Yep, here we go again. The 87th Academy Awards Ceremony is this Sunday, February 20th, so it's time for Film Babble Blog's official predictions to be posted.
Now, last year I got 21 out of 24 right - my best score ever - but this year I find myself really wanting to be wrong about some of these. I would love some surprises, some upsets, to shake things up this time. I want to see first-time host Neil Patrick Harris quipping between categories about some unexpected thing that just happened. Even NPH says he's “hoping for a scandal.”
Anyway, on to my picks which go something like this:
1. BEST PICTURE: BOYHOOD
This is battling it out with BIRDMAN (which I wouldn't mind winning as I loved it too), but my money is on Richard Linklater's 12 years in the making epic about life, love, and time. It was my #1 favorite film of 2014 so I'm way biased, but it feels so right.
2. BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater for BOYHOOD
3. BEST ACTOR: Michael
Keaton for BIRDMAN
I'm biased here too because I love Keaton and thought he did an incredible job as actor Riggan Thompson/Birdman. Hard to believe the guy has never been nominated before - I think he should've been for CLEAN AND SOBER back in '88. Eddie Redmayne for his performance as Stephen Hawking in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING seems to be the major competitor, but, c'mon! It has to Keaton
4. BEST ACTRESS: Julianne
Moore for STILL ALICE
5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K.
Simmons for WHIPLASH
6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia
Arquette for BOYHOOD
And the rest:
7. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Adam Stockhausen & Anna Pinnock for THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
8. CINEMATOGRAPHY: BIRDMAN
9. COSTUME DESIGN: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
10. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: CITIZENFOUR
11. DOCUMENTARY SHORT: CRISIS HOTLINE: VETERANS PRESS 1
12. FILM EDITING: BOYHOOD
13. MAKEUP: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
14. VISUAL EFFECTS: INTERSTELLAR
15. ORIGINAL SCORE: THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
16. ORIGINAL SONG: “Glory” from SELMA - I'd actually prefer “Everything is Awesome” from THE LEGO MOVIE to win because I'm not a big fan of Common's song, but SELMA should at least win something. Then again THE LEGO MOVIE got snubbed too so we'll see.
17. ANIMATED SHORT: FEAST / Dark horse: THE DAM KEEPER
18. LIVE ACTION SHORT: THE PHONE CALL
19. SOUND EDITING: AMERICAN SNIPER
20. SOUND MIXING: WHIPLASH
21. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
22. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: THE IMITATION GAME
23. ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: BIG HERO 6
24. BEST FOREIGN FILM: IDA
There's no way I'm going to do as well as last year, so like I always say: Tune in Monday to see how many I got wrong.
More later...
