Hosts Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) and Kumail Nanjiani (Portlandia, Silicon Valley) began their opening monologue with some awkward moments, but the duo quickly warmed up and landed some pretty good zingers, like making up a new category for Worst Editing; poking fun of the title of A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.

The Spirit Awards began with a nice surprise with its first winner, revealing (a very deserving) Idris Elba winning for Best Supporting Male (beating out Paul Dano and others) in Beasts of No Nation. Which is interesting considering how much time the hosts spent discussing Elba in their opening bit, given him more attention than most other acting nominees. Following that coincidence was another, the second award of the night was given to Emma Donoghue for Best First Screenplay for her work in Room, which just happen to be presented by the adorable co-star of that film, Jacob Tremblay.

The big winner of this year’s Spirit Awards was Spotlight, winning four categories (Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, the Robert Altman Award). Other significant winners were Beasts of No Nation for winning two acting awards (Best Male and Supporting Male), Carol earning Best Cinematography, and Mya Taylor (Tangerine) becoming the first transgender talent to win a Spirit Award.

See the full list of Spirit Award winners down below.

2016 Independent Spirit Award Winners

(Winners are highlighted in red bolded font)

Best Feature:

Anomalisa
Beasts of No Nation
Carol
Spotlight
Tangerine

Best Director:

Sean Baker – Tangerine
Cary Joji Fukunaga – Beasts of No Nation
Todd Haynes – Carol
Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson – Anomalisa
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
David Robert Mitchell – It Follows

Best Male Lead:

Christopher Abbott – James White
Abraham Attah – Beasts of No Nation
Ben Mendelsohn – Mississippi Grind
Jason Segel – The End of the Tour
Koudous Seihon – Mediterranea

Best Female Lead:

Cate Blanchett – Carol
Brie Larson – Room
Rooney Mara – Carol
Bel Powley – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez- Tangerine

Best Supporting Male:

Kevin Corrigan – Results
Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
Idris Elba – Beasts of No Nation
Richard Jenkins – Bone Tomahawk
Michael Shannon – 99 Homes

Best Supporting Female:

Robin Bartlett – H.
Marin Ireland – Glass Chin
Jennifer Jason Leigh – Anomalisa
Cynthia Nixon – James White
Mya Taylor – Tangerine

Best Screenplay:

Charlie Kaufman – Anomalisa
Donald Margulies – The End of the Tour
Phyllis Nagy – Carol
Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer – Spotlight
S. Craig Zahler – Bone Tomahawk

Best First Feature:

The Diary of a Teenage Girl
James White
Manos Sucia
Mediterranea
Songs My Brothers Taught Me

Best First Screenplay:

Jesse Andrews – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jonas Carpignano – Mediterranea
Emma Donoghue – Room
Marielle Heller – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
John Magary, Russell Harbaugh, Myna Josep – The Mend

Best Cinematography:

Cary Joji Fukunaga – Beasts of No Nation
Ed Lachman – Carol
Joshua James Richards – Songs My Brothers Taught Me
Michael Gioulakis – It Follows
Reed Morano – Meadowland

Best International Film: (Award given to the director)

Embrace of the Serpent
Girlhood
Mustang
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
Son of Saul

Best Documentary:

Best of Enemies
Heart of a Dog
The Look of Silence
Meru
The Russian Woodpecker
(T)ERROR

Best Editing:

Beasts of No Nation
Heaven Knows What
It Follows
Room
Spotlight

John Cassavetes Award: (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

Advantageous
Christmas, Again
Heaven Knows What
Krisha
Out of My Hand

Well, we’ve finally got our wishes. For the first time in 5 years or so, the Oscars race seems fairly unpredictable. It’s been interesting to watch the so-called “front-runners” change throughout the year, starting with Carol earning strong buzz from Cannes and melting all the critics hearts. But when Tom McCarthy‘s Spotlight hit Telluride and Toronto festivals, the tidal shifted to a new standout. It wasn’t until very end of the year that another serious contender emerged, last year’s Oscar winner Alejandro G. Inarritu for The Revenant. And while the hands on favorite to win Best Picture this year is The Revenant (after wins from the Golden Globes, BAFTA, and DGA), it’s by no means a lock. There’s even been a slight surge from Adam McKay‘s housing market collapse film The Big Short, which shakes up the competition even more. Aside from a few categories, this year’s Oscar winners are difficult to predict and because of it should be entertaining to see who walks away with a golden statue.

Watch the 88th Academy Awards on Feb. 28th live at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PST on ABC.

2016 Oscar Predictions

Best Picture:

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Director

Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Actress in a Supporting Role

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Originial Screenplay

Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room

Best Animated Feature

Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun The Sheep
When Marnie Was There

Best Foreign Language Film

Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
A War

Best Documentary

Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

Best Cinematography

Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Hateful Eight
The Revenant
Sicario

Visual Effects

Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Film Editing

The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Production Design

Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant

Best Costume Design

Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

Best Original Score

Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Song

“Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey
“Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction
“Simple Song No. 3” from Youth
“Til It Happens To You” from The Hunting Ground
“Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Mad Max Fury Road
The 100-Year Old Men Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared
The Revenant

Achievement in Sound Mixing

Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Achievement in Sound Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Live Action Short Film

Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Stutterer

Best Documentary Short Subject

Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom

Best Animated Short Film

Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow

In a week where the Golden Globes proved once again how much of a navel gazing joke and an obvious excuse for televised drunkenness it is, one has to look at this morning’s freshly announced Academy Award nominations and hope Academy voters will renew a little faith in the practice of picking out the best and brightest of the year in cinema.

The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road—both a bit more action-oriented than we’re used to seeing in Oscar forerunners—were the favorites with 12 and 10 nominations given to the two films respectively. And if suffering for your art earns you an Oscar these days, Leonardo DiCaprio might just finally take home a little gold dude. Fifth time’s the charm, Leo!

This year we have eight films vying for Best Picture and not a single person of color nominated in a lead or supporting role, which likely has more to do with the lack of diverse films being greenlit and less to do with biased voters, but still an unfortunate truth. Those who so dutifully championed Tangerine this past year are likely feeling the sting of rejection.

Despite nabbing Lead and Supporting nominations, Carol was shut out of the Best Picture and Best Director categories. Ridley Scott was also noticeably absent from the Best Director list for The Martian (which, in case there’s been confusion, is NOT a comedy). Quentin Tarantino might also be feeling a bit overlooked this morning, with only three nominations for The Hateful Eight, but, at least, one is for cinematography, supporting Tarantino’s decision to shoot on 70mm. Star Wars: The Force Awakens asserts itself plenty in technical categories, another unsurprising feat for this box office behemoth.

All in all, it’s not an especially unpredictable list of nominations, but the real fun comes in guessing the winners. The 88th Academy Awards will be held on Feb. 28th and will air at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PST on ABC. Check back for our continued 2016 Academy Awards coverage and read on for the full list of nominees.

List of 2016 Oscar Nominations

Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent, Colombia
Mustang, France
Son of Saul, Hungary
Theeb, Jordan
A War,Denmark

Best Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun The Sheep
When Marnie Was There

Best Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room

Best Documentary
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant

Best Original Score
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Song
“Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey
“Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction
“Simple Song No. 3” from Youth
“Til It Happens To You” from The Hunting Ground
“Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Mad Max Fury Road
The 100-Year Old Men Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared
The Revenant

Best Cinematography
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Hateful Eight
The Revenant
Sicario

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Achievement in Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Costume Design
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

Best Live Action Short Film
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Stutterer

Best Documentary Short Subject
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom

Best Animated Short Film
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow

As the Award Season is heating up, we’re beginning to see which films are clear favorites among critics and the industry. Certainly one of the frontrunners this year is Todd Haynes‘ Carol, which hauled in the most nominations this year for the Golden Globes, with a total of five. But Carol leading the noms isn’t exactly a surprise, the film has accumulated a ton of praise ever since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. What is shocking is the four nominations for Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s The Revenant, which received underwhelming reactions from critics so far. Though Iñárritu is no stranger to the Golden Globes, last year he led the race with seven nominations for Birdman. Other strong contenders this year are Danny Boyle‘s biopic Steve Jobs and Tom McCarthy‘s newsroom drama Spotlight.

2016 Golden Globe Nominations

FILM

Best Motion Picture, Drama
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Motion Picture, Comedy
The Big Short
Joy
The Martian
Spy
Trainwreck

Best Director – Motion Picture
Todd Haynes, Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
George Miller, Mad Max
Ridley Scott, The Martian

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Rooney Mara, Carol
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Melissa McCarthy, Spy

Amy Schumer, Trainwreck


Maggie Smith, Lady in the Van

Lily Tomlin, Grandma

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Jane Fonda, Youth
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Helen Mirren, Trumbo
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Will Smith, Concussion

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Steve Carell, The Big Short
Matt Damon, The Martian
Al Pacino, Danny Collins
Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Emma Donoghue, Room
Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight
Charles Randolph, Adam McKay, The Big Short
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa

The Good Dinosaur

Inside Out

The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Original Song
"Love Me Like You Do" 50 Shades of Grey
"One Kind of Love" Love and Mercy
"See You Again" Furious 7
"Simple Song No. 3" Youth
"Writing's on the Wall" Spectre

Best Original Score
Carter Burwell, Carol
Alexandre Desplat, The Danish Girl
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs
Ryuichi Sakamoto Alva Noto, The Revenant

Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language
The Brand New Testament
The Club
The Fencer
Mustang
Son of Saul

TELEVISION

Best TV Series, Drama

Empire
Game of Thrones
Mr. Robot
Narcos
Outlander

Best TV Series, Comedy
Casual
Mozart in the Jungle
Orange Is the New Black
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Veep

Best TV Movie or Limited-Series
American Crime
American Horror Story: Hotel
Fargo
Flesh and Bone
Wolf Hall

Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Wagner Moura, Narcos
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan

Best Actress in a TV Series, Drama
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Eva Green, Penny Dreadful
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Robin Wright, House of Cards

Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy
Aziz Ansari, Master of None
Gael Garcia Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Rob Lowe, The Grinder
Patrick Stewart, Blunt Talk
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex Girlfriend
Jamie Lee Curtis, Scream Queens
Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Lilly Tomlin, Grace & Frankie

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Limited-Series, or TV Movie
Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Regina King, American Crime
Judith Light, Transparent
Maura Tierney, The Affair

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited-Series or TV Movie
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Tobias Menzies, Outlander
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot

Best Actor in a Limited-Series or TV Movie
Idris Elba, Luther
Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
Patrick Wilson, Fargo

Best Actress in a Limited-Series or TV Movie
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo
Lady Gaga, American Horror Story: Hotel
Sarah Hay, Flesh & Bone
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Queen Latifah, Bessie

Deemed one of the “scariest Film Festivals” around, The Stanley Film Festival announced its award winners the 4 day horror retreat. The festival takes place every year at the haunted The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, the property which inspired Stephen King to write The Shining, and is produced by the Denver Film Society. This year The Stanley Film Festival lineup included over 20 feature films, 6 classic titles, and 18 shorts. Winner of the Audience Award this year went to Todd Strauss-Schulson’s The Final Girls, a horror film about a group of friends that find themselves trapped in an ’80s slasher flick. Check out the rest of the winners below.

2015 Stanley Film Festival Award Winners

Audience Award for Feature Film
The Final Girls, Todd Strauss-Schulson

Audience Award & Jury Award for Short Film
The Babysitter Murders, Ryan Spindell

Stanley Dean’s Cup Colorado Prize
Moon Studios, Merritt Crocker

Stanley Dean’s Cup International Prize
Inherent Noise, Karol Jurga

Visionary Award
Tom Quinn, co-president of RADiUS

2015 Stanley Film Festival Master of Horror Award
Stuart Gordon

If the BAFTA’s are a sign of what’s going to happen at the Oscars then fans of Boyhood have a lot to look forward to. It may of not of swept the board but it took home the two biggest awards of the night winning best film with best director also going to Richard Linklater. Patricia Arquette also throughly deserves the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. Her performance grounded Boyhood giving it the emotional backbone that held the multiple strands of its story together.

Read: Full List of 2015 BAFTA Winners

I predicted that The Theory of Everything would win best film but whilst it may have missed out on that award it went on to take Outstanding British Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and Eddie Redmayne (who else was going to win it) picked up the BAFTA for Best Actor. With Steven Hawking in the audience the awards for The Theory of Everything also gave the academy to excuse to celebrate a British Icon. It was also stronger film than The Imitation Game and deserved to win the battle of the biopics.

It would have been a travesty had J.K. Simmons not one Best Supporting Actor for his performance and thankfully there was no disappointments on that front. Whiplash also went on to win Best Editing which was well deserved, if surprising to me, along with the more predictable Best Sound award.

There clearly is a lot of love in the UK for The Grand Budapest Hotel and it was one of the most successful films of the night. Wes Anderson’s film won a whole host of awards including Production Design, Costume Design, Best Original Music and Screenplay. Those of you who read Way Too Indie’s 2014 Best of the Year feature will know I am a big fan of the film and it was pleasant surprise to see the film walk away with so many awards. Losing out to The Grand Budapest Hotel marked a disappointing night for Birdman. The fact that it only picked up best Cinematography and may lead to some to predict that it will lose out to Boyhood at the Oscars.

Read: Our 2015 BAFTA Predictions

Elsewhere Ida was a predictable winner for best Foreign Language film, even if I felt that the academy might go for Leviathan. Coming from Nottingham myself I was proud to see Jack O’Connell win the Rising Star Ward and referencing the Television Workshop in the city as a key to his success. Although I was disappointed however to see 71’, starring O’Connell miss out on best debut film. However, given the success of the film director Yann Demange will hopefully have more opportunities to win awards in the future.

The BAFTA’s as it always has been was a rather tame awards ceremony. Stephen Fry was on auto-pilot and his jokes were painfully bad. It left you wondering whether the awards could do with a new presenter to liven the show, especially considering Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s performance at the Golden Globes. The highlight of the night came from Mike Leigh who came to collect BAFTA Fellowship award and gave a brilliant speech on the importance of independent film. Leigh thanked those who had financed his films throughout his career. Yet, with his typical dry sense of humour, he also thanked those who had not describing them as ‘boneheads, Philistines and skinflints’, who could all ‘rot in hell’. Celebrating such an influential British director is what the BAFTA’s is all about and it almost made up for Mr. Turner picking up no awards at the ceremony.

It’s music’s biggest night of the year. Whether you watch for the performances, the outfits, or the awards there is always plenty to be entertained by during The Grammys.

