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When it comes to the fun of predicting the Oscars, I'm as much of a stat hound as the next guy. I've always delighted in mentioning this notable or that and what it could mean. But, of course, contextualizing that information is of the utmost importance; the silliest thing you can do is lean on this information to guide your understanding of a season. One such stat has stood for so long its become religion to some, but happily, it crumbled this year.

Sunday night, “Birdman” became the first film since 1980's “Ordinary People” to win the Best Picture Oscar without a film editing nomination. That's a 34-year streak, obliterated. It almost feels more significant than “Argo's” Best Picture win mitigating its lack of a corresponding director nomination, becoming, at the time, the first film in 23 years to do so.

But these “rules” are meant to be broken, for a variety of reasons. “'Birdman' can't win Best Picture,” you would hear from the devout. “It wasn't nominated for film editing.” No, it wasn't. But there is obviously some complexity to that circumstance. The editing in “Birdman” isn't built around the classic element of the form: montage, i.e. the juxtaposition of imagery to tell the story, convey the theme, achieve a reaction, etc. The central conceit of its assemblage was about concealing the seams and making the film appear as if it were one continuous take.

I doubt very seriously that this was a strike against it with the Editors Branch. After all, it was nominated for the American Cinema Editors award in the comedy category (which it admittedly lost to “The Grand Budapest Hotel”). I think at the end of the day they were simply drawn to the traditional goal and impact of their art form. And that's perfectly fine. Clearly, it didn't mean it was in some sort of Best Picture trouble.

So what's important here, I think, is that another one of these walls has fallen. And I must admit, my fingers were crossed for “Birdman” in large part because this obsession needed a good dousing.

A lot will be written about this awards season, its break-neck twists and turns, how it seemed to be pointing in one direction but ended up swerving into another. But we've been here before, watching the frontrunner burn too bright too early and lose pace in the end. It's not the film's fault. It's the fickle nature of the season, and the often intangible nature of momentum.

Initially I thought it was a stretch but I've had “Boyhood's” January Entertainment Weekly cover story brought to my attention enough times now to at least ponder it. With an arsenal of critics' awards and a building sense that it might be “the one,” the film landed this prime placement at a key time as nominations were announced. “How one daring indie film, 12 years in the making, became this year's Oscar front-runner,” the cover beamed across a creepy photo of Ellar Coltrane with his younger selves.

It was a valid question, but one bandied about in columns and conversations, not plastered on consumer magazines. And that's not to criticize the editorial decision, rather, it's to simply point out the ingredients of causality. That brand of anointing can be truly damaging, particularly to an Academy that recoils when dictated to.

I think “Birdman” was an undetected stronger presence all along, not that any one marketing flourish necessarily deep sixed a film's Oscar hopes. But I have to imagine any call to worship isn't going to be taken gladly. It's all further to a point that isn't new news: you have to let them come to you.

“Boyhood” ultimately walked away with just one Oscar: Best Supporting Actress.

And by the way, the competition of it all, it's significant to the players, yes. But we on the outside can become far more invested than we should. I think the spirit of this batch of nominees was evident in that little group hug between Alejandro González Iñárritu, Bennett Miller and Richard Linklater in the aisle as González Iñárritu took to the stage to accept the Best Director prize. These guys have a lot of respect for one another and are clearly happy to have shared the journey together.

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HOLLYWOOD – Of all the Oscar winners backstage, Julianne Moore may have been the most ebullient.

“I never imagined this.  I certainly never imagined that I would win [Best Actress at] Cannes [for “Maps to the Stars”] in the spring and then kind of follow it up with an Oscar for another film,” said the “Still Alice” star after winning the award for Best Actress. “So that's just — it's beyond — I keep saying this to my publicist who is over there.  I'm like, Is this happening?  Can this be happening?  It's pretty crazy.”

Also crazy? Her husband predicted she would win the Oscar before the movie even came out.

“This is the first time I've told anybody this, and I'll tell you guys in this room,” she confided. “He was the first person to see the movie.  The first time I saw the cut, he came with me.  And I told the story about how I heard him crying, and I was like, 'What's going on?'  When we walked out of there, he said, 'You're going to win an Oscar.'  And I was like, 'Come on.'  I swear to God, that's what he said to me.  And I just couldn't believe he said that.”

So will raising the profile of a small, character-driven film like “Still Alice” during awards-season help turn the tide in Hollywood toward more sophisticated adult fare? Given that it's made less than $10 million at the box office, we can safely say no. Still, it's nice to think about.

