Reaction to Oscar Nominations

The time has finally arrived. We finally know the individuals that are nominated for the Oscars next month. It started almost a year ago, when Boyhood and Whiplash premiered at Sundance. We watched them go from underdogs to two of the strongest films in the race due to everything else underwhelming (Unbroken, Big Eyes) or having campaign problems. (Selma) This year is actually fairly boring because almost everything will be easy to pick.

Quick Reactions:
4-Time Oscar Nominee Bradley Cooper. (3 for Acting) Who would of said that 5 years ago? Even more impressive is they are consecutive.

The internet claims that Best Actress was weak this year, but really the final group is strong. Marion Cotillard is brilliant as always and was a great nomination. Jones is probably the weak link, but she's still better than many past nominations.

Foxcatcher missed Best Picture, but made it in Director, Actor, Supporting Actor and some tech categories. How did it miss Picture?

Gone Girl was snubbed everywhere but in Actress. That film really fell from grace.

Nightcrawler had been gaining steam, but the old crusty Academy didn't buy it and fell everywhere but Screenplay.

Selma would probably win a bunch of Oscars if they had waited until next year to release it, but since it wasn't finished until late and yet they still decided to release it, the film suffered and only made it in picture, and song. Paramount messed the campaign up drastically.

The Lego Movie being snubbed in Animated film, was disgusting. Absolute crime.

This year is fun in the acting categories, because 4 great overdue actors will finally be getting their due. J.K. Simmons, Patricia Arquette and Julianne Moore are all winning and have given so many great performances over the years. Micheal Keaton will probably win, and as the comeback kid it's great to see how humbled he is by the attention.

Quick Rundown of the "major" categories. I'll do final predictions for all categories closer to the ceremony.

Best Picture:
Boyhood is winning. The Imitation Game and The Grand Budapest Hotel will have support, but Boyhood is the clear front-runner.

Best Director:
Linklater has this locked. There is no other option.

Best Actor:
Michael Keaton vs. Eddie Redmayne will be the big battle in this race. I personally think they will go with the veteran and Keaton will come out on top. However Redmayne has the baitier role that they love, so I wouldn't be shocked. Redmayne will win the BAFTA. If he wins SAG then he'll win Oscar. Keaton will however probably win SAG and come out on top.

Bradley Cooper is the dark horse. He didn't receive any major precursors, but the film has been building steam and many A-Listers have been publicly supporting him for the win. This is also his third straight acting nomination, so he could upset.

Best Actress:
Get used to many speeches from Julianne Moore. She's winning SAG, Oscar and probably the BAFTA. If she lost the Oscar it would be one of the biggest upsets of all-time.

Best Supporting Actor:
It is always nice to see a great character actor get his due. This time it's J.K. Simmons, and he is brilliant in Whiplash. He is locked.

Best Supporting Actress:
"I just thought there would be more."
Patricia Arquette there is so much more coming your way, in the form of SAG, BAFTA, BFCA and then Oscar.

Look for my personal awards for 2014 in the next couple weeks.

2015 Golden Globes Predictions

Here are my predictions for the 2015 Golden Globes on Sunday. The Globes have in recent years transitioned from their old position as a ceremony to kiss the butts of A-listers, to more of just an Oscar predictor. They will be the first to pick who Michael Keaton's biggest competition will be for the Oscar. The most up in the air category will be Best Actress - Musical or Comedy, because well anyone but Lil'Q could win. The Globes are the most fun, because they provide everyone with endless booze and this will be the last round with Tina and Amy so it should be a good one!

These predictions are just for the movie side, because honestly I couldn't care less about the TV side.

Best Picture - Drama
Boyhood - WINNER
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma 
The Theory of Everything

This should be an easy win on the upcoming sweep for Boyhood. However the Hollywood Foreign Press could easily go for the British prestige pick, The Imitation Game (Plus we all know they eat up anything The Weinstein Company puts in front of them.) Selma could maybe upset, since the small group shouldn't have any of the screening problems that the Guilds have had so far.

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
Birdman - WINNER
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into The Woods
Pride
St. Vincent

This is between Birdman and Hotel. Birdman is just a bigger overall Award contender so I think they will go with it.

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

Last year the Globes were the first awards body to tell us that Matthew McConaughey was the front-runner for Oscar. We can eliminate Carell. I can't see Gyllenhaal winning either, so the three British contenders will be fighting for the Globe. Selma is having screening troubles, but I don't think that should factor here. I could also see the Globes wanting to keep him propped up in the race so I see him winning. Redmayne is probably his biggest competition and has campaigned HARD. As baity as Stephen Hawking is as a role, Martin Luther King Jr., is the role that every actor could only dream of. Cumberbatch is the biggest star of the three, but at the end of the day I just feel like his buzz has dipped. As Weinstein's pony in this race he will of course be a major dark horse.

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

Julianne Moore is winning the Oscar. The media has tried to prop Aniston as her competiton but NO. Moore is winning everything en route to her overdue Oscar.

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

Keaton is the front-runner for Oscar and will win this category easily. Fiennes is his only competition at the Globes, but that just isn't going to happen.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods - WINNER
Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Quvenzhane Wallis, Annie

Lil' Q and Mirren are not winning. Blunt is beloved by the HFPA, but has never won a film Globe. Adams won the Globe last year, and is backed by Harvey Weinstein. However a Moore win, would be so freakin' amazing. Probably my favorite Globe win ever. It's just so out there, but I could see the Globes capping off Moore's year with a double Globe win. At the end of the day, though HFPA loves their musicals so I'm going with Blunt.

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

Thanks for showing up gentlemen, but J.K. Simmons is winning everything.

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

Never count Streep out at the Globes, Stone could have won back when it was all about the stars, but I do think they will go with the consensus which is Arquette.

Best Director
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ava DuVernay, Selma
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood - WINNER

This will go to whomever wins the Drama category which is between Selma and Boyhood. Linklater will probably come out on top, but Ava will be a huge contender and I'm sure the Globes would love to start the trek towards history.

Best Screenplay
The Grand Budapest Hotel-WINNER
Gone Girl
Birdman
Boyhood
The Imitation Game

I don't honestly know where the HFPA will go with this category. I'm going to go with Budapest and Wes Anderson, but honestly I'm not too confident.

Best Animated Film: The Lego Movie
Best Original Score: The Imitation Game
Best Original Song: "Glory" (John Legend and Common),
Best Foreign Language Film: Ida