Same here. Didn’t even know it was Oscar time.
Just found out from a fellah in the pub, but although I tried for a while 
I got bored with stuff I’d never heard off, with no intention of watching.
Turned the conversation on films to spaghetti-westerns 'til he fucked off. Bored him back ;D …some people!
;D
IMO, the Oscars are simply a boring, self-congratulatory exercise among a small group of (mostly stuffy) people that’s more about who’s being seen by/who knows whom, than about which are the ‘better’ movies. All the ‘best-dressed’, ‘worst-dressed’, who’s wearing which fashion designer, etc., red carpet stuff has no appeal to me whatsoever.
To be honest, sometimes (though not always) when a movie becomes touted as ‘academy award-winner’ or nominated, etc., I lose interest in seeing it at all, if I haven’t already. Just like when a movie or sitcom is reviewed as ‘The funniest movie/sitcom of all time’, I find it a turnoff, because I rarely find them as funny as advertised. I guess I’m weird in that regard.
I’m similar in this regard, at leats when it comes to stuff from the last 20 year… I might even be interested in watching a cartain film, but when it gets the Oscar (nomination) “label” this can be a huge turn-off. 
Birdman takes home the major awards (Bes Picture, Director, Original Screenplay as well as Cinematography):
[url]Oscars Guide - IMDb
Now await for the backlash!
Birdman what can I say…the film bored me.
Of all the Best Picture winners of the new millennium I only care for No Country for Old Men. 3 I haven’t watched, and I’m not much interested to change this, the others are not bad, but also far from great either. It was ok that No Country won it, but I was already disappointed that Birdman got so many nominations, And I really hoped that Birdman would only win stuff like Photography or acting Oscars. So far I haven’t watched any other of the other Best Picture nominees (apart form Boyhood and Grand Budapest Hotel they were all released in the last 2 - 3 weeks here), but I doubt that any of them will beat Birdman in terms of fascination and entertainment.
So it is most likely deserved, but at the same time I don’t like the idea that Birdman is now an Oscar winner. If you understand what I possibly mean.
Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida (best foreign film) won also the European Film Award, which is far less prestigious than the Oscar, but a prize which values more artistic reasons.
Funny Birdman receveid a lot of bad critics from the more intellectual critics, which somehow surprised me. I don’t like to talk about something I haven’t seen, but it seems to be the kind of film i don’t really like, on the other hand always thought Michael Keaton was a good actor.
I understand, you have issues with your imaginary value system, similar to Riggan in the movie 
I don’t know, it just feels wrong for Birdman being nominated for Oscars. It seems to be not the kind of film for such a more superficial award. Winning the big film festivals of Cannes, Berlin or Venice would have been more appropriate.
Haha! Maybe the Oscars are changing Stanton, you old cynic 
(I don’t believe they are, either). Actually, I’ve only seen The Grand Budapest Hotel of the others (I’ll be seeing Selma shortly), which was also very fine, but I thin Birdman is probably the better o the two. I seems such a divisive film that it’s bound to become a whipping boy in years to come for certain people to “demonstrate” the perceived narcissism and poor taste of the Academy. I know what you mean, it seems to be a more of a festival film, but even the Oscars can get it right sometimes!
I ended up liking Selma more than I expected, and I only went to see it because someone else wanted to.
I know.
In fact many great films have won the Oscar, but in this millennium often not so great films have garnered the golden boy. But with Traffic and Gravity 2 excellent films won the best director award, but lost best picture against ordinary stuff, and other excellent films like The Tree of Life, Inglorious Basterds, Lost in Translation or There Will Be Blood were at least nominated.
I have mixed feelings about 12 Years a Slave, but I’m not sure it’s ordinary… Anyhow, despite the prejudices of the Academy, the nominated films at least usually provide a decent guide for quality films of a given years (albeit by no means an exhaustive list). Still, at least the best film of the decade so far, The Tree of Life, got some recognition… The Oscars are a boon to films from an economic standpoint, particularly independent movies (which seem to dominate the field in recent years), helping make them profitable and meaning financiers are still receptive to different kind of films.
I think this year at the Oscars was exceptionally extraordinary in terms of quality and type of movies nominated. Some other year movie like Interstellar would have won around 10 statues.
My mistake, I haven’t watched 12 Years yet, so I can’t judge.
But then, it looks according to the scenes I saw and what I read about it much more ordinary than McQueen’s first films, and I hardly doubt that I will enjoy it as much as Gravity. Perhaps it is better than expected.
[quote=“Stanton, post:97, topic:2268”]My mistake, I haven’t watched 12 Years yet, so I can’t judge.
But then, it looks according to the scenes I saw and what I read about it much more ordinary than McQueen’s first films, and I hardly doubt that I will enjoy it as much as Gravity. Perhaps it is better than expected.[/quote]
Regular film, nothing special about it.
12 Years a Slave deserved to win… that, Captain Philips, Wolf of Wall Street or Nebraska, imo … so it was a strong year
Pffft!..There Will Be Blood is the best film of the decade for me, so far.