“I think there's an audience for movies like this,” said Moore. “I go to the movies because, like I said, I like to see complicated, interesting stories about people and relationships, you know.  So I think whenever there's success with films like this, then they kind of — even people think about them more.  I don't know.  You know, you never know.  You know, at the end of the day, Hollywood is also a business, so I think it depends on how many people buy tickets.”

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HOLLYWOOD – “I want to dedicate this to my son Evan Perry. We lost him to suicide. We should talk about suicide out loud. This is for him.”

It's a jarring and unexpected soundbite from a show rooted in the glitz and glamor of Hollywood – and yet not so much when you consider the subject: Dana Perry, producer of Documentary Short Subject winner “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1.” The film focuses on the employees of a 24-hour crisis line for veterans and their families who are struggling with financial, physical and emotional troubles, including thoughts of suicide.

“Of course, I do have a personal connection to the subject,” said Perry backstage. “I lost my son.  He was 15 when he killed himself; and since that happened, what I said, I think I said something [onstage] like, 'We need to talk about suicide out loud to try to work against the stigma and silence around suicide,' because the best prevention for suicide is awareness, and discussion, and not trying to sweep it under the rug.”

On a night that was heavy on social commentary — including Patricia Arquette's gender equality shoutout after winning the award for Best Supporting Actress — it was a moment that seems destined to get buried in the post-Oscars news cycle. But it's worth remembering.

“We've got a crisis with our veterans who are killing themselves,” Perry continued. “More veterans have killed themselves than have died in these wars of the last, you know, decade or so.”

Perry's stirring onstage moment, of course, was followed immediately by host Neil Patrick Harris's crack about her outfit — “It takes a lot of balls to wear that dress” — which the producer heard for the first time from the assembled press corps. She greeted it with good humor.

“That is adorable; and I invite anyone to feel my furry balls,” Perry laughed, before adding: “I went shopping in my mother-in-law's attic.  She had great style.  She's not with us anymore, but she had great style in the '60s and '70s, and this is one of her excellent signature pieces.  And I just love to wear it, because I can make ridiculous dirty jokes about it, and it also keeps me warm.  You know, I just got the gown to sort of support the balls, you know what I mean?”

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One of the season's undeniable steamrollers, if there were any, was Laura Poitros' documentary “CITIZENFOUR,” capturing the plight of NSA leaker Edward Snowden and the media firestorm that surrounded his actions in 2013. Snowden has responded to the win via his representatives at the American Civil Liberties Union.

“When Laura Poitras asked me if she could film our encounters, I was extremely reluctant,” he said. “I”m grateful that I allowed her to persuade me. The result is a brave and brilliant film that deserves the honor and recognition it has received. My hope is that this award will encourage more people to see the film and be inspired by its message that ordinary citizens, working together, can change the world.”

The sentiments mirror a theme of socio-politically charged comments from some of the evening's winners. “Boyhood” star Patricia Arquette spoke out about women's rights from the Dolby Theater stage. “The Imitation Game” screenwriter Graham Moore revealed his suicide attempt and spoke on behalf of those who feel like they don't belong. Common talked about social justice across the world while John Legend focused on over-incarceration of American citizens. And in winning Best Picture, “Birdman” director Alejandro González Iñárritu took the moment to highlight political unrest in his native Mexico.

Perfectly timed, “CITIZENFOUR” premieres on HBO Monday night, Feb. 23.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4910055483001

If there was any lingering doubt about the Telluride Film Festival's place in the annual film awards season, this year's Oscars outcome ought to finally settle them. With its victory Sunday night, “Birdman” became the sixth Best Picture winner in seven years to screen at the Labor Day Colorado event.

The festival's press profile increased more and more in the wake of big early bows of films like “Brokeback Mountain,” “Capote” and “Juno.” “Slumdog Millionaire” really lit the fuse in 2008 and with it, films like “The King's Speech,” “Argo” and “12 Years a Slave” have begun their journeys there “unofficially” before “official” world premieres at the Toronto Film Festival, while others like “The Artist” and “Birdman” made it priority to stop there on the way to awards season releases.

Other major awards season players that have played the festival as of late include “Up in the Air,” “Black Swan,” “127 Hours,” “The Descendants,” “Gravity” and “The Imitation Game.”

Of course, this recent string hasn't been without its share of controversy. Telluride's tendency to sneak those “unofficial” bows into the program was a bone of contention for the Venice and particularly Toronto film festivals, the latter instituting a stipulation this year restricting its first weekend scheduling to movies that have not played another North American festival. The studios, however, proceeded as they have, leveraging Telluride and its bounty of Academy member attendees. The most significant exclusive awards season player Toronto ended up with was “The Theory of Everything.”

And what potential 2015 awards season titles might we see pop up at the Rockies this year? First and foremost, “Birdman” director Alejandro González Iñárritu is a Telluride devotee who makes the trip even if he doesn't have a film in play. So “The Revenant,” assuming it's ready in time, would be worth a bet. The Weinstein Company have seen luck with “The King's Speech,” “The Artist” and “The Imitation Game” in recent years while Todd Haynes' “I'm Not There.” premiered there in 2007. So “Carol” is probably a good bet, too (after a world premiere in Cannes, perhaps).

Warner Bros. has turned up there a couple of times with films like “Argo” and “Gravity,” so Jeff Nichols' “Midnight Special” is possible, or Scott Cooper's “Black Mass.”

We'll know all of that in due time. For now, though, it should be clear to anyone who plays the game that Telluride is a bit of a lucky charm these days.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4909989910001

HOLLYWOOD – It's safe to say Patricia Arquette is passionate — and not just about her Oscar win. In fact, there wasn't much talk about her Oscar at all when she came backstage.

“It is time for us. It is time for women,” said the “Boyhood” actress when asked about her speech in which she called for equal pay for women (full transcript here). “Equal means equal. And the truth is, the older women get, the less money they make. … the highest percentage of children living in poverty are female-headed households.  And it's inexcusable that we go around the world and we talk about equal rights for women in other countries and …We don't have equal rights for women in America and we don't because when they wrote the Constitution, they didn't intend it for women. 

“So, the truth is, even though we sort of feel like we have equal rights in America, right under the surface, there are huge issues that are applied that really do affect women.  And it's time for all the women in America and all the men that love women, and all the gay people, and all the people of color that we've all fought for to fight for us now.”

As for her biggest fan in the audience — three-time Oscar winner and fellow nominee Meryl Streep — Arquette says she did see her briefly after her speech. “I hugged her afterwards.  She's the queen of all actresses, patron saint of actresses.”

As she did earlier in the evening, Arquette also took aim at the “dreaded Mani Cam” on the red carpet: “Instead of getting a manicure, which I was supposed to do this morning…instead, I ended up trying to pull pictures because [my organization Givelove.org] started a sweepstakes this morning for our charity to do ecological sanitation in the world. …This is who I am.  This is the whole who I am.  I love my business, I love acting and I love being a human being on earth and I want to help.  I never saw this moment in me winning an Academy Award.  I never even thought I would be nominated and I was okay with that.  But you know what I did see?  I saw many things that have come true in my life, and one of them was helping thousands and thousands of people, and I have, and I will, and I will help millions of people.  Thank you.”

Oh, and in case you thought “Boyhood” director and producer Richard Linklater should've been honored for his ultra-risky filmmaking feat at the PGAs? You're not alone.

“We have a seven-year contract rule in America.  So, this little boy [“Boyhood” star Ellar Coltrane] could have decided at seven years he wanted to walk away,” she said of the 12-year process of making the film. “And even though it was a small budget movie, $2.8 million, he could have walked away in the middle of our movie.  To sort of find a financier to give us money, even though it was just $2.8 million.  That's a big investment to make with no safety net.  And I was actually kind of blown away that the Producers Guild didn't honor that because that really was such a brave move.”

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After five Academy Award nominations and a career's worth of bold, varied performances, Julianne Moore is finally an Oscar winner.

The “Still Alice” star was tipped to win the Best Actress prize at the 87th Academy Awards as early as the film's debut at the Toronto Film Festival, where it was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics and set on the fast track for a fall release amplified by an awards campaign. So it was little shock to those in the audience at the Dolby Theater or those watching at home when Matthew McConaughey announced her name.

“There is no such thing as Best Actress, as is evidenced by the performances of my fellow nominees,” the 54-year-old legend said. “I have been honored to be with you every step of the way.”

Interesting factoid: Only nine times in the 87-year history of the Academy Awards has a woman over 50 won the Best Actress Oscar. By comparison, it's happened 20 times on the Best Actor side of the equation. What that says about Hollywood's perception of actresses, we'll leave to you to ponder.

In addition to “Still Alice,” Moore can currently be seen in Sergei Bodrov's “Seventh Son.” She also has “Freeheld” (based on the Oscar-winning documentary short) and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” coming in 2015.

At the end of an Oscar season marked by the controversy of lacking diversity among the Academy's choices, one highlighted by the absence of Ava DuVernay's “Selma” in a number of categories despite finding room in the Best Picture field, singer/songwriters Common and John Legend have remained above the fray throughout. They put a nice, profound bow on things tonight from the Dolby Theater stage.

