Don’t we all just love the Oscars? It’s an evening of maniacal celebration, of gratuitous back-patting, of cringe-worthy speech-making and of hosts trying to grasp the latest social trend – I’m looking at you, selfie Ellen. The folks over in Hollywood might “really like” Sally Field, but they’re not quite as fond of Selma or Nightcrawler, and goodness knows how fond they are of American Sniper (hopefully not as much as many fear).
All joking aside, Academy Awards night is a big one for the film industry. The movies nominated are, for the most part, pretty damn good too and should be heralded on a grand stage. Tonight’s ceremony is looking fairly clear-cut in most categories, but there are still a few ambiguities to be sorted.
Better get on with some predictions then. Click on the appropriate film titles for reviews.
Best Picture
– Will win: Boyhood
– Should win: Boyhood
– Should’ve been nominated: Interstellar
Best Director
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman)
Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher)
Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
– Will win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
– Should win: Richard Linklater
– Should’ve been nominated: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin)
Best Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
Bradley Cooper (American Sniper)
Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
Michael Keaton (Birdman)
Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)
– Will win: Michael Keaton
– Should win: Eddie Redmayne
– Should’ve been nominated: David Oyelowo (Selma), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
Best Actress
Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)
Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)
Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
Rosumand Pike (Gone Girl)
– Will win: Julianne Moore
– Should win: Rosamund Pike
– Should’ve been nominated: Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow)
Best Supporting Actor
Edward Norton (Birdman)
Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
Robert Duvall (The Judge)
– Will win: J.K. Simmons
– Should win: J.K. Simmons
– Should’ve been nominated: Channing Tatum (Foxcatcher), Andy Serkis (DotPotA)
Best Supporting Actress
Emma Stone (Birdman)
Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
Laura Dern (Wild)
Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)
Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
– Will win: Patricia Arquette
– Should win: Patricia Arquette
– Should’ve been nominated: Carrie Coon (Gone Girl)
Best Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
– Will win: The Imitation Game
– Should win: Whiplash
– Should’ve been nominated: Gone Girl
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
– Will win: Birdman
– Should win: Boyhood
– Should’ve been nominated: Guardians of the Galaxy
Final Thoughts
It looks as though the only real tussle – and it’s a big one – will be between Boyhood and Birdman for Best Picture. They’ll probably split the top award and Best Director between them, though Boyhood and Linklater deserve both.
Michael Keaton might yet nab Best Actor from Eddie Redmayne and despite the bookies favouring the Brit after his BAFTA triumph, I fancy the American to win in the US (cynical me).
As far as the other three acting categories go, Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette are all shoe-ins. The latter two fully deserve to win. Still Alice still hasn’t hit cinemas over here in the UK therefore I have yet to see Moore’s performance, but I just can’t look past Rosamund Pike’s stunning turn in Gone Girl. Pike should win. She won’t.
The biggest snubs of the year are probably Interstellar and Nightcrawler. David Oyelowo absolutely should be contention for Best Actor (he should probably win it, in truth) but at least Selma has top table nomination. With ten possible slots in the Best Picture category, the dismissal of Interstellar and Nightcrawler is unjustified.
Carrie Coon should feel aggrieved to be missing out on a Best Supporting Actress nomination, as should Channing Tatum in the Best Supporting Actor – or even Best Actor – category. It has been a strong year for the actors to be fair. And a word too for Blue Ruin, one of 2014’s less well-known masterstrokes.
If you’re watching, enjoy the show!
Images credit: Collider, Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire
Consumed By Film 
Great post! Loved the shoutouts to Blue Ruin; it was great, and so was Macon Blair.
My picks:
Best Picture
Will win: Birdman
Should win: Whiplash
Should’ve been nominated: Snowpiercer, Interstellar, Under the Skin, The Babadook, etc.
Should not have been nominated: The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, American Sniper
Best Director
Will win: Richard Linklater
Should win: Richard Linklater
Should’ve been nominated: David Fincher
Best Actor:
Will win: Eddie Redmayne
Should win: Michael Keaton
Should’ve been nominated: Jake Gyllenhaal, David Oyelowo
Best Actress:
Will win: Julianne Moore
Should win: Rosamund Pike or Marion Cotillard
Should’ve been nominated: Essie Davis
Supporting Actor:
Will win: J.K. Simmons
Should win: J.K. Simmons
Supporting Actress:
Will win: Patricia Arquette
Should win: Patricia Arquette
Should’ve been nominated: Tilda Swinton
Thanks for reading! Yep, I’d love to have seen Macon Blair up there with the Best Actor nominees.
Interesting picks – we’re pretty much on the same wavelength which is nice! Whiplash winning would be a shock but it is one of my favourites from the nominee batch. Gotta be Boyhood though.
Sorry I didn’t make it to this post BEFORE the event. Lol!
‘Twas a very interesting ceremony wasn’t it man? Some surprises for me included:
1) how many awards The Grand Budapest Hotel walked away with
2) how harsh people were judging Neil Patrick Harris’ hosting abilities (f**k those people)
3) ‘Interstellar’ taking Best Visual Effects, when clearly it was Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
4) Graham Moore’s acceptance speech (I didn’t know exactly where he was gonna go after admitting that he tried killing himself at age 16. . .but it was a beautiful speech)
5) I still hate Oprah Winfrey, i’m glad Common snubbed that cock-coat, accidentally or not 😉
6) that Birdman took Best Pic. I felt American Sniper was gonna do it. And apparently everyone hates Boyhood.
Not a problem Tom!
1 – Yeah, GBH done really well. I’m not its biggest fan but can appreciate the love.
2 – I loved his opening number and thought he was pretty good host. Not terrible by any means.
3 – As far as I’m concerned Interstellar can’t do much wrong, but now that you’ve mentioned it the visual effect for Dawn were pretty spectacular! Remember last summer we all thought Serkis would be be recognised?
4 – Lovely, heartfelt speech.
5 – Haha, I don’t really have an opinion on either but that song is a belter!
6 – Still crying over Boyhood’s loss. 😦
Interesting that you had the Best Actor will/should in exact opposite, I was really rooting for Keaton! I agree David Oyelowo should’ve been nominated. I wasn’t impressed w/ Interstellar in terms of story though, but it deserved the win for Visual Effects!
I really thought Keaton was gonna nick it, especially over in Hollywood land! Whoever was directing the awards couldn’t keep their camera off Oyelowo – probably the Academy’s way of acknowledging they mucked up.