The time has come for final predictions! The 87th Annual Academy Awards nominations will be announced this morning in two batches beginning at 8:30am ET (you can view both announcements live at the Oscars website or the second announcement on most major news programs at 8:38am ET). For the first time, the nominees will be announced live in all 24 categories.

2014 started slow, but proved to be a formidable year in film. The Oscars don't always reflect that quality in their choices, but here's hoping their nominations come close! There are lots of tight races with lengthy lists of viable contenders and films whose names won't get called this morning. As usual there are some sure-things (Boyhood, Birdman, and The Imitation Game are likely to do well) and some not-so-sure-things (I'm most interested in seeing how films right on the bubble will fare: Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, Gone Girl). If you've got a favorite, it's best for sanity's sake to assume they won't get in, so you can be pleasantly surprised when they do.

The titles of each category link to that field's specific page with further commentary. Follow along down the rabbit hole after the jump!

BEST PICTURE

Boyhood
The Imitation Game
Birdman
The Theory of Everything
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Selma
Whiplash
American Sniper
Foxcatcher

Alternates: Nightcrawler, Gone Girl, Unbroken

Perhaps this will be the first year we'll get a different number of nominees than the nine we've gotten the last three years (there can be anywhere from five to ten depending on how the votes stack up)? To be safe, those are my top nine - though I juggled and swapped Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, and Gone Girl for that last slot and was just as (not) confident.

BEST DIRECTOR

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)
Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)
Ava DuVernay (Selma)

Alternates: Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), Clint Eastwood (American Sniper), James Marsh (The Theory of Everything), David Fincher (Gone Girl), Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher)

As you can see from the extensive list of alternates, this is a fairly up-in-the-air category. Beyond the top two, there could conceivably be any combination of the rest of those names.

BEST ACTOR

Michael Keaton (Birdman)
Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
David Oyelowo (Selma)

Alternates: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner)

The toughest acting category to nail down due to the depth of the competition. Several worthy actors will just miss the cut, like last year when Tom Hanks and Robert Redford found themselves on the outside looking in.

BEST ACTRESS

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)
Jennifer Aniston (Cake)

Alternates: Amy Adams (Big Eyes), Marion Cotillard (Two Days One Night)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Edward Norton (Birdman)
Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Alternates: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), Josh Brolin (Inherent Vice)

After Steve Carell showed up in the Supporting field with BAFTA, it's possible AMPAS voters do the same. I think it's more likely he misses out on a nomination altogether, unfortunately.