The 2014 Oscars nominees were announced Thursday, and many picks left film novices scratching their heads.
What are these movies even about? (Clearly, a lot of us spent 2013 watching superhero sequels.)
See also: Watch Decades of Best Picture Oscar Winners in 4 Minutes
To help newbies out, CollegeHumor simplified the Best Picture category by providing honest titles and descriptions for this year's nominees. Check out a few, below, then head over to CollegeHumor.com for the rest.
BONUS: 10 Fun Facts About Oscar Statuettes
Want to impress your friends on Oscar Sunday? Absorb the fun facts revealed in this gallery and unleash the tidbits at your Academy Awards' viewing party.
Each Oscar statuette stands on a film reel, which has five spokes representing the original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.
The statuette is a knight grasping a crusader's sword. This year, the Academy is trying to start a meme called "#Oscaring," in which people pose like the Oscar.
No. The Academy has awarded nearly 3,000 Oscar statuettes since 1929, but they all have different number emblazoned on them. This one -- marked 3,111 -- will be handed out at a future ceremony.
Original Academy member Cedric Gibbons designed the statuette. He had director, screenwriter and actor Emilio Fernandez pose nude to inspire the Oscar design. Artist George Stanley sculpted Oscar.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave out the first statuette in 1929. Back then, it was only referred to as the Academy Award of Merit. Now, it primarily goes by its nickname: Oscar. The Academy officially adopted the nickname in 1939.
R. S. Owens and Company manufatures the statuettes in Chicago. The Academy says it takes three to four weeks to create 50 Oscars.
Original statuettes were gold-plated solid bronze, but now gold-plated britannia metal has replaced the bronze.
The base size changed several times from 1929 to 1945. The base size has remained unchanged since 1945.
The Academy handed the first statuette in 1929 to Emil Jannings, who won Best Actor for The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh.
The 13-and-half-inch Oscar is heavier than it appears, weighing 8.5 pounds.
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