Well, another Oscar season of blogging about my thoughts on the previous year in film is coming to a close, and as usual, I have enjoyed sharing my reviews of 2019’s most remarkable films and performances with all of you. In advance of tonight’s 92nd Academy Awards, I have posted this recap. Below you will find (1) my predictions for the Best Picture category, (2) my Top 10 Films of 2019, (3) my personal ballot for all categories in which I have seen each film/performance, and (4) a complete ranking of every film I saw from 2019.

With that said, check out my recap and then make sure to tune into the 92nd Academy Awards tonight at 7:00 p.m. (CST) on ABC, live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Enjoy, film fans.

Best Picture – Who Could, Should, and Will Take Home Film’s Biggest Award

Who Could Win: Parasite

The Best Picture race appears to be down to two films: 1917 and Parasite. Sam Mendes’s World War I film is currently the bookmakers’ favorite, garnering odds of -175, but Parasite is hanging close, drawing wonderful odds of +150. Last year, Roma was the favorite with -280 odds (better than 1917) and Green Book was a +300 underdog (worse odds than Parasite), and we all know how that one ended. Thus, Parasite has a real chance of upsetting 1917 this year.

Who Should Win: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or Parasite

As I have mentioned on various occasions, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a movie made for me. I loved every second of it, and I even ranked it as my second favorite film of the 2010s. Thus, if I could only vote for one movie to win Best Picture this year, I have to give Tarantino the nod. However, Parasite is my second favorite movie of 2019 (and my fifth favorite of the 2010s), so I wouldn’t be upset at all if its name is called for Best Picture – it would be a deserving award for an incredible film.

Who Will Win: Parasite

The odds are incredibly tight right now, but the betting lines slightly favor Sam Mendes’s 1917. However, I think the Academy is going to surprise us again this year by giving the award to Parasite, which would make Bong Joon-ho’s film the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture. Now I certainly think Mendes will beat out Bong in the Best Director category, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will snag Best Picture, too. In fact, in three of the last four years, the winners of Best Picture and Best Director have been for different films. My gut tells me that trend will continue this year.

Top 10 Films of 2019

1.	Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2.	Parasite
3.	Uncut Gems
4.	1917
5.	The Farewell
6.	Jojo Rabbit
7.	Midsommar
8.	Ford v Ferrari
9.	The Irishman
10.	Ready or Not

My Personal Ballot for the 92nd Academy Awards

Best Picture

1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2. Parasite
3. 1917
4. Jojo Rabbit
5. Ford v Ferrari
6. The Irishman
7. Joker
8. Little Women
9. Marriage Story

Best Actress

1. Renée Zellweger – Judy
2. Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story
3. Cynthia Erivo – Harriet
4. Saoirse Ronan – Little Women
5. Charlize Theron – Bombshell

Best Actor

1. Joaquin Phoenix – Joker
2. Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
3. Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory
4. Adam Driver – Marriage Story
5. Jonathan Pryce – The Two Popes

Best Supporting Actress

1. Scarlett Johansson – Jojo Rabbit
2. Laura Dern – Marriage Story
3. Florence Pugh – Little Women
4. Margot Robbie – Bombshell
5. Kathy Bates – Richard Jewell

Best Supporting Actor

1. Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2. Al Pacino – The Irishman
3. Joe Pesci – The Irishman
4. Anthony Hopkins – The Two Popes
5. Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Best Director

1. Bong Joon-ho – Parasite
2. Sam Mendes – 1917
3. Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4. Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
5. Todd Phillips – Joker

Best Original Screenplay

1. Once upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
2. Parasite – Bong Joon-ho
3. Knives Out – Rian Johnson
4. Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
5. 1917 – Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi (based on the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens)
2. The Irishman – Steven Zaillian (based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt)
3. Joker – Todd Phillips and Scott Silver (based on characters created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson)
4. The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten (based on his play The Pope)
5. Little Women – Greta Gerwig (based on the novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott)

Best Cinematography

1. 1917 – Roger Deakins
2. Joker – Lawrence Sher
3. The Lighthouse – Jarin Blaschke
4. Once upon a Time in Hollywood – Robert Richardson
5. The Irishman – Rodrigo Prieto

Best Original Score

1. Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir
2. 1917 – Thomas Newman
3. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – John Williams
4. Little Women – Alexandre Desplat
5. Marriage Story – Randy Newman

Best Documentary

1. For Sama
2. American Factory
3. The Edge of Democracy
4. Honeyland
5. The Cave

Best Sound Editing

1. Ford v Ferrari – Donald Sylvester
2. 1917 – Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
3. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Matthew Wood and David Acord
4. Once upon a Time in Hollywood – Wylie Stateman
5. Joker – Alan Robert Murray

Best Sound Mixing

1. Ford v Ferrari – Paul Massey, David Giammarco, and Steven A. Morrow
2. 1917 – Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
3. Ad Astra – Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, and Mark Ulano
4. Once upon a Time in Hollywood – Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler, and Mark Ulano
5. Joker – Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, and Tom Maitland

Best Production Design

1. Once upon a Time in Hollywood – Barbara Ling (Production Design) and Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)
2. 1917 – Dennis Gassner (Production Design) and Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)
3. Parasite – Lee Ha-jun (Production Design) and Cho Won-woo (Set Decoration)
4. Jojo Rabbit – Ra Vincent (Production Design) and Nora Sopková (Set Decoration)
5. The Irishman – Bob Shaw (Production Design) and Regina Graves (Set Decoration)

Best Costume Design

1. Once upon a Time in Hollywood – Arianne Phillips
2. Jojo Rabbit – Mayes C. Rubeo
3. Little Women – Jacqueline Durran
4. Joker – Mark Bridges
5. The Irishman – Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson

Best Film Editing

1. Parasite – Yang Jin-mo
2. Jojo Rabbit – Tom Eagles
3. Ford v Ferrari – Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker
4. The Irishman – Thelma Schoonmaker
5. Joker – Jeff Groth

Complete Ranking of Films Seen from 2019

1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2. Parasite
3. Uncut Gems
4. 1917
5. The Farewell
6. Jojo Rabbit
7. Midsommar
8. Ford v Ferrari
9. The Irishman
10. Ready or Not
11. Apollo 11
12. Joker
13. Dolemite Is My Name
14. Avengers: Endgame
15. High Flying Bird
16. For Sama
17. Ad Astra
18. Knives Out
19. Wild Rose
20. Booksmart
21. Pain and Glory
22. Little Women
23. Marriage Story
24. American Factory
25. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
26. The Two Popes
27. The Mustang
28. The Great Hack
29. Hustlers
30. Honey Boy
31. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
32. The Peanut Butter Falcon
33. The Edge of Democracy
34. Hail Satan?
35. High Life
36. Knock Down the House
37. The Legend of Cocaine Island
38. Under the Silver Lake
39. The Report
40. Fighting with My Family
41. One Child Nation
42. Queen and Slim
43. Us
44. Judy
45. Honeyland
46. The Lighthouse
47. Official Secrets
48. The Cave
49. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
50. Good Boys
51. Yesterday
52. Harriet
53. Skin
54. Bombshell
55. Richard Jewell
56. Leaving Neverland
57. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé
58. Captain Marvel
59. At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal
60. Hotel Mumbai
61. Game of Thrones: The Last Watch
62. The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
63. Fyre
64. The Souvenir
65. Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator
66. Fyre Fraud
67. Groupers
68. After