My picks for the Academy Awards

Excited for the Oscars!  Below are my predicted winners (★), my personal favorites among the nominees (♥), and the ones that should have been nominated, in my opinion.

BEST PICTURE

Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
★ 1917
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
♥ Parasite

Should have been nominated: The Farewell; Just Mercy; The Last Black Man in San Francisco; Pain & Glory

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cynthia Erivo – Harriet
Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story
♥ Saoirse Ronan – Little Women
Charlize Theron – Bombshell
★ Renée Zellweger – Judy

Should have been nominated:  Mary Kay Place - Diane

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

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

Should have been nominated: Taron Egerton - Rocketman

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

♥ Kathy Bates – Richard Jewell
★ Laura Dern – Marriage Story
Scarlett Johansson – Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh – Little Women
Margot Robbie – Bombshell

Should have been nominated:  Billie Lourd - Booksmart; Cho Yeo-jeong - Parasite; Lee Jeong-eun - Parasite; Penélope Cruz - Pain & Glory

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

♥ 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

Should have been nominated:  Jamie Foxx - Just Mercy; Sam Rockwell, Jojo Rabbit; Leonardo Sbaraglia, Pain & Glory

DIRECTING

The Irishman – Martin Scorsese
Joker – Todd Phillips
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
1917 – Sam Mendes
★ ♥ Parasite – Bong Joon Ho

Should have been nominated: The Farewell - Lulu Wang; Little Women - Greta Gerwig; Pain & Glory - Pedro Almodovar; Us - Jordan Peele

WRITING (Adapted Screenplay)

The Irishman – Steven Zaillian
★ Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi
Joker – Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
♥ Little Women – Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten

WRITING (Original Screenplay)

Knives Out – Rian Johnson
Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
1917 – Sam Mendes, Krysty Wilson-Cairns
★ Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
♥ Parasite – Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won

Should have been nominated:  The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Jimmie Fails, Joe Talbot, Rob Richert

MUSIC (Original Song)

“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” – Toy Story 4 – Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
★ “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” – Rocketman – Music by Elton John; Lyric by Bernie Taupin
“I’m Standing With You” – Breakthrough – Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Into the Unknown” – Frozen II – Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
♥ “Stand Up” – Harriet – Music and Lyic by Joshuah Brian Campbell, Cynthia Erivo

MUSIC (Original Score)

★ Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir
Little Women – Alexandre Desplat
♥ Marriage Story – Randy Newman
1917 – Thomas Newman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – John Williams

The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Emile Mosseri

FILM EDITING

★ Ford v Ferrari – Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland
The Irishman – Thelma Schoonmaker
Jojo Rabbit – Tom Eagles
Joker – Jeff Groth
♥ Parasite – Yang Jinmo

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Irishman – Rodrigo Prieto
Joker – Lawrence Sher
The Lighthouse – Jarin Blaschke
★ 1917 – Roger Deakins
♥ Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – Robert Richardson

The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Adam Newport-Berra

PRODUCTION DESIGN

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

Should have been nominated: Midsommar - Henrik Svensson; Us - Ruth De Jong

COSTUME DESIGN

The Irishman – Sandy Powell, Christopher Peterson
♥ Jojo Rabbit – Mayes C. Rubeo
Joker – Mark Bridges
★ Little Women – Jacqueline Durran
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – Arianne Phillips

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

★ Bombshell – Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan, Vivian Baker
♥ Joker – Nicki Ledermann, Kay Georgiou
Judy – Jeremy Woodhead
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil – Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten, David White
1917 – Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis, Rebecca Cole

SOUND MIXING

Ad Astra – Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Mark Ulano
♥ Ford v Ferrari – Paul Massey, David Giammarco, Steven A. Morrow
Joker – Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Tod Maitland
★ 1917 – Mark Taylor, Stuart Wilson
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler, Mark Ulano

SOUND EDITING

♥ Ford v Ferrari – Donald Sylvester
Joker – Alan Robert Murray
★ 1917 – Oliver Tarney, Rachael Tate
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – Wylie Stateman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Matthew Wood, David Acord

VISUAL EFFECTS

Avengers: Endgame – Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken, Dan Sudick
The Irishman – Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Stephane Grabli
The Lion King – Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones, Elliot Newman
★ ♥ 1917 – Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler, Dominic Tuohy
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, Dominic Tuohy

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

♥ How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link
★ Toy Story 4

INTERNATIONAL FILM

Corpus Christi – Poland
Honeyland – North Macedonia
Les Misérables – France
♥ Pain and Glory – Spain
★ Parasite – South Korea

DOCUMENTARY (Feature)

★ American Factory – Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, Jeff Reichert
The Cave – Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod, Sigrid Dyekjær
The Edge of Democracy – Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris, Tiago Pavan
For Sama – Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
♥ Honeyland – Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska, Atanas Georgiev

Should have been nominated:  Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles

DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject)

♥ In the Absence – Yi Seung-Jun, Gary Byung-Seok Kam
★ Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) – Carol Dysinger, Elena Andreicheva
Life Overtakes Me – John Haptas, Kristine Samuelson
St. Louis Superman – Smriti Mundhra, Sami Khan
Walk Run Cha-Cha – Laura Nix, Colette Sandstedt

SHORT FILM (Animated)

Dcera (Daughter) – Daria Kashcheeva
★ Hair Love – Matthew A. Cherry, Karen Rupert Toliver
Kitbull – Rosana Sullivan, Kathryn Hendrickson
Memorable – Bruno Collet, Jean-François Le Corre
♥ Sister – Siqi Song

SHORT FILM (Live Action)

Brotherhood – Meryam Joobeur, Maria Gracia Turgeon
♥ Nefta Football Club – Yves Piat, Damien Megherbi
★ The Neighbors’ Window – Marshall Curry
Saria – Bryan Buckley, Matt Lefebvre
A Sister – Delphine Girard