Alternative Oscars

Now the Oscars are often known for getting one or two things wrong in the past with politics and other factors increasing or decreasing someone’s chances at scooping the little gold statuette. That’s why we’ve provided our Alternative Oscar picks choosing those who should win, not who will win.

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood

Laura Dern – Wild

Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game

Emma Stone – Birdman

Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Duvall – The Judge

Ethan Hawke – Boyhood

Edward Norton – Birdman

Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

Best Original Screenplay

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Nightcrawler

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper

The Imitation Game

Inherent Vice

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

Best Cinematography

Birdman

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ida

Mr. Turner

Unbroken

Best Visual Effects

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Guardians of the Galaxy

Interstellar

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Actor

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Michael Keaton – Birdman

Bradley Cooper – American Sniper

Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game

Steve Carell  - Foxcatcher

Best Actress

Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Felecity Jones – The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

Best Director

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman

Bennet Miller – Foxcatcher

Morten Tydlum – The Imitation Game

Best Film

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

Oscars Predictions

With the Academy Awards only a few days away we’re giving our predictions on this year’s nominations. Just to clear things up, this is not going to be what we think should win but only who we think will win. For that you’ll have to see our Alternative Oscars article coming soon.

Anyway, here are our predictions for the main awards. Winners will be in bold:

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood

Laura Dern – Wild

Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game

Emma Stone – Birdman

Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Duvall – The Judge

Ethan Hawke – Boyhood

Edward Norton – Birdman

Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

Best Original Screenplay

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Nightcrawler

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper

The Imitation Game

Inherent Vice

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

Best Cinematography

Birdman

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ida

Mr. Turner

Unbroken

Best Visual Effects

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Guardians of the Galaxy

Interstellar

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Actor

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Michael Keaton – Birdman

Bradley Cooper – American Sniper

Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game

Steve Carell  - Foxcatcher

Best Actress

Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Felecity Jones – The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

Best Director

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman

Bennet Miller – Foxcatcher

Morten Tydlum – The Imitation Game

Best Film

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

New Jurassic World footage in Superbowl trailer!

This years Superbowl gives us some fresh looks at some of the years biggest films with Terminator Genisys, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ted 2 and Furious 7 all getting a look in. But the biggest in terms of reveals has gotta be Jurassic World. 

In this new TV spot we get our first  (albeit fleeting) glimpses of Indominus Rex, the new genetically modified hybrid dino heading for Isla Nublar. We are also introduced to Irrfan Khan's Masrani and more of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Check out the new trailer below:

Ghostbusters 3 casting details announced.

Good news for the Ghostbusters fans out there as details on the cast have been released.

With Bridesmaids and The Heat director Paul Feig taking the helm on the all-female reboot there are no real surprises at the names that are set to take the wheel of the Ecto-1.

Firstly Kristen Wiig, who worked with Feig on Bridesmaids, is set to star in presumably the lead (possibly taking over the Ray role). Secondly, it’s no real surprise to see Melissa McCarthy appear, appearing in major roles in both of Feig’s last directorial outings. Presumably she’ll take over the helm in the Murray role though it would be great to see her in don the white lab coat and Egon spectacles, as long as she doesn’t fall into the trap of churning out a typical Melissa McCarthy performance ala Bridesmaids, The Heat, The Hangover: Part 3 or Tammy.

The final two names are generally unknown to British audiences in the form of Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, two names from the Saturday Night Live roster so it will be interesting how they handle the move from small screen to big screen and whether they can keep pace with Wigg and McCarthy.

Any other details on casts are sketchy but that hasn’t stopped the rumours flying around on the inter-web with Paul Rudd hotly tipped to appear as ‘Dan Barrett.’ Maybe we’ll get a cameo from the original ‘Busters too perhaps? But what with Murray’s opinion on appearing in a third outing this seems unlikely. He previously stated he would only appear in a third if Venkman was to be killed off in the first five minutes. Nobody would want to see that!

Mr. Stay Puft is still in discussions.

Ghostbusters 3 will hit cinema screens on July 22^nd 2016.

10 Oscar Tearjerkers

Continuing our focus on the Academy Awards we’re counting down the 10 Oscars Tearjerkers. These moments will give Gwyneth Paltrow a run for her money.

10. Remembering Egon.

The Moment: Whilst presenting an award at the 86^th Academy Awards Bill Murray breaks off from the teleprompter after reading out the nominees to include his friend Harold Ramis, nominated for Caddyshack, Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters who died less than a week earlier.

