The envelope please...

So, I haven't seen everything yet, but I have seen all eight Best Picture nominees. So, I'm going to pretend like that gives me some authority to share my picks for the 87th Academy Awards. I'm just going with the biggies because, honestly, who can be expected to predict sound editing or documentary short feature. So here goes...

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
What should win? The Grand Budapest Hotel - SO clever
What will win? Birdman - brilliant

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
What should win? Inherent Vice - assuming this because PTA is awesome
What will win? Theory of Everything - think this is gonna be their biggest win

VISUAL EFFECTS
This is a toss-up - I have seen all five and all were amazing. I'm rooting for Interstellar because it was so unusual.

SONG
What should win? Everything is Awesome
What will win? Glory - this is a shoe-in. This is one of two noms for Selma, and it is definitely not going to win Best Picture. So this will win.

ORIGINAL SCORE
What should win? Interstellar
What will win? The Imitation Game

CINEMATOGRAPHY
This is a toughy - but I'm giving it to Birdman

ANIMATED FILM
I don't think there's a standout here - I would give it to The Lego Movie, but it got snubbed. So I'm leaning toward Big Hero 6

DIRECTOR
All five brilliant. 
Who should win? Alejandro Inarritu - Birdman - This film was a stunning achievement
Who will win? Richard Linklater - Boyhood - likewise stunning - but it was an actor's film

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Who should win? Emma Stone - Birdman - She blew me away in this role - amazing
Who will win? Patricia Arquette -  Boyhood - She was great, but Emma was awesome

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Who should win? J.K. Simmons - Whiplash - all great performances, I'm sure, but...
Who will win? J.K. Simmons - if Simmons doesn't win, I'm going to Hollywood and starting a riot.

BEST ACTRESS
Of the big categories, this is the one I feel least qualified to pick, as I have seen only one of the nominees. However...
Who do I wish would win? Reese Witherspoon - Wild - everything I've seen looks amazing
Who do I think will probably win? Julianne Moore - Still Alice - This looks like a nuanced and sensitive performance - she seems to be the favorite

BEST ACTOR
First, I want to say, I have seen four of the five performances and they were all amazing, but...
Who should win? Michael Keaton - Birdman - I will be SO happy if he gets it, but...
Who will win? Eddie Redmayne - Theory of Everything - this is the kind of role Oscar loves.

BEST PICTURE
All eight are statue-worthy, but...
What should win? Whiplash - I was continually thrilled and enthralled from the first second to the last. It won't win, but it was incredible.
What will win? There's a chance this could go to Birdman, but I think Boyhood will take it. This movie was amazing. But more importantly, it was an amazing achievement. I really think this will win.

"Lucy" is much ado about nothin'

So, I was really pumped to watch "Lucy" because I have always liked Luc Besson and have been a fan ever since stumbling on "La Femme Nikita" way back when it was still new. Plus, in my opinion, ScarJo's stock just keeps going up and up (especially in light of her interesting turns in "Her" and "Under the Skin"). So I was willing to offer Besson a lot of latitude with "Lucy," even considering the ridiculous premise (that humans only use 10% of their cerebral capacity). But unfortunately this movie, while full of really cool visuals and some interesting ideas (not to mention lots of Morgan Freeman's reassuring baritone), was just silly.

In reality, we use most of our brain most of the time, but we maybe fully understand what is going on up there about 10% of the time. But I was willing to pretend that was not true in an effort to enjoy Besson's picture. No such luck.

I think elements of an actual good movie might have been in there somewhere, but they were obscured by the frenetic pace, the faulty, pseudo-scientific premise, and the endless exposition. Almost felt more like a metaphysical manifesto - a Besson belief statement, if you will - than an actual story.

I don't want to give a bunch of spoilers, in case you decide you want to watch it anyway, but I do want to challenge one idea that Besson introduced. He said, through the Lucy character, that humans have the mistaken impression that they are the "basic unit of measure" necessary to understand the universe, but Lucy offers her newfound insight that there is only one unit of measure that even matters - time. She makes this point by suggesting that if we watch a film of a vehicle speeding past us, and then we speed it up infinitely, eventually the car disappears. Forget for a moment the fact that her example merely exposes our finite ability to perceive the existence of the vehicle, and instead accept her premise that it is only time that gives the vehicle existence at all - that is, when we observe it at a particular place in time, we give it existence.

If we accept that shaky argument (which brings to mind quantum mechanics, kinda), rather than rendering man irrelevant, I would argue that it makes mankind essential. Without us, who does the observing? In Besson's worldview, the sole value of the universe springs from the fact that we see it.

Anyway, there are some other interesting ideas in the movie, but it is, essentially 97 minutes of nonsense and not much fun, really. Watch at your own risk.