There are 38 full length films nominated for one of the awards at the Oscars across 99 nominations. I have seen 25 of the films (66%) but thanks to multiple nominations, I managed 77% of the nominations.

Looking at the list of films there are very few that I feel strongly positive about, and even those aren’t always nominated in the right places. There are a few films I liked but feel a bit light for big award plaudits, and there are films that I have some respect for but didn’t really enjoy or connect with. To me, that’s really fundamental – you can be full of worthy material and beautifully made, but if I’m bored watching, then I’m not going to get past that.

As usual, for each of the awards I’ll quickly cover my feelings on the nominees, anything that I think is missing, who I think should win, and who I think will win. I think there’s going to be a lot of people spreading their votes around, not necessarily minding where the awards go, but trying to make sure a subset of films (Power of the Dog, Belfast, Dune, Flee, Drive My Car) all get something somewhere. But if it’s not coordinated it could get a bit weird and messy.

Best film – detailed reviews here

• Belfast – alright, but needlessly black and white, trying too hard
• CODA – lovely, fun to watch, interesting story, lots to say and and it said it well.
• Don’t Look Up – not believable enough for good satire, not funny enough for straight comedy
• Drive My Car – not seen
• Dune – excellent adaptation, beautifully made, a bit too cold
• King Richard – not seen
• Licorice Pizza – over-long, under-plotted
• Nightmare Alley – 1/3 good, 1/3 cliché, 1/3 needless padding
• The Power of the Dog – boring
• West Side Story – solid enough production but the source story is not good.

I’m rather underwhelmed with this list. I think tick, tick… Boom! is a far superior film to Don’t Look Up, and a far better musical than West Side Story. I also like The Tender Bar a lot more than awards voters seem to. Of the actually nominated films I was going to give my vote to Dune. But then I finally saw CODA this week and it swept me away. Not only well made and letting me experience a world I have no experience of, but a film I enjoyed watching and can wholeheartedly recommend to just about anyone. However, I think The Power of the Dog will win instead and I have zero clue why.

Best Director

• Kenneth Branagh – Belfast – Sorry, I can’t get over the black and white thing, just trying too hard.
• Ryusuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car – Not seen
• Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza – I can’t remember much about the direction except that it dragged
• Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog – Solid I guess
• Steven Spielberg – West Side Story – the big dance numbers were well shot, gave a sense of scale and place, but a nuts and bolts direction of a musical.

I again think tick, tick… Boom! is swindled here, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s direction of a musical is a lot more creative and interesting than Spielberg’s. Also Denis Villeneuve’s Dune was all about the direction, maybe the Academy are just waiting to see if he lands the 2nd part.

I don’t have strong feelings about who should win, but it would be nice for Jane Campion to be only the 3rd woman to win, and the 2nd consecutive after Chloe Zhao last year. If we can keep the trend going we’ll have gender parity in 2110. However I don’t think that Power of the Dog will win both best film and best director, so it may be Branagh.

Best Actor

• Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos as Desi Arnaz – nothing special
• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog as Phil Burbank – A big part of my dislike for the film was down to the quality of Cumberbatch’s performance as a deeply unpleasant person to be around which I guess is impressive.
• Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick… Boom! as Jonathan Larson – brilliant. A triple threat singing, dancing and acting performance of an incredibly complex character.
• Will Smith – King Richard as Richard Williams – haven’t seen, but it’s a great role for him
• Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth as Lord Macbeth – I dislike Shakespeare intensely, but his performance almost made me understand and care

I really liked Ben Affleck in The Tender Bar, but apparently Oscars forgot that film existed. A slightly leftfield choice would be Kenneth Branagh as Poirot who was funny and heartbreaking and the only consistent thing about the whole mess of Death on the Nile. Riz Ahmed was also superb in Encounter and for real “that’ll never happen” consideration, how about Tom Holland for Spiderman?  Any of them would have been better nominees than Javier Bardem to be honest. But of the other four nominees I think any of them are worthy winners, personally I’d vote for Andrew Garfield. However I think Will Smith is probably the front runner.

Best Actress

• Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye as Tammy Faye Bakker: This is a transformative performance, I could barely see Chastain through the makeup, and it’s an interesting role but I think it was let down a bit by the writing which seemed indecisive as to whether Tammy Faye was a canny woman stealing and using power where she could, or a slightly simple woman at the mercy of everyone around her and unwilling to look too closely or take responsibility.
• Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter as Leda Caruso – I didn’t like this film. I didn’t really understand what the main character was thinking and what was driving her actions, and I’m not sure the actress or writer did either.
• Penélope Cruz – Parallel Mothers as Janis Martínez Moreno – not seen
• Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos as Lucille Ball – this didn’t feel very natural, a bit too much like a performance, someone delivering a script. The performance, and the film itself were very watchable, but felt like it didn’t quite stick the landing.
• Kristen Stewart – Spencer as Diana, Princess of Wales – I was going to say that this seemed like a good option, until I actually watched the film last night. Stewart does an uncanny impression of someone very odd which makes it feel either creepy or ridiculous. The script is also truly abominable and the combo meant I found the film almost unbearable.

A really underwhelming set of nominations, some potentially good performances let down by mediocre material. Film makers need to do better. It feels like Catriona Balfe for Belfast is missing and Emilia Jones for CODA would actually win my vote so it’s a real shame that she’s not even nominated. Of those on offer I think I’d actually vote for Jessica Chastain for the volume of performance if nothing else.  I’m not sure who will win though, Nicole Kidman maybe?

Best supporting actor

• Ciarán Hinds – Belfast as Pop – there wasn’t a massive amount of complexity or depth to this role. feels more like a lifetime achievement award than a genuine nomination
• Troy Kotsur – CODA as Frank Rossi – this role on the other hand had a HUGE amount going on and it was all beautifully, hilariously, passionately and heartbreakingly performed
• Jesse Plemons – The Power of the Dog as George Burbank – Jesse Plemons excels playing this kind of unremarkable character that other bigger characters dance around, and in some ways it’s lovely to see that recognised, but on the other hand it doesn’t really scream award worthy.
• J. K. Simmons – Being the Ricardos as William Frawley – blink and you’ll miss it. Simmons is always great, but this wasn’t an outstanding role
• Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog as Peter Gordon – it’s an impressive achievement to stand alongside the huge performance from Benedict Cumberbatch and not only hold your own, but bring another level of unsettling creepiness.

Supporting awards are interesting, is it the 2nd biggest role in a film (arguably Troy Kotsur and Kodi Smit-McPhee), is it stealing the scenes you’re in (J.K. Simmons and Ciaran Hines) or is it just doing a good job with a nuts and bolts role to fill in the narrative gaps that the story needs (Jesse Plemons)? It’s hard to compare. But in this case I’m not going to think too hard about it because it’s an easy choice anyway as Troy Kotsur completely blew me away me in CODA, and for that matter in his acceptance speech at the BAFTAS. I don’t think there’s much doubt he’ll win the Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress:

• Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter as Young Leda Caruso – arguably a better written and more coherent role than Coleman’s and very well performed.
• Ariana DeBose – West Side Story as Anita – she absolutely stole the show, lighting up the screen with her singing, dancing, shouting and crying. In fact this is the best role in the whole film even if it’s supposed to be ‘supporting’.
• Judi Dench – Belfast as Granny – like Ciaran Hines, a solid performance but more of a default nomination I think
• Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog as Rose Gordon – better material than her on, and off screen husband Jesse Plemons had, and very worthy of nomination
• Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard as Oracene “Brandy” Price – not seen

Another set of slightly slim pickings for actresses this year. Ironically the person I thought doing the best job of the leading 4 in Being the Ricardos was Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance and she’s the only one not to be nominated. Rita Moreno who plays Valentina in West Side Story and was Anita in the original version was also very worthy of nomination which would have made some lovely poetry. However I think it should and will be this West Side Story’s Anita – Ariana DeBose to win.  (If you get a chance, look up her winning the Rising Star award at the BAFTAs, she gives a great speech but more hilariously she was clearly not expecting it as you clearly see her say “Oh SHIT!” before remembering the cameras are on her.

Best Original Screenplay

• Belfast – Kenneth Branagh – ok, I guess. I struggled to really understand the politics going on and I’m not sure if that’s my fault for being embarrassingly ignorant, or the screenplay.
• Don’t Look Up – Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay and David Sirota – I think the problems I had with the film were down to the writer’s not creating believable characters and motivations
• King Richard – Zach Baylin – not seen
• Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson – I don’t think there was enough plot, or clarity of message
• The Worst Person in the World – Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier – not seen

Why do animated films not get nominated for screenplays? I think Encanto would be an interesting and worthy nominee here, there was a LOT going on and it was juggled and structured well by the writers. It seems weird that an Aaron Sorkin script doesn’t get nominated, I liked the construction of the constrained time line of Being the Ricardos a lot although maybe some of it was a bit clunky. I also think Spider Man No Way Home did a lot of clever plotting and dialogue.

