Birdhood in for Boyman

   So it did happen, Birdman DID win the DGA award. That there was a clear signal "Birdman has just knocked Boyhood out of its way". But then came the BAFTAs and it appeared that Boyhood hadn't fallen out quite. It was still dangling there. And then came a blow for Birdman. We all realized it won only 1 award. One that it was sure to win anyway. Yet somehow Birdman survived the attack on its status as the new frontrunner. Oh those Brits...
   So who is the frontrunner? It's Birdman ladies and gentlemen. But don't go cheering (or crying) just yet. Boyhood is very much in the race. Like in my last post Boyhood had "the smallest of edges", Birdman has now the same kind of advantage. The smallest one. Both films can win.
   Birdman is the film that I finally feel relaxed to predict as the winner. Because it's not just speculation. The Guilds are very very reliable precursors. Especially PGA. And apart from the fact that I'd prefer Birdman to win, I feel relaxed because while Boyhood was the frontrunner I had this feeling as if it wasn't solidified as such. I was left waiting for something to happen, and just when I gave up, it did. I come back from winter vacation, I start to catch up on a full week of Twitter (had no internet), and BOOOM! Birdman had won the PGA, the SAG and was the new frontrunner. Alas so was Redmayne, but let's leave that delicate subject aside.
   Let's just go back in time for a minute here, folks. Back in spring 2014 after the last Oscars, we looked into this year's Oscars. And we had a hard time figuring out Boyhood's case. What I thought was that it was too small to go all the way to the Oscars, but if it actually did, then it would win. If it managed to hold on for a full year, then it would be "12 Years a Slave's" successor as the Best Picture winner. But now I feel I was wrong about it all. Sure, it can still win, in a "the small indie that could" kind of way, it won the BAFTA, the Globe. But Birdman's sweep overlaps with the Academy's membership largely. On the other side, though, BAFTA is the group similar to the Academy in size.
   Oh what the hell I'm just gonna post predictions, write something more sophisticated and profound during the weekend.
Here they are, the predictions, with only 11 days left to the Oscars.




BEST PICTURE:

1. Birdman (Alejandro G. Innaritu)
2. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
4. The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum)
5. Selma (Ava DuVernay)
6. American Sniper (Clint Eastwood)
7. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
8. The Theory of Everything (James Marsh)



BEST DIRECTOR:

1. Alejandro G. Innaritu (Birdman)
2. Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
3. Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
4. Bennet Miller (Foxcatcher)
5. Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)



BEST ACTOR:

1. Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
2. Michael Keaton (Birdman)
3. Bradley Cooper (American Sniper)
4. Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
5. Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)



BEST ACTRESS:

1. Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
2. Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
3. Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)
4. Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
5. Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)



BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1. J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
2. Edward Norton (Birdman)
3. Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
4. Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
5. Robert Duvall (The Judge)



BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1. Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
2. Emma Stone (Birdman)
3. Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
4. Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)
5. Laura Dern (Wild)



BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

1. Birdman
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Boyhood
4. Nightcrawler
5. Foxcatcher



BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

1. Whiplash
2. The Imitation Game
3. American Sniper
4. Inherent Vice
5. The Theory of Everything



That's it for now,

 BURT  MIZAKI