Oscars Predictions: Who Will Win the Big Awards

— -- The Oscars are just a few hours away and there's still time to fill out your Oscars pools.

ABC News film critic David Blaustein and Popcorn host Peter Travers weighed in on who to pick:

In honor of “Boyhood,” they started filming this year’s Oscars twelve years ago. In a sense, I wish they had because that would take away the predictability of this year’s contest, which, like the majority of the Oscars in this modern era, have been painfully predictable.

It’s just simple science; we’ve had Golden Globes, Broadcast Film Critics, Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, Producer Guild and the BAFTAS. While the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) and the Broadcast Film Critics Association do not share voters with the Academy, they have matched up many times with the Oscars. All of the Guilds and the BAFTAS share plenty of members with the Academy and are considered stronger bellwethers when it comes to predicting Oscar glory and therein lies the problem; all of these awards have been handed out making Oscar forecasting easy.

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, in “Whiplash,” can’t lose. He’s won everything else. While it hardly seems fair that his co-star Miles Teller isn’t up for anything, every time J.K. wins an award, he has been doing a great job of reminding everybody of Teller’s indelible performance.

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, in “Boyhood,” managed to play the same character for one week a year for 12 years with consistency and soul. Like J.K. Simmons, she’s won everything else and will win here, too. If there’s an upset, it could very well be Emma Stone whose performance in “Birdman” is a searing and raw tour de force. If I had a vote, Emma Stone would be tops on my list.

Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, Eddie Redmayne and Eddie Redmayne. Say what you want about Michael Keaton in “Birdman,” (he’s terrific) as ALS-stricken physicist Stephen Hawking, Redmayne’s performance is above and beyond every performance in every category. Sure, Bradley Cooper gained weight, Bennedict Cumberbatch did some extra running and Steve Carell put on a prosthetic nose, but Redmayne accurately captured what it is like to slowly succumb to the nightmare of a neuromuscular disorder. It’s a performance for the ages. As one Oscar voter said to me, “That kid was f**** unbelievable.” Oh, he’s also won everything else.

Best Actress: Julianne Moore in “Still Alice,” more than convincingly, plays a college professor with early onset Alzheimer’s. Moore has been nominated five times and has never won -- until now. Like the other acting nominees, she’s won everything else and will win here, too.

Best Director: After his victory at the Director’s Guild Awards, “Birdman’s” Alejandro González Iñárritu should win and he deserves to win. He has everything to do with “Birdman’s” intimate, visually arresting and compelling aesthetic but he also captures beautiful performances for the year’s best ensemble cast.

Best Animated Film: It should be “The Lego Movie,” but somehow one of the best-reviewed films of the year didn't show up in this category. I’m going with “How To Train Your Dragon 2,” which has mounted an impressive campaign.

Best Picture: “Birdman,” acknowledging that Richard Linklater’s ambitious achievement, “Boyhood,” has a legitimate shot here. Again, the signs point to “Birdman.” It won top honors at all the major Guild Awards but then something unexpected happened... “Boyhood,” won best picture at the BAFTAS.

For Peter Travers' picks, watch the video above.