The 91st Annual Academy Awards

[Jack-Hammer]

The nominations for this year's Oscars were announced yesterday:

BEST PICTURE

Black Panther â?? Kevin Feige
BlacKkKlansman â?? Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele, and Spike Lee
Bohemian Rhapsody â?? Graham King
The Favourite â?? Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, and Yorgos Lanthimos
Green Book â?? Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, and Nick Vallelonga
Roma â?? Gabriela Rodriguez and Alfonso Cuarón
A Star Is Born â?? Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper, and Lynette Howell Taylor
Vice â?? Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay, and Kevin J. Messick


BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale â?? Vice as Dick Cheney
Bradley Cooper â?? A Star Is Born as Jackson "Jack" Maine
Willem Dafoe â?? At Eternity's Gate as Vincent van Gogh
Rami Malek â?? Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury
Viggo Mortensen â?? Green Book as Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga


BEST ACTRESS

Yalitza Aparicio â?? Roma as Cleodegaria "Cleo" Gutiérrez
Glenn Close â?? The Wife as Joan Castleman
Olivia Colman â?? The Favourite as Anne, Queen of Great Britain
Lady Gaga â?? A Star Is Born as Ally Maine
Melissa McCarthy â?? Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Lee Israel


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali â?? Green Book as Don Shirley
Adam Driver â?? BlacKkKlansman as Philip "Flip" Zimmerman
Sam Elliott â?? A Star Is Born as Bobby Maine
Richard E. Grant â?? Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Jack Hock
Sam Rockwell â?? Vice as George W. Bush


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams â?? Vice as Lynne Cheney
Marina de Tavira â?? Roma as Sra. SofÃÂ*a
Regina King â?? If Beale Street Could Talk as Sharon Rivers
Emma Stone â?? The Favourite as Abigail Masham
Rachel Weisz â?? The Favourite as Sarah Churchill


BEST DIRECTOR
Spike Lee â?? BlacKkKlansman
Paweł Pawlikowski â?? Cold War
Yorgos Lanthimos â?? The Favourite
Alfonso Cuarón â?? Roma
Adam McKay â?? Vice


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Favourite â?? Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
First Reformed â?? Written by Paul Schrader
Green Book â?? Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, and Peter Farrelly
Roma â?? Written by Alfonso Cuarón
Vice â?? Written by Adam McKay

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs â?? Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, based on the short stories All Gold Canyon by Jack London and The Gal Who Got Rattled by Stewart Edward White
BlacKkKlansman â?? Screenplay by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, based on the memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth
Can You Ever Forgive Me? â?? Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, based on the memoir by Lee Israel
If Beale Street Could Talk â?? Screenplay by Barry Jenkins, based on the novel by James Baldwin
A Star Is Born â?? Screenplay by Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters, based on the 1937 screenplay by William A. Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Incredibles 2 â?? Brad Bird, John Walker, and Nicole Paradis Grindle
Isle of Dogs â?? Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, and Jeremy Dawson
Mirai â?? Mamoru Hosoda and Yūichirō Saitō
Ralph Breaks the Internet â?? Rich Moore, Phil Johnston, and Clark Spencer
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse â?? Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller


BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Animal Behaviour â?? Alison Snowden and David Fine
Bao â?? Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb
Late Afternoon â?? Louise Bagnall and Nuria González Blanco
One Small Step â?? Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas
Weekends â?? Trevor Jimenez


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Capernaum (Lebanon) in Arabic â?? Directed by Nadine Labaki
Cold War (Poland) in Polish and French â?? Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski
Never Look Away (Germany) in German â?? Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Roma (Mexico) in Spanish and Mixtec â?? Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Shoplifters (Japan) in Japanese â?? Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda


BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Detainment â?? Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon
Fauve â?? Jérémy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon
Marguerite â?? Marianne Farley and Marie-Hélène Panisset
Mother â?? Rodrigo Sorogoyen and MarÃÂ*a del Puy Alvarado
Skin â?? Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Detainment â?? Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon
Fauve â?? Jérémy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon
Marguerite â?? Marianne Farley and Marie-Hélène Panisset
Mother â?? Rodrigo Sorogoyen and MarÃÂ*a del Puy Alvarado
Skin â?? Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman


BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

Black Sheep â?? Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn
End Game â?? Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
Lifeboat â?? Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser
A Night at the Garden â?? Marshall Curry
Period. End of Sentence. â?? Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Black Panther â?? Ludwig Göransson
BlacKkKlansman â?? Terence Blanchard
If Beale Street Could Talk â?? Nicholas Britell
Isle of Dogs â?? Alexandre Desplat
Mary Poppins Returns â?? Marc Shaiman


BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"All the Stars" from Black Panther â?? Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith; Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solána Rowe
"I'll Fight" from RBG â?? Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren
"The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns â?? Music and Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
"Shallow" from A Star Is Born â?? Music and Lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt
"When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs â?? Music and Lyrics by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch


BEST SOUND EDITING

Black Panther â?? Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker
Bohemian Rhapsody â?? John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone
First Man â?? Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
A Quiet Place â?? Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
Roma â?? Sergio DÃÂ*az and Skip Lievsay


BEST SOUND MIXING

Black Panther â?? Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin
Bohemian Rhapsody â?? Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali
First Man â?? Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis
Roma â?? Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio GarcÃÂ*a
A Star Is Born â?? Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow


BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Black Panther â?? Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart
The Favourite â?? Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
First Man â?? Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas
Mary Poppins Returns â?? Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
Roma â?? Production Design: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Bárbara Enrı́quez


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Best Cinematography
Cold War â?? Łukasz Żal
The Favourite â?? Robbie Ryan
Never Look Away â?? Caleb Deschanel
Roma â?? Alfonso Cuarón
A Star Is Born â?? Matthew Libatique


BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Border â?? Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer
Mary Queen of Scots â?? Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher, and Jessica Brooks
Vice â?? Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, and Patricia Dehaney


BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs â?? Mary Zophres
Black Panther â?? Ruth E. Carter
The Favourite â?? Sandy Powell
Mary Poppins Returns â?? Sandy Powell
Mary Queen of Scots â?? Alexandra Byrne


BEST FILM EDITING

BlacKkKlansman â?? Barry Alexander Brown
Bohemian Rhapsody â?? John Ottman
The Favourite â?? Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Green Book â?? Patrick J. Don Vito
Vice â?? Hank Corwin


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Avengers: Infinity War â?? Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick
Christopher Robin â?? Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones, and Chris Corbould
First Man â?? Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, and J. D. Schwalm
Ready Player One â?? Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler, and David Shirk
Solo: A Star Wars Story â?? Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, and Dominic Tuohy

There definitely can't be any complaints this year about there not being very many people of color on the nominations list. At the same time, in all honesty, I have to wonder if concerns over being accused of racism, again, is why some films got nominations. For instance, Bohemian Rhapsody is nominated for Best Picture but it wasn't all that well received by critics as a whole; it wasn't outright panned, but a film with only a 62% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes seems an odd choice for consideration for being the best movie of the year, yet critics praised Rami Malek's performance as Freddie Mercury and the movie did take in over $800 million worldwide.

Black Panther begging nominated for Best Picture was also a surprise. Personally, I enjoyed the film quite a bit but did I think it was better than, say, Logan or Captain America: Winter Soldier & Civil War? Not at all, but it's the only film to have an almost entirely black cast and I very much have suspicions there'd be some sort of outcry had it not gotten at least one nomination in one of the top categories. On the other hand, I've got no iissue with a movie of this genre getting a Best Picture nod, especially as it sticks in the craw of Hollywood elitists like Ethan Hawke who feel that the Oscars should exclude certain types of movies as though having a $100 million budget somehow means that it can't be a great film.

But yeah, Mr. Hawke needn't worry as there are plenty of his type of films that are nominated, namely movies that didn't cost hardly anything to make, barely made any money at all, lost money, hardly anyone has ever seen/heard of or some combination thereof like The Favourite, The Wife, Roma, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, If Beale Street Could Talk and various others.

I have a few cousins who've watched A Star Is Born probably 20 times, so they're gushing that Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga got nominations, which it was a genuinely good movie, and I'm also glad to see one of my old favorites, Sam Elliot, get recognized with a nomination.

But at any rate, there's plenty of diversity this year.

[Slyfox696]

First of all, I was not going to comment, but I do want to take a moment to appreciate the work you put into this thread Jack-Hammer, it is much appreciated.

