Tonight is the 93rd Annual Academy Awards, and it looks to be a big night for Nomadland and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. I wouldn’t be shocked if either Frances McDormand or Carey Mulligan win for Best Actress, though the favorite is Viola Davis in Ma Rainey; in a similar vein, in any other year, Anthony Hopkins would be a shoo-in for Best Actor for his devastating portrayal of a man suffering from dementia in The Father, but in one of the night’s preordained awards, that will obviously go to the late Chadwick Boseman, also of Ma Rainey. Other all-but-guaranteed wins include Sound of Metal for Best Sound (with the Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing awards helpfully combined into one category this year) and the delightful  Another Round for Best International Feature. Soul is the favorite–and my guess–for Best Animated Feature, but the beautiful Wolfwalkers is the dark horse raring for the upset. In upsets I am predicting, I think The Father wins for Best Adapted Screenplay over Nomadland and The Trial of the Chicago 7 wins for Best Editing over, well, any of the others in its category. Mank, which led all movies with 10 nominations, should only get one Oscar (Best Production Design), which, while I really like David Fincher, is what the movie deserves as it was a whole lot of dull nothing.

Anyway, with honorable mentions The Father and Wolfwalkers, here is a quick ranking of my favorite nominees of the year:

1. Onward
2. Another Round
3. My Octopus Teacher
4. Promising Young Woman
5. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Finally, here are all of my predictions for the 2021 Oscars:

Best Picture

• Mank
• Judas and the Black Messiah
• The Father
• Nomadland
• The Trial of the Chicago 7
• Minari
• Sound of Metal
• Promising Young Woman

Best Director

• Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
• Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
• Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
• David Fincher, Mank
• Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round

Best Actor in a Leading Role

• Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
• Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Anthony Hopkins, The Father
• Gary Oldman, Mank
• Steven Yeun, Minari

Best Actress in a Leading Role

• Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Andra Day, United States vs. Billie Holiday
• Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
• Frances McDormand, Nomadland
• Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

• Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
• Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
• Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami…
• Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
• LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
• Olivia Colman, The Father
• Amanda Seyfried, Mank
• Youn Yuh-Jung, Minari

Best Original Screenplay

• Will Berson and Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah
• Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
• Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
• Darius Marder and Abraham Marder, Sound of Metal
• Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Sacha Baron Cohen et al, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller, The Father
• Kemp Powers, One Night in Miami…
• Ramin Bahrani, The White Tiger
• Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Cinematography

• Judas and the Black Messiah
• Mank
• News of the World
• Nomadland
• The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Film Editing

• The Father
• Nomadland
• Promising Young Woman
• Sound of Metal
• The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Animated Feature Film

• Onward
• Over the Moon
• A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
• Soul
• Wolfwalkers

Best Animated Short Film

• Burrow
• Genius Loci
• If Anything Happens I Love You
• Opera
• Yes-People

Best Live-Action Short Film

• Feeling Through
• The Letter Room
• The Present
• Two Distant Strangers
• White Eye

Best Production Design

• The Father
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Mank
• News of the World
• Tenet

Best Costume Design

• Emma
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Mank
• Mulan
• Pinocchio

Best Documentary Feature

• Collective
• Crip Camp
• The Mole Agent
• My Octopus Teacher
• Time

Best Documentary Short Subject

• Collette
• A Concerto is a Conversation
• Do Not Split
• Hunger Ward
• A Love Song for Latasha

Best Sound

• Greyhound
• Mank
• News of the World
• Soul
• Sound of Metal

Best Visual Effects

• Love and Monsters
• The Midnight Sky
• Mulan
• The One and Only Ivan
• Tenet

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• Emma
• Hillbilly Elegy
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• Mank
• Pinocchio

Best International Feature Film

• Another Round
• Better Days
• Collective
• The Man Who Sold His Skin
• Quo Vadis, Aida

Best Original Score

• Da 5 Bloods
• Mank
• Minari
• News of the World
• Soul

Best Original Song

• “Fight for You,” from Judas and the Black Messiah
• “Hear My Voice,” from The Trial of the Chicago 7
• “Husavik,” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
• “Io Sì (Seen),” from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)
• “Speak Now,” from One Night in Miami…

–FLIPP