Thursday, January 15, 2015

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The OSCAR NOMINATIONS!

Only the Oscars could get me up at this time! It is 5:29am, pitch dark outside, everything silent but for the clip-clop of some passerby outside...and the hum of the press on the live feed. This year, all 24 categories will be announced live, but just so no one gets confused, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Chris Pine are still doing the sexy half. Here's Alfonso Cuaron and JJ Abrams with the first batch. Neat!

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Begin Again - "Lost Stars"
Beyond the Lights - "Grateful"
Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me - "I'm Not Gonna Miss You"
The LEGO Movie - "Everything is Awesome"
Selma - "Glory"
4/5
Aw, the Glen Campbell song made it. Can't be mad about that -- especially since "Lost Stars", "Grateful", and "Glory" all made it in, too.

VFX
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
3/5
Whoa, no Godzilla! Whoa! OK, genuinely surprised by that. Wow. Good for X-Men though!

DOC SHORT
Crisis Hotline
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth

DOCUMENTARY
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
4/5
Roger Ebert doc Life Itself left off final ballot; The Salt of the Earth is in.

FILM EDITING
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
4/5
No Birdman here does surprise me, since this is usually where Best Picture frontrunners secure their bids. But Whiplash was astonishingly-edited, so no complaints here.

SOUND EDITING
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
2/5
OK, but like, where's Fury? Seriously. Where is it?

SOUND MIXING
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash
3/5
I just didn't expect all the Birdman love in the sound categories!

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
4/5
Interstellar makes it in over The Theory of Everything! Good choice, Academy -- I happen to agree!

LIVE ACTION SHORT
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call

ANIMATED SHORT
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and my Molton
Single Life

ANIMATED FEATURE
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
4/5
Holy shit, no The LEGO Movie



Now President Isaacs enters looking GREAT!

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
5/5

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
3/5
I knew trying to predict zilch for Streep was a dumb idea. I love that Dern made it in! I hate that Russo didn't...

MAKEUP
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
2/3
Honestly thought they'd be taken in by the prosthetic subtlety of Theory of Everything over the more obvious Guardians. I'm glad they didn't. This is, like, a perfect Makeup category.

COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
3/5
Inherent Vice and Maleficent? Unexpected, solid choices. Never change, Academy.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken
4/5
Um, hell yeah Ida.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
4/5
I see a gone Girl -- if you get my drift. And a surprise Vice, a very welcome, truly incredible surprise!

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
4/5
I actually am surprised that Foxcatcher got in over perennial favorite Mike Leigh -- weird to think Dan Futterman is now a two-time Academy Award nominee for screenwriting, you know?

ORIGINAL SCORE
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything
4/5
Sigh...no The Homesman to be found. That said, I did tweet about Mr. Turner's magnificent score (it was sixth in my own ballot), so I can't entirely complain.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales
4/5
Oh, Timbuktu! Another one I almost predicted but decided not to -- but "almost" doesn't exactly cut it, does it?

DIRECTING
Birdman - Alejandro G. Inarritu
Boyhood - Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher - Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game - Morten Tyldum
3/5
Eastwood and Marsh out. Miller and Tyldum in. Hm.

ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
4/5
Whoa, Cotillard! First name out of the gate and you already know (a) no Adams, (b) no Aniston, (c) the Quiet Campaign worked! But now I gotta see Two Days, One Night. Also, whoa, is it me or is this the only nomination for Gone Girl?

ACTOR
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
3/5
Oh my. No Oyelowo, no Gyllenhaal. I had toyed with predicting Cooper, so I can't say I'm shocked, but despite the momentum, I still can't believe Carell made it in.

PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
7/8
Called it: eight Best Picture nominees. The only title I had wrong was Nightcrawler; Whiplash gets in instead. AND we have a Lone Director slot in Foxcatcher!


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