17 February 2019

91st Academy Awards (Oscars 2019)

This year's Oscars is genuinely rather exciting and unpredictable both for its nominations and also the production antics surrounding the event. Surprisingly, there aren't many locked-ins this year. The closest we have to a guaranteed win is "Shallow" for Best Song, and maybe Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor. We will be in for an exciting award show as the season finally comes to a close.


*Winners are highlighted in red


Who Should Win: Roma
Who Will Win: Roma
Who Could Win: Green Book or Black Panther

Any film can win the big prize except Bohemian Rhapsody. Please. This year was really a toss up between Roma and The Favourite. Roma was beautiful, affecting and heart-wrenching in its simplicity and honesty. The Favourite was terrific, witty and an absolute delight to watch with riveting performance by all three ladies.



BEST DIRECTOR

Spike Lee
Paweł Pawlikowski
Yorgos Lanthimos
Alfonso Cuarón
Adam McKay


Who Should Win: Alfonson Cuarón
Who Will Win: Alfonso Cuarón
Who Could Win: Spike Lee


This year could be another year where the Best Director and Best Picture award goes to the same film. The only other nominee to have a chance will be Spike Lee, but that might be more because of the narrative behind rather than the proficiency of directing. Roma was truly a piece of art.



BEST ACTOR


CHRISTIAN BALE

BRADLEY COOPER

WILLEM DAFOE

At Eternity's Gate

RAMI MALEK

VIGGO MORTENSEN



Who Should Win: Christian Bale
Who Will Win: Rami Malek
Who Could Win: Christian Bale


Willem Dafoe's performance is the only one that I did not catch, but chances of him winning are slim since he was practically absent in most of the precursor awards. Viggo Mortensen's chances are also diminished with the Green Book controversies, and he has also not been actively campaigning. Bradley Cooper was a front-runner until recently when A Star is Born just lost its shine. It really is a two-horse race with Christian Bale and Rami Malek, with the latter pulling ahead with winning everything. But truly, Bale gave a much better performance (with the help of makeup, but then so did Malek).



BEST ACTRESS

YALITZA APARICIO

GLENN CLOSE

OLIVIA COLMAN

LADY GAGA

MELISSA MCCARTHY


Who Should Win: Olivia Colman or Yaliza Aparicio
Who Will Win: Glenn Close
Who Should Win: Glenn Close or Olivia Colman


This is Glenn Close's to lose. Her performance was strong but her awards narrative even stronger. Although, Olivia Colman was absolutely brilliant and acted her arse off. Yalitza Aparicio will be a close third with her naturalistic and honest performance. She was the emotional core of Roma.



BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

MAHERSHALA ALI

ADAM DRIVER

SAM ELLIOTT

RICHARD E. GRANT

SAM ROCKWELL

Who Should Win: Richard E. Grant
Who Will Win: Mahershala Ali
Who Could Win: Mahershala Ali


If anybody else other than Mahershala Ali wins this, it will really be a surprise. Richard E Grant was the best thing in Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Sam Elliot totally owned that one scene in which he was reversing the car and looking back (of all scenes in A Star is Born, that really stucked).



BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

AMY ADAMS

MARINA DE TAVIRA

REGINA KING

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

EMMA STONE

RACHEL WEISZ


Who Should Win: Rachel Weisz
Who Will Win: Regina King
Who Could Win: Marina de Tavira


I did not mange to catch If Beale Street Could Talk but Regina King seemed to have a lot of buzz. Of the films I watched Rachel Weisz was great and Marina de Tavira was underrated, and a surprise nomination here for the latter could mean some groundswell for Roma and its cast. Poor Amy Adams, again just a bridesmaid.



BEST WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara

FIRST REFORMED

Written by Paul Schrader
Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly
Written by Alfonso Cuarón
Written by Adam McKay

Who Should Win: Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. "THE FAVOURITE"
Who Will Win: Adam McKay, "VICE"
Who Could Win: Anybody but the Green Book gang.


