One prediction I got right was that my predictions would not be very good. I don't have records going all the way back, but I'm pretty sure this is close to my worst prediction year. I got a perfect score for only one category - Original Screenplay - and missed on all five (!) in the Sound Mixing category. That's the first time I've ever gone 0/5 in any category. Pretty bad. Anyway, getting 4/5 in a major category is not really a significant accomplishment. Most of the time there's a pretty solid selection of four actors or actresses, four directors, four screenplays. It's the fifth spot that's the hardest to nail down.
In the top eight categories I went 34/43 for a 79%, a full ten percentage points below last year. I should give myself an extra point for correctly predicting there would be only eight Best Picture nominees.
Across all categories that I predicted (so excluding the three short film categories) I scored 72/106 for 68%. Ouch!
So here are the nominees and how I fared...Nominees marked with an asterisk were the ones I missed.
Picture 7/8
Pretty surprised that Whiplash made the cut and Foxcatcher didn't. I wasn't wild about either movie, but that Bennett Miller was nominated for Best Director is quite an accomplishment considering his film isn't even one of the best eight of the year.
American Sniper
Birdman
The Imitation Game
Selma
predicted but not nominated: Foxcatcher
Director 4/5
We've got three first-time nominees here. Had I seen Selma before making my predictions, I would not have chosen Ava Duvernay. In fact, I saw the movie last night and regretted including her. Pretty good movie, but I thought her direction was occasionally shoddy, but I also thought that about the direction in The Imitation Game.
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
*Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Morten Tyldum - The Imitation
Game
predicted but not nominated: Ava Duvernay (Selma)
Actor 3/5
I like Steve Carell, but I wish he hadn't been nominated for this one-note Rain Man performance. Ralph Fienees would have been a far superior choice.
*Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
*Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything
predicted but not nominated: Ralph Fiennes (The
Grand Budapest Hotel) and David Oyelowo (Selma)
Actress 4/5
Poor Jennifer Aniston. She's just never going to make that transition to Serious Actress, is she?
*Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones -
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
predicted but not nominated: Jennifer Aniston (Cake)
Supporting Actor 4/5
Robert Duvall's nomination here is just lazy. It's just lazy voting, plain and simple. And I say that without having seen The Judge, but come on!
*Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons -
predicted but not nominated: Josh Brolin (Inherent
Vice)
Supporting Actress 4/5
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
*Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Emma Stone - Birdman
Meryl Streep - Into
the Woods
predicted but not nominated: Rene Russo (Nightcrawler)
Original Screenplay 5/5
Birdman
Foxcatcher
Adapted Screenplay 3/5
The two I missed I had as spoilers. I guess that's worth something.
*American Sniper
The Imitation Game
*Inherent Vice
predicted but not nominated: Gone Girl; Wild
Animated Feature 4/5
Now this was a shocker. The LEGO Movie was widely considered the favorite to win the award. Now it's out and the competition is wide open. Will this award go to a non-American movie for only the third time and first time in nine years.
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
*The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
predicted but not nominated: The Lego Movie
Documentary Feature 2/5
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
*Last Days in Vietnam
*The Salt of the Earth
*Virunga
predicted but not nominated: Life Itself; The Case Against 8; The Overnighters
Foreign Language Film 4/5
Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
*Wild Tales (Argentina)
predicted but not nominated: Force Majeure (Sweden)
Production Design 4/5
The Imitation Game
*Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
predicted but not nominated: Maleficent
Costume Design
Inherent Vice is a pretty cool inclusion here. Nice work, Academy!
*Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
predicted but not nominated: The Imitation Game
Cinematography
Birdman
*Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken
predicted but not nominated: Interstellar; Nightcrawler
Film Editing
*American Sniper
Boyhood
The Imitation Game
predicted but not nominated: Birdman; Interstellar
Original Score 3/5
*The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat
*Mr. Turner – Gary Yershon
predicted but not nominated: Gone Girl (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross); Unbroken (Alexandre Desplat)
Original Song 3/5
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again
*“Grateful” from Beyond the Lights
*“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
"Everything Is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie
"Glory" from Selma
predicted but not nominated: "Mercy Is" from Noah; "Miracles" from Unbroken
Sound Mixing 0/5
*American Sniper
*Birdman
*Interstellar
*Unbroken
predicted but not nominated: Into the Woods; Fury; The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies; Get on Up; Transformers: Age of Extinction
Sound Editing
I just think it's criminal that Whiplash and Fury weren't nominated.
American Sniper
*Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
*Unbroken
predicted but not nominated: Whiplash; Fury
Makeup and Hairstyling 2/3
Guardians of the Galaxy
Foxcatcher
predicted but not nominated: Maleficent
Visual Effects 3/5
Honestly, can anyone see a substantive difference in quality when it comes to visual effects in big Hollywood movies anymore? It's no longer like the days of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Independence Day or Titanic where one movie so obviously towers over the rest.
*Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
*X-Men: Days of Future Past
predicted but not nominated: Godzilla; The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
No comments:
Post a Comment