2015 Academy Awards Predictions

17 January 2015

My picks in bold

Best Picture

My favorite film of the year was Birdman followed by the Grand Budapest Hotel. However, I did love Boyhood and as a film it seems like it fits the lines of an Oscar winner more than my own personal favorites.

Actor in a Leading Role

I recently saw The Imitation Game and have come to the conclusion that Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the best actors out there right now. However, Bradley Cooper put on his best performance in American Sniper and I think he edged Cumberbatch out in his effort. He still has a long way to go to get to Cumberbatch’s level though. (I have yet to see The Theory of Everything, I hear it’s great along with the performances. It’s on my list to see soon.)

Actress in a Leading Role

This might be the category where I am most ignorant but since the only film from here I’ve seen is Gone Girl, I went with Pike. That is not to take away from her excellent performance though and from the clips I have seen I think Pike will be a strong contender. If I had to guess from one of the other nominees I would probably go with Julianne Moore.

Actor in a Supporting Role

In my opinion, this is one of the strongest categories but I believe Simmons will win this hands down. He was absolutely terrific in this role as a music conductor who may or may not have driven his musicians/students a little too far.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Another extremely strong category and my pick, Patricia Arquette, is someone that I used to absolutely despise. I thought she was terrible when she led the show Medium on NBC. Maybe I just didn’t get it because she blew her role as the mother in Boyhood out of the water.

Animated Feature Film

I believe The LEGO Movie should have definitely been nominated. It’s unfathomable, to say the least, that the movie that would have probably been my pick didn’t even get nominated and I am not alone with this opinion. That being said, Big Hero 6 was a terrific movie and well deserving of the award. But seriously, not even a nomination?!

Cinematography

There is a reason Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel were my two favorite movies of the year; they are visually stunning. A lot of that has to do with the cinematography. Every shot in Birdman is great and the way they made it look like one long continuous shot blew me away.

Directing

This was a tough one for me to decide. The Imitation Game was fantastic. Linklater was able to do something with Boyhood that no one had done before. The scheduling must have been a nightmare in itself. Then there’s Birdman, clearly a marvelous film. In the end, I picked Wes Anderson because of the whole package he was able to put together for this film. It really was fantastic. He got great performances from his actors, the shots were beautiful and you can tell from any scene just how particular he is about the details that go into his films. This is most certainly Anderson’s best film yet.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Moore was able to take a story that most people have maybe just heard of in passing, if at all, and turned it into a beautiful story around the genius of Alan Turing. The dialog was absolutely fantastic and the script definitely played a crucial part in making this a great film. (I’ll be the first to admit that I think I’m going to need multiple viewings of Inherent Vice. Who knows it could be brilliant once I wrap my head around it.)

Best Original Screenplay

There is just so much to say about Birdman, a film that says a lot in itself. This original story is truly great. It makes you feel like you are in New York. There wasn’t one film that was more captivating than Birdman all year. Some have said that the film is trying to say too much, but I think that is a reason I loved it so much. You can put yourself in their shoes and take something away that is different than the person next to you because in the end people want to be recognized for their work.

Visual Effects

Although all of these movies were visually stunning, what they did with the newest installment of the Ape movies was just incredible. The technicians for Apes deserve every bit of praise, as does Andy Serkis. The way they were able to take these motion capture performances and turn them into stunning looking apes was amazing.

Best Original Score

This might be the category I was most disappointed in. My favorite score of the year was done by Antionio Sanchez for Birdman. As a matter of fact, the score was one of the reasons Birdman was my number one movie of the year. After that, I loved Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score for Gone Girl. I am actually not a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails but both this score and their score for The Social Network (which they won the Oscar for in 2011) are audibly stunning. However, since neither of these are options, I went with Hans Zimmer’s score for Interstellar. Hans Zimmer is one of the best film composers ever. This is his tenth Oscar nomination and I believe it will be his second win.

Costume Design

Film Editing

Best Original Song

Makeup and Hairstyling

Production Design

Sound Editing

Sound Mixing

Straight Guesses

Short Film (Live Action)

Short Film (Animated)

Foreign Language Film

Documentary Feature

Documentary Short


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