87th Academy Awards predictions

This are some of my early prediction for the upcoming Oscars. For now I will do just the biggest categories. I will probably eventually update it with all of the rest categories I will give my opinion on who should and who will win, and a biggest snub in that category. UPDATE - Since Oscars are tonight I've decided to put predictions in every category nominated. Hell I've even watched all of the short films (aside from documentary ones).

Live-Action Short

• The Phone Call
• Bogaloo and Graham
• Butter Lamp
• Parvaneh
• Aya

Who should win -The Phone Call
Who will win - The Phone Call

Out of the nominees The Phone Call (starring Sally Hawkins) is my favorite, and it seems that it is the strongest candidate for the award. In the past couple of years this has been the hardest category to predict, and anything goes this year as well.

Animated Short

• Feast
• The Bigger Picture
• The Dam Kepper
• Me and My Moulton
• A Single Life

Who should win - A Single Life
Who will win - Feast

In the past couple of years I've usually watched all of the movies nominated in this category. And every year I'm looking forward to seeing short films nominated in this category. Coming from Disney Feast seems like the strongest candidate for win, and it is my favorite as well.

Sound Editing

• American Sniper
• Interstellar
• Birdman
• The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies
• Unbroken

Who should win - American Sniper
Who will win - American Sniper

I don't know much about this category but American Sniper seems to be a likely winner. Interstellar probably has a chance as well in this category.

Sound Mixing

• American Sniper
• Interstellar
• Birdman
• Whiplash
• Unbroken

Who should win - Whiplash
Who will win - Whiplash

The same set of nominees as previous category with only difference being that Whiplash is here instead of The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies. I really liked the music in Whiplash, this has mostly to do with the fact that jazz music is my favorite genre of music. This is the only category that this movie was nominated in, and it has a strong chance of winning the golden statue.

Documentary Feature

• Citizenfour
• Last Days in Vietnam
• Virunga
• The Salt of the Earth
• Finding Vivian Maier

Who should win - Citizenfour
Who will win - Citizenfour

I have only seen one movie in this category, and that is Citizenfour. So far it generated the most buzz so it should probably win that coveted Oscar.

Production Design

• Into the Woods
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Interstellar
• The Imitation Game
• Mr. Turner

Who should win - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Who will win - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Grand Budapest was nominated in a bunch of categories, and this one is pretty much a lock. And a well deserved one at that.  

Visual Effects

• Interstellar
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Captain America: Winter Soldier
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

Who should win - Guardians of the Galaxy
Who will win - Interstellar

As much as I would like to see Guardians win in this category I'm pretty sure that this will go to Interstellar.  

Film Editing

• Sandra Adair, Boyhood
• Tom Cross, Whiplash
• William Goldenberg, The Imitation Game
• Joel Cox and Gary Roach, American Sniper
• Barney Pilling, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Who should win -Whiplash
Who will win - Boyhood

I am one of those guys who find Boyhood overrated. I understand that is big achievement, and the fact that Linklater decided to film this movie over the course of 12 years it must have been a bunch to edit this entire movie. However I was far more impressed with editing in Whiplash. Boyhood is for me a close second in this category. Academy would probably give it to Boyhood. 

Makeup and Hairstyling

• Foxcatcher
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Guardians of the Galaxy

Who should win - Guardians of the Galaxy
Who will win - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Nothing much to say about this category, it is pretty much between Guardians and Grand Budapest. So this is basically a wild guess.

Costume Design

• Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
• Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
• Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner
• Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice

Who should win - Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Who will win - Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel

 

Music – Original Score

• Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
• Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
• Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
• Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Gary Yershon, Mr Turner

Who should win - Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Who will win - Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Should have been there - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – Gone Girl

Personally my favorite score from this year wasn't even nominated (from Gone Girl).  The Theory of Everything won this award at Golden Globes and it seems as a strong candidate.

Music – Original Song

• "Glory” from Selma
• “Lost Stars” from Begin Again
• “Everything Is Awesome” from The LEGO Movie
• “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glenn Campbell: I’ll Be Me
• "Grateful" from Beyond the Lights

Who should win - “Everything Is Awesome” from The LEGO Movie
Who will win - "Glory” from Selma

Since Selma didn't get nominated in that many categories, this is the category where this movie has the strongest chance of taking the price. I would really like to see  LEGO movie winning in this category since it got snubbed in best animated movie category.

