"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?

'Boyhood' Best Film at 2014 EE BAFTA Film Awards, 'Budapest Hotel' wins five

"Boyhood" may have been the biggest winner at the 68th BAFTAs winning best film, director and supporting actress (Patricia Arquette), but it was "The Grand Budapest Hotel" that took home the most awards. The comedy-caper won five awards: best original screenplay, production design, costume design, score and make-up & hair.

Other big winners were homegrown favorite "The Theory of Everything" with wins for lead actor (Eddie Redmayne), outstanding British Film and adapted screenplay.

Joining the aforementioned in the best film race were "Birdman" which won for its cinematography, while "The Imitation Game" was shut out of its nine categories.

Of the films not nominated in the top race, "Whiplash" won three for supporting actor (J.K. Simmons), sound and editing.

 Stephen Beresford and David Livingstone won oustanding British debut for their film "Pride".

Other winners in top races were Julianne Moore for lead actress.in "Still Alice," "The LEGO Movie" winning animated feature, and Oscar-nominated films "Ida" winning for film not in the English language and "Citizenfour" for documentary.

"Interstellar" won its bid for special visual effects.

Best film- "Boyhood"

Best director- Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"

Lead actor- Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"

Lead actress- Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"

Supporting actor- J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"

Supporting actress- Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"

Original screenplay- "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Adapted screenplay- "The Theory of Everything"

Outstanding British film- "The Theory of Everything"

Outstanding British debut- Stephen Beresford and David Livingstone, "Pride"

Animated feature- "The LEGO Movie"

Film not in the English Language- "Ida"

Documentary- "Citizenfour"

Production design- "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Costume Design- "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Cinematography- "Birdman"

Score- "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Alexandre Desplat, composer)

Editing- "Whiplash"

Sound- "Whiplash"

Special visual effects- "Interstellar"

Make up and hair- "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

British short film- "Boogaloo and Graham"

British animated short- "The Bigger Picture"

23rd Philadelphia Film Festival: Days 1-4

It's here! The 23rd Philadelphia Film Festival is finally underway, and with a good slate of films from all over the world.

The over 100 selections have already had people lining up outside the theaters with their badges and tickets eagerly waiting to see some of the critically acclaimed films that have already made the rounds at international film festivals, from "Birdman" to "Mommy" and foreign language film Oscar hopefuls in "Force Majeure" and "The Way He Looks".

With so much to see, the Philadelphia Film Society, which coordinates the festival, proudly touts that during the 11-day festival you will "see something you'll never forget". Whether these be films that are great or so bad that you'll never forget it, PFF has a line-up that will guarantee some hits and definitely some misses.

Seeing as this was my first time attending a real festival with a badge - last year I bought tickets for four films - I was ready to start binge watching with long days and tons of experiences. There's nothing like spending a day at the movies seeing three or more films in a day. I thought it would be extremely tiring, but it was pretty enjoyable, even when every film you see is foreign and you have to stay awake to read the subtitles.

As I was highly anticipating many films, I soon found that only three days of movie watching I was watching a whole bunch of new movies with tired, redundant stories that brought nothing new to cinema. (Scroll down to the bottom for ratings)

Movie Review: "Birdman" Soars High on Talent

 

Riggan (Michael Keaton) and Mike (Edward Norton) square off in "Birdman".

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. USA, English, color, 119 minutes) Living in a time where thoughtless superhero action moves dominate the box office, is there any hope for those actors who have become icons after their starring role in the franchise ends?

Imagine Robert Downey Jr. 20 years from now after the Iron Man franchise is over and he's trying to break back into the acting world with a serious performance. Will he always be remembered as being Iron Man, or will people think he has real acting chops?

This is the basis for the comedy "Birdman", starring Michael Keaton as a washed-up actor trying to revive his acting career by writing, starring and directed an adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" for Broadway.