The Oscar Nominations are in. For a change of pace, this morning's announcement included nominations from all 24 categories.
One of the greatest sci-fi directors ever, and the guy who's directing Star Wars.
While everyone nominated made major contributions to the world of cinema, and we wouldn't even have movies without the hard work and dedicated artistry of each of them, below are the nominations in the eight categories that anyone ever pays attention to.
The tie-less, unbuttoned collar says, "I turned down several invites to orgies to be here."
To announce this year's noms, human action figure Chris Pine was joined by last year's winner for Best Director, Alfonso Cuarón, as well as Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and J.J. Abrams. Cuarón and Abrams delivered the first batch of nominations, followed by Pine and Boone Isaacs with the above-the-title stuff.
Here are the nominees in the big eight categories:
1. Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep, Into The Woods
Who's going to win: Patricia Arquette. People in Hollywood take about 5 weeks off for Christmas, so they can't stop freaking out at having to work on one movie for twelve years.
2. Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Who's going to win: J.K. Simmons. Yes, Ethan Hawke also gave twelve years to Boyhood, but he mostly turned in eight years as Ethan Hawke and four years as Ethan Hawke with a mustache. And since Boyhood was so realistic, it's like they're offering awards to a struggling single mom and a well-meaning but nonetheless absentee dad. This is America. Absentee dads don't get trophies.
Which leaves Edward Norton (nope. The only awards for Birdman are going to Keaton and maybe Iñárritu), and J.K. Simmons, who just won the Globe for being an ahole in Whiplash. And he'll probably win it again. Who's going to beat him, Robert Duvall in his most forgettable role in a crappy movie no one saw?
3. Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, Two Days One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory Of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Who's going to win: Julianne Moore. Reese already won one of these. She's like three and a half feet tall, she can't even lift two Oscars at once. Julianne Moore got nominated four times already and never won. None of the others stand a chance.
4. Best Actor
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything
Who's going to win: Michael Keaton. Come on. Did you hear his speech at the Globes about his hardsscrabble life with 87 siblings living in a coal mine in Pittsburgh? Even his speech is being adapted into a movie and that's going to win too.
5. Best Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper, Jason Hall
Imitation Game, Graham Moore
Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson
Theory Of Everything, Anthony McCarten
Whiplash, Damien Chazelle
What's going to win? Hell if I know. Whiplash? None of these movies is a frontrunner and adapted screenplay is a weird category, so maybe Whiplash since it's kind of the sleeper favorite that everyone's loving.
6. Best Original Screenplay
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance), Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler, Dan Gilroy
What's going to win: Boyhood. Yeah, the cool thing was using the same actors over twelve years, but people love a sweep, and most of the praise for Birdman is for Michael Keaton and the movie's "ambition." When people praise ambition, it usually means the movie didn't quite live up to it.
7. Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcacther
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morton Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Who's going to win: Linklater forBoyhood. Not only for the twelve years thing, but they get to treat a long-beloved indie director like the weird, artistic son who's finally grown up, gotten his shit together, and come back home.
8. Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory Of Everything
Whiplash
What's going to win: Boyhood. Come on. Twelve years is a really long time. Remember how long it felt to be in grade school. That long!