Academy Awards 2015 Predictions (The Battle of Boys and Birds)

Welcome to my second last Oscars nomination predictions for the year. Next time would be my last. So awards race huh? Boyhood has been pretty much winning everything with Birdman behind it. They are both after each other with one probably having a broader appeal across the board and the other mostly adored by the acting branch of the Academy with some technical support. Beyond these two it is anyone's game. Academy will go for 9 nominations as it usually does. It is difficult to come up with a list of nine potential nominees, it always is because you are predicting what 'they' would like more or to be honest, what they would like to see get nominated. Beyond Boyhood and Birdman the critics darlings, you have the two Brit-genius men-biopics as well as Selma. Those would make perfect five when it comes to Academy. Go a little further and you have other films with critical appeal and perhaps their own particular cinematic charm that one would expect be enough for the Academy. I am talking about Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel. After that, you have a few films battling to get in the final few tight spots. Academy's voting process has baffled me for quite a few years. What happened to 5 choices for 5 nominees? Or 10 for 10? At one side you have films like Gone Girl, Unbroken, Foxcatcher and Nightcrawler. Then on the further outside, A Most Violent Year, Into the Woods, American Sniper and Interstellar. Can they make it? Who knows? I am confident about my 1-8 choices though.

Even in the best director category, Linklater, Inarritu and DuVernay would be my best bets. When you talk about acting categories. Jennifer Aniston has come up as a surprise contender. Then you have Robert Duvall who may benefit from the weak category. Jake Gyllenhaal would probably surprise, he has got lots of traction for his performance from critics. He does face a battle with Steve Carell though. I have never been great at predicting many of the technical categories (except editing and cinematography). Well, below are my predictions based on their best chance at a nomination:

BEST PICTURE:-

1. Boyhood
2. Birdman
3. Selma
4. The Imitation Game
5. The Theory of Everything
6. Whiplash
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel
8. Gone Girl
9. Unbroken

Alternate: Foxcatcher


BEST DIRECTOR:-

1. Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
2. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)
3. Ava DuVernay (Selma)
4. Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)
5. Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Alternate: David Fincher (Gone Girl)

BEST LEAD ACTOR:-

1. Michael Keaton (Birdman)
2. Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
3. David Oyelowo (Selma)
4. Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
5. Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

Alternate: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

BEST LEAD ACTRESS:-

1. Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
2. Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
3. Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
4. Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)
5. Jennifer Aniston (Cake)

Alternate: Amy Adams (Big Eyes)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:-

1. J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
2. Edward Norton (Birdman)
3. Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
4. Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
5. Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Alternate: Josh Brolin (Inherent Vice)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:-

1. Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
2. Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)
3. Emma Stone (Birdman)
4. Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)
5. Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Alternate: Laura Dern (Wild)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:-

1. Birdman (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo)
2. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness)
4. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
5. Selma (Ava DuVernay, Paul Webb)

Alternate: Foxcatcher (E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:-

1. The Imitation Game (Graham Moore)
2. Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
3. The Theory of Everything (Anthony McCarten)
4. Unbroken (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, William Nicholson, Richard LaGravenese)
5. Wild (Nick Hornby)

Alternate: Into the Woods (James Lapine)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:-

1. Ida (Poland)
2. Wild Tales (Argentina)
3. Force Majeure (Sweden)
4. Timbuktu (Mauritania)
5. Leviathan (Russia)

Alternate: Tangerines (Estonia)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:-

1. The Lego Movie
2. Big Hero 6
3. How to Train Your Dragon 2
4. The Boxtrolls
5. The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Alternate: The Book of Life

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:-

1. Life Itself
2. Citizenfour
3. Last Days in Vietnam
4. Keep On Keepin' On
5. The Overnighters

Alternate: The Kill Team

BEST EDITING:-

1. Boyhood (Sandra Adair)
2. Birdman (Douglas Crise)
3. The Imitation Game (William Goldenberg)
4. Gone Girl (Kirk Baxter)
5. Whiplash (Tom Cross)

Alternates: Interstellar (Lee Smith)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:-

1. Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki)
2. Interstellar (Hoyte Van Hoytema)
3. Unbroken (Roger Deakins)
4. Mr. Turner (Dick Pope)
5. The Theory of Everything (Benoît Delhomme)

Alternate: Gone Girl (Jeff Cronenweth)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:-

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Into the Woods
3. Mr. Turner
4. The Imitation Game
5. Interstellar

Alternate: The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:-

1. Into the Woods (Colleen Atwood)
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Milena Canonero)
3. Maleficent (Anna B. Sheppard)
4. Mr. Turner (Jacqueline Durran)
5. Big Eyes (Colleen Atwood)

Alternate: Exodus: Gods and Kings (Janty Yates)

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:-

1. Foxcatcher
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. Maleficent

Alternate: The Grand Budapest Hotel

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:-

1. Interstellar
2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
4. The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies
5. Godzilla

Alternate: Transformers: Age of Extinction

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:-

1. Interstellar (Hans Zimmer)
2. Unbroken (Alexandre Desplat)
3. Gone Girl (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)
4. The Theory of Everything (Jóhann Jóhannsson)
5. The Imitation Game (Alexandre Desplat)

Alternate: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Alexandre Desplat)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:-

1. "Everything is Awesome", The Lego Movie
2. "Glory" Selma
3. "Mercy Is", Noah
4. "Lost Stars", Begin Again
5. "Split the Difference", Boyhood

Alternate: "The Last Goodbye", The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

BEST SOUND EDITING:-

1. Interstellar
2. Fury
3. Unbroken
4. American Sniper
5. Guardians of the Galaxy

Alternate: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

BEST SOUND MIXING:-

1. Into the Woods
2. Unbroken
3. Fury
4. Interstellar
5. Transformers: Age of Extinction

Alternate: Godzilla