87th Annual Academy Awards

The fervor has built to a crescendo, and I'm here to tell you everything you need to know about tomorrow night's big event. We'll look at the main categories only, but I'll tell you who will win, who should win, and who should have been nominated.

Best Picture - This has been a tight contest between the three B's - Boyhood, Birdman, and the Grand Budapest Hotel. American Sniper is gaining some traction at this point as well, but the award is shifting in the direction of Birdman. Boyhood was an incredible feat, but honestly (sorry Academy), there was nothing exceptional about the film other than it took 12 years to make. James Cameron beats that with every film he makes, and Avatar was screwed in favor of a war movie back in 2009. Grand Budapest Hotel is not even Wes Anderson's best film, and although quirky and original, it is just too abstract. Best picture? Birdman will win. It has the most beautiful direction and cinematography of the year, is wildly original, and boasts a career performance by a beloved journeyman actor. Who should win? Whiplash. I was blown away, though audiences weren't quite as captivated. I'm not sure why the distribution wasn't greater, and that is what will ultimately hurt the film. Biggest snub? Nightcrawler. Haunting film that deserved a bit more recognition.

Best Director - This will come down to Richard Linklater and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Both did a fantastic job, but if we are awarding for creativity and excellence in direction of a film, Inarritu is a shoe-in. Again, the only thing special about Linklater's film is the originality of how it was shot and the authenticity. However, if I had 12 years, I could have made an even better film than Boyhood. Trust me. Inarritu should, and will win. Who should have been nominated? Probably boy wonder Damien Chazelle (Whiplash). The tension and magic of the film had as much to do with the camera angles as it did the acting.

Best Actor - A loaded category this year with no previous winners, and four first time nominees. There were some stellar performances this year, so it's a shame that four of these guys have to leave without an award, but that makes the victory even more sweet. If there's a blind-side at the awards, it might be Bradley Cooper stealing the statue for his role as the tormented Chris Kyle. It's possible that Birdman has gotten so much buzz that Keaton may have already peaked and won't get the most coveted of all acting trophies. That said, my predicted winner is Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking. Voters seem to love biopics, tortured souls, and awards tend to be given to performances of disabled people. Redmayne hits the trifecta here, and he will walk away with his first well-deserved Oscar. Who should win? Michael Keaton. I'm a bit sentimental because he's such a familiar face in all of the 80's comedies from my childhood, and let's be honest, he is Batman. He has an incredible body of work and this should be his crowning achievement. Originality wins in my book, and his performance was based solely on his own interpretation of his own potential mid-life crisis and mental breakdown. Brilliant. Who should have been nominated this year? Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler. Snubbed yet again. It is absurd to think that his only Oscar nomination was for Best Supporting Actor in Brokeback Mountain. He has two films coming out later this year that might get him his second nomination. Is it better to deliver great performances and not be nominated, or to be continuously nominated and never win? That is the question.

Best Actress - This category is a bit weak, and Julianne Moore should and will win for her heartbreaking performances in Still Alice. Perhaps only beaten by J.K. Simmons in the categorical sweep this season, she simply deserves it this year. Who should have been nominated? Definitely Jennifer Aniston for Cake. She would be my first runner up this year, hands down.

Best Supporting Actor - No brainer, J.K. Simmons should and will win for his abusive band conductor role in Whiplash. The single most captivating and dazzling performance of the year. I need to give props to Edward Norton, who owned Birdman, and is resurrecting his career exponentially through his work with Wes Anderson and now Inarritu. I'm excited to see where his career goes, as there is nothing notable in post, filming, or pre-production right now. Who should have been nominated? I'm going to disembark from the critic train for a minute and suggest Channing Tatum for his role in Foxcatcher. Perhaps falling more in the lead actor category, I thought Tatum's Schultz brother was more emotionally alive than Ruffalo's. A dark and twisted film that could/should have been a bit more accepted had it not been based on such tragic source material, but nonetheless, I was a bit surprised that Tatum's name wasn't once mentioned in the company of Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo. All three of them made the film what it truly was, and the acting was outstanding all around.

Best Supporting Actress - I can't get behind the Patricia Arquette bandwagon. Never liked or appreciated her work, and Boyhood is no exception. She will win the award, but the more deserving supporting actress is either Keira Knightley or Emma Stone. My nod goes to Keira Knightley simply because the role was a bit more demanding and meaningful. Who deserves a nomination and didn't receive one? Probably Jessica Chastain for A Most Violent Year.

Best Original Screenplay - Birdman all the way. Should win, will win. Boyhood's screenplay shouldn't really count as it was written a piece at a time over twelve years without any real direction. Birdman is deep, original, and most importantly, deliberate. Snub? There are always a few that could have been considered. I'm pretty satisfied with the nominees in this category, but if I were to make any additions, the top of my list would be Chef, Snowpiercer, Under the Skin, or Locke. Although Snowpiercer is a few years old, and the others were low-budget, narrowly released films, they all had great originality.

Best Adapted Screenplay - American Sniper will pick up a win here, although Whiplash is more deserving. Especially considering the writer/director adapted it from his own material. The only snub I can think of belongs to Gone Girl. The movie was much better than the book, and the creative team behind David Fincher always produces quality work.

There you have it, enjoy the evening, and it's time to start looking to next year (DiCaprio finally wins Best Actor).