It’s time to wrap up this awards season right.
After a short blogging break last week as I was being held hostage by that bug that’s been bouncing around NYC (I don’t recommend), the viral pest of an unwelcome guest has left the building just in time for the grand finale of awards season. Yup, we’re only four days away from ‘the big one’: the Oscars (and, subsequently, my annual soiree that I’m still in the throes of pulling together as I write).
It’s been a solid though not banner year for movies, with indies leading the pack since the outset of the derby and continuing to blaze the trail as we gallop towards the finish line. The season has been punctuated by hotly debated scandals (everything about American Sniper, the historical accuracy of Selma, the was-it-a-copycat theories surrounding Boyhood) and unexpected surprises (Eddie Redmayne’s surge to the front, the guilds largely backing Birdman over Boyhood), which has made the final reveal of the Oscar winners all the more exciting given the high potential for a few big upsets. When you add these anticipation-spiking factors with the variable of typical Hollywood politics, all things tangible and not will play a role in how Academy members fill-out their final ballots. (Wait, did you really think most of that gang of movie-makers bases their vote solely on what’s most deserving? Oh dear, sweet lamb.)
Since hedging bets on who the actual winners will be with any sort of scientific accuracy is a fool’s game (and I ain’t no movie-loving fool), I’m going to pass on that this year and pick my favorites. This has gotten me in trouble with my pool before—I’m still burnt over Naomi Watts not winning for The Impossible, and by way of that losing my own party’s pot o’ cash, bokay?!—but I’m a lead-with-the-heart kind of guy, so let’s do it.
Here are my take-’em-or-leave-’em predictions in every category(-ish)*:
Best Picture
My pick: Birdman
Birdman was my favorite movie of the year—the most innovative, artistic and entertaining of the bunch. Boyhood was very solid, but its concept and performances are greater than the overlong whole. The Grand Budapest Hotel is my spoiler pick, and there’s a lot of love for it in the Academy, so don’t count it out.
Best Director
My pick: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
This is where the Academy will rightfully honor Boyhood as a film. Great, never been done before work that broke the template and required more commitment and patience from Linklater than most of Hollywood could ever dream of mustering.
Best Actor
My pick: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Michael Keaton is very deserving here as well, but what Eddie achieved in his film playing a living legend was astonishingly, utterly transformative. He’s taken every other acting prize this season, and I don’t foresee him stopping now.
Best Actress
My pick: Julianne Moore
Two words: Finally. Unbeatable.
Best Supporting Actor
My pick: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
J.K. was an absolute animal in this movie, while bringing deceptive depth and dimension where it was needed. Done deal.
Best Supporting Actress
My pick: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
The single moment from Boyhood that’s stayed with me months after seeing it comes at the end, when Patricia, sitting at the table talking to her son, says, ‘I just thought there would be more.’ You don’t need to have children to understand what she means about life, time and both the speed and weight of it all. A beautifully measured performance.
Best Adapted Screenplay
My pick: The Theory of Everything
The movie flowed seamlessly from scene to scene, spanning years with a beautiful ease of storytelling. The framework and narrative devices were equally as effective without overtaking the power of an already gut-punching story. Good stuff.
Best Original Screenplay
My pick: Birdman
The smartest, most original—and yes, strangest—work of the year. The Grand Budapest Hotel, however, is hot on its feathery tail.
Best Cinematography
My pick: Birdman
Those long, uninterrupted shots? Framing the fusion of fantasy and reality? The sheer traversing of every corner of an actual Broadway house? No contest.
Best Costume Design
My pick: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The costumes were as integral to bringing the film to life as the actors who wore them. They’ve been an omnipresent visual cue in entertainment throughout the season (down to a nod in Pharrell’s performance on the Grammys), and will get their deserved recognition.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
My pick: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Two words: Tilda Swinton. Her beyond-elderly-to-ancient look was flawless. Steve Carrell’s transformation with a prosthetic nose in Foxcatcher could allow that film to slide in, but I doubt it.
Best Documentary Feature
My pick: CitizenFour
The most current, relevant, important and dangerous film of the bunch—everything a winning docu should be.
Best Film Editing
My pick: Whiplash
The way this film was edited was, in a word, unreal. Whiplash was the most visceral movie-going experience I had all year, due in very large part to the pace and tension created by its cutter.
Best Original Score
My pick: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Like the costumes, the film’s score became a central character that drove its signature madcap pacing and undeniable comedic energy.
Best Original Song
My pick: Glory, from Selma
It’s the most popular song of the batch, and both stirringly and effectively performed. Glen Campbell could spoil with quality and sentiment on his side (his tune won a Grammy a few weeks back), but I’m going with the Selma crew.
Best Production Design
My pick: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The team here created a singular world at once totally recognizable as being inhabited by Wes Anderson yet unlike anything we’ve ever seen. It was big, it was beautiful and it was inventive—everything a film’s set and scenery should be.
Best Sound Editing
My pick: American Sniper
War films are often the most difficult to edit, as so much occurs in the post-production bay. These guys really did their job.
Best Sound Mixing
My pick: Whiplash
Capturing the film’s barely-lets-up percussive wails was a gargantuan task, and the team here didn’t miss a beat (ba-dum-bum).
*Ok, not every category. Without having seen any of the nominees in Animated Film, Documentary Short, Foreign Language Film, Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film or Visual Effects, I decided not to waste your time (or mine) making completely uneducated guesses. You’re welcome.
Awards season officially comes to a close with the Oscars, airing live on ABC this Sunday at 8:30pm EST.