2015 OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

The nominations for this year's Academy Awards have been announced today and for the very first time, every category was presented during the annual televised event. I say this is long overdue. All of the nominees should be treated like they are just as important as what is considered to be the top prizes.

This year we have eight films that earned enough votes to be up for Best Picture with "Birdman" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" receiving the most nominations with nine each. "The Imitation Game" followed with eight and "Boyhood" and "American Sniper" both earned six.

There were no real surprises in the actual nominations (except maybe Marion Cotillard for Best Actress) as most of the shocks were found in what was not nominated. The biggest was the almost complete shut-out of "Unbroken" and "Selma". I knew it wasn't a good sign when the DGA failed to recognize either of the female directors of these films, Angelina Jolie and Ava DuVernay but I'm still surprised they didn't do better in other categories. "Gone Girl" also failed to receive much recognition. I thought David Fincher had a strong possibility for Best Director but Gillian Flynn seemed almost certain to receive the nod for her screenplay.

As for the Oscar history books, Robert Duvall became the oldest Best Supporting Actor nominee at eighty-four (and his seventh nomination overall). Bradley Cooper became the tenth actor to receive three consecutive acting nominations with his role in "American Sniper". Roger Deakins received his twelfth Best Cinematography nomination (and still, shockingly, no wins). And with her Best Supporting Actress nod for "Into The Woods", Meryl Streep became the most honored actor with nineteen career nominations.

The 87th Annual Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at the Dolby Theater with Neil Patrick Harris serving as host.

Here is the complete list of the nominations:

Best Picture:

“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Whiplash”

Best Director:

Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Bennett Miller, “Foxcatcher”
Morten Tyldum, “The Imitation Game”

Best Actor:

Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper, “American Sniper”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”

Best Actress:

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

Best Supporting Actor:

Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Best Supporting Actress:

Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Laura Dern, “Wild”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods"

Best Original Screenplay:

Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye, “Foxcatcher”
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Paul Thomas Anderson, “Inherent Vice”
Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”
Jason Hall, “American Sniper”
Anthony McCarten, “The Theory of Everything”
Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”

Best Cinematography:

Roger Deakins, “Unbroken”
Emmanuel Lubezki, “Birdman”
Dick Pope, “Mr. Turner”
Robert Yeoman, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, “Ida”

Best Film Editing:

“American Sniper”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Whiplash”

Best Animated Feature Film:

“Big Hero 6″
“The Boxtrolls”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2″
“Song of the Sea”
“The Tale of The Princess Kaguya”

Best Animated Short Film:

“The Bigger Picture”
“The Dam Keeper”
“Feast”
“Me and My Moulton”
“A Single Life”

Best Foreign Language Film:

“Leviathan”
“Ida”
“Tangerines”
“Timbuktu”
“Wild Tales”

Best Documentary Feature:

“CITIZENFOUR”
“Finding Vivian Maier”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“The Salt in the Earth”
“Virunga”

Best Documentary Short Subject:

“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1”
“Joanna”
“Our Curse”
“The Reaper”
“White Earth”

Best Live Action Short Film:

“Aya”
“Boogaloo and Graham”
“Butter Lamp”
“Parvaneh”
“The Phone Call”

Best Production Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Interstellar”
“Into the Woods”
“Mr. Turner”

Best Costume Design:

“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Inherent Vice”
“Into the Woods”
“Maleficent”
“Mr. Turner”

Best Original Music Score:

Alexandre Desplat, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Alexandre Desplat, “The Imitation Game”
Johann Johannsson, “The Theory of Everything”
Gary Yershon, “Mr. Turner”
Hans Zimmer, “Interstellar”

Best Original Song:

"Everything is Awesome" from "The LEGO Movie" (written by Shawn Patterson)
"Glory" from "Selma" (written by Common and John Legend)
"Grateful" from "Beyond The Lights" (written by Diane Warren)
"I’m Not Gonna Miss You" from "Glen Campbell. . . I'll Be Me" (written by by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond)
"Lost Stars" from "Begin Again" (written by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

“Foxcatcher”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”

Best Sound Editing:

“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
“Interstellar”
“Unbroken”

Best Sound Mixing:

“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Interstellar”
“Unbroken”
“Whiplash”

Best Visual Effects:

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“Interstellar”
“X-Men: Days of Future Past"