9. You’re my Best Friend

The Moment: If you had to pick someone to win an Oscar with then who better than your childhood best friend? That’s exactly what happened to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck at the 70^th Academy Awards where they won Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting. Even better was the moment they took to the stage giggling like teenagers.

8. Man of Steel

The Moment: Christopher Reeve tearfully appears on stage a year after his tragic horse riding accident which left him paralysed, receiving a standing ovation from the audience.

7. Spielberg Scoops

The Moment: after years of being overlooked by the Academy, Steven Spielberg finally bags his award for Best Director for Schindler’s List. It was the moment Spielberg couldn’t be ignored by the Academy anymore and you can see the emotion and joy etched all over his face when he gives his speech.

6. Heartfelt Hanks

The Moment: Tom Hanks gives a tearjerker of an acceptance speech when he won Best Actor for Philadelphia at the 66^th Academy Awards honouring the gay men who have inspired him throughout his career and his touching on the themes of tacking AIDS. Accidentally outing his former teacher though might not have been planned.

5. John Wayne’s Promise

The Moment: A cancer stricken John Wayne appears on stage to present Best Film at the 51^st Academy Awards, receiving a rousing reception from the crowd. An emotional moment for all, lead to a genuinely heart-breaking response from Wayne promising to ‘stick around a little longer.’ He died two months later.

4. The Joker’s Legacy

The Moment: Heath Ledger receives a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his brutally menacing portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight at the 81^st Academy Awards. Unable to accept the award, Ledger’s family take to the stage to give the star a fitting send off.

3. Justice for Scorcese

The Moment: Marty finally bags Best Director after being overlooked for so long! It makes the years Spielberg waited feel like only a heart-beat. He finally bagged one at the 79^th Academy Awards. This moment was made all the more special by the fact the award was presented by three of Scorcese’s closest mates in Spielberg, George Lucas and Francin Ford Coppola.

2. Don’t You Forget About Me

The Moment: Branching out from the usual ‘In Memoriam’ moments, the 82^nd Academy Award included an emotional tribute to the late director John Hughes who died the previous year aged just 59. The audience wept buckets at this tribute hosted by a collection of stars who worked with Hughes including Matthew Broderick, Macauley Culkin and Molly Ringwald.

1. Triumphant Chaplin 

The Moment: Charlie Chaplin receives an Honorary Oscar at the 44^th Academy Awards after being in ‘self-imposed exile’ in Switzerland for 20 years. He received the longest ever standing ovation from the crowd (a whopping twelve minutes!) leaving Chaplin (and the viewers at home, or YouTube) in floods of tears.

Top 10 Funniests Oscars Moments

Continuing with our Academy Award features we’re counting down the top 10 funniest Oscars moments.

10. Trippin’

The Moment: Not one particular moment but this shout-out goes to the unfortunate souls who, in their moment of triumph, take a tumble on their way to the stage. Notable casualties include Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lawrence (who had the misfortune to do it not once but twice). It must be something about that name.

Funniest Moment: After regaining her composure, Garner responds with an unflappable response – “I do all my own stunts.” Well recovered, Jen.

9. Comedians Lament

The Moment: Will Ferrell is always good for a chuckle at the Oscars. At the 79^th Academy Awards however he topped the lot with a sad lament to the lack of comedic recognition at the Oscars. He is quickly joined on stage by Jack Black and John C. Reilly who all continue to flirt with and threaten the nominees.

Funniest Moment: Could easily have gone to Ferrell for threatening to break Ryan Gosling’s hip but we’re giving it to the end line of the song sung by all three comics; ‘Helen Mirren and an Oscar will be coming home with me…’

8. South Park!?

The Moment: South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut gets nominated for a Best Song Oscar for Blame Canada. Prompting creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to turn up dressed in full drag and a glorious live version of Blame Canada performed by Robin Williams.

Funniest Moment: The magnificently over the top ending to the performance. Cudos to the choreographers.

7. Ode to Jack

The Moment: The 8st Academy Awards host Hugh Jackman acknowledges the recession has hit the Oscars hard that year, inspiring him to design his own opening number complete with homemade tributes to the nominees.

Funniest Moment: A few too many to choose from. Dance tribute to The Reader, Anne Hatheway’s cameo or the triumphant ‘I’m Wolverine!’ finish.

