Clearly, I’ve been underestimating Birdman. First of all, the film will be sort of the successor to Hitchcock’s Rope, using camera tricks and effects to give the illusion of a single, unbroken shot. And if that’s not intriguing enough for you, check out this trailer. I can see now that this will be a big contender.

What might not be a good contender is Into The Woods. Apparently, Disney has ‘disnified’ the story and gotten rid of a lot of the darker elements of the musical. Even if the film does turn out to be good, I fear for it’s Oscar chances. It may suffer the same fate as Saving Mr. Banks.

Finally, we have the new trailer for Gone Girl. This could be a serious player. Come on, a lot of people feel that Fincher should have taken home the gold for The Social Network, and if people like this, it could be our winner.

BEST PICTURE

Big Eyes
Birdman
Foxcatcher
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
Interstellar
Trash
Unbroken

I replaced Into The Woods with The Imitation Game, which early screenings are getting some pretty great reviews. And like I said, Gone Girl could fit the bill for this year’s Best Picture.

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
Angelina Jolie, Unbroken
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Tough choice, but I got rid of Burton. Fincher is in it for the win.

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner

I replaced Downey with Cumberbatch. The trailer for The Judge looks good, but not like something that could be a serious Oscar player. This is a tight race, but I guess I’ll go with Carrell

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Jessica Chastain, The Disappearance Of Elanor Rigby
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Michelle Williams, Suite francaise
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

I replaced Streep with Chastain, but only time will tell if I’m right. From the very beginning, 2014 was going to be the year that Amy Adams won an Oscar, and hopefully that follows through.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Garrett Hedlund, Unbroken
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J. K. Simmons, Whiplash

I replaced Duvall with Hedlund. There’s no clear frontrunner here, so I’ll go with Ruffalo.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Marion Cotillard, MacBeth
Viola Davis, Get On Up
Anna Kendrick, Into The Woods
Emma Stone, Birdman

Again, no clear frontrunner.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Big Eyes
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
Mr. Turner

Replaced A Most Violent Year with Mr. Turner which is doing surprisingly well with critics. If Birdman gets a lot of recognition, they’ll most likely want to give it the win here.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Foxcatcher
Gone Girl
Inherent Vice
The Imitation Game
Unbroken

Tight category. I replaced ‘Trash’ with ‘The Imitation Game’, but I still think Gone Girl will be our winner.

BEST FILM EDITING

Foxcatcher
Fury
Gone Girl
Interstellar
Unbroken

The trailer for Fury looks promising, but I don’t know how much of a contender it will be.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Birdman
Gone Girl
Inherent Vice
Interstellar
Unbroken

A three way race, but I’m sticking with my guns and voting for Deakins.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Big Eyes
Exodus: Gods & Kings
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
Into The Woods

Interestingly, no Tim Burton film nominated in this category has ever lost.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Big Eyes
Exodus: Gods & Kings
Into The Woods
MacBeth
Suite française

Super tight race.

BEST MAKEUP

Foxcatcher
The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies
Into The Woods

Tight race. Getting onto the shortlist is hard enough, much less getting the nomination.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Gaurdians Of The Galaxy
Godzilla
The Hobbit: There And Back Again
Interstellar

Does Guardians Of The Galaxy remind anybody else of Rise Of The Guardians?

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Big Eyes
Gone Girl
Interstellar
Inherent Vice
Unbroken

Not really sure what they’ll go for here. The 3D sci-fi/fantasy always seems to have a good shot here.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“???”, Annie
“All Of Our Stars”, The Fault In Our Stars
“Everything Is Awesome”, The Lego Movie
“Something So Right”, Muppets Most Wanted
“The Witch’s Song”, Into The Woods

At least we’re finding out the names of some of the songs.

BEST SOUND EDITING

Fury
Godzilla
The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Again, a close race. In all seriousness, I wouldn’t really mind if HTTYD2 got nominated here, mainly because it would be making up for the atrocious snub of the original.

BEST SOUND MIXING

Gone Girl
Fury
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Unbroken

I think I’ll leave my predictions as is.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie
The Princess Kaguya.

I won’t go off on a huge rant here about… a certain contender. The Lego Movie is winning this. Concluded.