Cinematography

At the outset I said it was going to take a lot to usurp Birdman for cinematography, so let's see how the rest of the films fared.

Cinematography
• Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Robert Yeoman for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski for Ida
• Dick Pope for Mr. Turner
• Roger Deakins for Unbroken

Music: Original Score

It pained me to be so hard on Alexandre Desplat for last year's lackluster Philomena, so I'm truly happy to see him with two very nice soundtracks this year. Mica Levi, however, with Under the Skin had my favorite soundtrack from last year. I'm guessing the film's early appearance at the Telluride Film Festival would have precluded it from this awards season even if anyone else would have voted for it. If I can't just spend all day talking about how good it is to "eat men like air," then let's take a listen to this year's nominees.

Music: Original Score
• Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game
• Hans Zimmer for Interstellar
• Gary Yershon for Mr. Turner
• Jóhann Jóhannsson for The Theory of Everything

Music: Original Song

If you're hoping to see the short films, don't forget that there many theaters show them on very short runs. The Detroit Film Theater, for example, only has two showings of the documentary shorts, and the second of them is tonight.

Because films with an Original Song nomination aren't strictly the most well received films, they can be harder to get access to. As such, I wasn't able to see Beyond the Lights or Glen Campbell...I'll Be Me.

Original Song
• "Everything Is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie
  Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
• "Glory" from Selma
  Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
• "Grateful" from Beyond the Lights
  Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
• "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell...I'll Be Me
  Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
• "Lost Stars" from Begin Again
  Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Production Design

Production Design*
• Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald for The Imitation Game
• Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis for Interstellar
• Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock for Into the Woods
• Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts for Mr. Turner

Costume Design

Costume Design
• Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Mark Bridges for Inherent Vice
• Colleen Atwood for Into the Woods
• Anna B. Sheppard for Maleficent
• Jacqueline Durran for Mr. Turner

Film Editing

There was a technical issue at the A Critical Life offices that severely inhibited film watching, which is to say: I'm way, way behind. Behind watching, and behind writing. If you see me in the next two weeks, you will have accomplished something pretty special.

Film Editing
• Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach for American Sniper
• Sandra Adair for Boyhood
• Barney Pilling for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• William Goldenberg for The Imitation Game
• Tom Cross for Whiplash

Sound Editing and Sound Mixing

Last night and today I caught The Hobbit and Whiplash, the last two films for the sound engineering categories, which are both up for only one of the categories - editing and mixing respectively. Otherwise, four movies occupy eight nominations between the two awards categories. How will The Hobbit fare against a space epic? Will a song about a musician be better than the war film? Maybe I'll just copy past last years post on The Hobbit, Gravity, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Lone Survivor. I suppose I won't copy the post wholesale, but, much like last year, I am going to write these two categories as one post due to the overlap.

Sound Editing:
• Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman for American Sniper
• Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Brent Burge and Jason Canovas for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Richard King for Interstellar
• Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro for Unbroken

Sound Mixing:
• John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin for American Sniper
• Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten for Interstellar
• Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee for Unbroken
• Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley for Whiplash