6. The Photobomb

The Moment: Benedict Cumberbatch shows incredible timing with a perfect photobomb, made all the most special due to the fact it was behind Irish rock band, U2. Cue an influx of some of the greatest Cumberbatch memes we've ever seen (and we've seen loads!)

Funniest Moment: The serious, stern expression on the faces of the band members, contrast with Cumberbatch’s. Brilliant.

5. Crystal Clear

The Moment: More of a collection of highlights from the 9, yes 9, times Billy Crystal has hosted the Academy Awards. His trademark however is digitally inserting himself into various snippets from some of the year’s nominees with the usual Crystal-like charm we’re all accustomed to.

Funniest Moment: The trailer of footage from the 76^th Academy Awards where he appears in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Pirates of the Caribbean and Seabiscuit to name a few.

4. The Streaker

The Moment: The 46^th Academy Awards and co-host David Niven are interrupted by 34 year old Robert Opell who proceeded to streak across the stage, cuing one of the greatest comebacks ever uttered.

Funniest Moment: ‘The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping and showing off his shortcomings.’ So great was that line, it leads us to believe it was planned all along.

3. What?

The Moment: The 86^th Academy Awards were crammed with hilarious moments, from that selfie, host Ellen DeGeneres ordering pizza for the entire audience and Meryl Streep dancing with Pharrell Williams, however John Travolta will go down in Oscar history for his terrific job of introducing Idina Menzel.

Funniest Moment: His pronunciation of Idina Menzel.

2. BMF

The Moment: Every Oscar nominee should know that they need to practise their graceful loss face should their name not be read out from the little gold envelopes. Samuel L. Jackson chose to skip this piece of advice when he learnt he had missed out on the Best Supporting Actor award for Pulp Fiction to Martin Landau.

Funniest Moment: Even the worst lip readers could decipher Jackson silently murmuring ‘Aww, shit’ when his Landau’s name is revealed. Skip to 1.10 in the video below to see this gem.  

1. Short cut to the stage.

The Moment: Life is Beautiful won best Foreign Language Film at the 71^st Academy Awards which resulted in director and star Roberto Benigni climbing over the seats cheering as he clambered his way up to the stage. It was a wonderful way to accept an Oscar bringing a bit of character back to the awards.

Funniest Moment: A year later when presenting the Best Actress award, host Billy Crystal stood behind him with a net just in case. You never know.

Top 10 Oscar Surprises

To celebrate the upcoming 8^th Academy Awards we’re starting our series of features focusing on the Oscars. This week we’re counting down the Top 10 Academy Awards surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant.

10. Clean Sweep

The Surprise: Arguably not the strongest of the trilogy, few people expected The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to do as well as it did at the 76^th Academy Awards, especially with the previous instalments only bagging 7 gongs between them. Though the Hobbits came, saw and conquered when ROTK bagged all 11 awards it was nominated for including the elusive Best Director for Peter Jackson and Best Picture.

9. The Dark Who?

The Surprise: The Dark Knight, arguably one of the greatest comic book (and action/thrillers) ever made misses out on nominations for both Best Picture and Best Director for Christopher Nolan. In a year where the 5 nominations for Best Picture were Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk and The Reader it still remains baffling as to how Nolan missed out on both these nods.

8. Saving Private Oscar

The Surprise: Saving Private Ryan misses out on the Best Picture at the 71^st Academy Awards, losing to Shakespeare in Love. ‘Nuff said.

7. Divorce Proceedings

The Surprise: There’s nothing quite like the feeling of getting one over on the ex, especially on one of the biggest stages in the world. That’s exactly what happened to Katheryn Bigelow at the 82^nd Academy Awards where she beat ex-hubby James Cameron’s Avatar to the Best Director and Best Picture prize for The Hurt Locker.

6. Who?

The Surprise: The Best Actor nominees at the 75^th Academy Awards consisted of some big names with Cage, Caine, Day-Lewis, Nicholson and Brody all up for the award. Wait, who? Adrian Body? Barely anybody had heard of him let alone even given him a shot at scooping the prize for his performance in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist. Yet he defied the odds and took home the award, much to the entire film community’s surprise. He also planted a smooch on Halle Berry as he accepted the award, writing his name into Oscar folklore in the process.

5. Gate Crashed

The Surprise: Whilst Crash was always considered a decent film, not remarkable, nobody expected it to move any mountains at the 78^th Academy Awards. It faced stiff competition from Munich, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck and, the hot favourite, Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture which made it even more surprising when Jack Nicholson read out Crash to the disbelief of the entire audience.

