the movie besides showing us that he was an asshole for refusing to move his family to safety.
 
After Cooper reluctantly leaves his children to be blasted off to a different galaxy, you begin to see the amazing visuals everyone raved about. The fly-by of Saturn, the journey through the wormhole, the mountainous waves, and the crazy docking sequence were all out of this world. The clincher though was the black hole. I’ve never seen anything like that on the big screen or on television, and apparently a great deal of real scientific research was done to produce it so kudos to them for pulling it off. You could literally hear the audience let out the breath that they’d been holding as soon as that scene ended.
 
The relative time flow I felt was also an important tool that impacts the crew’s decisions and increases the tension between what’s happening in space and what’s happening down on earth. I think it’s fitting that love is what connects the two in the end overcoming the relative time flow and space in between.
 
Overall, while some parts of the movie were a little rough, you come away from this knowing exactly the message it was trying to convey. That is; love, in this case a father’s love for his daughter, transcends through space and time. When science failed, love with a little help of a 5-dimensional box located inside a black hole, provided the answer. In that aspect, Interstellar was a really easy film to understand even though it had generous amounts of space jargon here and there.
 
You also got the sensation of how frail humanity is as a species, yet also how resilient, to forge answer despite all the odds. Like Cooper says during the movie, we will find an answer we always have, and despite all the impossible situations that are thrown in their path, they do find a way. It’s a self-congratulatory pat on the back of sorts for humanity but that’s the point. We are masters of our destiny and we must continuously be looking at what’s ahead or indeed, above us.
 
-Rysu

[Ezen Baklattan]

The nominees for Best Actress are...

 

Emily Blunt

INTO THE WOODS

 

Marion Cotillard

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

 

Scarlett Johansson

UNDER THE SKIN

 

Julianne Moore

STILL ALICE

 

Rosamund Pike

GONE GIRL

 

And the Boffy goes to....

 

 

[CoolioD1]

i'm not surprised. half the people that voted didn't see the other movies.

[4815162342]

 

 

 

Pretty sure this is from Jack Reacher

[CoolioD1]

who cares? you get the idea.

[darkelf]

Eh, voted for Moore but whatever.

[Ezen Baklattan]

The nominees for Best Actor are below. The winner may surprise you.
 
Ralph Fiennes
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
 
Jake Gyllenhaal
NIGHTCRAWLER
 
Michael Keaton
BIRDMAN
 
David Oyelowo
SELMA
 
Andy Serkis
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

And the winner is....

 

 

[darkelf]

Yeah, he should have been nominated for the Oscar.

[Ezen Baklattan]

We're approaching the home stretch. Second to last writeup:
 

 

 

 
"Everything is awesome! Everything is cool when you’re part of a team! Everything is awesome, when we’re living our dream! Yes, The LEGO Movie is nominated for Best Picture, and even though some of the other nominees are questionable, I argue that LEGO deserved every single nominee it got in this “awards show.” Why? Simply put, The LEGO Movie is the best animated movie in years, a wonderful exploration on pop art and imagination, and honestly, what I voted to win Best Picture today.
 
Why? Well, I can’t simply put it then.   I’m not gonna get into personal connection to the material, because honestly, who gives a shit about that in this venue? LEGO is a meticulously crafted feature; everything looks like it’s made out of the titular toy. When I first discovered absolutely no stop-motion was used in the production of this film, I was shocked. Everything looks beautiful, and it’s truly a lovely movie to look at.
 
LEGO is also freaking hysterical. There’s so many laughs to be had in this movie, I honestly can’t list them all. The general consensus is that LEGO Batman (Will Arnett) is the funniest character, but I respectively disagree. Batman is very funny, yes, but the Uni-Kitty (Alison Brie) and Benny (Charlie Day) totally beat him in hilarity. Who could forget “SPACESHIP SPACESHIP SPACESHIP!”? Or the business Uni-Kitty? Classic stuff.
 
But where LEGO truly excels where other animated movies have failed is its message. It could’ve easily been just a commercial for LEGOs, and honestly, the movie is a commercial for LEGOs, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s a movie about creativity and the need to work together to achieve your true vision. It’s a film about how just because some people might not be creative, that doesn’t make them any less of a person. Finally, it’s a movie about family, and the need to grow together. This is probably a much shorter write-up than you expected from me, but I’ve talked about it before so I feel fine with this. The LEGO Movie is a fantastic work of art and easily one of the best films of 2014. Awesome.
 
-Blankments

[CoolioD1]

hey someone I actually voted for won a thing.

[Ezen Baklattan]

And we are approaching the final category, but first, here are the nominees for Best Director:
 
Wes Anderson
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
 
Ava DuVernay
SELMA
 
David Fincher
GONE GIRL
 
Alejandro G. Inarritu
BIRDMAN
 
Richard Linklater
BOYHOOD

And the winner is...

 

 

He got older, the movie stayed the same age.

 

[Ezen Baklattan]

One last film was nominated for Best Picture:

 

 

 

 

What makes a great film?

As Howard Hawks said, a great film is “Three great scenes, no bad ones.”

And on this measure, Selma stacks up admirably. There are at least three legitimately great scenes, and at no point does the film falter. Ava DuVernay has assembled the film with a very sure hand. The pacing, cinematography, and editing are relentlessly well executed. Selma is properly taught when it needs to be, shocking at moments, but also slows down properly to provide contrast.

Beyond the technical, the acting is superb. David Oyelowo leads the film as an exceptional Martin Luther King Jr. He inhabits the role with an aplomb of a great icon and the humanity of a man who was not. He is surrounded by a stunning supporting cast, with Carmen Ejogo providing an exceptionally layered Coretta Scott King and Tom Wilkinson as a tremendously engaging (and funny!) LBJ, among others.

But to limit the discussion of Selma to just its film construction merits is to do it a great disservice.

Above all, Selma is a great film because it is timely. Despite telling the story of an event that happened fifty years ago, it still imparts a message that is extremely relevant to the present.

Just over six months ago, Mike Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri. His death, while tragic, is altogether unremarkable. Black men are killed by police in America with startling regularity, which actually makes his death even more tragic.

In an exception to many of these deaths, however, a groundswell of protests arose around Mike Brown. Ferguson became ground zero for the frustration at the expansion and unjust application of police powers. While the media, fickle as it is, has moved on, the protests still happen. Ferguson is still happening.

The struggle that Selma represents, with blacks demanding the right to vote, has not ended. The march to Montgomery is connected to the protests in Ferguson by events throughout the fifty years between them. They aren’t individual moments, but a continuum of the struggle for equality and the acknowledgement of the innate humanity that is so often ignored.

Selma as a film recognizes this connection. One of the aforementioned great scenes is the Bloody Sunday event, which covers the first day of the March. The entire framing of the sequence, from the sinister anonymity of the police to the smoke grenades designed to obscure the events from the press to the wantonly brutal oppression, brings to mind the livestream videos from Ferguson.

The events that happened then, the film says, are happening now.

Despite ending on a tremendous high note, with LBJ’s terrific speech upon the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the epilogue text that Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1967 at aged 39 reminds us that the fight for equality did not end at that moment and is an ongoing struggle to this day.

Selma is still happening.

-DamienRoc