Predictions For This Year's Oscars (2015)

This year's Academy Awards will be happening (Brunei time) on Monday morning. And it just so happen to fall on a public holiday! So there is definitely a chance to catch it live on TV.

I've chosen my picks to win when the list came out, but that was before I got to watch Unbroken, The Imitation Game and Birdman - the latter being the one that's set to win big this weekend.

For the Best Picture category, movie pundits are saying that it's a neck-and-neck between Birdman and Boyhood. And for the Actor In A Leading Role category, it's between Michael Keaton (Birdman) and Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything). Especially for Keaton and Redmayne, it's such a tough one to call.

So now, on the eve of the grandest movie event of the year, let me revise my list and say which ones will win and which are my picks with a better judgement call:

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM (watched 3 out of 5)
Big Hero 6                                      (my pick)
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2        (will)
Song Of The Sea
The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya

BEST PICTURE (watched 6 out of 8)
American Sniper
Birdman                                           (my pick, will)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory Of Everything
Whiplash

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (watched 4 out of 5)
Steve Carell for Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper for American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton for Birdman                      (my pick, will)
Eddie Redmayne for The Theory Of Everything

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE (watched 3 out of 5)
Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones for The Theory Of Everything
Julianne Moore for Still Alice                       (will)
Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl                        (my pick)
Reese Witherspoon for Wild

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (watched 5 out of 5)
Robert Duvall for The Judge
Ehtan Hawke for Boyhood                 (will)
Edward Norton for Birdman            
Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher
J. K. Simmons for Whiplash               (my pick)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (watched 5 out of 5)
Patricia Arquette for Boyhood             (my pick, will)
Laura Dern for Wild
Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game
Emma Stone for Birdman
Meryl Streep for Into The Woods

DIRECTING (watched 4 out of 5)
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman        (my pick, will)
Richard Linklater for Boyhood
Bennett Miller for Whiplash
Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mortem Tyldum for The Imitation Game

CINEMATOGRAPHY (watched 3 out of 5)
Birdman                                 (my pick, will)
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

ORIGINAL SCORE (watched 4 out of 5)
Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer for Interstellar
Gary Yershon for Mr. Turner
Johan Johannsson for The Theory Of Everything             (my pick, will)

ORIGINAL SONG (watched 2 out of 5)
"Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie             (will)
"Glory" from Selma
"Grateful" from Beyond The Lights
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell...I'll Be Me
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again                                         (my pick)

VISUAL EFFECTS (watched 5 out of 5)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes               (my pick, will)
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days Of Future Past

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (watched 3 out of 5)
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory Of Everything               (my pick, will)
Whiplash

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (watched 5 out of 5)
Birdman                                        (my pick, will)
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler