The 96th Academy Awards: Who Should Win (Part I)

On March 10, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will hold the 96th Academy Awards and reveal their selections for the best in film from the past year. In this article, I rank the contenders in each of the four acting races while delving into my take on the relative merit of the contenders.

To find out who I think should win in the other major categories — including Best Picture —click here to check out Part Two of this article

To find out who I think will win in all 23 categories, click here for my article previewing the ceremony.

Although I unabashedly adore the glitzy ceremony, behind-the-scenes drama, near-century of statistics and milestones, and flat-out fun of predicting the eventual winners, I care about the Oscars each year primarily because I love movies. I love watching movies, reflecting on movies, and debating the merits of movies. I believe that the art of filmmaking has shaped my life — and our culture — in profound ways.

Each year I make sure to see each film nominated in the “top eight” categories (Best Picture, Best Director, the four acting categories, and the two screenplay categories), along with as many of the others as I can squeeze in. Below, I rank the five nominees in each acting category from weakest to strongest based on my evaluation of the…