Of the five, I’ve not seen 2 of them, and 2 of them I thought were actively poor so I guess that means I’d vote for Belfast and I think the Academy will lean that way too.

Best Adapted Screenplay

• CODA – Sian Heder – well structured, completely believable, and entertaining as well. But it’s based on a French film so I’m not sure how much work there was to do.
• Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe – not seen
• Dune – Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth – The previous film shows just how you can make a mess of adapting this and there’s a LOT in the book to play with. Plus splitting one book into two films and still making the first film a contained entity is worthy of note.
• The Lost Daughter – Maggie Gyllenhaal – the main character didn’t make much sense to me, I was bored by the pacing and didn’t like the way the timelines were blocked out.
• The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion – fine? I mean, I didn’t like it, but that doesn’t mean it was bad.

Adapted screenplay is tough, are you just awarding the quality of the resulting screenplay in which case I’d vote for CODA; or is it the difficulty of the adaptation which I think would go to Dune because adapting from a novel to a film must be harder than going from one film to another. I think the academy will go for The Power of the Dog.

Best Animated Feature

• Encanto – I enjoyed this, more on the second viewing, and actually some of the ideas and characters have really stuck with me.
• Flee – I wish I’d seen this, but I haven’t managed it
• Luca –I found this quite unremarkable
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines – I actually thought Ron’s Gone Wrong the superior animation on this theme, although MvsM did have more creative animation I suppose, even if personally I didn’t like it.
• Raya and the Last Dragon – I liked the end… but found the rest a bit clunky,

Of those I’ve seen Encanto is the best. Having a documentary in the category shakes things up, demonstrating the format is more than just kids films but I think people will probably vote for it in the documentary category instead.

Best International Feature Film

• Drive My Car, Flee, The Hand of God, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, The Worst Person in the World

The only one I’ve seen is The Hand of God and I found it a bit of a muddle, too long and the final section left me irritated. So I’m gonna abstain from my own choice, but surely Drive My Car will win something?

Documentary Feature

• Ascension, Attica, Flee, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Writing with Fire

Summer of Soul is the only one I’ve seen and while I thought the archive footage was an amazing find and the participants and attendees looking back at it make a powerful story, it didn’t quite sing for me. From what I’ve heard, Flee is the most original and interesting and will likely win, if the votes don’t get split too much between the three categories its nominated in.

Best Score

• Don’t Look Up – Nicholas Britell – no memory of the music at all.
• Dune – Hans Zimmer – the music wasn’t exactly full of catchy tunes, but it was very important to the scale, impact and what there were of emotional impacts.
• Encanto – Germaine Franco – I *think* the score doesn’t really include the songs so this feels a bit of a long shot
• Parallel Mothers – Alberto Iglesias – not seen
• The Power of the Dog – Jonny Greenwood – no memory of the music at all

Dune is the only one of these I’ve seen where I really remember the existance of the music (as opposed to the Encanto songs) so I’d vote for Hans Zimmer (usually a safe bet).  However it might go to Jonny Greenwood because he was snubbed for a nomination a few years ago on a technicality and people were cross.

Best Song

• “Be Alive” from King Richard – Music and lyrics by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter – OK song, some nice (and relevant) lyrics.
• “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto – Music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda – this is a bit unfortunate. The nominations had to be submitted before the film was even released and no one guessed “We Don’t Talk about Bruno” was going to be such a hit.  This song however I’ve got no memory of and when I went to listen to it again I decided it was too boring after just 15 seconds.
• “Down to Joy” from Belfast – Music and lyrics by Van Morrison – catchy song and goes well with the film, but Van Morrison is rather problematic, so no chance.
• “No Time to Die” from No Time to Die – Music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell – Perfectly ok Bond theme, but I had no memory of it.
• “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days – Music and lyrics by Diane Warren – weird nomination, never heard of the film and it just seems to me a generic country song.

What should win – We Don’t Talk about Bruno. So much so that it seems they’re putting an extra song in the show just to make sure it’s played. I have a suspicion they’ll give it to Lin-Manuel Miranda anyway.

Best Sound

• Belfast, Dune, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, West Side Story

I’ve seen all of these and Dune wins hands down, the soundscape of the film did as much (if not more) work than the actors. The others were all perfectly fine but the sounds didn’t shine in the same way.

Best Production Design

• Dune – Patrice Vermette & Zsuzsanna Sipos: there is a LOT to look at and there’s a lot of complexity in the design, evolving what’s described in the books, what’s gone before and referencing other science fiction.
• Nightmare Alley – Tamara Deverell & Shane Vieau: I felt the film was style over substance, but there was a LOT of style
• The Power of the Dog – Grant Major & Amber Richards: very charismatic, the limited colour pallet actually worked here.
• The Tragedy of Macbeth – Stefan Dechant & Nancy Haigh: I don’t like Shakespeare, but the design here was extreme and actually held my attention throughout.
• West Side Story – Adam Stockhausen & Rena DeAngelo: the most unremarkable of the lot, it felt a bit artificial and stagey, I hope that was deliberate, but it was another thing that distanced me.

These are all are doing something quite different and are completely core to the films, if not THE most interesting thing about the films. I think I’d give it to Dune, but Nightmare Alley will win on the day.

Best Cinematography

• Dune – Greig Fraser: almost every shot of this film could be framed on a wall showing something interesting and creative.
• Nightmare Alley – Dan Laustsen: there’s a lot of complexity (SO much shooting in the rain)
• The Power of the Dog – Ari Wegner: I don’t remember a huge amount of creativity here to be honest.  Fun fact – Ari Wegner is only the 2nd woman to be nominated for this award and would be the first winner
• The Tragedy of Macbeth – Bruno Delbonnel: Like the production design, the creativity of framing and lighting makes this film.
• West Side Story – Janusz Kamiński: More a technical achievement with the large sets and choreography

Again, I can see any of these winning the award, I think I would go for Dune.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• Coming 2 America – Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer – even for an Oscar nomination, I’m not watching this film.
• Cruella – Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon – lots of creativity, but it was the costumes doing most of the work.
• Dune – Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr – actually of all the design fields, the hair and makeup was probably the one that stood out least for me on Dune.
• The Eyes of Tammy Faye – Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh – There’s a HUGE amount of work here, Jessica Chastain is completely transformed AND aged throughout the film. Andrew Garfield’s aging was not quite as good though
• House of Gucci – Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras – I’ve not seen, but there was certainly a lot of work

I think this will be either Eyes of Tammy Faye or House of Gucci, my vote for the former (as I haven’t seen the latter).

Best Costume Design

• Cruella – Jenny Beavan – the costumes are integral to the story and are a stunning array of creativity, not just the ‘big’ outfits either, there’s loads going on everywhere
• Cyrano – Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran – I’ve not seen the film, but the costumes on display in the trailers and clips are clearly stunning and doing a lot of work
• Dune – Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan – the costuming is supporting a lot of the design and storytelling for different races/ranks
• Nightmare Alley – Luis Sequeira – the costumes are great, but like a lot of the rest of the film, they were a bit derivative and not really doing anything massively original
• West Side Story – Paul Tazewell – fine, but other than Anita’s stunning yellow dress, I can’t remember much.

Cruella hands down should win and I think probably will win. Also even I know that Jenny Beavan is an absolute legend.

Best Film Editing

• Don’t Look Up – Hank Corwin; Dune – Joe Walker; King Richard – Pamela Martin; The Power of the Dog – Peter Sciberras; Tick, Tick… Boom! – Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum

In terms of the level of challenge, I would think editing musicals and big FX driven sci fi is a bigger challenge, so for me it comes down to Dune or Tick, Tick… Boom! and the latter feels like it takes things a step forward to with not just choreography but interweaving views and threads, all connected to the music and rhythm.

Best Visual Effects

• Dune, Free Guy, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home

It’s interesting to see 4 big sci fi films alongside an action film, it brings home just how much is artificially created in No Time to Die and merged together in a way that doesn’t throw the audience out of the moment. I think I would vote for No Time to Die, although I think the actual winner will be Dune.

There are ten nominees for Best Film at the Oscars this year, and I’d actually already seen six of them without even trying, and picked up another two without much effort. Normally I have to do a bit more deliberate watching, but even the ones I’d missed I had intended to see in the cinema, it just never quite worked out. I don’t know whether this means they’re a bit more mainstream, or just that pickings are a bit slim this year both for award fodder and cinema choice. I have to say, I’m not massively overwhelmed.

I’ll do a post later in the week covering all the other categories.

Belfast
It’s hard going to see films that have already got a lot of hype and buzz about awards, you go in looking for certain things, and even if you do find them, some of the magic is lost. Belfast is a solid film, with an interesting story and point of view, engaging characters and is very well written and shot. But because it’s being so lauded, I dwell more on the problems. Firstly, I didn’t really understand the politics in Belfast at the time. Maybe it really does just not make sense, and I shouldn’t be so ignorant of history, but I doubt I’m the only one and it meant that I really didn’t understand where the violence and terror was coming from, it just felt un-grounded. I know the film is kind of told from the point of view of the child, and he wouldn’t get it either, but it didn’t make for a very satisfying experience. The other problem I had was the black and white. It just didn’t feel like it added to the film at all and the way that scenes on cinema screens were in colour made no sense to me. It’s a good film, but it felt like it was trying too hard to be too many things and didn’t quite deliver any of them as well as it could.

CODA
I signed up for Apple TV+ mainly to watch this film and it was one of my better decisions. It is a brilliant film, doing all the things that a good film should do – saying something interesting, exposing you to a world different to your own, being beautiful to look at and fun to watch. The characters and locations are vibrant and immediately believable, the family are each fully rich personalities in their own rights, but with complex relationships and groupings between them. The specifics of the story are original, but the themes more universal so there’s both something new to experience and something relatable. The only minor gripe I had was some of the nuts a bolts of Ruby’s discovery as an amazing singer felt a little bit of a stretch. I cringed at the singing teacher making the teenagers sing Lets Get it On and romantic duets. But this is a coming of age story and a feel good film so I’m not going to get that cross because the film had me utterly gripped throughout and has really stayed with me.

Don’t Look Up
Satire is tricky. Particularly at the moment when the real world is pretty ridiculous all by itself. If you make the situations and characters too extreme then it’s just silly, if you don’t make them extreme enough, it just feels like a drama. I don’t think Don’t Look UP quite got the pitch right, pushing it to be too silly. The biggest problem for me was that the ‘bad guys’ didn’t seem to make any sense. I didn’t understand what their plans were, and so I couldn’t buy into it. I liked the ‘straight’ characters, particularly Jennifer Lawrence’s performance. But I didn’t find the film funny enough or satirical enough to really completely enjoy it. To be honest, it feels quite out of place on this list of nominees and more a point about the message, than about the quality of the film.

Drive My Car
Of course one of the ones I missed out is the foreign language film. Rubbish of me.

Dune
I read the book years ago and really loved it, a proper classic sci fi novel although it occasionally drifted too far into the mystical for my tastes. Then I saw the original Dune film and was utterly underwhelmed, it had already aged very badly and seemed to focus on all the bits of the book that I didn’t like. But I was quite enthused with Denis Villeneuve taking it on, and decided to push the boat out and see it in imax. I wasn’t disappointed.
The film is stunning to look at for a start, design work that builds from all that has gone before it, both Dune itself and every other science fiction series since. It’s definitely worth seeing on the biggest screen possible to get the scale of it. Also the soundscape is phenomenal and benefits from a massive sound system. But all that would be nothing without a decent story, characters and performances and it’s solid on that too. Frank Herbert’s world building supported an epic series of books and the film’s writers have carefully crafted something that demonstrates that richness without overloading with exposition or complexity. The acting is similarly well done, personalities, relationships and emotions shown not told.
My only challenges to the film is that despite all that richness it sometimes felt a little flat and cold. The dream sequences are integral to the plot but can make it a bit hard to engage with emotionally – what’s real, what’s certain, what’s destiny that cannot be changed? There is a sense of wonder from the characters, and strong connections between them, and yet with the exception of Jason Mamoa again leaping off the screen, they lacked warmth and humour. Everyone felt like they were characters with specific roles in an epic story, rather than real people living their lives.
So overall, wonderful to watch, intellectually engaging, but just a little cold to really care that much about.

King Richard
I’ve not seen this one, I tried to but the film times never quite worked out.

Licorice Pizza
I did not like this film, although explaining why isn’t easy. It suffers from overlong and under plotted, an awful lot of noodling about; that can work if the characters are interesting, but I never quite got on board with them. I was constantly confused by how old everyone was and how much time was passing between scenes, and unsettled throughout by questions around the age differences and appropriateness of relationships. The acting was good, and there were some fun sequences, but overall I was left a bit bored, a bit confused and a bit creeped out.

Nightmare Alley
A film of three parts. The first third was really interesting, beautifully shot and creatively filmed it shows a newcomer arrive at a 1930’s freak show/carnival with a lot of emotional baggage and very little actual baggage. It’s atmospheric, the characters are larger than life and everyone has history, secrets, tricks and personal codes. I really loved it and was settling in. Then there’s a time jump and the next third is a much more traditional noir, with scam artists and multiple levels of deceit. It was unoriginal, cliche, lacking in any subtlety and even the visual style was nothing that hasn’t been done before. I was really disappointed. The worst thing thought is that there’s a third part of the film that I have no idea where it was. There was a two hour film stretched out to a two and a half hour runtime completely unnecessarily making me fidgety and frustrated as everything dragged on. So 1/3 great, 1/3 cliche and 1/3 completely unnecessary. Not a very good ratio and I expected a lot more from Guillermo del Toro.

Power of the Dog
Some of the blurbs of this film describes Benedict Cumberbatch’s ranch owner as “charismatic” and even “brutally beguiling”, but I never had that kind of reaction to him at all, I just wanted to be as far away as possible from him, and that meant I didn’t want to watch the film. Having a hateful character is one thing, but it needs to be balanced with something else to make you want to watch the film, other characters, or even just a story, but there wasn’t anything in this film I wanted to see. The other characters were all poorly developed and fairly stereotype and although the film was beautifully shot it still wasn’t enough to hold my attention. Maybe because of that wandering attention I missed some nuance because it felt like there were a couple of big character shifts that had little motivation. It’s a good performance from the actors, and a pleasing change of type for Cumberbatch, but there wasn’t enough substance to the film.

West Side Story
I really didn’t like the original and while some of the problems are fixed, there’s a lot that just carries over. The two things that can’t really be changed are the story and the songs and neither is too my taste. I can respect the songs, but I don’t like them, although at least this version has the actors singing and so doesn’t have the dubbing issues. The dancing I also got along with a bit better this time, the choreography and scale of it meant I stayed focused on it and could see much more the beauty in the mixture of ballet and salsa and jazz.
The story remains annoying. I don’t really get the starcrossed lovers thing – “I’ve seen you across a crowded room and now I will throw away all our futures for you”. The chemistry between Tony and Maria was solid and had a joy to it that I liked, but it didn’t completely blow me away and there were some very problematic character choices.
The final issue, I’m not sure whether it’s the film’s problem or my own. The natural language of many of the characters would be Spanish, and the decision was made to keep it in Spanish and not subtitle it. I understand that either of those options would be disrespectful, and I respect that choice, but at the same time, it meant there were large chunks of dialogue that I couldn’t undrestand. Yes, you can get the gist by context, tone and body language, but it meant I couldn’t engage fully with their characters and stories.
The film is beautifully designed, shot and directed; the cast all very solid… but the material does not sing for me, making the two and a half hour runtime a bit of a slog.

The Oscars are a couple of months later than usual, and I’d completely forgotten about them, so this is a rather hastily compiled summary. I did mean to tick off a few more nominated films, but I wasn’t particularly inspired. There are 39 films with at least one nomination, and I’ve seen 19 of them, nearly half. Thanks to a couple of films getting multiple nominations though, I’ve seen 51 out of 97 nominations, which is slightly more than half. Half ain’t great, but then by my searching about a third of them aren’t even available in the UK.
Still, for the sake of not missing a year, here are my thoughts and predictions.

Best Picture

Mank – I cynically predicted that this would get a nomination because it was black and white and Hollywood does love a self-referential film. But outside of a couple of good performances (see later) it was baggy, confused, self absorbed and boring.

Minari – Interesting idea, good acting, beautiful cinematography but too thin resulting in a film so boring my companion fell asleep.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Sorkin doing his thing and doing it well

Films I haven’t seen – Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah

Well of the fairly pathetic three that I’ve seen, the only one I liked was Trial of the Chicago 7 so that would be my pick. But I would guess that Nomadland will win.

Best Director

David Fincher – Mank – I didn’t think this film was very well put together

Lee Isaac Chung – Minari – I guess a director works with the script they get and if there’s not enough in it there’s not much they can do about it.

Films I haven’t seen – Thomas Vinterberg – Another Round, Chloé Zhao – Nomadland, Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman

Who do I think should win… I really don’t care, I will randomly guess for Nomadland. Aaron Sorkin for Trial of Chicago 7 could have been here probably.

Best Actor

Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – it’s a stagey film and a stagey performance that isn’t without merit, but it felt rather more like two good monologues rather than an outstanding lead performance

Gary Oldman – Mank as Herman J. Mankiewicz – an excellent performance with a lot of range and depth

Steven Yeun – Minari as Jacob Yi – it makes me very happy that Glenn from The Walking Dead has an Oscar nomination, but he’s not gonna win.

Films I’ve not seen: Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal, Anthony Hopkins – The Father

Missing from this list is Paul Bettany for the really lovely Uncle Frank.
This is a tricky one. I’d vote for Gary Oldman of the ones I’ve seen, but from what I’ve seen and heard, Riz Ahmed sounds like a truly outstanding performance and the trailer for The Father has Anthony Hopkins being amazing – plus at 83 this may be one of the last opportunities. However I think Chadwick Boseman is going to win it, and while he probably doesn’t deserve it for this role, he would have won one eventually and he deserves the mark of respect. Randomly as I’m writing this I’m re-watching Justified from 2011 where he appears in 2 scenes as a thug, he came up fast didn’t he?

