If I Had An Oscar Ballot...

... it would look something like this. Please keep in mind that while I loved certain movies like Long Shot and Glass, which are among my Top 20 movies of 2019, it would be hard to vote for either of them for Best Picture. These have to be somewhat REALISTIC choices, otherwise there would be no point to this exercise. Also of note: I haven't seen films such as Diane, Pain and Glory or The Souvenir, and I have abstained from voting in categories of which I am ill-informed, like the sound and short film categories, or which I haven't seen enough contenders from, such as the Animated Feature race. Feel free to show off your own Oscar ballot in the comments section below, and thanks in advance for reading. I hope you enjoy my nominees.

Important Note: An asterisk (*) denotes my vote to WIN.

BEST PICTURE

The Farewell
Ford v Ferrari
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Judy
Marriage Story*
The Nightingale
The Peanut Butter Falcon
The Two Popes
Wild Rose

Note: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was the last film cut from my 10-picture lineup and as strange as it feels to leave Quentin's latest off my list, I don't know what I'd remove in its place. You'll tell me that films like Judy and Joker and even Wild Rose are more about the brilliant performances at their core, but I think you'd be wrong to overlook the magic that exists in all of those films... all of which stick the landing at the end, ahem. The Irishman, for me, was not a top-tier Scorsese movie, and I didn't care for Knives Out or Bombshell... sorry, Lionsgate. Parasite was very good, but I had problems with the ending, and I liked Sony's Little Women, but didn't love it or anything. WB's contenders Richard Jewell and Just Mercy were both very good, as were Universal's more dynamic duo, 1917 and Queen & Slim, but I'd be very happy if the 10 films listed above were the actual Best Picture nominees. Each one is deserving of a nomination on its own merits, and The Peanut Butter Falcon is the indie story of the year along with The Farewell. So why Marriage Story? It just felt the most human, strangely enough. I even felt a little guilty naming it my #1 movie of 2019, as it truly demands a second viewing, but if not that film, I'm not sure what I'd feel comfortable assigning that lofty title. Marriage Story just hit me like a punch in the gut at the end, and for that reason, I'm giving it the win this year.

BEST DIRECTOR

Jennifer Kent, The Nightingale
James Mangold, Ford v Ferrari
Todd Phillips, Joker*
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit

Note: There's no doubt that Tarantino deserved the Best Director Oscar at some point in his career, but I just can't say he deserves it for this particular film, even if he does end up winning, like Scorsese ultimately did for The Departed. Marty, you'll notice, isn't here, since The Irishman felt like a somber imitation of his past glory days. Instead, Taika gets a nod for his wildly inventive work on Jojo Rabbit, which was no easy feat, let me tell you. Mangold delivered another mainstream home run with Ford v Ferrari, while Kent impressed the hell out of me with the rape-revenge tale The Nightingale, which shows off her filmmaking prowess way better than the overrated Babadook ever did. Trust me. But in the end, Todd Phillips shocked the industry with his billion-dollar crime drama masquerading as a comic book movie. Joker is the film that best summed up 2019, and one that people will be returning to for years -- for reasons both noble and worrisome.

BEST ACTOR

Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Paul Walter Hauser, Richard Jewell
Mads Mikkelsen, Arctic
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker*

Note: Did anyone see Mads Mikkelsen in Arctic? If that was Tom Cruise, there'd be a four-month Oscar campaign for that film! He was incredible. And so was Paul Walter Hauser in Richard Jewell, because it's actually hard to play a person of lesser intelligence -- not to say that Jewell was dumb, because he obviously had great instincts, but the film makes him out to be a bit of a doofus, and I'm telling you, it's not easy to pull that off and still earn the audience's sympathy and respect. Anyway, they were both very good, and so was Leo, like always. But this is a race between Phoenix and Driver, and after several viewings, I feel comfortable calling Joaquin's turn in Joker as the performance of the year. All due respect to Driver, who will win an Oscar one day -- but it will be for Best Supporting Actor. Joaquin just goes to The Next Level as Arthur Fleck, and for that, he must be rewarded.

