The 2105 Academy Awards can be defiantly called ‘The Predictable Oscars’, with the only surprise coming in the best actor category, which Eddie Redmayne won for The Theory of Everything.

Two of the Oscars’ top honours – best picture and best director – proved hard to predict, even for the most seasoned experts, but they were both won for Birdman.

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Birdman equalled The Grand Budapest Hotel, with four wins, for the most awards of the night, including winning Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

Julianne Moore received the Best Actress award for her moving performance in Still Alice, while Patricia Arquette picked up the only Oscar for Boyhood in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Neil Patrick Harris did not stack up against Ellen’s 2014 ‘selfie’ show. I think we can officially say he was a flop of a host.

He tried for one final joke at the end of the show and it fell completely flat. We don’t think he’ll be coming back next year.

Read The New Daily’s live blog below:

Our live blog is officially over for 2015. Thanks for tuning in.

4:05pm

Award 23. Best Film

Presented by Sean Penn.

Nominees:

American Sniper
Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

And the winner is …

Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

Michael Keaton speaks after Birdman wins best film at the 2015 Oscars.

Director Innaritu won his third Oscar for the night, as the entire cast took to the stage in celebration.

Michael Keaton made a great impromptu speech saying: “look it’s great to be here, who am i kidding?”.

Birdman was the big winner of the night, picking up four major oscars. Shock win over favourite Boyhood, which many critics thought was a far superior film.

So the final Oscar count is:

Birdman: 4

Grand Budapest Hotel: 4

Whiplash: 3

Theory of Everything: 1

Still Alice: 1

The Imitation Game: 1

Selma: 1

American Sniper: 1

Boyhood: 1

3:55pm

Award 22. Best Actress

Matthew McConaughey swept out wearing an epic beard and snazzy grey jacket to present Best Actress.

Nominees: 

Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

And the winner is …

Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Moore was ecstatic on winning. She cracked a joke about her husband being younger than her and winning an Oscar giving you give five extra years of life.

She said there is no such thing as a best actress, as was evident in the other nominees.

“I’m thrilled that we were able to shine a light on Alzheimer’s Disease,” she says of her performance in the film.

3:48pm

Award 21. Best Actor

Cate Blanchett, who stole the fashion show with her incredible turquoise Tiffany and Co. necklace, presented the Best Actor award.

Nominees: 

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

And the winner is …

Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

That was definitely the first surprise for the night; Bradley Cooper and Michael Keaton were early favourites.

Redmayne was in awe of his win for portraying Stephen Hawking. He promptly kissed his wife on winning, screamed ecstatically and hugged Cate Blanchett, before giving out a giddy shriek.

He said his award belonged to “one exceptional family: Stephen, Jane Jonathan, and the whole Hawking family”.

“I will be it’s custodian,” he proudly said.

3:34pm

Oscar Tally

We have seen a large spread in winners. In the lead up to the big four awards, the Oscars gets serious.

Grand Budapest Hotel:  4

Whiplash: 3

Birdman: 3

American Sniper: 1

Imitation Game: 1

Boyhood: 1

Selma: 1

3:41pm

Award 20. Best Director

Ben Affleck strutted onto the stage to present the Best Director Oscar.

Nominees: 

Alejandro Iñárritu, Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game

Winner: 

Alejandro Iñárritu, Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

Second win for the night, says he is wearing the real Michael Keaton “tighty whiteys” from Birdman and gives an impressive speech praising his fellow filmmakers and their work.

It was a nice speech, but seriously, that’s rubbish, Richard Linklater was robbed. Looking like Boyhood is in for a serious oscars snub.

3:35pm

Award 19. Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominees: 

Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

And the winner is …

Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

The cast and crew erupt when Moore wins. He uses his speech to remember British genius Alan Turing, who was castrated for being a homosexual, and told his own story about being a young gay man who who almost killed himself.

Moore also thanked Oprah, who presented the award, and mentioned standing in front of the “disconcertingly attractive people”.