Best Actress

Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom as Ma Rainey – a big performance that fills the screen and would have filled the stage.

Films I’ve not seen: Andra Day – The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman, Frances McDormand – Nomadland, Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

I’m disappointed in myself for not seeing more of these performances because I’ve heard really good things about all of them. If I had to guess, I’d tag Frances McDormand for another win.

Best Supporting Actor

Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7 – he delivers Sorkin’s dialogue perfectly, and he crafts a character that is larger than life and completely credible.

Leslie Odom Jr. – One Night in Miami… – another stagey film and performance, but his performance was one of the few bits of the film that I liked.

Haven’t seen: Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah, Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah, Paul Raci – Sound of Metal

I am amazed to be saying this, but I think Sacha Baron Cohen should probably win this.

Best Supporting Actress

Amanda Seyfried – Mank as Marion Davies – she manages to be a point of colour and brightness in an otherwise dreary film.

Youn Yuh-jung – Minari – there is so much going on with this character, she’s mother/mother-in-law and grandma as well as a character in her own right, and she slots into so many roles in the film – antagonist, comic-relief, and emotional heart. I would be tempted to call it a lead role as she does a lot of the heavy lifting.

Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy – the whole of this film is so far over done that it turned itself into a parody and Glenn Close is just as bad.

Films not seen: Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Olivia Colman – The Father (but it’s Olivia Colman and the trailer looks amazing)

I would like to see Youn Yuh-jung win this one, a really wonderful performance, but as long as Glenn Close doesn’t win, I’ll be okay.

Best Original Screenplay

The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin – there is a huge amount in this film – lots of characters, complex history, interweaving timelines and detailed legal procedings and as usual Sorkin juggles them all into something that’s understandable, impactful and entertaining.

Minari – Lee Isaac Chung – the core ideas and characters are very good, but I think it needed more to make the runtime worth it.

Not seen: Judas and the Black Messiah – Screenplay by Will Berson and Shaka King; Story by Berson, King, Keith Lucas and Kenny Lucas, Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell, Sound of Metal – Screenplay by Abraham Marder and Darius Marder; Story by Derek Cianfrance and D. Marder

Aaron Sorkin delivers yet again and deserves this win. I would have also called out I’d also call out Kelly O’Sullivan for Saint Francis.

Best Adapted Screenplay

One Night in Miami… – Kemp Powers, based on his play – and to my mind there wasn’t enough adaption to make it a film. Plus I feel uncomfortable about something that’s mixing the history of real people with a completely made up scenario.

The White Tiger – Ramin Bahrani, based on the novel by Aravind Adiga – I read and loved the novel a decade ago, and I watched and loved the film.

Not seen – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen, Peter Baynham, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja and Dan Swimer; Story by Baron Cohen, Hines, Nina Pedrad and Swimer; Based on the character by Baron Cohen – (I’m not quite clear on what this is adapted from), The Father – Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller, based on the play by Zeller, Nomadland – Chloé Zhao, based on the book by Jessica Bruder

Well I’d go for the only one I’ve seen, The White Tiger as it was very well done.

Best Animated Feature Film

Onward – Kori Rae and Dan Scanlon – a nice film, but I wasn’t actually blown away by it, I just wanted a bit more.

Over the Moon – Peilin Chou, Glen Keane and Gennie Rin – this had a lovely opening section, and then they went to the moon and it turned into generic multiculoured, pop song nothingness.

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – Will Becher, Paul Kewley and Richard Phelan – I loved this film, packed full of story, references, jokes, character and heart, although given I saw it in Oct 2019 it feels like a very long time coming.

Soul – Pete Docter and Dana Murray – I didn’t like this film, I even gave it a second attempt and I still felt that it was jumbled, dull and had a message that felt like it started off telling you one thing (find what you love) and then told you that was a trick and you should just live. I was confused and underwhelmed. Just go watch Inside Out again instead.

Wolfwalkers – Tomm Moore, Stéphan Roelants, Ross Stewart and Paul Young – sadly not seen

My easy choice for this is Shaun the Sheep, but Soul will win.

Best International Feature Film

Not seen any of them: Another Round (Denmark), Collective (Romania), The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia), Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

I’m afraid I haven’t seen any of these, I would slightly randomly guess Quo Vadis, Aida will win.

Best Documentary Feature

Crip Camp – Sara Bolder, Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham – a really fascinating and eye opening documentary, highly recommended

My Octopus Teacher – Pippa Ehrlich, Craig Foster and James Reed – beautiful, educational, emotional and inspiring.

Not seen: The Mole Agent – Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez, Time – Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn, Collective – Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana

It’s a tough choice between the two I’ve seen, and I highly recommend watching them both (they’re on netflix) but I think My Octopus Teacher is the one that has had the more profound emotional impact. Circus of Books was eligible for nomination as well which would have been a good choice.

Best Documentary Short Subject

Colette, A Concerto Is a Conversation Do Not Split, Hunger Ward, A Love Song for Latasha

I haven’t seen any of them I’m afraid, I’ll predict A Love Song for Latasha.

Best Live Action Short Film

Feeling Through – Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski, The Letter Room – Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan, The Present – Ossama Bawardi and Farah Nabulsi, Two Distant Strangers – Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, White Eye – Shira Hochman and Tomer Shushan

I watched all of these (see my other post for details), my favourite would be Feeling Through, but I think Two Distant Strangers will win because of the subject matter of black lives matter, and I have zero problem with that.

Best Animated Short Film

If Anything Happens I Love You – Michael Govier and Will McCormack – beautifully animated and powerful, but the structure didn’t quite work.

Burrow – Michael Capbarat and Madeline Sharafian – lovely, but nothing particularly special

Not seen: Genius Loci – Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise, Opera – Erick Oh, Yes-People – Arnar Gunnarsson and Gísli Darri Halldórsson

Of the two I saw Burrow aimed middling and thoroughly succeeded, but If Anything Happens I Love You aimed very high but missed and I’m not sure how to balance that. So I’m randomly going to go for Yes-People which I didn’t see but the trailer made me actually want to see it.

Best Original Score

Da 5 Bloods – Terence Blanchard, Mank – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Minari – Emile Mosseri, News of the World – James Newton Howard, Soul – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

I’ve seen all of these except Da 5 Bloods, but I have no particular memory of the scores except for Soul for which music was such a key element that it will surely win, plus it was good (if you like jazz)

Best Original Song

“Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah – Music by D’Mile and H.E.R.; lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas

“Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Music by Daniel Pemberton; lyric by Celeste and Pemberton

“Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga – Music and lyric by Rickard Göransson, Fat Max Gsus and Savan Kotecha

“Io sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead – Music by Diane Warren; lyric by Laura Pausini and Warren

“Speak Now” from One Night in Miami… – Music and lyric by Sam Ashworth and Leslie Odom Jr.

I listened to all of these on Youtube and the only one that was memorable even when I was actually listening to it was the one from Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga, which was a great Eurovision song and really connected to the film so that would definitely be my choice.

Best Sound

Greyhound – Beau Borders, Michael Minkler, Warren Shaw and David Wyman

Mank – Ren Klyce, Drew Kunin, Jeremy Molod, Nathan Nance and David Parker

News of the World – William Miller, John Pritchett, Mike Prestwood Smith and Oliver Tarney

Soul – Coya Elliot, Ren Klyce and David Parker

Sound of Metal – Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Philip Bladh, Carlos Cortés and Michelle Couttolenc

Given that Sound of Metal is all about sound, I think this is probably a sure thing.

Best Production Design

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Production Design: Mark Ricker; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Sroughton – given the minimal settings, it doesn’t feel like there was enough opportunity here for outstanding design.

Mank – Production Design: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale – actually, this film did look amazing, capturing the different looks of Hollywood through time and place, plus making a rich and lush design on black and white can’t be easy.

News of the World – Production Design: David Crank; Set Decoration: Elizabeth Keenan – the world was a lot more interesting to look at than the film was to watch.

Tenet – Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas – the style was slick and the only film on this list I saw on the big screen, but it didn’t really do much for me.

The Father – Production Design: Peter Francis; Set Decoration: Cathy Featherstone – and the trailer looks fairly isolated in location (another one based on a play) but actually the flat is such an important factor in the story that I can see why the production design is so important.

I think maybe Mank?

Best Cinematography

Mank – Erik Messerschmidt – making modern films feel like old classics is a really difficult thing to achieve, and for all that I didn’t think much of the story, there’s a lot of technical achievement in this.

News of the World – Dariusz Wolski – the cinematography is possibly the best thing about this film, it is beautiful to look at while also making it clear that the beauty comes at a price – hard work and loneliness, territorial fights despite the seeming endless space.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Phedon Papamichael – I didn’t initially think of the cinematography being impressive, but I suspect it was harder than it looks. There’s a mixture of styles going on – intimate spaces in the courtrooms and offices, but also massive exterior scenes of riots and protests.

