I realise I’m a bit late, but here are my thoughts on this year’s Academy Awards nominations. It’s a decent mix this year – of course there are some snubs which I will mention but I think they have got it mostly right.

Best Picture

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Predicted Win: The Revenant

Overall, a good mix of nominations and I’m glad that the Academy have been quite tough. Before this category was announced, there were about 15 films that could’ve got here, so I’m glad they’ve stuck to 8 this year. This category can have up to 10 nominees if needed. I think ‘The Revenant’ will win seeing as it cleared up at the Golden Globes but ‘Spotlight’ is a close second – it could be any of the two. I’m a little annoyed to see ‘The Big Short’ and ‘Bridge of Spies’ here as they were by no means one of the best films of last year. A much worthier contender would have been ‘The Hateful Eight’, ‘The Danish Girl’, ‘Steve Jobs’ or ‘Carol’.

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston for Trumbo
Matt Damon for The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant
Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl

Predicted Win: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant

Surely it’s got to be Leo’s turn this year? A very good set of nominations and all very deserving. The only person I would have liked to have seen here is Johnny Depp for his performance in ‘Black Mass’ but otherwise, it’s a very good set of nominations. Michael Fassbender for either of his roles in ‘Macbeth’ or ‘Slow West’ is another good shout. Leonardo DiCaprio won the Golden Globe for his role in ‘The Revenant’ so I would guess he will emulate his success here too. His performance is very good, although I personally think Michael Fassbender put in the better performance here but DiCaprio had to go through a lot for his role so I’d be happy either way. (My review of ‘The Revenant’ here)

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett for Carol
Brie Larson for Room
Jennifer Lawrence for Joy
Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn

Predicted Win: Brie Larson for Room

Another strong set of nominations, I wouldn’t say there are any snubs here. I’m happy to see Charlotte Rampling getting a nomination here as she is terrific in ’45 Years’. I think the win here will go to Brie Larson for her exceptional performance in ‘Room’ – a film that I loved very much and gave a perfect score. (Review here)

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale for The Big Short
Tom Hardy for The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo for Spotlight
Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone for Creed

Predicted Win: Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies

Another solid set of nominations although I am a little surprised to see Tom Hardy feature here. I thought he was excellent in ‘The Revenant’ but Benicio Del Toro who got a BAFTA nomination for his role in ‘Sicario’ is a much better fit in my opinion and more deserving. Idris Elba for ‘Beasts Of No Nation’ is also another fantastic performance. I think the winner here will be Mark Rylance and if he does, deservedly so. He is one of the highlights of the flawed ‘Bridge of Spies’ (Review here) and really elevates the film. Although Sylvester Stallone won the Golden Globe, he failed to acknowledge ‘Creed’ co-star, Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler in his acceptance speech and this left a bit of a sour note. Also I think Rylance is far more deserving.

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh for The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara for Carol
Rachel McAdams for Spotlight
Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs

Predicted Win: Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl

Please, please, anyone but Kate Winslet. She was absolutely horrendous in ‘Steve Jobs’ and her accent was sliding all over the place. I don’t understand why she is getting so much awards attention for it. I’m going to predict Alicia Vikander will win for ‘The Danish Girl’ as she has got a lot of buzz for her performance and I think she’s the next best thing if they do give Winslet the Oscar that she thoroughly does not deserve. Instead of Winslet, I think Alicia Vikander should get nominated again but for her role in ‘Ex_Machina’.

Best Director

Adam McKay for The Big Short
George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson for Room
Tom McCarthy for Spotlight

Predicted Win: George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road

Could the Academy be nice and reward George Miller for his hard work on ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ which took him a very long time to make. It’s all well and good giving Iñárritu a second Oscar but Miller is so much more deserving. I’m very pleased to see Lenny Abrahamson getting a nod here as he did a perfect job of ‘Room’. I do also think Quentin Tarantino did a great job with ‘The Hateful Eight’ which I think could replace Adam McKay as ‘The Big Short’ was a mixed bag, in my opinion but still, not a bad set of nominations at all.

