As always, a large number of the films in my own top 10 for the year were passed over (Vazante, You Were Never Really Here, The Strange Ones, Lean on Pete), but some of them scored a nomination or two (Shoplifters, Into the Spider-verse, Mirai), and this year one was nominated for Best Picture (Roma). In other words, as there is every year, there is something for me to appreciate here, even as I am, as always, impatient with the Academy's choices.
My main complaint – and I am sure this will come up in my commentary in the following weeks – is that Academy voters (and guild voters, too) just don't see enough movies, especially films from other countries. A slate of nominees like the International Cinephile Society's list for 2019 is way better than the one that Oscar made. And I honestly think it's just that the voters in the ICS just see more movies. But I am done expecting the Academy to vote for really, really good stuff. They will always skew toward the mediocre, I think. And that is just how it goes.
As usual with these posts, I will go film by film discussing each movie individually rather than discussing categories, beginning with the movies most beloved by the Academy this year. If the nominee has been nominated for Oscars previously, he or she will be listed next to his/her name in parentheses).
This year's nominees:
10 Nominations
- Picture
- Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
- Actress: Yalitza Aparicio
- Original Screenplay: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Y Tu Mamá También)
- Supporting Actress: Marina de Tavira
- Cinematography: Alfonso Cuarón
- Production Design: Eugenio Caballero (Pan's Labyrinth) & Bárbara Enríquez
- Foreign Language Picture: Mexico (Biutiful, Pan's Labyrinth, The Crime of Father Amaro, Amores Perros, Letters from Marusia, Tlayucan, The Important Man, Macario)
- Sound Mixing
- Sound Editing
Director: Cuarón
Cast: Aparicio, Tavira, Nancy García García, Jorge Antonio Guerrero, Verónica García, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta, Daniela Demesa, Marco Graf, Fernando Grediaga, Andy Cortés
I loved this movie. I loved the way that it was shot. I loved the way that it mostly relegated the bourgeois problems of its supporting characters to the background in order to focus on its main character's challenges of life, love, and work. The fact that Roma was made in both Spanish and Mixteco felt really special. But more than all of this, the filmmaking is just superb, and Roma is able to focus on the quotidian and the epic simultaneously, and even more importantly to place the quotidian within the epic with deftness and intelligence. I found Roma a little more intellectually satisfying than emotionally satisfying, but overall I loved it. As for what this movie will win come Oscar Sunday... Cuarón is a lock for director, but I think the amount of love this movie saw when nominations were announced (both acting nominations were real surprises) means that Academy members love this movie a lot more than your everyday Netflix subscriber does. And, I have to say, the Academy is getting this one right. Oh, also, when Cuarón wins Best Director on February 24th, he will be the fifth Mexican director to win in the last six year. The will be the first time Mexico has won the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
Will Win: Picture, Director, Cinematography, Production Design, Foreign Language Picture
Could Win: Original Screenplay
My Rating: #9 out of 66
10 Nominations
- Picture
- Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
- Actress: Olivia Colman
- Original Screenplay: Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara
- Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)
- Supporting Actress: Emma Stone (La La Land, Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- Cinematography: Robbie Ryan
- Film Editing: Yorgos Mavropsaridis
- Production Design: Fiona Crombie & Alice Felton
- Costume Design: Sandy Powell (Mary Poppins Returns, Cinderella, Carol, Hugo, The Tempest, The Young Victoria, Mrs Henderson Presents, The Aviator, Gangs of New York, Shakespeare in Love, Velvet Goldmine, The Wings of the Dove, Orlando)
Director: Lanthimos
Cast: Colan, Weisz, Stone, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn, James Smith, Mark Gatiss
I reviewed this movie here. The Favourite is a hilariously bizarre Lanthimosic version of English history. What's brilliant about it is that it looks like it's a period film, and it is a period film – it's about England's Queen Anne – but then it is also a Yorgos fucking Lanthimos movie, which means that it is also insane. This means that it is very very funny and people continuously behave in ways that surprise and shock the viewer. The worlds Lanthimos gives viewers access to make perfect sense, but they operate on their own internal logics. He's really an extraordinary filmmaker, and I can't wait to see what's next. The costumes simply must win. Powell has 3 Oscars already, but she hasn't won in 10 years, and anyway the Academy doesn't mind giving costume designers additional Oscars. Colleen Atwood won two years ago for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. She's gonna win. Whether anything else can win here, I'm not quite sure, although I think The Favourite will also take home Original Screenplay.
