2014 Oscar Nomination Predictions

I was going to write a paragraph of where we stand on the ten main categories, but I've stared at these lists for months now, and I'm officially over it. I'm gonna miss one, two, or three in every category. It's fine. I can't stress it anymore. I'm just posting this so I have a record posted online of all the work I've put in tracking the season up until this point. It's so hard to try and predict the ten or so curveball nominations and snubs the Oscars provide every year. Here are just a couple I would love to predict but am too pussy to do so:
- Unbroken for Best Picture (over Nightcrawler, Foxcatcher, and maybe Gone Girl)
- Bennett Miller instead of Ava DuVernay for Best Director
- Both Jake Gyllenhaal and Ralph Fiennes for Best Actor instead of Steve Carell and Benedict Cumberbatch
- Steve Carell for Best Supporting Actor instead of Best Actor
- Jessica Chastain in Best Supporting Actress for Interstellar instead of A Most Violent Year
- Ida for Best Cinematography
- The Immigrant for Best Costume Design
- Life Itself snubbed for Best Documentary and/or Force Majeure for Best Foreign Language Film

Anyway, here are my boring and safe nomination predictions. We'll see in 12 hours!

Best Picture
1. Boyhood
2. The Imitation Game
3. Birdman
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. Selma
6. The Theory of Everything
7. Whiplash
8. American Sniper
9. Gone Girl
10. Foxcatcher
Spoilers: Nightcrawler, Unbroken

Best Director
1. Richard Linklater, Boyhood
2. Alejandro G. Innaritu, Birdman
3. Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Ava DuVernay, Selma
5. Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Spoilers: Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game; Clint Eastwood, American Sniper; Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher; David Fincher, Gone Girl; James Marsh, The Theory of Everything

Best Actor
1. Michael Keaton, Birdman
2. Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
3. Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
4. David Oyelowo, Selma
5. Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Spoilers: Bradley Cooper, American Sniper; Steve Carell, Foxcatcher; Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Actress
1. Julianne Moore, Still Alice
2. Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
3. Reese Witherspoon, Wild
4. Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
5. Jennifer Anniston, Cake
Spoilers: Amy Adams, Big Eyes; Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night; Hillary Swank, The Homesman

Best Supporting Actor
1. J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
2. Edward Norton, Birdman
3. Ethan Hawke, Birdman
4. Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
5. Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Spoilers: Robert Duvall, The Judge; Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes; Tom Wilkinson, Selma

Best Supporting Actress
1. Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
2. Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
3. Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
4. Emma Stone, Birdman
5. Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Spoilers: Rene Russo, Nightcrawler; Jessica Chastain, Interstellar; Carmen Ejogo, Selma; Laura Dern, Wild; Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer

Best Original Screenplay
1. Richard Linklater, Boyhood
2. Alegandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo, Birdman
3. Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
5. Paul Webb, Selma
Spoilers: E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher; Mike Leigh, Mr. Turner; J.C. Chandor, A Most Violent Year

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
2. Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
3. Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
4. Jason Hall, American Sniper
5. Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Spoilers: Nick Hornby, Wild; Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice; Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, and William Nicholson, Unbroken

Best Cinematography
1. Birdman
2. Unbroken
3. Mr. Turner
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. Interstellar
Spoilers: Selma, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything

Best Costume Design
1. Into the Woods
2. Mr. Turner
3. Maleficent
4. Big Eyes
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Spoilers: Unbroken, Selma, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything

Best Film Editing
1. Boyhood
2. Birdman
3. The Imitation Game
4. Whiplash
5. American Sniper
Spoilers: Selma, Interstellar, Nightcrawler, Gone Girl, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
1. The Theory of Everything
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Spoilers: Foxcatcher, Maleficent

Best Original Score
1. The Theory of Everything
2. The Imitation Game
3. Interstellar
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. Gone Girl
Spoilers: Unbroken, Under the Skin, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Judge, Inherent Vice

Best Original Song
1. "Glory," Selma
2. "Lost Stars," Begin Again
3. "I'm Not Gonna Miss You," Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me
4. "Split the Difference," Boyhood
5. "Mercy Is," Noah"
Spoilers: "Everything is Awesome," The LEGO Movie; "The Last Goodbye," The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies; "Yellow Flicker Beat," The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1; "Ryan's Song," Boyhood; "Opportunity," Annie