BEST ACTRESS

Jillian Bell, Brittany Runs a Marathon
Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose
Aisling Franciosi, The Nightingale
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Renee Zellweger, Judy*

Note: I keep reading about how it was a rough year for the Best Actress category and how there weren't a lot of great performances to choose from. Um, bullshit. I couldn't even get Jodie Turner-Smith on this list. Or Awkwafina. Or Felicity Jones, who was great in The Aeronauts. Or Mary Kay Place, or Julianne Moore -- though in their cases, I simply haven't seen their films. Franciosi was like a woman possessed in The Nightingale, forced to suffer indignities that no person ever should, and absolutely crushing the opportunity that Jennifer Kent gave her. The same goes for Buckley's star-making turn in Wild Rose, which capped a breakout year for the actress. And Jillian Bell showed that she can be a dramatic force to be reckoned with in the hugely appealing Brittany Runs a Marathon, which was all too under-appreciated this year. But again, like Best Actor, this is a two-horse race, and it's between Renee and Scarlett. Scarlett has never been nominated before, which is bonkers, and she's excellent in Marriage Story (and Jojo Rabbit, too), but Zellweger gamely inhabits the role of Judy Garland. It's spooky. And she's excellent in the part, even (or especially) to a non-Garland fan like myself. Well, consider me a convert and make room on the Zellweger bandwagon, because I think her performance is, like Joaquin's, simply undeniable.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Baykali Ganambarr, The Nightingale
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anupam Kher, Hotel Mumbai
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood*
Sam Rockwell, Richard Jewell

Note: The fact that no one is talking about Ganambarr or Kher is a sad comment on how few people actually pay attention, or know what to look for in a great performance. Baykali's work in The Nightingale is absolutely incredible, yet because that film wasn't distributed by a major studio like, say, Captain Phillips, he'll never get a chance from awards bloggers to be the next Barkhad Abdi. Anyway, they're both on here for me, and so is Sam Rockwell -- but not for Jojo Rabbit! C'mon... I loved that movie, but he gives, like, the fourth-best performance... maybe even fifth. But in Richard Jewell, he was perfect as the security guard's indignant lawyer. Rockwell played the part just right, and he's quickly becoming one of my favorite actors, if he wasn't already. It hurt to leave Joe Pesci off this list but none of the performances in The Irishman represented career-bests for anyone outside of maybe Sebastian Maniscalco. And while neither Brad Pitt nor Tom Hanks deliver career-best work of their own, both were wonderful in their own way this year. Pitt just makes it seem effortless though, and that's the difference. Maybe Mister Rogers should've had a shirtless scene on a rooftop. Pitt will coast to his first Oscar win as an actor, you can count on it.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers*
Thomasin McKenzie, Jojo Rabbit
June Diane Raphael, Long Shot
Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell

Note: Everyone is just assuming that Laura Dern has this award locked up, but the Academy loves "flashy" when it comes to Supporting Winners, and Lopez certainly leaves it all out on the field, er, stage. She just takes command of the movie and plays on her own image to wondrous effect. Dern is great in Marriage Story -- and Little Women -- but if she winds up winning an Oscar instead of either of Baumbach's two leads, that just wouldn't seem right to me. The Academy loves an upset, and so do I. I also like to spread the love, so as much as I liked ScarJo's work in Jojo Rabbit, I can't make her a dual nominee over acknowledging the excellent work that young McKenzie does as the protagonist's Jewish house guest. I also thought that Zhao Shuzhen was the key ingredient to The Farewell working as well as it did. Her Nai Nai was the grandmother everyone would like to have. Which left one spot. And as good as I thought that everyone was in Parasite, and as great as I thought Nicole Kidman was in Bombshell -- sorry x2 Margot Robbie! --I had to go with my gut and honor the brilliant comedic performance that Raphael gives as Charlize Theron's chief of staff in Long Shot. There's are many reasons why some people truly loved that movie, and one has to be the strength of its supporting ensemble, because even if you don't totally believe the concept of a Rogen-Theron romance, they keep you invested in it. Raphael delivers each line with an acid-tongue, and you can just see her sink her teeth into a juicy role and make a meal of the damn thing. The whole point of working in entertainment media is to shine a light on the unseen, and I thought her work was been unfairly overlooked this season by Oscar bloggers who rarely give comedies their awards due.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Farewell
Marriage Story*
The Nightingale
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

