Before we post our Top 10s and honorable mentions, however, Andrew and I decided we'd have a crack at our own "ballots." Listed below are our own personal rankings for select categories. We abided by Oscar rules (that is, we only rank five contenders per category, and only consider those the Academy has deemed "eligible"), and opted out of categories where we either didn't see enough (animated film, for instance) or where we didn't have enough of an opinion (sound mixing).
Our personal Oscar ballots are listed below. Choices are ranked in terms of preference, with runner-ups listed alphabetically. Pictured are our either consensus or individual winners.
BEST PICTURE
 |
| Not much debate here. Boyhood gets our vote easily. |
David:
1. Boyhood
2. Leviathan
3. The
Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Mr.
Turner
5. Selma
Runner-ups: Force Majeure; Inherent Vice; Two Days, One Night
Andrew:
1. Boyhood
2. The
Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Selma
4. Mr.
Turner
5. Love
Is Strange
Runner-ups:
The Babadook; Foxcatcher; The Immigrant
BEST DIRECTOR
 |
| Andrew went for Richard Linklater's 12-years-in-the-making effort, while David couldn't resist honoring Wes Anderson's finest directorial achievement to date. |
David:
1. Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Andrey Zvyagintsev for Leviathan
3. Richard Linklater for Boyhood
4. Mike Leigh for Mr. Turner
5. Ava DuVernay for Selma
Runner-ups:
Jennifer Kent for The Babadook; Ruben
Ostlund for Force Majeure; Paul
Thomas Anderson for Inherent Vice
Andrew:
1. Richard Linklater for Boyhood
2. Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Mike Leigh for Mr. Turner
4. Ava DuVernay for Selma
5. Ira Sachs for Love Is Strange
Runner-ups:
Jennifer Kent for The Babadook;
Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher; Paul Thomas
Anderson for Inherent Vice; Damien
Chazelle for Whiplash
BEST ACTOR
 |
| David Oyelowo's passionate, specific MLK won David over, while Benedict Cumberbatch's transformative Alan Turing was a clear choice for Andrew. |
David:
1. David Oyelowo of Selma
2. Timothy Spall of Mr. Turner
3. Ralph Fiennes of The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Benedict Cumberbatch of The Imitation Game
5. Oscar Isaac of A Most Violent Year
Runner-ups: Jake Gyllenhaal of Nightcrawler; John
Lithgow of Love Is Strange; Joaquin
Phoenix of Inherent Vice; Aleksey Serebryakov of Leviathan
Andrew:
1.
Benedict Cumberbatch of The
Imitation Game
2.
Timothy Spall of Mr. Turner
3. David
Oyelowo of Selma
4. Ralph
Fiennes of The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. John
Lithgow of Love Is Strange
Runner-ups: Bill Hader of The Skeleton Twins; Michael Keaton of Birdman; Eddie Redmayne of The
Imitation Game; Miles Teller of Whiplash
BEST
ACTRESS
 |
| David wouldn't hear an argument against Marion Cotillard for her expressive performances in The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night, but Andrew was set on Essie Davis' haunting work in The Babadook. |
David:
1. Marion
Cotillard of The Immigrant / Two Days, One Night
2.
Julianne Moore of Still Alice
3. Anne Dorval of Mommy
4.
5. Mia Wasikowska of Tracks
Runner-ups: Amy Adams of Big Eyes; Rosamund Pike of Gone
Girl; Jenny Slate of Obvious Child; Tilda Swinton of Only Lovers
Left Alive
Andrew:
1. Essie
Davis of The Babadook
2.
Julianne Moore of Still Alice
3. Marion
Cotillard of The Immigrant
4. Jenny Slate
of Obvious Child
5. Gugu
Mbatha-Raw of Beyond the Lights / Belle
No runner-ups.
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTOR
 |
| Beginning to end, J.K. Simmons held you and didn't let you go. This pick was a fast one. |
David:
1. J.K.
Simmons of Whiplash
2. Ben
Mendelsohn of Starred Up
3. Steve
Carell of Foxcatcher
4. Roman
Madyanov of Leviathan
5. Mark
Ruffalo of Foxcatcher
Runner-ups: Josh Brolin of Inherent Vice; Ethan Hawke of Boyhood;
Joaquin Phoenix of The Immigrant;
Tim Roth of Selma
Andrew:
1. J.K.
Simmons of Whiplash
2. Steve
Carell of Foxcatcher
3. Ethan
Hawke of Boyhood
4. Alfred
Molina of Love Is Strange
5. Tim
Roth of Selma
Runner-ups: Josh Brolin of Inherent Vice; Joaquin Phoenix of The Immigrant; Mark Ruffalo of Foxcatcher;
Tom Wilkinson of Selma
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
 |
| The grounding force of Boyhood, Patricia Arquette's emotionally bare expression of motherhood towered over the competition. |
David:
1. Patricia
Arquette of Boyhood
2.
