Another year, another set of Oscar predictions. All summer I didn’t think I would be up for predicting again. I think Birdman‘s win left a bitter taste in my mouth. Actually I do get a bit disheartened when any movie that gives nothing to really admire or appreciate wins Best Picture. These last few weeks, I’ve been accelerating in terms of my movie viewership. I even watch Bridge Of Spies coming home. Review coming soon. This is the third year I’m  doing the ‘laxed’ Oscar tracking while maintaining the same amount of enthusiasm. In addition to my ‘laxed’ Oscar tracking, I decided this year to only bother making nomination predictions for 14 categories instead of the whole thing because it’s easier and also there are contests that ask just for predictions for the Top 8 categories. I didn’t think the whole thing was worth it. So here are my predictions for the nominees:

BEST PICTURE:

• The Big Short
• Bridge Of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Room
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

BEST DIRECTOR:

• Todd Haynes,Carol
• Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
• Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
• Adam McKay,The Big Short
• Ridley Scott, The Martian

BEST ACTOR:

• Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
• Matt Damon, The Martian
• Leonardo Dicaprio, The Revenant
• Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

BEST ACTRESS:

• Cate Blanchett, Carol
• Brie Larson, Room
• Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
• Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
• Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

• Christian Bale, The Big Short
• Idris Elba,Beasts of No Nation
• Mark Rylance,Bridge of Spies
• Michael Shannon,99 Homes
• Sylvester Stallone, Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

• Jennifer Jason Leigh , The Hateful Eight
• Rooney Mara, Carol
• Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
• Helen Mirren , Trumbo
• Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

• Ethan Coen, Joel Coen & Matt Charman, Bridge of Spies
• Josh Cooley, Meg Lefauve & Pete Docter, Inside Out
• Alex Garland,Ex Machina
• Josh Singer & Thomas Mccarthy, Spotlight
• Quentin Tarantino,The Hateful Eight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

• Emma Donoghue, Room
• Adam McKay,The Big Short
• Alejandro González Iñárritu & Mark L. Smith, The Revenant
• Phyllis Nagy,Carol
• Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:

• Anomalisa
• The Good Dinosaur
• Inside Out
• The Peanuts Movie
• Shaun The Sheep Movie

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

• Amy
• Best of Enemies
• Cartel Land
• He Named Me Malala
• The Look of Silence

BEST FILM EDITING:

• Hank Corwin,The Big Short
• Tom McArdle,Spotlight
• Stephen Mirrione,The Revenant
• Pietro Scalia, The Martian
• Margaret Sixel,Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

• The Brand New Testament (Belgium)
• Embrace Of The Serpent (Columbia)
• Mustang (France)
• Son Of Saul (Hungary)
• Theeb (Jordan)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

• Carter Burwell, Carol
• Bryce Dessner, Carsten Nicolai & Ryuichi Sakamoto,The Revenant
• Johan Johannson,Sicario
• Ennio Morricone,The Hateful Eight
• John Williams,Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

• Jurassic World
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

MOST LIKELY UPSETTERS:

Here is where I predict who will most likely upset in my predictions for the nominees. I only predict in the ones I feel I can make a good judgment for an upsetter:

BEST PICTURE:

• The Hateful Eight
• Inside Out

BEST DIRECTOR:

• George Miller,Mad Max: Fury Road
• Steven Spielberg, Bridge of Spies

BEST ACTOR:

• Will Smith, Concussion
• Johnny Depp, Black Mass

BEST ACTRESS:

• Helen Mirren, Woman In Gold
• Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

• Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
• Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

• Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
• Jane Fonda, Youth

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

• Andrea Berloff & Jonathan Herman, Straight Outta Compton

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

• Drew Goddard, The Martian
• Nick Hornby,Brooklyn

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:

• Minions

BEST DOCUMENTARY:

• Where To Invade Next
• Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

BEST FILM EDITING:

• Michael Kahn, Bridge of Spies
• Alfonso Concalves, Carol

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

• The Fencer (Finland)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

• Thomas Newman, Bridge Of Spies
• Howard Shore, Spotlight

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

• Ex Machina
• The Walk

And there you have it. My predictions for the Academy Award nominees. The official results will be seen live Thursday at 5:30 Hollywood time. Did all that money on all those For Your Consideration ads pay off? We’ll see.