Best Original Screenplay 

Matt Charman, Ethan Coen & Joel Coen for Bridge of Spies
Alex Garland for Ex_Machina
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley & Ronnie Del Carmen for Inside Out
Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
Andrea Berloff, Jonathan Herman, S. Leigh Savage & Alan Wenkus for Straight Outta Compton

Predicted Win: Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy for Spotlight

An interesting set of nominations apart from Quentin Tarantino’s snub who deserves to be here. Out of who’s here, I’m going to stab a guess at ‘Spotlight’ taking the gong due to its consistency in the rest of the nominations. ‘Straight Outta Compton’ and ‘Ex_Machina’ seem a little shoehorned in and I don’t see the other two winning.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for The Big Short
Nick Hornby for Brooklyn
Phyllis Nagy for Carol
Drew Goddard for The Martian
Emma Donoghue for Room

Predicted Win: Emma Donoghue for Room

Easily the best of the group, Donoghue deserves this award through and through for her adaptation of her own novel. The other nominations are all very respectable, but Aaron Sorkin has been unfairly snubbed and he put a lot of work into his script for ‘Steve Jobs’.

Best Animated Feature

Anomalies
O Menino e o Mundo
Inside Out
Shaun The Sheep Movie
Omoide no Mânî

Predicted Win: Inside Out

A battle between ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Anomalisa’ but ‘Inside Out’, the Disney Pixar smash hit has appeared on so many critic’s Top Ten lists and is generally loved in the film industry. For me, a no brainer. (My review of ‘Inside Out’ here)

Best Cinematography

Edward Lachman for Carol
Robert Richardson for The Hateful Eight
John Seale for Mad Max: Fury Road
Emmanuel Lubezki for The Revenant
Roger Deakins for Sicario

Predicted Win: Emmanuel Lubezki for The Revenant

A very interesting category. Whilst it would be unfair for Lubezki to win a third year in a row, his work on ‘The Revenant’ outshines everyone else nominated. His decision to shoot the film with lots of extreme close ups and landscapes is revolutionary and really elevates the film. I do want to see Roger Deakins finally get an Oscar, but as much as I loved ‘Sicario’, Lubezki’s work is much better. Both Robert Richardson and John Seale have done fantastic work on their respective films as well, but it’s just got to go to Lubezki.

Best Editing

Hank Corwin for The Big Short
Margaret Sixel for Mad Max: Fury Road
Stephen Mirrione for The Revenant
Tom McArdle for Spotlight
Maryann Brandon & Mary Jo Markey for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Predicted Win: Stephen Mirrione for The Revenant

A tough one to call, I think it could be either ‘The Revenant’, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ or ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. Ultimately, I think ‘The Revenant’ will prevail as its editing is a notch better than these two other films.

Best Production Design

Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo & Bernard Henrich for Bridge of Spies
Eve Stewart & Michael Standish for The Danish Girl
Colin Gibson & Lisa Thompson for Mad Max: Fury Road
Arthur Max & Celia Bobak for The Martian
Jack Fisk & Hamish Purdy for The Revenant

Predicted Win: Colin Gibson & Lisa Thompson for Mad Max: Fury Road

‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ has some incredible set pieces and is definitely a cut above the rest, but then again don’t be surprised if ‘The Revenant’ takes another one. Both ‘The Danish Girl’ and ‘Bridge of Spies’ are respectable in this category but ‘The Martian’ seems a bit of a shoe-in for me. ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ would be a better pick in my opinion.

Best Costume Design

Sandy Powell for Carol
Sandy Powell for Cinderella
Paco Delgado for The Danish Girl
Jenny Beavan for Mad Max: Fury Road
Jacqueline West for The Revenant

Predicted Win: Sandy Powell for Cinderella

There’s always a film that hasn’t received any awards buzz that ends up winning an award for this kind of category and this year, I’m going to hedge my bets on ‘Cinderella’ being that film. They’re all very worthy contenders though, so another one to add to the collection for either ‘The Revenant’ or ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ isn’t necessarily out of the picture.