Not seen – Judas and the Black Messiah – Sean Bobbitt, Nomadland – Joshua James Richards

I think News of the World, although possibly Nomadland will win it.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Emma. – Laura Allen, Marese Langan and Claudia Stolze – I’ve seen it but I have no memory of the makeup or hair, or they film as a whole actually.

Hillbilly Elegy – Patricia Dehaney, Eryn Krueger Mekash and Matthew W. Mungle – I guess it takes a lot of effort to make people look this bad (the 80s were not a kind time to anyone)

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson – I remember people being hot and sweaty… I guess that’s hard to pull off

Mank – Colleen LaBaff, Kimberley Spiteri and Gigi Williams – Hollywood glamour plus black and white is probably tricky.

Not seen – Pinocchio – Dalia Colli, Mark Coulier and Francesco Pegoretti

I suspect Hillbilly Elegy might be the best achievement, but I’m not sure anyone will want to give it any awards at all, so maybe Mank.

Best Costume Design

Emma. – Alexandra Byrne – yup, English period drama, gotta love it

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Ann Roth – as it’s all set in one day and it’s a period piece, it doesn’t feel like there was a huge amount of opportunity for design.

Mank – Trish Summerville – more period stuff

Mulan – Bina Daigeler – the costumes were incredible

Not seen – Pinocchio – Massimo Cantini Parrini

My vote would be for Mulan

Best Film Editing

The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten – I can see that editing around Sorkin’s dialogue is no small achievement, and the interweaving flashbacks with overlapping narratives must have been a challenge.

Not seen: The Father – Yorgos Lamprinos, Nomadland – Chloé Zhao, Promising Young Woman – Frédéric Thoraval, Sound of Metal – Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

I’d vote for Trial of Chicago 7 as it’s impressive and the only one I’ve seen, but I think I would predict Sound of Metal

Best Visual Effects

The Midnight Sky – The film is very interesting, but for a sci fi film there didn’t feel like much in the way of visual effects, maybe that’s the accomplishment as I’m sure there was a lot of artificial backgrounds etc going on.

Mulan – I did very much like the film, but I’ll be honest that I can’t remember much in the way of visual effects in it.

The One and Only Ivan – The animal animation was very well done, and I was impressed that the talking, photo-realistic animals were credible not creepy.

Tenet – I didn’t like the film much but there were some slick effects that made the backwards stuff

Not seen – Love and Monsters

Without all the big blockbusters it’s a bit quieter in this category than usual, but of this set I’d rather weirdly vote for The One and Only Ivan given the effects were at the very heart of the film.

Thirty eight films are nominated for Oscars this year and I’ve seen 21 of them, covering 70% of the nominations. The big ones that I missed are Parasite (6 nominations), Ford v Ferrari (4) and Bombshell (3); and I suspect not seeing Parasite will mean some of my calls below are off. I have to say it’s a bit of a disappointing year both for films and the quality of the nominations. It feels like the industry has taken a step backwards in diversity in film making and the Academy has taken an even bigger step back in what they chose to recognise. There were opportunities missed to celebrate more diverse people and a greater range of films, there were significant achievements that haven’t been celebrated while slots were taken up with unremarkable entries from traditional names that coast their way to nominations on automatic. I’ll call out some of the alternative options as I go through.

Best Picture

Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Little Women, Marriage Story, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Parasite

My Pick: See my earlier post for more detailed thoughts, but to make a long story short, my pick would be Marriage Story
Prediction: 1917, and I’m not going to be cross about that.
What’s Missing: Rocketman was my film of the year and it should not only be nominated but I think I probably would have picked it as my choice to win. I also wanted to see more diversity in the nominations in terms of genres, Avengers Endgame should be there, so should Us, potentially Knives Out and even For Sama which will likely win the documentary prize.

Best Director

Martin Scorsese – The Irishman, Todd Phillips – Joker, Sam Mendes – 1917, Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Bong Joon-ho – Parasite

My pick and prediction: I don’t think anyone other than Sam Mendes need bother writing a speech. 1917 wasn’t just the best direction of the year, it was probably the best direction of the century so far. It was an incredible challenge to keep everything in very long takes that splice together to make 2 seemingly unbroken acts, and yet the ambition of the complexity of the shots was never compromised. It was truly ground breaking.
What’s missing: Martin Scorses did absolutely nothing outstanding on The Irishman that I can see so his place on this list so that’s one gap that can be filled. Dexter Fletcher did a superb job with Rocketman creating a film that blends intimate character with spectacle. The Safdie brothers’ delivered almost unbearable tension in Uncut Gems, and Greta Gerwig’s direction of Little Women was beautiful and understated. But why nominate a woman when there’s a 70 year old white guy doing the same thing he’s been doing for decades? Yes, I’m pretty cross about The Irishman.

Best Actor

Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory: the only one I haven’t seen unfortunately

Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: this is the one I’m least certain about. It was a good performance, but I’m not sure the material gave him the depth to really be outstanding

Adam Driver – Marriage Story: a powerful performance of a proper person, balancing good and bad, anger and restraint, drama and reason.

Joaquin Phoenix – Joker: His performance is so intense and claustrophobic, so much buried just below the surface that even thinking about it makes me feel anxious.

Jonathan Pryce – The Two Popes: In some ways like Phoenix this is a performance of what is just below the surface and Pryce is just as mesmerizing, but in a more positive way.

My pick and prediction: This is a strong list. I think I would probably go with Joaquin Phoenix. 80% of this film is down to him, supported by some good direction and some unsettling music, he is completely responsible for making the film so compelling and so horrible to watch. I can’t think of many other actors who could have played this role, whereas most of the others I think could have been swapped and still worked.
My prediction: I think Phoenix will win, but I can also see that the Academy might give it to Jonathan Pryce as a bit of a lifetime achievement award.
Who’s missing: Taryn Egerton for Rocketman should have been on this list and for me he’d be Phoenix’s biggest competition as he also gave a performance that had so many layers to it (and he sang!). Also Eddie Murphy was superb in Dolemite is my Name, and Adam Sandler puts in a very different and impressive performance in Uncut Gems. Also George MacKay for 1917 because while I didn’t think it was necessarily the best performance of the year, when you take into account that there was no editing to get each frame perfect, he did that performance every time while also doing choreography and stunts that left me breathless.

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo – Harriet, Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story, Saoirse Ronan – Little Women, Charlize Theron – Bombshell, Renée Zellweger – Judy

My pick: I’ve only seen Marriage Story and Little Women and I’m not sure I could pick between the two actresses.
Prediction: Renée Zellweger will almost certainly win
Who’s missing: Lupita Nyonga for Us, slightly cheating because she had two roles but she was terrifying. Awkwafina was wonderful in The Farewell, Jessie Buckley for Wild Rose.

Best Supporting Actor

Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: a really weird character played beautifully by Hanks

Anthony Hopkins – The Two Popes: I don’t think this was as good a performance as Jonathan Pryce’s, there was just less going on with the character and you basically got what you saw.

Al Pacino and Joe Pesci – The Irishman: I couldn’t actually tell you who did what role, I just didn’t think there was any depth to the characters, just stereotype gangsters

Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A solid performance but nothing special imho.

My pick: Tom Hanks, easily
My prediction: Brad Pitt seems to be picking up all the awards for some reason.

Best Supporting Actress

Kathy Bates – Richard Jewell: not seen

Laura Dern – Marriage Story: I didn’t actually think there was anything particularly outstanding about her performance here, if anything I found her character a bit extreme, detracting from the honesty of the film.

Scarlett Johansson – Jojo Rabbit: the successful parts of this film were entirely down to the performances of Johansson and Waititi, the two voices in Jojo’s ears that were in counterpoint to each other, but had the same tone of quirky truthfulness. Johansson was perfect playing an incredibly rich character who loves her son but doesn’t like him sometimes, wants to open his eyes but has to stay secret. Beautifully done.

Florence Pugh – Little Women: Through Pugh’s beautiful performance and Gerwig’s wonderful writing Amy somehow rises from pages (and previous performances) that often sideline her as the spoilt child and turns her into a powerful woman of her time. Without losing sight of the fact that she is also occasionally a spoilt child.

Margot Robbie – Bombshell: I haven’t seen this film, but Margot Robbie is fairly universally wonderful.

My pick: I would like either Johansson or Pugh, but I think Johansson edges it because much of Pugh’s wonderfulness comes from Gerwig’s interpretation of the character.
Prediction: Laura Dern seems to have it in the bag for reasons that completely escape me.

Best Original Screenplay

Knives Out – Rian Johnson: I’m very happy to see this nomination as I think it would be easy to overlook how hard it is to write such a satisfying murder mystery, pacing out the twists and turns.

Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach: A film where the writing is absolutely everything, delivered by very good actors, but fundamentally everything was on the page.

1917 – Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns: While the film was incredible, the story and dialogue was ‘just’ there in service of the direction I think. If the film hadn’t been shot in such a dramatic style I don’t think it would be nominated here.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino: In many ways this is the least Tarantino film of his and I’m not sure it necessarily did him any favours. The writing is fine, but not outstanding.

