87th Academy Awards

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Note 1: Hello, and welcome to the annual edition of my pretending to understand how the average-age-55-years-white-American-old-men vote to find the best movie of the year! It's almost like how the new Pope is picked. Almost.

Note 2: Post 3.0 is going to be awesome, just like my previous two posts. Also, this year, a bunch of us got together to make an AWESOME app for Oscars - Award Street. Check it out!
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This year is pretty much going to be Boyhood vs. Birdman. A lot of people are going to get their predictions wrong this year depending on which way The Academy leans, unless your prediction is that a movie whose name starts with the letter 'B' is going to take home the grandest prize, and you can be sure about nailing it. Personally, I want to be screaming "It's a boy!" when it's announced. That man, Linklater, deserves a trophy by now. He got nominated for the last 2 movies of the 'Before' trilogy, and has made cult classics like Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, and School of Rock. He might just walk away with 3 trophies in his hands this year and that would be AWESOME. If The Academy leans towards Birdman instead of Boyhood, it will be sad, and them trying incredibly hard to be cool. Boyhood is an achievement, period. A movie event we are going to be talking about for a long, long time. It will be fitting if Boyhood is announced for the Best Picture, and this plays:

I don't wanna be a big man

Just wanna fight like everyone else

No major controversies with the nominations, although no love for Nightcrawler, The Lego Movie, and no cinematography nod for Interstellar broke my heart a little. But then, what's an Oscar without a little heartbreak, right?

Right then, let's get on with it.

