What should win? - The Grand Budapest Hotel

What will win? - Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

My thoughts? - I'll be happy with anything other than Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler is a good film, but the script is the film's biggest problem. It shouldn't have even been nominated.

What should win? - I've only seen American Sniper and The Theory of Everything off of this list, and the script is a problem with both films. Both films work because they're "Actor-centric" and without the actors, both films would've been just average. So I don't have a "What should win" here.

What will win? - I think it's 50/50 between The Imitation Game and Whiplash. Both films won't win many significant awards later on in the night so I think both could get the equivalent of an appreciation award here. I think the Academy liked Whiplash more, so I'll go with that.

What should win? - Interstellar

What will win? - Interstellar

My thoughts? - This shouldn't even be close. The effects makers had to imagine what it was like to travel through a black hole. That couldn't have been hard to do.

What should win? - Interstellar

What will win? - Whiplash

My thoughts? - When Interstellar came out, a lot of people reported problems of not being able to hear dialog because either the music or sound effects drained them out. When I saw it in theaters, I saw it in RPX and had a perfect experience. The theater calibrated the sound perfectly, and boy did it have an impact. I don't think I can accurately describe through writing how the sound influenced my enjoyment of Interstellar other than to say it's the closest I've come to what I would guess it would be like to have a film flow through you as if it were a part of your being. That's why I think it should win. Sadly, I think too many people will remember the negative reports. Also, as I said earlier, I think a lot of people in the Academy liked Whiplash. I haven't seen the film myself (I will two days after the Oscars because that's when it'll be available to rent on iTunes), but with the film being about drummer, I'm guessing the film is wall-to-wall drumming. The loudest film usually wins here. Birdman could also win here too.

What should win? - Interstellar

What will win? - Interstellar

My thoughts? - Birdman might win here because I think the Academy loves Birdman (more on that later) and might try to award it as much as possible outside of the big categories. I think Interstellar wins here though, simply because Whiplash wasn't nominated here. Why it wasn't, I have no idea, but I'm guessing The Hobbit and Unbroken didn't deserve these nominations.

What should win? - Butterlamp on name alone.

What will win? - The Phone Call

My thoughts? - I haven't seen any of these and I'm betting that most of the voters haven't either. It's my understanding that The Phone Call has recognizable names (Sally Hawkins to name one) and I think it'll win based on that alone.

What should win? - Haven't seen any of them.

What will win? - Feast

My thoughts? - When in doubt, place your bets on Disney (even though I think they lost in this category last year).

What should win? - The Grand Budapest Hotel

What will win? - The Grand Budapest Hotel

My thoughts? - Here is one of the rare categories where I'll pick against Interstellar. I thought the production design and the overall look of The Grand Budapest Hotel was wholly cinematic. Freeze any single frame of The Grand Budapest Hotel and it'd make a wonderful painting. The look of The Grand Budapest Hotel is what I, and many other people, will remember about the film for years to come. From the hotel itself to the Zubrowkian mountainside, every image is wonderfully imagined, and all of it had to be created. I certainly wouldn't mind an Interstellar win here though.

What should win? - Everything is Awesome - The Lego Movie

What will win? - Glory - Selma

My thoughts? - Two things could happen here. One) The Lego Movie was wrongfully not nominated for an Oscar in the animation category. As a makeup of sorts, the voters could give the award to the film here as a way of giving it a win and acknowledging the movie. Two) Selma got snubbed in every single category except for Best Picture. Then apply what I said about The Lego Movie here as well. Throw in that Glory won the Golden Globe, and I give the edge to Glory.

What should win? - Interstellar - Hans Zimmer

What will win? - Interstellar - Hans Zimmer

My thoughts? - I'm listening to the score of Interstellar as I'm currently writing this. I have been in love with it since I heard it in the film (especially during a key scene in the film where Cooper (McConaughey) takes the ship and tries to dock it with a broken docking bay as it's spinning around at so many "G's" where it almost knocks him unconscious) and I still love it. I do also have reasoning behind my pick. It's happened before (rarely) that a composer has been nominated twice in this category for two different films. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but most of the time what ends up happening is that both nominations end up canceling one another out. I think that'll happen here.

What should win? - Guardians of the Galaxy

What will win? - The Grand Budapest Hotel

My thoughts? - I could see each of the three winning it. My guess is that The Grand Budapest Hotel will win it because like I said before, I think the Academy loves the film.

What should win? - Another year and another list of foreign films I haven't seen.

What will win? - Ida

My thoughts? - The only reason I'm going with Ida is because I've heard great things about it. That and Force Majure (look up that film's premise NOW), but for whatever reason Force Majure wasn't nominated. This is pretty much a complete guess on my part.

What should win? - Boyhood

What will win? - Boyhood

My thoughts? - A film that was shot over the course of twelve years not only came out coherent but was also pretty damn good? That's Boyhood, and that will win. I'll be shocked if anything else does. Also, pay attention to this category when it comes up. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the film that wins in this category usually also wins for "Best Picture".

What should win? - This is the first time I've looked at this category and this is the first time I've ever heard these titles?