Parasite – Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won: Haven’t seen

My Pick and prediction: Marriage Story easily.
What’s missing: I think if the Academy were as open minded as they should be they’d be forced to recognize the writing achievement of Avengers Endgame, blending so many characters, complex story threads, humour and action together. I don’t understand how that is less of an achievement than the writing of a drama with just a handful of characters and a simple story.

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Irishman – Steven Zaillian, Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi, Joker – Todd Phillips and Scott Silver, Little Women, The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten

My pick and prediction Hands down this should be Greta Gerwig. She took a story that had been adapted dozens of times before and found new layers to it without losing any of the original. By the way, she’s partners with Noah Baumbach so wouldn’t that make a lovely pair of bookends for them.

Best Animated Feature Film

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World: I was very sad about how they chose to end the series, but I can’t fault the way that the story was delivered.

I Lost My Body: A french animation (although I watched the dubbed version) about an amputated hand that is trying to find its way back to its body. It shouldn’t work, and yet it really does. The way simple 2d animation is used to make a hand such a powerful character is impressive.

Klaus: This film was easily missed on Netflix but was actually a really entertaining, original and beautiful new addition to any Christmas watch list.

Missing Link: I was underwelmed I’m afraid, just completely lacking in originality.

Toy Story 4: As with How to Train Your Dragon, I was sad about how they ended the film, but thoroughly enjoyed it all the way up to that point.

My pick: Klaus. Original, fun, moving and beautiful in look and content.
My prediction: Toy Story 4
Missing: I’m not devastated by the absence of Frozen 2, but Shaun the Sheep Farmageddon should have been there and potentially even won it.

Best International Feature Film

Corpus Christi (Poland), Honeyland (North Macedonia), Les Misérables (France), Pain and Glory (Spain), Parasite (South Korea)

Prediction: I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t seen any of these, but I think it will be a miracle if anything other than Parasite wins.

Best Documentary Feature

American Factory: Really interesting and well put together. It did everything a documentary should – it informed, it intrigued and it made me care.

The Cave: Not seen

The Edge of Democracy: I knew nothing about Brazilian politics but because the film is told exclusively from one point of view it didn’t work for me as an introduction to the subject as I don’t quite trust what I was shown.

For Sama: Stunning. While it’s as biased as The Edge of Democracy, this documentary isn’t trying to explain the why’s of a situation, it’s trying to show what it’s like to live through it and it does that spectacularly.

Honeyland: Not seen.

My pick and prediction: For Sama. An incredible and important piece of film making
Missing: while it’s not as hard hitting a subject, the Fyre documentary was hugely entertaining and an excellent case study of business psychology.

Best Original Score

Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir, Little Women – Alexandre Desplat, Marriage Story – Randy Newman, 1917 – Thomas Newman, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – John Williams

My pick and prediction: I have to say, of the 4 films I’ve seen the only one I remember the music in is Joker and that wasn’t because it was a memorable tune, but just because it contributed so much to the oppressive mood of the film. Of course John Williams can also do no wrong and I’m sure his latest Star Wars soundtrack continued to build interestingly on his foundations, so I wouldn’t be sad to see him win (interestingly it would only be his 6th Oscar from FIFTY TWO nominations.)

Best Original Song

“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from Toy Story 4 – Music and Lyrics by Randy Newman: What a weird song, in the context of the film it’s cute but the lyrics themselves could be interpreted very differently and I’m not sure that the jaunty music quite matches the subject.
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman: compared to the rest of Elton and Taupin’s back catalog that’s in the film, this one didn’t stand out, but that’s pretty tough competition.
“I’m Standing with You” from Breakthrough – Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren: meh.
“Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2: I didn’t like it as much as Let it Go, but it was a great belter of a song. I feel very sorry for all the parents who have to listen to kids try to sing it without decades of Broadway experience.
“Stand Up” from Harriet – Music and Lyrics by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo: A powerful song that really stays with you AND works for the film.
My pick and prediction: Stand Up. This will also make Cynthia Erivo the youngest ever EGOT. Missing though is No Place Like Home for Wild Rose, anyone who saw Jessie Buckley perform it at the BAFTAs will be bemused that it’s not nominated.

Best Sound Editing: Ford v Ferrari, Joker, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Best Sound Mixing: Ad Astra, Ford v Ferrari, Joker, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Meh, who knows. Star Wars for Editing and 1917 for mixing?

Best Production Design

The Irishman: Dreary and unremarkable, looks like absolutely every single gangster film ever made.

Jojo Rabbit: In contrast, Jojo Rabbit did something original, making Nazi Germany full of light and colour

1917: so much detail bringing all the locations to life.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The period details were beautifully recreated and shot

Parasite: Haven’t seen

My pick and prediction: 1917
Missing: I would have LOVED to see Pokemon Detective Pikachu in here!

Best Cinematography

The Irishman, Joker, The Lighthouse, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Pick and prediction: 1917 by a landslide. Roger Deakins’ work is usually something special and even if 1917 had been shot in a normal way he would still likely have been on this list, but to produce that within the constraints of the single takes was just on another level.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Bombshell, Joker, Judy, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, 1917

Two films that are changing people faces to resemble someone else, two films making people look scary and one film making people look dirty (and possibly injured, I’m not sure if that counts as makeup). I never quite understand how the sci-fi films that are doing such amazing prosthetics and alien looks never make it into this category. I’m not sure how you compare any of them.
My prediction: Joker as the makeup is so obvious and so part of the character as his clown mask changes throughout the film.

Best Costume Design

The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Little Women, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

All of these films are in some way recreating periods, so it doesn’t feel like they’re on the same level of creativity as films like Star Wars, Avengers, even Us. That said, period piece Downton Abbey should have been there instead of The Irishman.
My pick: Jojo Rabbit at least was at least taking the period pieces and building from them. Although I also wouldn’t mind Little Women because they were having to be a little bit more creative in how people from that period with limited funds would work, adapting and re-purposing hand me downs etc.

Best Film Editing

Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Parasite

My pick and prediction: Joker, the editing contributed so much to the horrible sense of dread. The irony of the The Irishman being nominated here is insane, it was over 3 hours long and STILL didn’t find any time for character depth or any female characters.

Best Visual Effects

Avengers: Endgame, The Irishman, The Lion King, 1917, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

My pick: Avengers of Star Wars – I just want to see the mainstream action/scifi genres get SOME love somewhere. These films show the biggest range of effects. Irishman is just a single trick of de-aging actors (which it admittedly did very well) and Lion King is ‘just’ CGI animation.
My prediction: 1917, which wasn’t bad.

Nine nominees for Best film this year and I’ve managed to see 7 of them. Parasite is only released on Friday and I don’t think I’m going to have a chance to see before the awards on Sunday. It’s frustrating that a film with so much buzz around it is so slow to come to UK cinemas, particularly given that it actually won a couple of BAFTAs last weekend – how a film can be eligible for awards when it isn’t even out in the country is beyond me. The other is Ford v Ferrari (or Le Mans ’66 as it was known in the UK) which I sort of wanted to see but just didn’t get around to, I probably would have made more of an effort if I had known it was going to be an Oscar nominee but it never seemed to have that level of buzz about it.

On some levels it’s an interesting range of films, big spectacle (1917, Ford V Ferrari), intimate drama (Marriage Story), period drama (Little Women), something foreign (Parasite), something controversial (Joker) something undefinable (Jojo Rabbit), and a couple by big names just doing their thing (Martin Scorsese’s Irishman and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).
However, those entries are only ‘diverse’ if you’re considering films that are considered dramas. The point of expanding the nominees list was supposed to open it up for a broader range of films but it feels like it’s failed this year. Even just comparing to last year, mainstream films Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born, and superhero film Black Panther were nominated while this year’s similar and superior offerings of Rocketman and Avengers Endgame were completely ignored. Was Black Panther nominated because it was a good film (which it really really was) or because it shocked the Hollywood elite by showing a mainstream film made and starring black people could be a success. Because in 2018 that was apparently something that needed to be proved. I believe Black Panther earned a nomination because it was a really great film, but nominating a ‘token’ superhero film one year is no better than nominating a ‘token’ black actor or female director (I’ll rant more about that in my next post) just to shut up critics and then reverting to blinkers the following year. I think Rocketman with it’s perfect blend of fascinating story, insightful writing, stunning acting and beautiful direction not only should have been nominated, but that it should possibly have won.

So looking at the actual nominees, of the 7 films that I’ve seen, the two I don’t feel belong on this list are the two by the Names. I thought The Irishman was actively bad – completely lacking in any depth of character or plot, unforgivable given the length). Once Upon A Time in Hollywood wasn’t as complete a write off, but it was still a jumbled collection of good ideas for very different films that Tarantino just meandered between. Neither director has any self-control with editing or run times and both films committed the terminal sin of long periods where I was bored. The third film I really struggle with on this list is Jojo Rabbit which I didn’t feel delivered the tone it needed to, which makes me sad rather than angry, and I’m willing to concede that I may be wrong in my feelings on it and was just expecting something different given the trailer.

