Well, that Birdman entry was pretty damn gushing, meaning that the best of the nominees must be something really special. Well, it is Boyhood - can't get much better than that. Richard Linklater has rendered all subsequent coming-of-age movies obsolete with his personal-yet-universal portrait of growing up. Mason Evans, Jr. may be photography obsessed and have had an abnormal homelife growing up, but the sheer naturalism of his life from ages six to eighteen means it's impossible to not be completely in tune with him. As has been heavily reported, Boyhood was shot over twelve years, with the characters and the world around them developing in real time, enhancing Linklater's already human script. However, like with Birdman, you're less marvelling at how it was made and more being overcome by the effect it has. When it was first put suggested in industry publications following the unanimous critical praise that the film was a potential Best Picture contender, it was easy to get swept up in a wave of emotion, only to be quickly brought back down to Earth, knowing that even in the hands of Harvey Weinstein the film was a hard sell to Academy members. So to see it going into the final leg of the Oscar race the undoubted favourite is a definite victory, a reminder that sometimes, if not very often, the Academy can get it right. How would you rank the 2015 Best Picture nominees? What other movies should have been nominated? Share your thoughts down in the comments.
