2018 Oscar predictions: Who should and will win each category?

Awards season is here and with the 90th Academy Awards just around the corner, critics and major media outlets have been weighing in on their predictions. Every year there’s always controversial snubs and surprises, but the range of film is wider this year. The most gratifying and recognized nomination was Greta Gerwig for her solo directional debut, Lady Bird. Natalie Portman called out the lack of female nominees while presenting at the Golden Globes saying “Here are the all-male nominees”.  Gerwig  becomes the fifth woman nominated for Best Director. (If Lady Bird wins, she becomes the second female ever to win this category since 2010 Kathryn Bigelow). 

Some other big nominations are Guillermo del Toro’s Toronto-made The Shape of Water leading with 13 nominations including Best Picture, Sally Hawkins for Lead Actress, and Octavia Spencer for Supporting Actress.  TIFF’17 People’s Choice Award film winner, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri gets seven nominations including Best Picture, and Frances McDormand for Lead Actress just to name a few.

Director Jordan Peele’s is nominated for the first time ever for his feature “Get Out” for Best Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay. The star of the horror satire Daniel Kaluuya is also nominated for Best actor .

When it comes to award shows and predictions, we’re all guilty of being a pundit especially with the Academy Awards. Here are our best guesses of who will most likely win and our opinions of who should win for the major categories.

Best Picture:
“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Who will win: Based on major critics, the frontrunners for this category are Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Shape of Water and Get Out. It’s looking like The Shape of Water will take this one home. Nicholas Barber from BBC weighs in on how The Shape of Water is “More diverse and inclusive than any of the other best picture nominees, the film doesn’t just rail against sexism, racism and homophobia, it argues that they are all symptoms of the same patriarchal disease – a disease which all voiceless and oppressed people should defeat together.”  

Read the full article here

Who should win: Three Billboards of Ebbing, Missouri.  As we quoted in our review the film is a perfect example of how to make a great dark comedy, and also portrays social issues that are relevant to current events, such as police brutality.

Lead Actor:
Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

Who will win: Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour. Jacob Sarkisian from Golden Derby says Oldman will win because Oldman is playing a real person: Britain’s iconic WWII Prime Minister. Six of the last 10 Best Actor champs have won for portraying a real-life figure. And he gives a transformative performance, in voice, body language and looks – you can’t tell its Oldman. 

Read the full article here

Who should win:  I personally think Timothée Chalamet should win this category. He is one of the youngest actors to ever be nominated for this category, but have you seen his performance ?! The final shot stays with you for days after watching the film. There are four minutes without a single word, but you feel the pain and suffering and the feelings of his character Elio that we all lived in life at least once.

Lead Actress:
Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep, “The Post”

Who will win: Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I think every critic weighed in on this one.

Who should win: Margot Robbie for “I, Tonya”. The transformation she went through, and I had the honour to chat with her about this role during TIFF17, and listening to how passionate she was about this role, I’d just love to see her win.

Supporting Actor:
Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”
Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Who will win: Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. This has been the talk since the film first debuted at TIFF17. Consequences of sound quotes his role in the film embellishes his strongest qualities as an actor.

Read the full article here

Who should win:  Sam Rockwell. He’s always been underrated to me, and he finally deserves his time to shine.

Supporting Actress:
Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”

Who will win: Allison Janney for “I, Tonya”. She did win the Golden Globe for this category. Emma Dibin from Harper’s Baazar quotes Though her performance as Tonya Harding’s prickly, abusive mother isn’t her most subtle work—and as mothers go, it’s arguably a less meaty role than either Laurie Metcalfe’s in Lady Bird or Mary J. Blige’s in Mudbound—it’s hard to argue with the industry’s goodwill for Janney.”.

Read the full article here.

Who should win: Allison Janney. I absolutely loved her performance as Tonya Harding’s mother.

Director:
“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
“Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro

Who will win: The two frontrunners are Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water and Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. Variety has been praising Dunkirk for this category “Dunkirk received eight Oscar nominations in total, the majority of them throughout the Academy’s various craft categories. It’s a particularly strong contender in the cinematography, sound editing and sound mixing races, three awards that, incidentally, went to “Inception” in its year.” But I think The Shape of Water will take this home.

Who should win: Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird. We need more female director recognition out here.

Adapted Screenplay:
“Call Me by Your Name,” James Ivory
“The Disaster Artist,” Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
“Logan,” Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green
“Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin
“Mudbound,” Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

Who will win: James Ivory’s Call Me by Your Name. Aaron Gray from Sports Betting Dime weighs in “Ivory specifically engineered the script to reach a broader audience, altering perspective, pushing back time, and redacting significant events in the book that would have limited its scope.”

Read the full article here

Who should win: 100% agree with this category. But I did really enjoy Molly’s Game as well.

Original Screenplay:
“The Big Sick,” Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh

Who will win: This is a tough one, the two frontrunners are Get Out or Lady Bird. But I think Lady Bird will win this one.

Who should win: This is also a very close one for me but I personally think Get Out should win. Peele created a really deeply political film that makes us think about the racial divide even to this day.

Original Song:
“Mighty River” from “Mudbound,” Mary J. Blige
“Mystery of Love” from “Call Me by Your Name,” Sufjan Stevens
“Remember Me” from “Coco,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
“Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall,” Diane Warren, Common
“This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” Justin Paul, Benj Pasek, Keala Seattle

Who will win: Remember Me from Coco, the song that celebrates Mexican Culture that’s under attack.

Who should win: THIS IS ME- The Greatest Showman. How does one not download the whole soundtrack after watching this film? This song is so catchy and all about empowerment.  It was No.1 for four weeks on the Billboard 200 for a reason. (We are super excited about Keala Settle’s performance of “This is Me” at The Oscars)

Watch the Academy Awards air live at 8 PM ET on Sunday, March 4, 2018 on ABC.