It’s finally time for the cinephile equivalent to the Superbowl with Hollywood’s annual Academy award show. As always this is a show that’s doomed to alienate a mainstream audience who can’t help but come back for more every year.

2014 was a really spectacular year for films and after finally seeing all eight of the best picture noms I think it’s safe to say that  none of them were a total bust. We’re not facing another year with a subpar wild card like Extremely  Loud and Incredibly Close or Crash that totally robs more prominent nominees and many of these categories appear to very very close.

Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay all look like they could go any of two or three ways which means this should be a great night full of surprises.

My picks for who will win are bolded

My picks for who should win are *

Best Picture

American Sniper – Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole

*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 – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten

Whiplash – Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster

Best Director

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

*Richard Linklater – Boyhood*

Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher

Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Actor

Steve Carell – Foxcatcher as John Eleuthère du Pont

Bradley Cooper – American Sniper as Chris Kyle

Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game as Alan Turing

*Michael Keaton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Riggan Thomson / Birdman*

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking

Best Actress

Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night as Sandra Bya

Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything as Jane Wilde Hawking

*Julianne Moore – Still Alice as Dr. Alice Howland*

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl as Amy Elliott-Dunne

Reese Witherspoon – Wild as Cheryl Strayed

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Duvall – The Judge as Judge Joseph Palmer

Ethan Hawke – Boyhood as Mason Evans, Sr.

Edward Norton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Mike Shiner

Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher as Dave Schultz

*J. K. Simmons – Whiplash as Terence Fletcher*

Best Supporting Actress

*Patricia Arquette – Boyhood as Olivia Evans*

Laura Dern – Wild as Barbara “Bobbi” Grey

Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game as Joan Clarke

Emma Stone – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Sam Thomson

Meryl Streep – Into the Woods as The Witch

Best Original Screenplay

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo

Boyhood – Richard Linklater

Foxcatcher – E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness

*Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy*

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper – Jason Hall from American Sniper by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice

The Imitation Game – Graham Moore from Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson from Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten from Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Wilde Hawking

*Whiplash – Damien Chazelle from his short film of the same name*

Best Original Score

The Grand Budapest Hotel — Alexandre Desplat

The Imitation Game — Alexandre Desplat

*Interstellar — Hans Zimmer*

Mr. Turner — Gary Yershon

The Theory of Everything — Jóhann Jóhannsson

Music original song

*”Everything is Awesome” — The Lego Movie*

“Glory” — Selma

“Grateful” — Beyond the Lights

“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” — Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me

“Lost Stars” — Begin Again

Best Animated Feature Film

Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli

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

****THE LEGO MOVIE****

Short film animated
The Bigger Picture

The Dam Keeper

Feast

Me and My Moulton

A Single Life

Short film live action

Aya

Boogaloo and Graham

Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)

Parvaneh

The Phone Call

Best Production Design

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)

The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic (Production Design); Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration)

*Interstellar – Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Gary Fettis (Set Decoration)*

Into the Woods – Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)

Mr. Turner – Suzie Davies (Production Design); Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration)

Best Cinematography

*Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Emmanuel Lubezki*

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman

Ida – Łukasz Żal and Ryszard Lenczewski

Mr. Turner – Dick Pope

Unbroken – Roger Deakins

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

*Foxcatcher – Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard*

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier

Guardians of the Galaxy – Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White

Best Costume Design

*The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero*

Inherent Vice – Mark Bridges

Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood

Maleficent – Anna B. Sheppard

Mr. Turner – Jacqueline Durran

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*

Foreign language film

Ida — Poland

Leviathan — Russia

Tangerines — Estonia

Timbuktu — Mauritania

Wild Tales — Argentina

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*

X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer