What I Would Have Nominated in 2014

Despite seeing 4 movies in the past month (maybe a little longer than that), I have yet post a review on any one of them. Now that I'm finished with finals and the hellish world of taking 18 hours in one semester and am back home, I 100% promise that at least one review will be up by the end of the week. Hopefully everything I've seen will be reviewed by then, but I promise at least one.

Before that, however, I figured I'd do my annual post about what I would have nominated this year. This is essentially my top 10s in the 8 major categories, and will be updated every time I see a new movie. In matters such as this, suspense is overrated, so I'm including the 4 movies I've yet to review. You'll just have to wait to see why.

Also, if you look through the rankings and can think of a performance from a movie you know I've seen that I haven't listed that you want to know my thoughts on, ask! Who knows. I may have even forgotten about it and meant to include it.

Best Picture:

1. Nightcrawler-94
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel-93
3. The Imitation Game-93
4. A Most Wanted Man-93
5. The Lego Movie-90
6. Gone Girl-87
7. How to Train Your Dragon 2-84
8. Interstellar-83
9. 22 Jump Street-83
10. X-Men: Days of Future Past-80

Other Films with Scores >80: Guardians of the Galaxy; Belle; Boyhood

Best Director:

1. Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler
2. Christopher Nolan for Interstellar
3. Anton Corbijn for A Most Wanted Man
4. Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game
6. Clint Eastwood for American Sniper
7. Richard Linklater for Boyhood
8. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller for The Lego Movie
9. David Fincher for Gone Girl
10. Peter Jackson for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
11. James Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Actor:

1. Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler as Louis Bloom-5
2. Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game as Alan Turing-5
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman in A Most Wanted Man as Günther Bachmann-5
4. Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel as Monsieur Gustave H.-5
5. Bradley Cooper in American Sniper as Chris Kyle-5
6. Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar as Cooper-5
7. Ben Affleck in Gone Girl as Nick Dunne-4.5
8. James McAvoy in X-Men: Days of Future Past as Charles Xavier/Professor X-4.5
9. Channing Tatum in 22 Jump Street as Greg Jenko-4
10. Martin Freeman in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as Bilbo Baggins-4
11. Jonah Hill in 22 Jump Street as Morton Schmidt-4
12. Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy as Peter Quill/Star-Lord-4

Best Actress:

1. Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Belle as Dido Belle Lindsay-5
2. Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl as Amy Elliott-Dunne-5

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Ethan Hawke in Boyhood as Mason Evans, Sr.-4.5
2. Richard Armitage in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as Thorin Oakenshield-4.5
3. Luke Evans in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as Bard the Bowman-4
4. Bradley Cooper in Guardians of the Galaxy as Rocket-4
5. Riz Ahmed in Nightcrawler as Rick-4
6. Willem Dafoe in A Most Wanted Man as Tommy Brue-3.5
7. Tom Wilkinson in Belle as William Mansfield, 1st Earl of Mansfield-3.5
8. Mark Strong in The Imitation Game as Major General Stewart Menzies-3.5
9. Matthew Goode in The Imitation Game as Hugh Alexander-3.5
10. Charles Dance in The Imitation Game as Commander Alastair Denniston-3.5

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Eva Green in 300: Rise of an Empire as Artemisia-4.5
2. Rene Russo in Nightcrawler as Nina Romina-4
3. Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game as Joan Clarke-4
4. Jessica Chastain in Interstellar as Murphy "Murph" Cooper-4
5. Carrie Coon in Gone Girl as Margo "Go" Dunne-4
6. Mackenzie Foy in Interstellar as Murphy "Murph" Cooper (young)-4
7. Patricia Arquette in Boyhood as Olivia Evans-3.5
8. Rachel McAdams in A Most Wanted Man as Annabel Richter-3.5
9. Evangeline Lilly in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as Tauriel-3.5
10. Anne Hathaway in Interstellar as Amelia Brand-3.5

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. The Imitation Game (Graham Moore, from the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges)
2. A Most Wanted Man (Andrew Bovell, from the novel by John le Carré)
3. Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn, for her novel)
4. 22 Jump Street (Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, Rodney Rothman, and Jonah Hill, from the TV series 21 Jump Street created by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell, and the film 21 Jump Street, written by Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller)
5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Dean DeBlois, from the children's book series How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell)
6. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, from the novel The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien)
7. Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn and Nicole Perlman, from the comic book series by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning)
8. X-Men: Days of Future Past (Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn, from the comic books "Days of Future Past" by Chris Claremont and John Byrne)
9. American Sniper (Jason Hall, from the memoir by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice)
10. 300: Rise of an Empire (Zack Snyder and Kurt Jonstad, from the graphic novel Xerxes by Frank Miller)

Best Original Screenplay:

1. The Lego Movie (Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dan Hageman, and Kevin Hageman)
2. Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
4. Interstellar (Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan)
5. Belle (Misan Sagay)
6. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)