Oscars 2015 Nominees

First off, I'm so thrilled that my favorite movie this year Damien Chazelle's Whiplash is nominated for 5 awards including Best Picture, Screenplay and acting for J.K. Simmons.

This year, Oscar went only for 8 films to compete for the top prize (they had 9 for the last 3 years). Critics' favorites Boyhood and Birdman as expected are nominated and the two are in very close fight. Other nominees are American films "Whiplash", "Selma" and "American Sniper". British films "The Theory of Everything", "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "The Imitation Game" complete the list.

Four of these films are based from real-life story. "The Imitation Game" is about the life Alan Turing, a mathematician and how he created Turing Machine that inspires today's computer. "The Theory of Everything" is about the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife. "Selma" is about Martin Luther's endeavor for securing equal voting rights and "American Sniper" is about the American Navy Seal sniper who became legend among his colleagues.

The other four are fiction and creatively written for screen. The 12-year epic drama "Boyhood" tells the story of a 5-year old boy as he turns into teenager. The movie was shot for 12 years with the same actors. "Whiplash" is about a promising student and his dream to be a successful musician. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" a comedy that tells about the adventure of the owner of a great hotel. While "Birdman" is a comedy-ensemble that centers on an aging film actor who tries to rebuild his career through Broadway.

I haven't seen all the nominees but I'll watch most of these films and pick my own winners before the Oscar Night on February 22nd. Let's just hope I can find a decent copy of the those foreign films as well because they are never shown in our place. Also, I'm not fond of watching documentaries so I can't really give my opinion on that.

Here are the complete list of nominees:

Birdman - 9 nominations
Best Picture
Best Director  for Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Actor for Michael Keaton
Best Supporting Actor for Edward Norton
Best Supporting Actress for Emma Stone
Best Original Screenplay
Best in Cinematography
Best in Sound Mixing
Best in Sound Editing

The Grand Budapest Hotel - 9 nominations
Best Picture
Best Director  for Wes Anderson
Best Original Screenplay
Best in Cinematography
Best in Editing
Best in Production Design
Best in Costume Design
Best in Makeup and Hairstyling
Best in Original Score

The Imitation Game - 8 nominations
Best Picture
Best Director  for Morten Tyldum
Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch
Best Supporting Actress for Kiera Knightley
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best in Editing
Best in Production Design
Best in Original Score

Boyhood - 6 nominations
Best Picture
Best Director  for Richard Linklater
Best Supporting Actor for Ethan Hawke
Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette
Best Original Screenplay
Best in Editing

American Sniper - 6 nominations
Best Picture
Best Actor for Bradley Cooper
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing
Best in Sound Mixing
Best in Sound Editing

The Theory of Everything - 5 nominations
Best Picture
Best Actor for Eddie Redmayne
Best Actress for Felicity Jones
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Score

Whiplash - 5 nominations
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing
Best Sound Mixing

Foxcatcher - 5 nominations
Best Actor for Steve Carell
Best Supporting Actor for Mark Ruffalo
Best Director - Bennett Miller
Best Original Screenplay
Best in Makeup and Hairstyling

Interstellar - 5 nominations
Best in Production Design
Best Original Score
Best Sound Mixing
Best in Sound Editing
Best in Visual Effects

Mr. Turner - 4 nominations
Best in Cinematography
Best in Production Design
Best in Costume Design
Best in Original Score

Into The Woods - 3 nominations
Best Supporting Actress for Meryl Streep
Best in Production Design
Best in Costume Design

Unbroken - 3 nominations
Best in Cinematography
Best Sound Mixing
Best in Sound Editing

Selma - 2 nominations
Best Picture
Best Original Song

Wild - 2 nominations
Best Actress for Reese Witherspoon
Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern

Inherent Vice - 2 nominations
Best in Adapted Screenplay
Best in Costume Design

Guardians of Galaxy - 2 nominations
Best in Visual Effects
Best Original Song

Ida - 2 nominations
Best Foreign Film
Best in Cinematography

Single nomination for these films in acting category. In lead roles, Julianne Moore for "Still Alice", Marion Cotillard in "Two Days, One Night", Rosamund Pike in "Gone Girl" and Supporting role for Robert Duvall in "The Judge".

Single nomination for all the Animated Film category: "The Boxtrolls"; "Big Hero 6"; "How to Train Your Dragon 2"; "Song of the Sea"; "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya"

Single nominations for these films in Visual Effects category: "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"; "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"; "X-Men: Days of Future Past"

Single nomination for these Foreign Films: "Tangerines"; "Leviathan"; "Wild Tales"; "Timbuktu"

Single nomination in the Best Documentary category: "Citizenfour"; "Finding Vivian Maier"; "Last Days in Vietnam"; "The Salt of the Earth"; "Virunga"

Single nomination for these films: "Nightcrawler" for Original Screenplay; "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" for Visual Effects; "Begin Again", "Beyond the Lights" and "Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me"  for Original Song; "Maleficent" in Production Design.