2015 Oscar Picks and Predictions

Well, the Oscars are tonight and I've tried my hardest to watch as many of the films as humanly possible to give my best guesses at who will win. Check out my picks below!

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

My Pick: Birdman. Such a fantastic film, so original, so beautiful. I absolutely loved it. However, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Selma would have to be tied for second, also great movies. Honestly, its pretty difficult to choose just one of these because there were some very strong contenders this year.
Who I think will win: Birdman. I really think that its most likely. I will be rather surprised if anything else wins. Its a bit different then a classic Oscar winner, but I think it deserves it. 

Best Director
Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Birdman"
Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
Bennett Miller, “Foxcatcher”
Morten Tyldum, "The Imitation Game"

My Pick: Alejandro González Iñárritu. All of these movies were good, but again he just seems like the best choice.
Who I think will win: Probably Richard Linklater. 12 years is a lot of commitment.

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

My Pick: Honestly, the only of these films that I saw was The Theory of Everything and Gone Girl. Of those two choices I'd probably have to go with Rosamund Pike even though I didn't like the film as much, but her performance as really impressive.
Who I think will win: Julianne Moore probably, although she hasn't won yet so you never know.

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

My Pick: Michael Keaton or Eddie Redmayne. Definitely the best performance I've ever seen from Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne was really good.
Who I think will win: Really hard to say. Probably Michael Keaton.

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

My Pick: Emma Stone.
Who I think will win: Patricia Arquette

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, "The Judge"
Ethan Hawke, "Boyhood"
Edward Norton, "Birdman"
Mark Ruffalo, "Foxcatcher"
J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"

My Pick: J.K. Simmons was fantastic in Whiplash.
Who I think will win: J.K. Simmons

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

My Pick: The Imitation Game. A really touching and important story.
Who I think will win: Whiplash

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

My Pick: Birdman
Who I think will win: Birdman

Best Documentary Feature
"CITIZENFOUR"
“Finding Vivian Maier”
"Last Days in Vietnam"
“The Salt in the Earth”
"Virunga”

My Pick: I only saw CITIZENFOUR and Finding Vivian Maier and really enjoyed both.  
Who I think will win: Hard to say, I don't know if they will want the controversy that goes with CITIZENFOUR. Maybe Last Days in Vietnam.

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

My Pick: I loved How to Train Your Dragon 2 so that is definitely my choice.
Who I think will win: I did not see any of the others so I really can't say.

Film Editing
"American Sniper"
"Boyhood"
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
"The Imitation Game"
"Whiplash"

My Pick: Whiplash. 
Who I think will win: Whiplash?

Best Song
"Everything is Awesome" from "The LEGO Movie" (written by Shawn Patterson)
"Glory" from "Selma" (written by Common and John Legend)
"Grateful" from "Beyond the Lights" (written by Diane Warren)
"I’m Not Gonna Miss You" from "Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me" (written by Glen Campbell)
"Lost Stars" from "Begin Again" (written by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood)

My Pick: Hopefully "Glory" because Selma deserves at least one award and it is only nominated in 2 categories.
Who I think will win: Probably Glory.

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

My Pick: I didn't find any of them particularly memorable but maybe The Imitation Game?
Who I think will win: If Alexandre Desplat was nominated twice, dude deserves to win for at least one of them.

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

My Pick: Birdman. Definitely Birdman. So cool.
Who I think will win: Hopefully Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman.

Best Costume Design
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
“Inherent Vice”
"Into the Woods"
"Maleficent" 
"Mr. Turner"

My Pick: I didn't see Maleficent but the only reason why I want to is for the costume and make up so that is my pick.
Who I think will win: Hard to say I only saw The Grand Budapest Hotel so I'm not really familiar with the costumes.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
"Foxcatcher"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"

My Pick: Guardians of the Galaxy. When I left the theatre I wanted to be green. 
Who I think will win: Guardians of the Galaxy?

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

My Pick: Its a tie for me between Interstellar and The Grand Budapest Hotel because clearly it takes a lot of effort to transform a set or green screen into space, but I adored the entire design of TGBH, so memorable.
Who I think will win: Interstellar

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

My Pick: This might be the first category where I've seen all of the nominated films! I'll say Dawn of the Planet of the Apes because making apes look that life-like must have taken a lot of work.
Who I think will win: Interstellar or Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.