With the nominations a mere hour away, I wanted to ensure that my favorite films and performances of the year received some love before the nominations obscure the year. After all, it becomes easier to love or hate some performances and achievements after they’ve been colored by an Oscar nomination or win. For many, we’ll call out their injustice, asking why they never received an Oscar nomination. Well, here are the performers, directors, writers, and films I would have picked if I had a ballot. I may expand on my list later, but for now, I wanted to show my actual nominees. The results are below.

AJ’s Personal Oscar Ballot for the 92nd Academy Awards

Best Picture

1. Parasite

2. The Irishman

3. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

4. 1917

5. Little Women

6. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

7. The Lighthouse

8. The Farewell

9. Us

10. Waves

Honorable Mention: Knives Out

Best Director

1. Bong Joon-ho – Parasite

2. Martin Scorsese – The Irishman

3. Sam Mendes – 1917

4. Céline Sciamma – Portrait of a Woman on Fire

5. Greta Gerwig – Little Women

Honorable Mention: Marielle Heller – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Best Actress

1. Lupita Nyong’o – Us

2. Alfre Woodard – Clemency

3. Awkawfina – The Farewell

4. Saorise Ronan – Little Women

5. Aisling Franciosi – The Nightengale

Honorable Mention: Ana de Armas – Knives Out

Best Actor

1. Antonio Banderas – Pain & Glory

2. Robert Pattinson – The Lighthouse

3. Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood

4. Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood

5. Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems

Honorable Mention: Robert De Niro – The Irishman

Best Supporting Actress

1. Zhao Shuzen – The Farewell

2. Taylor Russell – Waves

3. Cho Yeo-Jeong – Parasite

4. Park So-dam – Parasite

5. Jennifer Lopez – Hustlers

Honorable Mention – Billie Lourde – Booksmart

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

1. Willem Dafoe – The Lighthouse

2. Joe Pesci – The Irishman

3. Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

4. Song Kang-ho – Parasite

5. Sterling K. Brown – Waves

Honorable Mention – Dean-Charles Chapman – 1917

Best Original Screenplay

1. Parasite

2. Pain & Glory

3. Knives Out

4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

5. The Lighthouse

Honorable Mention: Us

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2. The Farewell

3. Little Women

4. The Two Popes

5. The Irishman

Honorable Mention: Avengers: Endgame

Best Editing

1. Ford v Ferrari

2. Parasite

3. Uncut Gems

4. Us

5. Knives Out

Honorable Mention: Diego Maradona

Best Cinematography

1. 1917

2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

3. The Lighthouse

4. Little Women

5. Us

Honorable Mention: Honeyland

Best Production Design

1. Parasite

2. 1917

3. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

4. Knives Out

5. Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood

Honorable Mention: Little Women

Best Costume Design

1. Dolemite is My Name

2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

3. Us

4. Rocketman

5. Little Women

Honorable Mention: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Best Original Score

1. Little Women

2. 1917

3. Us

4. Ad Astra

5. Waves

Honorable Mention: The Farewell

Best Original Song

1. “Lost in the Woods” – Frozen II

2. “Into the Unknown” – Frozen II

3. “Catchy Song” – The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

4. “I’m Gonna Love Me Again” – Rocketman

5. “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” – Toy Story 4

Honorable Mention: “Do-Dilly-Do” – Missing Link

Best Sound Editing

1. 1917

2. Ford v Ferrari

3. Us

4. The Lighthouse

5. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parrabellum

Honorable Mention: The Irishman

Best Sound Mixing

1. 1917

2. Ford v Ferrari

3. Us

4. Rocketman

5. Waves

Honorable Mention: Parasite

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

1. Captain Marvel

2. Rocketman

3. Us

4. Dolemite is My Name

5. The Lighthouse

Honorable Mention: Bombshell

Best Visual Effects

1. Ad Astra

2. The Lion King

3. 1917

4. Missing Link

5. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Honorable Mention: Ford v Ferrari

Best Animated Feature

1. Missing Link

2. I Lost My Body

3. Toy Story 4

4. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

5. Frozen II

Honorable Mention: Klaus

Best Documentary Feature

1. Honeyland

2. For Sama

3. Apollo 11

4. Cold Case Hammarskjold

5. Diego Maradona

Honorable Mention: Sea of Shadows

Best Internation/Foreign Language Feature

1. Parasite

2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

3. Pain & Glory

4. Honeyland

5. For Sama

Honorable Mention: I Lost My Body

Oscar Shortlists

For Oscar, some categories are constrained by a shortlist. This helps the branch focus in on some potential nominees, while excluding others from a nomination. The nominations listed above were my blue sky picks for the year, but for the shortlist categories, I’ll pick my nominees below.

Documentary Feature

1. Honeyland

2. For Sama

3. Apollo 11

4. American Factory

5. One Child Nation

Honorable Mention: The Edge of Democracy

Best International Feature Film

1. Parasite

2. Pain & Glory

3. Honeyland

4. Those Who Remained

5. Atlantics

Honorable Mention: Beanpole