Best Cinematography
This is one of the categories in any given Academy Awards ceremony where we can all see the winner coming a mile away. Emanuel Lubzeki's work on Birdman will easily give him an Academy Award, while Dick Hope and Robert D. Yeomen's nominations (for Mr. Turner and The Grand Budapest Hotel) are at a similarly high level of likelihood. Selma should also score another nomination here, while Roger Deakins will likely be the big snub here, his work on Unbroken being overlooked for Benoit Delhomme's cinematography on The Theory Of Everything.
Birdman (Emanuel Lubezki)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert D. Yeomen)
Mr. Turner (Dick Hope)
Selma (Bradford Young)
The Theory Of Everything (Benoit Delhomme)
Tough call this year, as I have a hunch films from The Hobbit and Transformers franchises, who have previously had large presences in this category, will get snubbed in favor of more critically favored features. Look for Godzilla and Captain America: The Winter Soldier to take their place, while Interstellar, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and Guardians Of The Galaxy handily get nominations
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Godzilla
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Interstellar
Best Original Score
Numerous return champions here, as it looks like Best Picture nominees will take up most, if not all, of the slots in this category. Alexandre Desplat should have no trouble garnering another nomination for The Imitation Game, while Foxcatcher should get into here as well. Atticus Rose and Trent Reznors work on Gone Girl, Justin Hurwitz for Whiplash and, a bold choice here, James Newton Howard for Nightcrawler should round out the category.
Foxcatcher (Rob Simonsen)
Gone Girl (Atticus Rose and Trent Reznor)
The Imitation Game (Alexandre Desplat)
Nightcrawler (James Newton Howard)
Whiplash (Justin Hurwitz)
Best Animated Feature
This category bears a lot of similarities to the Visual Effects roster, where three films are shoo-ins for nominations, while the last two slots are more up in the air. The guaranteed nominees are The LEGO Movie, Big Hero 6 and How To Train Your Dragon 2, whose Best Animated Feature victory at the Golden Globes has shaken up this category. The remaining two films I'll wager will be The Boxtrolls and Studio Ghibli offering The Tale Of Princess Kaguya.
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
The LEGO Movie
The Tale Of Princess Kaguya
Selma should have no trouble garnering yet another nomination here, with it's song Glory having a lot of hype and awards presence behind it. The LEGO Movie's extremely catchy tune Everything Is Awesome!!! will also get a nomination here, and Lorde should get her first Oscar nomination with Yellow Flicker Beat. As for the last two slots in this category, Mercy from Noah should get in despite it's snub at the Golden Globes, and Lost Stars from Begin Again rounds out this category.
Begin Again (Lost Stars)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part One (Yellow Flicker Beat)
The LEGO Movie (Everything Is Awesome!!!)
Noah (Mercy Is)
Selma (Glory)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Let's not mince words here; this category was looking kind of low-key until some very recent developments. There just weren't a ton of contenders to discuss, but when Whiplash was confirmed to be in this category last week, the category got a huge jolt of life. Whiplash being a part of this category was a shock to many, and it came as a super last-minute reveal to many voters. I do think it's got enough momentum to get into this category though, joining two prestige biopics The Imitation Game and The Theory Of Everything, as well as American Sniper and Gone Girl. The only films I could see maybe sneaking in here are Inherent Vice and Guardians of The Galaxy, the latter of which made a surprise appearance at the Writer Guild Awards this week. Both seem a bit off-kilter compared to traditional Academy Awards fare though, so they'll likely get snubbed here.
American Sniper (Jason Hall)
Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
The Imitation Game (Graham Moore)
The Theory Of Everything (Anthony McCarten)
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman winning Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes gives this one a huge boost, guaranteeing a nomination here, though when it comes to winning, it may be tough to topple The Grand Budapest Hotel or juggernaut Boyhood in this category. Selma should make for another mighty contender here, while Nightcrawler should round things out here.
Birdman (Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone, Armando Bo)
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
Selma (Paul Webb)
A wide amount of variety can be found in this category, with Meryl Streeps musical turn in Into The Woods all but certain for a nomination, while Jessica Chastains third Oscar nomination will come from her work in the gangster film A Most Violent Year. Emma Stone in Birdman should have no problem popping up here, as will Kiera Knightly in The Imitation Game. But they'll all have to work hard to beat the current frontrunner victor, Patricia Arquette for her acclaimed role in Boyhood.
Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)
Kiera Knightly (The Imitation Game)
Emma Stone (Birdman)
Meryl Streep (Into The Woods)
Best Supporting Actor
I mean, we all know this is J.K. Simmons category to lose, right? For good reason, the actor's turn as a ferocious mentor in Whiplash has garnered universal acclaim, which will lead to an easy Oscar victory and nomination. Ethan Hawke, Mark Ruffalo and Edward Norton are locks to get in, but that final slot here is still a bit up for grabs. Robert Duvall's turn in The Judge looks like the most likely to get in right now, though Tom Wilkinson and Josh Brolin are right behind him.
Robert Duvall (The Judge)
Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
Edward Norton (Birdman)
J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Best Director
The awards recognition for Boyhood should spread to this category, giving Richard Linklater another Oscar nomination. Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu's directorial work on the similarly hyped Birdman should also find recognition here. The nominations for Best Director at the Directors Guild Awards actually made me heavily rethink my predictions for this category; their track record in correlating with the Academy Awards Best Director choices is decent (only once in the last ten years have they had more than one candidate wrong), but their choices of Clint Eastwood and Morten Tyldum for American Sniper and The Imitation Game respectively, while snubbing Damien Chazelle and Ava Duvernay, do make me wonder how this category will shape up. Typically, they get all but one of the nominees right, so I'm thinking Eastwood is traded out for Duvernay come Oscar time.
Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Ava Duvernay (Selma)
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Birdman)
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)
Here's another category where the winner can be seen a mile away before nominations even come in; Julianne Moore's turn in Still Alice has been receiving raves for ages, and she's more than guaranteed a nomination in Best Actress. Rosamund Pike from Gone Girl is also very likely to get in, while Reese Witherspoons lead role in Wild will have no problem securing a nomination. Felicity Jones, my fourth pick for a nomination, should get her first Oscar recognition at this ceremony, but the final candidate for Best Actress is a toss-up. Jennifer Anistons work in Cake has steadily gained a lot of recognition, but I'm thinking Marion Cotillard surprises everyone and picks up the last nomination here.
Marion Cotillard (The Immigrant)
Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything)
Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
Here's by far the trickiest category for me to predict, simply because there's so many choices for nominees. I considered Eddie Redmayne not getting into here as late as five days ago, but his victory at the Golden Globes makes me think he'll get in here. Michael Keaton also won at the Golden Globes, but I've never had doubts about him securing a nomination here. David Oyelowo and Benedict Cumberbatch should also be firmly set here in this category, which leaves a final nomination that needs to be filled. Honestly, I've got no clue who could wind up here. Could Ralph Fiennes ride that Grand Budapest Hotel buzz to a surprise nomination? Is Steve Carell set to get in here thanks to his role in Foxcatcher? Should we count Bradley Cooper in American Sniper out?
After waaaaaayyyy too much debate on this, I'm gonna go with Jake Gyllenhaal as the final candidate in this category. I could totally be off (Carell might just sneak in there), but Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler has been getting a lot of attention recently that may just result in his first Oscar nomination in 9 years.
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
Michael Keaton (Birdman)
David Oyelowo (Selma)
Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything)
Well, here it is. The big category, the one that'll boost box office for certain films, make or break stars...it's all within these nine films. Yep, I'm gonna predict nine movies show up as nominees tomorrow morning, just like nine have been nominated in this category in the past three years. Of those nine, Boyhood, the likely frontrunner for this award right now, is a cinch to appear. Birdman is in a similar boat, while The Grand Budapest Hotel and Selma will have no trouble popping up as nominees here.
The Imitation Game should show up as a candidate, giving The Weinstein Company their big Oscar movie for 2014, while fellow November 2014 prestige biopic The Theory Of Everything should make an appearance. Now, here's where we get to the more risky predictions for nominees. The small but mighty Whiplash should, repeat, should, be good to go here, and while Foxcatcher is more vulnerable than that Miles Teller feature, it should also secure a place here. That leaves one last spot in the Best Picture category...who gets it?
I've been thinking Gone Girl could get into that last spot, but I'm afraid the tide has turned for the feature, and it'll likely be an also-ran in this race. Open Road Films has been heavily pushing Nightcrawler for Oscars, but that'll probably just result in a Best Actor nomination. With it's recent nominations at the high-profile DGA and the PGA awards, it looks like American Sniper might just be the one to take the final spot in this years Best Picture category.
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory Of Everything
Whiplash
Well folks, those are my predictions for those 13 categories. I'll be back tomorrow morning on who got in and how my predictions stacked up. See ya then!
No comments:
Post a Comment