Stay tuned here for winners as they are announced.

Album of the Year

Morning Phase – Beck
Beyonce – Beyonce
x – Ed Sheeran
In the Lonely Hour– Sam Smith
Girl – Pharrell Williams

Record of the Year

“Fancy” – Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli XCX
“Chandelier” – Sia
“Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)” – Sam Smith
“Shake It Off” – Taylor Swift
“All About That Bass” – Meghan Trainor

Best New Artist

Bastille
Iggy Azalea
Brandy Clark
Haim
Sam Smith

Song of the Year

“Chandelier” – Sia
“All About That Bass” – Meghan Trainor
“Shake It Off” – Taylor Swift
“Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)” – Sam Smith
“Take Me to Church” – Hozier

Best Rap Album

The New Classic – Iggy Azalea
Because the Internet – Childish Gambino
Nobody’s Smiling – Common
The Marshall Mathers LP2 – Eminem
Oxymoron – ScHoolboy Q
Blacc Hollywood – Wiz Khalifa

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

“Fancy” – Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX
“A Sky Full of Stars” – Coldplay
“Say Something” – A Great Big World ft. Christina Aguilera
“Bang Bang” – Ariana Grande, Jessie J & Nicki Minaj
“Dark Horse” – Katy Perry ft. Juicy J

Best Rap Performance

“3005” – Childish Gambino
“0 to 100/The Catch Up” – Drake
“Rap God” – Eminem
“i” – Kendrick Lamar
“All I Need Is You” – Lecrae

Best Alternative Music Album

This Is All Yours – alt-J
Reflektor – Arcade Fire
Melophobia – Cage the Elephant
St. Vincent – St. Vincent
Lazaretto – Jack White

Best Rock Album

Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
Morning Phase – Beck
Turn Blue – The Black Keys
Hypnotic Eye – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Songs of Innocence – U2

Best Rock Song

“Ain’t It Fun” – Paramore
“Blue Moon” – Beck
“Fever” – The Black Keys
“Gimme Something Good” – Ryan Adams
“Lazaretto” – Jack White

Best Country Album

Riser – Dierks Bentley
The Outsiders – Eric Church
The Way I’m Livin’ – Lee Ann Womack
12 Stories – Brandy Clark
Platinum – Miranda Lambert

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

“Blak Majik” – Common ft. Jhené Aiko
“The Monster” – Eminem ft. Rihanna
“Tuesday” – I Love Makonnen ft. Drake
“Studio” – ScHoolboy Q ft. BJ The Chicago Kid
“Bound 2” – Kanye West & Charlie Wilson

Best Rap Song

“Anaconda” – Nicki Minaj
“Bound 2” – Kanye West & Charlie Wilson
“i” – Kendrick Lamar
“We Dem Boyz” – Wiz Khalifa
“0 to 100/The Catch Up” – Drake

Best Country Song

“American Kids” – Kenny Chesney
“Automatic” – Miranda Lambert
“Give Me Back My Hometown” – Eric Church
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell
“Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” – Tim McGraw ft. Faith Hill

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

“Gentle On My Mind” – The Band Perry
“Somethin’ Bad” – Miranda Lambert with Carrie Underwood
“Day Drinking” – Little Big Town
“Meanwhile Back At Mama’s” – Tim McGraw ft. Faith Hill
“Raise ‘Em Up” – Keith Urban ft. Eric Church

Best Country Solo Performance

“Give Me Me Back My Hometown” – Eric Church
“Invisible” – Hunter Hayes
“Automatic” – Miranda Lambert
“Something In the Water” – Carrie Underwood
“Cop Car” – Keith Urban

Best Pop Vocal Album

Ghost Stories – Coldplay
Bangerz – Miley Cyrus
My Everything – Ariana Grande
Prism – Katy Perry
x – Ed Sheeran
In the Lonely Hour – Sam Smith

Best Urban Contemporary Album

Sail Out – Jhene Aiko
Beyonce – Beyonce
X – Chris Brown
Mali Is – Mali Music
G I R L – Pharrell Williams

Best Dance/Electronic Album

Syro – Aphex Twin
While (1<2) – Deadmau5
Nabuma Rubberband – Little Dragon
Do It Again – Röyksopp & Robyn
Damage Control – Mat Zo

Best Dance Recording

“Never Say Never” – Basement Jaxx
“Rather Be” – Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne
“F for You” – Disclosure ft. Mary J. Blige
“I Got U” – Duke Dumont ft. Jax Jones
“Faded” – Zhu

Best Latin Pop Album

Tangos – Ruben Blades
Elypse – Camila
Raiz – Lila Downs, Niña Pastori & Soledad Pastorutti
Loco de Amor – Juanes
Gracias Por Estar Aqui – Marco Antonio Solis

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media

American Hustle
Guardians of the Galaxy
Frozen
Get On Up: The James Brown Story
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Music Video

“We Exist” – Arcade Fire
“Turn Down for What” – DJ Snake & Lil Jon
“Chandelier” – Sia
“Happy” – Pharrell Williams
“The Golden Age” – Woodkid ft. Max Richter

Best Music Film

Beyoncé & Jay Z: On The Run Tour – Beyoncé & Jay Z
Ghost Stories – Coldplay
20 Feet From Stardom – Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill
Metallica: Through The Never – Metallica
The Truth About Love Tour: Live From Melbourne – Pink

Best Pop Solo Performance

“All of Me” – John Legend
“Chandelier” – Sia
“Stay With Me” – Sam Smith
“Shake It Off” – Taylor Swift
“Happy” – Pharrell Williams

Best Reggae Album

Fly Rasta – Ziggy Marley
Back on the Controls – Lee “Scratch” Perry
Full Frequency – Sean Paul
Out of Many, One Music – Shaggy
The Reggae Power – Sly & Robbie & Spicy Chocolate
Amid the Noise and the Haste – Soja

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Cheek to Cheek – Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett
Sending You a Little Christmas – Johnny Mathis
Nostalgia – Annie Lennox
Partners – Barbra Streisand
Night Songs – Barry Manilow

Best Americana Album

The River & The Thread – Rosanne Cash
Terms of My Surrener – John Hiatt
Bluesamericana – Keb’ Mo’
A Dotted Line – Nickel Creek
Metamodern Sounds in Country Music – Sturgill Simpson

Best Spoken Word Album

Actors Anonymous – James Franco
A Call to Action – Jimmy Carter
Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America – John Waters
A Fighting Chance – Elizabeth Warren
Diary of a Mad Diva – Joan Rivers
We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration and the Power of Song – Gloria Gaynor

Best Gospel Album

Help – Erica Campbell
Amazing – Ricky Dillard & New G
Withholding Nothing: Live – William McDowell
Forever Yours – Smokie Norful
Vintage Worship – Anita Wilson

Best Rock Performance

“Gimme Something Good” – Ryan Adams
“Do I Wanna Know?” – Arctic Monkeys
“Blue Moon” – Beck
“Fever” – The Black Keys
“Lazaretto” – Jack White

Best Metal Performance

“Neon Knights” – Anthrax
“High Road” – Mastodon
“Heartbreaker” – Motörhead
“The Negative One” – Slipknot
“The Last In Line” – Tenacious D

Best R&B Performance

“Drunk In Love” – Beyoncé ft. Jay Z
“New Flame” – Chris Brown ft. Usher & Rick Ross
“It’s Your World” – Jennifer Hudson ft. R. Kelly
“Like This” – Ledisi
“Good Kisser” – Usher

Best R&B Song

“Drunk In Love” – Beyonce ft. Jay Z
“Good Kisser” – Usher
“New Flame” – Chris Brown ft. Usher & Rick Ross
“Options (Wolfjames Version)” – Luke James ft. Rick Ross
“The Worst” – Jhené Aiko

Best R&B Album

Islander – Bernhoft
Lift Your Spirit – Aloe Blacc
Love, Marriage & Divorce – Toni Braxton & Babyface
Black Radio 2 – Robert Glasper Experiment
Give The People What They Want – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

At today’s British Academy Film Awards there were some expected wins (Boyhood) and some unexpected overhauls (The Grand Budapest Hotel), while one Oscar snub got their comeuppance (The Lego Movie). The Brits gave love to their own by bequeathing a couple of awards on The Theory of Everything, while The Imitation Game went home empty-handed. Stephen Hawking, himself, even made an appearance handing out the award for Visual Effects to a standing ovation.

Nothing too surprising, but a few satisfactory awards to those who will likely not find gold come February 22nd at the Oscars.

BEST FILM

BIRDMAN
BOYHOOD
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
THE IMITATION GAME
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

’71 Yann Demange, Angus Lamont, Robin Gutch, Gregory Burke
THE IMITATION GAME Morten Tyldum, Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman, Graham Moore
PADDINGTON Paul King, David Heyman
PRIDE Matthew Warchus, David Livingstone, Stephen Beresford
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING James Marsh, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten
UNDER THE SKIN Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Nick Wechsler, Walter Campbell

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

ELAINE CONSTANTINE (Writer/Director) Northern Soul
GREGORY BURKE (Writer), YANN DEMANGE (Director) ’71
HONG KHAOU (Writer/Director) Lilting
PAUL KATIS (Director/Producer), ANDREW DE LOTBINIÈRE (Producer) Kajaki: The True Story
STEPHEN BERESFORD (Writer), DAVID LIVINGSTONE (Producer) Pride

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

IDA
LEVIATHAN
THE LUNCHBOX
TRASH
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

DOCUMENTARY

20 FEET FROM STARDOM
20,000 DAYS ON EARTH
CITIZENFOUR
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER
VIRUNGA

ANIMATED FILM

BIG HERO 6 Don Hall, Chris Williams
THE BOXTROLLS Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable
THE LEGO MOVIE Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

DIRECTOR

BIRDMAN Alejandro G. Iñárritu
BOYHOOD Richard Linklater
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Wes Anderson
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING James Marsh
WHIPLASH Damien Chazelle

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BIRDMAN Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
BOYHOOD Richard Linklater
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Wes Anderson
NIGHTCRAWLER Dan Gilroy
WHIPLASH Damien Chazelle

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

AMERICAN SNIPER Jason Hall
GONE GIRL Gillian Flynn
THE IMITATION GAME Graham Moore
PADDINGTON Paul King
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Anthony McCarten

LEADING ACTOR

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH The Imitation Game
EDDIE REDMAYNE The Theory of Everything
JAKE GYLLENHAAL Nightcrawler
MICHAEL KEATON Birdman
RALPH FIENNES The Grand Budapest Hotel

LEADING ACTRESS

AMY ADAMS Big Eyes
FELICITY JONES The Theory of Everything
JULIANNE MOORE Still Alice
REESE WITHERSPOON Wild
ROSAMUND PIKE Gone Girl

SUPPORTING ACTOR

EDWARD NORTON Birdman
ETHAN HAWKE Boyhood
J.K. SIMMONS Whiplash
MARK RUFFALO Foxcatcher
STEVE CARELL Foxcatcher

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

EMMA STONE Birdman
IMELDA STAUNTON Pride
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY The Imitation Game
PATRICIA ARQUETTE Boyhood
RENE RUSSO Nightcrawler

ORIGINAL MUSIC

BIRDMAN Antonio Sanchez
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Alexandre Desplat
INTERSTELLAR Hans Zimmer
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jóhann Jóhannsson
UNDER THE SKIN Mica Levi

CINEMATOGRAPHY

BIRDMAN Emmanuel Lubezki
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Robert Yeoman
IDA Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski
INTERSTELLAR Hoyte van Hoytema
MR. TURNER Dick Pope

EDITING

BIRDMAN Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Barney Pilling
THE IMITATION GAME William Goldenberg
NIGHTCRAWLER John Gilroy
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jinx Godfrey
WHIPLASH Tom Cross

PRODUCTION DESIGN

BIG EYES Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
THE IMITATION GAME Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
INTERSTELLAR Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
MR. TURNER Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

COSTUME DESIGN

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Milena Canonero
THE IMITATION GAME Sammy Sheldon Differ
INTO THE WOODS Colleen Atwood
MR. TURNER Jacqueline Durran
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Steven Noble

MAKE UP & HAIR

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Frances Hannon
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
INTO THE WOODS  Peter Swords King, J. Roy Helland
MR. TURNER Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jan Sewell

SOUND

AMERICAN SNIPER Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
BIRDMAN Thomas Varga, Martin Hernández, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
THE IMITATION GAME John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen
WHIPLASH Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas Aithadi
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
INTERSTELLAR Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD

GUGU MBATHA-RAW
JACK O’CONNELL
MARGOT ROBBIE
MILES TELLER
SHAILENE WOODLEY

As we inch closer and closer to Oscar night, more guilds, organizations, critics and associations continue handing out gold trophies to the best of 2014 in film. With the BAFTA Awards happening this Sunday, Way Too Indie writers C.J. Prince (from Canada) and Eddy Haynes (from the U.K.) sat down to discuss the awards and give their predictions.

C.J. Prince: I guess it makes sense that a Brit and a Canuck should predict the BAFTAs. I’ll be honest: I haven’t really paid attention to the BAFTAs over the years, and I’ve been meaning to change that. But I gotta say, these nominations seem a little off to me. Why did Mr. Turner not get any nods outside of a few small categories? I’m sure my predictions will be horrible since I have no idea how the BAFTAs go, so bear with me dear readers (and Eddy). Maybe you can help me out here Eddy. Are the BAFTAs like the Oscars, in that they tend to go for a certain kind of film (ex. weepy biopics and the like)?

Eddy Haynes: The BAFTAs usually follow the Oscars with the odd exception every now and then just to rebel a little. There is occasionally a bit of controversy, like how the Outstanding British Film had some people up in arms about Alfonso Cuaron winning for Gravity last year (the film was shot in the UK, but the director and cast are not British). (Article)

I was not surprised to see Mr. Turner lose out for Oscar nominations, but I was disappointed to see the BAFTAs not nominate the film for any of the big awards, especially Timothy Spall for Best Actor.  The whole point of the BAFTA’s is to celebrate British film, and it seems unjust to not acknowledge such a strong British performance. The same goes for missing out on a chance to give Mike Leigh a much deserved BAFTA for the film. The cynical part of me thinks as the film was released in the UK in October it has simply been forgotten about.

There has been a diverse range of films nominated this year, so it’s hard to predict, although if anyones going to win the lions share of awards it might be Theory of Everything.

