A Look Back at This Years Award Season
With the 87th Academy Awards now in the history books, it also brings down the curtain on this years awards season. The big award shows (The Oscars, Golden Globes, Guild Awards, and BAFTAs) all seemingly went in the same direction regarding with only a few minor differences of opinion, mainly in their respective Best Picture categories.
the hotly contested best movie
This year saw two movies — Birdman and Boyhood — battle it out amongst themselves to see who would be crowned best movie, with Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel upsetting the applecart on one occasion. The Golden Globes awarded Best Drama Motion Picture to Richard Linklater's 12-year adolescent drama Boyhood, whilst in the other best movie category, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded the honour of Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture to The Grand Budapest Hotel ahead of the wildly fancied Birdman.
Across the pond, BAFTA sang the praises of Linkater's Boyhood which took home Best Film of the Year capping off a fairly miserable night for Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, which only won one BAFTA for Best Cinematography. The Grand Budapest Hotel was the biggest winner of the night as BAFTA awarded it five awards, including, Best Original Screenplay.
The Producers Guild Awards began the turning point for Birdman, awarding it its top honour of Best Theatrical Motion Picture for Iñárritu and his team of producers. It didn't end there — Iñárritu himself went on to land the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film from the Directors Guild, an award everyone thought was heading to Linklater. Along with that, the Birdman cast won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture from the Screen Actors Guild. These three awards signified that Birdman had clawed its way back into contention, becoming the favourite for the Oscar — which it ultimately ended up winning last night. Boyhood lost momentum in the final run in with most of its love coming from the British critics and Hollywood Foreign Press.
a year of performances to remember
Déjà vu is a phrase that best describes this year's best actress awards. Last year, Cate Blanchett cleaned house, picking up every incarnation of Best Leading Actress in all major award shows for here role in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. This year, Julianne Moore experienced that same feeling. Moore won the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and the Oscar for her role as renowned linguistics professor Dr. Alice Howland, who is suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease.
Three more performers experienced the same year as Moore; Patricia Arquette, J.K. Simmons and Eddie Redmayne. All three, like Moore, won all their respective acting awards at the top shows. For Arquette and Simmons, it was a walk in the park, with them both never looking like losing. Redmayne, on the other hand, had competition in the way of a resurgent Michael Keaton, but unfortunatly for Keaton, critics and voters had soft spot for Redmayne's perfectly executed performance of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. It's a portrayal that'll be remember for many years to come. Keaton did however win Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, but overall, this has been a year to remember for Keaton. He's back and he's once again relavent.
the imitation game's graham moore wins big
The Imitation Game scribe Graham Moore had a close to perfect year regarding wins. He won Best Adapted Screenplay at the BAFTAs and Oscars, and a Writers Guild Award. Unluckily, Moore missed out on the Golden Globe which went to the four-man writing team of Birdman, who went on to win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. Unlike other award shows, the Golden Globes bundle all screenplays together into just one award, so Moore was up against some pretty good original work. Having said that, Moore will most likely be remembered most fondly for his Oscar acceptance speech. He told the audience that he tried to commit suicide as a teen because he felt different and awkward, and called upon any teenager out there who felt awkward or out of place to remember that there is a place in the world for them. A very touching and powerful Oscar moment.