A tough category to call. Of all the films I have watched The Favourite and Vice had a strong screenplay. Witty, intelligent and smart. If either film gets shut out from the major awards, this could be a consolation. Although Paul Schrader is greatly overdue for an Oscar.



BEST WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

Written for the screen by Barry Jenkins
Screenplay by Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters


Who Should Win: Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, "BLACKKKLANSMAN"
Who Will Win: Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, "BLACKKKLANSMAN"
Who Could Win: Barry Jenkins, "IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK"



Blackkklansman will be the strongest here, especially if Spike Lee does not win Best Director. The Academy could also bestow it on Barry Jenkins also as a recognition of the film itself (more likely so if Regina King does not win her Best Supporting Actress). It would be great if the Coen brothers were to win for Buster Scruggs, but in this case, nomination was already a win. Some of the stories just did not work too well.



BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Brad Bird, John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle
Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson

MIRAI

Mamoru Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito
Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer
Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Who Should Win: Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse
Who Will Win: Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse
Who Could Win: Incredibles 2


Pixar is going to lose this and it will be a big blow considering that Incredibles 2 was actually really good. But Spider-Verse really knocked it out of the park. It was fun, emotional and exciting, and gorgeous to look at.



BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Łukasz Żal
Robbie Ryan

NEVER LOOK AWAY

Caleb Deschanel
Alfonso Cuarón
Matthew Libatique

Who Should Win: Łukasz Żal
Who Will Win: Alfonso Cuarón
Who Could Win: Łukasz Żal or Caleb Deschanel


One of my favourite awards, this year's nominees were all beautiful to watch except Never Look Away which I did not catch and A Star is Born which was bleah. Alfonso Cuaron could get the award just because it is him and he took on so many hats in this film and did them all marvelously. However, if Cold War does not get any other wins then it might snag this for its beautiful black and white cinematography. In my opinion, it was more gorgeous to look at than Roma. Robbie Ryan's brilliant filming of the candle-lit The Favourite should also not be overlooked. Those scenes in the tunnel and ballroom were sumptuous.


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Ludwig Goransson
Terence Blanchard

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

Nicholas Britell
Alexandre Desplat
Marc Shaiman

Who Should Win: Alexandre Desplat
Who Will Win: Alexandre Desplat
Who Could Win: Nicholas Britell


Desplat's scores for Wes Anderson's movies have always been one of the highlights of the movies and this was no exception in Isle of Dogs. I have been hearing good things about Nicholas Britell's score for Beale Street so that could be an underdog. But unfortunately the other three nominees are just less memorable.



BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

CAPERNAUM

Lebanon
Poland

NEVER LOOK AWAY

Germany
Mexico
Japan

Who Should Win: Shoplifters
Who Will Win: Roma
Who Could Win: Cold War or Shoplifters


There is a very real possibility that Roma might win both Best Picture and Best Foreign Film, although if the Academy decides to spread the love, Shoplifters absolutely deserved the win (a little bit more than Cold War) for its simple yet highly affecting and sincere story about family.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Shallow", A STAR IS BORN

It will Lady Gaga's award to lose. The only thing sure thing this year.


BEST FILM EDITING

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY


Bohemian Rhapsody and The Favourite won the Eddies this year. Maybe Bohemian Rhapsody might get a consolation for this for actually editing out a film amidst the disaster and successfully making lots of money at the same time. Although Vice also seemed to be a film made in the editing room.


BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

BLACK PANTHER


Black Panther may not get the big awards, but it sure could get it here. Its creation of Wakanda set a benchmark for all future superhero shows.


BEST COSTUME DESIGN

BLACK PANTHER


As above, but the period costumes for both The Favourite and Mary Queen of Scots might give it a run for its money.

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

VICE

The transformation of Christian Bale, just like it did for Gary Oldman last year, might give the Vice team a edge over the pox-marks in Mary Queen of Scots. Although I have also been hearing extremely good buzz for the swedish film Border.


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