Best Production Design
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Into the Woods
3. Mr. Turner
4. The Imitation Game
5. Birdman
Spoilers: Interstellar, Unbroken, The Theory of Everything, Selma, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Best Sound Editing
1. American Sniper
2. Unbroken
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
4. Birdman
5. Interstellar
Spoilers: Fury, Godzilla, The Imitation Game, Whiplash, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Best Sound Mixing
1. American Sniper
2. Unbroken
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
4. Birdman
5. Into the Woods
Spoilers: Interstellar, Whiplash, The Imitation Game, Fury, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Best Visual Effects
1. Interstellar
2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
4. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Spoilers: Godzilla, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Maleficent

Best Animated Feature
1. The LEGO Movie
2. How to Train Your Dragon 2
3. The Boxtrolls
4. Big Hero 6
5. The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Spoilers: The Book of Life, Song of the Sea, Cheatin

Best Documentary Feature
1. CITIZENFOUR
2. Life Itself
3. Virunga
4. Last Days in Vietnam
5. The Overnighters
Spoilers: Finding Vivian Maier, Keep On Keepin' On, Tales of the Grim Sleeper, The Salt of the Earth, The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz

Best Foreign Language Film
1. Ida
2. Force Majeure
3. Timbuktu
4. Wild Tales
5. Leviathan
Spoilers: Tangerines, The Liberator, Corn Island, Accused

Best Animated Short
1. Feast
2. The Bigger Picture
3. Duet
4. The Damkeeper
5. Symphony No. 42
Spoilers: The Numberlys, Coda, Me and My Moulton, Footprints, A Single Life

Best Documentary Short
1. Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
2. Joanna
3. Our Curse
4. One Child
5. The Lion's Mouth Opens
Spoilers: White Earth, The Reaper (La Parka), Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace

Best Live Action Short
1. Carry On
2. Baghdad Messi
3. The Phone Call
4. Aya
5. Summer Vacation
Spoilers: Butter Lamp (Le Lampe Au Beurre De Yak), My Father's Truck, Parvaneh, Boogaloo and Graham, SLR

My Top Movies of 2014

I've been hesitant to post this list for weeks because I keep questioning where to place a couple of titles. I've been rolling my eyes at Boyhood ever since it was released and scored a perfect 100 on Metacritic. I mean, I thought it was an extraordinary experience, but I found several of its individual scenes clunky. I was so engrossed with what Birdman was accomplishing up until the last 20 minutes and then it just lost me and I left the theater shrugging my shoulders. And I found Selma incredibly rousing and effective, but I can't tell how much I'm rooting for its timeliness and the personal stories of the team involved with it more than I am actually judging it as a piece of art.

I struggled with the placement of several other titles, some because I questioned my initial love of them as I thought about them some more (Whiplash, Dear White People), or I questioned if they were too small/not ambitious enough (Ida, Only Lovers Left Alive, The LEGO Movie, Obvious Child), or I was ignoring major flaws in them because I just enjoyed them so much (Snowpiercer, Edge of Tomorrow), or I realized my admiration grew in my mind after initially writing them off for certain immediate flaws I found (Grand Budapest, Gone Girl, Babadook, Nightcrawler).

Even if I didn't unequivocally LOVE a single film this year, there were at least 30 movies I saw this year that I really liked, revealing that 2014 was a really rich year for cinema. I realized Under the Skin was my clear number one choice when I really thought about which movie I found the most resonant and a distinctive cinematic achievement of genre, mood, style, and substance. 2014 really was a great year for genre films, even if they were almost entirely outside of the Hollywood system. This year was decent for Hollywood movies, I guess, but I just saw a bunch of B/B-/C+ movies that ended up blending together in my head, although I liked Godzilla way more than I should have...

