The Oscars. The Big Leagues. The Academy Awards. It goes by many names and hosted iconic moments in award history, even Will Smith’s notorious slap! Every year in January, the lives of actors, directors, producers, composers, and singers change for the better. They go from good to great, from regular actors to Academy Award nominees or even winners! But this year, for the first time in 86 years, it’s different. Sixteen actors or actresses received their first Oscar nominations this year. In the pool of actor/actress nominees, only Cate Blanchett, Michelle Williams, Angela Basset, and Judd Hirsch had previously been nominated!

My favorite thing to do during this time is to critique the nomination choices and predict the outcome of each category. So, without further ago, let’s get into Best Actor and Actress in a leading role. No surprise that Austin Butler, Collin Farrel, and Brendan Fraser were nominated, but the only nominee I was surprised to see was Paul Mescal for Aftersun since he was only nominated for a Critics Choice. My vote is for Brendan Fraser or Austin Butler. For Actress in a Leading Role, the most surprising nominations were from everyone except Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh. The frustration surrounding this category is that Andrea Riseborough, who many people didn’t hear of until a group of A-list celebs randomly screened her film and campaigned for her, was nominated. This uproar of noise also lashes against Ana De Armas, who portrayed a very upsetting and controversial Mariyln Monroe, and Michelle Williams, who played a supporting role and got nominated over Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler. It was a massive mistake by the Academy and one of the many controversies from this award season.

Another surprise was Brian Tyree Henry being nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Still, many viewer votes (including mine) are going to Ke Huy Quan, who had the biggest comeback story along with Brendan Fraser. The same “comeback story” ideology applies to the Best Supporting Actress Award, whose nomination pool included Stephanie Hsu and Angella Basset. And lastly, my Best Picture vote is taken by Everything Everywhere All At Once, although I could see any of these nominees taking this golden statue of honor home.

So, who will the Oscar go to? Will it go to the controversial Andrea Riseborough, who might not be considered after a thorough investigation of a potential violation of campaigning rules? Will there be an Everything Everywhere All At Once sweep for their ten nominated categories (11 nominations- 2 for Best Supporting Actress) like Parasite? We will see how it unfolds on March 12th at 7:00 pm central time!