Oscar Picks 2015!

Let's spin the roulette wheel and see how many I get this time... Best Picture: As much as I loved Selma and The Grand Budapest Hotel, and I really want to see Whiplash, this seems to be a race between Boyhood and Birdman (now making a move for first on the last lap. Let's go with Boyhood.

Best Director: Everyone seems to appreciate what Richard Linklater was trying to do with Boyhood, whether they liked it or not. Yeah. Sounds good.

Best Actor: Again, a two horse race between Birdman's Michael Keaton and The Theory of Everything's Eddie Redmayne. Established actor who should've gotten something before now? Or the young up and comer who did a great performance? Let's say Eddie Redmayne.*

Best Actress: Julianne Moore. I don't think there's too much dispute about this.*

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash. Or this one.*

Best Supporting Actress: I've heard a lot of good things about Patricia Arquette in Boyhood. Let's go with her.*

Best Animated Film: OKAY, ACADEMY, HOW THE FRAK DID YOU NOT NOMINATE THE LEGO MOVIE??? THERE WASN'T EVEN A HALF-ASSED WAY TO DISQUALIFY IT!!! IT WASN'T EVEN FRAKKING NOMINATED!!! Sigh. Without it there, I'll say Big Hero 6. [ref] Which totally holds up, even if you haven't seen Big Heroes 1-5. [/ref]*

Best Cinematography: I was going to say Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman, but he won last year. I loved the colors in The Grand Budapest Hotel, but I don't see it winning. Has Roger Deakins won yet? No? Emmanuel Lubezki and Birdman it is, then.*

Best Costume Design: Into The Woods.

Best Documentary Feature: This is going to Citizenfour. The NSA will see to it, I'm sure.*

Best Documentary Short: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1. Because it sounds like it's got a pressing social issue angle.*

Best Editing: I'll say Boyhood. The media management on a shoot that lasts years must've been a nightmare.

Best Foreign Film: I think Ida is nominated in another category, but I think I've heard the most about Leviathan, from Russia.

Best Hair and Makeup: I really want to see Grand Budapest Hotel get this. Foxcatcher might get a bone for helping Steve Carell. But Guardians of the Galaxy had all those aliens.

Best Original Score: Here you go, The Grand Budapest Hotel. Another win for Alexandre Desplat.*

Best Original Song: I think Selma gets a bone for "Glory." Unless The Lego Movie pulls of a tremendous upset...*

Best Production Design: Into The Woods again.

Best Animated Short: Your guess is as good as mine. A Single Life.

Best Live Action Short: Shrug. Boogaloo and Graham.

Best Sound Editing: These technical categories are where I always get tripped up. I think it's Interstellar.

Best Sound Mixing: It could be Interstellar again. Or Birdman. But Whiplash has music on top of everything else.*

Best Visual Effects: This is Interstellar. The Academy wants to feel like it's voting for something more high-brow than X-Men.*

Best Adapted Screenplay: I think it'll be either Theory of Everything or The Imitation Game. Theory of Everything. Update: So close!

Best Original Screenplay: Grimace. Gnashing of teeth. I think Birdman gets this one.*

Update: Ehh, 13/24 ain't bad.