Category	Prediction	Pick	Vishesh Tippani	Quotes	Hit / Miss
Best Motion Picture of the Year	Boyhood		I think this category isn't even a contest. Boyhood is by far the best movie on this list. Also, instead of the standard Film/Director split the Academy is known for doing, I think this year is going to see a Film/Writing split, between Boyhood and Birdman.	'You know how everyone's always saying seize the moment? I don't know, I'm kind of thinking it's the other way around, you know, like the moment seizes us.'	Miss. Birdman. Oh well.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role	Michael Keaton, Birdman		Another year, BC! This year's going cleanly to Mr. Keaton.	'A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.'	Miss. Well, I am glad. Great performance by Eddie Redmayne in Theory of Everything.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role	Julianne Moore, Still Alice	Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl	The chills Rosamund Pike gives you! Goodness. I wish she won this one, but she won't.	From Gone Girl: 'I'm the cunt you married. The only time you liked yourself was when you were trying to be someone this cunt might like. I'm not a quitter, I'm that cunt. I killed for you; who else can say that? You think you'd be happy with a nice Midwestern girl? No way, baby! I'm it.'	Hit!
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role	J.K. Simmons, Whiplash		The only thing going for Whiplash. Simmons' powerful performance made this movie worth a while. His performance took me back to when I was in school.	'There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job.'	Hit!
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role	Patricia Arquette, Boyhood		Boyhood could very well have been called 'Motherhood', and it would have remained as true. Patricia deserves this gold!	'I just thought there would be more.'	Hit! YAY!
Best Achievement in Directing	Richard Linklater, Boyhood		Please. Starting to feel a little bad for Mr. Anderson though. Maybe Mr. Anderson is destined to be seventh time lucky another year.	'I finally figured it out. It's like when they realized it was gonna be too expensive to actually build cyborgs and robots. I mean, the costs of that were impossible. They decided to just let humans turn themselves into robots. That's what's going on right now. I mean, why not? They're billions of us just laying around, not really doing anything. We don't cost anything. We're even pretty good at self-maintenance and reproducing constantly. And as it turns out, we're already biologically programmed for our little cyborg upgrades. I read this thing the other day about how When you hear that ding on your inbox, you get like a dopamine rush in your brain. It's like we're being chemically rewarded for allowing ourselves to be brainwashed. How evil is that? We're fucked.'	Miss. Iñárritu, Birdman. Oh well. Another year, bigger movie, Linklater!
Best Original Screenplay	Birdman	Boyhood	This is going to be a close call, but I think Birdman will pull through in the end. Also, if it does, the Best Picture announcement is going to induce double the nervousness. Writing/Film split seldom happens. The last time this happened was with Argo (2012), and Million Dollar Baby (2005) before that.	From Boyhood: 'I mean, what makes you think that elves are any more magical than something like a whale? Yoy know what I mean? What if I told you a story about how underneath the ocean, there was this giant sea mammal that used sonar and sang songs and it was so big that its heart was the size of a car and you could crawl through the arteries? I mean, you'd think that was pretty magical, right?'	Hit!
Best Adapted Screenplay	The Imitation Game		The better crop are the ones in the original writing category. The adapted is pretty non-exciting, unless American Sniper takes it because of the emotions involved.	'Do you know why people like violence? It is because it feels good. Humans find violence deeply satisfying. But remove the satisfaction, and the act becomes... hollow.'	Hit!
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year	How to train your Dragon 2		No nomination for The Lego Movie was really disappointing. Nothing much here.	'Some of us were just born different.'	Miss. Big Hero 6. Blah. I couldn't care less without The Lego Movie nomination.
Best Achievement in Cinematography	Birdman	The Grand Budapest Hotel	No nomination for Interstellar was a disappointment. A win for Grand Budapest would redeem it.	'You're looking so well, darling, you really are... they've done a marvelous job. I don't know what sort of cream they've put on you down at the morgue, but... I want some.'	Hit!
Best Achievement in Editing	Boyhood		This is a no contest. Editing footage spanning 12 years into this masterpiece!	'I find myself so furious at all these people that I am in contact with just for controlling me or whatever but you know they are not even aware they are doing it.'	Miss. Whiplash. :/
Best Achievement in Production Design	The Grand Budapest Hotel	Interstellar	Well, I am going to pick Interstellar for whichever category it's nominated in!	From Interstellar: 'Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.'	Hit!
Best Achievement in Costume Design	The Grand Budapest Hotel			'You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed that's what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant... oh, fuck it.'	Hit!
Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling	The Grand Budapest Hotel		A lack of Theory of Everything here was a little bit surprising.	'I must say, I find that girl utterly delightful. Flat as a board, enormous birthmark the shape of Mexico over half her face, sweating for hours on end in that sweltering kitchen, while Mendl, genius though he is, looms over her like a hulking gorilla. Yet without question, without fail, always and invariably, she's exceedingly lovely.'	Hit!
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score	Interstellar		Zimmer's score made Interstellar more grandiose than it already was. Just 1 win for him from 9 nominations, I think he can use another win, and deservedly so. Theory of Everything has a good chance of taking it away.	'Those aren't mountains, they're waves.'	Miss. Grand Budapest Hotel. This movie is on a roll tonight! Desplat deserved a win, nominated for 2 movies this year, and 7 before this.
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song	Selma	The Lego Movie	I like 'Lost Stars' from Begin Again. But my pick is The Lego Movie because it was AWESOME, and these buggers did not give it a nod for Animated Feature.	From The Lego Movie: 'All this is true because it rhymes.'	Hit!
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing	Interstellar		There was a bunch of controversy around Interstellar's sound. It doesn't matter. A couple of IMAX viewings is what those buggers need.	'You're telling me it takes two numbers to measure your own ass but only one to measure my son's future?'	Miss. Whiplash. For not giving it to Interstellar, I tell you, Academy, "Not my tempo."
Best Achievement in Sound Editing	Interstellar		see: above. Although, American Sniper might snatch this one. Also, I think Fury should have gotten a nod here.	'And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us.'	Miss. Sniper made a headshot at TARS.
Best Achievement in Visual Effects	Interstellar		This is a no-contest. Why are there even other nominees?!	'Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'	Hit! Although it's sad that Interstellar might end its count with this.
Best Short Film, Live Action	The Phone Call	Butter Lamp	This is the first time I got to watch all the live-action shorts before the event. Pretty great movies, all. My favorite's got to be Butter Lamp, for the sheer ingenuity of script.		Hit!
Best Short Film, Animated	Feast		It's a dog's life.		Hit!
				Total:	13 / 21

Who are you rooting for?


87th Academy Awards...