4. Moonrise Kingdom
Nomination deserved: Best Picture Wes Anderson returns to form with this oddball gem about a pair of young lovers (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them. Frequent collaborators Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman are joined by Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Edward Norton to round out a cast of some of the quirkiest characters to hit the screen this year. Moonrise Kingdom is at its heart a coming-of-age story told in a way that only Wes Anderson could. Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward give great, endearing performances as the children who are coming-of-age in one of the most delightful films of the year. It is impossible not to be sucked into this feel good story and care for these children who have found in each other what they don't have without each other; companionship. And in a year where the Best Picture nominees are filled with violence, controversy, and death, a subject as simple yet complex as companionship in another person could have surely been recognized. Moonrise Kingdom was nominated for Best Original Screenplay so there is a chance that it won't go home empty handed, but a Best Picture nomination was very mush deserved.