Part 1: Roma, The Favourite, Vice, A Star Is Born.
Part 2: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Part 3:
Part 2: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Part 3:
4 Nominations
- Production Design: John Myhre (Nine, Dreamgirls, Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago, Elizabeth) & Gordon Sim (Nine, Chicago)
- Costume Design: Sandy Powell (The Favourite, 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)
- Score: Marc Shaiman (South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, Patch Adams, The First Wives Club, The American President, Sleepless in Seattle)
- Song - "The Place Where Lost Things Go": Marc Shaiman (South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, Patch Adams, The First Wives Club, The American President, Sleepless in Seattle) & Scott Wittman
Director: Rob Marshall
Cast: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Meryl Streep, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Jeremy Swift, David Warner
This is a charming little film. It does feel just a tad off – Emily Blunt is cute, but she doesn't quite feel like Mary Poppins. She isn't, after all, Julie Andrews. How could she be? Mary Poppins Returns is less stagey than his other films. I found that to be quite appealing. I find myself so frustrated with the sound-stage look of most of his films, and so I was delighted that this movie was underneath the lovely London sky, so to speak. But then... the biggest musical number in the movie is, of course, on a sound stage. I really cannot understand why Marshall does this. You're making a movie, sir. Go outside for Heaven's sake. Still, I was delighted that Marshall actually cast two theatre actors in his film. It's always nice when actors in Hollywood movies can actually sing. Emily Blunt doesn't have a great voice (again, she's not Dame Julie), but her voice is pretty when she uses her full voice and lets go of breathy sound. Speaking of Blunt, she just missed a best actress nomination here, and I think it speaks volume for the imagination of the Academy here that she did. Blunt was only ever going to be a also-ran kind of nominee. The Academy, in fact, consistently shows imagination and principle when voting for best actress nominees (except when it comes to Meryl Streep), and they deserve credit for that. I think this movie will win score, since Justin Hurwitz's gorgeous First Man score somehow got snubbed. And it will deserve it. Marc Shaiman's score is lovely, and the songs are mostly lovely, and this movie was pretty damn cute.
Will Win: Score
This is a charming little film. It does feel just a tad off – Emily Blunt is cute, but she doesn't quite feel like Mary Poppins. She isn't, after all, Julie Andrews. How could she be? Mary Poppins Returns is less stagey than his other films. I found that to be quite appealing. I find myself so frustrated with the sound-stage look of most of his films, and so I was delighted that this movie was underneath the lovely London sky, so to speak. But then... the biggest musical number in the movie is, of course, on a sound stage. I really cannot understand why Marshall does this. You're making a movie, sir. Go outside for Heaven's sake. Still, I was delighted that Marshall actually cast two theatre actors in his film. It's always nice when actors in Hollywood movies can actually sing. Emily Blunt doesn't have a great voice (again, she's not Dame Julie), but her voice is pretty when she uses her full voice and lets go of breathy sound. Speaking of Blunt, she just missed a best actress nomination here, and I think it speaks volume for the imagination of the Academy here that she did. Blunt was only ever going to be a also-ran kind of nominee. The Academy, in fact, consistently shows imagination and principle when voting for best actress nominees (except when it comes to Meryl Streep), and they deserve credit for that. I think this movie will win score, since Justin Hurwitz's gorgeous First Man score somehow got snubbed. And it will deserve it. Marc Shaiman's score is lovely, and the songs are mostly lovely, and this movie was pretty damn cute.
Will Win: Score
Could Win: Song
My Rating: #31 out of 66
First Man
This movie was not for me, despite Ryan Gosling's brilliant performance at this film's center. I wrote a lot about what I liked and didn't like and why I didn't think it worked, so I won't rehash that here. What I want to say about these nominations is that Justin Hurwitz's score for First Man was literally the best thing about the film, and the fact that the music branch did not nominate him is actually crazy. To have nominated Alexandre Desplat (last year's winner and now 10-time nominee) is just insanely conservative. I do not understand. The music branch tried some new things this year with its nomination process – they always seem to be doing that – and that is fine, but they need to figure out a way to become less insular. The music branch is small, and they seem to nominate the same people over and over. It's very frustrating. Hurwitz's work this year was superb. I will complain more about the music branch when we get to The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, I'm sure, so I'll stop now, but I've listen to the score for First Man more than any other score this year, and I can't imagine anyone sitting down to listen to the Isle of Dogs score more than a couple of times.
