"Birdman", "Grand Budapest" Biggest Winners at 87th Academy Awards

"Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" swooped into the 87th Academy Awards on Sunday night taking four Oscars including best picture.

The cynical comedy about a washed-up actor trying to stage a comeback also claimed director, original screenplay and cinematography at the annual kudos fest at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

Going in with a leading nine nominations — along with another best picture-nominated comedy, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" — "Birdman" beat out the likes of "Boyhood", "American Sniper" and its co-leader in nomiantions for the top prize.

Like how they tied in nominations tally, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" also won four awards including costume design, production design and makeup and hairstyling. Its composer, Alexandre Desplat, won for the film's original score after six failed attempts in the category - he was also nominated this year for scoring "The Imitation Game".

While laffers picked up four awards each, best picture nominee "Whiplash" about a jazz drummer earned three gongs: best supporting actor (J.K. Simmons), editing and sound mixing.

Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore continued their awards season stomp to Oscar gold in the lead acting categories for "The Theory of Everything" and "Still Alice," respectively.

Patricia Arquette picked up best supporting actress for "Boyhood," the best picture front-runner's only win.

The remaining best picture nominees won one award each: "American Sniper" for sound editing; "The Imitation Game" for adapted screenplay; and "Selma" for original song.

The animated hit "Big Hero 6" won animated feature.

"Ida" became Poland's first successful win in the foreign language film category. "CitizenFour" won for documentary feature.

The sci-fi film "Interstellar" won only one of its awards: visual effects.

Best Picture:"Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"
Best Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
Best Original Screenplay: "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Imitation Game"
Best Animated Feature: "Big Hero 6"
Best Foreign Language Film: "Ida" (Poland)
Best Documentary Feature: "CitizenFour"
Best Cinematography: "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"
Best Costume Design: "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Best Editing: "Whiplash"
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Best Original Score: "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Best Original Song: "Glory" from "Selma"
Best Production Design: "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Best Sound Editing: "American Sniper"
Best Sound Mixing: "Whiplash"
Best Visual Effects: "Interstellar"
Best Animated Short: "Feast"
Best Documentary Short Subject: "Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1"
Best Live-Action Short: "The Phone Call"

Who Will Win Oscar?

What a season it has been.

While last year's annual kudos fest for the best achievements in film were overly predictable, this year is way more uncertain. It looks likes the 2010 race when "The Social Network" was winning over all of the critics and the Golden Globes, but when industry professionals got their say the race drastically shifted in the eventual best picture-winner's "The King's Speech" favor.

Four years later and its looking to be the same story with "Boyhood" being the early favorite and "Birdman" surging near the end.

Will the epic achievement of "Boyhood" reign supreme, or will "Birdman" fly away with the top prize in the end?

Movie Reviews: Getting High on Adrenaline in 'American Sniper' and 'Inherent Vice'

American Sniper (2014, directed by Clint Eastwood. U.S.A., English, Color, 134 minutes) The story of the military's most lethal sniper is what we get fixated on in "American Sniper", which is just as much about post-9/11 patriotism as it is its titular character, Chris Kyle. Bradley Cooper gives his best performance to date as Kyle, who is portrayed as a lovable, modest and true incarnation of Captain America. After each of his four tours in the Iraq War we see just how he is slowly being broken down from everything he has witnessed and how with each tour he still stays focused on the task at hand: saving soldiers (killing the enemy).

The success of the film is because of its helmer, Clint Eastwood, who has done countless war films before this, but takes a sensitive approach to Kyle's story. There is plenty of gritty war violence which is beautifully balanced by the war's effects on his own mental health and his family's well being. Sienna Miller was truly effective as his wife, and my heart ached almost every time she had to cry, especially when she hears nothing but a hail of bullets during a phone call Cooper.

If anything bad to say about the film is that it felt very rushed in the beginning. Not staying long in one situation or another and rushing anxiously to the next moment. It found its footing in the second half, luckily.

Rating: B+