Oscars 2015: Neil, what were you thinking?

The 87th Annual Academy Awards was unpredictable, though with a good balance of winners.

The highest wins went to Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and The Grand Budapest Hotel which saw a tie between these two heavyweights after each clinched four Oscars trophies.

Edgy satire, Birdman' took home awards for best picture, director, for Alejandro González Iñárritu, cinematography and original screenplay.

To date, this is the second consecutive Mexican director to win the Oscars for Best Director category. The first was last year, Alonso Cuarón for the sci-fi thriller Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney who played astronauts stranded in space.

In the history of the Oscars, until today, there are five foreign directors (for Best Film) who have bagged the coveted trophy.

This year, saw the legendary concierge, Gustave H of The Grand Budapest Hotel bagged the Oscars for technical awards including production design, costume design, original score and hair and makeup.

A crowd favourite, Boyhood directed by Richard Linklater, highly-lauded as a potential frontrunner, managed to to bag an award for Best Supporting Actress.

It was indeed an Oscar moment went Boyhood's Patricia Arquette started reading her acceptance speech that made legendary actress, Meryl Streep jolt up from her seat and scream "yes!yes!yes!" over and over again echoing Arquette's impassioned plea to call attention to a pertinent global issue.

Arquette's acceptance speech left an indelible mark at the Oscars when she vocalised an important note on the current scenario of the film industry in Hollywood where the fairer gender are still treated like second-hand citizen.

In a rquette advocates for gender equality and she said:

"To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen in this nation: We have fought for everybody else's equal rights. t’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America!"

The other big winners of the evening were British heartthrob, Eddie Redmayne who struck gold this year for winning the Screen Actors' Guild's (SAG) Best Actor last month for The Theory of Everything. At the Oscars, he took home the Oscars for the same category, beating a field of talented actor which include Michael Keaton.



It was also a well-deserved win for Julianne Moore when she won her first Oscars after losing out on winning the Oscars for four times previously for Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, Far From Heaven and The Hours.

Like Redmayne, Moore too made heads turned the SAG award for Still Alice. This time around, her role as an Alzheimer patient has beaten the competition from Reese Witherspoon, Rosamund Pike, Marion Cotillard and Felicity Jones.


Peter Parker a.k.a Spiderman's boss at the Daily Bugle, J.K.Simmons bagged the Best Supporting Actor category for 'Whiplash'.

Simmons' performance as music instructor Terence Fletcher in Whiplash has earned him more than 30 accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Though blunders were absence, Oscars 2014 host Ellen Degeneres wins hands down. In terms of presentation, Ellen and that oh-so-memorable Oscars 'selfie' has always been the choice for many audiences, leaving Neil (Patrick Harris) pale in his white briefs (no pun intended!)

It is almost a foregone conclusion that Neil's attempt at outdoing Ellen's phenomenal presentation turned, err ... futile.

The grand opening which featured him in a soaring duet of Neil and Anna Kendrik was a memorable attempt. But after star Jack Black's short segment, the tune fell flat.

Somewhere in the middle of the show, Neil walked on stage half-naked, only in his undergarment showing his lean torso body to global audience (who were watching the Oscars) in honour of 'Birdman'.

Even that can't beat Degeneres epic 'selfie' that broke the Internet last year.


If you missed out on the show, HBO will play the re-run of the 87th Annual Academy Awards tonight. In the meantime, here is the full list of the nominees and its winners:

Best Picture
American Sniper – Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz. Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan
Birdman/The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance – Alejandro G. Inarritu, John Lesher and James Skotchdopole -- WINNER
Boyhood – Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland
The Grand Budapest Hotel- Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
The Imitation Game – Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman
Selma – Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
The Theory of Everything – Time Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten
Whiplash – Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster

Best Actor
Steve Carell in “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper in “American Sniper”
Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game”
Michael Keaton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything” -- WINNER


Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall in “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke in “Boyhood”
Edward Norton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Mark Ruffalo in “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash” -- WINNER

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard in “Two Days, One Night”
Felicity Jones in “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore in “Still Alice” -- WINNER
Rosamund Pike in “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon in “Wild”

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette in “Boyhood” -- WINNER
Laura Dern in “Wild”
Keira Knightley in “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Meryl Streep in “Into the Woods”

Best Animated Feature
“Big Hero 6” Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli -- WINNER
“The Boxtrolls” Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
“Song of the Sea” Tomm Moore and Paul Young
“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Best Adapted Screenplay
“American Sniper” Written by Jason Hall
“The Imitation Game” Written by Graham Moore -- WINNER
“Inherent Vice” Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Theory of Everything” Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
“Whiplash” Written by Damien Chazelle

Best Original Screenplay
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo -- WINNER
“Boyhood” Written by Richard Linklater
“Foxcatcher” Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
“Nightcrawler” Written by Dan Gilroy

Best Cinematography
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Emmanuel Lubezki -- WINNER
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Robert Yeoman
“Ida” Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
“Mr. Turner” Dick Pope
“Unbroken” Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Milena Canonero -- WINNER
“Inherent Vice” Mark Bridges
“Into the Woods” Colleen Atwood
“Maleficent” Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
“Mr. Turner” Jacqueline Durran

Best Director
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu -- WINNER
“Boyhood” Richard Linklater
“Foxcatcher” Bennett Miller
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wes Anderson
“The Imitation Game” Morten Tyldum

Best Documentary Feature
“CitizenFour” Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky -- WINNER
“Finding Vivian Maier” John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
“Last Days in Vietnam” Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
“The Salt of the Earth” Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
“Virunga” Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

Best Documentary Short Subject
“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry -- WINNER
“Joanna” Aneta Kopacz
“Our Curse” Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
“The Reaper (La Parka)” Gabriel Serra Arguello
“White Earth” J. Christian Jensen

Best Film Editing
“American Sniper” Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
“Boyhood” Sandra Adair
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Barney Pilling
“The Imitation Game” William Goldenberg
“Whiplash” Tom Cross -- WINNER

Best Foreign Language Film
“Ida” Poland -- WINNER
“Leviathan” Russia
“Tangerines” Estonia
“Timbuktu” Mauritania
“Wild Tales” Argentina

Best Makeup and Hair styling
“Foxcatcher” Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier -- WINNER
“Guardians of the Galaxy” Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White

Best Original Score
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Alexandre Desplat -- WINNER
“The Imitation Game” Alexandre Desplat
“Interstellar” Hans Zimmer
“Mr. Turner” Gary Yershon
“The Theory of Everything” Jóhann Jóhannsson

Best Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie”
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson “Glory” from “Selma” -- WINNER
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
“Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights”
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me”
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” from “Begin Again”
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Best Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock --WINNER
“The Imitation Game” Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
“Interstellar” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
“Into the Woods” Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Mr. Turner” Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts

Best Animated Short Film
“The Bigger Picture” Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
“The Dam Keeper” Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
“Feast” Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed -- WINNER
“Me and My Moulton” Torill Kove
“A Single Life” Joris Oprins

Best Live Action Short Film
“Aya” Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
“Boogaloo and Graham” Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
“Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)” Hu Wei and Julien Féret
“Parvaneh” Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
“The Phone Call” Mat Kirkby and James Lucas -- WINNER

Best Sound Editing
“American Sniper” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman -- WINNER
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
“Interstellar” Richard King
“Unbroken” Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro

Best Sound Mixing
“American Sniper” John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
“Interstellar” Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
“Unbroken” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
“Whiplash” Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley -- WINNER

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