The red carpet rolls out tonight for Hollywood at the Dolby Theatre for this year’s Academy Awards, which has been anything but predictable. A 1930s Mississippi vampire horror film nabbed a record 16 nominations. A career-best Paul Thomas Anderson epic sent critics into a fever dream. A Norwegian family drama quietly broke hearts at the Cannes Film Festival before crossing the Atlantic and sweeping up precursor trophies. Whether the Academy agrees with us or not, here are The Hoya’s picks for the 98th Academy Awards. 

Best Picture

Paul Thomas Anderson’s decade-in-the-making film is a long and dizzying epic. Shot on VistaVision cameras, “One Battle After Another” is an action thriller that doubles as a reflection on revolutionary legacy. It is the kind of film that makes you remember why the big screen exists, winning The Hoya’s pick for best picture. 

Best Actor

Despite some stiff competition from Timothée Chalamet for his performance in “Marty Supreme,” Michael B. Jordan ekes out a winning vote for his dual-role performance as identical twins in vampire horror flick “Sinners.” Playing both the stoic Smoke and the charming Stack, Jordan brings enough specificity to each brother to make you forget that the same actor is filling both roles. 

Best Actress
After sweeping the Golden Globes, British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) and Screen Actors Guild awards, Jessie Buckley may be the most formidable best actress frontrunner in years. Her role as Agnes in “Hamnet” is raw and unforgettable, making her The Hoya’s pick for best actress. Honestly, her stature feels already set in stone. 

Best Director

Staging car chases on 1950s VistaVision technology, getting extraordinary performances from a massive ensemble and keeping a nearly three-hour thriller from ever losing momentum, Paul Thomas Anderson showcases his directorial mastery in peak form. The Hoya’s pick for best director is Anderson, who has outdone his competitors and even himself with this movie.

Best International Feature Film

Joachim Trier’s Cannes Grand Prix winner is a quiet film that sneaks up on you and doesn’t let go. Featuring two sisters reckoning with their estranged father after their mother’s death, “Sentimental Value” earned both a 19-minute standing ovation at Cannes and The Hoya’s pick for best international feature film. 

Best Animated Feature

The Hoya thinks that “KPop Demon Hunters” will go “Golden” at this year’s Academy Awards and win best animated feature. The film is visually electric, buzzy and filled with catchy music — exactly the kind of animated film that the Academy too often overlooks.  

Best Supporting Actress

Teyana Taylor has always had onscreen magnetism to spare, and as Perfidia Beverly Hills in “One Battle After Another,” she finally has a role to prove it. Playing a revolutionary, mother and overall force of nature, she steals the screen every time she is on it.  

Best Supporting Actor

Stellan Skarsgård’s performance as an estranged filmmaker father in “Sentimental Value” could have easily become a villainous one. Instead, he somehow finds every piece of humanity in the character, and wins The Hoya’s pick for best supporting actor for evoking decades of regret in small gestures. 

Best Original Song

More than a great song, “I Lied to You” from “Sinners” marks the moment the entire film cracks open. Performed live on screen with the full heat of a Mississippi juke joint filled to the brim before bleeding into a surreal montage tracing music through the centuries, “I Lied to You” wins The Hoya’s vote for best original song. 

Best Original Screenplay

Vampires as colonizers, a juke joint as sacred ground and blues music as the living soul of a community under attack — Ryan Coogler’s script for “Sinners” was truly revolutionary and something never seen before. It delivered on all fronts, making it The Hoya’s pick for best original screenplay. 

Best Adapted Screenplay

Paul Thomas Anderson spent years circling Pynchon’s “Vineland” before deciding the only way to adapt it faithfully was to make it his own. The resulting screenplay for “One Battle After Another” is anarchic, funny, politically alive and utterly distinctive. A Pynchon adaptation that actually works is an award-worthy feat, and it’s The Hoya’s pick for best adapted screenplay. 

Best Original Score

Complementing the film’s mesmerizing records, Ludwig Göransson’s score for “Sinners” pulls from historical music and traditional blues and turns them into something that perfectly embodies the film’s themes. The shift from twanging blues into growling metal as horror takes over is one of the great musical moments in recent cinema. Göransson is The Hoya’s pick for best original score.

Best Costume Design

Gothic ambition and meticulous period detail define the costume work in “Frankenstein,” with each piece of clothing a character wears a study in excellence and accuracy. This is exactly the kind of craftsmanship and achievement this category exists to celebrate, making it The Hoya’s pick for the category. 

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

If you’re making a “Frankenstein” film and don’t take this award home, something has gone terribly wrong. The transformations on display in “Frankenstein” are the work of artists at the very top of their field, making it The Hoya’s pick for best makeup and hairstyling.

Best Production Design

Three wins in The Hoya’s picks may feel like a clean sweep, but the production design on “Frankenstein” earns every inch of it, constructing a world of dread and wonder where the sets themselves become living masterpieces. 

Best Sound

You don’t need to follow Formula 1 to feel the visceral, chest-thumping sound design of “F1” in your sternum. The film was built for the theater experience, and its sound crew delivered. “F1” is The Hoya’s pick for best sound.

Best Film Editing

A nearly three-hour movie that never once feels its length, “One Battle After Another” sees Andy Jurgensen’s editing expertise at its finest, the prologue alone is a masterclass on how to pack maximum narrative into minimal screentime. It is The Hoya’s pick for best film editing. 

Best Cinematography

A rare tie from The Hoya’s staff, but we’re standing by it. Autumn Durald Arkapaw shot “Sinners” on 65mm cameras, capturing the Mississippi light rendered with the weight of history. Michael Bauman, meanwhile, pulled out 1950s VistaVision technology for “One Battle After Another” and made it thrive in the California desert.

Best Casting

From Michael B. Jordan playing opposite himself to Delroy Lindo’s perfect Delta bluesman and Miles Caton’s extraordinary film debut as Sammie, every role in “Sinners” feels owned rather than performed. It is The Hoya’s pick for best casting. 

Biggest Snubs

The Hoya found two genuine crimes of omission this year. “The Testament of Ann Lee” deserved a nomination in multiple categories and got none. And, while “Marty Supreme” earned Timothée Chalamet an acting nomination, the film’s score was inexplicably left off the shortlist entirely.