My Oscars Picks For The 87th Annual Academy Awards

I wasn’t going to bother doing a post this year but then it seemed kind of silly to skip a year. Once upon a time, I was VERY into the Oscars & would try to watch as many of the nominees as I could before the big ceremony. Meh… I’ve lost interest in doing that the past several years (and even more so after starting my blog, which is odd – you’d think I’d try to watch them even more now). I just think the Academy is getting more & more out of touch with what’s *actually* worthy of winning awards. So… They nominate Meryl Streep for Into The Woods but totally ignore the fabulous performance from Essie Davis in The Babadook? They snub the truly best animated film of the year for best animated feature yet nominate the song?! (The Lego Movie, obviously). Then there are the usual Best Picture nominees which are very rarely high on my own personal year-end lists of my favorite movies. I liked Boyhood unlike a lot of people but can understand why many didn’t. I’d have to say Whiplash is my favorite of the nominees I’ve seen but it’s not an all-time “Best Picture-worthy” classic.

Anyway – here are my picks for what I WANT to win and what I think WILL win in each of the Oscars categories tonight. This is the least I’ve EVER paid attention to Oscars predictions & other awards shows and I’ve watched very little of what’s been nominated so I truly have no clue what will win this year. But, like I said – it seemed silly to skip doing a post about it as, no matter how much I get annoyed by the Academy’s choices, I’ll still ALWAYS watch the Oscars. I love movies, I love (and hate) the actors, and the tiny bit of me that’s girly likes seeing the dresses. 🙂

I’ll include links to the nominees I’ve actually reviewed (the first time each is listed):

Best Picture:
American Sniper
Birdman
**Boyhood – WILL
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
*Whiplash – WANT

Best Director:
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
**Richard Linklater, Boyhood – WANT & WILL
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Best Actor:
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
**Michael Keaton, Birdman – WANT & WILL
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Best Actress:
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
**Julianne Moore, Still Alice – WILL
*Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl – WANT
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Supporting Actor:
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
**J.K. Simmons, Whiplash – WANT & WILL

Best Supporting Actress:
**Patricia Arquette, Boyhood – WANT & WILL
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into The Woods (I’ve seen this – review posting tomorrow)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
*Damien Chazelle, Whiplash – WANT
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
**Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything – WILL
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice

Best Original Screenplay:
Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
E. Max Frye & Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
**Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo, Birdman – WILL
*Richard Linklater, Boyhood – WANT

Best Animated Feature:
**Big Hero 6 – WANT & WILL
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (badly want to see this for my Studio Ghibli project)

Best Documentary Feature:
**CITIZENFOUR – WANT & WILL (no idea – I’ve seen none of these)
Last Days In Vietnam
Virunga
Finding Vivian Maier
The Salt of the Earth

Best Original Song:
**”Everything is Awesome,” The Lego Movie – WANT!!! & WILL
“Glory,” Selma
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars,” Begin Again
“Grateful,” Beyond the Lights

Best Film Editing:
American Sniper
**Boyhood – WILL
The Imitation Game
*Whiplash – WANT
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Cinematography:
*Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman – WANT
Ryszard Lenczewski and Łukasz Żal, Ida
**Dick Pope, Mr. Turner – WILL
Robert D. Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Roger Deakins, Unbroken

Best Costume Design:
Colleen Atwood, Into The Woods
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner
**Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent – WANT & WILL
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice

Best Production Design:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
**Interstellar – WANT (I guess. puke.) & WILL
Into The Woods
Mr. Turner

Best Animated Short:
The Bigger Picture
**The Dam Keeper – WILL (no clue – I’m choosing by title)
*Feast – WANT
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

Best Live Action Short:
Aya
**Boogaloo and Graham – WANT & WILL (no clue – Boogaloo is just an awesome word)
The Phone Call
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh

Best Documentary Short:
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
**The Reaper (La Parka) – WANT & WILL (no clue again – I just like Blue Oyster Cult)
White Earth

Best Sound Editing:
American Sniper
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
**Interstellar – WILL
*Birdman – WANT (I guess)
Unbroken

Best Sound Mixing:
American Sniper
Birdman
**Interstellar – WILL
Unbroken
*Whiplash – WANT

Best Visual Effects:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
*Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – WANT
Guardians of the Galaxy
**Interstellar – WILL
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Foreign Language Film:
**Ida (Poland) – WILL
*Leviathan (Russia) – WANT (no clue – seen none of these)
Tangerines (Estonia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
**Foxcatcher – WILL
The Grand Budapest Hotel
*Guardians of the Galaxy – WANT

Best Original Score:
Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
**Hans Zimmer, Interstellar – WlLL & WANT (I guess – can’t remember the score)
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner