My Oscar picks for 2014 (11 of 24)

My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, 11 in 2010, 15 in 2011, 9 (or 8.5, discounting for the tie in Sound Editing) in 2012, and 13 in 2013. This year (and within 5 minutes of seeing the list), I picked 11 out of 24, missing 4 of the 6 major categories but pegging 2 of the 3 shorts categories, which is crazy since I saw only two feature nominees (Boyhood, Hobbit 3) and no shorts this season. (Note: The Oscars tag the awards in the year in which the awards are given, while I date them by the year in which the films were released. Underlining denotes my pick of deserving nominee and italic denotes a more likely winner; boldface denotes the actual winner.)


BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ACTOR
Steve Carrell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Edward Norton, Birdman
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejando G. Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morton Tyldum, The Imitation Game

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood 
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Leviathan, Russia
Tangerines, Estonia
Wild Tales, Argentina
Ida, Poland
Timbuktu, Mauritania

BEST ANIMATED FEATURED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins, Unbroken

BEST FILM EDITING
Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach, American Sniper
Sandra Adair, Boyhood
Barney Pilling, The Grand Budapest Hotel
William Goldenberg, The Imitation Game
Tom Cross, Whiplash

BEST SOUND EDITING
Richard King, Interstellar
Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro, Unbroken
Brent Burge and Jason Canovas, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, American Sniper
Martin Hernandez and Aaron Glascock, Birdman

BEST SOUND MIXING
Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten, Interstellar
Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley, Whiplash
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and Thomas Varga, Birdman
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin, American Sniper
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and David Lee, Unbroken

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dennis Gassner (Production Design) and Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration), Into the Woods
Adam Stockhausen (Production Design) and Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration), The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nathan Crowley (Production Design) and Gary Fettis (Set Decoration),Interstellar
Maria Djurkovic (Production Design) and Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration), The Imitation Game
Suzie Davies (Production Design) and Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration), Mr. Turner

BEST ORIGINAL SCOREHans Zimmer, Interstellar
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gary Yershon, Mr Turner

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Glory by Common and John Legend, Selma
Lost Stars by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and NickSouthwood, Begin Again
Everything Is Awesome by Shawn Patterson, The LEGO Movie
I'm Not Gonna Miss You, by Glen Campbell, Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me
Grateful, Beyond the lights

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher, Interstellar
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould, Guardians of the Galaxy
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick, Captain America: Winter Soldier
Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer, X-Men: Days of Future Past

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
White Earth
The Reaper

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Citizenfour
Last Days in Vietnam
Virunga
The Salt of the Earth
Finding Vivian Maier

BEST SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION
Boogaloo and Graham
Aya
Butterlamp
Parvenah
The Phone Call

BEST SHORT FILM, ANIMATED
Feast
The Bigger Picture
A Single Life
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton