Once again friends, here’s an opportunity for me to embarrass myself. Back at the start of last March, I posted my year in advance predictions for this Oscar season. As is always the case, these picks are never even close to accurate. One year, I managed to get about half of the ultimate Best Picture field, and that was pretty incredible. Two years ago, I got three of the Picture nominees correct. Last time out, it was only two (though one of my predictions was just a year early). This year…well, you’ll see what happened. Interestingly though, I mostly avoided being too far off in a number of categories once again. So, while it’s not a particularly great showing, it certainly could have been worse. Proof that if nothing else that I’m at least halfway decent at my job, right? What you’ll see below is just how on point (or off point) I was. To be fair, I did hit on a few solid predictions, and didn’t really wipe out in too many categories. I just usually do a bit better. Maybe chalk it up to how the Academy is evolving? Oscar voters seem to be split between old school and new school these days, which is why the race for Best Picture can be between 1917 and Parasite. It’s something I’m thinking about while preparing the next set of year in advance predictions (in a couple of weeks you’ll see those, though I probably will wait until after the Academy Awards go down), but it’s important to remember that at an early stage, it’s all just guesswork. This was my vaguely terrible first attempt this season at Academy Award predictions: BEST PICTURE 1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2. Knives Out 3. The Irishman 4. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 5. The Goldfinch 6. Untitled Roger Ailes Project 7. Rocketman 8. Lucy In The Sky 9. Harriet 10. The Report BEST DIRECTOR 1. Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2. Martin Scorsese – The Irishman 3. Rian Johnson – Knives Out 4. Marielle Heller – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 5. Jay Roach – Untitled Roger Ailes Project BEST ACTOR 1. Timothée Chalamet – The King 2. Adam Driver – The Report 3. Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 4. Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 5. Taron Egerton – Rocketman BEST ACTRESS 1. Cynthia Erivo – Harriet 2. Amy Adams – The Woman in the Window 3. Natalie Portman – Lucy In The Sky 4. Alfre [...]