2015 Academy Award Predictions

   With yet another Oscar ceremony on Sunday night, many have noticed that the Best Picture nominees are not that popular among moviegoers. And there have been quite a few surprises (The LEGO Movie not getting nominated for Best Animated Picture being just one).
   So here is how I believe the Oscars will turn out:

Best Picture
Boyhood – Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland

Best Director
Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Best Actor
Michael Keaton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Riggan Thomson / Birdman
(could be Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking)

Best Actress
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl as Amy Elliott-Dunne

Best Supporting Actor
J. K. Simmons – Whiplash as Terence Fletcher

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood as Olivia Evans

Best Original Screenplay
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás
(could be Boyhood)

Best Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper – Jason Hall from American Sniper by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice

Best Animated Feature Film
How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
(could be Big Hero 6)

Best Foreign Language Film
Ida (Poland) in Polish  – Paweł Pawlikowski

Best Documentary – Feature
Last Days in Vietnam – Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester

Best Documentary – Short Subject
White Earth – J. Christian Jensen

Best Live Action Short Film
   I honestly have no guess as to how this category will turn out...

Best Animated Short Film
Feast – Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
(could be The Bigger Picture)

Best Original Score
   I think it's a toss up between:
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
and
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer

Best Original Song
"Glory" from Selma – Music and Lyric by John Legend and Common

Best Sound Editing
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock

Best Sound Mixing
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga

Best Production Design
   I think it's a toss up between
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
and
Interstellar – Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Gary Fettis (Set Decoration)
and
Into the Woods – Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)

Best Cinematography
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Emmanuel Lubezki

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier

Best Costume Design
   I think it's a toss up between...
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero
and
Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood

Best Film Editing
Boyhood – Sandra Adair

Best Visual Effects
Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher

   Well, that's what I think will happen at the Academy Awards this year. But who knows? Will Meryl Streep get her fourth Oscar? Will "Everything Is Awesome" actually win? Will American Sniper beat Boyhood for Best Picture? I suppose I just have to wait until Sunday night.

Fairytales Triumphed 2014

   Last year, Disney released two fairytale-based films: Maleficent and Into the Woods. The first is a twist on their classic Sleeping Beauty film, this time told from the villain's perspective. The latter is a movie version of the 1987 Broadway musical. I believe that these two films were the most important movies of 2014. Why?
   First, they both hold some valuable morals and lessons we can take from them. In Maleficent, the title character is entrapped in anger and bitterness after being betrayed by her love. The once-joyous fairy becomes the "mistress of all evil." Yet, her story doesn't end there...she grows in fondness of the Princess Aurora, whom she cursed as an infant. Through her motherly love for the girl, Maleficent is redeemed from evil. All people are sinners, but that does not necessarily have to be the end for our stories. Through the selfless love of Jesus Christ, we can be redeemed, and brought into a relationship with God.
   Maleficent also gave an example of the importance and power of motherhood. In connection with that, Into the Woods had a great emphasis on the importance of fathers (which is lacking in much of the media today).
   The Baker in the film was deserted by his father as a small boy. Many years later, he almost makes the same mistake with his own infant son. However, his father's ghost implores him to "not make the same mistake [he] did." The Baker returns to his child and decides to tell him the story that is Into the Woods. He sets about the scary, exciting, and wonderful journey of being a father.
   America is a culture where we can wish for just about anything. We can often get our wishes through hard work and perseverance, but do we ever stop to wonder the consequences of our wishes? Into the Woods uses nearly all of the two-hour screen time to answer that question. Our desires may seem good to us, but sometimes they have consequences, big and small. Achieving our dreams is not always a bad thing, but we should be aware of what will happen to those around us. To take an example from Into the Woods, Jack climbs a tall beanstalk and steals gold from a giant. He is chased, but chops down the beanstalk, killing the giant. Happy ending, right? Well, just wait: a second beanstalk is accidentally grown, and the giant's wife comes down in search of Jack. In doing so, she causes earthquakes across the kingdom and destroys much of the forest. Jack persevered to get his wishes, but it caused pain and loss for many other people (and eventually caused loss for himself).
   So, yes, Into the Woods had a number of flaws, and Maleficent did lack in a few areas, but I feel these films were the best of 2014. As a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's books, I must say that I loved The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, but in honesty, I believe the other two films did far better in conveying morals.

You can read Family-in-Mind's reviews for the films by clicking the links below:
Maleficent
Into the Woods