Best Make-Up and Hairstyling

Love Larson & Eva Von Bahr for The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared
Lesley Vanderwalt, Elke Wardega & Damian Martin for Mad Max: Fury Road
Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman & Robert A. Pandini for The Revenant

Predicted Win: Lesley Vanderwalt, Elke Wardega & Damian Martin for Mad Max: Fury Road

This should be an easy one for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, the make-up and hairstyling are one of its highlights. That said, I’m surprised ‘The Danish Girl’ didn’t get a nomination here and ‘Carol’ too would have been deserving.

Best Original Score

Thomas Newman for Bridge of Spies
Carter Burwell for Carol
Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight
Jóhann Jóhannsson for Sicario
John Williams for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Predicted Win: Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight

A very interesting field. For me, Jóhann Jóhannsson is the clear winner but I highly doubt he will win here. I think Ennio Morricone will win as it is one of his first scores in many years and it is still very effective. If not Morricone, then John Williams but he has, of course, had to reuse themes from the other films which lowers the originality a little bit. Thomas Newman’s score for ‘Bridge of Spies’ was completely forgettable – Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto’s score for ‘The Revenant’ despite being banned, is a much better call. As is Jed Kurzel for either ‘Slow West’ or ‘Macbeth’, Tom Holkenborg for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ or Michael Giacchino for ‘Inside Out’.

Best Original Song

‘Earned It’ – Fifty Shades of Grey
‘Til It Happens To You’ – The Hunting Ground
‘Manta Ray’ – Racing Extinction
‘Writing’s On The Wall’ – Spectre
‘Simple Song #3’ – Youth

Predicted Win: ‘Simple Song #3’ – Youth

Hmmm. A lot has changed since the Golden Globes where there were nominations for ‘Furious 7’ and ‘Love and Mercy’. I’m going to say ‘Youth’ here seeing as music is a key theme of the film.

Best Sound Mixing

Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom & Drew Kunin for Bridge of Spies
Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff & Ben Osmo for Mad Max: Fury Road
Paul Massey, Mark Taylor & Mac Ruth for The Martian
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom & Chris Duesterdiek for The Revenant
Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio & Stuart Wilson for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Predicted Win: Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio & Stuart Wilson for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I’m going to say ‘Star Wars’ will win here as its sound mixing is superb but it could also be ‘The Revenant’ again.

Best Sound Editing

Mark A. Mangini & David White for Mad Max: Fury Road
Oliver Tarney for The Martian
Martín Hernández & Lon Bender for The Revenant
Alan Robert Murray for Sicario
Matthew Wood & David Acord for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Predicted Win: Martín Hernández & Lon Bender for The Revenant

Another tough one to call, I think ‘The Revenant’ should win here again, but again this could go to ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ or ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’.

Best Visual Effects

Andrew Whitehorse, Paul Norris, Mark Williams Ardington & Sara Bannett for Ex_Machina
Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver & Andy Williams for Mad Max: Fury Road
Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence & Steven Warner for The Martian
Richard McBride, Matt Shumway, Jason Smith & Cameron Waldbauer for The Revenant
Roger Guyett, Pat Tubach, Neal Scanlan & Chris Corbould for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Predicted Win: Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver & Andy Williams for Mad Max: Fury Road

A very tough field to call. I hope ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ wins as the craft that has gone into it is sublime and the film looks extremely original. However, don’t be surprised if ‘The Revenant’ wins here again.

#OscarsSoWhite?

There’s been a lot of debate over diversity in this year’s Academy Award nominations and I do agree in several respects. Idris Elba has been very unfairly snubbed from a Best Supporting Actor nomination for ‘Beasts Of No Nation’ and although he never had any Awards attention in the first place, I thought Samuel L. Jackson was a fantastic lead in ‘The Hateful Eight’.

