Republished by kind permission from It’s Your Newsfeed, a new site dedicated to movies, music, culture, & more.
BEST PICTURE
Nominees:
American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Prediction: Boyhood.
It’s the darling of the award season movies. The cynical reason it will win is because the Academy wants to award the “twelve years in the making” achievement. The real reason it will win is because it presents itself without a cause or an agenda; all it wants to do is tell you a story.
Fingers Crossed: Boyhood
Tough Call: Birdman, Selma
BEST ACTOR
Nominees:
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Prediction: Eddie Redmayne
He won the other important awards of the season in this category: the Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA awards. It’s in the bag.
Fingers Crossed: Michael Keaton
It’s almost unheard of for a “comedic” performance to take home this award. Though an argument can be made for Jean Dujardin’s win for The Artist, the last time someone from outside the drama category won this award was in 1998 by Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets. Like his character, Michael Keaton felt like he had something to prove in this movie, but he was the only actor in this category that wasn’t playing a real person. Biopics rule the roost.
Tough Call: Bradley Cooper, Steve Carell
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Nominees:
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Prediction: J.K. Simmons
Also, won the Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA awards for this category. We didn’t see Whiplash, and perhaps I didn’t see it because subconsciously I was afraid he’d remind me of my swim coaches growing up and anxiety would overtake me. Mentor relationships are sadomasochism at its finest.
Fingers Crossed: Edward Norton
BEST ACTRESS
Nominees:
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Prediction: Julianne Moore
And again: Globe, SAG, BAFTA. It’s also worth noting that there is only one woman in this category whose performance was in a Best Picture nominee, compared to four out of five Best Actor nominees, and she’s not going to win. Good roles for women in Hollywood? We have a long way to go.
Fingers Crossed: Reese Witherspoon
Damn, I feel bad for Reese. Her performance in Wild (and the movie itself, really) is not getting the attention it deserves. She combatted what could have been a heavy-handed transformative journey of an addict with grace and subtlety. You win in our book, Reese!
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Nominees:
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Prediction: Patricia Arquette
Once more, shall we? Globe, SAG, BAFTA. Check, check, check. There may not be any surprises in the acting categories, but Patricia truly deserves this award.
Fingers Crossed: Patricia Arquette
BEST DIRECTOR
Nominees:
Alejandro G. Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Prediction: Richard Linklater
You don’t just spend twelve years of your life making one movie and not get the Oscar for Best Director. You just don’t. Again, that’s the cynical reason, but it takes real talent and foresight to create a movie like Boyhood, and to let that go unrecognized would be a sin.
Fingers Crossed: For a three-way tie between Linklater, Inarritu and Anderson.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Nominees:
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Prediction: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Since there was so much award season shade thrown at The Lego Movie, guess we should go with the one that won the Golden Globe.
Fingers Crossed: Big Hero 6
The low-battery scene was one of the funniest scenes of any movie we saw all year.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Nominees:
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Prediction: The Imitation Game
Sniper‘s script was weak, Vice‘s was convoluted, and Imitation just took home this award from the Writers Guild.
Fingers Crossed: The Imitation Game was our favorite of these nominees. So, sure, why not.
Tough Call: This entire category, in the absence of Gone Girl.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Nominees:
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
Prediction: The Grand Budapest Hotel
This will be Wes Anderson’s consolation prize for losing the Best Picture and Director statues.
Fingers Crossed: Birdman
Tough Call: Boyhood
Because Boyhood.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Nominees:
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken
Prediction: Birdman
Instead of being “fucking great!” Birdman would have been “pretty good!” if it weren’t for its cinematography. None of the other nominees can touch it in this category.
Fingers Crossed: Birdman
Tough Call: The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Nominees:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
Prediction: The Grand Budapest Hotel
There’s no real break-out here, but since the line between Costume Design and Production Design is always rather blurry, Grand Budapest takes it.
Fingers Crossed: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Tough Call: Into the Woods
BEST FILM EDITING
Nominees:
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Imitation Game
Whiplash
Prediction: Boyhood
Excellence in editing is a large part of what made Boyhood so successful.
Fingers Crossed: Someone explain editing to the audience during the telecast.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Nominees:
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales
Prediction: Ida
Though it lost the Globe to Leviathan, it is the only other foreign film to be nominated in a different category. And the only one we saw.
Fingers Crossed: Next year, all five nominees in this category get a wide release in America.
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Nominees:
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Prediction: Foxcatcher
While the movie itself left something to be desired, a LOT of attention was paid to prosthetics in Foxcatcher. Steve Carrell’s transformation aside, the makeup designers went so far to create the very gross sounding “cauliflower ear” phenomenon that is common among wrestlers for Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo. It’s all in the details for this movie, at least where makeup is concerned.
Fingers Crossed: Guardians of the Galaxy because it deserves to win something other than visual effects.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Nominees:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything
Prediction: The Theory of Everything
This may be a shot in the dark. Does anyone remember the score of these movies?
Fingers Crossed: For the Academy to recognize Birdman‘s score as valid, since it was disqualified early on for its questionable “use of classical music cues.”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Nominees:
“Everything is Awesome” – The Lego Movie
“Glory” – Selma
“Grateful” – Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars” – Begin Again
Prediction: “Glory” – Selma
It’s likely that Selma‘s only recognition will be for this category.
Fingers Crossed: “Everything is Awesome”
Because The Lego Movie should’ve been nominated for Best Animated Feature. And because this song will NOT GET OUT OF MY HEAD.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Nominees:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Prediction: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The production design of most Wes Anderson movies deserve this award, and no exception here.
Fingers Crossed: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Tough Call: Interstellar
BEST SOUND EDITING
Nominees:
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
Prediction: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Dwarves, elves, orcs, wargs, trolls, dragons, fire, battle scenes. That’s a lot of noise.
Fingers Crossed: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Because I’m a fan and I want it to win something, goddamnit.
BEST SOUND MIXING
Nominees:
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash
Prediction: Whiplash… because drums.
Fingers Crossed: Birdman… because DRUMS.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Nominees:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Prediction: Interstellar
The jury is out on whether or not the Academy has a sense of humor, so it’s doubtful Guardians (or superheroes or apes) will take this award. Chances are the most prestige-y of these nominees will take it. Because Christopher Nolan tried this year.
Fingers Crossed: Guardians of the Galaxy
It was a better movie than half of the Best Picture nominees, so for it to be recognized at all would be wonderful.
Visit It’s Your Newsfeed for more great articles on art and culture.