Will Win: Original Screenplay, Costume Design
Could Win: Actress, Film Editing, Production DesignMy Rating: #17 out of 66
8 Nominations
- Picture
- Director: Adam McKay (The Big Short)
- Actor: Christian Bale (The Big Short, American Hustle, The Fighter)
- Original Screenplay: Adam McKay (The Big Short)
- Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri)
- Supporting Actress: Amy Adams (American Hustle, The Master, The Fighter, Doubt, Junebug)
- Film Editing: Hank Corwin (The Big Short)
- Makeup & Hairstyling
Director: McKay
Cast: Bale, Adams, Steve Carrell, Rockwell, Jesse Plemons, Allison Pill, Eddie Marsan, Justin Kirk, Tyler Perry, LisaGay Hamilton, Lily Rabe, Bill Camp
I really disliked Vice, a dislike I wrote about here. I'm not here to say Vice is a bad film, but it definitely was not for me. I am surprised that the Academy loved this as much as it did. Three acting nominations is a lot, and this is Adam McKay's second best director nomination in just a few years. It's quite impressive. The reason Vice doesn't work, to my mind, is that McKay tried to do the kind of Brechtian historical analysis he did with The Big Short but instead of analyzing a historical moment he tried (half-heartedly) to analyze a man. It didn't work. As for winning Oscars, it looks right now like Christian Bale will take home his second acting Oscar. I don't think he's very good in the movie, but that seems to be a minority opinion. But let's take a moment to talk about Amy Adams, who always seems to get outshone in these movies with Christian Bale. I am not sure I understand that. I feel like this woman – who is excellent in everything, as far as we can tell – should probably be directing movies by now. I have a feeling she can probably do anything. Let's give her a bunch of money and see what she'll do. Also, Vice should probably win makeup and hairstyling. It's the most high profile of the nominees in that category.
Will Win: Actor, Makeup & Hairstyling
I really disliked Vice, a dislike I wrote about here. I'm not here to say Vice is a bad film, but it definitely was not for me. I am surprised that the Academy loved this as much as it did. Three acting nominations is a lot, and this is Adam McKay's second best director nomination in just a few years. It's quite impressive. The reason Vice doesn't work, to my mind, is that McKay tried to do the kind of Brechtian historical analysis he did with The Big Short but instead of analyzing a historical moment he tried (half-heartedly) to analyze a man. It didn't work. As for winning Oscars, it looks right now like Christian Bale will take home his second acting Oscar. I don't think he's very good in the movie, but that seems to be a minority opinion. But let's take a moment to talk about Amy Adams, who always seems to get outshone in these movies with Christian Bale. I am not sure I understand that. I feel like this woman – who is excellent in everything, as far as we can tell – should probably be directing movies by now. I have a feeling she can probably do anything. Let's give her a bunch of money and see what she'll do. Also, Vice should probably win makeup and hairstyling. It's the most high profile of the nominees in that category.
Will Win: Actor, Makeup & Hairstyling
Could Win: Original Screenplay, Film Editing
My Rating: #65 out of 66
A Star Is Born
8 Nominations
- Picture
- Actor: Bradley Cooper (American Sniper, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook)
- Actress: Lady Gaga
- Adapted Screenplay: Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters & Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Munich, The Insider, Forrest Gump)
- Supporting Actor: Sam Elliott
- Cinematography: Matthew Libatique (Black Swan)
- Sound Mixing
- Song – "Shallow": Lady Gaga (The Hunting Ground), Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando & Andrew Wyatt
Director: Cooper
Cast: Cooper, Gaga, Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay, Rafi Gavron, Anthony Ramos, Dave Chappelle, Drena De Niro, Barry Shabaka Henley, Michael D. Roberts, Michael J. Harney, Ron Rifkin, Greg Grunberg, D.J. Shangela Pierce, Willam Belli
I like this movie more now than I did when I saw it. Lady Gaga is a very good singer, and she is good in A Star Is Born whenever she is singing. Whenever she's not, I don't get it. As for Bradley Cooper, I'm actually mad that anyone is talking about any of these other actors. The idea that Cooper lost to Rami Malek at the Golden Globes is actually insane. And I don't understand how a beautiful, sensitive, heart-rending performance like his in this movie could be compared in any way to Bale's stoic cartoon of Dick Cheney. It's really absurd. Cooper is superb in this film. Some people are saying he was snubbed in the best director category... no. He's a brilliant actor and he should be awarded for that. I think A Star Is Born is not going to win Best Picture, although it certainly still might. I think its wins on the 24th will be in sound mixing (it wasn't nominated for sound editing) and best song. And the song is pretty fucking great, I have to say. But it's definitely insane that Hollywood has decided not to give Cooper any prizes for this movie which has made a ton of money and is actually really high quality. This is the most Hollywood of the top four movies this year. They really ought to give Cooper a little gold man.
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