Oscars 2015: Ranking The Best Picture Nominees From Worst To Best

2. Birdman

Birdman (Or Another Subtitle You'll Instinctively Gloss Over) will undoubtably go down in history as one of the best nominees for Best Picture to not win the award, and while it's difficult to get upset given who the likely recipient is, it's not hard to imagine that in any other recent year Alejandro González Iñárritu's masterpiece would have wiped the floor with the competition. King George VI's stammer vs Riggan Thompson's complete mental breakdown? No competition. Reassuringly, with nine nominations (tied with The Grand Budapest Hotel for the most), Birdman could still come home on the night as the statistical winner - it's got a solid shot at Best Actor and will need a really ill wind to not dominate the technical categories. Not bad for a movie that originally looked to be too "out there" for the stuffy Academy. Unlike Gravity or The Artist, which were both born out of an ambitiously high concept, Birdman is so impeccably constructed that what would be a key selling point for a lesser film (it's mostly one continuous shot, the central casting is delightfully meta, it's about the industry itself) can barely register. It's just such an all-round success, the script never dipping in tedium and its cast delivering across-the-board incredible performances, that re-watch after re-watch can't dull its delights. It's just a shame this is the closest we're likely to get to a superhero movie getting Best Picture.