Anyway! Here's my list:

1. Under the Skin
2. Boyhood
3. Ida
4. Only Lovers Left Alive
5. Selma
6. Birdman
7. Snowpiercer
8. The LEGO Movie
9. Obvious Child
10. Stranger by the Lake
11. Whiplash
12. The Grand Budapest Hotel
13. Life Itself
14. Gone Girl
15. Edge of Tomorrow
16. Starred Up
17. Force Majeure
18. The Babadook
19. Nightcrawler
20. Calvary
Runners-Up: Wild, Begin Again, Dear White People, Love is Strange, Beyond the Lights, We Are the Best!, Finding Vivian Maier, The Guest, Jodoworsky's Dune, Le-Weekend

Movies I Admired More Than I Actually Liked: Two Days, One Night; CITIZENFOUR; A Most Violent Year; Foxcatcher; The Immigrant
Sequels I Liked But Not As Much as the Originals I Loved: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, How to Train Your Dragon 2, 22 Jump Street
Most Notable Movies I Felt MEH About: Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, Pride, Top Five, Blue Ruin, Enemy, Locke, Mr. Turner

Only Straight Up Bad Movies I Saw This Year: Noah, Maleficent
Most Important Movies I Still Have to See: Mommy, The Interrupters, Goodbye to Language, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Winter Sleep, Child's Pose, The Missing Picture, Stray Dogs, Actress, Manuscripts Don't Burn

I kept track and rated all the movies I saw (84 and counting as of now!) on my Letterboxd: http://letterboxd.com/gayzosam/list/2014-movies/

Phew. Finally done with that. Cig time.

My Top TV of 2014

1. Fargo
2. Transparent
3. Broad City
4. Orange is the New Black
5. Game of Thrones
6. The Honourable Woman
7. Rectify
8. Olive Kitteridge
9. Hannibal
10. Review
Runners-Up: The Good Wife, The Americans, Veep, The Comeback, Bob's Burgers
Honorable Mentions: Jane the Virgin, Masters of Sex, You're the Worst, The Knick, The Walking Dead

Other Dramas I Watched: Sherlock, Downton Abbey, True Detective, House of Cards, Orphan Black, Justified, Mad Men, The Leftovers, American Horror Story, Nashville, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, Parenthood
Other Comedies I Watched: Looking, Girls, Parks and Recreation, Community, Trophy Wife, Silicon Valley, Louie, New Girl, The Mindy Project, Marry Me, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Getting On
Reality Shows I Watched: Under the Gunn, The Face, Big Brother Canada, RuPaul's Drag Race, So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, Survivor, Top Chef, Project Runway All-Stars

Shows I Still Need to Watch: Shameless, The Missing, Manhattan, Please Like Me, In the Flesh (plus catching up on pre-2014 releases The Fall, Black Mirror, and I'm finally going to watch The Wire this year!)

Shows I Might Watch: Rick and Morty, Inside Amy Schumer, Black-ish, Halt and Catch Fire, Nurse Jackie

Shows that Got Canceled that I was Meaning to Watch but probably Never Will: Enlisted, Surviving Jack, Selfie, Extant

Shows I Dropped in 2014: True Blood (I watched the first couple of episodes this season and was like, nahhh, but watched the finale and was like, ugh), Homeland (I'm free!!), Modern Family (I'm protesting it winning every TV award), The Affair (I quit halfway through the second episode), and Raising Hope and The Bridge (both of which I was behind on and then I heard they got canceled and was like, k fine bye!)

Shows I Need to Catch Up On but Might Eventually Drop: Archer, Portlandia

Shows I'm Legitimately Considering Dropping: Nashville, Downton Abbey

Shows I'm Tempted to Drop But Most Likely Won't: American Horror Story, Community, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, The Mindy Project, The Leftovers, How to Get Away With Murder

Other Notable Shows I Didn't/Don't Watch: Boardwalk Empire, Sons of Anarchy, Outlander, 24: Live Another Day, The Killing, Call the Midwife, The Strain, Tyrant, Banshee, Ray Donavan, Cosmos, Years of Living Dangerously, Vikings, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Flash, Arrow, Gotham, Legit, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Key and Peele, The Kroll Show, Nathan For You, Workaholics, The League, Maron, Episodes, House of Lies, American Idol, The Voice

2015 Shows I'm Most Looking Forward To: Empire, Better Call Saul, Fresh Off the Boat, Unbreakable Kenny Schmidt, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, The Last Man on Earth, Roadies, Narcos, Westworld, Untitled HBO Rock 'N' Roll Project