The 87th Annual Academy Awards aired Sunday Night, February 22nd, 2015.  Below were my predictions for the winners in the major categories.  The actual winners were filled in after the Oscars are announced.

PRE-SPIN:

For some reason last year I didn’t post my annual predictions and telecast commentary, nor do I even remember who hosted or much of the ceremony apart from the fact that 12 Years a Slave rightfully won Best Picture (a rare cosmic convergence of The Davies and Oscars).  I think I may have been flying up to Canada for work that Sunday night.

At any rate, after last year’s hiatus, The Spin on the Oscars is back!  Neil Patrick Harris is hosting, leaving me feeling uninspired for the ceremony to break from the norm.  Musical numbers.  A few gay jokes.  A few empty political references.

As far as the races, there’s actually a pretty good one for best picture – and if the Academy does their famous Picture/Director split, which way that goes (Boyhood or Birdman?) could also have downstream impact to Best Original Screenplay.

I might also try live Tweeting snarky or non-sensical remarks (most likely ten to fifteen minutes past relevance) during the telecast, so follow us on Twitter @schleicherspin or better yet follow @pattonoswalt as he’s way funnier than me at this stuff.

POST-SPIN:

• Neil Patrick had a few good puns but was way too theater-ish for a dreadfully long broadcast begging for a comedian.
• There were some genuine surprises amidst the predictable in major and minor categories (see below) but the Birdman flew highest showing yet again that the Academy loves to love themselves.
• The funniest tweet of the night came from Patton Oswalt and wasn’t really about the Oscars at all but instead was a mind blowing suggestion that House of Cards might actually be Christopher Nolan’s version of Foghorn Leghorn – a thought I never dared to dream.  He later suggested that Matthew McConaughey had killed a railroad hobo for his hair (ha!)
• I scored a subpar 15/24 in my family Oscar pool and lost out to my brother thanks to all the upsets.

And now check out The Spin on my Predictions and the Winners:

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PREDICTIONS:

Best Picture:

Predicted: Boyhood

Possible Upsets: Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Winner: Birdman

Best Director:

Predicted: The guy with the name I can never spell right for Birdman

Possible Upset: Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Winner:  Birdman

Best Actor:

Predicted: Michael Keaton for Birdman

Possible Upset: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything

Winner: Eddie Redmayne

Best Actress:

Predicted: Julianne Moore for Still Alice

Possible Upsets:  No one, because if Jules doesn’t win I’ll eat my shoe

Winner: Jules

Best Supporting Actor:

Predicted: JK Simmons for Whiplash

Possible Upsets: Ethan Hawke for Boyhood

Winner: JK Simmons

Best Supporting Actress:

Predicted: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

Possible Upset: There will be another shoe eating incident if Patty doesn’t take home the little gold man

Winner: Patty Patty Patty (and equal pay for women!)

Best Foreign Language Film:

Predicted: Ida

Possible Upset: Leviathan

Winner: Ida

Best Animated Feature:

Predicted: Big Hero 6

Possible Upset: Who cares?

Winner:  Big Hero Six

Best Documentary Feature:

Predicted: Citizen Four

Possible Upset:  Who cares because Life Itself wasn’t nominated?

Winner: Citizen Four

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Predicted: Graham Moore for The Imitation Game

Possible Upset: Anthony McCarten for The Theory of Everything because sometimes the old folks at the Academy get confused and actually award the worst screenplay

Winner: Graham Moore

Best Original Screenplay:

Predicted: Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Possible Upset: All the peops for Birdman

Winner: All the peops

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…and now on to the important stuff…

…the Rules for the 87th Annual Academy Awards Drinking Game:

Take a shot when:

• A winner thanks “Oscar” and not “The Academy.”
• Someone thanks their “agent, spouse, parents, or kids.”
• They cut off a person’s acceptance speech unceremoniously with the “exit” music.
• Somebody needlessly and awkwardly mentions something political as a presenter or winner.
• A winner says something to the effect of, “I can’t believe I won with all these other talented/wonderful people I was up against.”
• There is a completely unnecessary music/dance number.
• Gay rights are mentioned.
• The Selma snub is mentioned.
• They honor the people who died last year.
• Somebody gets a standing ovation.
• Somebody makes a joke about the show’s length.

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Check out the winners in my annual alternatives to the Oscars, The Davies.

Enjoy! Wagering on the Oscars is encouraged. And please drink irresponsibly…I mean responsibly!

Predictions, commentary and drinking rules by David H. Schleicher