Hey! It’s Edge’s friendly neighborhood Co-Editor in Chief, Adam! The Oscars are almost upon us. The ceremony is coming up this Sunday night, so to prepare for the biggest awards show of the year, I thought it’d be fun to get some picks from the experts – well, sort of. I asked my mom and dad to give their picks for the major categories as they get out to the movies more than most people. If you want to make your own Oscar predictions, there’s a handy printable ballot from the New York Times here. Perhaps these choices will help inform your own picks and impress your friends.

Mom & Dad’s Oscar Picks

We watched a lot of movies in 2016 and may actually be able to enjoy the Academy Awards this year without having to follow up “the Oscar goes to …” with, “Who was that?”  Adam asked us for our predictions, so we’ve had some lively discussions and our picks for “the big five” are as follows.  We also wanted to weigh in on the Short Film (Animated) category since we had a chance to see those as well.

Best Picture

We both think the Oscar will go to “Moonlight,” even though our personal favorites were “Hidden Figures,” which brought out Dad’s inner nerd, and “Lion,” which would touch any mother’s heart.

Actor in a Leading Role

Dad is a fan of Denzel Washington in “Fences” for his commanding presence (not to mention the Pittsburgh connection).

Mom is going with Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” for his realistic and haunting portrayal of a tortured soul forced to face his demons and doing the best that he can in the end.

Actress in a Leading Role

Dad is going with Natalie Portman based on her ability to become the iconic Jackie Kennedy.

Mom is picking Emma Stone for her fun, high energy singing and dancing performance in “La La Land.”

Actor in a Supporting Role

Dad picks Dev Patel in “Lion” for his ability to portray both the anguish and joy of his character’s unconventional journey back to his home in India.

Mom’s choice in this category is Mahershala Ali for his emotional and socially relevant performance in “Moonlight”.

Notes: We did not see Michael Shannon in “Nocturnal Animals”. We felt that Jeff Bridges did an amazing job of playing Jeff Bridges in “Hell or High Water,” which we both enjoyed.

Actress in a Supporting Role

We both agree that Viola Davis should win for her larger than life performance opposite Denzel Washington’s Troy in “Fences” as it emotionally tied the film together.

Notes: Dad almost doubled down on nerdiness and picked Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures.”  There’s just something about stealing a computer programming book from the public library…

Mom gives props to Michelle Williams for her gut-wrenching performance near the end of “Manchester by the Sea” in which she literally begs for forgiveness.

Short Film (Animated)

We wanted to mention this obscure category as we had the opportunity to see all of the nominated animated shorts in one sitting at a local theater.

“Blind Vaysha” is a dark and disturbing tale about a woman with a left eye that only sees the past and a right eye that can only see the future.

“Borrowed Time” is a well animated but depressing story.

“Pear Cider and Cigarettes” is a 35 minute, rambling, R-rated, story about self-destruction.

“Pearl” is a 360 Virtual Reality film with amazing music and an interesting story. (The VR was not that impressive in the theater setting).

“Piper” is a visually stunning, photo realistic animation with an adorable baby sand piper as the main character.

We both think that “Piper” should take home the Oscar in this category.

For what it’s worth, those are our Oscar picks. We’ll have to wait and see how well they stack up against the actual winners…

Enjoy the show!

Editor/son note: In case your were curious, my picks in order are: Moonlight, Casey Affleck, Isabelle Huppert (though Amy Adams should’ve gotten a nomination), Mahershala Ali, Viola Davis and Piper