Get to know the 8 Oscar Best Picture contenders

MANILA, Philippines - The 87th Academy Awards will happen in a few days, and eight films are vying for the Best Picture plum.

The nominees for Best Picture in the 87th Oscars are “American Sniper,” “Birdman,” “Boyhood,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Imitation Game,” “Selma,” “The Theory of Everything” and “Whiplash.”

From comedy, to drama, to action, these eight films would like to prove that one of them deserves the warm applause of the viewers. This will be decided on February 23 (Philippine time).

So if you missed watching the eight nominated films, below are their trailers and brief summary.

American Sniper

Bradley Cooper has shown the hard military life in “American Sniper,” directed by Clint Eastwood.

Here he plays the role of military sniper Kyle, who due to his excellent sniper skills has been promoted and assigned in different missions, which slowly affected him as a person. As he continually get assigned, he loses a part of him and gets distant with his family.

Yet after a traumatic encounter with a terrorist, Kyle decided to come home and struggle to live the life of a civilian.

Birdman

Michael Keaton plays the role of forgotten actor Riggan Thomson, who used to play the role of the superhero Birdman.

So in an attempt to revive his career, he decided to make and star in the theater adaptation of the short story “We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” which faced different difficulties in the making.

In the end, after meeting a critic and claiming to have a conversation with “Birdman,” Riggan continues on with the play and in the end decides to make his performance realistic by shooting his nose on-stage.

Boyhood

Director Richard Linklater in 2002 started filming a six-year-old boy Mason, portrayed by Ellar Coltrane, and followed his life as he grows as a teenager.

The film showed how Mason's broken family affected his growth as a young boy, away from his father and with his mother who has been in a relationship with two men who turn out to be abusive. He finds his own way on what is right and wrong with his sister Samantha, played by Lorelei Linklater.

As they mature and discover things on their own, Mason finds peace in a company of strangers and drugs.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The film relates the story of a lobby boy, Zero, portrayed by Tony Revolori, and the misadventures of his youth when he was employed at the Grand Budapest Hotel. There he meets the concierge Gustave H, played by Ralph Fiennes, who is being patronized by aging women because of his “exceptional service.”

After one of the patron's death, Madame Céline Villeneuve "Madame D" Desgoffe und Taxis' death, he inherited an expensive “Boy with Apple” painting. Yet  Gustave was accused of murdering her and this led to his imprisonment. Zero lived on his own and settled down with Agatha.

Yet he was able to escape and find Zero again and decided to team up with him to prove his innocence. After several encounters with some “bad guys,” Gustave finally proves his innocence, yet later dies and left to Zero all his properties, including the inherited Grand Budapest Hotel which happens to be owned by Madame Taxis.

Then came the war, which killed Zero's wife and infant child. His property, the Grand Budapest Hotel, was also claimed by their country's conqueror,  leaving him with nothing but the “Boy with Apple” painting that is meaningless to the present time.

The Imitation Game

The film is set in the 1950's, when mathematician Alan (Benedict Cumberbacth) is being questioned by Nock (Rory Kinnear) after being apprehended from his home. There he relates his life as a man designated to lead a group to decrypt the Nazi Enigma machine.

He then created a machine he named after the man he loved, Christopher, in hopes of decrypting the Enigma. There he meets Joan (Keira Knightley) and marries her after finding out her plans to leave the team, as wished by her parents.

As his homosexuality has been revealed and and he left Joan to keep her safe, Alan was imprisoned and undergoes chemical castration so he could continue his work of decoding the Enigma. Yet his body and mind slowly deteriorate.

Selma

The film shows the struggle of Africans Americans for equality in 1960s, which was led by Martin Luther King, portrayed by David Oyelowo. He asks for President Lyndon Johnson's help, particularly in Selma, to give the African Americans the right to vote.

After being turned down by president, Martin takes things in his hands by leading a march in Selma, encourage people to fight for their rights as members of the state. In the process, he was seen as a threat by the government and was jailed after being involved in a fight with officials.

Yet being imprisoned didn't stop him from continuing his fight. So after another march, and the crowd was hurt by the police on national television, prompting both white and black people to stand together and fight for the African American's right in the State.

The Theory of Everything

Life is full of surprise, especially in the life of astrophysics student Stephen (Eddie Redmayne) and the love of his life Jane (Felicity Jones).

While still in Cambridge University and working on his research about traveling back in time, Stephen discovers that he has motor neuron disease, where his muscles move involuntarily, although his mind functions well.

He was told to live for two more years, so Jane decided to marry him and never leaves his side. Two years have passed, he finishes his research, has children, and becomes popularly known in the world of astrophysics. That's when he proved that no matter how hard life may be, as long as one lives, there's hope.

Whiplash

Andrew is a jazz student who always dreamed of making it big by playing drums. So he was ecstatic when he makes it to the band of conductor Terrence Fletcher, who unknown to many as “notorious” when it comes to training his students to the extent of mocking and insulting them in class.

Yet this attitude by Terrence didn't discourage Andrew, who instead decided to give up even his relationship with Nicole. But one of Terrence's students hang himself, leading to a petition which, with Andrew's testimony, got the conductor fired.

After some months, Andrew and Terrence's paths crossed again, and here the latter explained that he's hard on his students to make them one of the greats in the music industry. He then lets Andrew in to his new band for revenge, only to discover that a new gem in the music industry has been born.