Oscars 2015: 10 Movies That Should Be Nominated For Best Picture

4. Inherent Vice

Paul Thomas Anderson adapting Thomas Pynchon, what's not to like, right? Well if you're in the Academy, apparently a lot, because outside of maybe the Writer's branch and Josh Brolin's performance, Inherent Vice isn't going to get recognized with too many Oscar nominations. This is really a shame too, because the movie is actually quite brilliant. A film noir detective story reminiscent of the classic Humphrey Bogart films, Inherent Vice stars Joaquin Phoenix as Larry "Doc" Sportello, a pothead hippie PI who is tasked by his ex-girlfriend with stopping her rich, land-developer lover from a plot to lock him up in a looney bin. From there the story goes off, introducing us to a wonderful world of rich characters as Doc unravels a conspiracy of right-wing do-gooders who are determined to stop the Flower Power movement from establishing nirvana, all while making a tidy profit of course. Putting some of the narrative's overly idealistic ideology aside, Inherent Vice serves as a wonderful send up of the overly protected film noir genre, celebrating the genre's best aspects while politely poking fun at its excesses. Anderson stated the film was partially inspired by the parody films of the Zucker brothers, and while Inherent Vice is never as broad as those films, their influences are definitely there for those looking for it. Critics taking umbrage to the film's unwieldiness clearly don't get what Inherent Vice is going for. The film is simply a lot of fun and Anderson's inherent sense of the cinematic is as strong as ever in Inherent Vice.