The red carpet has been laid out for Hollywood's biggest awards night. The annual Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday and movie enthusiasts can't wait to see if their favorites will be bringing home the golden Oscar statuettes.
If the previous awards of the season are any indicator of who will be going home a winner, and who will be partying empty-handed, there are some names which top the list of Oscar predictions and which are even no-brainers.
In the Best Picture category, the nominees are: American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), has been a favorite because of its superb ensemble cast. The movie also dominated the Screen Actor's Guild Awards. Then again, the endearing, innovative film, Boyhood, has the charm and storytelling meat that the Oscars tend to love.
For Best Actor, the nominees are: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Michael Keaton (Birdman), and Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything).
Many have been saying that this is Michael Keaton's year to finally take home an Oscar. However, newcomer Eddie Redmayne surprised everyone with his performance as Stephen Hawking. Even the wheelchair-bound physicist himself said that he thought he was seeing himself on the big screen.
For Best Actress, the nominees are: Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night), Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), and Reese Witherspoon (Wild).
There seems to be no race here as Julianne Moore is everyone's favorite to win the Academy Award.
And for Best Director, the nominees are: Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu (Birdman), Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), and Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game).
Just as in the Best Picture category, the favorites to win seem to be a toss up between Iñárritu for Birdman and Linklater for Boyhood. So who will win? The movie about movie-making, which Academy voters seem to always fall for, or the film that took 12 years to make?
We'll all have to find out on Sunday night when the Academy Awards airs live.
