Part 1: Roma, The Favourite, Vice, A Star Is Born.
Part 2: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Part 3: Mary Poppins Returns, First Man, Cold War.
Part 4: Can You Ever Forgive Me?, If Beale Street Could Talk, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Part 5:
Part 2: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Part 3: Mary Poppins Returns, First Man, Cold War.
Part 4: Can You Ever Forgive Me?, If Beale Street Could Talk, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Part 5:
2 Nominations
- Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel (The Passion of the Christ, The Patriot, Fly Away Home, The Natural, The Right Stuff)
- Foreign Language Film: Germany (Toni Erdmann, The White Ribbon, The Baader Meinhof Complex, The Lives of Others, Sophie Scholl: the Final Days, Downfall, Nowhere in Africa, Beyond Silence, Schtonk, The Nasty Girl)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cast: Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Saskia Rosendahl, Oliver Masucci, Cai Cohrs, Ina Weisse, Evgeniy Sidikhin, Mark Zak, Ulrike C. Tscharre, David Schütter
This is one of two films that I'm not going to be able to see this year. I'm very sad about it because, in the first place, I loved Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others and in the second place I love Max Richter's beautiful score for Never Look Away. And then there's the brilliant Sebastian Koch, who gives excellent performances every time he is onscreen! I truly do not understand why this film isn't playing everywhere right now. Sony Pictures Classics scored two Oscar nominations with this movie, and yet no one has seen it and no one can see it because it is only playing in a few theatres in the country. This makes no sense to me, honestly. In any case, I don't think Never Look Away will be winning any little gold men, but it sure would have been nice to be able to see this movie before Oscar Sunday.
Will Win: N/A
Could Win: N/A
My Rating: TBA
Mary Queen of Scots
I believe I've already said my piece about this movie and its absurdities. It was pointed out to me since I wrote my review that the movie operates with a certain theatricality, that it is operating using many conventions of the theatre – the cross-racial casting, the lack of attention to accuracy with regard to accents, the self-conscious artistic quality of some of the sequences – and I truly do buy this as one of the film's goals. The problem here is that Mary Queen of Scots does not actually lean into these devices. Why is this film theatrical? might be my question here. What is this film trying to say about theatrical pageantry or English history or the lives of kings and queens? And if this film is about theatricality, and I am beginning to think it was trying to be just that, why not really take that idea to its maximum? Why not show us the sets as sets? Why not let us see the process of makeup or costuming? Why not show us behind the theatricality rather than simply showing us the face of it? In any case, I am glad that Alexandra Byrne got this nomination. She definitely deserved this.
Will Win: N/A
Could Win: Costume Design
My Rating: #61 out of 67
Isle of Dogs (犬の島)
This is cute and I really liked it. I am, however, annoyed with Alexandre Desplat's current domination of the best original score category at the Oscars. It's started to really bug me. He has two statues already and Isle of Dogs marks his tenth nomination. The score to this movie is fine, and Desplat has been good at doing scores with drums in them since Birth all those years ago, but I am impatient with his work at the moment. As I said when I first saw this movie, I am also getting impatient with Wes Anderson's twee brand. I am looking for something a little more serious from him. The insistent irony of his movies is wearing thin with me. Still, Isle of Dogs is better than four of last year's best animated feature nominees, and although it is my third choice for this year, it definitely deserves its nomination. This is a very good, if minor, film.
Will Win: N/AThis is one of two films that I'm not going to be able to see this year. I'm very sad about it because, in the first place, I loved Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others and in the second place I love Max Richter's beautiful score for Never Look Away. And then there's the brilliant Sebastian Koch, who gives excellent performances every time he is onscreen! I truly do not understand why this film isn't playing everywhere right now. Sony Pictures Classics scored two Oscar nominations with this movie, and yet no one has seen it and no one can see it because it is only playing in a few theatres in the country. This makes no sense to me, honestly. In any case, I don't think Never Look Away will be winning any little gold men, but it sure would have been nice to be able to see this movie before Oscar Sunday.
Will Win: N/A
Could Win: N/A
My Rating: TBA
2 Nominations
- Costume Design: Alexandra Byrne (Elizabeth: the Golden Age, Finding Neverland, Elizabeth, Hamlet)
- Makeup & Hairstyling
Director: Josie Rourke
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn, Guy Pearce, Martin Compston, David Tennant, Adrian Lester, James McArdle, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Brendan Coyle, Gemma Chan, Georgia Burnell
I believe I've already said my piece about this movie and its absurdities. It was pointed out to me since I wrote my review that the movie operates with a certain theatricality, that it is operating using many conventions of the theatre – the cross-racial casting, the lack of attention to accuracy with regard to accents, the self-conscious artistic quality of some of the sequences – and I truly do buy this as one of the film's goals. The problem here is that Mary Queen of Scots does not actually lean into these devices. Why is this film theatrical? might be my question here. What is this film trying to say about theatrical pageantry or English history or the lives of kings and queens? And if this film is about theatricality, and I am beginning to think it was trying to be just that, why not really take that idea to its maximum? Why not show us the sets as sets? Why not let us see the process of makeup or costuming? Why not show us behind the theatricality rather than simply showing us the face of it? In any case, I am glad that Alexandra Byrne got this nomination. She definitely deserved this.
Will Win: N/A
Could Win: Costume Design
My Rating: #61 out of 67
2 Nominations
- Score: Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water, The Imitation Game, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Philomena, Argo, The King's Speech, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Queen)
- Animated Feature
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Rankin Koyu, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Nomura Kunichi, Takayama Akira, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Ito Akira, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Yoko Ono
This is cute and I really liked it. I am, however, annoyed with Alexandre Desplat's current domination of the best original score category at the Oscars. It's started to really bug me. He has two statues already and Isle of Dogs marks his tenth nomination. The score to this movie is fine, and Desplat has been good at doing scores with drums in them since Birth all those years ago, but I am impatient with his work at the moment. As I said when I first saw this movie, I am also getting impatient with Wes Anderson's twee brand. I am looking for something a little more serious from him. The insistent irony of his movies is wearing thin with me. Still, Isle of Dogs is better than four of last year's best animated feature nominees, and although it is my third choice for this year, it definitely deserves its nomination. This is a very good, if minor, film.
Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #25 out of 67
1 Nomination
- Actress: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs, Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction, The Natural, The Big Chill, The World According to Garp)
Director: Björn Runge
Cast: Close, Jonathan Pryce, Max Irons, Christian Slater, Annie Starke, Harry Lloyd, Elizabeth McGovern, Johan Widerberg, Karin Franz Körlof
It's the Glennaissance (as one of my graduate students keeps calling it)! It is looking like Glenn Close is finally going to win an Oscar, and we should all be delighted that this is happening. The movie that she is starring in does not deserve any awards at all, but Close is fabulous in the movie, and everyone loves her, and I am excited to see her win. This is Close's seventh nomination since The World According to Garp in 1982, and she has never won, despite turning in extraordinary performances for decades. It's worth saying that these seven nominations don't even count the ones she just barely missed, like say, Jagged Edge in 1985 or Reversal of Fortune or Hamlet in 1990 or her brilliant comedic turn in 101 Dalmations in 1996. It's her time, and I can't wait for her speech.
Will Win: Actress
Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #48 out of 67
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