So the big news this month is that The Zookeeper’s Wife has been pushed to next year. Depending on your perspective, this can be a good thing because it makes the field less crowded, but it also means that a lot of the categories seem weaker now.

BEST PICTURE

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
The Birth Of A Nation
The Founder
La La Land
The Masterpiece
Nocturnal Animals
Silence
Sully
Zootopia

Replaced The Zookeeper’s Wife with Nocturnal Animals.

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle – La La Land
James Franco – The Masterpiece
Ang Lee – Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Nate Parker – The Birth Of A Nation
Martin Scorsese – Silence

Replaced Caro with Franco. It’s a shame, too. It looked like we had a rare opportunity for a woman to be nominated for Best Director.

BEST ACTOR

James Franco – The Masterpiece
Andrew Garfield – Silence
Tom Hanks – Sully
Michael Keaton – The Founder
Nate Parker – The Birth Of A Nation

No change.

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams – Nocturnal Animals
Emily Blunt – The Girl On The Train
Viola Davis – Fences
Emma Stone – La La Land
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins

Replaced Chastain with Blunt.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Dave Franco – The Masterpiece
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nocturnal Animals
Armie Hammer – The Birth Of A Nation
Steve Martin – Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Liam Neeson – Silence

Replaced Bruhl and Offerman with Gyllenhaal and Hammer. I think Liam Neeson might be the most secure prediction of the four acting categories.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Haley Bennett – The Girl On The Train
Laura Dern – The Founder
Kristen Stewart – Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Rachel Weisz – The Light Between Oceans
Michelle Williams – Manchester By The Sea

Replaced Linney with Williams. For a while, I had Linney as my winner, but then I saw the trailer for Sully. Way to waste a great actress by forcing her into such a stock role. In fact, it seems oddly reminiscent of when she parodied this kind of role. I ultimately went with Stewart simply because she seems the most likely to be nominated.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Birth Of A Nation
The Founder
La La Land
Loving
Zootopia

I’m really not sure what to make of this category. For the longest time, I had The Founder as my winner, but then I started to doubt it. I was pretty much just saying they would win because the last two winners of this category starred Michael Keaton… even though he doesn’t have anything to do with the writing process.

I eventually settled on La La Land, figuring that the film is gonna be a big deal and they’ll probably want it to win in a major category. But when was the last time a musical won Screenplay?

Also, I seriously considered predicting Zootopia but I ultimately decided I didn’t want to jinx anything.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Fences
The Masterpiece
Nocturnal Animals
Silence

Replaced The Zookeeper’s Wife with Nocturnal Animals.

BEST FILM EDITING

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
The Birth Of A Nation
La La Land
Silence
Sully

Replaced The Zookeeper’s Wife with La La Land.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Arrival
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
The Birth Of A Nation
The Jungle Book
Silence

So, it looks like Story Of Your Life has officially changed it’s name to The Arrival. Outside of that, no change.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

The BFG
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
The Birth Of A Nation
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
Silence

I replaced Hail, Caesar! and The Zookeeper’s Wife with The BFG and Billy Lynn.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Alice Through The Looking Glass
The Birth Of A Nation
Hail, Caesar!
How To Talk To Girls At Parties
La La Land

Replaced The Zookeeper’s Wife with La La Land and made that my winner.

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them
Silence
Suicide Squad

No change.

BEST  VISUAL EFFECTS

The Arrival
The BFG
Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them
The Jungle Book
Star Wars: Rogue One

No change.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Arrival
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
The BFG
Finding Dory
The Jungle Book

Replaced The Zookeeper’s Wife with Finding Dory.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Can’t Stop The Feeling” – Trolls
“Drive It like You Stole It” – Sing Street
“???” – La La Land
“???” – Moana
“Try Everything” – Zootopia

Turns out “Unforgettable” isn’t an original song. So I replaced it with “Can’t Stop The Feeling”

BEST SOUND EDITING

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
The Jungle Book
Star Wars: Rogue One
Sully
Zootopia

No change.

BEST SOUND MIXING

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
The Jungle Book
La La Land
Silence
Sully

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

April & The Extraordinary World
Finding Dory
Kubo & The Two Strings
Moana
Zootopia

No change. As I write this, I’m currently on my fifth viewing of Zootopia. Can we all agree that the winner in this category is 100% locked up?

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Belgica
It’s Only The End Of The World
Perfect Strangers
The Salesman
Sand Storm

Yeah, I’m gonna start predicting this category despite the fact that it’s all guesswork. Also, Xavier Dolan deserves an Oscar, and I think a certain blogger I know would agree.