4. ‘Affleckted’

The Surprise: At the 85^th Academy Awards Argo was nominated for 7 awards, winning 3 including Best Picture. Therefore it was a massive surprise to see Ben Affleck miss out on a nomination for Best Director, an award it won at the BAFTAs a month earlier. Even host Seth MacFarlane was quick to point out the Academy’s mistake in his opening monologue pointing out ‘They know they messed up Ben, it’s not your fault.’

3. No Way Scorse(se).

The Surprise: Everyone beating Martin Scorcese to Best Director. Nominated 8 times altogether, not scooping the big prize until 2007 where he won for The Departed, which doesn’t really stand up to some of the films he has missed out with including Raging Bull and Goodfellas.

2. Shawshank Snub

The Surprise: The Shawshank Redemption won nothing. Diddly squat. Zip. It was nominated for 7 awards (including Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Picture ) missing out to Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction. Surprising considering it is widely considered one of the best films ever made.

1.       Citizen Shame (sorry)

The Surprise: Once considered the greatest movie ever made by Sight & Sound, topping the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Movies list, one of the first films preserved in the National Film Registry and boasts an exceptional 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, yet amazingly Citizen Kane and Orson Welles did not win Best Picture or Best Director, respectively, at the 14^th Academy Awards. What did win you ask? John Ford scooped both awards for How Green is my Valley.

Review: The Theory of Everything

It’s definitely award season when there is a sudden influx of biographical films hitting the cinemas all trying to bag the big prizes. This awards season is no different with 5 films Foxcatcher, The Imitation Game, American Sniper, Selma and The Theory of Everything all vying for the top prizes.

The Theory of Everything could easily have been the straightforward story of an extraordinary mind struggling to overcome tremendous adversity, though that wouldn’t really of set it apart from a film you’d be likely to find on Channel 5 at 3.00 on a Saturday afternoon. Whilst the film does focus on the life of Stephen Hawking during his studies at Cambridge and his diagnosis with motor neurons disease in his 20s, the central point of the film is his relationship with his wife Jane and the toll the condition has on their marriage.

In order for a film focused on this subject matter it needs strong performances from its leading figures and it certainly achieves that from its two frontal figures Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones with both performances focus on transformations, one physical and one emotional. The biggest compliment that can be given to both performances is that throughout the film you don’t feel like you are watching an actor pretending to be someone else, you are watching the real people.

 Most of the attention of The Theory of Everything has been on Redmayne’s performance and his approach to his character’s affliction, which can sometimes be a precarious move and backfire with Tugg Speedman-esque ramifications, and he adopts the role effortlessly, making the transformation both physically and emotionally draining, however it’s Felicity Jones who steals the show as Hawking’s wife, Jane.

Her performance starts as the powerhouse independent, strong woman we have been accustomed to in past Academy Awards. She enjoys debates, arts and is more determined than Hawking himself to stay strong once he is diagnosed. Throughout the film however she is transformed into a fragile, broken woman struggling to cope, maintain the family unit and stay a strong figure. It is a subtle and wonderful performance from Jones who wouldn’t be undeserving of the nob for Best Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards, along with Redmayne who has been heavily tipped to bring home the Best Actor gong.

As a film, however, it can’t but feel like it is relying a little too much on the strength of the performances of the leading actors and the supporting cast (David Thewlis, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney and Maxine Peake all appear). Whilst it never really manages to shake the feeling of a standard biographical drama, it has the human condition at the centre of the film as opposed to being a checklist of the well-known events of Hawking’s life.

It also has a cheeky sense of humour, perhaps a nod to Hawking’s own sense of humour, being a well-known fan of comedy appearing in The Simpsons and Futurama as well as a cameo at the live Monty Python shows. The film also has one of the best and funniest reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey we’ve seen in a long time so keep your eye out for that.

At the end of the day it’s not the most ground-breaking of biographical films cinematically, however the performances from its leading figures manage to set the film apart from many other attempts to turn an extraordinary story into an extraordinary film. 

Top 10 Film Cameos

Top 10 Film Cameo Appearances.

SPOILER ALERT!

This week we’re counting down the top 10 film cameo appearances.

Firstly, a couple of notable mentions who didn’t make the list:

• ·         Alfred Hitchcock who appeared in 39 of his 52 films.
• ·         David Bowie as the judge of the walk off between Derek and Hans in Zoolander.
• ·         Martin Scorcese in Taxi Driver.
• ·         Nearly everybody in the Anchorman films.

