Oscar Night/Predictions 2015

Happy Oscar Day Everyone! It's only a couple of hours until the show begins and I can't wait.

This year, I started out with 44 nominees to see before tonight and managed to see all but 9 of them! That's an improvement from seeing all but 12 last year. Which, I figure isn't too bad considering I wasn't able to see any movies the past two weekends because of the flu. Hopefully next year I can improve on those numbers.

Despite seeing more nominees than ever before there are quite a few categories that could go either way so my predictions could be way off this year but I'm hoping they're not. Let's see if I can beat predicting 21 winners last year. So here they are.

Category	Who will win	Who I want to win
Best Picture	Boyhood. There’s a chance this could go to Birdman because it won at the big guild awards, and I might regret this choice at the end of the night but I think the Academy as a whole will go with Boyhood. I don’t think they’ll be able to resist the fact that it took 12 years to film and that there’s never been a work of fiction like it.	In a perfect world, The Grand Budapest Hotel would win. For now I’ll have to hope that the next Wes Anderson movie wins Best Picture.
Best Actor	Eddie Redmayne. This is another close race, with Michael Keaton being the other possible winner. And again, I might be wrong about this one but I think it’s going to be Redmayne at the end of the night since he won at both the SAGs and the BAFTAs.	I really liked Steve Carell and Benedict Cumberbatch this year but I’ve said since the Golden Globes that I hope Eddie Redmayne wins this one. I adore him.
Best Actress	Julianne Moore. There’s no doubt that Moore will win this for Still Alice.	I just saw Still Alice this morning, and much as I liked all of the other nominated performances this year, I’ve got to say I’ll be rooting for Julianne Moore tonight.
Best Supporting Actor	J.K. Simmons. This is a sure thing.	J.K. Simmons is electric as the sadistic music professor in Whiplash. He was absolutely mesmerizing in the role.
Best Supporting Actress	Patricia Arquette. This is another sure thing. She’s swept all of the other awards this year.	I thought Patricia Arquette was great but if I was able to have a ballot, my vote would have gone to Meryl Streep. I thought she was the best thing about Into the Woods.
Best Director	Richard Linklater. This is another close race between Boyhood and Birdman and even though, as with Best Picture, Alejandro G. Inarritu won at the DGAs, I think Linklater will come out on top with the Academy as a whole.	Of course I think Wes Anderson should win. He’s my all time favorite director.
Best Adapted Screenplay	The Imitation Game. I really don’t know with this one. It seems like there’s a chance Whiplash could win too, but I’m going to go with The Imitation Game since it took the prize at the WGAs.	I really just hope that anything other than American Sniper wins. But I like Paul Thomas Anderson so I’m hoping there’s a chance he’ll win for Inherent Vice.
Best Original Screenplay	The Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson is gonna win an Oscar!	I repeat, Wes Anderson is gonna win an Oscar! Of course I want The Grand Budapest Hotel to win.
Best Cinematography	Birdman.  I don’t think the Academy will be able to resist Emmanuel Lubezki’s extra long takes, even if they made me dizzy and sick.	This may come as a surprise since I’m rooting for The Grand Budapest Hotel in every other category it is nominated for, but I thought Ida had the most stunning cinematography.
Best Animated Feature	How to Train Your Dragon 2. I really don’t know who will win in this category. With The Lego Movie getting snubbed it opened up this category. Big Hero 6 might also take home the prize.	My mom might kill me for not rooting for her beloved Toothless in How to Train Your Dragon 2, but my favorite nominated movie this year was Song of the Sea. The animation is gorgeous and I’m a sucker for an Irish selkie tale. After seeing the movie I wanted to go home and watch The Secret of Roan Inish.
Best Documentary Feature	CitizenFour. I’m pretty sure this is a lock.	I was able to see 4 of the 5 nominees this year and really liked Last Days in Vietnam and Finding Vivian Maier, but CitizenFour was gripping.
Best Documentary Short	Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1. This might go to Our Curse or Joanna too.	I was able to see all of the documentary shorts this year and they were overwhelmingly depressing. Several people got up and walked out of the theatre during The Reaper and Our Curse because it was too much to take. My pick would be Our Curse though because at least it ended with a glimmer of hope.
Best Live Action Short	Boogaloo and Graham. All of the nominated short films had a tinge of melancholy to them this year except this tale of two boys growing up with pet chickens.	I loved Boogaloo and Graham.
Best Animated Short	The Dam Keeper. I might be wrong about this and it will go to Disney’s Feast, but Disney hasn’t fared well in this category over the past 10 years.	Again, most of the nominated shorts had a melancholy tone, but I really liked The Dam Keeper. The animation was beautiful and the story very sweet.
Best Song	“Glory”. I thought maybe “Everything is Awesome” would win but at the end of the night I think the Academy will give the award to Selma since it had the bigger snubs in other categories.	I kind of want “Everything is Awesome” to win but I’d be happy with “Glory” winning too.
Best Score	The Grand Budapest Hotel. Alexandre Desplat is nominated twice in this category so it may split his votes and could then go to The Theory of Everything but I’m betting on Desplat.	I wrote last year about how much I love Desplat’s scores and of course I’ll be hoping he wins for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Best Costume Design	The Grand Budapest Hotel. The costumes are wonderful.	I’m staying loyal. The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Best Production Design	The Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson’s films always have the most detailed and amazing sets.	Again, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Best Makeup & Hairstyling	The Grand Budapest Hotel. Foxcatcher impressively transformed Steve Carell, but The Grand Budapest Hotel had so much more going on. Plus Tilda Swinton looked like a real old woman.	And again, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Best Foreign Language Film	Ida. Leviathan might overcome Ida but I don’t think it will in the end.	The only nominee I was able to see was Ida and it was a beautiful movie so I’m hoping it wins.
Best Visual Effects	Interstellar. I really don’t know here, but Interstellar made space exploration seem real.	I’ll be rooting for Guardians of the Galaxy because it was one of my favorite movies of last year.
Best Editing	Boyhood. Editing 12 years of film was probably quite a feat.	I never know with this category so I’m going to keep rooting for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Best Sound Mixing	Whiplash. The sound categories always confound me but the mixing of the instruments in Whiplash should win.	I really like the movie so Whiplash it is.
Best Sound Editing	American Sniper. This might be the only win for this movie.	I’ll root for Interstellar since it was my favorite of the nominees in this category.

Well, the red carpet is starting so it's time for me to put away the laptop and get to watching the most glamorous night of the year! And I promise to actually write an Oscar re-cap this year, just probably not tomorrow, I'll be too tired. ;)