Note: What is there to say? Marriage Story just knocks the wind out of you. It hits you, and it hurts. It hurts good. I love Tarantino's style, but the script is a shaggy dog that goes off the rails in the final turn. The same goes for Parasite. Lulu Wang would be an awful nice surprise, though to me, it feels like the nomination is the win there.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Ford v Ferrari
Jojo Rabbit*
Joker
The Two Popes

Note: This is a hell of a list. The Two Popes was a movie I had to force myself to watch, and it was absolutely delightful. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood started out as one thing and became something totally different, and something beautiful. Ford v Ferrari was just pure, old-school Hollywood entertainment at its finest, and Joker may be the film with more on its mind than any other this season. And yet, the winner to me has to be Jojo Rabbit, because it navigated such a fine line, and it does so with great humor and heart. I totally understand why it wasn't for some people... but I feel bad for those people.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Apollo 11
Cold Case Hammarskjold
Love, Antosha*
Scandalous
Where's My Roy Cohn 

Note: Eh, kind of a blow out for me, to be honest. This film just moved me. Anton Yelchin belonged to my generation. I watched him grow up. I probably teared up once during each of the other docs above, but Love, Antosha brought on the waterworks. They should've sold Kleenex with the popcorn. It just hit me hard. I interviewed Anton a couple of times, and thought he was a really bright, curious guy, who had interesting taste. The film is a love letter, sure, but it's beautifully composed. R.I.P.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE

The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil
Les Miserables
Parasite*
Birds of Passage
Portrait of a Lady

Note: Listen, The Platform was the best international film that I saw in 2019, but it doesn't hit Netflix until next year, which leaves Parasite as the default choice. I liked its chief competition, Les Miserables, which beat out Portrait of a Lady on Fire to represent France in this year's race, but to be honest, I preferred both Birds of Passage and The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil. Either way, with The Platform out of contention, Parasite seems to be the only choice given the foreign language films I saw in 2019.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1917*
Ad Astra

Joker
The Lighthouse
Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Note: I loved how the cinematography in Joker helped tell that story, and every other film on this list was gorgeous -- Ad Astra, Lighthouse, Portrait of a Lady, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous -- but this year, there's 1917 and everything else. All hail Roger Deakins! Wherever your light meter takes you, I shall follow.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Dolemite Is My Name
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood*
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Us

Note: First of all, people will be wearing the red jump suits from Us for the next two dozen Halloweens, and the same goes for Joker costumes. Some will go as Heath Ledger's Joker from the Dark Knight, and some weirdos will go as Jared Leto from Suicide Squad, but there will always be, from now until forever, people dressing up as Joaquin Phoenix from Joker. It's a now-iconic costume. But the cooler people will be dressed as Brad and Leo from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Champion has to be thanking Tarantino and Pitt for bringing back that brand and making it cool again, when the only time I've seen that logo the last 20 years has been on a pair of ratty old sweatpants. Once Upon a Time takes it for me, but only barely...

BEST EDITING

1917
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
Uncut Gems*
Us

Note: The action-heavy 1917 and Ford v Ferrari both exhibit exciting editing choices, and I was impressed by the editing of both Joker and Us as well, but this year, there was Uncut Gems and there was everything else. Editing is practically Adam Sandler's chief co-star. It may not be as tall as Kevin Garnett or as sparkly as a diamond-studded Furby, but as the saying goes, editing is like a character in the movie. It's essential to the lifeblood of Uncut Gems. That's why it gets my vote.