10. Peter Jackson – Hot Fuzz

The Cameo: To tell the truth there were many cameos to choose from Edgar Wright’s back catalogue of films but there’s no doubt our favourite is the fleeting appearance of Kiwi Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson who, in a blink and you’ll miss it moment, is seen stabbing Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) in the hand, dressed as Father Christmas.

The Best Moment: That maniacal face.

9. Hugh Jackman – X-Men: First Class

The Cameo: The younger portrayals of Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr/Magnetor (Michael Fassbender) are scouring the mutant world looking for recruitments where they come across a rather surly (obviously) Wolverine in a dive bar who hastily tells them where to go.

The Best Moment: Wolverine’s honestly blunt response to the pairs offer.

8. Spike Milligan and George Harrison – Monty Python’s Life of Brian

The Cameos: OK, this is technically two different cameos but we couldn’t bear to leave these two out. Firstly Milligan, who, after inspiring the initial Python work, just happened to be in Tunisia at the time of filming. He crops up as part of the crown following Brian whilst being abandoned as he is praising the ‘Messiah.’ Harrison on the other hand is well known for providing financial support to the Pythons in order to get the film made (and he was in a band or something) but he crops up in another crowd scene appearing as Mr Papadopoulos with one simple line.

The Best Moment: The clearly scouse ‘Hello’ from Harrison.

7. Charlton Heston – Wayne’s World 2

The Cameo: At the climax of the film when Wayne (Mike Myers) is on his way to gate-crash the wedding of Casandra he stops at a gas station to ask for directions, cue an unknown actor describing his memories of a woman who used to live on the same street. Wayne then breaks fourth wall to ask for another actor to bring a bit of class to the scene. Cue a quick change in cast and Charlton Heston whisked in to recount the tale.  

The Best Moment: Wayne’s tearful ‘Thank you’ after Heston finishes his lines.

6. Totoro – Toy Story 3

The Cameo: Although financially Disney has always dominated the box office when it comes to Animation, however critics are divided as to whether the title of king of cartoon belongs to Disney or Japanese rivals Studio Ghibli. However it is a lovely touch by Disney for one of the toys helping Woody to find his way back to Andy is none other than Totoro himself.

The Best Moment: Well he doesn’t really do much but just him being around is pleasant enough for us really.

5. Stan Lee – Every Marvel film ever made.

The Cameos: There’s far too many to choose from, needless to say however it has almost become a convention of all Marvel films now to have Mr Lee appear in some capacity whether its judging a contest or denying the existence of superheroes in New York altogether.

The Best Moment: Being mistaken for Hugh Hefner by Tony Stark.

4. Bruce Campbell – Spiderman 2/Spiderman 3

The Cameos: Raimi regular Campbell reunited with his Evil Dead director in two great appeareances in his Spiderman trilogy. The first as a snooty doorman at the theatre in which Mary Jane is performing and secondly as a French maître d’ (not dissimilar from the Mr Creosote sketch). Not only is it a wonderfully nostalgic hark back to Raimi’s roots as a horror director, but it’s also funny as hell too.

The Best Moment: His outrageous French accent and his pronouncing of ‘Parker’.

3. Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder

The Cameo: I defy anyone to admit that they recognised the pint—sized scientologist in the role of Les Grossman therefore it was a genuinely pleasant shock to see his name appear in the end credits of Ben Stiller’s nitro charged action comedy as a horrifically foul mothed movie executive with an attitude that is probably all too realistic. It was a role that was so shrouded in secrecy that anybody found to have published photographs were given a ‘cease or desist’ order. A spin off film has been in the pipelines for some time, and we’d all love to see that happen!

The Best Moment: It’s a toss-up between the telephone rant with the Vietnam based kidnappers and the infamous dancing to Usher.

2. Christopher Lloyd/Doctor Emmet ‘Doc’ Brown – A Million Ways to Die in the West

The Cameo: This came very close to the top spot just for the sheer ridiculousness and joy of it. Set in the Wild West, Albert (Seth MacFarlane) spots a strange light emitting from one of the barns. He opens the door to find an incredibly shifty looking Doc Brown quickly hiding a Delorean shaped object under a cloth.  

The Best Moment: ‘What’s that?’ asks a curious Albert. ‘A weather experiment’ replies Doc. Cue a lovely wink to the camera.

