“Forgotten Hollywood”- My 2015 SAG Award Ballot…

Posted on January 11, 2015 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

   For the sixth straight year, here’s my ballot for this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. I thought 2014 was an exceptional year of cinema. And, several folks and movies in most of the categories should be considered for the specific awards. Let me explain:

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   OUTSTANDING MALE:  Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Four of the five nominees are solid. Jake Gyllenhaal is a very close second choice for a fine job in Nightcrawler. Eddie Redmayne and Benedict Cumberbatch provide outstanding work in The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game. One thing… David Oyelowo (Selma), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), or Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel) should have been nominated instead of Steve Carell (Foxcatcher). As for Keaton, it’s a career role!

   OUTSTANDING FEMALE:  Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

The buzz is for Julianne Moore in Still Alice. I completely disagree! Alzheimer’s Disease is familiar to me, because members of my extended family have suffered from Dementia. I have yet to see a film that captures this insidious affliction with any accuracy. Reese Witherspoon  in Wild and Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything are worthy nominees. However, the sure ferocity of Rosamund Pike’s performance should be rewarded. It’s scary good!

   OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING MALE:  J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

With all do respect to the amazing performances by Edward Norton in Birdman, Ethan Hawke in Boyhood, and Mark Ruffalo  in Foxcatcher, this was by far the most competitive category. These actors did their best work in years. However, J.K. Simmons was intensely wonderful. This role should earn him more Farmer’s Insurance commercials, if not gobs of accolades. Of course, he was also great in past assignments: Juno and The Ladykillers.

   OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING FEMALE:  Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Not a particularly strong category. I enjoyed Emma Stone in Birdman; and Keira Knightly in The Imitation Game. Naomi Watts was better in Birdman than in St. Vincent. The people I might have voted for are not on the ballot: Adriana Barraza for her believable performance as the caretaker in Cake; or Sienna Miller for American Sniper. That said, Patricia Arquette gave us steady acting that was 12 years in the making.

   OUTSTANDING CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE:  Birdman

Of the five choices, my tough pick narrowly finishes ahead of The Theory of Everything, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, and Boyhood. If any of these other four win, I’ll be thrilled. Actually, the ensemble in Selma is solid, too; though the film was ignored by the members of the voting committee. Birdman is a movie ahead of its time, in terms of terrific ensemble casting, production quality, and especially, direction. I compare it to Orson Welles’ creation, Citizen Kanein 1941; a one-of-a-kind movie-watching experience.

~ Top 10 2014 Films:  1. Birdman  2. Whiplash  3The Theory of Everything  4. The Grand Budapest Hotel  5. Selma  6. Nightcrawler  7. The Imitation Game  8. Gone Girl  9. American Sniper  10. Boyhood 

   The SAG Awards will air on January 25th on TNT and TBS. Debbie Reynolds will receive their Lifetime Achievement Award. And, we’ll see how I do this year…

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 11th, 2015 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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