This Sunday evening will be one of the most exciting nights for film lovers. The 80th Academy Awards are finally here and the show will go on. With the cancellation of the Golden Globes last month due to the writer’s strike, the Oscars might make up for this year’s quiet award season. With a few unpredictable categories and the inevitable fashion flops, here are a few reasons to tune in on Sunday night:

1. Jon Stewart is hosting

Ellen DeGeneres played it safe last year with a boring dance routine. There have been a couple of good hosts like Steve Martin in the past few years, but I still quote Stewart’s jokes from when he hosted in 2006: “Schindler’s List and Munich! I think I speak for all the Jews when I say ‘I can’t wait to see what happens to us next!’” If you don’t care about movies or any of the awards, tune in just for him.

2. Someone could be this year’s Alan Arkin

Last year’s big surprise at the ceremony was Alan Arkin beating Eddie Murphy for Best Supporting Actor. Murphy won the Golden Globe, the Screen Actor’s Guild and was poised to win the Oscar. Although I bet Cate Blanchett will win on Sunday night for her role in I’m Not There, Ruby Dee has a chance, especially after surprisingly taking home last month’s SAG award for her role in American Gangster. Amy Ryan, although quite an underdog in this category, has won countless awards for Gone Baby Gone and could also take home a statuette.

3. Who will win Best Director?

This category tends to be my favorite for a few reasons. It is fun because it can be hard to predict, and even when it is not, it is exciting to see a well-deserved director take home the prize. Martin Scorsese’s win last year for The Departed wasn’t shocking, but watching George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola give him his first award was thrilling. It was thrilling when Roman Polanski surprisingly won Best Director for The Pianist in 2003. It was one of the best movies of the year, but Scorsese (Gangs of New York) and Rob Marshall (Chicago) were more favored to win than him. The audience gave a standing ovation for Polanski even though he was not present at the ceremony.

This year the category is exciting because there is no exact frontrunner. Julian Schnabel won the Golden Globe for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Joel and Ethan Coen won the Directors Guild of America award for No Country for Old Men, but Paul Thomas Anderson has a chance for the unique drama There Will be Blood. Anderson has lost the Oscar twice already for his screenplays Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and the Academy might make up for those losses with an award on Sunday night. The category is very competitive this year, but I think the Coen brothers will take home the award. They have created masterpieces like Blood Simple and O Brother, Where Art Thou? since the 1980s. Joel and Ethan have never won Best Director, so this might be their year.

4. Watch the Coen brothers take Best Picture

No Country for Old Men was one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year, and it is the best work from the Coen brothers since Fargo. Although Atonement did win the Golden Globe, No Country for Old Men is a better film. The cinematography isn’t over-the-top, the characters are more interesting, and the structure is better than in Atonement. The Academy knows the Coen brothers have yet to win Best Picture; once again, this is their year and I think that they will take home the top honor of the night.