C.J.: Well since you introduced that nice opportunity to segue, let’s start with the biggest category of them all:

BEST FILM

BIRDMAN
BOYHOOD
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
THE IMITATION GAME
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

C.J.: Best film! I don’t know if the Brits will handle this one differently, but looking at the US it’s a battle between Birdman and Boyhood. I’m personally going to say Boyhood wins this one. I don’t think the Hollywood/industry aspects of Birdman will work on BAFTAs as much as it has been for those in the US, so Boyhood will get the edge here.

Eddy: Yes, I agree. Although we may give it to Theory of Everything out of love for the Britishness of the film. It would be a bit of a shock, but I wouldn’t rule out The Grand Budapest Hotel either. I am not sure about Boyhood. The BAFTAs usually tries to distance itself from the same decisions as the Golden Globes, even if it follows the Oscars.

C.J.: Well speaking of Britishness, let’s look at Outstanding British Film.

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

’71 Yann Demange, Angus Lamont, Robin Gutch, Gregory Burke
THE IMITATION GAME Morten Tyldum, Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman, Graham Moore
PADDINGTON Paul King, David Heyman
PRIDE Matthew Warchus, David Livingstone, Stephen Beresford
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING James Marsh, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten
UNDER THE SKIN Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Nick Wechsler, Walter Campbell

Eddy: I would love Under the Skin to get the BAFTA, but I don’t think it is going to happen. It will probably go to The Theory of Everything. Pride might be a dark horse candidate. That would be a surprise.

C.J.: I have a feeling The Imitation Game will probably take this one because it has the prestige element behind its back, but Theory of Everything has been gaining a lot of momentum. In all honesty I’d prefer Under the Skin or Pride to win because a) Under the Skin is just plain weird, and b) I find the kind of gooey feel good qualities of Pride more enjoyable than “serious film” Oscar fare like The Imitation Game or The Theory of Everything.

Eddy: It is perhaps a little cynical, but there is also guilt in the UK about Alan Turing and how he was treated. He did get a royal pardon last year. I wonder if politics might lead to it getting the BAFTA (More Info Here, Warning Potential Spoilers).

C.J.: It’s possible. I personally didn’t factor that into my decision, but it could play a role in deciding its outcome in the category.

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

ELAINE CONSTANTINE (Writer/Director) Northern Soul
GREGORY BURKE (Writer), YANN DEMANGE (Director) ’71
HONG KHAOU (Writer/Director) Lilting
PAUL KATIS (Director/Producer), ANDREW DE LOTBINIÈRE (Producer) Kajaki: The True Story
STEPHEN BERESFORD (Writer), DAVID LIVINGSTONE (Producer) Pride

Eddy: ‘71 was one of my favourite films of the year, and it stands a pretty good chance of winning, but I think Pride is probably the favourite for this one.

C.J.: Agreed. I haven’t seen ’71 (I’m dying to!), but Pride looks like it’ll take this one. Huge crowd pleaser. If only every category was this easy to predict.

Pride

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

IDA
LEVIATHAN
THE LUNCHBOX
TRASH
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

C.J.: I haven’t seen Trash but come on.

Eddy: Yes, I haven’t seen it either, but I wondered how much of a film has to not be English to qualify.

C.J.: I will research that (over 50% of the film’s dialogue must not be in English in order for it to qualify). For me this is another easy category. I know Leviathan winning the Golden Globe put a little wrench in the system, but I think Ida will win. It’s been getting every award under the sun for foreign film.

Eddy: I would rather have Ida win than Leviathan, which I didn’t really connect with. I think Leviathan might win just because it would annoy Putin (Article). I think Two Days, One Night is the strongest film in the category, but I don’t think it will win.

C.J.: Two Days, One Night is fantastic and should be the frontrunner. And thank you for not thinking Leviathan was all that. It’s one of those “Serious Films” that was too straightforward for me. I found it kind of boring, gorgeous cinematography aside.

Eddy: I thought I was alone. Every critic seems to have fallen in love with it. Ida is one of the most visually stunning films this year, and if doesn’t win here I hope it wins Best Cinematography.

DOCUMENTARY

20 FEET FROM STARDOM
20,000 DAYS ON EARTH
CITIZENFOUR
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER
VIRUNGA

Eddy: Well I thought Citizenfour was a strong film even if it was a little rushed at times. It’s probably my favourite to win in this category.

C.J.: Yeah, I mean this category is a joke. You have a feel good doc about backup singers, Nick Cave’s head up his own ass, a guy trying to profit off of a dead woman’s photography collection, some dumb looking activist doc about gorillas (I hate most primates), and then a documentary about one of the most important things happening in the world today. If Citizenfour doesn’t win, it’ll remove any credibility from this category in the future.

ANIMATED FILM

BIG HERO 6 Don Hall, Chris Williams
THE BOXTROLLS Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable
THE LEGO MOVIE Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

C.J.: An easy category since it has 3 nominees, and I’ve only seen one of them. I’m going with The Lego Movie on this. I love it to pieces, and the Oscar snub has people on its side.

Eddy: I am in the same boat. I think The Lego Movie will win, although part of me wants The Boxtrolls to win just to see Twitter explode.

C.J.: It’s Twitter. That place is always exploding over something.

DIRECTOR

BIRDMAN Alejandro G. Iñárritu
BOYHOOD Richard Linklater
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Wes Anderson
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING James Marsh
WHIPLASH Damien Chazelle

Eddy: I think this is probably going to be between James Marsh and Richard Linklater. This one may go the same way as whoever gets Best Film.

C.J.: Yeah, Best Director and Best Film matching up is par for the course. Since I predicted Boyhood for Best Picture I’m going to say Richard Linklater takes this one. Ultimately I think the achievement of making the film over 12 years will trump the other nominees

Eddy: It will certainly give Linklater a lot to talk about in his speech.

Richard Linklater

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BIRDMAN Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
BOYHOOD Richard Linklater
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Wes Anderson
NIGHTCRAWLER Dan Gilroy
WHIPLASH Damien Chazelle

C.J.: First off, what a great selection. Nightcrawler, Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel all have terrific screenplays. But for some dumb reason Birdman’s dog shit script keeps winning, so I’m going to predict Birdman.

Eddy: Birdman would be the only winner whose opening line contains the phrase “Smells like balls.” Nightcrawler should win, but I think it will probably go to Birdman. The Grand Budapest Hotel might stand an outside chance though. It has been praised for its clever script.

C.J.: How can anyone hear a line like “Smells like balls” and think it’s some sort of brilliant piece of writing? Ugh. Anyway, I’ll stop myself. I can rant about Birdman’s awful script for hours.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

AMERICAN SNIPER Jason Hall
GONE GIRL Gillian Flynn
THE IMITATION GAME Graham Moore
PADDINGTON Paul King
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Anthony McCarten

C.J.: Adapted screenplay is a lot more interesting to me. I’m going to say The Theory of Everything wins this one.

Eddy: Yeah I am going to agree with you on The Theory of Everything. I would love to see the look on the academy’s face if Paddington won. I think Gone Girl should win purely because the script is such an improvement on the book. It has been adapted rather well.

C.J.: I absolutely agree with you. Gone Girl would be my pick for what should win. Gillian Flynn did a great job adapting her own book.

LEADING ACTOR

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH The Imitation Game
EDDIE REDMAYNE The Theory of Everything
JAKE GYLLENHAAL Nightcrawler
MICHAEL KEATON Birdman
RALPH FIENNES The Grand Budapest Hotel

Eddy: I think Eddie Redmayne is going to get this. I can’t see anyone else getting it. I think only Michael Keaton stands a chance of stealing it from him.

C.J.: I’m really fascinated by how this category turned out. It was hyped up as one of the most competitive categories before the season started, and then Keaton became the frontrunner, only for Redmayne to slowly catch up and take over. I’m with you on this one. Eddie Redmayne will win. But let’s give a special mention to Jake Gyllenhaal (my personal pick) and Timothy Spall (why the hell isn’t he nominated??!?!)

Eddy: It is shocking about Spall, especially since he won at Cannes. I thought he was an odds on favourite to get nominated. Jake Gyllenhaal should win, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of love for Nightcrawler at the awards so far.

C.J.: Yeah, Nightcrawler is a very dark movie. I think time will ultimately work in Gyllenhaal’s favour. It’s a performance he’ll be remembered for.

Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything

LEADING ACTRESS

AMY ADAMS Big Eyes
FELICITY JONES The Theory of Everything
JULIANNE MOORE Still Alice
REESE WITHERSPOON Wild
ROSAMUND PIKE Gone Girl

Eddy: I think Felicity Jones will get this. I have yet to see Still Alice, but it has been getting a lot of buzz, so Julianne Moore might stand a good chance.

C.J.: I have seen Still Alice and it’s bad. Moore will win this one though. She’s a beloved actress, and this certainly feels like her time to win the big awards. I don’t mind her winning. I love J-Mo. I just wish she won for a better film.

Eddy: Personally I loved her in Maps to the Stars and was hoping she would get nominated. A win for Still Alice might make up for it.

C.J.: I actually prefer her role in Maps to the Stars, but that movie is far too strange to get proper recognition.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

EDWARD NORTON Birdman
ETHAN HAWKE Boyhood
J.K. SIMMONS Whiplash
MARK RUFFALO Foxcatcher
STEVE CARELL Foxcatcher

C.J.: This might be the easiest acting category to predict, but it’s easy because everyone agrees that one performance towers above the rest. J.K. Simmons will win.

Eddy: Yes I expect J.K. Simmons will. I find it odd that Steve Carell was nominated here, since I saw that role as a lead. It’s a shame because he deserves recognition for that role.

C.J.: Yeah, that is strange. It could be a strategic choice since Best Actor was crowded this year. I think that nose will give him all the recognition he needs.

Eddy: It is one of the most disturbing noses in film.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

EMMA STONE Birdman
IMELDA STAUNTON Pride
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY The Imitation Game
PATRICIA ARQUETTE Boyhood
RENE RUSSO Nightcrawler

C.J.: I guess this is another easy category to predict. It seemed a little wide open early on in the season, but Patricia Arquette has emerged as a frontrunner. Personally I want to high five all the BAFTA members who nominated Rene Russo.

Eddy: Yes! Rene Russo’s performance was as good as Jake Gyllenhaal’s, and the film wouldn’t have worked without her. But I can’t see Patricia Arquette losing this one.

Patricia Arquette in Boyhood

ORIGINAL MUSIC

BIRDMAN Antonio Sanchez
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Alexandre Desplat
INTERSTELLAR Hans Zimmer
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jóhann Jóhannsson
UNDER THE SKIN Mica Levi

C.J.: Now we move on to the smaller, more technical categories, where I have no idea what to pick.

Eddy: I think Interstellar might stand a chance as they sometimes give the techs to big budget films that miss out at the main awards. The favourite to win is probably Birdman, though. It would be weird if Boyhood got it. I don’t remember the soundtrack being that great.

C.J.: Wasn’t Boyhood all songs? I don’t remember it having an original score.

Eddy: It might have been picked because it was nominated for Best Film.

C.J.: Well for this category I adore Mica Levi’s score for Under the Skin, but Birdman will probably win. Looks like we’re in agreement on this one.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

BIRDMAN Emmanuel Lubezki
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Robert Yeoman
IDA Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski
INTERSTELLAR Hoyte van Hoytema
MR. TURNER Dick Pope

Eddy: Ida was stunning, but Mr. Turner surely has to get something. Something tells me Birdman could get this award too.

C.J.: Yeah, Birdman is all show so it’ll win. But personally I want Mr. Turner (Dick Poop!) or Ida to win.

C.J.: I actually don’t care much for Ida as a film, but it has excellent cinematography. There were a lot of great looking films last year. I would even be happy with The Grand Budapest Hotel winning.

EDITING

BIRDMAN Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Barney Pilling
THE IMITATION GAME William Goldenberg
NIGHTCRAWLER John Gilroy
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jinx Godfrey
WHIPLASH Tom Cross

C.J.: Amazingly, Boyhood wasn’t nominated here since it seems to be the favourite everywhere else. I’m gonna say Whiplash wins this one. Birdman might be the odds on favourite, but I love love love Whiplash’s editing.

Eddy: It’s very odd that Boyhood wasn’t nominated. Surely a film shot over 12 years would get some praise for its editing. If The Theory of Everything gets best film, it will also get best editing. They usually seem to be paired together.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

BIG EYES Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
THE IMITATION GAME Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
INTERSTELLAR Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
MR. TURNER Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

Eddy: I think Interstellar might get this, but I want Mr. Turner to get it. It needs some awards.

C.J.: I’m going to go with The Grand Budapest Hotel. I have no idea why. I remember being really impressed by the design of the hotel. Mr. Turner would be the only other competition in my eyes because it’s a period piece. Like I said earlier, once we get down to these categories I get sort of lost.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

COSTUME DESIGN

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Milena Canonero
THE IMITATION GAME Sammy Sheldon Differ
INTO THE WOODS Colleen Atwood
MR. TURNER Jacqueline Durran
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Steven Noble

C.J.: For Costume Design, I feel like people just vote for whatever looks like it had the most work done. In that case it comes down to Mr. Turner or Into the Woods. I think Into the Woods will take this.

Eddy: I agree. Into The Woods will probably get it, although I will be happy if Mr. Turner gets it of course. I have no idea why The Theory of Everything has been nominated here, but it could win too.

MAKE UP & HAIR

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Frances Hannon
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
INTO THE WOODS  Peter Swords King, J. Roy Helland
MR. TURNER Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jan Sewell

Eddy: I’m going to pick Guardians of the Galaxy just because Zoe Saldana’s skin was green, but Into the Woods will probably get it

C.J.: I wouldn’t be surprised if BAFTA voters pick Guardians of the Galaxy for the same reason. I’m going with the same pick, and Into the Woods will be my back-up pick in case voters want to give the award to a more “worthy” (aka prestigious) film.

SOUND

AMERICAN SNIPER Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
BIRDMAN Thomas Varga, Martin Hernández, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
THE IMITATION GAME John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen
WHIPLASH Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann

Eddy: I enjoyed the sound work in Birdman, but Whiplash has to win this.

C.J.: I’ll go with Whiplash as well. Part of me wants to go with American Sniper since usually these kinds of awards go to films with a lot of action, but Whiplash’s sound is so essential to the film.

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas Aithadi
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
INTERSTELLAR Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

C.J.: I’m going with Interstellar. In my eyes, they’re just objectively the best special effects of this category. I think it’ll be an easy win for the film.

