It seems like a lot of races are foregone conclusions already this year. Birdman seems to have a lot of all-around support, but less support in each category. It seems very unlikely for any film to sweep the major awards this year.
Best Picture
Prediction – Birdman
Should Win – Birdman
Snubbed – Guardians of the Galaxy, the Lego Movie, Foxcatcher
Birdman seems to have all the momentum going into next weekend, having won a lot of Guild awards. It would deserve to win, it’s certainly an original, entertaining feat.
Were there any movies more beloved then Guardians of the Galaxy and the Lego Movie this year?
I didn’t think that Foxcatcher was better than any of the other biopic pics that were nominated but if the Director, lead Actor, and script are all nominated how is it not a Best Picture Nominee?
Best Director
Prediction – Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman
Should Win – Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman
Snubbed – Ava DuVernay for Selma and James Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy
Birdman is certainly best directed movie of this bunch. There’s a clear authorship from the director and it’s an incredibly vibrant film.
Ava DuVernay delivered the most consistent biopic this year. She was supposedly punished for not following history letter by letter.
James Gunn took a set of characters no one had heard of before and turned them into the biggest success of 2014. Guardians feels like it will last in the same ways Star Wars lasted but it was virtually ignored by the Academy.
Actor in a Leading Role
Prediction – Eddie Redmayne in the Theory of Everything
Should Win – Eddie Redmayne in the Theory of Everything
Snubbed – David Oyelowo in Selma
Eddie Redmayne’s performance as Stephen Hawking is amazing. He’s completely believable as Hawking during all points of his life. He deserves to win.
David Oyelowo’s complex portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. should have be nominated. He made King into a person, not just an icon.
Actress in a Leading Role
Prediction – Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Should Win – Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Snubbed – None
I don’t have any strong feelings on this race. I didn’t get to see Still Alice but I did see the other movies. The other performances were good performances but none of them stood out as “this should win an Oscar”.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Prediction – J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
Should Win – J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
Snubbed – None
J.K. Simmons has created a new iconic film character in Fletcher, a terrifying music teacher. It will easily be a performance we’ll reference in the future. It looks like he’s locked this category up.
Actress in a Supporting Role
Prediction – Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Should Win – Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Snubbed – None
In Boyhood Patricia Arquette played a pretty normal role of a single mom, but she does run the gamut of emotions. She was also brave enough to age over 10 years on camera and in real life.
Meryl Streep always has a chance to pull off an upset.
Writing – Original Screenplay
Prediction – the Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness
Should Win – the Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness
Snubbed – the Lego Movie by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Anderson’s the Grand Budapest Hotel was one of the best and most original films o 2014. The story kept adding new layers as the plot un-winded. It looks like it has a good chance to win unless Birdman takes it.
The Lego Movie took a set of children’s toys and made them into one of the most fun stories of the year and a movie that kids and adults could enjoy.
Writing – Adapted Screenplay
Prediction – the Imitation Game by Graham Moore
Should Win – Whiplash by Damien Chazelle
Snubbed – Guardians of the Galaxy by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman; Captain America:Winter Solider by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely;and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game is the front-runner in this category but to be honest it’s a bit uneven and all over the place as a script. Whiplash is by far the tightest script in this category.
I think a lot of people had Marvel fatigue at the beginning of this year and were prepared to hate Guardians and Winter Soldier. The films and scripts succeeded despite that. They both were fresh enough that they shook up the usual Marvel formula a bit, but were also faithful enough to appease the Marvel fans.
Gone Girl took a book with a lot of internal monologue and made it into an exciting film.
Animated Feature Film
Prediction – How to Train Your Dragon 2
Should Win – Big Hero 6
Snubbed – the Lego Movie
I can appreciate the beauty of the images of How to Train Your Dragon 2 and admire that they weren’t holding back emotionally because it was an animated film. But it was a little too heavy of a film for kids in my opinion.
Big Hero 6 was unlike any other Disney movie before it. It was like a sci-fi Pixar movie. Disney is really closing the gap between their films and Pixar’s.
I don’t know what else I can say about the Lego Movie. It was one of the best movies of the year and should have been nominated for Best Picture.