What will win? - Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

My thoughts? - If I had to guess from the title (and it's a complete guess), I would say Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 is about veterans dealing with PTSD calling crisis hotlines and maybe not getting enough of the attention that they deserve? I could easily look this up, but it's late, and this category will only be on TV for a minute.

What should win? - I've heard about CitizenFour (Edward Snowden), Finding Vivian Maier, and Virunga (endangered apes), but I haven't seen them.

What will win? - I think it's between the three I listed and I'll go with Finding Vivian Maier.

My thoughts? - It's anybody's guess. I do eventually want to see these films though.

What should win? - The Grand Budapest Hotel

What will win? - The Grand Budapest Hotel

My thoughts? - It'll be another in a line of (deserving) technical awards for The Grand Budapest Hotel.

What should win? - The Grand Budapest Hotel

What will win? - The Grand Budapest Hotel

My thoughts? - I think this is a two-way battle between Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel and I think what it will come down is the simple question of which looked more beautiful? Birdman had the impossible tasks of shooting long shots and blending them together to make it seem like the film was one giant long take. I think voters will appreciate that. However, as I said, I think in most voters minds, they'll ask themselves which was prettier. The Grand Budapest Hotel wins there. And poor Roger Deakins. Another year, another nomination, and another loss (he should've won for Skyfall and Fargo).

What should win? - The Lego Movie

What will win? - How to Train Your Dragon 2

My thoughts? - This is the rare year where I haven't seen a single film in this category, which is odd because I love the original How to Train Your Dragon, so you would've thought I had seen the sequel by now? Nope, and I can't say why other than I heard a few rumblings that it wasn't anywhere near as good as the first. So why pick it? I've heard that Dreamworks, the company that made How to Train Your Dragon, has made the hardest push out of the companies that were nominated. The company that makes the biggest push usually wins.

Who should win? - Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

Who will win? - Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

My thoughts? - I've only seen Boyhood and Birdman so that narrows it down to two. From what I've read, it's Patricia Arquette's to lose. I also thought she gave the best performance, though Emma Stone did her best work yet in Birdman. She'll get nominated again and she'll win sometime in the future. This isn't the year for her though. It is for Arquette. She's also the heart of Boyhood.

Who should win? - Edward Norton - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Who will win? - J.K. Simmons - Whiplash

My thoughts? - I haven't seen Whiplash yet, so default I pick Norton (though he is great in Birdman). Every single "expert" seems to be leaning towards J.K. Simmons though, and usually when there is a groundswell behind an actor like this, it's usually what ends up happening.

Who should win? - Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl

Who will win? - Julianne Moore - Still Alice

My thoughts? - Julianne Moore is finally going to get the Oscar win she has so long deserved. That saying, for me, the better performance was from Rosamund Pike. Her character in Gone Girl was one of the most compelling cinematic characters so far this century. She's evil, sympathetic, innocent, smart, conniving, etc. Her character had so many facets and she played each one convincingly. She's also in the better film.

Who should win? - Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

Who will win? - Michael Keaton - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

My thoughts? - Where's Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler? Or Ralph Fiennes for The Grand Budapest Hotel? Or Ben Affleck for Gone Girl? Or David Oweloyo for Selma? But Bradley Cooper gets in for American Sniper? I'm not saying it's a bad performance, but I just gave you three that were much better (I haven't seen Selma). It's all moot though because it's always been a two-way race between Keaton and Redmayne. First it looked like Redmayne. Now it looks like Keaton. Personally, I have no idea how Redmayne pulled off the physicality (or lack thereof) of Stephen Hawking. I don't know how he did it. And he did it so convincingly. Personally he would've been my pick. However, I have Keaton as a close second, and I've always liked Michael Keaton, so to see him win it after being gone for so many years (thank you The Other Guys and TLC) will be nice.

Who should win? - Alejandro G. Inarritu - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Who will win? - Alejandro G. Inarritu - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

My thoughts? - First, is Morten Tyldum the most British name other than Benedict Cumberbatch? How were they able to stay under one roof together. The place should've exploded with Britishness. But as for the winners, I'll have more thoughts on it in Best Picture.

Who should win? - INTERSTELLAR! However, the film wasn't nominated, so I'll go with my second favorite film of the year which was Birdman.

Who will win? - Boyhood

My thoughts? - It's a 50/50 race between Birdman and Boyhood. And because of it, that makes the "Best Director" category interesting. I think the Academy loves both films so much that they'll split the "Best Director" and "Best Picture" category. What I mean by that is that I don't think the Academy will award both the director and picture together. There's going to be a split. If Inarritu wins, I think Boyhood wins picture. The Academy gets to award the difficult one-take nature of Birdman while awarding the twelve year process and the twelve years on screen that it took to make Boyhood. If Linklater wins, he gets rewarded for the same reasons and Birdman gets rewarded for the same reasons and because it's a movie about actors and acting (among so many other things). I think it goes the first way I described though. Also, remember what I said way back when in the film editing category? The film that usually wins for editing usually wins for "Best Picture".