The Screen Life

The 87th Academy Awards presentation is tomorrow night: Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 8:30pm EST. Here, just in the nick of time, are The Screen Life’s official ranked predictions.

Several of these races are completely locked at this point. There should be no surprises when it comes to Supporting Actor, Lead AND Supporting Actress, Cinematography, and almost every craft category The Grand Budapest Hotel is eligible for.

On the other hand, many of the biggest races are an incredibly close toss-up between 2 or even 3 movies: Picture, Director, Actor, BOTH Screenplays, Editing, even VFX could all go a number of different ways. These rankings are intended to give you an idea of the closest challengers and dark horses.

While I’m probably bound to get a few of these wrong (I admit a bit of a bias toward Whiplash), I believe that sticking with these predictions are the best way to win your office Oscar pool.

Happy Oscaring!!!

Best Picture

1. Birdman
2. Boyhood
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. American Sniper
5. Selma
6. The Imitation Game
7. Whiplash
8. The Theory of Everything

Best Director

1. Alexandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman
2. Richard Linklater, Boyhood
3. Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
5. Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Best Actor

1. Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
2. Michael Keaton, Birdman
3. Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
4. Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
5. Steve Carell, Foxcatcher

Best Actress

1. Julianne Moore, Still Alice
2. Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
3. Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
4. Reese Witherspoon, Wild
5. Marion Cotillard, Two Days One Night

Best Supporting Actor

1. K. Simmons, Whiplash
2. Edward Norton, Birdman
3. Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
4. Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
5. Robert Duvall, The Judge

Best Supporting Actress

1. Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
2. Emma Stone, Birdman
3. Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
4. Laura Dern, Wild
5. Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Whiplash
2. The Imitation Game
3. American Sniper
4. Inherent Vice
5. The Theory of Everything

Best Original Screenplay

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Birdman
3. Boyhood
4. Foxcatcher
5. Nightcrawler

Best Animated Feature

1. How to Train Your Dragon 2
2. Big Hero 6
3. The Boxtrolls
4. The Tale of Princess Kaguya
5. Song of the Sea

Best Cinematography

1. Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
2. Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Roger Deakins, Unbroken
4. Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida
5. Dick Pope, Turner

Best Costume Design

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Inherent Vice
3. Into the Woods
4. Maleficent
5. Turner

Best Film Editing

1. Whiplash
2. Boyhood
3. American Sniper
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. The Imitation Game

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. Foxcatcher

Best Original Score

1. Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
3. Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
4. Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
5. Gary Yershon, Turner

Best Original Song

1. “Glory,” Selma
2. “Everything is Awesome,” The LEGO Movie
3. “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
4. “Lost Stars,” Begin Again
5. “Grateful,” Beyond the Lights

Best Production Design

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. The Imitation Game
3. Interstellar
4. Turner
5. Into the Woods

Best Sound Editing

1. American Sniper
2. Birdman
3. Interstellar
4. Unbroken
5. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Best Sound Mixing

1. Whiplash
2. American Sniper
3. Birdman
4. Interstellar
5. Unbroken

Best Visual Effects

1. Interstellar
2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Foreign Language Film

1. Ida
2. Leviathan
3. Tangerines
4. Timbuktu
5. Wild Tales

Best Documentary — Feature

1. CITIZENFOUR
2. Virunga
3. Last Days of Vietnam
4. Finding Vivien Maier
5. The Salt of the Earth

Best Documentary — Short

1. The Reaper
2. Joanna
3. Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
4. Our Curse
5. White Earth

Best Live Action Short

1. Butter Lamp
2. The Phone Call
3. Boogaloo and Graham
4. Parvaneh
5. Aya

Best Animated Short

1. Feast
2. Me and My Moulton
3. The Dam Keeper
4. The Bigger Picture
5. A Single Life

Total predicted wins per film:
Birdman – 3
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 5
Whiplash – 4
(everything else – 1 or 0)