Zimna Wojna (Cold War)
For me, Cold War isn't quite as great as Ida, but I think this is mostly because of the subject matter and not because of the work the director is doing. Pawlikowski is obviously a superb filmmaker. This is an epic story, and it is told economically and beautifully. All of the actors are absolutely excellent, and Joanna Kulig probably should have been in the running for best actress. Yalitza Aparicio is great, but Kulig's performance in this is really searing. Pawlikowski's best director nomination was perhaps a surprise to some folks; it wasn't to me. The directing branch frequently does things right and selects excellent filmmakers from around the globe. Occasionally a stinker gets in, but usually they do things well. It's great to see Łukasz Żal here again too. His work is just so good. In short, the fact that this has 3 nominations speaks very highly of the Academy's choices this year. These are discerning, excellent nominations. I don't think Cold War can win any awards on Oscar night, but good for Pawlikowski. I can't wait to see what he'll make next.
4 Nominations
- Production Design: Nathan Crowley (Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, The Prestige) & Kathy Lucas
- Sound Mixing
- Sound Editing
- Visual Effects
Director: Damien Chazelle
Cast: Ryan Gosling,Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Patrick Fugit, Christopher Abbott, Corey Stoll, Ciarán Hinds, Pablo Schreiber, Shea Wigham, Lukas Haas, Ethan Embry, Olivia Hamilton, Brian d'Arcy James, Cory Michael Smith
This movie was not for me, despite Ryan Gosling's brilliant performance at this film's center. I wrote a lot about what I liked and didn't like and why I didn't think it worked, so I won't rehash that here. What I want to say about these nominations is that Justin Hurwitz's score for First Man was literally the best thing about the film, and the fact that the music branch did not nominate him is actually crazy. To have nominated Alexandre Desplat (last year's winner and now 10-time nominee) is just insanely conservative. I do not understand. The music branch tried some new things this year with its nomination process – they always seem to be doing that – and that is fine, but they need to figure out a way to become less insular. The music branch is small, and they seem to nominate the same people over and over. It's very frustrating. Hurwitz's work this year was superb. I will complain more about the music branch when we get to The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, I'm sure, so I'll stop now, but I've listen to the score for First Man more than any other score this year, and I can't imagine anyone sitting down to listen to the Isle of Dogs score more than a couple of times.
3 Nominations
- Director: Paweł Pawlikowski
- Cinematography: Łukasz Żal (Ida)
- Foreign Language Picture: Poland (Ida, In Darkness, Katyń, Man of Iron, The Young Girls of Wilko, Nights Days, The Deluge, Promised Land, Pharaoh, Knife in the Water)
Director: Pawlikowski
Cast: Malek
For me, Cold War isn't quite as great as Ida, but I think this is mostly because of the subject matter and not because of the work the director is doing. Pawlikowski is obviously a superb filmmaker. This is an epic story, and it is told economically and beautifully. All of the actors are absolutely excellent, and Joanna Kulig probably should have been in the running for best actress. Yalitza Aparicio is great, but Kulig's performance in this is really searing. Pawlikowski's best director nomination was perhaps a surprise to some folks; it wasn't to me. The directing branch frequently does things right and selects excellent filmmakers from around the globe. Occasionally a stinker gets in, but usually they do things well. It's great to see Łukasz Żal here again too. His work is just so good. In short, the fact that this has 3 nominations speaks very highly of the Academy's choices this year. These are discerning, excellent nominations. I don't think Cold War can win any awards on Oscar night, but good for Pawlikowski. I can't wait to see what he'll make next.
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