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John Truby Ranks the 2015 Oscars

John Truby Ranks the 2015 Oscars 
Spoiler alert: this breakdown divulges key information about the plot of the film. 

Oscar nominations are out, which makes this a good time to review and learn from the Best Films of 2014. John Truby crystallizes the essence of 17 top films from last year, and ranks them from best to worst. Films that earned Oscar nominations for either Picture or Writing, Original or Adapted, have an asterisk (*).

We’ve also put links to official sites where you can download the screenplays for most of the films.

*1. The Grand Budapest Hotel: A story within a story within a story about the wonder of storytelling in a magical hotel that time forgot, until now. Download the script.

*2. The Imitation Game: A conventional but beautifully executed script that goes in one door – cracking the Nazi code – and comes out another – a man tragically persecuted because he is gay. Classic storytelling in the screenplay form. Download the script.

*3. Nightcrawler: Horatio Alger from Hell. How to make it in America using the sleaziest tactics creative capitalism allows. Network for 2014, but darker. Download the script.

*4. Whiplash: A minimalist fight between player and coach perfectly focused toward the final knockout punch. Download the script.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy: The most entertaining film of the year is the result of writers who have mastered the craft of the comic myth.

*6. Interstellar: A post–graduate class in the cinematic plot of convergence, including some plot holes the size of the universe that prevent it from being a knockout. Download the script.

*7. Selma: The preaching in the monologues is powerful stuff. The preaching in the dialogue is not. A moving portrait of one of the great battles in the civil rights movement and the imperfect man who made it happen.

*8. Birdman: Structurally ambitious, but few things are as hollow or pretentious as an existential exploration of what it means to be an AC–TOR. Download the script.

*9. Boyhood: A hundred moments in a boy’s life, struggling to form a pattern, but the total is considerably less than the sum of the parts. Download the script.

*10. American Sniper: Portrait of a professional killer with the typical Eastwood bait and switch, bemoaning the cost of violence while wallowing in the pleasure of the kill. Download the script. (This is a direct download link.)

*11. The Theory of Everything: Although this film has real emotional power, the man against disease story has no dramatic engine, so it gets slower and more annoying as it goes on. Maudlin and on–the–nose, this is what’s known as an actor’s movie. Download the script.

12. Wild: an ultimately satisfying memoir–true story about a woman healing herself. But it’s all medicine. There’s no plot to make it fun. Download the script.

*13. Foxcatcher: A predictable, single–line descent about two nut jobs and the decent guy who gets caught in the middle. The fake nose doesn’t help. Download the script.

14. A Most Violent Year: A passive protagonist and a plot that hits the same beat until, suddenly, the movie’s over. Download the script.

15. Gone Girl: An absurd battle between a psychopath and an idiot, with one of the worst endings in years. Download the script.

16. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: thousands of onscreen deaths give undeniable proof that the monstrous Orcs are the worst warriors in history.

*17. Inherent Vice: An Oscar–nominated, endless, boring mess that cements Paul Thomas Anderson’s reputation as the most over–rated writer–director working today. Bad plot, bad characters, bad dialogue, bad acting. Bad.

For a complete list of Oscar nominees, please visit http://oscar.go.com/mypicks

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