3:30pm

Award 18. Best Original Screenplay

Nominees:

Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye, Foxcatcher
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

And the winner is: 

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman

Director Iñárritu thanks his writing partners for supporting this “crazy” idea – thanks the maestro Michael Keaton “for making this film fly”.

3:20pm

Award 17. Best Original Score

Lady Gaga receives a standing ovation and then is greeted on stage by Julie Andrews –who gets a standing ovation for being herself – epic stuff.

“It’s hard to believe 50 years has gone by since that gorgeous filmed was released,” Andrews says.

“How lucky can a girl get.”

She then announces the winning score.

Nominees: 

Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

And the winner is …

Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game

Desplat comes to the stage and says: “Wes, you’re genius, that’s good.”

The camera flashes to Jeff Goldblum and Adrien Brody, who both look giddy.

3:15pm

Lady Gaga does The Sound of Music. The singer performs a ‘Best Of’ to the hits from the five-time Oscar winning film.

Alongside her partnership with crooner Tony Bennett, Gaga is slowly recreating herself as an old school diva, rather than the camp meat mother she became famous for.

3:05pm

Award 16. Best Original Song

John Travolta and Idina Menzel present the award together after Travolta famously mispronounced her name as Adele Dazeem in 2014.

Nominees: 

‘Everything is Awesome’ from The LEGO Movie (written by Shawn Patterson)
‘Glory’ from Selma (written by Common and John Legend)
‘Grateful’ from Beyond the Lights (music and lyric by Diane Warren)
‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’ from Glen Campbell … I’ll Be Me (written by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond)
‘Lost Stars’ from Begin Again (written by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood)

And the winner is …

‘Glory’ from Selma (written by Common and John Legend)

In two of the best speeches of the night, the winners, John Legend and Common, delivered powerful words about the injustices faced by African Americans, and the spirit and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

3:00pm

John Legend and Common get a standing ovation for their Oscar nominated song, ‘Glory’, from the film Selma.

David Oyelowo crying pic.twitter.com/hZPXQXdWNA

— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) February 23, 2015

2:55pm We have decided there has to be an Oscar rule: Jennifer Lawrence must be nominated. 2015 is turning into a huge yawn-fest. [jwplayer player=”1″ mediaid=”214764″]

2:45pm

Award 15. Best Documentary Feature

Jennifer Aniston and Selma’s David Oyelowo presented the award. Nominees:  CITIZENFOUR Finding Vivian Maier Last Days in Vietnam The Salt in the Earth Virunga And the winner is … CITIZENFOUR A documentary filmed in Hong Kong hotel room with Edward Snowden in 2013. The CITIZENFOUR director thanks Snowden and other whistleblowers for their bravery. Hollywood stars look on quizzically. Harris makes a gaffe about Snowden not being able to attend the ceremony.

2:40pm

Award 14. Achievement in Editing

Nominees:  American Sniper Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Whiplash  And the winner is ….  Whiplash  A third win for Whiplash, which has been one of the big surprise winners of the night. The Whiplash editor thanked his cast “for delivering gold to the editing room” every day. 

2:31pm Meryl Streep looks back at the actor’s who have died in the past year, with Robin Williams the biggest star to pass away. Twitter alight with tweets about comedian Joan Rivers being snubbed.

Joan’s message to the Academy pic.twitter.com/q0Xm24xaNK — Peter Ford (@mrpford) February 23, 2015

See the full #Oscars In Memoriam gallery here: http://t.co/zOLPXt2GTK — The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 23, 2015

2:28pm Anyone hanging out for John Travolta to appear onstage to relive his 2014 Oscar glory, according to Buzzfeed it’s coming soon …

soon … pic.twitter.com/2q9xGDBtN2 — BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) February 23, 2015

  [jwplayer player=”1″ mediaid=”214734″]

2:23pm

Award 13. Achievement in Cinematography

Two of the best looking people on the planet Idris Elba and Jessica Chastain presented the Achievement in Cinematography. Hot, hot, hot.

