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.