Oscar Nominations / Predictions
 

So the 87th Academy Award Nominations were released this morning and it's already consuming the http://www.musicbanter.com/media/266...seen-1486.html thread. I figure we ought to route that discussion into its own thread to avoid spamming that thread with pages of arguments and predictions rather than actual film reviews.

Make some predictons, rant about snubs, choose your personal favorites, worship Whiplash.
Here is the list:

Best Picture
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“The Imitation Game”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“American Sniper”
“Whiplash”

Actress in a Leading Role
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”
Marion Cotillard, “Two Days One Night”

Actor in a Leading Role
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper, “American Sniper”

Directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Morten Tyldum, “The Imitation Game”
Bennett Miller, “Foxcatcher”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods”
Laura Dern, “Wild”

Actor in a Supporting Role
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
Robert Duvall, “The Judge”

Foreign Language Film
“Ida”
“Leviathan”
“Tangerines”
“Wild Tales”
“Timbuktu”

Writing – Adapted Screenplay
Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”
Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”
Anthony McCarten, “The Theory of Everything”
Jason Hall, “American Sniper”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Inherent Vice”

Writing – Original Screenplay
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, “Birdman”
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, “Foxcatcher”

Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, “Birdman”
Roger Deakins, “Unbroken”
Robert D. Yeoman, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Dick Pope, “Mr. Turner”
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski, “Ida”

Music – Original Score
Hans Zimmer, “Interstellar”
Alexandre Desplat, “The Imitation Game”
Johann Johannsson, “The Theory of Everything”
Alexandre Desplat, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Gary Yershon, “Mr Turner”

Makeup and Hairstyling
“Foxcatcher”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”

Costume Design
Colleen Atwood, “Into the Woods”
Anna B. Sheppard, “Maleficent”
Milena Canonero, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Jacqueline Durran, “Mr. Turner”
Mark Bridges, “Inherent Vice”

Music – Original Song
“Glory” by Common and John Legend, “Selma”
“Lost Stars” by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood, “Begin Again”
“Everything Is Awesome” by Shawn Patterson, “The LEGO Movie”
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” by Glen Campbell, “Glenn Campbell: I’ll Be Me”
“Grateful,” “Beyond the Lights”

Visual Effects
“Interstellar”
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“Captain America: Winter Soldier”
“X-Men: Days of Future Past”

Documentary Short Subject
“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1”
“Joanna”
“Our Curse”
“White Earth”
“The Reaper”

Documentary Feature
“Citizenfour”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“Virunga”
“The Salt of the Earth”
“Finding Vivian Maier”

Film Editing
Sandra Adair, “Boyhood”
Tom Cross, “Whiplash”
William Goldenberg, “The Imitation Game”
Joel Cox and Gary Roach, “American Sniper”
Barney Pilling, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Sound Editing
“Interstellar”
“Unbroken”
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”

Sound Mixing
Mark Weingarten, “Interstellar”
Thomas Curley, ”Whiplash”
“Unbroken”
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”

Production Design
“Into the Woods”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Interstellar”
“The Imitation Game”
“Mr. Turner”

Short Film – Live Action
“Boogaloo and Graham”
“Aya”
“Butterlamp”
“Parvenah”
“The Phone Call”

Short Film – Animated
“Feast”
“The Bigger Picture”
“A Single Life”
“The Dam Keeper”
“Me and My Moulton”

Animated Feature Film
“Big Hero 6”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“The Boxtrolls”
“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”
“Song of the Sea”

My (admittedly not so knowledgeable) picks*:

*Not who I think should win, but who I think will win.

Best Picture
“Boyhood”

Actress in a Leading Role
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”

Actor in a Leading Role
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”

Directing
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Laura Dern, “Wild”

Actor in a Supporting Role
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Foreign Language Film
“Ida”

Writing – Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Inherent Vice”

Writing – Original Screenplay
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, “Birdman”

Cinematography
Robert D. Yeoman, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Music – Original Score
Hans Zimmer, “Interstellar”

Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Costume Design
Colleen Atwood, “Into the Woods”

Music – Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” by Shawn Patterson, “The LEGO Movie”

Visual Effects
“Interstellar”

Documentary Short Subject
“Our Curse”

Documentary Feature
“Last Days in Vietnam”

Film Editing
Tom Cross, “Whiplash”

Sound Editing
“Interstellar”

Sound Mixing
Mark Weingarten, “Interstellar”

Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Short Film – Live Action
“Aya”

Short Film – Animated
“A Single Life”

Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”

My personal choices, not necessarily my predictions. Waiting until I've seen a few more before I start predicting winners.

Best Picture
“Whiplash”

Actress in a Leading Role
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”

Actor in a Leading Role
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”

Directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Birdman”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”

Actor in a Supporting Role
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Writing – Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Inherent Vice”

Writing – Original Screenplay
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”

Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, “Birdman”

Music – Original Score
Hans Zimmer, “Interstellar”

Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Costume Design
Milena Canonero, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Visual Effects
“Interstellar”

Film Editing
Sandra Adair, “Boyhood”

Sound Editing
“Interstellar”

Sound Mixing
Thomas Curley, ”Whiplash”

Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Simmons can add the Critics Choice Award, which he won last night, to his mantle.

