This is a very, very close race, as is Best Picture. And while trying to figure out what film will win is certainly frustrating, I for one am glad that the race is hard to figure out. We wouldn’t want the Oscars to be anticlimactic.

5th Most Likely To Win: Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher

Apparently, Bennett Miller campaigned hard for this nomination, and that’s the reason why it happened. But it’s a simple fact that no director has ever won this award without their film receiving a Best Picture nomination. And I have no reason to believe that Bennett Miller will be the exception to the rule.

4th Most Likely To Win: Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game

Clearly the film has support, but the direction is not very noticeable in this film, and I highly doubt that people will want to vote for his direction over some of the other nominees. Plus, the film hasn’t won a whole lot of awards, so I can’t imagine how this could win.

3rd Most Likely To Win: Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel

This film has so much love, and Wes Anderson’s style is all over it. This will most definitely get some votes. But I seriously doubt that it’ll get enough votes to pull off a win. But the Academy has proven that they love Wes Anderson, and if his next film is seriously making a statement about something, then expect it to be Anderson’s ticket to an Oscar.

2nd Most Likely To Win: Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Now, the Globe Win and the BAFTA Win helps to put things in Linklater’s favor, as well as the extraordinary reviews that the film has been getting. This could very easily be our winner. And it wouldn’t be entirely undeserving. But the fact is, the direction in the film isn’t all that noticeable, and Linklater failed to win the DGA. With that said…

MY PREDICTED WINNER: Alejandro G. Inarritu for Birdman

Whether or not Birdman wins Best Picture, I have a feeling that the winner will be Alejandro G. Inarritu (Let’s hope John Travolta doesn’t announce this category.) My main reason for saying that is the DGA win. The DGA has very seldom been wrong in this category. Plus, Inarritu is Mexican, and the Academy might not be able to resist the idea of having more diversity in the list of Best Director winners. Oh, and the direction is, in my opinion, the most deserving of all the nominees. For those reasons, Inarritu is my vote.

My Personal Ranking Of The Nominations

1.) Inarritu
2.) Linklater
3.) Tyldum
4.) Anderson
5.) Miller