Another Oscar year has come and gone. This was a fun one to follow. As soon as A Star Is Born opened it was the one to beat, then it seemed to become too popular and then it became an underdog. Then Roma was the odds on favorite to win. But it's a foreign film that premiered on Netflix, would the Academy want to honor it? Then there was talk about the new voters, would they end up voting for something cool like Black Panther or BlacKKKlansman? Could Bohemian Rhapsody overcome poor reviews and take home the big prize? Everything seemed to be a legitimate contender. Then the unthinkable happened, the movie that people liked the most won and everyone got upset about it.
These rankings are based on how I would vote if I was a member of the Academy. Sometimes I base it on the best movie/performance but it's not always that easy. I have to take into account Oscar history and who would make the best winner.
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
These rankings are based on how I would vote if I was a member of the Academy. Sometimes I base it on the best movie/performance but it's not always that easy. I have to take into account Oscar history and who would make the best winner.
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
Best Picture
8. Roma is a foreign film that was released on Netflix after a limited theatrical release. First I'll talk about the film itself. It bored me. It bored me so much. It could have been a case of raised expectations. It was pre-packaged with too much buzz. "It's gorgeous", "It will move you", "You need to experience it on the big screen to experience all of its majesty". I did not see it in theaters, I watched it in my home on a pretty big TV with the lights off. It is a slow moving story about a nanny working for a Mexican family. The pacing is what killed this for me, it is dreadfully slowly paced. Then the cinematography, which was hailed as visionary, didn't excite me either. Sure it's in black and white but the camera just pans from left to right in every shot and that's it. This did absolutely nothing for me. Secondly, gotta talk about Netflix. In the future it won't matter how we get our movies. I'm sure one day theaters will only be reserved for movies of a certain size while smaller more character driven films will be relegated to our homes or phones. For now, I want to experience films on the big screen if I can. Movies are just better when you're fully immersed, your focus dedicated to a massive screen in front of you and you're feeding off other audience members. There is still nothing I like better than seeing a movie with friends and then standing outside dissecting it, whether we enjoyed the film or not. I still don't know where I stand on Netflix getting Oscar nominations. It doesn't quite seem far that a Netflix movie can get Oscars while a Netflix TV show can get Emmys. Movies that premiere on HBO don't get the same treatment. Could a Netflix movie theoretically get 3/4 of the way to an EGOT?
7. Bohemian Rhapsody is not a good film but it did have a full theatrical run, and an impressive one at that, so it places a little higher than Roma for me. This is a biopic of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, and if you like biopic tropes and cliches then this is the movie for you. You ever wonder how Queen came up with all of their famous songs? Well, it was quite easy. Someone started stomping their feet and clapping their hands and then life cut to a stadium singing "We Will Rock You". A bass player was noodling around, Freddie came up with some lyrics on the spot and that's how we got "Another One Bites The Dust". The most laughable part is the Mike Myers cameo where he plays the record executive who just doesn't get it. He doesn't like this Bohemian Rhapsody tune and says there is no way this will ever be a song that teenagers will listen to in a car whilst banging their heads. He passes on the song and will forever be known as the man who lost Queen. Now this man never existed in real life and this was a scene completely made up for the film. I don't really have a problem with fudging the facts when making a biopic but you should still make it seem believable. Also, elephant in the room, it was directed by a guy who likes to have naked little boy hot tub parties. Nobody thanked Bryan Singer at the Oscars. I wonder why? Movie's got a good soundtrack though.
6. The Favourite is a movie I really wanted to like. When I think about the film and the performances and the story and the characters, I do like it. When I hear people talk about what they liked about the film, I agree. When I went and saw the film I just didn't enjoy it. I rewatched it, just to make sure it wasn't because maybe I was in a bad mood the first time and I had the same reaction. I can't put my finger on the reason as to why this movie doesn't work for me. I think mainly it's the look of the film. There are a lot of unnecessary camera angles, with fish eye lenses that just give the movie a weird look that I find off putting. I can't help but watch the movie and think, why did they put the camera there? Am I supposed to find meaning in this shot, or did they do it just to look cool? It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and I so want to enjoy his work. The Lobster is a film that seems right up my alley. I love weird art house movies with bizarre plots but there's just something about his films that makes me feel uneasy, and not in a good way. People love this movie so I think it's just me. I can't fault you for enjoying this, it's just not my bag.
5. Vice is a bit of a mess but it held my interest both times I watched it. This film actually represents everything I hate about the Oscar race. It was released on Christmas day but it didn't play at any festivals. So nobody saw it. The trailer debuted and everybody freaked out about Christian Bale's transformation. All we knew about the movie was that the cast looked great and it was directed by Adam McKay, who was recently granted Oscar pedigree from The Big Short. It's a sure fire Oscar contender, sight unseen. Then it started to get awards and Golden Globe nominations and then people started to see it and the response was lukewarm. Some liked it, some hated it but nobody seemed to love it. But it was too late. We had already assumed that it was an Oscar front runner. I have a theory that the Hollywood Foreign Press doesn't actually watch movies. They just vote on what they think looks good. This is how you get nominees like The Boxer or Patch Adams. The film is a biopic with a lot of style, sometimes unnecessary style. The movie will cut to shots of fishing as Dick Cheney is talking to George W. Bush. Because he's fishing him in, get it? Or we'll get a scene where Dick and Lynne Cheney act out a scene from Macbeth. At the end, what did we learn? Dick Cheney was, well, a dick. All the performances are good but something tells me that if this movie had premiered in July or even October or November it wouldn't have made it to the big show.
4. A Star Is Born is a remake of a remake of a remake. The original 1936 version starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor is still the best but this is probably the runner-up. You know where the story is going, an alcoholic success finds a nobody, falls in love and her rise to stardom parallels his downfall. What this film has on the other remakes is better performances and better music. The chemistry between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga is incredible and Gaga's voice is even more so. The movie is just as good as the soundtrack and vice versa. Cooper makes his directorial debut here and, even though he's working from a tried and true template, proves himself a very capable story teller.
3. Black Panther is the 18th entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Call me a populist if you like but I'm not ashamed to admit that these are the films I look forward to the most. I've never been a big fan of superhero movies until the MCU rolled around so it's not that I'm a comic book fan or that these movies appeal to the child in me. They just know how to make fun films. And not dumb fun films. These movies make me feel deeply for the characters as much as they make me stand up and cheer. It could be because I've been watching them for 10 years now and know the characters like I do the ones from my favorite sitcoms. Whatever the reason, these movies are awesome. Black Panther is not my favorite. Actually, I found it quite dull when I first saw it. There was a lack of fun. Which wouldn't be a bad thing except for the moments of humor that stood out like a sore thumb. T'Challa is a very serious character as is the rest of his tribe. Then for some reason he goes to his sister who is quipping like Robin Williams on a talk show and everyone's like, oh she's cool. Tonal issues aside, there are some really great moments in this film that stand up with the best in the series. There are also some very weak moments, like the CGI fight at the end that resembles a Playstation 2 game. My main problem with the film is that so much of the plot revolves around Black Panther's death and, spoiler alert, he's not really dead. So it would be cool for a Marvel film to win Best Picture, it would be even cooler if they went with Avengers: Infinity War.
2. BlacKKKlansman took me 3 viewings to like. I actually walked out of it when I saw it in the theater. Not because I disliked it. It just turned out not to be what I was in the mood for so I snuck into see the last hour of The Meg. When it came out on video I watched it again and liked it. Then I watched it for a 3rd time and loved it. I don't know if this will make sense but I think there is just too many things in this movie to enjoy in one sitting. I was never sure what to focus on. It starts with Alec Baldwin giving an impassioned speech about the importance of keeping black people down and it ends with footage of the riots in Charlottesville. In between there is a story that switches drastically in tones. You almost have to know what's coming to appreciate what's going on. There are a few unnecessary detours the film takes but it all adds up to a very powerful film that is both sadly relevant and hopefully has the ability to change things. The true story of Ron Stallworth, a black policeman who infiltrated the KKK with the help of his white partner. Great performances, some incredible scenes, a powerful story, wish it could settle on an ending, it's not a perfect film but it's a damn good one.
1. Green Book, like every movie on this list, is not a great film. It's a good film. But it's the only film on this list that, after I saw it in the theater, made me say, I really liked that. Viggo Mortensen plays Tony Lip, an Italian American slob, who gets hired by Dr. Don Shirely, an African American concert pianist, to be his driver/bodyguard during his tour of the south. Shirley knows he will be dealing with a lot of racial conflicts so he finds Tony a perfect fit for the job. This is the nice movie about racism. Which is why people feel so viscerally towards it, I think. Some people don't want this kind of movie anymore. It has been compared to Driving Miss Daisy, probably fairly, because it looks at the world through slightly rose colored glasses. Tony Lip is racist, but in a "he doesn't know any better" kind of way. Once he spends time with a black man, that's all it takes, he's cured of his racism and he's able to tell other white people to ease up. But if you take the race angle out of it, you're just left with a really pleasant road trip movie that's uncomplicated and good fun. It makes you feel good while watching it. Directed by Peter Farrelly, the guy who brought us other great road trip comedies like Kingpin and Dumb And Dumber.
6. The Favourite is a movie I really wanted to like. When I think about the film and the performances and the story and the characters, I do like it. When I hear people talk about what they liked about the film, I agree. When I went and saw the film I just didn't enjoy it. I rewatched it, just to make sure it wasn't because maybe I was in a bad mood the first time and I had the same reaction. I can't put my finger on the reason as to why this movie doesn't work for me. I think mainly it's the look of the film. There are a lot of unnecessary camera angles, with fish eye lenses that just give the movie a weird look that I find off putting. I can't help but watch the movie and think, why did they put the camera there? Am I supposed to find meaning in this shot, or did they do it just to look cool? It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and I so want to enjoy his work. The Lobster is a film that seems right up my alley. I love weird art house movies with bizarre plots but there's just something about his films that makes me feel uneasy, and not in a good way. People love this movie so I think it's just me. I can't fault you for enjoying this, it's just not my bag.
