As we race through awards season, we see the actors, musical artists and films they love either being praised and awarded or cast aside.
How will your favorite contenders end up at the end of the 2015 awards season?
THE GRAMMY AWARDS
Album of the Year:
This year’s Album of the Year nominees are one newcomer against four Grammy veterans.
Sam Smith’s album “In The Lonely Hour,” will be running against Beyonce’s “Beyonce”, Ed Sheeran’s “X,” Beck’s “Morning Phase” and Pharrell Williams’ “GIRL.”
But despite the hard odds, Sam Smith is still expected to sweep the competition along with his five other nominations this year.
Record of the Year:
Record of the Year and Song of the Year have almost an identical ballot, with the only difference of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” being nominated for Record of the Year and Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” being nominated for Song of the Year.
The rest of the contenders for the two categories are Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass,” Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off”, Sia’s “Chandelier” and Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me.”
Again, Sam Smith is expected to win these nominations as well, with his only real competition being Swift.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, country musician Eric Church predicts the outcome of this particular award.
“‘All About That Bass’” was a big record, but I can’t see anything other than Taylor here,” he said. “She stands far above the rest. ‘Shake It Off’ is just hooky as hell.”
THE ACADEMY AWARDS
Best Picture:
And the Oscar goes to…who knows really? There are many strong contenders this year for Best Picture, including “Boyhood,” “American Sniper,” “The Imitation Game,” “Birdman,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Whiplash,” “Selma” and “The Theory of Everything.”
All of these films have not only raked in excellent reviews from critics but also support from the general public.
Out of all of these, films the one that has the greatest support from general moviegoers is “American Sniper.”
The film has conjured a rally of American nationalism, but it’s also worth saying that “Boyhood” won Best Drama Motion Picture at the Golden Globes and “Birdman” won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild awards.
Other films in the category have gotten other awards this season, such as “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Selma.”
Gathering the information that they can from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild awards, predictors, like US Weekly, pin the race for Best Picture between “Boyhood” and “Birdman.”
“Boyhood” took 12 years to make and follows the story of a young boy maturing into an adult; the picture has been praised for the risk it took to film the same actors over 12 years and for the actors themselves to stick with the same project for such a long time.
“Birdman” is the story about a washed-up actor who played a superhero icon and tries to recover his family and ego before the opening night of his own Broadway play.
Best Actor in Motion Picture:
Critics predict the tightest race this entire season will be between Eddie Redmayne who starred in “The Theory of Everything” and Michael Keaton’s performance in “Birdman.”
Newcomer Eddie Redmayne is being pinned as the underdog in every nomination he’s had this award season.
Redmayne took home Best Male Actor in a Drama Motion Picture at the SAG awards.
The Grammy Awards air live from Los Angeles at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8. on CBS and the Academy Awards air live from Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 22.
Story by Taylor Inman, Staff writer