Elisabeth Moss of Listen Up Philip
3. Tessa
Thompson of Dear White People
4. Laura
Dern of Wild
5. Tilda
Swinton of Snowpiercer
Runner-ups: Marion Bailey of Mr. Turner; Carmen Ejogo of Selma; Rene Russo of Nightcrawler;
Katherine Waterston of Inherent Vice
Andrew:
1. Patricia
Arquette of Boyhood
2.
Felicity Jones of The Theory of
Everything
3. Tessa
Thompson of Dear White People
4.
Elisabeth Moss of Listen Up Philip
5. Marion Bailey of Mr. Turner
No runner-ups.
BEST
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
David:
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel, written by Wes
Anderson & Hugo Guinness
2. Two Days, One Night, written by Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne
2. Two Days, One Night, written by Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne
3. Love Is
Strange, written by Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias
4. Boyhood, written by Richard Linklater
5. Force Majeure, written by Ruben Ostlund
Runner-ups: Foxcatcher, written by E. Max Frye & Dan
Futterman; The Immigrant, written by Rick Menello & James
Gray; Leviathan, written by Andrey Zvyagintsev & Oleg Negin; Mr. Turner, written by Mike
Leigh
Andrew:
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel, written by Wes
Anderson & Hugo Guinness
2. Boyhood, written by Richard Linklater
3. Mr. Turner, written by Mike Leigh
4. Love Is Strange, written by Ira Sachs
& Mauricio Zacharias
5. Selma, written by Paul Webb (included
considering the profound alterations by Ava DuVernay…)
Runner-ups: Foxcatcher,
written by E. Max Frye & Dan Futterman; The
Immigrant, written by Rick Menello & James Gray; The Skeleton Twins, written by Mark Heyman & Craig Johnson
BEST
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
David:
1. Inherent Vice, written by Paul Thomas
Anderson
2. Obvious Child, written by Karen Maine
& Elisabeth Holm & Gillian Robespierre
3. Snowpiercer, written by Bong Joon-Ho
& Kelly Masterson
4. Whiplash, written by Damien Chazelle
5. The Imitation Game, written by Graham
Moore
Runner-ups: Gone
Girl, written by Gillian Flynn; Tracks,
written by Marion Nelson; Wild,
written by Nick Hornby
Andrew:
1. Whiplash, written by Damien Chazelle
2. Obvious Child, written by Karen Maine
& Elisabeth Holm & Gillian Robespierre
3. Inherent Vice, written by Paul Thomas
Anderson
4. Tracks, written by Marion Nelson
5. The Imitation Game, written by Graham
Moore
No runner-ups.
BEST
CINEMATOGRAPHY
David:
1. Dick
Pope for Mr. Turner
2.
Emmanuelle Lubezki for Birdman
3.
Mikhail Krichman for Leviathan
4. Robert
Elswitt for Inherent Vice
5. Bradford
Young for Selma
Runner-ups: Darius Khondji for The Immigrant; Radek Ladczuk for The Babadook; Fredrik Wenzel for Force Majeure; Robert Yeoman for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Andrew:
1. Robert
Yeoman for The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Dick
Pope for Mr. Turner
3.
Bradford Young for Selma
4.
Emmanuelle Lubezki for Birdman
5. Robert
Elswitt for Inherent Vice
No runner-ups.
BEST
FILM EDITING (David only)
1.
Douglas Crise & Stephen Mirrione for Birdman
2. Sandra
Adair for Boyhood
3. Tom
Cross for Whiplash
4. Leslie
Jones for Inherent Vice
5. John
MacMurphy & Martin Pensa for Wild
Runner-ups: John Gilroy for Nightcrawler; Gary D. Roach & Joel Cox for American Sniper; Jake Roberts & Nick Emerson for Starred Up
BEST
ORIGINAL SCORE (David only)
1. Hans
Zimmer for Interstellar
2.
Atticus Ross & Trent Reznor for Gone
Girl
3.
Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest
Hotel
4. Alex
Ebert for A Most Violent Year
5. Mica
Levi for Under the Skin
Runner-ups: Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game; Keegan DeWitt for Listen Up Philip; Jonny Greenwood for Inherent
Vice
BEST
PRODUCTION DESIGN (David only)
1. Adam
Stockhausen & Anna Pinnock for The
Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Kevin
Thompson & George DeTitta Jr. for Birdman
3.
Josefin Asberg for Force Majeure
4. Nathan
Crowely & Gary Fettis & Paul Healy for Interstellar
5. David
Crank & Amy Wells for Inherent Vice
Runner-ups: James Chinlund & Amanda Moss
Serino for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes;
Suzie Davies & Charlotte Watts for Mr.
Turner; Jon Hutman & Lisa Thompson for Unbroken