5. Vice is a bit of a mess but it held my interest both times I watched it. This film actually represents everything I hate about the Oscar race. It was released on Christmas day but it didn't play at any festivals. So nobody saw it. The trailer debuted and everybody freaked out about Christian Bale's transformation. All we knew about the movie was that the cast looked great and it was directed by Adam McKay, who was recently granted Oscar pedigree from The Big Short. It's a sure fire Oscar contender, sight unseen. Then it started to get awards and Golden Globe nominations and then people started to see it and the response was lukewarm. Some liked it, some hated it but nobody seemed to love it. But it was too late. We had already assumed that it was an Oscar front runner. I have a theory that the Hollywood Foreign Press doesn't actually watch movies. They just vote on what they think looks good. This is how you get nominees like The Boxer or Patch Adams. The film is a biopic with a lot of style, sometimes unnecessary style. The movie will cut to shots of fishing as Dick Cheney is talking to George W. Bush. Because he's fishing him in, get it? Or we'll get a scene where Dick and Lynne Cheney act out a scene from Macbeth. At the end, what did we learn? Dick Cheney was, well, a dick. All the performances are good but something tells me that if this movie had premiered in July or even October or November it wouldn't have made it to the big show.
4. A Star Is Born is a remake of a remake of a remake. The original 1936 version starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor is still the best but this is probably the runner-up. You know where the story is going, an alcoholic success finds a nobody, falls in love and her rise to stardom parallels his downfall. What this film has on the other remakes is better performances and better music. The chemistry between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga is incredible and Gaga's voice is even more so. The movie is just as good as the soundtrack and vice versa. Cooper makes his directorial debut here and, even though he's working from a tried and true template, proves himself a very capable story teller.
3. Black Panther is the 18th entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Call me a populist if you like but I'm not ashamed to admit that these are the films I look forward to the most. I've never been a big fan of superhero movies until the MCU rolled around so it's not that I'm a comic book fan or that these movies appeal to the child in me. They just know how to make fun films. And not dumb fun films. These movies make me feel deeply for the characters as much as they make me stand up and cheer. It could be because I've been watching them for 10 years now and know the characters like I do the ones from my favorite sitcoms. Whatever the reason, these movies are awesome. Black Panther is not my favorite. Actually, I found it quite dull when I first saw it. There was a lack of fun. Which wouldn't be a bad thing except for the moments of humor that stood out like a sore thumb. T'Challa is a very serious character as is the rest of his tribe. Then for some reason he goes to his sister who is quipping like Robin Williams on a talk show and everyone's like, oh she's cool. Tonal issues aside, there are some really great moments in this film that stand up with the best in the series. There are also some very weak moments, like the CGI fight at the end that resembles a Playstation 2 game. My main problem with the film is that so much of the plot revolves around Black Panther's death and, spoiler alert, he's not really dead. So it would be cool for a Marvel film to win Best Picture, it would be even cooler if they went with Avengers: Infinity War.
2. BlacKKKlansman took me 3 viewings to like. I actually walked out of it when I saw it in the theater. Not because I disliked it. It just turned out not to be what I was in the mood for so I snuck into see the last hour of The Meg. When it came out on video I watched it again and liked it. Then I watched it for a 3rd time and loved it. I don't know if this will make sense but I think there is just too many things in this movie to enjoy in one sitting. I was never sure what to focus on. It starts with Alec Baldwin giving an impassioned speech about the importance of keeping black people down and it ends with footage of the riots in Charlottesville. In between there is a story that switches drastically in tones. You almost have to know what's coming to appreciate what's going on. There are a few unnecessary detours the film takes but it all adds up to a very powerful film that is both sadly relevant and hopefully has the ability to change things. The true story of Ron Stallworth, a black policeman who infiltrated the KKK with the help of his white partner. Great performances, some incredible scenes, a powerful story, wish it could settle on an ending, it's not a perfect film but it's a damn good one.
1. Green Book, like every movie on this list, is not a great film. It's a good film. But it's the only film on this list that, after I saw it in the theater, made me say, I really liked that. Viggo Mortensen plays Tony Lip, an Italian American slob, who gets hired by Dr. Don Shirely, an African American concert pianist, to be his driver/bodyguard during his tour of the south. Shirley knows he will be dealing with a lot of racial conflicts so he finds Tony a perfect fit for the job. This is the nice movie about racism. Which is why people feel so viscerally towards it, I think. Some people don't want this kind of movie anymore. It has been compared to Driving Miss Daisy, probably fairly, because it looks at the world through slightly rose colored glasses. Tony Lip is racist, but in a "he doesn't know any better" kind of way. Once he spends time with a black man, that's all it takes, he's cured of his racism and he's able to tell other white people to ease up. But if you take the race angle out of it, you're just left with a really pleasant road trip movie that's uncomplicated and good fun. It makes you feel good while watching it. Directed by Peter Farrelly, the guy who brought us other great road trip comedies like Kingpin and Dumb And Dumber.
Oh man. I came up with my rankings before the Oscar telecast and now that Green Book won, I want to change my vote to BlacKKKlansman. I want to make the hip choice but I voted for Green Book when I thought Roma was going to win. Now I feel like an old fuddy duddy who liked the lame white guy learns to love a black guy movie. In all honesty, nothing nominated this year strikes me as a Best Picture winner. When I'm voting in this category I always think of which movie would look best with the little Oscar statue on the poster. If I'm just thinking that way, probably A Star Is Born, it's a crowd pleasing, kind of artsy film with great performances. The only reason Green Book shouldn't have won is because of Spike Lee. Spike even pointed it out after his film lost by saying every time a white and a black person are driving around together he loses. Driving Miss Daisy winning the Oscar while Do The Right Thing failed to get a nomination is one of the bigger Oscar injustices of all time. Green Book winning over BlacKKKlansman is like salt in the wound. In a perfect world Do The Right Thing would have won in 1989 and we could award Green Book guilt free. So I'm left with the choice, do I vote for the movie I liked the best or the movie I feel deserves it more because of mistakes in the past? Any of my top 4 would have been decent winners but part of me wishes Black Panther or BlacKKKlansman won even though I didn't like them as much. This will definitely go down as a controversial Oscar decision but, all politics aside, I think they made the right one.
Oscar Winner: Green Book
My Vote: Green Book (but I instantly regretted it)
GABBY Winner: Avengers: Infinity War
Best Actor
5. Willem Dafoe got a bit of a surprise nomination for playing Vincent Van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate. Dafoe is an actor who by all accounts should have an Oscar by now, Platoon, Shadow Of The Vampire and The Florida Project are all roles that would look right at home with an Oscar next to them. His performance as Van Gogh is...just fine, I suppose. I couldn't help but compare this film to Lust For Life starring Kirk Douglas as both of the lead performances are kind of similar. Neither Douglas nor Dafoe attempt any sort of accent when playing the Dutch painter. Douglas sounds like Douglas, Dafoe sounds like Dafoe but Kirk brings an energy and passion to the role that Willem is lacking. I found this film dreadfully boring and while the cinematography is interesting it has nothing on the 1956 biopic which really looks like a painting come to life. I want Dafoe to have an Oscar but hopefully he comes out with something better than this.
4. Rami Malek gives a decent performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. There were times while watching it that I just saw Freddie and I failed to see Rami. Most of these moments were in the stage performances which are the highlights of the film. Malek emulates the late singer's presence wonderfully but in all other parts of the film I just saw Rami Malek with fake teeth. Honestly the most impressive parts of his performance are when he's singing. He sits behind a piano and opens his mouth and you hear Freddie Mercury's voice come out and you just think, oh my God, this guy looks and sounds exactly like the real guy. That's when you take a step back and realize that he's lip syncing so the thing you were just impressed by is pure fiction, much like most of the film itself.
3. Bradley Cooper wrote, directed, produced and starred as Jackson Maine in the 3rd remake of A Star Is Born. This is his 4th nomination so the Academy obviously loves him, which is why it’s surprising that he didn’t get a Best Director nomination. He’ll surely win one day but this year he’s just kind of a fun nomination. He’s good but this almost doesn’t feel like a Bradley Cooper performance. This is Cooper channeling Jeff Bridges or Kris Kristofferson or his co-star Sam Elliott.
2. Christian Bale transforms into Dick Cheney in Vice. He disappears into the role and you not only forget you’re watching Bale but believe you’re watching Cheney. We see him through the years, starting in his younger carefree days and ending in his older consumed with power days. He does such a good job playing Cheney that it makes you wonder, is the physical transformation necessary? Bale gained a bunch of weight for the part but I think I would have believed him without it. He's shirtless in a scene but, seeing how the film won Best Makeup, you'd think they could have whipped up a fake gut.
1. Viggo Mortensen earned his 3rd nomination for playing Tony Lip, the food loving Italian who takes a job chauffeuring a black concert pianist through the southern U.S. In Green Book. There's no such thing as a typical Viggo performance. Take a look at his past nominations, Eastern Promises, Captain Fantastic and this, they're all completely different. You could probably convince someone that they were 3 different actors. Throw in Lord Of The Rings and A History Of Violence and you have one of my favorite character actors. I love how he makes Tony Lip a 3-dimensional flesh and blood human being out of what could have easily been a stereotype. He's constantly stuffing food in his face and he's got the accent but he still lets us always see the heart.