However, nominations should be based on merit, not on race and that is very important. What’s the point of having all of the Best Picture nominees and then sticking in ‘Straight Outta Compton’ in there too just to tick off any diversity issues? Unfortunately this film and any other film this year with a predominantly African-American cast was not good enough to get nominated so what’s all the fuss about? Will Smith especially narks me off as he somehow managed to get a nomination for Best Actor in ‘Concussion’ but the film is meant to be ‘good, not great’ so I don’t understand why he expects a nomination when he hasn’t been hotly tipped. Miss the Oscars, Will Smith, I don’t care.

Overall

So based on my predictions, I’m predicting ‘The Revenant’ to be a very dominant presence with potentially ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ following in its footsteps. ‘Spotlight’ may possibly win Best Picture but I think ‘The Revenant’ is more likely to. I’m generally fairly happy with the nominations this year, but there are a few films that have been overlooked. These include:

• The Hateful Eight – ok, it did get some nominations, but got unfairly snubbed in other categories
• Sicario – this only received technical nominations and it’s so much better than that
• Slow West – another outstanding film that failed to get nominations for anything
• Beasts Of No Nation – a nomination for Idris Elba

But other than these, a generally sound set of nominations and it’ll be interesting to see who goes home with what award.

It’s that time of year – Awards Seasons has begun and the Golden Globes have been announced. Here I offer my views on them and predict who will be the winners. Overall, it’s a pretty good mix this year and the HFPA have got it mostly right, but understandably there are a fair share of snubs as well, some that are unforgivable.

Best Motion Picture – Drama

Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

An interesting field of contenders here and good to see ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ getting the recognition that it deserves. I think the winner here will be ‘Carol’ as that’s the film that’s been getting the best reviews out of the five.

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

The Big Short
Joy
The Martian
Spy
Trainwreck

I think the winner here will be ‘The Big Short’. Again, it has very strong reviews and its actors have been recognised further down the nominations. The only other possibility would be ‘The Martian’, but it hasn’t featured much anywhere else so that’s why I’m going with ‘The Big Short’. ‘Joy’ has received rather polarising reviews and ‘Spy’ and ‘Trainwreck’ are filler.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

Bryan Cranston for Trumbo
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant
Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl
Will Smith for Concussion

Now here I have some issues. What is Will Smith doing here?! Johnny Depp for ‘Black Mass’ or Michael Fassbender for ‘Macbeth’ or Ian McKellen for ‘Mr Holmes’ is a much better fit than Smith. As for the rest of the nominations, it’s pretty much spot-on. Naysayers think that DiCaprio could win here and then go onto win at the Academy Awards – I disagree. I think it’s Redmayne’s year again as he is playing a role that is ‘different’ and these kinds of roles are the ones that ultimately end up bagging the win. However, I would still be happy if DiCaprio did end up taking the win.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

Another year of film has ended and so another awards season. The nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were released yesterday and the ceremony is due to be broadcast on February 22nd. I will look at each category separately and offer my thoughts and predict who will win.

So the biggest category…

Best Picture

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Imitation Game

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Selma

The Theory Of Everything

Whiplash

Predicted Win – Boyhood

A very interesting field of contenders here. I haven’t seen all the nominees yet but the most bizarre omission here is ‘Foxcatcher’. The Academy have nominated it for 5 Awards and it doesn’t show up here? This category allows up to 10 nominees and I thought they would actually fill the board this year but no, even less than the 9 films that were nominated last year. I’m surprised that ‘American Sniper’ managed to get on this list (I haven’t actually seen the film yet) but in terms of its critical reception, there is no doubt that it is the weakest of the bunch with a 73% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment. ‘Foxcatcher’ would have been a much better addition as I’ve said (87%), or even ‘Wild’ (91%). Other than what I’ve mentioned, this is a very sensible (and somewhat easy to predict field). I will be surprised if ‘Boyhood’ doesn’t take the win.

