I, like most of the academy, have not seen many of the movies on this list. This means some of these predictions are based solely on visual appearance and word of mouth.

Best Picture

"BlacKkKlansman"
"Black Panther"
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
"The Favourite"
"Green Book"
"Roma"
"A Star Is Born"
"Vice"

Favorites:

"Green Book" & "Roma"

Snubbed:

"Avengers: Infinity War" & "Isle of Dogs"

Glad they were nominated:

"A Star Is Born" & "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Don't quite belong:

"Vice" & "Black Panther"

"Green Book" and "Roma" are my favorites to take home the Best Picture Oscar this year. They are both fantastic movies that tell a story that goes above just the basic premise of the movie. They make you feel and have important messages inside. It is tough to pick a winner between the two.

"A Star is Born" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" are both good movies that are fantastically intertwined with music and passion.

"Vice" and "Black Panther" are just movies. They do nothing to go above the bring any more than a movie. They do not create emotion or inspire change. They are not bad movies, but I do not feel like either deserved a nomination.

I feel as if "Avengers: Infinity War" would have been a much better movie to nominate in place of "Black Panther". Infinity War deals with heavier themes, such as characters having to deal with the loss of friends even early on in the movie. They have clear motivations based inside of the movie that is expounded upon and used to influence the plot. Also, the movie is flawless through and through. "Isle of Dogs" is another fantastic movie that, in my opinion, should have gotten much more love than it did. As a movie, it goes above and beyond in all categories. It has a flawless production, it generates an incredible emotional response, and it goes above being more than just a movie on a screen.

My Pick: "Green Book"

Best Director:

Alfonso Cuaron "Roma"
Yorgos Lanthimos "The Favourite"
Spike Lee "BlacKkKlansman"
Adam McKay "Vice"
Pawel Pawlikowski "Cold War"

It is hard to pick from this list as none of them quite stand out as being above their peers. It is at this time I am reminding myself that last year, two of the best modern directors, Denis Villanueve and Christopher Nolan, went against each other for this oscar with 2 incredible films, and the winner was about falling in love with sharkboy.....

My Pick: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

Best Actor:

Christian Bale "Vice"
Bradley Cooper "A Star Is Born"
Willem Dafoe "At Eternity's Gate"
Rami Malek "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Viggo Mortensen "Green Book"

I don't think it has ever crossed my mind that anyone on this list deserves it more than Rami Malek. The man truly embodied one of the most fascinating musicians ever to live. My only worry is they'll give it to Bale for gaining the weight required to play Cheney.

Best Actress:

Yalitza Aparicio "Roma"

Glenn Close "The Wife"

Olivia Colman "The Favourite"

Lady Gaga "A Star Is Born"

Melissa McCarthy "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"

While Yalitza Aparicio has a strong case to be made for the award, I feel as if Glenn Close will deservedly win it. It would be cool and still deserved to see Lady Gaga win though.

My Pick: Glenn Close, "The Wife"

Best Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams "Vice"
Marina de Tavira "Roma"
Regina King "If Beale Street Could Talk"
Emma Stone "The Favourite"
Rachel Weisz "The Favourite"

This is a tough list to pick as none of the performance stand out as head and shoulders above another. As such my leaning is toward one of the actresses from "The Favorite"

My Pick, Rachel Weisz, "The Favorite"

Best Supporting Actor:

Mahershala Ali "Green Book"

Adam Driver "BlacKkKlansman"
Sam Elliott "A Star Is Born"
Richard E. Grant "Can You Ever Forgive Me"
Sam Rockwell "Vice"

Whilst Adam Driver and Sam Elliot's performances were very impressive, one of them stands head and shoulders above the others. Mahershala Ali's performance in "Green Book" was impeccable, and as such he is my pick.

My Pick: Mahershala Ali, "Green Book"

Best Original Screenplay

"The Favourite" (Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara)
"First Reformed" (Paul Schrader)
"Green Book" (Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly)
"Roma" (Alfonso Cuaron)
"Vice" (Adam McKay)

Alfonso Cuaron's masterpiece should have the edge in this department.

My Pick: "Roma", Alfonso Cuaron

Best Adapted Screenplay:

"A Star Is Born" (Eric Roth, Will Fetters & Bradley Cooper)
"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)
"BlacKkKlansman"(Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee)
"If Beale Street Could Talk" (Barry Jenkins)
"Can You Ever Forgive Me?" (Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty)

"A Star Is Born" was a fantastic and emotional story that I feel as if it has the edge in this category.

My Pick: "A Star Is Born", (Eric Roth, Will Fetters & Bradley Cooper)

Best Makeup and Hairstyle:

"Border"

"Mary Queen Of Scots"

"Vice"

My Pick: "Mary Queen Of Scots", (Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks)

Best Costume Design:

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (Mary Zophres)
"Black Panther" (Ruth E. Carter)
"The Favourite" (Sandy Powell)
"Mary Poppins Returns" (Sandy Powell)
"Mary Queen of Scots" (Alexandra Byrne)

Black Panther's very original and intriguing costumes will lead it to take home the award this year.

My Pick: "Black Panther" (Ruth E Carter)

Best Cinematography:

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (Mary Zophres)
"Black Panther" (Ruth E. Carter)
"The Favourite" (Sandy Powell)
"Mary Poppins Returns" (Sandy Powell)
"Mary Queen of Scots" (Alexandra Byrne)

Last year, Roger Deacon finally won his long-deserved Oscar in this category, so I am more than content with whoever it goes to this year as I have no real dog in the fight for this category. None of these selections are quite as visually stunning as that of "Blade Runner 2049" from last year's Oscars, but it is in my opinion that the Academy will select "The Favorite" for the award.

