Today is the big day! For most people, it’s just Sunday, March 27th; for a select group of people out there and me, it’s like Christmas. I’m not nominated for an Oscar, I’m not even attending the ceremony, but this is the night that I spend half my year and have for over a decade looking forward to. It’s the culmination of what I use as my calendar year.

This is the fourth year in a row that I’ve seen every nominated film before the ceremony. This may not sound like a big deal but living in the midwest makes this a challenge. So this year, there were 53 films nominated; last year, 59, 2020 had 53, 2019 came in at 52, etc. Each of those years, we’re looking at 50-60 films just to cover the ones that ended up getting nominated.

The first in each category is the film I think should win (SW), the second is the film you can put your money on to win (WW).

Best Picture:
SW: CODA
WW: CODA

Best Director:
SW: Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
WW: Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog

Best Actress:
SW: Kristen Stewart – Spencer as Diana, Princess of Wales
WW: Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye as Tammy Faye Bakker

Best Actor:
SW: Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick... Boom! as Jonathan Larson
WW: Will Smith – King Richard as Richard Williams

Best Supporting Actress:
SW: Ariana DeBose – West Side Story as Anita
WW: Ariana DeBose – West Side Story as Anita

Best Supporting Actor:
SW: Troy Kotsur – CODA as Frank Rossi
WW: Troy Kotsur – CODA as Frank Rossi

Best Original Screenplay:
SW: Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson
WW: Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson

Best Adapted Screenplay:
SW: CODA – Sian Heder
WW: CODA – Sian Heder

Best Cinematography:
SW: Dune
WW: Dune

Best Costume Design:
SW: West Side Story
WW: Cruella

Best Film Editing:
SW: Dune
WW: Dune

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
SW: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
WW: The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Production Design:
SW: The Tragedy of Macbeth
WW: Dune

Best Original Score:
SW: Dune – Hans Zimmer
WW: Dune – Hans Zimmer

Best Original Song:
SW: "No Time to Die" from No Time to Die – Music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell
WW: "No Time to Die" from No Time to Die – Music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

Best Sound:
SW: West Side Story
WW: Dune

Best Visual Effects:
SW: Dune
WW: Dune

Best Animated Feature Film:
SW: The Mitchells vs. the Machines
WW: Encanto

Best Documentary Feature:
SW: Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
WW: Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Best International Feature Film:
SW: The Worst Person in the World (Norway)
WW: Drive My Car (Japan)

Best Animated Short Film:
SW: Robin Robin
WW: Robin Robin

Best Documentary Short Subject:
SW: The Queen of Basketball
WW: The Queen of Basketball

Best Live Action Short Film:
SW: Please Hold
WW: The Long Goodbye

I didn’t disagree with what I think the official picks will be as much as I usually do. I don’t believe the official choices are that far off, even when I did. For Best Actress, I picked Stewart because while I didn’t enjoy SPENCER as much as I wanted to, I thought she did a fantastic job (not necessarily as Diana.) I believe that Jessica Chastain is just as deserving for her role in THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE! I picked Andrew Garfield to win for TICK, TICK… BOOM! But I think that Will Smith is just as deserving for his spot-on performance in KING RICHARD (I also believe this is the one 100% lock, Smith will take home this award.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the yearly struggle that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences struggles with. Every year they attempt to make ABC (the network the ceremony airs on) happy by trying to boost the ratings. Every year they fail; this is primarily because we line in a different time when there were far fewer options of what to watch. They’ve upset the core base of people who watch the awards by trying to add in fan-favorite films and pre-recording eight awards (that they deemed not to be not as important as the others.) The most upsetting part is that this year's ratings will go up just because of the state of the world. The Academy will view this as a win and continue to mess with things they shouldn't be.

The 94th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 27. The ceremony itself will begin airing on ABC at 7 p.m. Tune in to see how many of these I get right or wrong!