My vote is between Bale and Viggo. Dafoe deserves an Oscar but for a better film, Rami was good but we have a real Marni Nixon situation going on here, Bradley is also good and a solid nominee but Bale and Viggo were just better. Since Bale's already got one I gotta pick Viggo. And with all the talk of Bale's transformation, nobody really talked about Viggo's. He packed on some pounds but in a less showy way. Out of all these guys, since Bale's won before and Dafoe's movie stinks, Viggo is the one I want to have an Oscar most
Oscar Winner: Rami Malek
My Vote: Viggo Mortensen
GABBY Winner: Christian Bale
Best Actress
5. Yalitza Aparicio made her film debut as a live-in nanny in Roma. So many reasons I can't vote for this. First, it's a foreign language performance. I can never judge this against an English language one just because I don't know the language. It would be hard for me to judge this against another foreign language performance. Secondly, it's the first time she's acted. How much of this was natural acting talent and how much was perfect casting or good direction?
5. Yalitza Aparicio made her film debut as a live-in nanny in Roma. So many reasons I can't vote for this. First, it's a foreign language performance. I can never judge this against an English language one just because I don't know the language. It would be hard for me to judge this against another foreign language performance. Secondly, it's the first time she's acted. How much of this was natural acting talent and how much was perfect casting or good direction?
4. Lady Gaga plays a waitress turned music superstar in A Star Is Born. Much like Aparicio, how much of this is acting and how much is just Gaga being Gaga? Most people choose the latter. Sure, she's playing herself but, who better to play Gaga? Let's see Glenn Close do that. She's fantastic in the film but let's wait to see what else she's got before naming her an Oscar winning actress. Plus, she's got the Best Song category as consolation prize.
3. Glenn Close plays the title role in The Wife. Her husband is about to accept a Nobel Prize for literature but we learn through the course of the film that she is actually responsible for most of his work. Close is very good in the film but the film itself is just average. It’s a slow burn to a good climax. I like how the narrative on Glenn Close shifted throughout the season. It started as she could win, then she would win, then she should win. I think we were all in agreement that this is not an Oscar worthy performance but Glenn Close was an Oscar worthy actress who has been overlooked in the past.
2. Olivia Colman is hilariously funny as Queen Anne in The Favourite. She’s so good that she seems like the lead of the film when she’s really a supporting role. I did not agree at all with the placement of the actresses in this film. Emma Stone is clearly the main character. The movie follows her. If you put all 3 in lead, I could agree with that but calling Colman lead and the other two supporting makes little sense. That aside, Colman is the best part of the film. Every line she has is terrific. In the middle of the film, she has a stroke, it’s not a plot point, it’s not even called attention to, it’s just another thing Colman adds to her character to give it more nuance and make it more interesting.
1. Melissa McCarthy plays writer Lee Israel in the fantastically funny, touching and human Can You Ever Forgive Me?. She’s a depressed writer who drinks in the middle of the day, her house smells like cat poop and nobody wants to buy her work. One day she accidentally stumbles on a letter written by Fanny Brice and sells it to a collector. It’s not long before she starts forging letters of her own to sell. Through this she finds her voice, even though she’s copying someone else’s. McCarthy is great in the film and I adored this movie. The story is gripping, the performances are great and the script and direction give the film a wonderful tone and flow. McCarthy holds the whole thing together as Israel, showing us the shell she’s inhabiting and the person inside yearning to break free.
For the longest time Lady Gaga was the one to beat. A Star Is Born opened to good reviews and great box office and it was a foregone conclusion. The Academy loves their ingenues, Cher, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Lawrence, Marlee Matlin, Audrey Hepburn. But, uh oh, there's something they like even more, an old person who has never won finally getting to the stage, Paul Newman, James Coburn, Geraldine Page. Enter Glenn Close, 7th nomination without a win, she's overdue, she's been great for so long. Then Glenn started sweeping up the precursors, the Golden Globe, the SAG, the Independent Spirit Award. There was no way she could lose this year. Nobody really thought Olivia Colman would win until her name was called. The Oscars did the unthinkable, they awarded the best performance. I was so glad Colman won. I'm voting for Melissa McCarthy just because I liked her movie better and it would give her the honor, formerly bestowed upon her The Heat co-star Sandra Bullock, of being an Oscar winner and a Razzie winner in the same year. This was a damn fine category though and anyone winning would have been a good choice.
Oscar Winner: Olivia Colman
My Vote: Melissa McCarthy
GABBY Winner: Melissa McCarthy
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actor
5. Sam Rockwell plays George W. Bush, president during Dick Cheney's two terms in office in Vice. The reigning Best Supporting Actor, having won last year for Three Billboards. When I saw the trailer I got very excited to see one of my favorite actors playing Bush. When I saw the movie I was a little let down by how little he had to do. He does a fairly fun impression but he's barely in the film and doesn't really leave that big of an impression. If you were gonna pick someone from the film to put in this category I would have picked Steve Carell who seems to be having a ball playing Donald Rumsfeld. It's not a bad performance, it's just not an Oscar winning one, and certainly not 2nd Oscar winning.
