With the Oscars coming up this Sunday, February 9, it’s time to make my predictions in each of the categories. I’ll readily admit to having not seen everything, but just from reading around and listening to various podcasts, these are my best guesses for who is going to take home the big prizes on Sunday night.

Underneath my pick is going to be my confidence rating and hint to me reasoning for each category…

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

ANTONIO BANDERAS
Pain and Glory

LEONARDO DICAPRIO
Once upon a Time…in Hollywood

ADAM DRIVER
Marriage Story

JOAQUIN PHOENIX
Joker

JONATHAN PRYCE
The Two Popes

WINNER: JOAQUIN PHOENIX (Joker)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

TOM HANKS
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

ANTHONY HOPKINS
The Two Popes

AL PACINO
The Irishman

JOE PESCI
The Irishman

BRAD PITT
Once upon a Time…in Hollywood

WINNER: BRADY PITT (Once upon a Time…in Hollywood)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

CYNTHIA ERIVO
Harriet

SCARLETT JOHANSSON
Marriage Story

SAOIRSE RONAN
Little Women

CHARLIZE THERON
Bombshell

RENÉE ZELLWEGER
Judy

WINNER: RENÉE ZELLWEGER (Judy)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

KATHY BATES
Richard Jewell

LAURA DERN
Marriage Story

SCARLETT JOHANSSON
Jojo Rabbit

FLORENCE PUGH
Little Women

MARGOT ROBBIE
Bombshell

WINNER: SCARLETT JOHANSSON (Jojo Rabbit)

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD
Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis and Bonnie Arnold

I LOST MY BODY
Jérémy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice

KLAUS
Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Román

MISSING LINK
Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner and Travis Knight

TOY STORY 4
Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera

WINNER: TOY STORY 4 (Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES

THE IRISHMAN
Rodrigo Prieto

JOKER
Lawrence Sher

THE LIGHTHOUSE
Jarin Blaschke

1917
Roger Deakins

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Robert Richardson

WINNER: 1917 (Roger Deakins)

COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES

THE IRISHMAN
Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson

JOJO RABBIT
Mayes C. Rubeo

JOKER
Mark Bridges

LITTLE WOMEN
Jacqueline Durran

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Arianne Phillips

WINNER: ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD (Arianne Phillips)

DIRECTING

NOMINEES

THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese

JOKER
Todd Phillips

1917
Sam Mendes

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Quentin Tarantino

PARASITE
Bong Joon Ho

WINNER: 1917 (Sam Mendes)

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

NOMINEES

AMERICAN FACTORY
Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert

THE CAVE
Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær

THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris and Tiago Pavan

FOR SAMA
Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts

HONEYLAND
Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev

WINNER: AMERICAN FACTORY (Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert)

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

NOMINEES

IN THE ABSENCE
Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam

LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL)
Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva

LIFE OVERTAKES ME
John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson

ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN
Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan

WALK RUN CHA-CHA
Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt

WINNER: LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL) (Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva)

FILM EDITING

NOMINEES

FORD V FERRARI
Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland

THE IRISHMAN
Thelma Schoonmaker

JOJO RABBIT
Tom Eagles

JOKER
Jeff Groth

PARASITE
Yang Jinmo

WINNER: PARASITE (Yang Jinmo)

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

CORPUS CHRISTI
Poland

HONEYLAND
North Macedonia

LES MISÉRABLES
France

PAIN AND GLORY
Spain

PARASITE
South Korea

WINNER: PARASITE

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

NOMINEES

BOMBSHELL
Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker

JOKER
Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou

JUDY
Jeremy Woodhead

MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL
Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White

1917
Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole

WINNER: BOMBSHELL (Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

NOMINEES

JOKER
Hildur Guðnadóttir

LITTLE WOMEN
Alexandre Desplat

MARRIAGE STORY
Randy Newman

1917
Thomas Newman

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
John Williams

WINNER: JOKER (Hildur Guðnadóttir)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

NOMINEES

I CAN’T LET YOU THROW YOURSELF AWAY
from Toy Story 4; Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

(I’M GONNA) LOVE ME AGAIN
from Rocketman; Music by Elton John; Lyric by Bernie Taupin

I’M STANDING WITH YOU
from Breakthrough; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

INTO THE UNKNOWN
from Frozen II; Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

STAND UP
from Harriet; Music and Lyric by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo

WINNER: (I’M GONNA) LOVE ME AGAIN (Elton John and Bernie Taupin)

BEST PICTURE

NOMINEES

FORD V FERRARI
Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold, Producers

THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers

JOJO RABBIT
Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi and Chelsea Winstanley, Producers

JOKER
Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers

LITTLE WOMEN
Amy Pascal, Producer

MARRIAGE STORY
Noah Baumbach and David Heyman, Producers

1917
Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall, Producers

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino, Producers

PARASITE
Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho, Producers

WINNER: 1917 (Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall, Producers)

PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES

THE IRISHMAN
Production Design: Bob Shaw; Set Decoration: Regina Graves

JOJO RABBIT
Production Design: Ra Vincent; Set Decoration: Nora Sopková

1917
Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Production Design: Barbara Ling; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

PARASITE
Production Design: Lee Ha Jun; Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo

WINNER: 1917 (Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales)

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

NOMINEES

DCERA (DAUGHTER)
Daria Kashcheeva

HAIR LOVE
Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver

KITBULL
Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson

MEMORABLE
Bruno Collet and Jean-François Le Corre

SISTER
Siqi Song

WINNER: SISTER (Siqi Song)

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

NOMINEES

BROTHERHOOD
Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon

NEFTA FOOTBALL CLUB
Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi

THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW
Marshall Curry

SARIA
Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre

A SISTER
Delphine Girard

WINNER: THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW (Marshall Curry)

SOUND EDITING

NOMINEES

FORD V FERRARI
Donald Sylvester

JOKER
Alan Robert Murray

1917
Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Wylie Stateman

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Matthew Wood and David Acord

WINNER: FORD V FERRARI (Donald Sylvester)

SOUND MIXING

NOMINEES

AD ASTRA
Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano

FORD V FERRARI
Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow

JOKER
Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland

1917
Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano

WINNER: ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD (Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano)

VISUAL EFFECTS

NOMINEES

AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick

THE IRISHMAN
Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli

THE LION KING
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman

1917
Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy

WINNER: THE LION KING (Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman)

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

THE IRISHMAN
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian

JOJO RABBIT
Screenplay by Taika Waititi

JOKER
Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver

LITTLE WOMEN
Written for the screen by Greta Gerwig

THE TWO POPES
Written by Anthony McCarten

WINNER: JOKER (Todd Phillips, Scott Silver)

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

KNIVES OUT
Written by Rian Johnson

MARRIAGE STORY
Written by Noah Baumbach

1917
Written by Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Written by Quentin Tarantino

PARASITE
Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won; Story by Bong Joon Ho

WINNER: PARASITE (Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won)