We're now less than a month out from the Oscars and, with the news of the nominations this week, it looks like La La Land is undoubtedly going to come away with something.
Nominated for a whopping fourteen awards - tying the record with James Cameron's Titanic and the 1950 classic All About Eve - La La Land is heavily favourited to win out on the night and possibly match or even top the record eleven Oscars.
Elsewhere, our own Ruth Negga and Consolata Byrne are nominated for Best Actress and Best Costume Design, whilst The Lobster nabbed a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination.
But how will it all shake out in the end? Here's our bullet-proof, guaranteed predictions for the Oscars next month. This year, we've gone with Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Director and Best Picture - but you can read the full nominations list right over here.
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
Denzel Washington (Fences)
The smart thing to do is to back either Casey Affleck and Ryan Gosling, if you're putting money down. Both won out in the Golden Globes and they're both the most likely winners. Viggo Mortensen is always a welcome addition to any voting category, as is Denzel Washington. Andrew Garfield, however, was an odd choice - particularly considering he was much, much better in Silence than he was in Hacksaw Ridge. Realistically, it'll probably end up going to Gosling over Affleck. La La Land's such a good-looking film with such likeable characters, it's hard for the Academy not to want to get a piece of that.
BEST ACTRESS
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Emma Stone (La La Land)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
The fact that a Paul Verhoeven film is in the awards discussion has us just tickled pink, to be honest. Isabelle Huppert is definitely least likely to win here, to be honest, as is Meryl Streep - who was clearly a gesture after the whole Golden Globes thing. Ruth Negga's the outside chance, could cause an upset and run away with it. Natalie Portman's performance in Jackie was particularly brilliant, and it's likely she's definitely high in the votes - but it's really Emma Stone's Oscar to lose. If Viola Davis was in this category, however, she'd have won it. Speaking of...
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis (Fences)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
Shut it down. Pack it up. Go home because Viola Davis has this locked down and they're already engraving her name on the plaque thing. Nicole Kidman has no business being in this category, to be honest, as Lion was a totally fine drama that would fly under the radar were it released any other time of year. The only person in this character who could challenge Viola Davis is maybe - maybe - Michelle Williams in Manchester By The Sea. It's a long shot, but just maybe.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Dev Patel (Lion)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)
This is a real horse race here between Jeff Bridges, Mahershala Ali and Michael Shannon, in our opinion. What this will come down to is the rejuvenated and more youth-skewed voting pools banding together to get Mahershala Ali the win than anything else. Jeff Bridges is always a safe bet in any category - this being no different - but the addition of the excellent Michael Shannon is muddying the waters somewhat. Voters will just see two white dudes in stetsons and not be able to tell the difference. Our guess? Mahershala Ali. He was great in House Of Cards, too, and like it or not, TV roles also factor in general awards season awareness.
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester By the Sea
Moonlight
This is a clear lock for La La Land, to be quite honest. In fact, don't be in the least bit surprised if La La Land breaks Return Of The King's record for biggest sweep on the night either. It's up for a number of technicals, including Sound Editing and Best Original Score, that it'll definitely win. It's also heartening to see Arrival, Hell Or High Water and Hacksaw Ridge getting a look in, although less heartening to see Nocturnal Animals conspicuously absent from just about every category.
