A tradition that I have concerning the Oscars is to provide my thoughts on the list of nominees before the show. This year, I've cut it a bit closer than usual due to being busy with university work but they're here now. As usual, my thoughts will be for each category and split up into Will Win, Should Win and Missing with some overall thoughts at the end. With that said, let's get started:
Best Film:
Will Win: Boyhood
Should Win: Boyhood; Birdman; Whiplash; The Grand Budapest Hotel; Selma
Missing: Pride; The Lego Movie; Interstellar; Nightcrawler; Gone Girl; Frank; Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Director:
Will Win: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman
Should Win: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman; Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel; Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Missing: Damien Chazelle - Whiplash; Ava DuVernay - Selma; Christopher Nolan - Interstellar; James Gunn - Guardians of the Galaxy; Dan Gilroy - Nightcrawler; David Fincher - Gone Girl
Best Actor:
Will Win: Michael Keaton - Birdman
Should Win: Michael Keaton - Birdman; Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Missing: Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel; David Oyelowo - Selma; Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler; Brendan Gleeson - Calvary; Jesse Eisenberg - The Double
Best Actress:
Will Win: Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Should Win: Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Missing: Scarlett Johansson - Under the Skin; Julianne Moore - Maps to the Stars; Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Belle; Tilda Swinton - Only Lovers Left Alive; Robin Wright - The Congress
Best Supporting Actor:
Will Win: JK Simmons - Whiplash
Should Win: JK Simmons - Whiplash; Edward Norton - Birdman
Missing: Michael Fassbender - Frank; Ben Schnetzer - Pride; Tyler Perry - Gone Girl
Best Supporting Actress:
Will Win: Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Should Win: Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Missing: Imelda Staunton - Pride; Mia Wasikowska - Maps to the Stars; Mackenzie Foy - Interstellar; Maggie Gyllenhaal - Frank; Emma Watson - Noah
Best Animated Film:
Will Win: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Should Win: Big Hero 6; How to Train Your Dragon 2
Missing: The Lego Movie
Best Foreign Language Film:
Will Win: Ida
Should Win: Ida
Missing: The Golden Dream
Best Documentary:
Will Win: CitizenFour
Should Win: CitizenFour
Missing: Life Itself; Jodorowsky's Dune
Best Original Screenplay:
Will Win: Boyhood
Should Win: Boyhood; The Grand Budapest Hotel; Nightcrawler; Birdman
Missing: Pride; Only Lovers Left Alive; Calvary; Locke; Edge of Tomorrow
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Will Win: The Theory of Everything
Should Win: Whiplash
Missing: Frank; Guardians of the Galaxy; The Lego Movie; Gone Girl; 22 Jump Street; Paddington
Best Production Design:
Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Missing: Guardians of the Galaxy; Paddington; Noah; The Double
Best Cinematography:
Will Win: Birdman
Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel; Birdman
Missing: Interstellar; Under the Skin; Nightcrawler; Locke; The Double; Only Lovers Left Alive; Gone Girl
Best Costume Design:
Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Missing: Guardians of the Galaxy; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1; Belle; Pride
Best Editing:
Will Win: Boyhood
Should Win: Whiplash; Boyhood; The Grand Budapest Hotel
Missing: Pride; Birdman; Under the Skin; Edge of Tomorrow; Frank; Selma
Best Makeup:
Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Should Win: Guardians of the Galaxy; The Grand Budapest Hotel
Missing: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Best Score:
Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel; Interstellar
Missing: Under the Skin; The Double; Gone Girl
Best Song:
Will Win: Glory - Selma
Should Win: Everything is Awesome - The Lego Movie
Missing: I Love You All - Frank; I'll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu) - Muppets Most Wanted
Best Visual Effects:
Will Win: Interstellar
Should Win: Interstellar; Guardians of the Galaxy; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Missing: Godzilla; Paddington
Best Sound Editing:
Will Win: American Sniper
Should Win: Interstellar; Birdman
Missing: Guardians of the Galaxy; Whiplash; The Lego Movie; Frank; Under the Skin
Best Sound Mixing:
Will Win: Whiplash
Should Win: Whiplash; Birdman; Interstellar
Missing: Guardians of the Galaxy; Frank; The Lego Movie; Under the Skin
So overall, this years Oscars are a pretty mixed bag. Whilst it's great to see all the nominations for Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Whiplash and Birdman, the snubbing of Selma and The Lego Movie is pretty bad. And yeah, there is a fair case to be made for whitewashing with no people of colour nominated in the acting categories, my thoughts being that Oscar voters felt they gave people of colour enough wins last year with 12 Years a Slave, which some leaked Oscar ballots have revealed to be the case. Once again, brilliant sci-fi films have been almost entirely ignored along with British independent films. Every year I feel like it comes down to a race between two films. In 2009 it was Avatar v. The Hurt Locker; in 2010, The King's Speech v. The Social Network; in 2011, The Artist v. Hugo; in 2012, Argo v. Life of Pi; in 2013, 12 Years a Slave v. Gravity and this year I feel it's Boyhood v. Birdman. I also feel that the success seen by The Theory of Everything won't extend much further than the BAFTAs, especially since the director of it wasn't nominated here. So those are my thoughts on the Oscars. Tomorrow we'll see if I was right in my predictions.
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