Ahhhh, it’s finally that time of year where we get to sit down, relax, and kind of-sort of pay attention to the award show that celebrates the greatest achievements of caucasian male film production cinema history. Now of course throughout every Academy Award ceremony, there are snubs, un-deservings, at least one quality celebrity joke, strange outfits, and the one actor/actress you want to win everything ever. This year is no different!
Now what I’m here to do is give you my humble opinion on who I believe should win each category that I talk about, then proceed to predict the winner of said category. So basically you, my beautiful readers, will either go “oh wow he’s so good at this…and dreamy,” or make fun of me for completely flopping. Either way it’ll be fun, so let’s get to it!
Best Picture: What I Want—“The Grand Budapest Hotel.” This movie was unbelievably fun, whimsical and humorous in such a witty way. It’s aesthetically pleasing, and every member of the cast synthesizes with Anderson’s vision so well, that there are no bad performances.
What Will Win—“Boyhood.” This movie really should win Best Director (which it also will), but Richard Linklater’s epic vision and an undeniably well acted family dynamic will ultimately win this movie the Oscar.
Best Actor: Who I Want—Michael Keaton in “Birdman.” The dude simply killed it on every level—sentimental, sporadic, hilarious and flat out crazy. I laughed entirely too much when when he cawed in the middle of the street and his monologues deserve the Oscar; they were better than Cumberbatch’s in “The Imitation Game” (ooooh shots fired).
Who Will Win—Bradley Cooper in “American Sniper.” Clint Eastwood pulling the strings, biopic of an American hero, and one of hottest (publicity-wise) actors right now fronting the movie—do I need to say anything else?
Best Actress: Who I Want—Rosamund Pike in “Gone Girl.” It probably won’t happen because any film with Fincher in the name never wins the big Oscars, which is a damn shame—she was absolutely unreal as Amy Dunne (refer to my top ten of 2014 article). She undoubtably deserves the win.
Who Will Win—Julianne Moore in “Still Alice.” To be honest, I didn’t see this movie (I know—how irresponsible of me) but I’ve heard from literally everywhere that she kills it as a doctor who struggles with Alzheimer’s disease. I’m going mob mentality on this one.
Best Supporting Actor: Who I Want—J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash.” I am actually fairly invested in this nomination, with good reason. He was the most energetic musical drill sergeant/instructor since Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket—not even exaggerating.
Who Will Win—J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash.” It would be such a massive snub if he lost—he truly outperformed every single one of the nominees.
Best Supporting Actress: Who I Want—Kiera Knightley in “The Imitation Game.” She was smart and stern whilst being bubbly and nonchalant, which is a pretty hard role to achieve without seeming all over the place. She was entertaining every time she was on-screen and achieved a great dynamic with Cumberbatch.
Who Will Win—Meryl Streep in “Into The Woods.” I mean, c’mon—she was created to win Oscars.
Best Director: Who I Want—Wes Anderson with “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” I’ve made the entertainment argument of the movie, but the fact that I’ve watched it three times in the last two months says enough about it. It’s just such a fun, addictive, and surprisingly compelling piece of modern escapism/comedy/adventure.
Who Will Win—Richard Linklater with “Boyhood.” It’s a massive twelve year project/vision that explores the deepest catacombs of the human condition. I don’t need to say anymore.
Best Original Screenplay: What I Want—“The Grand Budapest Hotel.” On top of everything I’ve said so far, all I really need to add is that the screenplay is completely original—straight from Anderson’s noggin, with a little bit of inspiration from writer Stefan Zweig.
What Will Win—“Budapest” or “Boyhood.” This is a tough one, because the ambition of each director was huge. I know Linklater’s spanned twelve years, but don’t be fooled—the density of Anderson’s world is impressive as well.
Best Adapted Screenplay: What I Want—“Gone Girl.” I know I’m being that guy (the film wasn’t even nominated), but seriously? Why wouldn’t you nominate Gillian Flynn, who wrote the actual book AND the screenplay. You can’t throw the “well that’s not fair because she’s the original author” argument, because she is a proven screenwriter who is still writing screenplays for other works such as “Utopia” and the upcoming version of Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train.”
Who Will Win—“American Sniper.” Clint Eastwood pulling the strings, biopic of an American hero, themes of patriotism in an age of uncertainty, and Bradley Cooper carrying the screenplay with an emotional performance. Give it the Oscar (This would be my second pick though).
Best Animated Film: What I Want—“The Lego Movie.” I know, somebody stop me—I’m so edgy and full of angst for arguing for movies that weren’t even nominated. This was the biggest snub of 2015. It was a great movie with so much originality and a great message of individualism. It’s crazy how the movie didn’t even receive the nod.
What Will Win—“How To Train Your Dragon 2.” Again, I didn’t see this movie, but I heard it was a riveting adventure and surprisingly better than the first one. Also, someone just stop Disney (Big Hero 6).
Best Original Score: What I Want—“Interstellar” or “Budapest.” The soundtracks couldn’t be anymore polarized than they already are, but both are amazing. Zimmer is beautiful with the organ, but he does reprise the main theme a lot, which is why I’m going to give the edge to “Budapest”—Desplat is magical and hardly ever reprises.
What Will Win—“Budapest.” While all of the soundtracks are good, they all use the standard orchestra in one way or another. “Budapest” utilizes the widest array of strange instruments and Desplat delivers in a storybook like fashion.
Ian Barbour