Best Actor

Steve Carrell for Foxcatcher

Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game

Bradley Cooper for American Sniper

Michael Keaton for Birdman

Eddie Redmayne for The Theory Of Everything

Predicted Win – Eddie Redmayne for The Theory Of Everything

This, again, is a very predictable field with one bizarre nomination which again goes to ‘American Sniper’ for Bradley Cooper. I was hoping for either David Oyelowo for ‘Selma’, Jake Gyllenhaal for ‘Nightcrawler’ or Timothy Spall for ‘Mr Turner’ and before these nominations were even announced, I would’ve put money on one of these three nabbing the fifth spot (the other four were always locks). In terms of the win, I think it’s between Eddie Redmayne and Michael Keaton. After the Golden Globes win for Redmayne, that’s who I’m betting on taking the win.

Best Actress

Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night

Felicity Jones for The Theory Of Everything

Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl

Julianne Moore for Still Alice

Reese Witherspoon for Wild

Predicted Win – Julianne Moore for Still Alice

Again, a very predictable field, shame that Jessica Chastain is not here for ‘A Most Violent Year’. Julianne Moore is most probably going to take the win here.

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Duvall for The Judge

Ethan Hawke for Boyhood

Edward Norton for Birdman

Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

Predicted Win – J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

Another very predictable set of nominees and again, J.K. Simmons should take the win here. What’s always baffled me here is the inclusion of Robert Duvall’s nomination – it never really garnered much attention and the film isn’t meant to be that great.

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

Laura Dern for Wild

Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game

Emma Stone for Birdman

Meryl Streep for Into The Woods

Predicted Win – Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

These acting nods are really predictable this year, aren’t they? No surprises here, all deserve their space and the win will almost certainly go for Patricia Arquette’s gutsy performance in ‘Boyhood’.

Best Director

Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman

Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher

Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game

Predicted Win – Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Of course, Linklater must win for ‘Boyhood – the film has taken him 12 years to film after all! I don’t think the rest stand a chance here apart from possibly Iñárritu who might possibly prevail for his inventive film, but this has surely got to be Linklater’s and deservedly so.

Best Original Screenplay

Boyhood (Richard Linklater)

Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo)

Foxcatcher (E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness)

Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)

Predicted Win – Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo)

Tough one to call here, all very worthy nominations. I’m going to go with ‘Birdman’ just because it won at the Golden Globes.

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper (Jason Hall)

Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)

The Imitation Game (Graham Moore)

The Theory Of Everything (Anthony McCarten)

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)

Predicted Win – Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)

Another hard one to call, I’m going to go with ‘Whiplash’ because ‘American Sniper’ looks a little bit thin on words and ‘Inherent Vice’ got polarising reception. That said, it could be any of the three, but ‘Whiplash’ looks like it has a very sharp script.

Best Foreign Language Film

Tangerines

Ida

Leviathan

Wild Tales

Timbuktu

Predicted Win – Leviathan

I’m going to go with ‘Leviathan’ here as it’s got nothing but outstanding critical reception and everyone seems to love it.

Best Animation Film

The Boxtrolls

Big Hero 6

How To Train Your Dragon 2

Song Of The Sea

The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya

Predicted Win – How To Train Your Dragon 2

What a load of rubbish! Where on earth is ‘The Lego Movie’? Everyone loved that film (I myself found it overrated, but still it definitely deserves the win) and it redefined animation. No one took it seriously and thought it was going to be a flop, so it really surprised people when it turned out to be a good film, in fact in the UK, the highest grossing film of 2014. I don’t know what’s happened here, but it’s just not right at all. I personally would like to see ‘Big Hero 6’ win in this case, but I know it’ll go to ‘How To Train Your Dragon 2’. This is perhaps the biggest snub of the whole list.

Best Cinematography 

Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert D. Yeoman)

Mr Turner (Dick Pope)

Unbroken (Roger Deakins)

Ida (Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski)

Predicted Win – Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki)

This has to be for ‘Birdman’, Lubezki’s probable second win in a row after last year’s ‘Gravity’, no question about it.

Best Editing

Boyhood (Sandra Adair)

The Imitation Game (William Goldenberg)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Barney Pilling)

Whiplash (Tom Cross)

American Sniper (Joel Cox, Gary Roach)

Predicted Win – The Grand Budapest Hotel (Barney Pilling)

I haven’t got a clue here, but in terms of my personal choice, I would say the award should probably go to ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. That said though, the editing in ‘Boyhood’ is excellent, the 12 years blend seamlessly together so this could also take the win.