4. Mahershala Ali plays Dr. Don Shirley, a black concert pianist touring the deep south in Green Book. Based on performance alone, Ali would be 2nd in my rankings, but he's won recently and he's in a category with 3 guys who haven't and I like to spread the wealth. It's a shame he won before because I like him here much better than I did in Moonlight. He was good in both films but he's given a lot more to do here and, unlike Moonlight, his presence is felt throughout the whole movie. True, he is kind of a lead or co-lead but I understand why they wouldn't want Viggo and Mahershala competing in the same category and Viggo has a touch more screen time. Ali plays Shirley with poise, dignity and class but doesn't let that be his whole character. We get to see the person underneath in little glimmers, like when he's sitting in his hotel room drinking and we can tell what he's feeling just through his face. Or when he's revealed to be a gay man and we see a lifetime of secrets revealed in his eyes without the film needing to spell them out for us. It's a very good performance, I just think the next three guys should have one before he gets two.
3. Sam Elliott earned the first Oscar nomination of his incredibly long career for playing the older brother of Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born. The drastic age difference between the two took me out of the movie at first but they do a fair enough job of explaining it and both Elliott and Cooper are so good together that you forgive it immediately. He's not in the film that much but when he shows up he definitely leaves a mark. He watches out for his younger brother even though he clearly sees that he's destroying himself. There's one moment in the film where Elliott's time worn face looks back at the camera with tears in his eyes that unquestionably sealed the nomination for him.
2. Adam Driver plays a white police officer who partners with a black man to infiltrate the KKK in BlacKKKlansman. Like I said previously, it took me 3 viewings to really like this film. It took me the same amount of time to really respect what Adam Driver does as well. At first I just thought that anybody could play his role but on subsequent viewings I started picking up on just how believable and natural he was as this character. He's amazing in the moments of tension where he has to think on his feet. He's pretending to be someone else for most of the film and you can really see both sides of his brain working, he's playing the person he really is as well as the person his character is pretending to be. He also brings a 70s cop film feel to the film. He reminded me of Gene Hackman in The French Connection or Al Pacino in Serpico. Just a good cop doing his job. Still, with how good he is in the film, it would be kind of messed up to give the award to the white guy.
1. Richard E. Grant steals every bit of his screen time in Can You Ever Forgive Me?. He plays a lonely, older gay man who befriends Lee Israel and uses his natural charisma and charm to help her sell forged letters. As soon as he's introduced you just know he's gonna be your favorite part of the film and every time he's on screen he's just incredibly captivating. Getting most of the laughs in the film without ever playing his character to broad or over the top. It's also a true supporting performance and one of the only ones on this list that is. You could argue that Ali and Driver are co-leads and Rockwell and Elliott are almost extended cameos. Grant is a major part of the film but never overshadows the story and makes his scene partner look better.
This is another good category, I liked all of these performances. First off for me are Rockwell and Ali, they've won too recently and in Rockwell's case, I probably wouldn't have nominated him in the first place. That leaves Grant, Elliott and Driver and I would be happy to see any of them win. A win for Elliott would be less for this particular performance and more because he's been around so long and has never truly gotten his due. Driver should have other chances in the future. Grant though, has not only been solid for many years but gives the best performance of the bunch. Also, just imagine the Oscar moment that would be his acceptance speech. It would have been amazing. If you watched the telecast you may remember the look on his face when he saw Barbra Streisand on stage, imagine his face when he's handed an Oscar. Also, a win here would make up for overlooking him for Spice World.
Oscar Winner: Mahershala Ali
My Vote: Richard E. Grant
GABBY Winner: Russell Hornsby for The Hate U Give
Best Supporting Actress
5. Marina de Tavira plays the matriarch of the family in Roma. All the reasons I can't vote for Yalitza Aparicio apply here. This was a bit of a surprise nomination. Nobody was picking her to be nominated, the general consensus seemed to point to Claire Foy for First Man, Nicole Kidman for Boy Erased or, possibly, Emily Blunt for A Quiet Place getting this 5th spot. But on Oscar nomination morning they announced Marina de Tavira's name and I thought, that's it, Roma has just won Best Picture.
4. Emma Stone is clearly the lead of The Favourite that I feel wrong talking about her in this category. The movie starts with her, ends with her and is pretty much all about her in the middle. I'm not quite sure who she is supporting. I'm glad it worked in their favor though, had Olivia Colman been in this category she would have just split votes with Rachel Weisz, which is the other reason I couldn't vote for Emma.
3. Rachel Weisz is probably the only actress from The Favourite in the correct category. She supports both Emma and Olivia's performances as a strong and stoic, honest to a fault duchess in Queen Anne's court. She's one of the strongest female characters to be on film in a long time. The more I think about her performance the more I remember little things she does that really impressed me. She's already won though, had she not won for The Constant Gardener, she would be my #1.
