My Oscars 2015 winners predictions
Here comes the time for my long-lasting tradition of posting this year’s opinion based Oscar-predictions. And this time it comes with a bonus list of “to watch” and “don’t watch” movies selected from the nominees.
Best Picture
Winner: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole
- American Sniper – Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan
- Boyhood – Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland
- The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven M. Rales and Jeremy Dawson
- The Imitation Game – Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman
- Selma – Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
- The Theory of Everything – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten
- Whiplash – Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster
Best Director
Winner: Richard Linklater – Boyhood
- Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
- Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game
Best Actor
Winner: Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking
- Steve Carell – Foxcatcher as John Eleuthère du Pont
- Bradley Cooper – American Sniper as Chris Kyle
- Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game as Alan Turing
- Michael Keaton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Riggan Thomson
Best Actress
Winner: Julianne Moore – Still Alice as Dr. Alice Howland
- Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night as Sandra Bya
- Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything as Jane Wilde Hawking
- Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl as Amy Elliott-Dunne
- Reese Witherspoon – Wild as Cheryl Strayed
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: J. K. Simmons – Whiplash as Terence Fletcher
- Robert Duvall – The Judge as Judge Joseph Palmer
- Ethan Hawke – Boyhood as Mason Evans, Sr.
- Edward Norton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Mike Shiner
- Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher as Dave Schultz
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Emma Stone – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Sam Thomson
- Patricia Arquette – Boyhood as Olivia Evans
- Laura Dern – Wild as Barbara “Bobbi” Grey
- Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game as Joan Clarke
- Meryl Streep – Into the Woods as The Witch
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo
- Boyhood – Richard Linklater
- Foxcatcher – E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
- The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness
- Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson from Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
- American Sniper – Jason Dean Hall from American Sniper by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice
- The Imitation Game – Graham Moore from Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
- The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten from Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Wilde Hawking
- Whiplash – Damien Chazelle from his short film of the same name
Best Animated Feature Film
Winner: Song of the Sea – Tomm Moore and Paul Young
- Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
- The Boxtrolls – Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya – Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura
Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: Ida (Poland) in Polish – Paweł Pawlikowski
- Leviathan (Russia) in Russian – Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Tangerines (Estonia) in Estonian – Zaza Urushadze
- Timbuktu (Mauritania) in French – Abderrahmane Sissako
- Wild Tales (Argentina) in Spanish – Damián Szifrón
Best Documentary – Feature
Winner:Citizenfour – Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutsky
Best Documentary – Short Subject
Winner: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
- Joanna – Aneta Kopacz
- Our Curse – Tomasz Śliwiński and Maciej Ślesicki
- The Reaper (La Parka) – Gabriel Serra Arguello
- White Earth – J. Christian Jensen
Best Live Action Short Film
Winner: Aya – Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
- Boogaloo and Graham – Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
- Butter Lamp (La Lampe au beurre de yak) – Hu Wei and Julien Féret
- Parvaneh – Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
- The Phone Call – Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Best Animated Short Film
Winner: Feast – Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
- The Bigger Picture – Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
- The Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi
- A Single Life – Joris Oprins
- Me and My Moulton – Torill Kove
Best Original Score
Winner: The Theory of Everything – Jóhann Jóhannsson
- The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
- The Imitation Game – Alexandre Desplat
- Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
- Mr. Turner – Gary Yershon
Best Original Song
Winner: “Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie – Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
- “Glory” from Selma – Music and Lyric by John Legend and Common
- “Grateful” from Beyond the Lights – Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
- “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me – Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
- “Lost Stars” from Begin Again – Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois
Best Sound Editing
Winner: Interstellar – Richard King
- American Sniper – Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
- Unbroken – Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Best Sound Mixing
Winner: Whiplash – Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
- American Sniper – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
- Interstellar – Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
- Unbroken – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
Best Production Design
Winner: Into the Woods – Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
- The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
- The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic (Production Design); Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration)
- Interstellar – Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Gary Fettis (Set Decoration)
- Mr. Turner – Suzie Davies (Production Design); Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration)
Best Cinematography
Winner: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Emmanuel Lubezki
- The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman
- Ida – Łukasz Żal and Ryszard Lenczewski
- Mr. Turner – Dick Pope
- Unbroken – Roger Deakins
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Winner: Guardians of the Galaxy – Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White
- Foxcatcher – Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
- The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Best Costume Design
Winner: Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood
Best Film Editing
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
- American Sniper – Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
- Boyhood – Sandra Adair
- The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
- Whiplash – Tom Cross
Best Visual Effects
Winner: Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
- Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
- X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
To watch
- Into the Woods
- Birdman
- Boyhood
- Interstellar
- Whiplash
- Nightcrawler
- Song of the Sea
- Maleficent
- Gone Girl
- Inherent Vice
- The Lego Movie
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Feast
- The Theory of Everything
- Big Hero 6
- The Bigger Picture
- A Single Life
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- Boxtrolls