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

1917
The Aeronauts
Bombshell*
The Dead Don't Die
Joker

Note: I loved the zombie makeup in The Dead Don't Die, and makeup is, obviously, a big part of Joker. And when the frigid atmosphere begins to affect Eddie Redmayne in The Aeronauts? Great stuff. But turning Charlize Theron into Megyn Kelly, to the point where Kelly's own children were wondering what the hell is going on and who is who, that is some genius-level shit. I may not have loved Bombshell, but the makeup deserves an Oscar and then some! Maybe the most impressive feat of anyone in this piece other than Phoenix's performance.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

I Lost My Body
Joker*
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Motherless Brooklyn
Us

Note: It was a very good year for scores. The music in Us is unforgettable. Radiohead is my favorite band, so I'm partial to the sound of Motherless Brooklyn. I loved Dan Levy's work in the animated Netflix movie I Lost My Body, and in addition to beautiful cinematography, The Last Black Man in San Francisco also features a beautiful score. But Hildur Guonadottir's work in Joker is stunning, and to hear it independent of the film makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"I Punched Keanu Reeves," Always Be My Maybe
"Glasgow," Wild Rose*
"Daily Battles," Motherless Brooklyn

Note: To be honest, I'm not that familiar with this year's crop of original songs -- sorry Aladdin and Cats! -- but "Glasgow," which is the final song in Wild Rose, is a fantastic song that provides the perfect ending for the film. Like I said, I'm a huge Radiohead guy, so not voting for Thom Yorke feels somewhat sacrilegious, but Jessie Buckley will turn you into a country fan for life with that one song. Having said that, Randall Park, like Keanu Reeves, is the man, Oscar or no Oscar.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1917
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood*
Parasite

Note: I thought the house in Parasite was great, but in the end, The Tarantino takes this one in a landslide. It just nailed the period in meticulous detail. On a crafts level, it's all but untouchable. Which may, of course, be the difference in the real Best Picture race.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1917
Ford v Ferrari
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
Terminator: Dark Fate*

Note: This one is my craziest pick yet, but I truly loved the effects work in the new Terminator movie. It's hard putting a new spin on that stuff, but I thought Dark Fate managed to do just that and more. I loved the majestic images in the otherwise disappointing Godzilla movie, and 1917 and Ford v Ferrari were both classy affairs with convincing effects, but this was between Terminator and John Wick for me, and in the end, I had to go with Tim Miller and his madman producer James Cameron. Bless 'em both.

BEST ENSEMBLE (not an actual award)

The Farewell*
Jojo Rabbit
Late Night
Long Shot
Marriage Story

Note: Everyone in Marriage Story was great, and the same goes for Jojo Rabbit. Late Night and Long Shot are the kinds of movies whose ensembles are always overlooked when it comes to awards, but everyone is operating above their batting average in those films. Charlize Theron is, like, amazing in Long Shot, but people can't stop talking about her in Bombshell -- mostly, though not entirely, due to her transformation. Her performance itself is better in this goofy but sweet rom-com. Nor is Emma Thompson getting enough love for Late Night, despite a Golden Globe nomination. But The Farewell featured a special cast with special chemistry and that deserves to be recognized this awards season.

FINAL TALLY (out of 19):

Joker - 3 (Actor, Director, Original Score)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - 3 (Supporting Actor, Costume Design, Production Design)
Marriage Story - 2 (Picture, Original Screenplay)
1917 - 1 (Cinematography)
Bombshell - 1 (Makeup and Hairstyling)
The Farewell - 1 (Ensemble)
Hustlers - 1 (Supporting Actress)
Jojo Rabbit - 1 (Adapted Screenplay)
Judy - 1 (Actress)
Love, Antosha - 1 (Documentary Feature)
The Platform - 1 (International Feature)
Terminator: Dark Fate - 1 (Visual Effects)
Uncut Gems - 1 (Editing)
Wild Rose - 1 (Original Song)