2. Amy Adams plays Lynne Cheney, dick's wife and biggest supporter in Vice. This is Amy's 6th nomination without a win so, much like Glenn Close, she feels like someone who should have already won by now. I feel like I disregard Amy Adams as much as the Academy. I forget how good she is because she's usually in films I don't like. In fact, all but one of her nominated performances were in films I didn't care for. I disliked The Master and American Hustle and thought Doubt and The Fighter were just okay. Junebug was only good because of Adams. She's good in all of these films though. I hope one day she has a great performance in a great movie so we can just hand her an Oscar without question. As for her performance here, she's good, it's just not much more than a supportive wife character. They try to make her stronger than she appears but they never quite get there. She still just seems like the standard wife in every biopic.
1. Regina King plays Sharon Rivers, mother of the woman at the center of If Beale Street Could Talk. Honestly, it took me a while to come up with that last sentence because this movie is really hard to condense into a sentence. I'm not sure if that is always a good thing or a bad thing but it didn't work for me here. There's no real central plot and it's told in a nonlinear fashion so for half the movie I kept wondering what part of the story I was watching. So I was confused about a story I didn't care about in the first place. It is a pretty mood piece though, beautiful music and cinematography. Regina King is good in the film but doesn't have much to do. She has 2 key scenes in the film and while she's good in them, I didn't finish the movie thinking about her character. Yet, she was the Oscar front runner. All season I kept hearing how great Regina King was and so I was wondering if it was my fault, that my expectations were set too high. Sometimes I think paying attention to the Oscar race ruins my enjoyment of these films. They already come pre-packaged with the buzz so by the time I see them I feel like the movie needs to prove its worth.
Honestly, I'm not a fan of anyone here. Regina King gets my vote kind of by default. I don't want to vote for a foreign language performance in a Netflix movie, Stone and Weisz cancel each other out and a vote for Adams would be just that, I would be voting for Amy Adams not Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney. Regina King is the only nominee with no strikes against her. She's good but this vote is more for the performer and less for the performance, a little. I've always liked Regina King in things but I was surprised to hear people talk about her like she was due or owed an Oscar by this point. Most of her best work has been in television. She hasn't really built the filmography of, say a Glenn Close or even Amy Adams. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement for Regina King but it's really not. I don't know why I'm picking her, I just figure, why not?
Oscar Winner: Regina King
My Vote: Regina King
GABBY Winner: Emily Blunt for A Quiet Place
Best Director
It's hard to argue with Alfonso Cuaron winning for Roma. Everyone thought he deserved it for his boring movie. He's a great director though and has made some incredible films so it's okay that he wins his 2nd over Adam McKay, Yorgos Lanthimos and Pawel Pawilkowski. Spike Lee would have been my choice. Not only is he severely overdue but BlacKKKlansman is an excellent example of Spike's sensibilities. If he was gonna win for one film, this would be a good one to honor him for.
Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay
Best Director
It's hard to argue with Alfonso Cuaron winning for Roma. Everyone thought he deserved it for his boring movie. He's a great director though and has made some incredible films so it's okay that he wins his 2nd over Adam McKay, Yorgos Lanthimos and Pawel Pawilkowski. Spike Lee would have been my choice. Not only is he severely overdue but BlacKKKlansman is an excellent example of Spike's sensibilities. If he was gonna win for one film, this would be a good one to honor him for.
Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay
The writers of Green Book and BlacKKKlansman probably didn't have a lot of things to talk about at the Oscar parties but they both won the writing categories. Green Book was my favorite in the original category that included Roma, The Favourite, First Reformed and Vice and it gave Peter Farrelly an Oscar after making some of my favorite comedies of the 90s. The adapted category is a little more crowded BlacKKKlansman is a good choice because it finally got Spike Lee an Oscar but I think Can You Ever Forgive Me? is my favorite script in the category. A Star Is Born is a good nominee but The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs and If Beale Street Could Talk are a little weak on the writing side but better directed.
Best Animated Feature Film
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is definitely the most inventive animated film of the yearand best in the category. I may have voted for Isle Of Dogs because it hit me more emotionally while Spider-Man was cooler and more fun. Wes Anderson has proven that his style fits perfectly with stop motion animation and hopefully wins one in this category one day.
Best Foreign Language Film
Now that Roma didn't win Best Picture, it's fine that it won here.
Best Documentary Feature
I only saw Free Solo and RBG of these nominees. The non nominated Won't You Be My Neighbor? and Three Identical Strangers are better but Free Solo is a very impressive film that rightfully won.
Best Original Score/Original Song
Ludwig Göransson wins Best Original Score for Black Panther. I've been a fan of his since his work on the TV show Community and have enjoyed all his work with Ryan Coogler. Again, if we're talking best Marvel movie from 2018, Alan Silvestri's score to Avengers: Infinity War is superior. I also liked Isle Of Dogs and If Beale Street Could Talk better. Lady Gaga's Shallow from A Star Is Born wins Best Original Song. Probably the best choice in a weak category. All The Stars from Black Panther would have been a cool winner but the songs from RBG, Mary Poppins Returns and The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs aren't very memorable at all.