Elba and Chastain.

Nominees: 

Roger Deakins, Unbroken
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida

And the winner is …

Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman

This was the second consecutive win for Lubezki, who won in 2014 for Gravity. He made a low key speech, thanking his family and his collaborators, especially fellow Mexican, Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu. 

Lubezki is regarded in the industry as one of the best cinematographers in the world and the look of Birdman was typically wild and audacious.

2:20pm Award 12. Achievement in production design

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

And the winner is …

The Grand Budapest Hotel

2:10pm

Award 11. Best Animated Feature Film

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

And the winner is … Big Hero 6

2:05pm Kevin Hart and Anna Kendrick (again!) presented the Best Animated Short Film nominees and award – and made a cute crack about the fact they are both midgets.

Nominees: 

The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

And the winner is …

Feast

2:03pm

Award 10. Achievement in visual effects

Nominees: 

Captain America
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

And the winner is … Interstellar

2:00pm

Harris makes a joke and tries to include Robert Duvall, who doesn’t even pretend to be interested. Another fail. Harris isn’t winning the Oscars so far.

This is boring & I have work to do… I assume Twitter will inform me if Meryl rushes the stage to wrestle the Oscar from Clint Eastwood. — emilynussbaum (@emilynussbaum) February 23, 2015

Both acting awards so far are impressive given that both actors are veterans; JK Simmons has carved a long career as a supporting actor and in appearing largely on television and independent films; Patricia Arquette, having started out as Hollywood ingenue, has spent the last decade or so on TV (remember Medium?), so perhaps there is hope for good actors after all.

1:51pm

Award 9. Best Supporting Actress

Last year’s Best Supporting Actor Jared Leto presented the Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Leto managed to look 15, despite the fact that he is actually 43. How does he do it?

We all need to discuss @JaredLeto‘s powder blue #Oscars tux: http://t.co/f77z7qidCj pic.twitter.com/NTInZKWYH6

— Lucky Magazine (@LuckyMagazine) February 23, 2015

Nominees:  Patricia Arquette, Boyhood Laura Dern, Wild Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game Emma Stone, Birdman Meryl Streep, Into the Woods And the winner is … Patricia Arquette for Boyhood Arquette gives a very sweet speech thanking the cast and crew, her brothers and sisters, and then makes an impassioned plea for equal pay and equal rights for women in America. You go, girl! The actress was the hot favourite coming in to the ceremony – and highly deserved too. Her performance was excellent and was amazing given she played the same character for 12 years.

1:49pm

Award 8. Achievement in Sound Editing

Nominees:  American Sniper Birdman The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Interstellar Unbroken And the winner is … American Sniper 

Award 7. Achievement in Sound Mixing

This award was presented by Sienna Miller and Chris Evans. Nominees: American Sniper Birdman Interstellar Unbroken Whiplash And the winner is:  Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley for Whiplash.

Thomas Curley, from left, Craig Mann and Ben Wilkins accept the award for best sound mixing for Whiplash.

1:45pm Up and coming Australian star Margo Robbie and Whiplash’s Miles Teller onstage to chat about the Scientific and Technical Awards held two weeks ago in Beverley Hills.

1:40pm Harris tries his hand at the Birdman one-shot wonder, walking through the backstage set, al la Michael Keaton in the Oscar nominated film.

1:35pm Gwyneth Paltrow steps onstage to introduce the Oscar nominated song ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’ from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me performed by country legend Tim McGraw.

1:30pm Viola Davis presents the lifetime achievement awards to Harry Belafonte, Maureen O’Hara, animator and director Hayao Miyazaki and Jean-Claude Carriere.

Viola Davis was radiant.

