With the end of a year comes many things we look back on. This year when I look back, I see all of this year’s amazing movies. On February 22, 2015 the whole world took a seat on the couch and watched the 87th Academy Awards.

“This year especially has actually been a good year for the academy,” senior Josh Mitnick said. “They sort of broke a new ground in the kind of films that were nominated and won.”

This year there was a wide variety of strong movies, which meant mixed emotions about the films nominated. Some argued that “Fury” should have been on the best picture list while others vouched for “Interstellar.”

“It is a very political thing and it is a small group of people who make those decisions. So I don’t know if I can say they were fair or not,” Film and Fiction teacher and librarian Lynne Cohen said. “There are so many factors that are involved.”

With these mixed emotions were many people who were happy with the results. I personally was a huge fan of “Whiplash” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and thought that Eddie Redmayne deserved the best actor award with his performances in “The Theory of Everything.”

“I just felt that if Eddie Redmayne did a good job then he was definitely going to get it,” Cohen said. “Because those kinds of movies are challenging and the role is an iconic person.”

Many argued about “Birdman” as well. With its unique and very original story, it was a strong contestant and it did  end up winning best picture, best director, best cinematographer and best original screenplay.

“I did think that “Birdman” was an excellent film. I thought it was a very intelligent film,” Cohen said. “I thought it was very innovative in terms of its cinematography. Very beautiful.”

With the end of the Academy Awards and the beginning of a new era for movies, people have already started turning their eyes to the future. There are many strong contestants on the way. Famous directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Alejandro González Iñárritu and David O. Russell are planning big hits for the upcoming year.

Some of Mitnick’s upcoming favorites are Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” and a Steven Spielberg movie with Tom Hanks called “St. James Place.” 

Three times Oscar winner and director of “Birdman” Iñárritu is planning another explosion with his upcoming movie with Leonardo Dicaprio called “The Revenant,” set in the 1820s, in which DiCaprio’s character sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead.

In 2013 Jennifer Lawrence won best actress for her performance in “The Silver Linings Playbook.” The five time Oscar nominated director of “The Silver Linings Playbook,” David O. Russell, is bringing Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence back together for “Joy” in which a struggling Long Island single mother, played by Lawrence, becomes one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs.

According to Mitnick, this new era for the movies and the different styles they adapt are a breath of fresh air. The fact that so many independent movies are becoming nominated and that there are so many different and unusual stories makes us want to see them more.

Let us all hope it will be another great and a competitive year for movies.

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