Best Sound Mixing/Sound Editing
As I've said numerous times in these Oscar Watch blogs, musicals always win the sound categories and Bohemian Rhapsody takes both of them. Don't know why Roma got nominated twice here. Black Panther and First Man are equally impressive but I would have picked A Star Is Born for mixing and A Quiet Place for editing. The way A Star Is Born uses sound in not just the musical moments but the times we hear what Bradley Cooper is hearing is the best part of the film. A Quiet Place is all about sound and the absence of sound and should have won in both categories.
Best Production Design/Costume Design
Black Panther wins both awards. These were both announced early in the program, leading me to think that maybe Black Panther could pull out a win in the Best Picture category. It would have been my vote in both categories too, The Favourite being a close second. I didn't like the film that much but the set decorators certainly knew how to do their jobs.
Best Cinematography
Alfonso Cuaron wins his third Oscar for Roma. I mentioned it earlier but I found the cinematography boring. The camera just slowly pans across rooms in black and white. I wasn't a fan of Cold War or The Favourite either. I have not seen Never Look Away. A Star Is Born is nice but not something that would be in my top 5. This category needed something fun like A Quiet Place or Mandy.
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Vice wins over Border and Mary Queen Of Scots. Best choice in the category. Bale got a lot of the credit for his weight gain but the makeup department did wonders to make his face look so much like Cheney's. They did great work on Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell and Tyler Perry too.
Best Film Editing
You just have to watch the opening of BlacKKKlansman to see why it would be my vote. The winner was Bohemian Rhapsody probably because people felt sorry for the guy who had to splice together footage from two directors. This category usually gets filled with Best Picture nominees and this year included The Favourite, Green Book and Vice which are competently put together if not exciting. I would have included American Animals or Searching to this list.
Best Visual Effects
They went with the classy film and picked First Man over effects driven films like Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Christopher Robin. They wisely stayed away from nominating Black Panther who's effects look oddly weak compared to other Marvel movies.
Best Animated Feature Film
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is definitely the most inventive animated film of the yearand best in the category. I may have voted for Isle Of Dogs because it hit me more emotionally while Spider-Man was cooler and more fun. Wes Anderson has proven that his style fits perfectly with stop motion animation and hopefully wins one in this category one day.
Best Foreign Language Film
Now that Roma didn't win Best Picture, it's fine that it won here.
Best Documentary Feature
I only saw Free Solo and RBG of these nominees. The non nominated Won't You Be My Neighbor? and Three Identical Strangers are better but Free Solo is a very impressive film that rightfully won.
Best Original Score/Original Song
Ludwig Göransson wins Best Original Score for Black Panther. I've been a fan of his since his work on the TV show Community and have enjoyed all his work with Ryan Coogler. Again, if we're talking best Marvel movie from 2018, Alan Silvestri's score to Avengers: Infinity War is superior. I also liked Isle Of Dogs and If Beale Street Could Talk better. Lady Gaga's Shallow from A Star Is Born wins Best Original Song. Probably the best choice in a weak category. All The Stars from Black Panther would have been a cool winner but the songs from RBG, Mary Poppins Returns and The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs aren't very memorable at all.
Best Sound Mixing/Sound Editing
As I've said numerous times in these Oscar Watch blogs, musicals always win the sound categories and Bohemian Rhapsody takes both of them. Don't know why Roma got nominated twice here. Black Panther and First Man are equally impressive but I would have picked A Star Is Born for mixing and A Quiet Place for editing. The way A Star Is Born uses sound in not just the musical moments but the times we hear what Bradley Cooper is hearing is the best part of the film. A Quiet Place is all about sound and the absence of sound and should have won in both categories.
Best Production Design/Costume Design
Black Panther wins both awards. These were both announced early in the program, leading me to think that maybe Black Panther could pull out a win in the Best Picture category. It would have been my vote in both categories too, The Favourite being a close second. I didn't like the film that much but the set decorators certainly knew how to do their jobs.
Best Cinematography
Alfonso Cuaron wins his third Oscar for Roma. I mentioned it earlier but I found the cinematography boring. The camera just slowly pans across rooms in black and white. I wasn't a fan of Cold War or The Favourite either. I have not seen Never Look Away. A Star Is Born is nice but not something that would be in my top 5. This category needed something fun like A Quiet Place or Mandy.
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Vice wins over Border and Mary Queen Of Scots. Best choice in the category. Bale got a lot of the credit for his weight gain but the makeup department did wonders to make his face look so much like Cheney's. They did great work on Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell and Tyler Perry too.
Best Film Editing
You just have to watch the opening of BlacKKKlansman to see why it would be my vote. The winner was Bohemian Rhapsody probably because people felt sorry for the guy who had to splice together footage from two directors. This category usually gets filled with Best Picture nominees and this year included The Favourite, Green Book and Vice which are competently put together if not exciting. I would have included American Animals or Searching to this list.
Best Visual Effects
They went with the classy film and picked First Man over effects driven films like Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Christopher Robin. They wisely stayed away from nominating Black Panther who's effects look oddly weak compared to other Marvel movies.
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