Eddy: Interstellar will probably win, although the scale of motion capture work is impressive in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Interstellar

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD

GUGU MBATHA-RAW
JACK O’CONNELL
MARGOT ROBBIE
MILES TELLER
SHAILENE WOODLEY

C.J.: Now the final award, which gets voted on by the public. That means we could have actually voted on this one, I guess. I’m going to go with Jack O’Connell here. He really impressed me in Starred Up, and he seems to be making great choices for roles. But every person nominated here is terrific. I wouldn’t be surprised if Shailene Woodley ended up winning due to her having a YA novel fanbase, thanks to her work in Divergent and The Faults in our Stars

Eddy: Jack O’Connell is my pick as well. He’s been on great form recently. I will be interested to see who wins this one. Tom Hardy has won it previously, along with James McAvoy, so it can be good at predicting big stars. Then again, Shia LaBeouf was a winner too.

C.J.: Shia LaBeouf is a rising star. He’s just rising from a much lower place than everyone else!

Okay, so that wraps it all up. Any final thoughts before we see what happens this Sunday?

Eddy: Overall, other than Mr. Turner I find myself generally happy with the nominees this year. There have been some fantastic films from 2014, and there have been some quirky films like Birdman, which wouldn’t traditionally be considered awards bait. The only sad thing is that, in such a strong year, some films like Nightcrawler seem to fail to pick up all the nominations it deserves.

C.J.: Yeah, I think the BAFTAs have some weird choices and snubs, but after going through them like this I think they’re pushing more in the right direction than the Oscars. The Nightcrawler nods are great, as well as Damien Chazelle getting nominated for Best Director. Mr. Turner and Selma not showing up in major categories is pretty strange though. Ah well. I mean after all of our predicting I still feel pretty confused and unsure about the whole thing. Guess we’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out!

Like most years, there was a lot of controversy over the Academy’s choices for Oscar nominations this year. Some felt that the lack of Selma representation, namely in Best Actor and Best Director categories since it did receive a Best Picture nom, spoke volumes about the predominately white demographic of the Academy. Though lets not forget last year’s Best Picture winner was appropriately given to 12 Years a Slave. At the time of announcement others felt the love for American Sniper was a bit of a reach, though the film has since set numerous opening box office records. But don’t think for one second I’m completely siding with the Academy, there were big time snubs in most categories (including the enormous neglect for The LEGO Movie). Below are predictions on who will win an Oscar, who deserves to win, and who should’ve been nominated in all the major categories.

Complete List of 2015 Oscar Predictions

BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ACTOR
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ida – Poland
Leviathan – Russia
Tangerines – Estonia
Timbuktu – Mauritania
Wild Tales – Argentina

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

BEST EDITING
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

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

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Everything Is Awesome” – The Lego Movie
“Glory” – Selma
“Grateful” – Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars” – Begin Again

BEST SOUND EDITING
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

BEST SOUND MIXING
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

While Birdman comes in with the most Independent Spirit Award nominations this year with a total of six, I’m predicting Richard Linklater’s Boyhood winning the most awards with four (including most of the big ones). Birdman will likely pick up at least two awards, same as Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, and the rest of the field should be fairly spread out. You’re likely to see wins for smaller independent films like Dear White People, Blue Ruin, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and CITIZENFOUR.

In addition to picking the winners, I explain the reasoning behind my picks underneath each category. There’s still plenty of time for some shakers and movers between now and when the winners are revealed as the award season continues on. Tune into IFC on Saturday, February 21st at 2PM PT and watch live to see if my predictions hold up.

2015 Independent Spirit Award Predictions

(My prediction for the winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Birdman
Boyhood
Love is Strange
Selma
Whiplash

Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Ava DuVernay – Selma
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
David Zellner – Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter

André Benjamin – Jimi: All Is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman
John Lithgow – Love is Strange
David Oyelowo – Selma

Marion Cotillard – The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi – Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Jenny Slate – Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive

Riz Ahmed – Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Alfred Molina – Love is Strange
Edward Norton- Birdman
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo – Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz – Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Emma Stone – Birdman

Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski – Big Eyes
J.C. Chandor – A Most Violent Year
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler
Jim Jarmusch – Only Lovers Left Alive
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias – Love is Strange

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Dear White People
Nightcrawler
Obvious Child
She’s Lost Control

Desiree Akhavan – Appropriate Behavior
Sara Colangelo – Little Accidents
Justin Lader – The One I Love
Anja Marquardt – She’s Lost Control
Justin Simien – Dear White People

Darius Khondji – The Immigrant
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Sean Porter – It Felt Like Love
Lyle Vincent – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Bradford Young – Selma

Sandra Adair – Boyhood
Tom Cross – Whiplash
John Gilroy- Nightcrawler
Ron Patane – A Most Violent Year
Adam Wingard – The Guest

Force Majeure
Ida
Leviathan
Mommy
Norte, the End of History
Under the Skin

20,000 Days on Earth
CITIZENFOUR
Stray Dog
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

Blue Ruin – Jeremy Saulnier
It Felt Like Love – Eliza Hittman
Land Ho! – Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Man From Reno – Dave Boyle
Test – Chris Mason Johnson

Among the many organizations dolling out awards for the best movies and performances of 2014, The International Online Film Critics’ Poll this morning announced the winners of their biannual awards for excellence in film. These awards, now in their fourth cycle, allow for a comparison between different movie seasons to pick the absolute best of the biennium. The IOFCP was voted on this year by over 100 film critics from USA, UK, Italy, Spain, Canada, France, Mexico, Australia, India, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Pakistan, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden.

2014 awards front-runner Boyhood took home the IOFCP’s award for Best Film. The film’s director Richard Linklater and one of its stars, Patricia Arquette, won the votes for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.

The other movies that won in three categories were The Grand Budapest Hotel (Best Ensemble Cast, Best Production Design and Best Original Score) and Gravity (Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Visual Effects). While The Grand Budapest Hotel was also nominated for Best Film, Gravity was not.

2015 Oscars frontrunners Michael Keaton (Birdman) and JK Simmons (Whiplash) won the votes for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor; however, 2014 Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for her performance in Blue Jasmine.

4th Bi-Annual IOFCP Awards

TOP TEN FILMS (alphabetical list)
12 Years a Slave
Blue is the Warmest Colour
Birdman
Boyhood
Her
Ida
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Great Beauty
The Imitation Game
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST PICTURE
12 Years a Slave
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Paolo Sorrentino – The Great Beauty
Roman Polanski – Venus in Fur

BEST ACTOR
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Adele Exarchopoulos – Blue is the Warmest Colour
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Marion Cotillard – The Immigrant

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Edward Norton – Birdman
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Emma Stone – Birdman
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
June Squibb – Nebraska

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
12 Years a Slave
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman
Boyhood
Calvary
Her
The Grand Budapest Hotel

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 Years a Slave
Gone Girl
Snowpiercer
The Imitation Game
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
Gravity
Ida
Nebraska
The Great Beauty

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Gravity
Her
Mr. Turner
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game

BEST EDITING
Birdman
Boyhood
Gravity
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Gravity
Her
Interstellar
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Interstellar
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Anyone interested how the acting categories may pan out for the Oscars had their attention on the 2015 Screen Actors Guild Awards tonight, as this award show is much more reliable than say the Golden Globes, though there were a lot of overlap winners in the film categories. In fact, Patricia Arquette (Boyhood), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Julianne Moore (Still Alice) and Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) all repeated their wins in respected categorizes from the Globes two weeks ago. Redmayne continues his streak of edging out Michael Keaton (Birdman) who many consider to be the front-runner. This win might just shake things up for the category come Oscar night. Though Birdman wasn’t completely shut out, the film picked up the Outstanding Performance by a Cast award.

Orange Is the New Black picked up two awards on the television side of the awards, one for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series and Uzo Aduba (for the role of Crazy Eyes) won for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. Kevin Spacey was the only Golden Globes repeat winner this year, earning Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series in both awards shows. Other winners included Mark Ruffalo (The Normal Heart), Frances McDormand (Olive Kitteridge) and Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder).

List of 2015 Screen Actors Guild Award Winners

Film

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Birdman

Television

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Mark Ruffalo – The Normal Heart

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Frances McDormand – Olive Kitteridge

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Kevin Spacey – House of Cards

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Viola Davis – How To Get Away With Murder

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
William H. Macy – Shameless

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Uzo Aduba – Orange Is the New Black

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Downton Abbey

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Orange Is the New Black

Like them or not, the 2015 Oscar nominations are in.

Snubbing seems to happen every year, apparent front-runners don’t receive nominations and the list of nominations are questioned. No The Lego Movie in Best Animated Film. No Life Itself or The Overnighters in Best Documentary Feature. Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo walk away empty-handed. Gone Girl left out of Best Picture, Best Director, and (strangest of all) Best Adapted Screenplay. Foxcatcher has good enough direction, acting and screenplay, but not good enough for a Best Picture nomination.

Sometimes the list of snubs can shine a light on a great year, which by all means 2014 was (or at the very least, 2014 was better than people think). We all knew that categories like Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, etc. were going to be tight races, so it’s too easy for one of our favorites to just miss the cut (like Jake Gyllenhaal).

Shifting to a positive note, Way Too Indie favorites Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel led the nominations with nine each. Boyhood received six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and both supporting acting categories. Despite its snubs in all the other major categories, Selma was recognized with a Best Picture nomination. Ida, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, also received a nomination for its stunning black-and-white cinematography. While we expected to see Force Majeure and Two Days, One Night on the list for Best Foreign Language Film, we’re equally happy to have Wild Tales and Leviathan. Meanwhile, Whiplash hauled in a whopping six nominations including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

Finally, American Sniper, a film that didn’t seem to have much buzz, received six nominations. And somehow the dismal Angelina Jolie film Unbroken wound up with three nominations. Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Full list of 2015 Oscar Nominations

BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ACTOR
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ida – Poland
Leviathan – Russia
Tangerines – Estonia
Timbuktu – Mauritania
Wild Tales – Argentina

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Everything Is Awesome” – The Lego Movie
“Glory” – Selma
“Grateful” – Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars” – Begin Again

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

BEST EDITING
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

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

BEST SOUND EDITING
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

BEST SOUND MIXING
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

So our first big awards ceremony of the season has now come and gone. In their third and final turn hosting, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler owned the opening monologue with some direct, honest, brave and spot-on hilarious jokes. Their were upsets (and quite a few instances where we didn’t predict the winners correctly) but here are our reactions to this year’s Golden Globe Awards.

Ananda Dillon

So there are plenty of things I didn’t call, let’s start there. The Grand Budapest Hotel taking home Comedy or Musical. I guess the only explanation I can think of there is that Birdman hardly fit the category anyway, though it was definitely the one we were expecting to hear called and that I was personally rooting for. There were the long shots I was hoping for, most specifically my call for Rosamund Pike for Actress in a Drama and Emma Stone for Supporting Actress. I knew they weren’t likely and am incredibly happy for Julianne Moore and Patricia Arquette so no hard feelings. All the other actor awards I called spot on. So I guess I can gloat about that. I had hoped the HFPA would get a little wacky with the women’s categories, but they went for the more obvious calls.

Obviously I wasn’t surprised by Richard Linklater‘s win for Best Director, nor Boyhood’s major take home as Best Drama, and while we were dead wrong about Best Screenplay it made me incredibly happy to see Alejandro G. Iñárritu up on stage accepting an award. We were also wrong when it came to the musical categories, but understand that the HFPA decided to be a bit more standard in those choices as well. We were also off with our choices for Foreign Language film and am a bit surprised they went with Leviathan over Ida, or even my backup vote of Force Majeure. Just makes it hard to predict where the Oscars might go. But the one category that I absolutely am flabbergasted by is the HFPA’s choice of How to Train Your Dragon 2 for Best Animated Film over the amazing and incomparable The Lego Movie. I’ve never had strong feelings about an animated film before and I’m truly despondent over their decision. Whatever, I expect the Academy to get it right.

I will say I thought Amy and Tina killed it, delivering jokes that were both daring and hilarious. Their jokes regarding Bill Cosby were of course the more triggering but they went next level delivering their best Cosby impressions, which before this whole scandal was everyone’s favorite way of poking fun at Cosby. It was absolutely meta and the best way to truly express the way humor allows us to showcase that no one deserves safety when using humor to cope with tragedy. Their jab at George Clooney and his more accomplished wife was pitch perfect in calling out Hollywood’s tendency to lose perspective, and the joke that Selma “totally worked and now everything is fine” was delivered perfectly by Tina Fey, casting a great light on unreasonable expectations for films of its ilk while also impressing that this isn’t the sort of conversation that should ever really end.

As for TV, once again the HFPA gets premature and gives too much love to first-season shows rather than reward the ones that have gotten stronger (a difficult feat these days) but if it gets more people to watch Transparent, fine by me. All in all, it was a fun evening, if a somewhat confusing one, and whether we can use much in the way of predictions for next Thursday’s Oscar nominations announcement seems unlikely.

C.J. Prince

Well, I guess I can’t say it was a particularly safe night, so that’s a positive. Tina and Amy were great, even though they were only on for a brief time after their monologue. But for the second year in the row they pull off a great George Clooney burn, and probably did the first funny Bill Cosby joke since that whole scandal broke out (there’s no point tiptoeing around it, so good for them for getting as tasteless as possible for network broadcast). But this is an awards show, so I guess I should talk about those…

I have to mention something about the TV awards first. In typical HFPA fashion, the awards went to freshmen shows instead of old favorites (remember Brooklyn Nine-Nine winning last year?). Sometimes that can lead to weird choices (how many people scratched their heads at Jane the Virgin winning Best Actress?), but other times an awesome show like Transparent ends up winning Best Comedy and Best Actor. So this is me saying that Transparent is an incredible show that deserves its awards, and if you haven’t seen it yet please do so immediately. So that’s that about TV.

Going back to the predictions Ananda and I made a few days ago, we wound up splitting on the acting awards. I was right about Julianne Moore, she was right about Eddie Redmayne. Apparently the HFPA love it when actors play people with horrible diseases. Don’t be surprised if Jennifer Aniston winds up playing a genius with ALS next year that discovers she has Alzheimers. We both wound up being right about Michael Keaton and Amy Adams in the comedy acting awards, but those seemed like obvious ones. What really took me by surprise (along with everyone else, I’m sure) is The Grand Budapest Hotel winning over Birdman. While I don’t love Wes Anderson’s latest film (I think it’s a pretty enjoyable trifle), I’m so happy it won over the annoying, unfunny Birdman. And hey, Wes Anderson just officially became a contender (I think?). HFPA also got the supporting actor/actress awards right, so good for them. Very happy Patricia Arquette won, and J.K. Simmons deserves every award under the sun for Whiplash. Some awards didn’t interest me in the slightest (I know my prediction was wrong about Best Score, but I don’t care about that category whatsoever), so I’ll just mention some notable wins and/or losses: Leviathan taking Best Foreign Film over Ida was great, and it gives me hope that Ida won’t get that Oscar so easily. I haven’t seen The Theory of Everything, but I’m bummed Oyelowo didn’t win for Selma. Ditto for Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler. And The Lego Movie losing Best Animated might have been my biggest disappointment because it totally deserved it.

So all in all, a little more interesting than usual I guess. I’m sad to see Tina and Amy go as hosts, and I’m sure the HFPA will have a hard time picking a suitable replacement. And, oh yeah, Boyhood. Well I’m not surprised it won. You might have seen my thoughts on Boyhood already. I say good for Linklater, because he’s always been a great director. I just wish all of these trophies went to a different, better film by him, like Bernie or any of the Before films or hell, even School of Rock. After tonight, I think that the big Oscar for Best Picture is Boyhood‘s to lose at this point. What’ll be interesting is seeing what other films will end up getting nominated with it.

Today’s the day! Our first big awards show of the season. If you aren’t able to watch or are keeping score, we’ll be live updating the winners as they are announced starting at 8 EST/5 PST. Refresh your browser to see winners throughout the evening.

Complete List of 2015 Golden Globe Winners

(Winners highlighted in bold font)

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Boyhood
Selma
The Imitation Game
Foxcatcher
The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
St. Vincent
Into the Woods
Pride

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
David Oyelowo, Selma

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Edward Norton, Birdman

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year

Best Director – Motion Picture
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Ava DuVernay, Selma
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Boyhood
Birdman
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Lana Del Ray – “Big Eyes” for Big Eyes
John Legend, Common – “Glory” for Selma
Patty Smith, Lenny Kaye – “Mercy Is” for Noah
Sia – “Opportunity” for Annie
Lorde – “Yellow Flicker Beat” for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Theory of Everything
Trent Reznor, Gone Girl
Antonio Sanchez, Birdman
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

Best Animated Film
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
Big Hero 6
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie

Best Foreign Language Film
Ida
Leviathan
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Tangerines

Television Categories

Best Television Series – Drama
“Downton Abbey”
“The Good Wife”
“House of Cards”
“Game of Thrones”
“The Affair”

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
“Girls”
“Orange Is the New Black”
“Transparent”
“Silicon Valley”
“Jane the Virgin”

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
“Olive Kitteridge”
“True Detective”
“Fargo”
“The Missing”
The Normal Heart

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”
Liev Schreiber, “Ray Donovan”
James Spader, “The Blacklist”
Dominic West, “The Affair”
Clive Owen, “The Knick”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”
Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder”
Claire Danes, “Homeland”
Ruth Wilson, “The Affair”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Ricky Gervais, “Derek”
Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Louis C.K., “Louie”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Taylor Schilling, “Orange Is the New Black”
Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Martin Freeman, “Fargo”
Billy Bob Thornton, “Fargo”
Matthew McConaughey, “True Detective”
Woody Harrelson, “True Detective”
Mark Ruffalo, “The Normal Heart”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honourable Woman”
Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge”
Frances O’Connor, “The Missing”
Allison Tolman, “Fargo”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jon Voight, “Ray Donovan”
Alan Cumming, “The Good Wife”
Bill Murray, “Olive Kitteridge”
Colin Hanks, “Fargo”
Matt Bomer, “The Normal Heart”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Allison Janney, “Mom”
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is the New Black”
Kathy Bates, “American Horror Story”
Michelle Monaghan, “True Detective”
Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey”

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has released their nominations for this year’s awards, the 68th annual, airing February 8th. Releasing just a few days before the Golden Globes air and a week before Oscar nominations come out, our British comrades made a few interesting decisions deciding to favor the lighter fare over the heavier. A stark contrast to last year where Gravity led the pack with 11 nominations, this year it’s Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel with the same amount.

The BAFTAs are now considered a safer bet when making Oscar predictions, then say the Golden Globes, so we’ll see if this list is a preview of what we can expect to see next Thursday. Look for our BAFTA predictions closer to the ceremony and our Oscar coverage begins next week with the nominations.

2015 BAFTA Nominations

BEST FILM
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
’71
The Imitation Game
Paddington
Pride
The Theory of Everything
Under The Skin

DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Damian Chazelle – Whiplash
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
James Marsh – The Theory of Everything

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman – Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
Boyhood – Richard Linklater
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy
Whiplash – Damien Chazelle

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper – Jason Hall
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game – Graham Moore
Paddington – Paul King
The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten

LEADING ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

LEADING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Big Eyes
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
JK Simmons – Whiplash

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Rene Russo – Nightcrawler
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Imelda Staunton – Pride
Emma Stone – Birdman

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Ida
Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Trash
Two Days, One Night

DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet from Stardom
20,000 Days on Earth
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Virunga

ANIMATED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman – Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman
Ida – Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Interstellar – Hoyte van Hoytema
Mr. Turner – Dick Pope

EDITING
(Due to a tie in voting in this category, there are six nominations)
Birdman – Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
Nightcrawler – John Gilroy
The Theory of Everything – Jinx Godfrey
Whiplash – Tom Cross

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Elaine Constantine (writer/director Northern Soul)
Gregory Burke, Yann Demange (writer and director ’71)
Hong Khaou (writer/director Lilting)
Paul Katis, Andrew De Lotbiniere (director/producer and producer Kajaki: The True Story)
Stephen Beresford, David Livingstone (writer and producer Pride)

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Big Eyes – Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
Interstellar – Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
Mr. Turner – Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything

MAKE UP & HAIR
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon
Guardians of the Galaxy – Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
Into the Woods – Peter Swords King, J Roy Helland
Mr. Turner – Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
The Theory of Everything – Jan Sewell

ORIGINAL MUSIC
Birdman – Antonio Sanchez
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
The Theory of Everything – Johann Johannsson
Under the Skin – Mica Levi

SOUND
American Sniper – Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
Birdman – Thomas Varga, Martin Hernandez, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A Montaño
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
The Imitation Game – John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen
Whiplash – Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas Aithadi
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R Christopher White
Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
The Bigger Picture – Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka
Monkey Love Experiments – Ainslie Henderson, Cam Fraser, Will Anderson
My Dad – Marcus Armitage

BRITISH SHORT FILM
Boogaloo and Graham – Brian J Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
Emotional Fusebox – Michael Berliner, Rachel Tunnard
The Karman Line – Campbell Beaton, Dawn King, Tiernan Hanby, Oscar Sharp
Slap – Islay Bell-Webb, Michelangelo Fano, Nick Rowland
Three Brothers – Aleem Khan, Matthieu de Braconier, Stephanie Paeplow

RISING STAR AWARD
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jack O’Connell
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley

This Sunday the 11th at 8pm ET we’ll be gluing our eyeballs to NBC ready for the real action of awards season to finally begin. With Amy Poehler and Tina Fey hosting, and the ever plentiful booze flowing, we imagine this year’s Golden Globe Awards should provide plenty of entertainment. And since the Golden Globes are unique in the crazy amount of categories they fill, the competition is plenty fierce.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association tends to shake things up a bit (I mean who are they really anyway?) and Hollywood never fails to come out to pat themselves on the back. But honestly, the Globes are a great way to start getting Oscar predictions queued up (nominations are out next Thursday the 15th.) So since these awards are really just to spark discussion and squabbling, fellow staff writer CJ Prince and I lay out our predictions.

Other than Fey and Poehler undoubtedly dousing us with comedy gold, what do you expect will happen Sunday night? Let us know in the comments.

Our 2015 Golden Globe Predictions:

Best Motion Picture – Drama

CJ: Boyhood
Because: The current narrative of awards season has the race coming down to Boyhood and Birdman. Thanks to the Golden Globes splitting Drama and Musical/Comedy, Boyhood has no competition in this category. It’s Boyhood’s to lose (I wouldn’t mind Selma taking the gold, though).

Ananda: Boyhood
Because: Months later I still remember my initial impression of Boyhood, and while I have strong love for Foxcatcher, I don’t see it appealing as universally. This one’s a no-brainer.

All nominees: Boyhood, Selma, The Imitation Game, Foxcatcher, The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

CJ: Birdman
Because: I’d honestly prefer Grand Budapest to take this, but Birdman has it locked. Without Boyhood in the category, and with no real buzzy films competing, this one’s a no-brainer.

Ananda: Birdman
Because: All of these movies are awesome, and to be honest I think Birdman is a stretch in this category although it has very hilarious moments, but mostly I think it stands out because it’s not 100% comedy, though that may be an unfair advantage.

All nominees: Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, St. Vincent, Into the Woods, Pride

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

CJ: Benedict Cumberbatch
Because: Harvey Weinstein. He knows how to push a movie to voters, and he’s gotta take something home. My bet is he’ll convince HFPA voters to give this to Cumberbatch because it’s a respectable pick. If Oyelowo gets it I’ll be happy, and if Gyllenhaal gets it my whole night will be made. But for now my bets are on Cumberbatch.

Ananda: Eddie Redmayne
Because: Interesting to note all but one of these performances is based on a real-life person. And in a perfect world I’d say Steve Carell hands down, and Gyllenhaal would be awesome, but Redmayne just had the more overt transformation with his role.

All nominees: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler), Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), David Oyelowo (Selma)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

CJ: Julianne Moore
Because: She’s been racking up every award under the sun, and honestly it’s time. Give Julianne the damn award already. Plus, if anyone wants to join I’ll be holding a prayer ceremony on Sunday night where I pray for Jennifer Aniston to go home empty-handed. Sorry Jennifer, but that’s a campaign, not a performance.

Ananda: Rosamund Pike
Because: I may be reaching a bit, but based on Cate Blanchett’s win last year I just think Pike’s twisty cerebral performance has a chance over Moore’s more obvious dramatic turn.

All nominees: Jennifer Aniston (Cake), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Reese Witherspoon (Wild), Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

CJ: Michael Keaton
Because: After the completion of the McConaissance, we’ve all been itchy for another actor to make their triumphant return to the A-list. And with Keaton doing a great job in Birdman, it’s all a matter of time before the Keatonaissance begins! Personally I would give this one to Ralph Fiennes, but Fiennesaissance doesn’t have a nice ring to it (not that he needs a renaissance, he’s always been awesome).

Ananda: Michael Keaton
Because: Birdman was my favorite movie of the year and it had much to do with how brilliant Keaton was. No competition in my eyes, though he’s among great company.

All nominees: Michael Keaton (Birdman), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Christoph Waltz (Big Eyes), Bill Murray (St. Vincent), Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

CJ: Amy Adams
Because: I’ve only seen Maps to the Stars in this category, so I’m blindly guessing Amy Adams because she’s a great actress and has been getting plenty of praise for her role in Bright Eyes.

Ananda: Amy Adams
Because: I don’t even necessarily think this is Adams most award-worthy performance, but considering the competition it’s all hers.

All nominees: Amy Adams (Big Eyes), Emily Blunt (Into the Woods), Julianne Moore (Maps to the Stars), Helen Mirren (The Hundred-Foot Journey), Quvenzhané Wallis (Annie)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

CJ: J.K. Simmons
Because: See Whiplash. Seriously, I don’t need to explain it. If you’ve seen it, you know exactly why I picked Simmons. If you haven’t seen it, fix that problem immediately.

Ananda: J.K. Simmons
Because: I can say awesome things about everyone nominated, but nobody freaked me out more than Simmons as the nazi-like music teacher from hell.

All nominees: Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher), Ethan Hawke (Boyhood), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Robert Duvall (The Judge), Edward Norton (Birdman)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

CJ: Meryl Streep
Because: Personally rooting for Patricia Arquette here, but awards shows handing statues to Meryl Streep is about as boring and predictable as the roles Meryl Streep chooses to play.

Ananda: Emma Stone
Because: Since no one has a problem writing a great supporting role for a female (if only lead roles were the same), this category should have at least five more names in it (Laura Dern? Rene Russo?). But from what we’ve got I’m going out on a limb and thinking they’ll stick with what they did last year with J-Law and push the young blood forward.

All nominees: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood), Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game), Emma Stone (Birdman), Meryl Streep (Into the Woods), Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Best Director – Motion Picture

CJ: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Because: This was the toughest category for me to make a decision on because it comes down to Birdman or Boyhood. Ultimately I figured the HFPA would give it to Iñárritu because it’s the kind of direction that calls attention to itself. Usually awards like this tend to go to the most direction, not the best.

Ananda: Richard Linklater
Because: Also a tough call in terms of my own affection for all of these director’s work this past year, but Linklater spent 12 years on his film and that kind of perseverance deserves respect.

All nominees: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman), Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Ava DuVernay (Selma), David Fincher (Gone Girl), Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

CJ: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Because: Much like Spike Jonze winning for Her, or Quentin Tarantino winning for Django Unchained, Best Screenplay goes to the kind of film where the writing really shines. Wes Anderson’s nesting egg structure and quick paced quippy dialogue makes it an easy pick for this award.

Ananda: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Because: It won’t win anything else and it’s a truly great film. Plus, Anderson is really getting his whole layered stories and quirky relationships thing down to an art.

All nominees: Boyhood, Birdman, Gone Girl, The Imitation Game, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

CJ: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Yellow Flicker Beat)
Because: I figured one of the white pop girls would win, and Lorde seems to be more popular now (the honest truth: I’ve only heard this song out of the bunch).

Ananda: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Yellow Flicker Beat)
Because: I’ve been rocking out to this on the radio for months so…

All nominees: Big Eyes: Lana Del Ray (Big Eyes); Selma: John Legend, Common (Glory); Noah: Patty Smith, Lenny Kaye (Mercy Is); Annie: Sia (Opportunity); The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1: Lorde (Yellow Flicker Beat)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

CJ: Gone Girl: Trent Reznor
Because: It’s a great score, and Reznor has earned himself a great reputation as a composer since collaborating with Fincher. I considered putting Birdman here (and won’t be shocked if it wins), but part of me feels like some people might be turned off by the nonstop percussion.

