And the award for biggest snub goes to…Selma! The film that was expected to come home with multiple Oscars might be lucky to receive one win. It is in the top three films discussed to win Best Picture (with Birdman and Boyhood), but has only been nominated for one other category: Best Original Song. The movie focuses on only a fragment of Martin Luther King’s (David Oyelowo) work towards civil rights for African Americans during the 1960’s. At this point in history, The Civil Rights Act had been signed, but many people were still unable to vote in the South. It shows the struggles that King had as he staged the next part of the movement: a march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery in order to convince Congress to pass a bill that will grant them the ability to vote. Oyelowo does a splendid job and should have been nominated for Best Actor for his work, no question (please get Steve Carell out of there, NOW). He delivered a powerful performance and should be celebrated for years, even without a nomination. Tom Wilkinson, who plays Lyndon B. Johnson, also does well and shows the behind the scenes work that occurred between King and Johnson. The director, Ava DuVernay, does a fantastic job at capturing the time that King spent in Selma, and deserves a nomination as well.

Reasons it wins:

• The Academy recognizes that this is a great film and that it should go back in time and nominate Oyelowo and DuVernay for Oscars.
• They win Best Original Song and pull the upset of the century and take home an award that they deserve (not that many of the other films don’t deserve it, but people have not recognized this film for what it is).

Reasons it loses:

• It wasn’t nominated for enough awards. If it got more nominations it might have been in the running.
• No actor nominations

Likely Outcome:

Most likely wins Best Original Song but will lose Best Picture.

To read an exclusive review of The Imitation Game, check out Patrick Commer’s blog: Rated R for Reviewed.