The duo were the last to perform their Oscar nominated song “Glory” Sunday night, belting out an emotional rendition to rival their Grammys performance on a stage outfitted to resemble the Pettus Bridge. It was a moment so moving that actor Chis Pine could be spied shedding some tears.

A moment of levity settled things down as John Travolta ate a little crow alongside Idina Menzel for butchering her name on the telecast last year, and then they presented the prize to the two performers. Each held ample time at the mic with eloquent and poignant speeches addressing the notion that “Selma is now,” Common noting social rights struggles across the globe, Legend commenting on the over-incarceration rampant across the country.

It was a bold and beautiful moment perhaps only rivaled by Patricia Arquette's rousing call to arms on behalf of feminism earlier in the show. And in an Oscarcast otherwise rather tame and muted, it stood out as the moment of the evening.

UPDATE: Or was it? Not long after Common and John Legend's memorable moment, “The Imitation Game” screenwriter offered one of his own, a speech admitting his own suicide attempt and offering a plea to anyone who feels like he or she is different or doesn't fit in, “Yes you do. Stay weird. Stay different.”

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911475752001

By winning the Best Cinematography Oscar for a second year in a row, “Birdman” director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki has joined a truly elite club whose ranks haven't been breached in nearly two decades.

Only four other cinematographers have won the prize in two consecutive years. The last time it happened was in 1994 and 1995, when John Toll won for Edward Zwick's “Legends of the Fall” and Mel Gibson's “Braveheart” respectively. Before that you have to go all the way back to the late '40s, when Winton Hoch won in 1948 (Victor Fleming's “Joan of Arc” with Ingrid Bergman) and 1949 (John Ford's western “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”). Both victories came in the color category, as the Academy awarded prizes separately for black-and-white and color photography from 1939 to 1956.

Leon Shamroy also won back-to-back color cinematography Oscars, for Henry King's 1944 Woodrow Wilson biopic “Wilson” and John M. Stahl's 1945 thriller “Leave Her to Heaven.” Along with Joseph Ruttenberg, Shamroy holds the overall record for Academy Award wins among DPs with four.

But Howard Greene was the first of this tribe to be recognized by the Academy in two consecutive years, and each prize was a special commendation for color photography in its early days rather than a competitive award. The first came for Richard Boleslawski's 1936 romance “The Garden of Allah,” starring Marlene Dietrich, and the second for 1937's seminal Janet Gaynor/Fredric March event “A Star is Born.” Both were filmed using the three-strip Technicolor process, with “The Garden of Allah” being just the third film to use the technique and the first to do so on location.

When you look at lineages such as this, you see that a few names begin to really dominate their eras. Shamroy, winning for films like “The Black Swan” and the two mentioned above, was a force in the '40s, as was Arthur Miller (winner in the black-and-white field for “How Green was my Valley,” “The Song of Bernadette” and “Anna and the King of Siam”). Robert Surtees, with wins for “King Solomon's Mines,” “The Bad and the Beautiful” and “Ben-Hur,” was a strong presence in the '50s, while Freddie Young's epic work in “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago” and “Ryan's Daughter” makes a significant case for him in the '60s.

But we haven't really had such a compass needle as Lubezki pointing the way of innovation so consistently in quite some time. His work with Terrence Malick is one thing, bringing such aesthetic beauty to films like “The New World,” “The Tree of Life” and “To the Wonder,” but he was there at the forefront of Hollywood's exploration of digital photography right alongside Michael Mann with “Ali.” He and director Alfonso Cuarón developed an entirely new language to capture the vision of “Gravity,” for which Lubezki won his first Oscar last year. And now, with “Birdman,” he has rendered a meticulous experience with director Alejandro González Iñárritu that few could imagine pulling off.

It's no wonder he's the most exciting cinematographer working today. And we have “The Revenant” to look forward to in 2015, already stirring buzz for it's gorgeous photography alone.

