UNLIKE LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME, I am right on track to have a perfect Oscars day. I am going to the movies early in the weekend and luckily, I can see my choices back to back. My shopping list is completed; all I need to do is pickup the ingredients for the treats to have on Oscar day. There will be a creamy dip accompanied by cinnamon sugar chips, pretzels baked with caramel chocolate pieces and topped with a pecan half and of course the main chocolate item: a chocolate brownie bread loaf; no stepping on a scale for 2 weeks for me. Household chores will get done long before the telecast and I do not plan on leaving the house several hours before the show; so, I have little concern on what the weather will be. My extra soft afghan is already on the sofa and I wiped clean any dust from my television screen; as you can see, I am all set to reap the rewards from this past year of watching movies.     NOW DESPITE MY EVERY BEST EFFORT to cover as many films as possible, this year’s nominees caused me some distress. There are a couple of categories where there are nominated films I not only did not see, but I never even heard of them. I do hope this is an anomaly and will not happen again. Because of this situation, in the category where I have not seen all the nominees, I will only list what I think should win and not what will win. With that being said, I want to take this moment and wish everyone a happy and fun Oscar viewing time. Once again there will be no host and I am totally fine with it. So, here we go; below please find my predictions on who should win and who will win this year’s Oscar awards.

BEST PICTURE

MY CHOICES:                                                                                    OSCAR PICKS:

1917                                                                                                1917

LEAD ACTOR

JOAQUIN PHOENIX                                                                        JOAQUIN PHOENIX

SUPPORTING ACTOR

BRAD PITT                                                                                    BRAD PITT

LEAD ACTRESS

RENEE ZELLWEGER                                                                        RENEE ZELLWEGER

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

KATHY BATES                                                                                    LAURA DERN

ANIMATED FEATURE

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1917                                                                                                1917

DIRECTING

SAM MENDES                                                                                    BONG JOON HO

FILM EDITING

FORD V FERRARI                                                                        PARASITE

INTERNATIONAL

PARASITE

ORIGINAL SONG

STAND UP                                                                                    “(I’M GONNA) LOVE ME AGAIN

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

JOJO RABBIT                                                                                    THE IRISHMAN

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

KNIVES OUT                                                                                    ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD