BEVERLY HILLS—We have been patiently waiting, but at long last the granddaddy of all award shows, the Academy Awards released the contenders for 2019, and to say there were a few surprises was an understatement. The nominees were announced by actor Kumail Nanjiani and Tracee Ellis Ross. The banter between these two as they delivered the nominees was hilarious; they were comedy gold people.
I expected the remake “A Star is Born” to lead all contenders for the day and I was surprised with news that “Roma” and “The Favourite,” movies not likely seen by most Americans led all contenders with a total of 10 nominations apiece including Best Picture. Rather either of those films have a chance at the top prize is a completely different story. Followed close behind were “Black Panther,” “Vice” and “A Star is Born” with 8 nominations apiece.
Cuaron was a big winner for the day picking up a total of four nominations including Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography. Let’s talk about snubs because there were indeed some major ones for 2019. I mean Bradley Cooper overlooked for Best Director for “A Star is Born” was the biggest gasp, no love for Barry Jenkins in that race either. Also missing was Peter Farrelly for “Green Book.” I said Best Director would produce the most surprises and I wasn’t lying people, this opens this race in some people’s eyes, but I would argue it secures that Alfonso Cuaron will win his second Best Directing Oscar next month.
Another big surprise was the omission of Timothee Chalamet for Best Supporting Actor for his transformative performance in “Beautiful Boy.” I was certain he was a lock in that race. I expected Dafoe to earn that nomination for Best Actor, which did not surprise me, nor did the inclusion of Yalitza Aparicio for “Roma.”
A full list of this year’s nominees can be seen below:
Best Picture
-“A Star is Born”
-“Green Book”
-“Roma”
-“Vice”
-“BlacKkKlansman”
-“The Favourite”
-“Black Panther”
-“Bohemian Rhapsody”
Best Director
-Alfonso Cuaron “Roma”
-Spike Lee “BlacKkKlansman”
-Pawel Pawlikowski “Cold War”
-Yorgos Lanthimos “The Favourite”
-Adam McKay “Vice”
Best Actor
-Bradley Cooper “A Star is Born”
-Christian Bale “Vice”
-Rami Malek “Bohemain Rhapsody”
-Viggo Mortensen “Green Book”
-William Dafoe “At Eternity’s Gate”
Best Actress
-Glenn Close “The Wife”
-Lady Gaga “A Star is Born”
-Olivia Colman “The Favourite”
-Yalitza Aparicio “Roma”
-Melissa McCarthy “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Best Supporting Actress
-Amy Adams “Vice”
-Marina de Tavira “Roma”
-Regina King “If Beale Street Could Talk”
-Rachel Weisz “The Favourite”
-Emma Stone “The Favourite”
Best Supporting Actor
-Mahershala Ali “Green Book”
-Sam Elliott “A Star is Born”
-Richard E. Grant “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
-Adam Driver “BlacKkKlansman”
-Sam Rockwell “Vice”
Best Original Screenplay
-Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara “The Favourite”
-Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie and Peter Farrelly “Green Book”
-Alfonso Cuaron “Roma”
-Adam McKay “Vice”
-Paul Schrader “First Reformed”
Best Adapted Screenplay
-Barry Jenkins “If Beale Street Could Tak”
-Joel and Ethan Coen “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
-Charlie Wachtel, Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott “BlacKkKlansman”
-Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
-Bradley Cooper, Eric Roth & Will Fetters “A Star is Born”
Best Animated Film
-“Mirai”
-“Ralph Breaks the Internet”
-“Isle of Dogs”
-“Incredibles 2”
-“Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse”
Best Animated Short
-“One Small Step”
-“Weekends”
-“Late Afternoon”
-“Bao”
-“Animal Behaviour”
Best Live Short
–“Fauve”
-“Mother”
-“Skin”
-“Marguerite”
-“Detainment”
Best Documentary Feature
-“Free Solo”
-“RBG”
-“Of Fathers and Sons”
-“Minding the Gap”
-“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”
Best Documentary Short
-“Period. End of Sentence”
-“Black Sheep”
-“Lifeboat”
-“End Game”
-“A Night at the Garden:
Best Visual Effects
-“Avengers: Infinity War”
-“Solo: A Star Wars Story”
-“Ready Player One”
-“First Man”
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
-“Border”
-“Mary Queen of Scots”
-“Vice”
Best Original Song
-“All the Stars” from “Black Panther”
-“Shallow” from “A Star is Born”
-“I’ll Fight” from “RBG”
-“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns”
-“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
Best Costume Design
-“Black Panther”
-“The Favourite”
-“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
-“Mary Poppins Returns”
-“Mary Queen of Scots”
Best Production Design
-“Mary Poppins Returns”
-“First Man”
-“Roma”
-“Black Panther”
-“The Favourite”
Best Film Editing
-“Bohemian Rhapsody”
-“The Favourite”
-“Green Book”
-“Vice”
-“BlacKkKlansman”
Best Sound Mixing
-“Bohemian Rhapsody”
-“Black Panther”
-“First Man”
-“A Quiet Place”
-“A Star is Born”
Best Sound Editing
-“Bohemian Rhapsody”
-“Black Panther”
-“First Man”
-“A Quiet Place”
-“Roma”
Best Cinematography
-“Roma”
-“The Favourite”
-“A Star is Born”
-“Cold War”
-“Never Look Away”
Best Original Score
-“Black Panther”
-“If Beale Street Could Talk”
-“Isle of Dogs”
-“BlacKkKlansman”
-“Mary Poppins Returns”
Best Foreign Language Film
-“Shoplifters” (Japan)
-“Cold War” (Poland)
-“Capernaum” (Lebanon)
-“Roma” (Mexico)
-“Never Look Away” (Germany)
The 91st annual Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday, February 24. The ceremony will be televised live on ABC starting at 8:30 p.m. For the first time in nearly 30 years, there will not be a host for the Oscars. Oh, that should be very interesting to say the least. With this awards season being all over the place, I can say for the first time I have NO IDEA who is going to come out on top and I absolutely love it!
