In an award ceremony bordering on Boyhood-like tedium, we had one of the fairest winners in recent memory. This year was dominated by three great films - Birdman, Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel.   Birdman won most of the major awards, Budapest won big on art awards and Whiplash picked up a couple of important technical awards. Overall, one of the fairest winners that I could recall in a while. 

Here is how my predictions fared.

• Best Film - I was right about this one. While there wasn't any great threat, I am still glad to see 'Birdman' win though I wouldn't have been shattered if Grand Budapest Hotel had one. In fact, one can argue that it was perhaps a more approachable film than Birdman. Hey, as long as that horrid Boyhood didn't win, I am good!
• Best Director - I had feared that Richard Linklater for 'Boyhood' might somehow pull this one off - but so glad A. González Iñárritu won. This award is far more deserving than Best Film. Birdman is one of the most technically brilliant films in recent memory. Giving this to Linklater would've sent a horribly wrong message I think. A message that sheer perseverance trumps artistic brilliance, or that folks should be rewarded for working hard over working smart. It would've been terrible. Awarding Iñárritu is awarding creatively, magic and the romance of films - the key reason we watch and love films so much! 
• Interesting tidbit - this is two years in a row for Mexican directors (Alfonso Cuaron for last year's Gravity) to win the prestigious best Director award. Great going! 
• Best Actor - Eddy Redmayne for 'Theory of everything' as I had expected.
• Best Actress -  Julienne Moore won as I had expected.
• Best Supporting Actor - J.K. Simmons won as everyone in the world knew he would. He single-handedly made the movie memorable and while nominated for best support actor - this was certainly the best acting performance in a long time for any role, lead or supporting. 
• Best Supporting Actress - as predicted, Patricia Arquette won for 'Boyhood' - for  perseverance and not much else. Thankfully this was the only award Boyhood won. 
• Original Screenplay: Unlike what I had expected, Birdman beat Grand Budapest Hotel. While I loved the Birdman story, Budapest was clearly the more innovative and original of the two.
• Adapted Screenplay: My favorite was The Theory of Everything but The Imitation Game won 
• Sound Editing:  American Sniper won unlike my pick of Birdman.
• Sound Mixing and Film Editing: Whiplash unexpectedly won. 
• Production Design, Costume Design and Original Score: Three big very well-deserved awards for Grand Budapest Hotel.
• Cinematography:  Birdman gave Emmanuel Lubezki his second consecutive Oscar this year after last year's brilliant work in Gravity. Another great win for a Mexican artist. 

Over to hopefully another exciting 2015 in movies. I haven't really seen anything great in theaters yet but hopefully that will change as we head into spring.