1:28pm

Award 6. Documentary (Short Subject)

Nominees: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 Joanna Our Curse The Reaper White Earth And the winner is … Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

1:25pm

Award 5. Best Live Action Short Film

Kerry Washington and Jason Bateman presented this award. Nominees:  Aya Boogaloo and Graham Butter Lamp Parvaneh The Phone Call And the winner is .. The Phone Call Mat Kirby and James Lucas are accepting the award. “Crikey! These are big buggers, we’re only little.” Again, the music cues to leave the stage are ignored.

1:15pm

Harris chats with Steve Carrell during one of his off-stage skits. See Channing Tatum’s face behind Carrell to see how it went down.

  Harris walks through the audience with skit bit about ‘seat fillers’ – the women and men who sit in the crowd when the stars leave their seats. I’m calling it already, Doogie Howser is a bit of a dud – his jokes are seriously lame. You’d think he’d make a joke about the scene where he gets murdered in Gone Girl,  but it was left to Anna Kendrick in the opening song and fell flat.

I know so many underemployed comedy writers. This ceremony must be especially hard on them. — Margaret Lyons (@margeincharge) February 23, 2015

1:10pm

Award 4. Best Foreign Language Film

Nicole Kidman and Chiwietel Ejiofor present ‘Best Foreign Language Film’.

Nicole Kidman and Chiwietel Ejiofor presented the Best Foreign Language Film award.

Nominees: Leviathan Ida Tangerines Timbuktu Wild Tales And the winner is … Ida Director Paweł Pawlikowski looked genuinely surprised and asksed “how did I get here?”.  He then thanked the crew at him in Poland who are watching at home “totally drunk” and then completely ignores the sound cues to exit the stage, thanking his family. What a dude!

Polish movie Ida wins best foreign film and Pawel Pawlikowski can’t stop thanking everyone http://t.co/44o8Iq4AA1 pic.twitter.com/vyqiul4lNg — Independent US (@IndyUSA) February 23, 2015

1:00pm

Award 3. Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Reese Witherspoon comes out to present the achievement in make up and hairstyling.

Reese Witherspoon presenting the award for Achievement in Makeup and Hairdressing.

Nominees: 

Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

And the winner is …

Frances Hannon for The Grand Budapest Hotel – two in a row!

Hannon thanks Bill Murray for introducing her to Wes Anderson and then thanks Anderson, saying they’ve worked together since the film Rushmore.

12:58

Award 2. Best Costume Design

Jennifer Lopez and Chris Pine come out to present ‘best costume’ , making safely scripted remarks about costume designers.

Nominees: 

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

And the winner is … 

Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Milena Canonero accepts the award for best costume design for The Grand Budapest Hotel.

This is the fourth Win for costume designer Canonero, going back to Barry Lyndon and Chariots of Fire. 

She thanked director Wes Anderson for being “like a conductor and like a composer”.

12:50

Maroon Five singer Adam Levine singing ‘Lost Stars’ from the film Begin Again.

Star of Fifty Shades of Grey, Dakota Johnson introduces singer Adam Levine to perform the best song nominee from the film Begin Again.

Harris seems to be playing it very straight. Seriously, what happened with the monologue? ‘Doogie Howser’ didn’t sass anybody.

12:35

Award 1. Best Supporting Actor

First Award of the night was the Best Supporting Actor, presented by 2014 Best Supporting Actress winner Lupita Nyong’o.

Nominees are: 

Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

And the winner is …

J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

Simmons, nonchalantly accepted his award, making a dignified, down to earth speech, thanking his wife for her support and his “above average children”.

He then tells everyone to call their parents and say thanks.

12:30pm

The ceremony started with host Neil Patrick Harris Harris almost immediately launching into song and dance routine, celebrating the history of the movies, with a brief interlude from Jack Black bursting onto the stage with a wild man routine railing the corporate money machine behind Hollywood.

“Tonight on this stage we have come together to celebrate and hopefully to fall in love with moving pictures all over again,” Harris says.

It was a brief monologue, nothing like we’re used to, and included a joke about Oprah – she looked perplexed. Harris looked at her and said: “because your rich”.

Patrick James,  Antonia Acott and ABC