That leaves four films for me to chose between and while they are all incredibly good films, I think the one that is the best package is Marriage Story. It manages to blend all the big elements of film making – writing, acting, directing together to produce an intimate film that’s beautiful and brutal. The other three films are all superb, but each excels in one area of film making maybe over and above the others – Joker has a stunning performance at its heart, Little Women is a truly wonderful adapted screenplay making a classic completely relevant without losing the heart of the original, and 1917 is one of the most impressive directorial achievements in decades, but lacks a little on the story front. Marriage Story was the only film that I was absolutely gripped by the whole time, even though I watched it at home via Netflix; all the other films at some point I dropped out of the immersion to think about the film making itself.

My full reviews are below. I’ll post my full list of picks for the awards at the weekend.
Continue reading “Oscars: Best Films of 2019” →

There are 37 feature length films nominated for Oscars this year, and I’ve seen 21 of them (57%), slightly better than last year’s percentage of 52%. Those 37 films add up to 106 nominations in total, and thanks to me ticking off some of the bigger ones, I’ve managed 70% of the nominations in total, although that’s 7% fewer than last year. The two big ones that I missed are Vice (which I’m not that sad about) and Can You Ever Forgive Me (which I am a bit).

Picture – see yesterday’s post for the longer version

Black Panther – A great superhero film, proving something that didn’t need to be proved.

BlacKkKlansman – a ridiculous story that makes no sense, even if it is true. Muddled in tone.

Bohemian Rhapsody – brilliant fun to watch, but not brilliantly well done

The Favourite – gripping, charming, heartbreaking, startling

Green Book – a ‘nice’ film about the development of an unlikely friendship, but it lacks the heft required for a story addressing deep seated racism

Roma – beautiful to look at, but ultimately lacking in substance

A Star Is Born – entertaining in places, but problematic in others

Vice – the only one I didn’t manage to see.

Prediction – I’d like The Favourite to win, but it will almost certainly be Roma.

Director

Alfonso Cuarón – Roma) – \the aesthetic is spot on, but I never got the impression there was anything going on beyond what I could see

Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman) – I didn’t really notice much in the way of direction I’m afraid.

Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War) – haven’t seen it.

Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) – the quirky tone of the direction brings alive the script and performances, adding nuance and changing perspectives all the time.

Adam McKay (Vice) – not seen

What’s missing – I would have like to see John Krasinski here for A Quiet Place for the way that he communicated so much with such restricted sound. I also always think that the directors on epic blockbusters like Black Panther or Avengers Infinity War deserve recognition for the immense juggling act to make massive set pieces, stunts, close ups and entire CGI worlds all blend together. And it would of course have been nice to see a woman here.
Prediction – Cuaron will probably win for Roma, but again, I think The Favourite is the more impressive achievement.

Actor

Christian Bale (Vice) – not seen. I do always feel a bit weird about the heavy prosthetics work, makes it harder to work out how much is acting and how much is just makeup.

Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) – he was good, but I was incredibly irritated with the ridiculous voice that made it hard for me to understand him.

Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate) – not seen

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) – another case of a chunk of the work being done by prosthetics (mostly teeth!), but even with that, the performance shone through, not only as an impression but as a rich, complex and fascinating character

Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) – this was a good performance, making a comedic character grounded; there’s not much in the way of subtlety, but it’s still a rich performance.

Who’s missing – Journeyman was a film that no one seemed to notice and yet had a superb performance from Paddy Considine. A bit surprising that Ryan Gosling didn’t get a nomination for First Man, but maybe it was just too quiet a character. Joaquin Phoenix for You Were Never Really Here.
Prediction – I think Rami Malek has got this one in the bag.

Actress

Yalitza Aparicio (Roma) – a quiet performance, incredible for a first time actress

Glenn Close (The Wife) – not an amazing film (I haven’t reviewed it yet), but Close is phenomenal

Olivia Colman (The Favourite) – perfect casting, Colman is heartbreaking and hilarious

Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) – I was really impressed at her performance, she was a wonderfully rich character with confidence and vulnerability, a joy to watch.

Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) – not seen, but I’ve loved Melissa McCarthy since Gilmore Girls

Who’s missing – Emily Blunt for A Quiet Place, Jodie Whittaker for Journeyman, Viola Davis for Widows. I haven’t seen Mary Queen of Scots, but I’m surprised not to see Saoirse Ronan and/or Margot Robbie here.
Prediction – Glenn Close is fantastic and has miraculously never won an Oscar despite 7 nominations and this performance certainly justifies a win. But I would also be more than happy if the wonderful Olivia Colman or the impressive Lady Gaga won.

Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali (Green Book) – an excellent performance that brings some subtlety to a slightly mediocre script, I’m just a little bemused that it’s considered ‘supporting’.

Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman) – Driver is more than capable of Oscar worthy performances, I just didn’t think he had enough material here.

Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born) – all I remember is the growling voice, not really the performance

Richard E. Grant(Can You Ever Forgive Me?) – I haven’t seen it, but how wonderful was the pure joy that he has for the nomination

Sam Rockwell (Vice) – not seen

Prediction – Mahershala Ali seems to be sweeping the boards, and I guess he was the most impressive of the ones I’ve seen. I’d kind of like to see Richard E. Grant win though, just because he seems so lovely.

Supporting Actress

Amy Adams(Vice) – not seen

Marina de Tavira (Roma) – I don’t think there was enough to this role to make it outstanding

Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) – not seen

Emma Stone (The Favourite) – I liked this performance a lot, she’s sparky and has a great arc

Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) – this role at first seems the simplest of the three women in this film, but that understates the subtlety beneath the surface which is a true achievement

Prediction: It seems like Regina King is a dead cert for this, although I would pick Rachel Weisz from the ones that I’ve seen.

Original Screenplay

The Favourite – there’s a lot packed into the screenplay here, building up layer upon layer of comedy and tragedy

First Reformed – not seen

Green Book – very formulaic

Roma – Everything great about this film is in the visuals and the performances, the story and script are insubstantial and unremarkable.

Vice – not seen

Prediction: I hope and think The Favourite will win

Adapted Screenplay

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – This is 5 short films stuck together, and I just wish it had been blended into one feature.

BlacKkKlansman – I didn’t think the events actually made any sense (why didn’t the white police man just talk on the phone?), and although that’s the history, I don’t think the screenplay did anything to address it.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

If Beale Street Could Talk

A Star Is Born – I have real issues with A Star is Born, I think there are a lot of issues that could and should have been addressed that were just completely ignored and I don’t think it did enough to move the original storyline into a new century.

Prediction: Of the ones I’ve seen, I wasn’t particularly impressed by any of them. If Beale Street Could Talk?

Animated Feature

Incredibles 2 – I thoroughly enjoyed this

Isle of Dogs – manages to be quirky but not irritating and really enjoyable

Mirai – not seen

Ralph Breaks the Internet – I was not impressed at this at all, it wasn’t doing anything new, riffs about pop-up ads are out of date before they started.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – the most comic book feeling comic book film yet.

Prediction: I’d be happy with either Isle of Dogs of Spider-Man, but I think the latter will win.

Foreign Language Film

Capernaum (Lebanon), Cold War (Poland), Never Look Away (Germany), Roma (Mexico), Shoplifters (Japan)

Prediction: Surely a slam dunk for Roma? The only other one I’ve seen is Shoplifters which didn’t blow me away, although I’ve heard good things about both Capernaum and Cold War.

Best Documentary

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

Prediction: Embarrassingly I haven’t seen any of these. I suspect the Academy will vote for RBG but that may be more about the subject of the documentary than the quality of it, but I’ve heard much better things about Free Solo.

Documentary Short

Black Sheep, End Game, Lifeboat, A Night at The Garden, Period. End of Sentence. – I haven’t seen any of these I’m afraid.

Prediction: A Night at the Garden?

Live Action Short

Detainment, Fauve, Marguerite, Mother, Skin – Nope none of these either

Prediction: Shrug – Marguerite.

Animated Short

Animal Behaviour – cute and funny

Bao – I was a bit uncertain about it to be honest, but I spoke to someone to whom it is culturally very close and he adored it

Late Afternoon – this is only the trailer and it doesn’t give you much to go on, but the animation style is beautiful.

One Small Step – Absolutely beautiful, truly stunning.

Weekends – I wasn’t a big fan of the dream bits, but the rest of it was really lovely.

Prediction: A fairly tough category, but my choice would be One Small Step

Original Score

Black Panther – everything in this film is an evolution growing from pan-Afican roots and the music is no different.

BlacKkKlansman – I didn’t notice it

If Beale Street Could Talk – not seen

Isle of Dogs – the music was really creative using traditional themes much like Black Panther, supporting the tone of the film perfectly, just quirky enough but not insane

Mary Poppins Returns – lovely, just lovely. Using the foundations from the original film and developing them.

