Academy Awards 2015

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Yesterday evening the year’s award season came to a conclusion at the 87th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood California, among all the glitz & glamor of red carpets and endless interviews, we witnessed the recognition of many of the greatest achievements in filmmaking over the last 12 months in the ultimate display of subjective prize-giving.

There were no real surprises this year, the so-called battle of ‘Birdman Vs. Boyhood‘ went to Birdman taking the spot as the big winner of the night with 4 Oscars, the rest of the awards were evenly spread and mostly in-line with the Golden Globes and BAFTAs as well as other Award Ceremonies, Eddie Redmayne taking “Best Actor” for ‘The Theory of Everything’ while Julianne Moore took “Best Actress” for ‘Still Alice’.

Although all award shows are subjective and we can endlessly debate over who should have been nominated let alone won, this was a chance for films and their filmmakers to be globally recognized for another great year of work so let’s see who the principal nominees and winners were this year;

Best Picture

Image source: Getty Images & 20th Century Fox

Winner:

Birdman

Nominees:

Our pick from the nominees: Whiplash

Our pick for the year overall: Whiplash

Directing

Image source: Getty Images & 20th Century Fox

Winner:

Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman

Nominees:

Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game
Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher
Richard Linklater for Boyhood
Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Our pick from the nominees: Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman

Our Pick for the year overall: David Fincher for Gone Girl

Actor in a Leading Role

Image Source: Getty Images & Universal

Winner:

Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything

Nominees:

Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game
Steve Carell for Foxcatcher
Michael Keaton for Birdman
Bradley Cooper for American Sniper

Our pick from the nominees: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything

Our Pick for the year overall: Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler

Actress in a Leading Role

Image Source: Getty Images & Sony Pictures Classics

Winner:

Julianne Moore for Still Alice

Nominees:

Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything
Reese Witherspoon for Wild
Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl
Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night

Our Pick from the nominees: Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl

Our Pick for the year overall: Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl

Actor in a Supporting Role

Image Source: Getty Images & Sony Pictures

Winner:

J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

Nominees:

Edward Norton for Birdman
Ethan Hawke for Boyhood
Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher
Robert Duvall for The Judge

Our Pick from the nominees: J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

Our Pick for the year overall: J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

Actress in a Supporting Role

Image Source: Getty Images & IFC Prods.

Winner:

Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

Nominees:

Emma Stone for Birdman
Laura Dern for Wild
Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game
Meryl Streep for Into the Woods

Our Pick from the nominees: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

Our Pick for the year overall: Carrie Coon for Gone Girl

Writing- Original Screenplay

Image source: Getty Images & 20th Century Fox

Winner:

Alejandro González Iñárritu, NicoláS Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr. for Birdman

Nominees:

E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman for Foxcatcher
Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler
Richard Linklater for Boyhood
Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Our Pick from the nominees: Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler

Our Pick for the year overall: Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler

Writing- Adapted Screenplay

Image source: Getty Images & StudioCanal

Winner:

Graham Moore for The Imitation Game

Nominees:

Jason Hall for American Sniper
Paul Thomas Anderson for Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten for The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle for Whiplash

Our Pick from the nominees: Graham Moore for The Imitation Game

Our Pick for the year overall: Graham Moore for The Imitation Game

Music- Original Score

Image Source: Getty Images & 20th Century Fox

Winner:

Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Nominees:

Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer for Interstellar
JóHann JóHannsson for The Theory of Everything
Gary Yershon for Mr. Turner

Our Pick from the nominees: Hans Zimmer for Interstellar

Our Pick for the year overall: Hans Zimmer for Interstellar

Music- Original Song

Image Source: Getty Images & Paramount

Winner:

‘Glory’ from Selma

Nominees:

‘Everything is Awesome’ from The Lego Movie
‘Grateful’ from Beyond the Lights
‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’ from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
‘Lone Stars’ from Begin Again

Our Pick from the nominees: ‘Everything is Awesome’ from The Lego Movie

Our Pick for the year overall: ‘Everything is Awesome’ from The Lego Movie

Animated Feature Film

Image Source: Getty Images & Disney

Winner:

Big Hero 6

Nominees:

The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Our Pick from the nominees: Big Hero 6

Our Pick for the year overall: Big Hero 6

Cinematography

Image source: Getty Images & 20th Century Fox

Winner:

Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman

Nominees:

Dick Pope for Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins for Unbroken
Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski for Ida
Robert D. Yeoman for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Our Pick from the nominees: Robert D. Yeoman for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Our Pick for the year overall: Thomas Hardmeier for T.S. Spivet

Film Editing

Image Source: Getty Images & Sony Pictures

Winner:

Tom Cross for Whiplash

Nominees:

Barney Pilling for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach for American Sniper
Sandra Adair for Boyhood
William Goldenberg for The Imitation Game

Our Pick from the nominees: Tom Cross for Whiplash

Our Pick for the year overall: Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione for Birdman

Visual Effects

Image Source: Getty Images & Warner Bros.

Winner:

Interstellar

Nominees:

Our Pick from the nominees: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Our Pick for the year overall: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Well, that’s it for the awards season, at least for a few months until the film festival season kicks off in late spring, no real surprises this year with ‘Birdman’ winning big and the acting gongs going where expected.

Of the so called ‘snubs’, perhaps ‘Selma’ was deserving of a few more nominations, in particular for David Oyelowo’s leading performance as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but for us the biggest “snub” was with Jake Gyllenhaal’s standout performance in ‘Nightcrawler’ which did not even garner a nomination as well as the lack of recognition of the film overall.

Having said that, again award shows are a subjective exercise and everyone’s opinion differs, the important thing is that once again the caliber of the nominees and the quality of the work this year has been outstanding and worthy of recognition.

Let us know what you think of this year’s Oscars, who your picks were and what you think of our picks by commenting here and on FilmPhonic @ Facebook and Twitter.