Is there anything better than Oscar Season? Great movies, A-List stars duking it out for the top prize, and Ryan Seacrest running around on the red carpet (not to mention the incredible fashion). I’m not exactly a film-expert, but I do watch a ton of movies, and I make it my goal every year to watch each of the nominated films. Here are my predictions for this year’s winners on Hollywood’s biggest night.
Best Supporting Actress
Nominees:
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Emma Stone – Birdman
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Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
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Meryl Streep- Into The Woods
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Laura Dern – Wild
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Keira Knightly – The Imitation Game
My Prediction – Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
As much as I’d like to see Keira Knightly (my girl crush) win, I have to give this one to Patricia Arquette. She won the Golden Globe, which can often be a good indication of how the Oscars will go. And her portrayal of a struggling single mom, filmed across the span of 12 years, was moving and heartbreakingly honest. Of all the nominees, I feel like her role had the most depth and the most heart. Sorry Meryl–I think this time someone’s got you beat.
Best Supporting Actor
Nominees:
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Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
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Edward Norton – Birdman
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J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
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Robert Duvall – The Judge
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Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
My Prediction – J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
This is a tough category because I love all of these actors: Edward Norton, as an intense Broadway actor, was as incredible as always; Ethan Hawke was great as a man struggling to be a good father; and I still have a crush on Mark Ruffalo from his 13 Going on 30 days (he had a small role as Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz in Foxcatcher). I have a hard time, however, giving the award to anyone but J.K. Simmons for his riveting performance as the terrifying conductor Terence Fletcher in Whiplash. Watching Simmons verbally abuse, and even throw chairs, at his promising young drummer (Miles Teller) was frightening. His performance was incredible; I truly believe he will take the Oscar in this category.
Best Actress
Nominees:
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Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
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Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
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Reese Witherspoon – Wild
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Julianne Moore – Still Alice
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Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
My Prediction – Julianne Moore, Still Alice
There were many strong female performances this year, but I have to give this one to Julianne Moore. In Still Alice, Moore plays a world-renowned linguistics professor who struggles with her diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Watching this woman’s memory deteriorate is heartbreaking. Moore does an incredible job of showing her decline and her struggle to hold onto life as she once knew it. I predict she’ll easily take this category.
Best Actor
Nominees:
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Michael Keaton – Birdman
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Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
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Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
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Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
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Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
My Prediction – Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
I think this is by far the toughest category this year. All of these men gave absolutely stellar performances, and I would honestly be happy to see any one of them walk away with the win. However, I’m betting on Eddie Redmayne, who had the most demanding and complex role, accurately portraying the physical decline of Stephen Hawking. Benedict Cumberbatch was also incredible in his performance as the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing, and there’s a chance that Michael Keaton may take it for Birdman. But I think that ultimately it’ll go to Redmayne.
Best Picture
Nominees
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Whiplash
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The Theory of Everything
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The Imitation Game
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Selma
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Birdman
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American Sniper
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The Grand Budapest Hotel
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Boyhood
My Prediction – Birdman
I’m least sure of this prediction; Boyhood won the Golden Globe for Best Film, and there’s a chance that it will take the Oscar as well. Whiplash was by far my favorite film this Oscar season, but I don’t think it was necessarily experimental enough to win Best Picture. I predict Birdman because it was the most thematically and stylistically interesting movie of the bunch. In the film, a washed up movie star known best for playing the superhero Birdman (played by Michael Keaton, a real-life washed up movie star known best for playing Batman) directs and stars in a Broadway play as an attempt to revive his career. It has satire and drama, and it is very visually appealing; most of the scenes were shot in continuous 15-minute spans without cutting, making it appear as though the entire movie was filmed in one take. It’s this kind of careful risk-taking that the Academy loves, which is why I think it’s the film to beat this year.
Be sure to catch the Oscars at 8:00 this Sunday on ABC!
Photo Sources: http://cdn.indiewire.com/dims4/INDIEWIRE/974fda5/2147483647/thumbnail/68…
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http://img2-1.timeinc.net/people/i/2014/news/141201/eddie-redmayne-1024.jpg
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