Best Production Design

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock)

The Imitation Game (Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald)

Interstellar (Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis)

Into The Woods (Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock)

Mr Turner (Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts)

Predicted Win – Into The Woods (Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock)

Good selection here, although I feel ‘Birdman’ could have had a nomination here as well. I’m going to go for ‘Into The Woods’ here as the production design looks superb from the trailers (haven’t seen the film) but then again, I expect ‘Interstellar’ to sweep up the technical awards, so a win here as well?

Best Costume Design

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Milena Canonero)

Inherent Vice (Mark Bridges)

Into The Woods (Colleen Atwood)

Maleficent (Anna B. Sheppard, Jane Clive)

Mr Turner (Jacqueline Durran)

Predicted Win – The Grand Budapest Hotel (Milena Canonero)

A tough one here, my personal choice would probably be ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, but could ‘Into The Woods’ or ‘Maleficent’ take the win here?

Best Make-Up and Hairstyling

Foxcatcher (Bill Corso, Dennis Liddiard)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier)

Guardians Of The Galaxy (Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White)

Predicted Win – The Grand Budapest Hotel (Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier)

A very tough one here, I think it’s between ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ and ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ as there is some excellent work in those films. ‘Foxcatcher’ is good as well, but I think the other two do the job better.

Best Original Score

The Imitation Game (Alexandre Desplat)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Alexandre Desplat)

Interstellar (Hans Zimmer)

The Theory Of Everything (Jóhann Jóhannsson)

Mr Turner (Gary Yershon)

Predicted Win – The Grand Budapest Hotel (Alexandre Desplat)

This is an interesting category. Despite Jóhann Jóhannsson winning at the Globes for ‘The Theory Of Everything’, I think this will go to Desplat for ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ as the score really develops and is ingeniously crafted. There is essentially music for each character and then the music blends with multiple characters and it develops as a whole as the film progresses. ‘The Imitation Game’ and ‘Mr Turner’ are definite no’s here. Zimmer does have a chance here (my personal favourite) as the score is innovative after he has stuck to his same formula for a while now. In terms of snubs, the most obvious one to call would be Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score for ‘Gone Girl’ and also I personally quite liked Steven Price’s score for ‘Fury’. Mica Levi’s score for ‘Under The Skin’ would be an excellent addition here as would Clint Mansell’s score for ‘Noah’. Very interesting list here, I reckon Desplat could pip Zimmer and Jóhannsson at the win here.

Best Original Song

Selma (Common, John Legend)

Begin Again (Greg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois)

The Lego Movie (Shawn Patterson)

Beyond The Lights (Diane Warren)

Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me (Glenn Campbell, Julian Raymond)

Predicted Win – Selma (Common, John Legend)

Simply going on from the Globes win, I think this could be for ‘Selma’ to win. The only competition I can see here is possibly for ‘The Lego Movie’, but I think ‘Selma’ should probably have it here, particularly how it’s oddly absent from all other categories despite being nominated for ‘Best Picture’.

Best Sound Mixing

American Sniper (John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Walt Martin)

Birdman (Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Thomas Varga)

Interstellar (Gary Rizzo, Gregg Landaker, Mark Weingarten)

Unbroken (Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, David Lee)

Whiplash (Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley)

Predicted Win – Interstellar (Gary Rizzo, Gregg Landaker, Mark Weingarten)

Despite ‘Interstellar’ controversially being negatively received for its sound, I think it’ll clean up the technical awards so this should win.

Best Sound Editing

American Sniper (Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman)

Birdman (Aaron Glascock, Martín Hernández)

The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (Brent Burge, Jason Canovas)

Interstellar (Richard King)

Unbroken (Becky Sullivan, Andrew DeCristofaro)

Predicted Win – Interstellar (Richard King)

Again ‘Interstellar’ will win, I’m betting, as it’s a technical marvel so should sweep up the entire technical awards.

Best Visual Effects