As far as awards go, I have never been into the awards programs. This is true of all forms of entertainment, even the Slammys. I've heard Black Panther has a legitimate shot at winning Best Picture and that's interesting, but other than that I cannot think of a single reason to care.

[jmt225]

A few years ago, on my IMDB profile, I started compiling a list of my 'Top 10 Films of the Year' for every year since I was born (1985). And yesterday after seeing the nominations this year, I looked back at those lists trying to see if there was a worst year for film in recent memory than 2018, and the only year that comes close is 2012... but nothing I saw was truly as bad as 2018.

I can't say that these nominations are terrible, because in a better year for movies, they hopefully wouldn't be nominated. But there was such a lack of competition that mediocre films and performances are being lauded as great, while they're most certainly not.

That said, the Black Panther love is ridiculous. Fun movie with a great anti-hero villain but that's all it was, fun. And it wasn't even as fun as its counterpart released the same year.

Roma was unbelievably boring and pointless. BlacKkKlansman butchered the original story and just became a hit piece on Trump. Bohemian Rhapsody was fine if you're a big Queen fan but doesn't stand well on its own. Green Book is a very nice and funny feel good movie, probably my favorite to be nominated for Best Picture. A Star Is Born is very well acted but a remake of a remake of a remake, so there's nothing original about it. Vice I still need to see. And I haven't seen The Favourite either and most likely won't anytime soon if I'm being honest.

My favorite movie released last year is probably Searching. I loved the way it was shot and presented, and just found it be a thrilling blast to sit through. That film has really flown under the radar during award season and I honestly don't understand why.

Other movies I enjoyed from this year more than anything nominated (besides perhaps Green Book) are Creed 2, Mission Impossible: Fallout, The Avengers: Infinity War, Eighth Grade, A Simple Favor, and dare I say The Christmas Chronicles.

I also think Toni Collette was snubbed for Best Actress for her performance in Hereditary. I wasn't even a massive fan of that film but she was remarkable in it. It's a true shame she has been overlooked just because that was a horror movie.

So yeah man, just a terribly weak year in film all around, and these nominations reflect that. Hopefully 2019 does a lot better.

[JHOLCOMB22]

Thank you jmt. Now I don't have to write a long post. You hit the nail on the head. I will say that there were a lot of movies that were fine, but like you said, not a lot that were great. Even in years where I disagree with the best picture winner and nominees, i still have a list of movies i loved and thought were great. Not so this year. I think my favorite movie of the year was Annihilation. I also really enjoyed blindspotting, Sorry to bother you, and Game night, but I also don't expect them to be award contenders.

[Spidey]

I'm just glad I've heard of every Best Picture nominee.

[Yaz]

Honestly the award shows have gotten way too PC and it has ruined them for me.

[Y 2 Jake]

It's a weak year, that's for sure.

Not only is Bohemian Rhapsody awful, but I'm surprised by its inclusion because it was largely directed by somebody who's got a scandal floating around him.

Cold War bored me to tears but a day hasn't passed since that I haven't thought about it.

[Big Nick Dudley]

Black Panther was a really good comic book film, but if The Dark Knight and Logan didn't deserve this nomination, I can't see why this does. Then again, 2018 was a shit year for great films. It was a really good popcorn year, so I guess it isn't totally ridiculous.

[Alex]

My friend and I were talking about overrated films on a podcast we do and he brought up Black Panther.

He (and I) enjoyed Black Panther but didn't get the hype as he preferred Infinity War. We were both agreed its a watershed moment for having a predominantly black cast and crew in a mainstream movie but still. While that's all well and good it doesn't do anything significant that differentiates itself storywise or cinematography wise from any of the other Marvel movies. And like Nick said if The Dark Knight can't win best picture a film that I still maintain is a very well put together mob/cop movie (something the Academy loves) with a special ops guy in a funny tech suit fighting Clown Al Capone then why should Black Panther (haven't seen Logan so can't comment).

I mean the Fast & Furious movies have a diverse cast with themes of friendship and family but you're not seeing them getting nominations.

Creed should have won a few years ago. It's a better movie by Ryan Coogler and better acting from Michael B. Jordan