My Pick: "The Favorite", Sandy Powell.

Best Original Song:

"All the Stars" (Black Panther)
Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, and Anthony Tiffith)
Lyric by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solana Rowe

"I'll Fight" (RBG)
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

"The Place Where Lost Things Go" (Mary Poppins Returns)
Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyric by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman

"Shallow" (A Star Is Born)
Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt

"When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
Music and Lyric by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch.

My Pick: Shallow, "A Star Is Born"

Best Original Score:

"Black Panther" (Ludwig Goransson)
"BlacKkKlansman" (Terence Blanchard)
"If Beale Street Could Talk" (Nicholas Britell)
"Isle of Dogs" (Alexandre Desplat)
"Mary Poppins Returns" (Marc Shaiman)

As with many Wes Anderson movies, the score from "Isle Of Dogs" perfectly paces the scenes, sets the mood, and is the heartbeat of the movie.

My Pick: "Isle of Dogs", Alexandre Desplat. OR WE RIOT.

Best Documentary Feature:

"Free Solo" (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes, and Shannon Dill)
"Hale County This Morning, This Evening" (RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim)
"Minding the Gap" (Bing Liu and Diane Quon)
"Of Fathers and Sons" (Talal Derki, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme, and Tobias N. Siebert)
"RBG" (Betsy West and Julie Cohen)

My Pick: "Free Solo", (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes, and Shannon Dill)

Best Animated Feature:

"Incredibles 2" (Brad Bird, John Walker, and Nicole Paradis Grindle)
"Isle of Dogs" (Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson)
"Mirai" (Mamoru Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito)
"Ralph Breaks the Internet" (Rich Moore, Phil Johnston, and Clark Spencer)
"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller)

I have little doubt that anything other than Spiderman will be chosen, even though "Isle of Dogs" is more artistic in nature and my personal favorite.

My Pick: "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse", (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller)

Best Foreign Language Film: "Roma."

It is going to be "Roma". It is so kind of the academy to nominate other films for this category but Roma has very much already won.

"Capernaum" (Lebanon)
"Cold War" (Poland)
"Never Look Away" (Germany)
"Roma" (Mexico)
"Shoplifters" (Japan)

My Pick: "Roma", Mexico.

Best Sound Mixing:

"Black Panther" (Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali)
"First Man" (Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis)
"Roma" (Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and Jose Antonio Garcia)
"A Star Is Born" (Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder, and Steve Morrow)

Due mostly in part to the incredible Wembley Live Aid scene from "Bohemian Rhapsody", it will win this Oscar.

My Pick: "Bohemian Rhapsody", (Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali)

Best Sound Editing:

"Black Panther" (Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone)
"First Man" (Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan)
"A Quiet Place" (Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl)
"Roma" (Sergio Diaz and Skip Lievsay)

The overall sound design from "A Quiet Place" had the ability to create tension that crept in through every moment in the film, and the audience absolutely felt it.

My Pick: "A Quiet Place", (Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl)

Best Production Design:

"Black Panther" (Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart)
"The Favourite" (Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton)
"First Man" (Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas)
"Mary Poppins Returns" (John Myhre and Gordon Sim)
"Roma" (Eugenio Caballero and Barbara Enriquez)

Mary Poppins' fantastical and remarkable and real sets distinguish it from the rest of the films this year.

My Pick: "Mary Poppins Returns", (John Myhre and Gordon Sim)

Best Visual Effects:

"Avengers: Infinity War" (Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick)
"Christopher Robin" (Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones, and Chris Corbould)
"First Man" (Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, and J.D. Schwalm)
"Ready Player One" (Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler, and David Shirk)
"Solo: A Star Wars Story" (Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy)

Another year of the Oscar's and the Star Wars franchise's absolute lock on getting a VE nomination continues.

As incredible and real the effects from "Avengers: Infinity War" were, the ability to so incredibly convincingly bring to lift childhood favorites like Winnie the Pooh and Piglet were unmatched this year.

My Pick: "Christopher Robin", (Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones, and Chris Corbould) (PS I may have shed a few tears during the course of this movie).

Best Film Editing:

"BlacKkKlansman" (Barry Alexander Brown)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (John Ottman)
"The Favourite" (Yorgos Mavropsaridis)
"Green Book" (Patrick J. Don Vito)
"Vice" (Hank Corwin)

I am very surprised that "Isle of Dogs" did not get a nomination for this category. Editing can do so much to set a movie apart from others and I do not feel as if any of these films have done that in the way a movie like "Baby Driver" did.

My Pick: "BlacKkKlansman" (Barry Alexander Brown)

Best Animated Short:

Animal Behaviour (Alison Snowden and David Fine)
Bao (Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb)
Late Afternoon (Louise Bagnall and Nuria González Blanco)
One Small Step (Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas)
Weekends (Trevor Jimenez)

"Bao" tells a very human story of the love and pain of raising a child. As such I believe that it will win this year.

My Pick: "Bao", (Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb)

Best Live Action Short:

Detainment (Vincent Lambe and Darren Maho)
Fauve (Jeremy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon)
Marguerite (Marianne Farley and Marie-Helene Panisset)
Mother (Rodrigo Sorogoyen and María del Puy Alvarado)
Skin (Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman)

Let's be honest, nearly no one except a select few on the academy has seen these.

My Pick: "Fauve" (Jeremy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon)

Best Documentary Short:

Black Sheep (Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn)
End Game (Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman)
Lifeboat (Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser)
A Night at the Garden (Marshall Curry)
Period. End of Sentence. (Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton)

My Pick: "Black Sheep" (Ed Perkins and Johnathan Chinn)