by Jeremy Pierce

This coming Sunday is the 90th annual Academy Awards, the Oscars. 2017 was a phenomenal year for film. From the critically acclaimed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, to the shockingly powerful Get Out, there was something for everyone. Here, I’ll be giving you my thoughts on some of the nominees; who should win, and, who will win.

Best Original Score

• Dunkirk – Hans Zimmer
• Phantom Thread – Jonny Greenwood
• The Shape of Water – Alexandre Desplat
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi – John Williams
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Carter Burwell

Who Should Win: Hans Zimmer, Hans Zimmer is a master of his craft. He is thoroughly known for putting out some scores, with the only other well-known, mainstream name being John Williams. It’s no surprise that he’s nominated for doing the score for a Star Wars film.

Who Will Win: Hans Zimmer

Best Original Song

• “Mighty River” from Mudbound – Music and Lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiqand Taura Stinson
• “Mystery of Love” from Call Me by Your Name – Music and Lyrics by Sufjan Stevens
• “Remember Me” from Coco – Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
• “Stand Up for Something” from Marshall – Music by Diane Warren; Lyrics by Common and Diane Warren
• “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman – Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

What Should Win: “This Is Me”, This song is fantastic. I honestly don’t believe that any other song in this category fully encompasses its respective film like This Is Me.

What Will Win: “This Is Me”

Best Animated Feature Film

• The Boss Baby – Tom McGrath and Ramsey Ann Naito
• The Breadwinner – Nora Twomey and Anthony Leo
• Coco – Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson
• Ferdinand – Carlos Saldanha
• Loving Vincent – Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan Mactaggart

What Should Win: Coco, Coco was the highlight of a very low year for animated films. Coco was the stand out. Some of the other films weren’t highly viewed but probably just as good as Coco.

What Will Win: Coco

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Call Me by Your Name – James Ivory based on the novel by André Aciman
• The Disaster Artist – Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber based on the book by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell
• Logan – Screenplay by Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael Green; Story by James Mangold based on characters from the X-Men comic books and theatrical motion pictures
• Molly’s Game – Aaron Sorkin based on the memoir by Molly Bloom
• Mudbound – Virgil Williams and Dee Rees based on the novel by Hillary Jordan

What Should Win: Logan, Logan is the only film up here that really isn’t an “Oscar” film and that’s why it should in. The Academy talks about being different and all-inclusive and this could be the chance for them to do it.

What Will Win: The Disaster Artist, This is too perfect of an opportunity to pass. Tommy Wiseau will be at the Academy Awards and he will win. That makes for glorious TV.

Best Original Screenplay

• The Big Sick – Written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
• Get Out – Written by Jordan Peele
• Lady Bird – Written by Greta Gerwig
• The Shape of Water – Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor; Story by Guillermo del Toro
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Written by Martin McDonagh

What Should Win: Get Out, The writing for Get Out is top notch. It’s biting. It’s funny. It’s tight. It’s clever. Get Out combines everything you’re looking for from a writer. Take into account that Jordan Peele is known also for comedy, which makes the script even more outstanding.

What Will Win: Get Out

Best Supporting Actress

• Mary J. Blige – Mudbound as Florence Jackson
• Allison Janney – I, Tonya as LaVona Golden
• Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread as Cyril Woodcock
• Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird as Marion McPherson
• Octavia Spencer – The Shape of Water as Zelda Delilah Fuller

Who Should Win: Mary J. Blige, The newcomer should win. Mary is extremely powerful in her role as Florence Jackson. This would also be a first and a major coup for Netflix if Mary can put this in the bag.

Who Will Win: Allison Janney, Allison has been the frontrunner and she should be. You can make the argument that she outshines Margot Robbie, and she’s the lead. Allison isn’t a lock, but she’s a close lock.

Best Supporting Actor

• Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project as Bobby Hicks
• Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as Chief Bill Willoughby
• Richard Jenkins – The Shape of Water as Giles
• Christopher Plummer – All the Money in the World as J. Paul Getty
• Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as Officer Jason Dixon

Who Should Win: Sam Rockwell, This is a toss-up between any of these five men, but this is a Three Billboards year and Sam will most likely take this home. His character goes through such a wide range of emotions, Sam does an amazing job portraying them.

Who Will Win: Sam Rockwell, but don’t be surprised if Christopher Plummer wins. The Academy does love those Brits.

Best Actress

• Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water as Elisa Esposito
• Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as Mildred Hayes
• Margot Robbie – I, Tonya as Tonya Harding
• Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson
• Meryl Streep – The Post as Katharine Graham

Who Should Win: Frances McDormand, This is pretty much a lock. Even with the flawless, matchless Meryl Streep being nominated, Frances McDormand is a lock. What she does on camera is simply a work of art. Lock it in.

Who Will Win: Did you not read the above sentences?

Best Actor

• Timothée Chalamet – Call Me by Your Name as Elio Perlman
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread as Reynolds Woodcock
• Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out as Chris Washington
• Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour as Winston Churchill
• Denzel Washington – Roman J. Israel, Esq. as Roman J. Israel

Who Should Win: Gary Oldman, I’d call this one a toss-up too, but Gary Oldman put on something fierce in the Darkest Hour. You could also make a case for Daniel Day-Lewis as this is his last film and he’s possibly the greatest actor of this generation and the next. Gary is taking this one home.

Who Will Win: Gary Oldman

Best Director

• Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk
• Jordan Peele – Get Out
• Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
• Paul Thomas Anderson – Phantom Thread
• Guillermo del Toro – The Shape of Water

Who Should Win: Jordan Peele, This might be the closest race in this category ever. Every single nominee is well deserving of the award. We know what del Toro, Anderson, and Nolan bring to the table. Gerwig and Peele are the wildcards. I think Peele wins here as he’s the outlier, the newcomer. The direction and visualization that Peele presents is really astounding.

Who Will Win: Guillermo del Toro, We know his work. We know what he does. del Toro is a master of his craft and it wouldn’t surprise me if he did win.

Best Picture

• Call Me by Your Name – Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, and Marco Morabito
• Darkest Hour – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten, and Douglas Urbanski
• Dunkirk – Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan
• Get Out – Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., and Jordan Peele
• Lady Bird – Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, and Evelyn O’Neill
• Phantom Thread – JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison and Daniel Lupi
• The Post – Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg, and Kristie Macosko Krieger
• The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and Martin McDonagh

What Should Win: Get Out, It’s the only non-Oscar movie nominated. Next to Three Billboards, and The Shape of Water, Get Out has been the most talked about film all year. It was the surprise hit of year. Jordan Peele and Blumhouse really created something special.

What Will Win: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, This is Three Billboards’ year. It has been an unstoppable force all throughout awards season and it’d be foolish to think that it’d stop now.