Oscar Picks Heart & Brain 2015

This year original was the key word in the Original Screenplay category. There were ideas that harken to the golden era of American film the 70’s.

“Birdman” or “(The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) written by Alejandro G. Iñarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo was one of the most original ideas wrapped in familiar themes and was a postcard to the American actor. It is as amazing a source for a film that starts with an unwritten back story that makes the script even more amazing from the get go.

“Boyhood” by Richard Linklater was an original idea and an amazingly dedicated process; but it was not improvised which is a blessing but it was hard to convince many an industry audience that it was more of a dramatic Christopher Guest movie.

“Foxcatcher” told a story as eerie as any horror story told in recent years; it captures all the dark sides of power rarely made public. E. Max Frye and the amazing Dan Futterman told a story that needed telling because it happened in the pre-Twitter era and had the pedigree of being swept under the rug.

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” is one of Wes Anderson’s finest. He and Hugo Guinness tell a story about fictional fill in the blanks and make them seem more real than actual stories like “Foxcatcher and American Sniper.” He like his peers P.T. Anderson, David O. Russell just get better with age and his movies are events that are anticipated more than most projects.

“Nightcrawler” by Dan Gilroy was as original a story as it gets. The story of how to capture the story first may make for the sole real upset of the night.

My heart says “Nightcrawler” a true original idea that sheds light on getting the money shot first would be a winner any year any decade any era.

But my head says tonight’s Oscar goes to “Birdman.” Genres be damned it was a mix of emotions expressed in words not spoken by actors of weight in years. It was Shakespeare’s screenplay for “Batman.” Like “Inherent Vice” it also makes those aware of the brilliance of Raymond Carver and that he and Mr. Pynchon are worth investigating.

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Oscar Picks Heart & Brain-Best Adapted Screenplay

The adapted screenplay category achieved many things this year; more than previous years for sure. We learned of the genius and tragedy of Alan Turing “The Imitation Game” by Graham Moore, a recluse American writer who must have collaborated with another human being probably for the first and last time “Inherent Vice” adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s novel by “Paul Thomas Anderson,” a short film became a full length movie “Whiplash” by Damien Chazelle, insight into the life of Stephen Hawking “The Theory of Everything” by Anthony McCarten and the tragedy of war and the PTSD that can be the cause of death of a fellow soldier and hero “American Sniper” by Jason Hall.

My heart says “The Imitation Game” would win in any other year; Turing’s machine (The prototype for what I am using to write this blog…) the inane punishment for being homosexual and his invention saving millions of lives and shortening World War II by several years was unreported history. It had layers, and time lapse and explanations that were far too long from being told.

My brain says that tonight’s winner will be: “The Theory of Everything.” Stephen Hawking had a promising life and he was a lovable and charming man who outlived a rare illness and thrived in a field that needs more inspired men to carry his legacy for years to come. His humanity was captured from the source of his first wife Jane’s autobiography so brilliantly because his perspective would not have been as interesting or understandable to us non-scientist types.

Damien Chazelle’s next script whatever it is will be the one I most look forward to and the next and the next…