To date, 25 cinematographers have won multiple Oscars. They are:

4 wins

Joseph Ruttenberg – “The Great Waltz” (1938), “Mrs. Miniver” (1942), “Somebody Up There Likes Me” (1956) and “Gigi” (1958)
Leon Shamroy – “The Black Swan” (1942), “Wilson” (1944), “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945) and “Cleopatra” (1962)

3 wins

Howard Greene – “The Garden of Allah” (1936)*, “A Star is Born” (1937)* and “Phantom of the Opera” (1943)
Arthur Miller – “How Green was my Valley” (1941), “The Song of Bernadette” (1943) and “Anna and the King of Siam” (1946)
Robert Surtees – “King Solomon's Mines” (1950), “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952) and “Ben-Hur” (1959)
Freddie Young – “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) and “Ryan's Daughter” (1970)
Conrad L. Hall*** – “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), “American Beauty” (1999) and “Road to Perdition” (2002)
Vittorio Storaro – “Apocalypse Now” (1979), “Reds” (1981) and “The Last Emperor” (1987)
Robert Richardson – “JFK” (1991), “The Aviator” (2004) and “Hugo” (2011)

2 wins

Charles Rosher – “Sunrise” (1927) and “The Yearling” (1946)
Hal Mohr – “A Midsummer Night's Dream” (1935)** and “Phantom of the Opera” (1943)
Ray Rennahan – “Gone with the Wind” (1939) and “Blood and Sand” (1941)
Harry Stradling – “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945) and “My Fair Lady” (1964)
Winton Hoch – “Joan of Arc” (1948) and “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1949)
William C. Mellor – “A Place in the Sun” (1951) and “The Diary of Anne Frank” (1959)
Burnett Guffey – “From Here to Eternity” (1953) and “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967)
James Wong Howe – “The Rose Tattoo (1955) and “Hud” (1963)
Freddie Francis – “Sons and Lovers” (1960) and “Glory” (1989)
Haskell Wexler – “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966) and “Bound for Glory” (1976)
Geoffrey Unsworth – “Cabaret” (1972) and “Tess” (1980)
Sven Nykvist – “Cries and Whispers” (1973) and “Fanny and Alexander” (1983)
Chris Menges – “The Killing Fields” (1984) and “The Mission” (1986)
Janusz Kaminski – “Schindler's List” (1993) and “Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
John Toll – “Legends of the Fall” (1994) and “Braveheart” (1995)
Emmanuel Lubezki† – “Gravity” (2013) and “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (2014)

—

* These were special achievement prizes rather than competitive awards.

** Mohr won this prize on a write-in vote. The official nominees were Ray June for “Barbary Coast,” Gregg Toland for “Les Miserables” and Victor Milner for “The Crusades.”

*** Hall has the distinction of waiting the longest amount of time – 30 years – between wins.

† Lubezki is the first to win multiple Oscars for digital photography.

Capping off over a year of praise and superlatives that began with Sundance premieres in January of 2014 and kicked off the season with kudos from the New York Film Critics Circle in December, “Boyhood's” Patricia Arquette and “Whiplash's” J.K. Simmons walked away with supporting actress and supporting actor honors at the 87th annual Academy Awards Sunday night.

Both performers have been mainstays on the circuit, their Oscar fates pushed toward inevitability with each new prize. They were recognized at film festivals from Palm Springs to Santa Barbara during the season, racked up countless critics' prizes, wrangled SAG Awards and Saturday previewed the big night with Spirit Awards from Film Independent.

“I am grateful every day for the most remarkable person I know…my wife,” Simmons said in a speech that focused on his family rather than the usual roll call of agents or colleagues who worked with him on the film. “I'm grateful for your love, your kindness, your wisdom, your sacrifice…which brings me to the above average children,” as he's quipped at other shows all season. He closed by asking anyone lucky enough to have a parent alive to call them and “listen to them for as long as they want to talk.” It was sort of wonderful to see him use the moment for something so personal.

Arquette, meanwhile, went back to a written speech after winging it nicely on the Spirit Awards Saturday. After a speech covering a lot of the usual bases, she transitioned to mentioning her work on ecological sanitation at GiveLove.org and “every woman who gave birth,” she closed with a rousing call to arms. “It's our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for every woman in America.”

More from the Oscars as it happens.

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HOLLYWOOD – J.K. Simmons on Twitter? Don't count on it.

“Noooo,” said the “Whiplash” star backstage after winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, in response to a reporter who intimated they had a “deal” he would join the social network the last time they spoke. “We had a deal? Don't put that out there! No Twitter deal!”

As for his heartwarming acceptance speech — “Call your mom, call your dad,” he urged  when he was on stage — he suggested the comment wasn't part of a prepared speech: “Well, I got out most of what I wanted to, and I was somewhat taken aback by the response from people that I don't now, honestly. But I said most of what I wanted to say. I never go up there scripted really, so most of it [just] came out.”

So how does it feel to be holding an Oscar after so many years of struggle earlier in his career?

“It's definitely more tiring than the lean times,” he said of his awards success. “The lean times were a wonderful and beautiful part of my life. I was struggling, quote unquote, for many years doing regional theater …I look back on those times with great fondness.”

One interesting question came when a member of the press corps mentioned there had been some talk that many members of the Academy liked “Whiplash” because they admired Simmons' character, the abusive drum teacher Terence Fletcher.

“That's a very loaded question, thank you for that,” Simmons laughed. “I think there's much to admire in Terence Fletcher's passion for art, in his case, specifically jazz music. I don't find much to admire in his pedagogy.”

We're not so sure about what we think of the Oscar show itself, but how about that red carpet? 

Scarlett Johansson, Naomi Watts, Anna Kendrick, Jennifer Lopez, Cate Blanchett, Margot Robbie, Lady Gaga, Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, Reese Witherspoon, Rita Orta and Felicity Jones killed it. 

And, as for Solange's dress, well…we'll let you be the judge.

Check out almost every single star that hit the 87th Academy Awards red carpet in the embedded gallery below.

It's been revealed that Lady Gaga will be performing a tribute to the 1965 Best Picture-winning musical “The Sound of Music” on the 87th annual Academy Awards.

Speaking ahead of the show, the pop star said the film, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, “changed music.”

The news was revealed by Fandango's Dave Karger on the red carpet.

Last year, Oscarcast producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan folded the world of pop music into the world of movies for a 75th anniversary celebration of “The Wizard of Oz” performed by Pink. Looks like they're up to it again.

Stay tuned for more from the 87th Academy Awards as it happens.

Here's Rosamund Pike at the Oscars. Just take it in.

And here's why it's the look of the night.

5) It looks like the red carpet bloomed and created Rosamund Pike.

4) Maybe she stole that dress from Miss Venezuela 2002?

3) She's dressed as the salsa-dancing emoji, the most glamorous icon of 2015.

2) It's not boring, unlike every other dress in her category. 

1) In tribute to “Gone Girl,” she looks like she's wearing a dress made of Oscar host Neil Patrick Harris' entrails.

The 87th Academy Awards were handed out Sunday, February 22nd at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.  Here is a complete list of all the nominees and the winners as they were announced.

BEST PICTURE
“American Sniper” (Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan)
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole)***WINNER***
“Boyhood” (Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland)
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson)
“The Imitation Game” (Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman)
“Selma” (Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner)
“The Theory of Everything” (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten)
“Whiplash” (Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster)

DIRECTING
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (Alejandro G. Iñárritu)***WINNER***
“Boyhood” (Richard Linklater)
“Foxcatcher” (Bennett Miller)
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Wes Anderson)
“The Imitation Game” (Morten Tyldum)

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper, “American Sniper”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”***WINNER***

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Marion Cotillard, “Two Days, One Night”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”***WINNER***
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Edward Norton, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” – ***WINNER***

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”***WINNER***
Laura Dern, “Wild”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone, “Birdman of (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods”

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
“American Sniper” (Written by Jason Hall)
“The Imitation Game” (Written by Graham Moore)***WINNER***
“Inherent Vice” (Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson)
“The Theory of Everything” (Screenplay by Anthony McCarten)
“Whiplash” (Written by Damien Chazelle)

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr. & Armando Bo)***WINNER***
“Boyhood” (Written by Richard Linklater)
“Foxcatcher” (Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman)
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness)
“Nightcrawler” (Written by Dan Gilroy)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (Emmanuel Lubezki)***WINNER***
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Robert D. Yeoman)
“Ida” (Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczweski)
“Mr. Turner” (Dick Pope)
“Unbroken” (Roger Deakins)

COSTUME DESIGN
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Milena Canonero)***WINNER***
“Inherent Vice” (Mark Bridges)
“Into the Woods” (Colleen Atwood)
“Maleficent” (Anna B. Sheppard, Jane Clive)
“Mr. Turner” (Jacqueline Durran)

FILM EDITING
“American Sniper” (Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach)
“Boyhood” (Sandra Adair)
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Barney Pilling)
“The Imitation Game” (William Goldenberg)
“Whiplash” (Tom Cross)***WINNER***

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“Foxcatcher” (Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard)
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier)***WINNER***
“Guardians of the Galaxy” (Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Alexandre Desplat)***WINNER***
“The Imitation Game” (Alexandre Desplat)
“Interstellar” (Hans Zimmer)
“Mr. Turner” (Gary Yershon)
“The Theory of Everything” (Jóhann Jóhannsson)

MUSIC (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)***WINNER***
“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
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Adam Stockhausen; Anna Pinnock)***WINNER***
“The Imitation Game” (Maria Djurkovic; Tatiana Macdonald)
“Interstellar” (Nathan Crowley; Gary Fettis, Paul Healy)
“Into the Woods” (Dennis Gassner; Anna Pinnock)
“Mr. Turner” (Suzie Davies; Charlotte Watts)