Cinematography

• Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
• Roger Deakins, Unbroken
• Robert D. Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
• Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski, Ida

Who should win - Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Who will win - Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman

No competition here. 

Writing – Adapted Screenplay

• Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
• Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
• Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
• Jason Hall, American Sniper
• Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice

Who should win - Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Who will win - Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Should have been there - Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

Another category in which Gone Girl got snubbed. The Imitation Game is a great biopic about Alan Turing and it is likely candidate to win. Whiplash is also getting a lot of buzz in this category, and it might go away with the prize. It is my favorite in this category.

Writing – Original Screenplay

• Richard Linklater, Boyhood
• Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman
• Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
• E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher

Who should win - Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman
Who will win - Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman

This one is pretty much a lock. Genius screenplay.

Foreign Language Film

• Ida
• Leviathan
• Tangerines
• Wild Tales
• Timbuktu

Who should win - Leviathan
Who will win - Ida
Should have been there -Two Days, One Night

Leviathan won at Golden Globes and it is definitely a strongest candidate in this category. It is the only movie I've seen out of the nominees so by default it is my choice as well. Two Days, One Night is another foreign movie I saw and really enjoyed.

Animated Feature Film

• Big Hero 6
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• The Boxtrolls
• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
• Song of the Sea

Who should win - The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Who will win - How to Train Your Dragon 2
Should have been there - The LEGO Movie

This category probably pissed me out the most. I honestly thought even before nominations were announced that The LEGO Movie would most likely win this award. However it didn't even get nominated. This is probably the biggest snub of the entire Oscar show. I haven't seen Song of the Sea and of the remaining nominees The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is for me by far the best movie. But its chances of winning are pretty slim. How to Train Your Dragon 2 seems likely candidate

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• Emma Stone, Birdman
• Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
• Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
• Laura Dern, Wild

Who should win - Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Who will win - Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Should have been there - Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year 

Two best part of Boyhood were Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette. Patricia Arquette had more complex performance of the two. Her performance, out of the all nominees, was the most memorable. Jessica Chastain had another year in which she showed up in a bunch of movies. Her performance in A Most Violent Year was rather impressive.

Actor in a Supporting Role

• J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
• Edward Norton, Birdman
• Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
• Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
• Robert Duvall, The Judge

Who should win - J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Who will win - J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

This is probably your safest bet for this year Oscars. His performance was the most engaging. And considering the fact that he pretty much won this award in of the critic circles and Golden Globe as well, it is safe to say that he will win this award. Out of he nominees Norton's performance is my second favorite.

Actress in a Leading Role

• Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
• Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon, Wild
• Marion Cotillard, Two Days One Night

Who should win - Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Who will win - Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Should have been there - Amy Adams, Big Eyes

Julianne Moore received most of the buzz for her performance, and since her award is a long overdue she will probably win it. Rosamund Pike is still pretty young and she will have her opportunity to win this award. Needless to say I feel that her performance was the strongest out of all the nominees.

Actor in a Leading Role

• Michael Keaton, Birdman
• Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
• Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
• Bradley Cooper, American Sniper

Who should win - Michael Keaton, Birdman
Who will win - Michael Keaton, Birdman
Should have been there - David Oyelowo, Selma

This category will be between  Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne. I didn't really care that much for The Theory of Everything. Even though Redmayne's performance was amazing I think that Micheal Keaton, being an veteran actor, is most likely to win. Every performance in this category was great, so David Oyelowo and Jake Gyllenhaal not being there is not that surprising.

Directing

• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
• Richard Linklater, Boyhood
• Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
• Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Who should win - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
Who will win - Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Should have been there - Ava DuVernay, "Selma"

Richard Linklater is I feel one of the more underrated directors. And his coming of age drama Boyhood, which took him 12 years to make, is definitely a huge achievement. I don't feel this was his strongest movie to date, however he is getting the most of the buzz and the fact that he managed to make a movie over 12 year period where a bunch of things could have gone wrong is pretty impressive. My favorite is Inarritu, but he seems like a long shot at this point. 

If Ava DuVernay got nominated for this award she would be the first African-American women that got nominated in this category, and that would be a well deserved nomination. Oh well...

Best Picture

• Birdman
• Boyhood
• Selma
• The Theory of Everything
• The Imitation Game
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• American Sniper
• Whiplash

Who should win - Birdman
Who will win - Boyhood
Should have been there - Guardinas of the Galaxy, Gone Girl

 There were rare situations in Oscar history where winner of best director award didn't win best picture award. And it shouldn't be no difference here. Birdman is probably a close second in this category (and my favorite as well), and this movie probably has a better chance of winning in this category than in best director category.

Being that there were only 8 movies nominated out of possible 10, there are definitely a couple that could have made the list. Guardians of the Galaxy would have been my pick, but it is not the type of movie that Academy would ever nominate in this category. Being that Bennett Miller got nominated for best director it is quite surprising that Foxcatcher didn't get nominated for best picture. Gone Girl could have also been there.

Top 10 video games of 2014

This year has been a rather weak year for gaming. Quite a few video games that were supposed to come out this year were pushed to 2015. Also some of the bigger games that came out this year were disappointing (AC: Unity, Watch Dogs, Thief, Destiny…). That being said there was also an abundance of great games that came out in 2014. So here we go

10. Shovel Knight

Shovel knight is a great indie game. It is a mixture of several old-school games. Some that come to mind are Zelda 2, DuckTales and Mega Men, and its overworld is reminiscent of Super Mario bros 3 overworld. There is even a touch of Dark Souls. It probably would have been higher on my list if the boss fights were harder.

9. The Walking Dead – season 2

After the success of the first Walking Dead game it was no surprise that Telltale decided to do a second season of Walking Dead. While the second season wasn’t as good as the first one, it still managed to surprise me in certain ways. Dialog was great, and new characters as well as those from previous season were pretty interesting.   It was even more obvious in this game that decisions that you make didn’t make much difference in the big picture but nevertheless making some of these choices was pretty hard.

8. The Talos Principle

The Talos Principle came out late this year and that was probably the main reason why it didn’t make a lot of top 10 lists. This puzzle game however deserves all the praise it got. I am generally big fan of puzzle games, so it doesn’t come as surprise that this game made it in my top 10. Ingenuity of some of these puzzles is quite astonishing. It is a must play.

7. Middle Earth – Shadow of Mordor

When this game was first announced I had some skepticism towards, but all my doubts were squashed after first couple of hours of gameplay. Story is probably the weakest part of the game, but everything else in this game is so great. Sure it borrows fighting mechanics from Batman Arkham games but it was definitely for the good. If you are going to borrow something borrow from the best. Also the world traversal is reminiscent of that in Assassins Creed. The biggest success of this game is that it manage to refine those things that borrowed. Its biggest innovation is the Nemesis system, which really make this game that much enjoyable.  It is definitely a great action-RPG.

6.South Park: The Stick of Truth

I love South Park to death so it is no surprise that it made my list. RPG elements in this game were slightly lacking. However the humor and story are the things that make this game very enjoyable. It had some of the best writing from Matt Stone and Trey Parker.  It is a must play for every fan of the series.

5.Bayoneta 2

Sequel to one of the best hack and slash video games manages to improve on its predecessor in all the best ways. Combat seems more fluid, story is funnier and more enjoyable and even some of the boss fights managed to put certain boss fight from the first one to shame. And i got to say I prefer Bayoneta with short hair.

4. Far Cry 4

Far Cry 4 managed to take everything that made Far Cry 3 great and amplify the level of fun. Riding an elephant and taking an outpost that way is so much fun. Pagan Min is a great villain even though that similar to Vass from previous game he wasn’t that much in it. Supporting characters in this one were kinda weak, but that didn’t take that much from the experience. The sheer amount of craziness in this game is pretty jarring.

3.Dragon Age: Inquisition

Great story and characters were the staple of previous Dragon Age games, and this remained unchanged in this one as well. This is also the game that took me the most time to complete. It is a huge game, that even after completing it I still feel that I only scratched the surface. Game play is really fun, even though it is more on action side than it was on RPG side. Ending of this game is kinda weak, and that is the only reason why it wasn’t higher on my list.

2.Divinity: Original Sin

Divinity: Original Sin is a game that is a love letter to those old school RPG’s like Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale. .Dialog between the characters is pretty funny, and story as crazy as it is it managed to keep my interest for all of 50 hours it took me to complete this game. Managing your party and combining their attacks never felt so satisfying.

1. Dark Souls II

In spite of what general community says about this game this was still my favorite game of the year. Gameplay and inventory management were greatly improved upon. Certain criticism of this game is pretty valid. Boss fights and the way in which the world is connected definitely pale in comparison to first game. But still gameplay is were its at and this is where this game excels. It is hard to speak of the story of this game since its pretty minimalistic, but lore behind items and bosses is pretty extensive.