Ananda: Birdman: Antonio Sanchez
Because: I loved all the music listed below, but Sanchez’s sporadic and pulsating drums were one of the most noticeable (in a good way) soundtracks I’ve ever encountered.

All nominees: The Imitation Game: Alexandre Desplat, The Theory of Everything: Jóhann Jóhannsson, Gone Girl: Trent Reznor, Birdman: Antonio Sanchez, Interstellar: Hans Zimmer

Best Animated Film

CJ: The Lego Movie
Because: It’s an animated movie that’s funny without pandering, and it has an incredible, universal message. And I’m sick of Disney. They’re a meat factory.

Ananda: The Lego Movie
Because: Well duh. It’s beyond clever to watch and to look at it, but it also embodied the very message it was spouting to: think outside the box and forget the supposed instruction manuals of life.

All nominees: The Book of Life, The Boxtrolls, Big Hero 6, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Lego Movie

Best Foreign Language Film

CJ: Ida
Because: Middlebrow Holocaust movie from Europe that strikes the perfect balance of arty without being too arty? Ida easily wins the Foreign Language Film jackpot. Just another statue for the mantle until it takes home the Oscar.

Ananda: Ida
Because: A difficult decision for sure, but damn if if Ida isn’t both pretty and universally appealing.

All nominees: Ida, Leviathan, Force Majeure, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, Tangerines

We’re only predicting movie nominations this year, but if you want to make your own guesses on the TV categories or have a full list of the nominations on hand for the live broadcast, here’s a complete list of the nominations. And if you can’t watch, or someone talks over a winner announcement, we’ll be live updating the winners as they are announced.

Have you ever wondered about what will happen to your social media after you die? I have. A collection of old high school acquaintances rushing to post condolences for my family along with false memories of the good times we never shared. All of it underneath a photo of me wearing a flat brim hat and making a duckface (I swear it was just a joke!). The point is that Facebook, Twitter, and all other forms of social media are likely best left dormant after death.

Just imagine how unsettling it might be if your account, perhaps, tweeted in the 1st person from “the Afterlife”:

The tweet is in reference to the upcoming Cinema Eye Honors, where the somewhat recent Elaine Stritch documentary (Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me now available on Netflix Instant) is one of 10 documentaries up for the Audience Choice Prize. This particular tactic of fan recruitment however, lacks… well, tact. Never mind the fact that someone has chosen to write this tweet as if it were Stritch herself celestially composing 140 characters, the words run counter to the late actress’ signature self-deprecating honesty and wit.

Take a lesson from the late Roger Ebert‘s Twitter account and stick to retweets.

In a minor surprise, the Online Film Critics Society named Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel as the Best Picture of the year. Richard Linklater received Best Director for Boyhood and Birdman received two acting awards.

The Online Film Critics Society is an international body of online film journalists and writers, established in 1997 as an alternative to the more exclusive print journalist societies. We have a couple of staff writers here at Way Too Indie that belong to the OFCS.

See below for the full list of the 18th Annual Online Film Critics Society awards winners:

Best Picture: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Animated Picture: The Lego Movie
Best Film Not in the English Language: Two Days, One Night
Best Documentary: Life Itself
Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best Actress: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton, Birdman
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Adapted Screenplay: Gone Girl
Best Editing: Birdman
Best Cinematography: The Grand Budapest Hotel

At an obscenely early ceremony, the Hollywood Foreign Press announced the nominees for the 2015 Golden Globes.

On the film side, Birdman led all nominees with seven – and will surely be helped pull in some awards being in the arguably less competitive “Musical or Comedy” categories. Boyhood and Selma each have five nominations, though they will have to battle each other in the Drama categories.

Because the Golden Globes breaks up lead acting and best film into the two categories, there are few major snubs. In the Best Actor categories, Carell, Cumberbatch, Gyllenhaal, Redmayne, Oyelowo, Keaton and Phoenix all got love, though more than likely two of them won’t be so lucky come Oscar noms, which is shaping up to be a brutally contentious group.

Possibly the biggest snub is no Best Picture for Gone Girl, despite receiving nominations for Best Actress, Director and Screenplay (no adapted/original clarification for the Globes). This may not be a death sentence for an Oscar nom, though, assuming ten nominees, Gone Girl would certainly get more love than a few of the nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Unbroken, however, may have received a bad omen when it comes to the Oscars, as it received zero nominations here.

The Golden Globes takes place on January 11th and will be hosted by a returning Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

2015 Golden Globe Nominations

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Boyhood
Selma
The Imitation Game
Foxcatcher
The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
St. Vincent
Into the Woods
Pride

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
David Oyelowo, Selma

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Edward Norton, Birdman

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year

Best Director – Motion Picture
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Ava DuVernay, Selma
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Boyhood
Birdman
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Big Eyes: Lana Del Ray (Big Eyes)
Selma: John Legend, Common (Glory)
Noah: Patty Smith, Lenny Kaye (Mercy Is)
Annie: Sia (Opportunity)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1: Lorde (Yellow Flicker Beat)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
The Imitation Game: Alexandre Desplat
The Theory of Everything: Jóhann Jóhannsson
Gone Girl: Trent Reznor
Birdman: Antonio Sanchez
Interstellar: Hans Zimmer

Best Animated Film
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
Big Hero 6
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie

Best Foreign Language Film
Ida
Leviathan
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Tangerines

Television Categories

Best Television Series – Drama
“Downton Abbey”
“The Good Wife”
“House of Cards”
“Game of Thrones”
“The Affair”

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
“Girls”
“Orange Is the New Black”
“Transparent”
“Silicon Valley”
“Jane the Virgin”

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
“Olive Kitteridge”
“True Detective”
“Fargo”
“The Missing”
The Normal Heart

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”
Liev Schreiber, “Ray Donovan”
James Spader, “The Blacklist”
Dominic West, “The Affair”
Clive Owen, “The Knick”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”
Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder”
Claire Danes, “Homeland”
Ruth Wilson, “The Affair”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Ricky Gervais, “Derek”
Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Louis C.K., “Louie”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Taylor Schilling, “Orange Is the New Black”
Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Martin Freeman, “Fargo”
Billy Bob Thornton, “Fargo”
Matthew McConaughey, “True Detective”
Woody Harrelson, “True Detective”
Mark Ruffalo, “The Normal Heart”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honourable Woman”
Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge”
Frances O’Connor, “The Missing”
Allison Tolman, “Fargo”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jon Voight, “Ray Donovan”
Alan Cumming, “The Good Wife”
Bill Murray, “Olive Kitteridge”
Colin Hanks, “Fargo”
Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Allison Janney, “Mom”
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is the New Black”
Kathy Bates, “American Horror Story”
Michelle Monaghan, “True Detective”
Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey”

While we anxiously await tomorrow’s Golden Globe nominations we can parse through today’s Screen Actor’s Guild announcements to see if there is any indication of how things may stack up. Birdman led with four nominations, including Outstanding Performance by a Cast. Boyhood, Theory of Everything, and Foxcatcher’s actors all got recognition as well.

If the Hollywood Foreign Press focuses on performances, the SAG nominations will be a useful road map. Inherent Vice, American Sniper, and A Most Violent Year are noticeably absent. At any rate we’re excited Jake Gyllenhaal is getting more traction for Nightcrawler, and Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl. Not to mention a big fat huzzah to J.K. Simmons for his role in Whiplash! We do have to wonder if Meryl Streep’s Supporting Actor nomination for Into the Woods has something to do with some secret rule that Meryl Streep must be nominated for something in any given year. Not that we’re sure she’s not wonderful, but seeing her name on these things is as commonplace as punctuation. Also a strange addition to that category is Naomi Watts for her role as a Russian stripper named Daka in St. Vincent alongside Bill Murray. Considering how cookie-cutter her ditzy stripper was, not to mention how distracting her accent was, this is incredibly surprising. Especially with Laura Dern’s amazing performance in Wild and Rene Russo’s turn in Nightcrawler being considerably stronger nomination options. Seriously SAG?

Anyway, look for Way Too Indie’s Best Performances list Monday, Dec. 15 to see our own picks for who wowed us this year.

The SAG Awards will air Sunday, January 25on TNT and TBS, live from the Shrine Auditorium in LA. See here for a more detailed list, along with television award nominations.

Here’s the film-related nominations list:

21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
STEVE CARELL / John du Pont – FOXCATCHER
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / Alan Turing – THE IMITATION GAME
JAKE GYLLENHAAL / Louis Bloom – NIGHTCRAWLER
MICHAEL KEATON / Riggan – BIRDMAN
EDDIE REDMAYNE / Stephen Hawking – THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
JENNIFER ANISTON / Claire Bennett – CAKE
FELICITY JONES / Jane Hawking – THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
JULIANNE MOORE / Alice Howland-Jones – STILL ALICE
ROSAMUND PIKE / Amy Dunne – GONE GIRL
REESE WITHERSPOON / Cheryl Strayed – WILD

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
ROBERT DUVALL / Joseph Palmer – THE JUDGE
ETHAN HAWKE / Mason, Sr. – BOYHOOD
EDWARD NORTON / Mike – BIRDMAN
MARK RUFFALO / Dave Schultz – FOXCATCHER
J.K. SIMMONS / Fletcher – WHIPLASH

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
PATRICIA ARQUETTE / Olivia – BOYHOOD
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY / Joan Clarke – THE IMITATION GAME
EMMA STONE / Sam – BIRDMAN
MERYL STREEP / The Witch – INTO THE WOODS
NAOMI WATTS / Daka – ST. VINCENT

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
BIRDMAN
BOYHOOD 
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL 
THE IMITATION GAME 
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Screen Actors Guild 51st Annual Life Achievement Award
DEBBIE REYNOLDS

The National Board of Review has put out the list of winners for their 2014 awards. They’ve named A Most Violent Year the Best Film of the Year. Starring the Board’s Best Supporting Actress winner Jessica Chastain and their pick for Best Actor Oscar Isaac, the film is set in the early ’80s in the belly of New York’s crime world. The Board’s picks come as somewhat of a surprise to many critics as Boyhood and Birdman have generally been two of the most talked about films this year and have been the first to pick up awards this week from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Gotham Awards.

Other Awards to be given at the Gala on January 6th, 2015 are to Julianne Moore for Best Actress in Still Alice where she plays a woman dealing with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and Clint Eastwood for Best Director for American Sniper.

Michael Keaton did end up tying with Oscar Isaac for Best Actor and Edward Norton for Best Supporting Actor for their performances in Birdman which so far has been incredibly well received.

All in all, the dissension among early awards just proves this could be an interesting and varied awards season.

Here is the full list of the National Board of Review Awards:

Best Film: A Most Violent Year
Best Director: Clint Eastwood (American Sniper)
Best Actor (TIE): Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year) and Michael Keaton (Birdman)
Best Actress: Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton (Birdman)
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)
Best Original Screenplay: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice)
Best Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Breakthrough Performance: Jack O’Connell (Starred Up and Unbroken)
Best Directorial Debut: Gillian Robespierre (Obvious Child)
Best Foreign Language Film: Wild Tales
Best Documentary: Life Itself
William K. Everson Film History Award: Scott Eyman
Best Ensemble: Fury
Spotlight Award: Chris Rock for writing, directing, and starring in Top Five
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Rosewater
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Selma

Top 10 Films
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Fury
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Lego Movie
Nightcrawler
Unbroken

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem
Leviathan
Two Days, One Night
We Are the Best!

Top 5 Documentaries
“Art and Craft”
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”
“Keep On Keepin’ On”
“The Kill Team”
“Last Days in Vietnam”

Top 10 Independent Films
Blue Ruin
Locke
A Most Wanted Man
Mr. Turner
Obvious Child
The Skeleton Twins
Snowpiercer
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Starred Up
Still Alice

Tonight, plenty of big names and stars in independent film gathered together for the Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York. Earlier today everyone was talking about the New York Film Critics Circle winners, but tonight was one of the first “true” award shows of Oscar season (sorry Hollywood Film Awards, you don’t count). And like the Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham spreads the love to the year’s best independent films. All in all, it was a nice way to sit back and see some genuinely great talent get rewarded.

Boyhood surprisingly lost the night’s main award, losing Best Picture to Birdman. Comparing the two films, Boyhood seems like the easier bet for an indie-based award show like this, but the award jury (including the likes of Jon Hamm and Jane Fonda) preferred Alejandro González Iñárritu’s visually crazy satire. We raved about the film back when it closed the New York Film Festival, so it’s sure to earn plenty of other trophies for its mantle in the coming months.

There were unsurprising wins, though: Best Documentary went to Citizenfour, Michael Keaton won Best Actor for Birdman (he’s already trying out material for if he wins the Oscar, based on his speech), and Julianne Moore won Best Actress for Still Alice. They’re all the current frontrunners in their respective categories, so it didn’t come as a shock to see them end up winning.

One of the night’s more pleasant surprises came when Ana Lily Amirpour, director of our Must See Indie pick A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, won the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award. It’s one of the year’s most accomplished debut features, and the fact alone that it beat out Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler says quite a lot. Also great: Tessa Thompson winning Breakthrough Performance for Dear White People, beating out Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood. Thompson was the best part of Dear White People by far, so it’s a deserved win.

Special awards were given to Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo for their work in Foxcatcher, as well as Tilda Swinton, Foxcatcher director Bennett Miller and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos. Read the full list of winners below, and let us know what you think deserved to win or got robbed.

Gotham Independent Film Awards Winners

Best Feature: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Best Actress: Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Best Actor: Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Best Documentary: Citizenfour
Breakthrough Actor: Tessa Thompson in Dear White People
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award: Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Gotham Independent Film Audience Award: Boyhood

With the beginning of December, the New York Film Critics Circle became the first of many critics groups to release their year-end awards earlier today. Top honors went to IFC Films’ Boyhood, which not only claimed Best Picture but saw its director Richard Linklater and one of its stars Patricia Arquette win prizes. Some of the other big winners were worthy albeit more surprising picks, notably Best Actor going to Mr. Turner‘s Timothy Spall and Best Actress to Marion Cotillard for two films, The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night.

While seen by many as the “first precursor” awards to the Oscars, last year’s New York Film Critics Circle winners overwhelming went Oscar-less at that year’s ceremony. Only Cate Blanchett and Steve McQueen prevailed at both ceremonies, while the other 9 NYFCC winners were passed over by the Academy Awards. This year’s crop of winners contains several suspected frontrunners, including Best Supporting Actor winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash). Check out the full list of winners below:

Best Picture: Boyhood
Best Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Best First Film: Jennifer Kent (The Babadook)
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard (for The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night)
Special Award: Adrienne Mancia
Best Actor: Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner)
Best Cinematography: Darius Khondji (The Immigrant)
Best Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Best Nonfiction Film: Citizenfour
Best Foreign Language Film: Ida
Best Animated Film: The Lego Movie

It’s starting to feel like Christmas already as the nominations for our favorite awards show, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, were announced moments ago. Leading the pack with a total of six nominations was Alejandro G. Iñárritu‘s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) grabbing nods for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Editing, and three acting categories. Not far behind it was Richard Linklater‘s masterful Boyhood which received a total of five nominations in major categories. Also landing five nominations were Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, and Ava DuVernay’s Selma.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the absence of Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyer’s Club follow-up Wild, since a lot of people have been talking about Reese Witherspoon’s performance in it. However, the biggest snub this year belongs to The Overnighters for not getting a nod for Best Documentary, as this indie doc is getting some serious Oscar buzz. Also, I had to do a double take when seeing André Benjamin’s name under the Best Actor category, which seems a little out of left-field but also edged out Ellar Coltrane for Boyhood and Oscar Isaac for A Most Violent Year.

Here at Way Too Indie, we were especially happy to see nominations for some smaller films such as A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (which picked up 3 noms and landed on our Must See Indie list), The One I Love, and It Felt Like Love. The 2015 Independent Spirit Awards will broadcast live (new this year) on IFC at 2:00/5:00pm PT/ET on Saturday, February 21, 2015.

Watch For: Our Spirit Award predictions coming soon.

2015 Independent Spirit Award Nominations:

Birdman
Boyhood
Love is Strange
Selma
Whiplash

Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Ava DuVernay – Selma
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
David Zellner – Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter

Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski – Big Eyes
J.C. Chandor – A Most Violent Year
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler
Jim Jarmusch – Only Lovers Left Alive
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias – Love is Strange

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Dear White People
Nightcrawler
Obvious Child
She’s Lost Control

Desiree Akhavan – Appropriate Behavior
Sara Colangelo – Little Accidents
Justin Lader – The One I Love
Anja Marquardt – She’s Lost Control
Justin Simien – Dear White People

André Benjamin – Jimi: All Is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman
John Lithgow – Love is Strange
David Oyelowo – Selma

Marion Cotillard – The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi – Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Jenny Slate – Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive

Riz Ahmed – Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Alfred Molina – Love is Strange
Edward Norton – Birdman
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo – Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz – Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Emma Stone – Birdman

Darius Khondji – The Immigrant
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Sean Porter – It Felt Like Love
Lyle Vincent – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Bradford Young – Selma

Sandra Adair – Boyhood
Tom Cross – Whiplash
John Gilroy – Nightcrawler
Ron Patane – A Most Violent Year
Adam Wingard – The Guest

Force Majeure (Sweden)
Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Mommy (Cananda)
Norte, the End of History (Philippines)
Under the Skin (United Kingdom)

20,000 Days on Earth
CITIZENFOUR
Stray Dog
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

Blue Ruin – Jeremy Saulnier
It Felt Like Love – Eliza Hittman
Land Ho! – Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Man From Reno – Dave Boyle
Test – Chris Mason Johnson

Foxcatcher

Inherent Vice
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Casting Director: Cassandra Kulukundis
Ensemble Cast: Josh Brolin, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon

Chad Burris
Elisabeth Holm
Chris Ohlson

Amanda Rose Wilder – Approaching the Elephant
Darius Clark Monroe – Evolution of a Criminal
Dan Krauss – The Kill Team
Sara Dosa – The Last Season

Ana Lily Amirpour – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia – H.
Chris Eska – The Retrieval

In two weeks we indie enthusiasts will kick off our own awards season when 2014 independent films get their much deserved due as nominations are announced on Tuesday, November 25 for the 30th annual Spirit Awards. Today Film Independent announced Rosario Dawson (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Cesar Chavez) and Diego Luna (Book of Life, Y Tu Mama Tambien) would be announcing the nominations. The awards will be broadcast live (for the first time) on IFC Saturday, February 21, 2015 at 2:00 pm PT/ 5:00 pm ET.

Spirit Awards are given out in the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, Best International Film, Best Documentary, Best Editing and the Robert Altman Award. The Filmmaker Awards include the Piaget Producers Award, the LensCrafters Truer Than Fiction Award and the Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award. Keep in mind, nominated films are limited to U.S. films with a budget of $20 million or less — see ya, Grand Budapest Hotel and Under the Skin.

We’ll have full coverage of the awards, including our predictions, but if we wanted to do some nomination predicting we think we can solidly expect to see Boyhood, Whiplash, Birdman, Nightcrawler, and Foxcatcher among the nominations with the leads of each of these films making their way into the Best Director and Leading Male and Female categories and populating the Supporting Categories especially. (We’re looking at you JK Simmons, Patricia Arquette, and Rene Russo.) Unfortunately this has been a down year for female-led films, but Julianne Moore for Still Alice, Jenny Slate for Obvious Child, and Kristen Wiig for The Skeleton Twins are likely to pop up.

In addition to today’s announcement a special video to Film Independent voters was released featuring the ever-creepy John Waters. Check it out below and be sure to check back for further Spirit Awards announcements.

The 2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards will broadcast live for the first time during its 30th anniversary this year. In years past, the awards show was filmed live but didn’t actually broadcast until 5 hours later, forcing viewers to turn off their social media outlets if they wanted to watch the program and be surprised by the results. The rise in social media usage which gives instant results probably had something to do with this decision. According to Deadline, Film Independent President Josh Welsh wanted to do something special for its big anniversary by broadcasting live from the beach. This is a huge relief for those who want to actually use Twitter on February 21st and can’t be at the beautiful Santa Monica beach for the show.

The 2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards will air live on IFC at 2 PM PT/ 5 PM ET on February 21st.

You might be thinking “Already?!” but yes, award season is already starting. Today, New York’s Gotham Independent Film Awards put out their nominees, a list filled with pleasant surprises and some very obvious choices.

Let’s start with the obvious choice: Boyhood. Any indie award would be insane to deny Richard Linklater’s film, possibly the indie event of the year, some love, so Gotham understandably gave it four nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Ethan Hawke), Best Actress (Patricia Arquette) and Breakthrough Actor (Ellar Coltrane). Also unsurprising is Birdman nabbing three nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor (Michael Keaton). Expect to hear even more about Birdman in the months to come.

Because the Gotham Awards are about independent film, that gives some great underrated films and performances the chance for some exposure through a nomination. The biggest surprise might be Under the Skin and Scarlett Johansson scoring nominations for Best Picture and Actress. It’ll be unlikely for Jonathan Glazer’s strange sci-fi to get much love outside of critics’ circles this year, so nominations like these are nice to see. Another great choice by Gotham: Giving Ira Sachs’ wonderful Love is Strange a Best Picture nomination. Sachs’ film, a quietly heartbreaking drama, seems bound to get left out this year once the awards race kicks into high gear (if Best Actor weren’t so competitive this year, John Lithgow and Alfred Molina would have been locks). Any recognition for Love is Strange is a huge plus.

Read on below for the full list of nominees, including the nominees for Breakthrough Director and Actor. For those more interested in the bigger awards, take note of Oscar Isaac’s nomination for A Most Violent Year. The film hasn’t come out yet (it opens AFI Fest next month), so this nomination might be a hint of another shake-up in the coming weeks. And if anyone’s wondering where current Best Actor frontrunner Steve Carrell is, Gotham decided to give Carrell and co-stars Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo a special award for their ensemble performances in Foxcatcher.

The Gotham Independent Film Awards will hold their awards ceremony on December 1st.

Best Feature

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Love Is Strange
Under the Skin

Best Actor

Bill Hader in The Skeleton Twins
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Miles Teller in Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best Actress

Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Beyond the Lights
Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin
Mia Wasikowska in Tracks

Best Documentary

Actress
CITIZENFOUR
Life Itself
Manakamana
Point and Shoot

Breakthrough Actor

Riz Ahmed in Nightcrawler
Macon Blair in Blue Ruin
Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood
Joey King in Wish I Was Here
Jenny Slate in Obvious Child
Tessa Thompson in Dear White People

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
James Ward Byrkit for Coherence
Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler
Eliza Hittman for It Felt Like Love
Justin Simien for Dear White People

The big winner Oscar Sunday was Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, winning seven awards including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Visual Effects. Though for the second year in a row, the winner for Best Director did not go on to win the top prize of Best Picture. Instead the honors went to 12 Years a Slave, which also picked up Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. Other winners were 20 Feet from Stardom for Best Documentary, The Great Beauty for Best Foreign Film, and Her for Best Original Screenplay.

Complete List of 2014 Oscar Winners:

Best Picture:

American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director:

David O. Russell – American Hustle
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor:

Christian Bale – American Hustle
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress:

Amy Adams – American Hustle
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench – Philomena
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Original Screenplay:

Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell – American Hustle
Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club
Spike Jonze – Her
Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight
Billy Ray – Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope – Philomena
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Foreign Film:

The Broken Circle Breakdown
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Missing Picture
Omar

Best Cinematography:

Philippe Le Sourd – The Grandmaster
Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska
Roger A. Deakins – Prisoners

Best Animated Film:

The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

Best Documentary:

The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom

Best Film Editing:

Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten – American Hustle
Christopher Rouse – Captain Phillips
John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa – Dallas Buyers Club
Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger – Gravity
Joe Walker – 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Score:

John Williams – The Book Thief
Steven Price – Gravity
William Butler and Owen Pallett – Her
Alexandre Desplat – Philomena
Thomas Newman – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Original Song:

“Happy” – Despicable Me 2
“Let It Go” – Frozen
“The Moon Song” – Her
“Ordinary Love” – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Production Design:

American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years a Slave

Best Costume Design:

American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years a Slave

Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
The Lone Ranger

Best Sound Editing:

All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Best Sound Mixing:

Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor

Best Visual Effects:

Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Short Film (Live Action):

Aquel No Era Yo
Avant Que De Tout Perdre
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?
The Voorman Problem

Best Visual Short Film (Animated):

Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave was unsurprisingly the big winner at the Film Independent Spirit Awards today with a total of five wins including, Best Feature, Best Director, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay. There were some great acceptance speeches from Matthew McConaughey who had the most inspirational speech (yes, it began with “All right, all right, all right.”), Jared Leto who had the longest speech (it was so long they had to cut it in several places during broadcast to stay on time), and Cate Blanchett who mentioned the large elephant in the room. Blanchett used part of her acceptance speech to call out the fact that the Best Males category received six nominees and the Best Females category only got five. Furthermore, she asked the question everyone at home was wondering–if the voters missed seeing Greta Gerwig’s wonderful performance in Frances Ha.

Other winners included the magnificent Blue is the Warmest Color for Best International Film, Short Term 12 edged out Upstream Color for Best Editing, and the wonderfully understated This Is Martin Bonner received the John Cassavetes Award. The biggest surprise for the evening was Twenty Feet From Stardom winning for Best Documentary.

Full List of 2014 Independent Spirit Award Winners:

(Winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Best Feature:

12 Years A Slave
All Is Lost
Frances Ha
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska

Best Director:

Shane Carruth – Upstream Color
J.C. Chandor – All Is Lost
Steve McQueen – 12 Years A Slave
Jeff Nichols – Mud
Alexander Payne – Nebraska

Best First Feature:

Blue Caprice
Concussion
Fruitvale Station
Una Noche
Wadjda

Best Male Lead:

Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years A Slave
Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis
Michael B. Jordan – Fruitvale Station
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford – All Is Lost

Best Female Lead:

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy – Before Midnight
Gaby Hoffmann – Crystal Fairy
Brie Larson – Short Term 12
Shailene Woodley – The Spectacular Now

Best Supporting Male:

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years A Slave
Will Forte – Nebraska
James Gandolfini – Enough Said
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
Keith Stanfield – Short Term 12

Best Supporting Female:

Melonie Diaz – Fruitvale Station
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years A Slave
Yolanda Ross – Go For Sisters
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best International Film: (Award given to the director)

A Touch of Sin
Blue is the Warmest Color
Gloria
The Great Beauty
The Hunt

Best Cinematography:

Sean Bobbitt – 12 Years a Slave
Benoit Debie – Spring Breakers
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Frank G. Demarco – All Is Lost
Matthias Grunsky – Computer Chess

Best Documentary:

The Act Of Killing
After Tiller
Gideon’s Army
The Square
Twenty Feet From Stardom

John Cassavetes Award: (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Computer Chess – Andrew Bujalski
Crystal Fairy – Sebastian Silva
Museum Hours – Jem Cohen
Pit Stop – Yen Tan
This Is Martin Bonner – Chad Hartigan

Best Editing:

Shane Carruth & David Lowery – Upstream Color
Jem Cohen & Marc Vives – Museum Hours
Jennifer Lame – Frances Ha
Cindy Lee – Una Noche
Nat Sanders – Short Term 12

Best Screenplay:

Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater – Before Midnight
Nicole Holofcener – Enough Said
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – The Spectacular Now
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Best First Screenplay:

Lake Bell – In A World
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Don Jon
Bob Nelson – Nebraska
Jill Soloway – Afternoon Delight
Michael Starburry – The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister & Pete

Robert Altman Award: (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)

Mud
Director: Jeff Nichols
Casting Director: Francine Maisler
Ensemble Cast: Joe Don Baker, Jacob Lofland, Matthew McConaughey, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Sturdivant, Reese Witherspoon

Piaget Producers Award: (Award given to a producer)

Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnson
Jacob Jaffke
Andrea Roa
Ferderick Thornton

Truer Than Fiction Award: (Award given to the director)

Kalyanee Mam – A River Changes Course
Jason Osder – Let The Fire Burn
Stephanie Spray & Pancho Valez – Manakamana

Someone to Watch Award: (Award given to the director)

Aaron Douglas Johnston – My Sister’s Quinceanera
Shaka King – Newlyweeds
Madeleine Olnek – The Foxy Merkins

Over the past several weeks we have provided an extensive individual breakdown for all of the major Oscar categories. Today we have compiled our 2014 Oscars Predictions on a convenient one sheet for you, along with links to our previous analysis. Oscar night is right around the corner, so be sure to tune in to see how well we predicted.

86th Academy Awards will air March 2, 2014 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.