SOUND EDITING
“American Sniper” (Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman)***WINNER***
“Birdman of (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock)
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (Brent Burge and Jason Canovas)
“Interstellar” (Richard King)
“Unbroken” (Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro)

SOUND MIXING
“American Sniper” (John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin)
“Birdman of (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga)
“Interstellar” (Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten)
“Unbroken” (Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee)
“Whiplash” (Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley)***WINNER***

VISUAL EFFECTS
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick)
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist)
“Guardians of the Galaxy” (Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould)
“Interstellar” (Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher)***WINNER***
“X-Men: Days of Future Past” (Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer)

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Big Hero 6” (Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli)***WINNER***
“The Boxtrolls” (Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight)
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” (Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold)
“Song of the Sea” (Tomm Moore and Paul Young)
“The Tale of Princess Kaguya” (Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Ida” (Poland; Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski)***WINNER***
“Leviathan” (Russia; Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev)
“Tangerines” (Estonia; Directed by Zaza Urushadze)
“Timbuktu” (Mauritania; Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako)
“Wild Tales” (Argentina; Directed by Damián Szifrón)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“CITIZENFOUR” (Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky)***WINNER***
“Finding Vivian Maier” (John Maloof and Charlie Siskel)
“Last Days in Vietnam” (Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester)
“The Salt of the Earth” (Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier)
“Virunga” (Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” (Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry)***WINNER***
“Joanna” (Aneta Kopacz)
“Our Curse” (Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki)
“The Reaper (La Parka)” (Gabriel Serra Arguello)
“White Earth” (J. Christian Jensen)

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
“The Bigger Picture” (Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees)
“The Dam Keeper” (Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi)
“Feast” (Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed)***WINNER***
“Me and My Moulton” (Torill Kove)
“A Single Life” (Joris Oprins)

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
“Aya” (Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis)
“Boogaloo and Graham” (Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney)
“Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)” (Hu Wei and Julien Féret)
“Parvaneh” (Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger)
“The Phone Call” (Mat Kirkby and James Lucas)***WINNER***

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4910012964001

When it comes to awards show red carpets there is actually an advantage to getting there early. It used to be the sign of a big star was arriving fashionably late so you'd be interviewed on the red carpet shows right before the main telecast began. In today's world of social media, arriving earlier can mean creating a trend that can be remembered hours into the show and beyond. And arriving too late? Well, sometimes it means no one sees how fabulous you look until the show starts (and that might not make your dress designer happy).

Sure, Anna Kendrick showed up early because she needs to head backstage to get ready to perform, but Margot Robbie, Dakota Johnson and Kevin Hart? All about getting the spotlight before the other big stars arrive.

Check out all of this year's red carpet arrivals for the 87th Academy Awards in our ultimate gallery embedded at the bottom of this post.

Better late than never on filing a report from yesterday's Spirit Awards and pre-Oscar festivities, I guess. It was a late night, Harvey Weinstein and his peeps rounding things out with a big soiree/dinner that drew to a close around midnight, so my bed was far more enticing than my keyboard when I got back to the homestead.

The Spirit Awards are generally my favorite event of the season, largely because the imbibing starts early and the attitude is super lax. But it's also my own personal bow on things (as I always happily steer clear of the Oscars), saying final goodbyes to colleagues and talent I've interacted with consistently over the season. And given that Film Independent was apparently looking to break the record for most commercial breaks in a single awards show, I was able to bounce around and catch up with just about everyone I was hoping to.

Before the show started I spoke at length with “A Most Violent Year” director J.C. Chandor. I was happy that the film was able to have one last hurrah like this, as it is one of 2014's best offerings. He's coming off of a departure from a major project in Summit Entertainment's “Deepwater Horizon” with Mark Wahlberg and trying to re-focus at the moment, potentially diving headlong into an adventure story he's been sort of bouncing off his 10-year-old daughter for a number of years. Now is the time for that, if ever, he told me, so maybe it's good he didn't get lost in an inflated budget nightmare.

The “Birdman” table was all smiles before the awards even began (and obviously even more so after). I got the requisite fist-bump from Michael Keaton, told producer John Lesher I was sorry that almost every time he turned around this season he ended up seeing my ugly mug, and congratulated Emmanuel Lubezki for his off-air cinematography award. This weekend isn't much for typical LA weather but Lubezki will take it over the frigid production of “The Revenant” up in Calgary, which has frozen up its share of Arri Alexas and looks to extend to May at this point. (Production started in October but they had a big hiatus built in.) I have a feeling we'll be talking about that film, and maybe even Chivo's potential to three-peat for Best Cinematography, this time next year.

