The 87th Annual Academy Award - Nominees

It's here, it's here! One of the biggest nights in the award show season - and I'm still excited, despite one of the most severe instances of lack of diversity that I've seen since I started watching the show. HOWEVER, not having seen all the films in question, I can't put forward concrete opinions. All I can do is offer my opinion based on the trends I'm seeing from the other shows. I will be liveblogging, this post will be updated with winners!

The show airs February 22nd, 2015. (Tomorrow!) (Yes, I had to redo the blog post; the formatting got really weird and my other one also got buried.)

BEST PICTURE
American Sniper - Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper, Peter Morgan
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Alejandro G. Inarritu, John Lesher, James W. Skotchdopole
Boyhood - Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson
The Imitation Game - Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman
Selma - Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
The Theory of Everything - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten
Whiplash - Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook, David Lancaster

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon - Wild

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Ethan Hawke - BoyhoodEdward Norton - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash

Another lock, but so deserved. I've loved this man's work for years, and it's so important he be recognised finally.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Laura Dern - Wild
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Emma Stone - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep - Into the Woods

This was one of my locks - I KNEW it. But it is so deserved. AND THAT SPEECH! INCREDIBLE. Meryl Streep jumped out of her seat and I did too. Equality!

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Big Hero 6 - Don Hall, Chris Williams, Roy Conli
The Boxtrolls - Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable, Travis Knight
How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Dean DeBlois, Bonnie Arnold
Song of the Sea - Tomm Moore, Paul Young
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya - Isao Takahata, Yoshiaki Nishimura

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Robert Yeoman
Ida - Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr Turner - Dick Pope
Unbroken - Richard Deakins

I thought I saw this coming!

COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice - Mark Bridges
Into the Woods - Colleen Atwood
Maleficent - Anna B. Sheppard
Mr Turner - Jacqueline Durran

I have to say this was a surprise! I always figure Colleen Atwood, but I also really adore Colleen Atwood. I also find it interesting that we have a token male in this category, rather than a token female. I love women, and they run the world, but more men should feel like they can get into costume design too. 

DIRECTING
Alejandro G. Inarritu - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
CitizenFour - Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier - John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam - Rory Kennedy, Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth - Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, David Rosier
Virunga - Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 - Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Dana Perry
Joanna - Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse - Tomasz Sliwinski, Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper (La Parka) - Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth - J. Christian Jensen

FILM EDITING
American Sniper - Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach
Boyhood - Sandra Adair
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game - William Goldenberg
Whiplash - Tom Cross

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ida (Poland) - Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
Leviathan (Russia) - Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Tangerines (Estonia) - Directed by Zaza Urushadze
Timbuktu (Mauritania) - Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales (Argentina) - Directed by Damian Szifron

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher - Bill Corso, Dennis Liddiard
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier
Guardians of the Galaxy - Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White

MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
Mr Turner - Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything - Johann Johannsson

MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG
"Everything Is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie - Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
"Glory" from Selma - Music and Lyric by John Stephens, Lonnie Lynn
"Grateful" from Beyond the Lights - Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell...I'll Be Me - Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell, Julian Raymond
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again - Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
The Imitation Game - Maria Djurkovic (Production Design); Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration)
Interstellar - Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Gary Fettis (Set Decoration)
Into the Woods - Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
Mr Turner - Suzie Davies (Production Design); Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration)

I kind of called this. It was a very Wes Anderson, fantastical set, and was a beautiful design. Though I haven't seen the other ones, besides Into the Woods.

I've also started a hashtag - it's probably too long to catch on, but I like to add it to the lesser known, lesser recognised categories like this. #thesecategoriesmattertoo

SHORT FILM - ANIMATED
The Bigger Picture - Daisy Jacobs, Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper - Robert Kondo, Dice Tsutsumi
Feast - Patrick Osborne, Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton - Torill Kove
A Single Life - Joris Oprins

SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION
Aya - Oded Binnun, Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham - Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak) - Hu Wei, Julien Feret
Parvaneh - Talkhon Hamzavi, Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call - Mat Kirkby, James Lucas

SOUND EDITING
American Sniper - Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Martin Hernandez, Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Brent Burge, Jason Canovas
Interstellar - Richard King
Unbroken - Becky Sullivan, Andrew DeCristofaro

SOUND MIXING
American Sniper - John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Walt Martin
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano, Thomas Varga
Interstellar - Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker, Mark Weingarten
Unbroken - Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano, David Lee
Whiplash - Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley

VISUAL EFFECTS
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill, Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy - Stephanie Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould
Interstellar - Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past - Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper - Written by Jason Hall
The Imitation Game - Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice - Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything - Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash - Written by Damien Chazelle

Gotta say, wasn't expecting that one either!

WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Written by Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Armando Bo
Boyhood - Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher - Written by E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler - Written by Dan Gilroy

Well. I'm sad to see Gillian Flynn snubbed for Gone Girl, as well as David Fincher (though I seem to be somewhat alone in enjoying that film, from the amount of people I've talked to who HATED it). And apparently snubbing Ava DuVernay for Selma was a travesty, though I haven't yet had a chance to see Selma. And my timeline blew up when the nominations were announced with outrage over the lack of nominations for The LEGO Movie. 

In the end, the nominations were generally what I expected, and I have some awards I'm expecting. (Julianne Moore and J.K. Simmons, for instance.)

I'm mostly really excited to see what Neil Patrick Harris has up his sleeve. Apparently he's got the writers of Frozen writing one of his musical numbers! (Thank goodness for his musical numbers.) Tomorrow's the big night, and I'm still excited!