1.       Bill Murray – Zombieland

The Cameo: The quartet of survivors of the zombie apocalypse head into one of the many mansions of Beverly Hills in order to hide out from the mayhem. The mansion they choose is home to none other than Bill Murray who has donned full zombie makeup in order to camouflage himself from the hordes of the undead swarming the planet. However it conspires that maybe pretending to be a zombie for a joke to scare Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) may not have been his brightest idea.

The Best Moment: ‘Any regrets Mr Murray?’ asks Little Rock to which Murray replies ‘Garfield.’ Absolute genius!

And the worst…

Keith Richards – Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

It was always going to happen from the moment Johnny Depp claimed his performance of Jack Sparrow was based on Richard’s mannerisms.

It’s just cringe-worthy.

Then he starts playing the guitar, of course he does.

The 2015 Academy Award Nominations are in!

The 2015 Academy Awards were announced today by Chris Pine and Academy President Cheryl Boone.

It’s a great year for the British hopefuls with expected nominations for Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, Rosamund Pike and Felicity Jones in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, respectively. The Theory or Everything, Selma, and The Imitation Game all received nominations for Best Picture too, with the latter’s director Morten Tydlum snagging a Best Director nomination.

In terms of quantity Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman are all square with 9 nominations in total, closely followed by The Imitation Game with 8 and Richard Linklater’s Boyhood with 6 nods.

There were of course the usual Oscar surprises which in this year’s case came from the notable nomination snubs, including Ralph Fiennes missing out on a nomination for Best Actor in The Grand Budapest Hotel along with Timothy Spall in Mr. Turner (who has missed out in the BAFTA and Golden Globe too).

In an even more shocking omission The Lego Movie didn’t receive a nomination for Best Animated Film, an absolute travesty (and not awesome).

The Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, February 22^nd hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.

Here is the full list of the nominations below:

BEST PICTURE

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carrell, (Foxcatcher)

Bradley Cooper, (American Sniper)

Benedict Cumberbatch, (The Imitation Game)

Michael Keaton, (Birdman)

Eddie Redmayne, (The Theory of Everything)

BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard (Two Days one Night)

Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

JK Simmons (Whiplash)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Meryl Streep (Into The Woods)

Laura Dern (Wild)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Lubezki, (Birdman)

Dick Pope, (Mr Turner)

Robert D Yeoman, (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Ryszard Lenczewski and Łukasz Żal, (Ida)

Roger Deakins, (Unbroken)

COSTUME DESIGN

Milena Canonero, (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Mark Bridges, (Inherent Vice)

Colleen Atwood, (Into The Woods)

Anna B. Sheppard, (Maleficent)

Jacqueline Durran, (Mr Turner)

DIRECTING

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher)

Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Ida (Poland)

Leviathan (Russia)

Timbuktu (Mauritania)

Wild Tales (Argentina)

Tangerines (Estonia)

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Foxcatcher

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Guardians of the Galaxy

ORIGINAL SCORE

Grand Budapest Hotel

Interstellar

Mr Turner

The Theory of Everything

Imitation Game

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Foxcatcher (E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman and Bennett Miller Screenplay)

Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Jason Hall (American Sniper)

Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)

Anthony McCarten (The Theory Of Everything)

Inherent Vice

Whiplash

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Big Hero 6

The Box Trolls

How To Train Your Dragon 2

Song of the Sea

The Tale Of Princess Kaguya

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

CitizenFour, Praxis Films

Finding Vivian Maier, Ravine Pictures

The Salt of the Earth, Decia Films

Virunga, Grain Media

Last Days in Vietnam

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

Joanna

Our Curse

The Reaper

White Earth

FILM EDITING

American Sniper

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Whiplash

ORIGINAL SONG

Everything is Awesome

Glory

Grateful

I'm not Gonna Miss You

Lost Stars

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Grand Budapest Hotel

Imitation Game

Interstellar

Into The Woods

Mr Turner

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

The Bigger Picture

The Dam Keeper

Feast

Me and my Moulten

A Single Life

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Aya

Boogaloo and Graham

Butter Lamp

Parvahneh

The Phone Call

SOUND EDITING

American Sniper

Birdman

The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies

Interstellar

Unbroken

SOUND MIXING

American Sniper

Birdman

Interstellar

Unbroken

Whiplash

VISUAL EFFECTS

Captain America

The Winter Soldier,

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,

Guardians of the Galaxy,

Interstellar,

X-Men: DOFP