Oscar Best Movie Poll - Who *Should* Win

[Valmy]

I think of that absurd part in Saving Private Ryan where the American Sniper shoots the German Sniper through his scope.

[Eddie Teach]

You should see the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Elaborate.

It's good.

[CountDeMoney]

What, no love for Tom Berenger's trigger finger declawing?  Fags.

[Martinus]

You should see the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Elaborate.

It's a Wes Anderson movie for people into obscure European history.

[Razgovory]

You should see the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Elaborate.

It has old people fucking.

[PRC]

You should see the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Elaborate.

It's overrated garbage, like all of Wes Anderson's movies.

[Habbaku]

 

[Siege]

Bobby Lee Swager in Shooter was based on marine sniper Carlos Hathcock. They had ex-marine snipers as consultants for the movie, yet choose to go with what the director thought was screen friendly. Everything in Shooter was wrong, from camouflage to tactics to everything. In the opening shot, they had the worst sniper hide selection ever. First thing about sniper hides, do not choose the top of an elevation because you will be skylining yourself. Second, select the location for your hide with a covered exfill route. Both of these very basic requirements were available in the general location they shot the movie, a serie of hills overlooking a road, yet they choose not to because, well, shooting from the top of the hill looks cool.

As i said, I aint expecting much from American sniper.

Are there not tactical situations in which concealment is not a pressing issue?  I've seen still photos and video of snipers operating in Iraq from rooftops.

Snipers on rooftops are proving support for friendly forces moving on the streets. Its a missuse of snipers as a resource available to commanders as a force modifier. In sniper doctrine dominating the high ground is a move you only do when you got line infantry on the ground to support your position the moment the moment the enemy tries to move on you. Also, its most effective when you combine an overt OP (the team on the roof) with a covert OP (a team in hide to react to enemy sniper fire). Still is a bad move because the overt position will eventually get hit with indirect (mortars) because the enemy is not stupid and will know that engaging sniper with direct fires is a negative due to snipers ability to accuaretely locate the source of enemy direct fires and either engage with their organic weapon systems, call for indirect fires on the enemy, or direct another sniper team on the enemy position.

Botom line, overt positions are bad for snipers, because the enemy will mortar your ass, and you are not going to be able to return fire.

Also, infantry platoons have two or three designated marksmen, who are not real snipers but trained by snipers, and they sometimes get confused with snipers, something they strive for, even though they are taught to NOT look like snipers because that makes them a target.
I can tell who is and who isn't based on equipment and tactics employed.

[The Brain]

Am I a sniper?

[jimmy olsen]

So Birdman won.  Any thoughts?  I didn't see it.

I have heard people say NPH was painful to watch as a host.  He is kind of a dork off-script so I could see that.

The opening musical number he did was pretty good.

[Ideologue]

Well, I'm not really unhappy about Birdman's victory, even though it's a film I've cooled very slightly on since seeing it back in October, because it means that the merely good didn't rule the day.  The Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game, and Selma (despite the baffling hype) have no business being discussed in the same conversation.  (Now, I did call Imitation "very good," and gave it a B+ and I think that's right, but it only barely reaches that level and I suspect it's partly out of differentiation with the emphatically just-fine Theory of Everything.  I've never called it great and I don't think anyone else has either, except as a collective body reaching a consensus by way of similar third or fourth choices. )  Noyhood deserved recognition for its gimmick, I guess, but I didn't love that picture either.

Anyway, like most I'd have preferred if Grand Budapest Hotel had won--failing that, Whiplash.  But Birdman was the third best movie of the eight nominated--or, rather, of the seven I saw--so that's a much better for the Academy Awards than usual.  At least GBH won best costume and production design!

I do still need to see American Sniper.

[Sheilbh]

I'm surprised they didn't split Picture/Director with Boyhood

Also, my favourite moment last night:

[Eddie Teach]

I'm surprised they didn't split Picture/Director with Boyhood

Despite not having seen it yet, I'm kinda relieved Boyhood didn't win. Sounds too gimmicky to be the best picture of any year.

[Martinus]

I'm surprised they didn't split Picture/Director with Boyhood

Despite not having seen it yet, I'm kinda relieved Boyhood didn't win. Sounds too gimmicky to be the best picture of any year.

Yeah that's my take on it too. I know some people are saying it is good, but I have no interest seeing Boyhood (unlike, say, Birdman, Whiplash and Imitation Game). It sounds too much like a "we took a photo of this man's face every day for 10 years" clickbait gimmick.

[celedhring]

Boyhood has some good stuff in it besides the gimmick, but I can't see why it would win "best director". The directing of the film is pretty functional, nothing else.