The SpyGlasses Full: Official Nominations (2014)

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The following are my official nominations for the year in film 2014. As expected, I have not had the chance to see every film that ought to be considered in contention this year, so certain films such as Fury and A Most Violent Year may yet tweak these nominations in certain categories. With that said and without further ado:

Best Film

The Grand Budapest Hotel Mr. Turner Song of the Sea Whiplash Under the Skin

Best Director

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel Damien Chazelle, Whiplash Jonathan Glazer, Under the Skin Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman Lasse Hallström, The Hundred-Foot Journey

Best Actor

Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler Michael Keaton, Birdman Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner

Best Actress

Jennifer Aniston, Cake Essie Davis, The Babadook Julianne Moore, Still Alice Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Supporting Actor

Ed Norton, Birdman Henry G. Sanders, Selma J. K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress

Adriana Barraza, Cake Laura Dern, Wild Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game Lesley Manville, Mr. Turner Rene Russo, Nightcrawler

Best Art Direction

Simon Bowles & Liz Griffiths, Pride Suzie Davies & Charlotte Watts, Mr. Turner Dennis Gassner & Anna Pinnock, Into the Woods Adrien Merigeau, Song of the Sea Adam Stockhausen & Anna Pinnock, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Cinematography

Daniel Landin, Under the Skin Tomm Moore, Song of the Sea Dick Pope, Mr. Turner Robert D. Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel Lukasz Zal & Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida

Best Costuming

Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods Bob Buck, Lesley Burkes-Harding, & Ann Maskrey; The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner Charlotte Walter, Pride

Best Make-Up

Christine Blundell, Mr. Turner Frances Hannon, The Grand Budapest Hotel Paul Gooch & David White, Maleficent Peter King, Into the Woods

Best Visual Effects

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Guardians of the Galaxy Interstellar Into the Woods Under the Skin

Best Original Score

Bruno Coulais & Kila, Song of the Sea Alexandre Desplat; The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game Justin Hurwitz, Whiplash Mica Levi, Under the Skin Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

Best Original Song

"Everything Is Awesome" by Jo Li, The Lego Movie "Song of the Sea" by Lisa Hannigan, Song of the Sea

Best Sound Editing

Jason Canovas, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Will Files & Douglas Murray, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Wayne Lemmer & Christopher Scarabosio, The Grand Budapest Hotel Alan Murray & Bub Asman, American Sniper

Best Sound Mixing

Christopher Boyes & Lora Hirschburg, Guardians of the Galaxy Johnnie Burn, Under the Skin Michael Keller & Mike Prestwood Smith, Into the Woods Gregg Landaker & Gary Rizzo, Interstellar Craig Mann & Ben Wilkins, Whiplash

Best Editing

Kirk Baxter, Gone Girl Tom Cross, Whiplash John Gilroy, Nightcrawler William Goldenberg, The Imitation Game Paul Watts, Under the Skin

Best Screenplay (Original)

Will Collins, Song of the Sea Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel Richard Linklater, Boyhood Mike Leigh, Mr. Turner Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, The Lego Movie

Best Screenplay (Adapted)

Walter Campbell & Jonathan Glazer, Under the Skin Damien Chazelle, Whiplash Nick Hornby, Wild James Lapine, Into the Woods

Best Animated Film (Feature-Length)

The Lego Movie Song of the Sea

Best Animated Film (Short)

The Bigger Picture Feast A Single Life

Best Documentary Film (Feature-Length or Short)

Finding Vivian Maier

Best Foreign-Language Film (Live-Action or Animated, Feature-Length or Short)

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Review: Into the Woods

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I wish to have the curse reversed; remove from this piece the blight of one Robert Marshall, muddier of waters, sallower of songs, and extinguisher of comedies.

Into the Woods, Mr. Sondheim's most fecund piece, was not meanly adapted for the screen, but in being put there certainly expended some of its most precious resource, in his music and words. While Mr. Marshall's quavering hand managed to coax in a few fine moments, they composed the minority amidst a series of blanched others. Mr. Depp's one song, "Hello, Little Girl", and the princes' duet, "Agony" — both challenging, comedic, and lusty songs — were stripped of their verve, joke after pun lost on the audience, whose members at least in my company did not laugh there (or in many other places where they should). No, rather, the material felt a bit dull escaping those three actors' lips. Now, partially this fault is the actors'; Mr. Depp especially ought know better than to subdue himself entirely, when the song calls for more than the final burst of want. However, ultimately one must lay this fault at the feet of the director, for it is his and no one's else, the charge of bringing his actors to that point where the story is well told and its meaning well expressed.

Ms. Kendrick alone, revealing her Broadway training, managed to feel her way through the songs with independent intuition — though, it must be said, Ms. Streep's natural talent did guide her cleanly through most of her numbers. A similar appendum may be offered for Mr. Corden, whom this blog has not rightly seen since The History Boys (2006) and who has his own Broadway accolade to his credit.

The heart of the piece, however, beat erratically in the insufficiently wised Ms. Blunt, a striving but ultimately shortfalling Baker's Wife. Though to her credit her performance was better than I had expected it to be, it still ultimately left me wanting that thinness but cleverness of mind and feeling which, say, Tony Award winner Joanna Gleason had breathed into the role in its début; for Ms. Blunt too let jokes fall flat and emotions generally run off track when she wasn't paying well enough attention to the path before her.

Though I confess I was not raving, "Out of the woods! Let me out of the woods!", by film's end I was relieved to find that no more time remained for Mr. Marshall to risk fumbling.

Grade: B/B-, beautiful to see at times but choppy like the sea throughout.