What I’ll be rooting for on Oscars night

The Oscars are coming up! Which means it is time for me to go through my annual decision to not scramble to see all the Best Picture nominees in time. This year looks bad — it’s been a very busy semester — and next year looks bad, too.

That being said, what is always the case with me is the case once again: The only movies that I saw happen to be the ones that have the most nominations. I saw The Grand Budapest Hotel earlier in the year and Birdman just recently, and they both have nine nominations each. I don’t know the reasoning behind this, but it happens year after year.

I, admittedly, watch the Oscars kind of like I watch sports. When the awards are given out, I root for the movies that I enjoyed seeing. And without seeing any other films (like most Americans), I believe that the two movies I saw deserve all the awards they are nominated for, and no other movies deserve anything.

When you watch the Oscars with a group of friends and only root for a couple of films, while insulting all the other films or actors and actresses in the category, you really piss off everyone around you, I’ve learned. But what information do I have to go by?  I’ve heard that Eddie Redmayne is amazing in The Theory of Everything, that Benedict is amazing in The Imitation Game, that Selma is important to see, that Boyhood is unlike any other movie, and that, according to my screenwriting professor, I should absolutely see Whiplash and not American Sniper.

Okay, I’m kidding about these films not deserving the awards they’re nominated for. I will, however, be rooting heavily for The Grand Budapest Hotel for Best Picture. I thought it was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. It was farcical and whimsical, and the cinematography was beautiful.

It reminded me of a time that I don’t know much about but like to imagine, when the rich went to hotels in Europe to stay for long, elegant vacations. This doesn’t really exist anymore, and I am so glad that Wes Anderson wanted to showcase what this life was like in the style of a hilarious madcap adventure. This is the type of old-style movie I have been watching since I was little, and to see it done during my life with actors I know was truly special.

I also thought that Birdman was so bizarre and lovely and it made me incredibly happy to see a movie set backstage at a theater in New York, as American theater will always be my favorite art form. Sprinkle in a washed up Hollywood star with his friends and family trying to make his Broadway dreams come true, and you make an amazing film.

I hope to find time to watch all of the acclaimed “hip” movies that came out this year. Until then, I know that I loved the movies that I saw.