Complete List of 2014 Oscar Predictions:

Best Picture:

American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director:

David O. Russell – American Hustle
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor:

Christian Bale – American Hustle
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress:

Amy Adams – American Hustle
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench – Philomena
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Original Screenplay:

Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell – American Hustle
Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club
Spike Jonze – Her
Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight
Billy Ray – Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope – Philomena
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Foreign Film:

The Broken Circle Breakdown
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Missing Picture
Omar

Best Cinematography:

Philippe Le Sourd – The Grandmaster
Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska
Roger A. Deakins – Prisoners

Best Animated Film:

The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

Best Documentary:

The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom

Best Film Editing:

Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten – American Hustle
Christopher Rouse – Captain Phillips
John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa – Dallas Buyers Club
Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger – Gravity
Joe Walker – 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Score:

John Williams – The Book Thief
Steven Price – Gravity
William Butler and Owen Pallett – Her
Alexandre Desplat – Philomena
Thomas Newman – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Original Song:

“Happy” – Despicable Me 2
“Let It Go” – Frozen
“The Moon Song” – Her
“Ordinary Love” – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Production Design:

American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years a Slave

Best Costume Design:

American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years a Slave

Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
The Lone Ranger

Best Sound Editing:

All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Best Sound Mixing:

Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor

Best Visual Effects:

Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Short Film (Live Action):

Aquel No Era Yo
Avant Que De Tout Perdre
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?
The Voorman Problem

Best Visual Short Film (Animated):

Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Last week we predicted that Gravity’s Alfonso Cuarón would get the win for Best Director, so historically speaking that would mean Gravity should have a 73% chance of winning Best Picture because of how closely tied those categories are. However, we do not have to go back very far to see split category winners. Last year Ang Lee received Best Director for the visually impressive Life of Pi, while Ben Affleck’s historic thriller Argo was awarded Best Picture. This year has a very similar setup. Winning the award at the Director’s Guild of America puts Cuarón in good position for Best Director, however, his technical marvel Gravity may be edged out by Steve McQueen’s historical drama 12 Years a Slave. Last week’s BAFTA (British Oscar equivalent) win for 12 Years a Slave was a major victory for the film. But make no mistake, this is still a very close race between the two films.

Marketing departments for the rest of the field will not likely be upgrading their materials beyond “Best Picture Nominated”. While it is still a monumental honor just to be nominated, Spike Jonze and company should feel disheartened that Her is not in contention. Though they are probably just happy their futuristic love story did not fly over the heads of the Academy whose median age is 62.

Because 2013 was such solid year for film, there are plenty of titles that deserved to be nominated: Blue Is the Warmest Color, Blue Jasmine, The Place Beyond the Pines, Frances Ha, Before Midnight, and Fruitvale Station just to name a few. But my top pick for the film that did not receive a nomination that should have is Short Term 12. Destin Cretton’s film blasted on to everyone’s radar after rave reviews from critics at its SXSW premiere. It is unfortunate that the film’s marketing budget and small distribution are its biggest flaws, because the film will make you laugh, cry, and smile more than most films that actually did get nominated.

Category Predictions

Best Picture Nominees

American Hustle (review)

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club (review)

Gravity (review)

Her (review)

Nebraska (review)

Philomena (review)

12 Years a Slave (review)

The Wolf of Wall Street (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Director

It requires a lot of restraint for me not to put down Steve McQueen as the director that should win the award on Oscar night. I believe he is one of the best upcoming directors of our time, so I am delighted that he is finally starting to be recognized for his brilliant work. In 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen was able to capture deeply moving performances from his cast and present difficult subject matter in a raw and powerful way. Despite all of this, I must concede that there is another director that might deserve the win just slightly more.

Alfonso Cuarón’s expert filmmaking abilities are on full display in the visually breathtaking film Gravity. The film opens with what I would consider to be one of the best scenes in all of 2013. The director uses a long continuous (digitally blended) fifteen-minute shot that introduces the characters and also establishes the vast environment of space. Despite a relatively weak story, it would be hard to argue that the cinematography and visual effects found within the film are anything but downright stunning. Cuarón spent four years developing the film and it certainly shows.

The rest of the field in this category (David O. Russell, Alexander Payne, and Martin Scorsese) have tremendous amounts of reputation behind them. The only director that I would exclude from the category is David O. Russell for American Hustle. The film benefited from a stellar cast, but did not have much else going for it. Although it would be a long shot, it would have been nice to see Destin Cretton in this group for his breakout indie film Short Term 12. Other worthy nominees for Best Director are Derek Ciafrance for The Place Beyond the Pines and Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips. However, the biggest nomination snub from the Academy was the absence of Spike Jonze on the ballot. His vision in the film Her was one of the most original and artistic achievements in cinema that 2013 had to offer.

Category Predictions

Best Director Nominees

David O. Russell – American Hustle (review)

Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity (review)

Alexander Payne – Nebraska (review)

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave (review)

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary
Best Actress
Best Actor

What started out as one of the most competitive categories of the Oscar race is looking to be the easiest one to predict. The Oscar statue is now Matthew McConaughey’s to lose, but is his performance as Ron Woodroof truly the best performance of the year? I’d say no, as I can name at least 2 other actors in the category who deserve to win over him. Of course, McConaughey is good in Dallas Buyers Club and, as we all know, he lost around 50 pounds to play Woodroof. My problem is that the film works for McConaughey rather than with him. It’s an incredibly transparent actor’s showcase, and considering the material it’s based on it’s a tasteless move to push a true story like this to the background (Ask yourself: Have people even talked about the actual subject matter of this movie, or has it all been dedicated to gabbing about the performances?).

At first the category seemed lined up for Chiwetel Ejiofor to win. He’s brilliant as Solomon Northup in 12 Years A Slave, at times carrying the film on his shoulders. The arc that director Steve McQueen and screenwriter John Ridley portray, as Solomon goes from a free man to accepting his role as a slave, wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if it wasn’t for Ejiofor’s performance. The other truly great performance in the category belongs to Bruce Dern in Nebraska. Dern’s character, Woody, is a man who keeps to himself and never really says much throughout the film. The film starts out looking like Dern would play a one-note character, but as more details about Woody’s life are revealed the layers of Dern’s performance become clearer. Woody is not meant to be likable, but Dern communicates so much through his understated performance that it’s impossible to not sympathize with his character.

For me, my choice for who deserves to win comes down to Ejiofor and Dern. As tough as it is to choose, I’d give Dern a slight edge over Ejiofor as Dern completely elevated Nebraska into a better film than it actually was. Leonardo DiCaprio is also great as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. It’s a manic, over the top turn for him that might be his best work yet, but it won’t appeal to Academy voters. I’m sure one year DiCaprio will finally win an Oscar, but it won’t be this year. As for Christian Bale in American Hustle, well, does anyone even remember that movie by now? It had a brief moment in the spotlight, but it feels like it was only there to shake up a pretty cut and dry awards campaign. Then again, I’ll probably be completely wrong here. American Hustle had as much staying power as a gust of wind for me, but a lot of other people love it dearly. Either way, Bale doesn’t have a chance of winning this year.

When it comes to who should have been nominated, well that can be tough. Let’s go through some of the great performances from lead actors this year: Joaquin Phoenix in Her, Ethan Hawke in Before Midnight, Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis, Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips, Isaiah Washington in Blue Caprice, Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station, Toni Servillo in The Great Beauty,  Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt, Miles Teller in The Spectacular Now, Paul Eenhoorn in This is Martin Bonner and Simon Pegg in The World`s End. It’s a huge list (and I haven’t even mentioned additional great performances), but my pick goes to Robert Redford in All is Lost. There’s something truly impressive about the way Redford simultaneously makes himself a blank slate for the audience while giving enough screen presence to still make his character feel distinct. Redford is just the kind of actor who can carry an entire film on his shoulders and make it look like a breeze.

All in all, whoever takes home a statue on Oscar night is among very good company.

Category Predictions

Best Actor Nominees

Christian Bale – American Hustle (review)

Bruce Dern – Nebraska (review)

Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street (review)

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave (review)

Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary
Best Actress

The 67th British Academy Film Awards was this past Sunday, February 16th. Sometimes providing a potential glimpse at what Oscar night may bring, the winners were fairly safe bets and may prove as consolation prizes if Academy members vote rogue this year. Gravity took home the most statues with 6 wins, including Best Director and the ambiguously titled Best British Film.  12 Years a Slave took home the top honor of Best Picture, a feat that may prove more difficult in the States, where it’s up against 8 other films rather than the BAFTA’s 4 others.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Cate Blanchett took the top acting awards, but considering the BAFTA’s gave literally no love to The Dallas Buyers Club, they’ve left out a slew of serious contenders who will be putting up a fight at the Oscars this year. The Academy isn’t as likely to hand out an Oscar to a first timer, so Barkhad Abdi’s BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor may be his only win, but Jennifer Lawrence, who took home the Best Supporting Actress statue Sunday night, has as much a chance as anyone in this year’s highly competitive pool for the Oscars.

Rounding out the evening the Academy Fellowship, the highest honor given out at the BAFTA’s was awarded to Dame Helen Mirren.

Complete list of BAFTA winners:

Best Picture: 12 Years A Slave
Best British Film: Gravity
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Best Original Screenplay: American Hustle, Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Best Adapted Screenplay: Philomena, Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
Best Foreign: The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino, NicolaGiuliano, Francesca Cima
Best Documentary: The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer
Best Animation: Frozen, Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Best Cinematography: Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki
Best Editing: Rush, Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin
Best Make Up and Hair: American Hustle, Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
Best Sound: Gravity, Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro
Best Original Music: Gravity, Steven Price
Best Special Visual Effects: Gravity – Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould,Nikki Penny
Best British Short Animation: Sleeping with the Fishes, James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa
Best British Short Film: Room 8, James W. Griffiths & Sophie Venner
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Keiran Evans (Director/Writer), Kelly + Victor
The EE Rising Star Award (voted for by public): Will Poulter

The one question on everyone’s mind about Best Actress is, “Can we give this to Cate Blanchett already so we can all go home?”

It’s another easy category to predict, and rightfully so. Blanchett hasn’t had a proper lead role in at least 5 years, and with Blue Jasmine she makes a hell of a comeback. As the wife of a Bernie Madoff type con man who loses everything, her performance is a roller coaster. She’s funny, pathetic, monstrous, evil, kind and completely unhinged, yet Blanchett keeps Jasmine grounded enough to never make viewers lose sympathy for her. It’s a very rare case this year where the Oscar winner is also the person who deserves it the most.

With that out of the way, let’s look at the other nominees. Judi Dench and Meryl Streep are given their usual “nominate every damn thing they’re in” recognition from voters. Dench is charming as Philomena Lee, but it feels like she can do this kind of thing in her sleep by now. Streep expectedly goes all-in as the drug-addicted matriarch Violet in August: Osage County. Streep doesn’t chew scenery in this movie, she devours it, and if she didn’t win recently for The Iron Lady I could see her being a competitor to Blanchett here. Amy Adams is the best lead in American Hustle by far, but she should be happy with her Golden Globe win. Sandra Bullock probably has the smallest chance of winning in this category, but it shouldn’t diminish the fact that she’s a major reason for Gravity’s success.

Dench and Bullock could have easily been plucked out of this category in my eyes and replaced with a better performance. First things first though, let me say that these actresses did some amazing work this year: Julie Delpy in Before Midnight, Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha, Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now, Andrea Riseborough in Shadow Dancer and Rooney Mara in Side Effects were all terrific. But if I had to pick one actress who deserved to be nominated, it would have to be Paulina Garcia in Gloria. I had my issues with the film, but Garcia (who won Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival) owns every moment of Gloria.

Category Predictions

Best Actress Nominees

Amy Adams – American Hustle (review)

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine (review)

Sandra Bullock – Gravity (review)

Judi Dench – Philomena (review)

Meryl Streep – August: Osage County (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary

If there’s one thing in common between Best Foreign Film and Best Documentary, it’s that no matter what you’re gonna piss somebody off. That’s what happened this year when two popular documentaries didn’t get past the shortlist: Stories We Tell and Blackfish. 2013 was actually a terrific year for documentaries, but the best of the best is still underrepresented in this list of five.

Starting with the most insignificant of the five, Cutie and the Boxer follows Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, an elderly couple trying to live off of their art careers. Ushio is famous for his avant-garde pieces, while Noriko has sacrificed her own artistic ambitions to play the role of assistant to her husband. At a scant 81 minutes there isn’t much nuance to speak of, and a lot of interesting details are glossed over (Ushio’s troubles with alcohol in the past are briefly touched on, and the strained relationship with their son only gets several minutes of screentime). By the end it feels like a very slight film, and its subject matter won’t stand up against the competition.

20 Feet From Stardom, on the other hand, is the kind of fluffy doc that Academy voters adore. Director Morgan Neville puts the focus on backup singers, finding out who was singing behind classics (a highlight of the film gives the backstory on Merry Clayton’s vocals in “Gimme Shelter”) and wondering why such talented people could never break out on their own. Neville has picked a terrific topic for his documentary, and he’s lucky enough to have such charismatic personalities carry along his film while he flails from topic to topic. If Neville was able to find something to anchor his film, 20 Feet could have been much better. But it’s doesn’t matter anyways, audiences love the film, and Harvey Weinstein is putting all he can into ensuring it walks away with a trophy on Oscar night. While 20 Feet From Stardom is far from the best film in this category, its crowd-pleasing nature and heavy campaigning will probably make it win. I’m sincerely hoping that this won’t be a repeat of last year’s Searching for Sugar Man win, but the cynic in me says otherwise.

Unsurprisingly politics dominated the category this year. Rick Rowley’s Dirty Wars is the most overtly political film of the bunch, focusing on reporter Jeremy Scahill’s investigation into the US’s new methods of fighting wars. The truth is, of course, horrifying. Drone strikes and seemingly unlimited access to anywhere in the world (along with many, many other depressing revelations) show a level of unchecked power that would give anyone pause. Oddly enough, Dirty Wars is similar to 20 Feet From Stardom in that its subject matter does most of the heavy lifting. The doc’s attempt to play out like a conspiracy thriller falls flat; Scahill’s overly serious narration combined with Rowley’s attempt to make him look like a martyr don’t work well when seeing innocent people get slaughtered. Nonetheless, Scahill and Rowley are covering material that absolutely needs to be exposed to the public more. It’s a pleasant surprise that Dirty Wars was nominated at all, and even though it won’t win it should hopefully get more people watching the film.