Rico's Thoughts - 2019 Oscar Nominations

The nominations for the 2019 Academy Awards have been announced and I have some thoughts.

Roma led the pack with 11 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Alfonso Cuarón. What has surprised me the most has been the critical response to this film. The movie is beautiful to look at and Cuarón tells a personal story that is related to his childhood. Although some moments stick out, the movie feels impersonal. Which is why I was surprised that so many people could relate to the film.

A little surprising was the fact that Bradley Cooper, who was nominated for both Directors Guild of America and the Golden Globe for Best Director, has been shut out for the same category for the Academy Awards. Coming out of the movie, I thought that A Star is Born would be a major player throughout awards season and although it has eight nominations, including Best Picture, it feels as though the conversation has faded.

As I scrolled though Best Actor, I kept looking for Ethan Hawke, thinking that I had missed it. Turns out, the Academy left it off the final five, which is a shame. Hawke delivers a restrained performance in First Reformed as a priest going through a crisis of faith. It really is a stellar performance. Wish we could see his name among the other nominees on awards night.

The biggest surprise comes from one of the least talked about awards and that is Best Documentary. Looking at most end-of-year lists, I couldn't help but notice that Won't You Be My Neighbor?, a documentation of the life of Fred Rogers from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, was left off. This comes after winning the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary.

The field is wide open, as open as it has been in recent years. Two movies that have backlash written all over them is Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book. One movie that changes things that make the movie a lie and the other ingratiates itself to make you feel good once the credits roll. You choose which description is appropriate for each movie. Vice has a tour-de-force performance from Christian Bale but the film is uneven. Black Panther already won their "award" by being the first superhero to get a nomination for Best Picture.

That leaves The Favourite and BlackKklansman. Both are really good movies that could benefit from the Academy's preferential balloting system (I'll talk about that later on). Now all we can do is wait until February 24th.

Oscar nominations are below.

Best Picture

Black Panther
BlacKKKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star is Born
Vice

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – Roma
Spike Lee – BlacKKKlansman
Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite
Adam McKay – Vice
Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams – Vice
Marina De Tavira – Roma
Regina King – If Beale STreet Could Talk
Emma Stone – The Favourite
Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali – Green Book
Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott – A Star is Born
Richard E. Grant – Can You Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell – Vice

Best Actress

Yaritza Aparicio – Roma
Glenn Close – The Wife
Olivia Colman – The Favourite
Lada Gaga – A Star is Born
Melissa McCarthy – Can You Even Forgive Me?

Best Actor

Christian Bale – Vice
Bradley Cooper – A Star is Born
Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate
Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen – Green Book

Best Original Screenplay

The Favourite – Deborah Davis Tony McNamara
First Reformed – Paul Schrader
Green Book – Peter Farrelly
Roma – Alfonso Cuaron
Vice – Adam McKay

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Joel and Ethan Coen
BlacKKKlansman – Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee
Can You Ever Forgive me – Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins
A Star is Born – Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters

Best Animated Feature

Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Original Song

“All The Stars” from “Black Panther” by Kendrick Lamar, SZA
“I’ll Fight” from “RBG” by Diane Warren, Jennifer Hudson
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns” by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman
“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt and Benjamin Rice
“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” by Willie Watson, Tim Blake Nelson

Best Foreign Language Film

Capernaum
Cold War
Never Look Away
Roma
Shoplifters

Best Documentary Feature

Free Solo
Hale County, This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Of Fathers and Sons
RBG

Best Original Score

Black Panther
Black KKKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Isle of Dogs
Mary Poppins Returns

Best Cinematography

Cold War
The Favourite
Never Look Away
Roma
A Star is Born

Best Cinematography

Cold War – Lukasz Zal
The Favourite – Robbie Ryan
Never Look Away – Caleb Deschanel
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
A Star Is Born – Matthew Libatique