Hey there fellow cinemasochists. Nothing says cinemasochism like sitting through ALL EIGHT of the Oscar Best Picture Nominations. Generally, Oscar movies tend to be forgettable but year after year, bets are made, critics complain and no matter what, no one is happy.
This year I decided to pick an accompanying film for each Best Picture Nomination. Whether you liked or even saw the nominated picks, I think you'll enjoy these sister picks. If not, please leave your complaints or suggestions in the comments section. Enjoy and Happy Oscar Sunday!
If you liked Selma, check out:
Get On The Bus (1996)
Selma is an elegant and beautiful civil rights film. Get On The Bus is a Spike Lee joint from 1996 about 12 disparate black man taking a bus across the country for the Million Man March. It's a well written, and an entertaining trip.
If you liked Foxcatcher, check out:
Behind The Candelabra (2013)
Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher was an unsettling, slow boil of a film about a strange billionaire (Steve Carrell) taking an Olympic wrestler (Channing Tautm) under his wing and training in the years leading up to the 1988 Olympics. It's dark, unique and has one too many fake noses. Steven Soderburghs Behind The Candelabra deals in sort of the same creepy faux father figure relationship between a damaged rich man (Liberace played perfectly by Michael Douglas) with parent issues and the young man (Matt Damon) who falls into his money and cocaine filled spell. Behind The Candelabra, as you would guess, has more flair and pizazz due to the nature of it's subject. It's fabulous!
If you like The Imitation Game, check out:
I'm gonna cheat with this one and pick a TV show… Manhattan (TV/2014)
Imitation Game is about Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) cracking Nazi codes in England during WWII. Manhattan is a TV show about the creation of the atomic bomb, which is what America was doing during WWII.
If you like American Sniper, check out:
The Hurt Locker (2008)
I've seen American Sniper before. I saw it 6 years ago. It was raw, intense, exciting, poignant and it was called The Hurt Locker.
If you like Birdman, check out:
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
Michael Keaton's Riggan Thomson thinks he has it bad as an aged ex super hero actor trying to find relevance, but what if you were haunted in your dreams by a fictitious dream monster from a movie you made 10 years before you realize said monster came to life and is after you and your family? Sorry, Riggan, dream demon Freddy Krueger is much scarier than your personal demons.
If you like Boyhood, check out:
Dazed & Confused (1993)
Boyhood is a coming of age movie spanning 12 years. Dazed & Confused conveys the same feeling in 12 hours after high school graduation. It also has one of the best soundtracks ever compiled...
If you like The Grand Budapest Hotel, check out:
Four Rooms (1995)
More hotel shenanigans abound in this goofy comedy starring Tim Roth as a bell boy trying to make sense of his hotels guests requests and essentiality trying to get through his shift in one piece.
If you like Theory Of Everything, check out:
Regarding Henry (1991)
Directed by Mike Nichols, written by JJ Abrams (weird, right?) and stars Harrison Ford as a lawyer who gets shot, almost dies, and has to spend the rest of the movie doing an "Oscar" act. The plot unfolds in the opposite direction as Theory of Everything. We watch the rehabilitation and not the debilitation. Either way, you're forced to cry…
If you like Whiplash, check out:
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (2010)
When you're a teenager, you tend to focus on one thing. You either want to be the best at something or you want to impress a girl/boy. Whether you're being pushed to the edge by a teacher or you're being pushed to the edge by your own insecurity, you will stop at nothing to achieve one or the other. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World shows the same agony Whiplash does, but with a cartoonish, video game flair.
Posted by: Sean