Ava DuVernay grabbed me as I was circling the room at one point. “This is my last snub of the season,” she joked after the Best Director prize was handed out. I get the feeling she's ready for the circus that has developed around “Selma” to just go away (and who isn't), but the work will last forever, of course, and I'm sure she'll look radiant as always on the red carpet tonight. She encouraged me to stay off Twitter during my upcoming time off. I'll try.

The highlight of the afternoon was a personal one, though. An old college chum, Aaron Katz, won the John Cassavetes Award with his “Land Ho!” co-director Martha Stephens, and I let out a little yelp. Frequent readers might recall last year's winner was another college pal, “This is Martin Bonner's” Chad Hartigan. Clearly the secret to winning this prize is having learned the form alongside yours truly. Clearly. Fingers crossed Zach Clark is next!

I was also delighted to see Justin Simien win the Best First Screenplay honor for “Dear White People.” Here's a guy many of us knew for his tenure as a publicist. He would check my name off when I would show up at Paramount screenings. Now he's giving one of the most poignant speeches of the season at the Spirit Awards. I couldn't be more impressed with how fine a point he put on the importance of getting your voice and your story out into the world and I have no doubt the circuit isn't finished with him and his voice yet. He'll be back.

I finished things off by sitting with Jessica Chastain for a spell as everyone filed out of the tent. If you caught the show, you saw her bit with Andy Samberg as they presented toward the end. She enjoyed being able to cut up like that and wants to do a comedy, but unsurprisingly, the female roles in the comedy scripts she receives tend to be underwritten. We talked a little about Ridley Scott's “The Martian,” which she just wrapped, as well as Guillermo del Toro's upcoming “Crimson Peak.” She said she went to a very weird head space for that role and that she was a bit depressed, even, after the shoot was over, because it was so intense. “I had so much disturbing imagery in my trailer,” she said of wallowing in the mood of the film. One wonders what kind of a presence the genre piece will have on the circuit next year after del Toro's good friends Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu saw such luck the last two years.

Chastain, by the way, is presenting Best Cinematography at the Oscars tonight. So if Lubezki indeed wins, that will be a nice “Tree of Life” reunion on the Dolby Theater stage.

After the show, IFC held a big after party across the street. Spirits (no pun intended) probably could have been higher, seeing as “Birdman” managed to win the Best Feature prize over “Boyhood,” but that whole crew is just happy to have been on the journey. I caught up with Ethan Hawke in the tent as well, for instance, and wished him and the team luck on Sunday. He just sort of happily shrugged, content as ever, and said, “It'll be a fun party.” It's a party they all feel like they crashed anyway, so whatever the outcome, “Boyhood” was heard.

Later in the evening, Harvey Weinstein held his annual swanky, exclusive pre-Oscars celebration at The Montage in Beverly Hills. Those in attendance included Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, Eric Schmidt, Marion Cotillard, James Corden, Jeff Bezos, Diane Warren, Channing Tatum, Rita Ora and Paul Allen. An intriguing mish-mash as only Harvey could manage. And of course, much of the Oscar-nominated talent from films like “The Imitation Game,” “Begin Again” and “CITIZENFOUR” was on hand as well, including Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley.

The crowd was treated to a bit of Weinstein's Broadway offerings. He's been putting together a musical production of “Around the World in 80 Days” and, for a “low-stakes crowd,” he joked, there was about a 30 minute preview with a handful of the songs involved. Later, a few tracks from the musical adaptation of Miramax's 2004 Oscar-winner “Finding Neverland” were performed.

By this point, though, it was safe to say I was fighting sleep. So I took my leave. But on the way out, I ran into “The Imitation Game” screenwriter Graham Moore one last time and was glad for that. Think what you will about that movie, but he is an immensely talented writer and a genuinely nice young man who hasn't been soured by the awards season ringer. (That's not always the case.) And I know because I was there at the start of it, talking to him in a Silver Lake coffee shop just after Telluride when he hadn't even really started the press maelstrom for the film. I told him then that he could well be nominated for an Oscar, and it was something he couldn't even fathom at the time. Now he might walk out of the Dolby with the win, and it's probably still impossible for him to fathom. Even more so, what to do when the merry-go-round stops?

“I have no idea what I'm going to do on Monday,” he said with the glint of a dreamer who knows this particular fairytale has an expiration date.

Stay tuned to HitFix later today as the Oscars ramp up. We'll have coverage throughout the site.