I think Simmons is a shoe in, which I'm perfectly happy with. The supporting categories are both incredibly strong this year. Except from Meryl Streep, who I think they'd nominate even if she stood still for a whole film.

I haven't seen all the films, but I'm fairly certain that Boyhood will get best picture. I've only seen two of those films so far though, and I liked Grand Budapest Hotel better. Boyhood was very well made but I think people rate it too highly. Still at least a 4/5 though.

I've stopped really caring about these awards. I'll always watch them but the outrage I used to feel when a film I like doesn't get recognition is gone. That being said, I'm glad Whiplash has been recognized with five nominations as it's my film of the year. I'm surprised that Gyllenhaal, The Lego Movie, the editing team for Birdman, and the sound mixing team from Fury got shafted...but whatya'gunnado.

So could someone explain to me what distinguishes one sound mixing team versus any other? Like in what way do I enjoy the movie more if the sound mixing is excellent as opposed to competent?

I'd say that sound quality is pretty important in a theatre setting.

It's really only dramatically noticeable in a theatre. Did you ever see Fury or Gravity in theatres? The sound becomes the focal point at times.

To me it's all about immersion. Usually you get really noticeable sound design in action movies. Fury is a good example. There was so much gun fire and tank sounds during the entire movie. The team makes those sounds happen in production. It's as much as an art as special effects is because most of those sounds aren't happening on set. You're not going to notice it much during dramas or basically anything talky. There's just not much to do when the main focus is coming out of the characters mouths.

There are some gems though that aren't action. Wall-E for example is one of the best films to watch for sound. Half the film has no dialogue so the sound team was responsible for every creak and whistle from the robots. In a way, the sound told the story.

This may be on the action side but The Hunt For Red October was also fantastic to listen to.

I don't doubt it, I'm just unaware of how/why - I like movies but I wouldn't say I know much about them.
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

so things more or less turned out the way i thought they would.....i was a little surprised that Boyhood lost best picture....but have to say that Birdman deserved the award just as much

that Sound of Music tribute tore me apart....Lady Gaga did a beautiful and simple tribute to one of my all time favorite movies....and when Julie Andrews came out my face turned into Niagara Falls in July :)

Same here.

That Glory performance wrecked me too, along with half of the folks in the theater.

So happy to see Julianne Moore win. And JK Simmons too.

To be honest I have a lot more respect for Lady Gaga after watching that. It's nice to see her turn off the persona she likes to project and give a genuine performance, without all the unnecessarily flair that she's accustom to. I never really thought of her as a particularity talented vocalist until last night.

Also pretty satisfied with last nights results.

I'm stoked that they opened the show with J.K. Simmons winning Best Supporting Actor, I've been waiting to see that happen. Great to see Whiplash winning 3 Oscars, although I'm very surprised that it beat out Boyhood and Grand Budapest in Film Editing. I was rooting for Birdman for Best Picture (very tough competition this year) so I wasn't too surprised that it won, after all it's a film about the film industry voted upon by the film industry. I love seeing a devotion to practical effects pay off and triumph over CGI (Interstellar). I was surprised that Julianne Moore beat Rosalind Pike in Best Leading Actress but Julianne Moore is a damn good actress anyway, I didn't see the film she was nominated for so I don't know. I was rooting for Michael Keaton as Best Leading Actor but it was pretty obvious that Eddie Redmayne was going to scoop it, and I think he deserved it, regardless of how mediocre the rest of Theory of Everything was. I'm glad Alejandro won Best Director and do believe he deserves it, he gets so much out of his actors and his recent films have been incredible. I can't wait for his upcoming revenge western The Revenant (with Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy).

Onward to 2015.
Incoming Mad Max.
Incoming The Revenant.
Incoming Hateful Eight.

Marion Cotillard got robbed.

Not so sure of that. Moore's been winning the majority of BA awards she's been nominated for.

Still Alice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cotillard was great on the red carpet. She gave a snarky answer to a question about her dress and it was really well said. Love her.

What I find annoying about the Lady Gaga performance is not the fact that she did so well, but how many people are now going to consider themselves "fans from the beginning" even when people have openly admitting to not liking her at all. It's another bandwagon that so many people are going to jump on.

I've always found Lady Gaga to be good, and I've never been afraid to admit it. Her performance at the Oscars was mind blowing and I really hope she furthers her career with a voice like that. She's got a lot of talent. And unlike a lot of people, I actually really like her work with costumes. It makes her unique and willing to go out of the box.

^^^^^

I hang around another forum that's populated with a lot of older stuffed shirts who prior to Sunday would diss the crap out of Gaga - a lot.

They are now all tripping over each other exclaiming how awesome she is. It's like before last Sunday they listened to her with their eyes instead of their ears.

Pretty funny reading.

I think it takes an exceptional artist to pull off a performance like that some weeks and have a vomit artist paint her chest with regurgitated milk other weeks.
Imagine if GG Allin was also an incredibly talented jazz vocalist.

No, I'd rather not. :D

I liked his performance of 'Boop Scop Babbity Boo You Scum'.

I thought the Gaga performance was insanely syrupy and just a bit boring, really. People should be talking about the Common/John Legend performance, which was a triumph.