Prediction: It seems a little unfair to compare musicals with non-musicals, they’ve got such different jobs to do, so while Mary Poppins is obviously the most memorable, I’m not sure it’s fair. I think Black Panther will win, but I actually prefer Isle of Dogs I think.

Original Song

“All the Stars” from Black Panther – I’m not a fan, but I think it works for the film

“I’ll Fight” from RBG – Solid, but I’m not sure how well it would have fit in a documentary, but not having seen it I can’t really say.

“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns – beautiful. Perfect for the film and just lovely. Watching on Youtube has just reduced me to a sobbing mess again.

“Shallow” from A Star Is Born – I don’t actually like this song much, it seems unfinished, like they gave up writing lyrics for the chorus (“In the shallow, sha sha shallow…”). I prefer Always Remember Us This Way which seems much more connected to the film.

“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – is this good? I mean it’s cute and fits the film, but seems pretty basic to me.

Prediction: I think Shallow will win, but I wish it were Mary Poppins.

Sound Editing:

Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, First Man, A Quiet Place, Roma

Prediction: A Quiet Place. For no other film is the sound so absolutely critical .

Sound Mixing

Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, First Man, Roma, A Star Is Born

Prediction: Who knows… Bohemian Rhapsody?

Production Design

Black Panther – the design is original, creative, grounded, detailed and absolutely critical to the film.

The Favourite – the world of 18th century court was beautifully created, I presume exagerated for comic effect in places and rich and colourful.

First Man – How much was ‘design’ and how much was just recreating history? I’m not saying that’s easy, but it’s not as impressive as creating from scratch.

Mary Poppins Returns – the fantasy worlds were all fun and vibrant, but I don’t think they had the depth that they need to be outstanding – I didn’t really believe any of them existed when the camera wasn’t rolling.

Roma – I don’t necessarily understand these things, but to me Roma is more about the cinematography than the production design, it’s not *designing* anything, it’s just real.

Prediction: Black Panther surely?

Cinematrography

Cold War – not seen, I just know that it’s a weird aspect ratio and black and white.

The Favourite – this was doing something very interesting with lenses and the like, but actually I never felt like it was drawing attention to it, just making it a part of the film.

Never Look Away – not seen

Roma – I will aree that there are some beautiful shots in this film, and despite being in black and white it felt vibrant, BUT I also felt that the black and white was a little over-processed. The whole thing felt like it was trying too hard – look at me, I’m black and white and this long, lingering shot is beautifully framed. It didn’t add to the story.

A Star Is Born – can’t say I really noticed it.

Prediction: I think it will go to Roma, although I prefer The Favourite.

Makeup and Hair

Border, Mary Queen of Scots, Vice

Prediction: I’ve not seen any of them and not even heard of Border, but I think this is a battle of wigs over imitation prosthetics. It feels to me like there are a lot of options missing from here – The Favourite (the wigs!), and the prosthetic work in various sci-fi films. I suspect Vice will win.

Costume Design

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – there were some fun designs here.

Black Panther – the costume designs were integral to the look of the film, evolving something new from multiple different traditions.

The Favourite – beautiful, but I’m not sure how much were based on existing historical designs.

Mary Poppins Returns – one of the only films I remember specifically noticing the costumes during the film, the drawn but real costumes in the ‘bowl’ sequence was fascinating.

Mary Queen of Scots – as for The Favourite, I’m not sure how much was just historical.

Prediction: Black Panther was doing the most interesting work

Film Editing

BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book, Vice

Prediction: I don’t think the editing really stood out on any of those that I saw, I suspect Vice may have been a bit more creative though.

Visual Effect

Avengers: Infinity War – an huge amount of CGI, but not overwhelming and it all felt real

Christopher Robin – I didn’t get on with the un-canniness of the animation here, they were cute, they just didn’t quite ‘resolve’ into the environment.

First Man – the strength and weakness of the effects is the recreation of the experience of early spaceflight which is shaky and terrifying, and frankly made me nauseous and had to look away from the screen.

Ready Player One – from my recollection, this was a little overwhelmingly CGI, the bits that were set within a game that made perfect sense, but I’m not sure that made it outstanding.

Solo: A Star Wars Story – Unlike Avengers, I was always aware that everything was a special effect.

Prediction: It’s almost too easy to do incredible things in CGI these days, just rendering everything isn’t impressive anymore, it’s when things blend seamlessly that it’s impressive, which is why I think it will go to First Man, although I think Avengers demonstrated more different aspects.

There are eight nominees for Best Film this year, and they cover about half of all the nominations across all the awards for feature length categories. I’ll post tomorrow my thoughts on the rest of the awards, but here are my reviews and thoughts on these eight films, what’s missing, what I want to win, and what I think should win. In alphabetical order –

Black Panther
It never ceases to impress me how each entry into the Marvel franchise manages to do something new and different, while still fitting into the overall framework. Black Panther’s uniqueness is around blending futuristic technology with African culture and history. It’s rightly getting press for its cultural significance and that this film is so remarkable is a depressing statement on the history of film and I recommend seeking out articles by people a lot more relevant than me to comment on that. What I can comment on is that the film was a huge amount of fun. I was gripped, amused, entertained and intrigued almost all the way through. I lost a little bit of focus during the final (inevitable) big battle, but even that had an impressive amount of character and emotion in it when compared to something like Iron Man 3, or anything out of the DC universe.
I’m a big fan of this film, and with the expanded number of nominations the Academy can now include films that are excellent examples of their genres, even if those genres aren’t usually respected by the Academy. But it makes feel a little uncomfortable considering how much this nomination may be a ‘token’ mark of respect for the cultural significance of the box office success. Is this the Academy being patronising? “Well done you black people for proving that you can make films too!”. Something that nobody except movie financiers actually needed to be ‘proved’. I really don’t know, but there’s something that doesn’t feel quite right. Either way, I don’t think it’s going to win, and while I like it and it made my top 10, I don’t think it was the best film of the year.

BlacKkKlansman
I struggle with this film. At it’s heart is a story that is completely ridiculous, and yet is apparently true. In the 1970s the first black cop in Colorado Springs, persuades his department to launch an extensive investigation into the KKK. He does this by joining the KKK, with himself playing the member on the phone, and a white (Jewish) colleague playing the member in person. I mean, why does the white cop not just talk on the phone too? That central question bugged me the whole way through the film. It also bugged me that it seemed to be presenting itself as a dark comedy, but wasn’t really funny enough, and I’m not entirely sure it was dark enough either – the ineptness of this branch of the KKK seemed to undermine the horrors they committed. And then, the film ends with news footage of horrible events in present day America which just didn’t feel appropriate with the light tone the film ended on. It felt like finger wagging, when the rest of the film had done very little to actually educate or elevate the discussion.
Just like Black Panther, this feels like it was earmarked for one of the ‘extra’ nominations, a mark of respect rather than a real expectation of it being a contender. The more I think about this film, the more I wish Spike Lee had made t a documentary instead.

Bohemian Rhapsody
I always forget just how many truly great songs Queen have had. The trailer alone for this film packed half a dozen songs together into a stunning mashup with incredible editing. Then you’ve got the story of the band, and particularly Freddie Mercury which gives more than enough story. Sadly, while the material is all there for a 10/10, the film only manages to get to 8/10. There were a few too many elements that I felt needed just one more polish – dialogue and direction were at times just too obvious, most of the characters were too thinly painted (particularly Paul and Mary – I don’t think it passes the Bechdel test) and I don’t think there was really a commitment to how to handle Freddie’s sexuality.
These things all prevent the film from being ‘outstanding’ and prevent it from being a truly worthy contender. However, the things that niggle from that point of view, don’t detract from the pure enjoyment of watching this film. I was entertained throughout, and firmly convinced of the joy and heartbreak of Freddie and Queen’s music. I watched most of the last 20 minutes with a huge grin and tears streaming and as soon as I got home I put Queen’s Greatest Hits on and turned the volume up.

The Favourite
What an odd film. I mean from the director of The Lobster and Killing of a Sacred Dear, that’s hardly surprising. In fact the only thing that’s surprising is the fact that such a weird movie is getting such a huge mainstream release. Of course that’s mostly down to national treasure Olivia Colman who is perfectly cast and perfectly delivers the complex heart of the film – a farcical character driven by incredible tragedy. There are few actresses that could manage to imbue a character with such strength, childishness, pride, rage, loneliness and just all round complexity. Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone have relatively simple roles beside that, but the triangle of the three of them is only as strong because of all three points. That complexity and confusion occasionally lurches in the film, and while the ending was ‘right’ it maybe wasn’t as satisfying as I might have wanted. But I was impressed, entertained and quietly stunned through the whole film and can’t think of anything that compares.

Green Book
I’m a bit unsure about this film. On one hand, it’s a nice film about the development of an unlikely relationship with a lot of laughs and smiles along the way and I really quite enjoyed it. The central performances are all big and the characters are complex and interesting. However, I was also uncomfortable that this was a film about racism, bigotry and systematised hatred and oppression; and if that film is ‘nice’ it’s probably missing something. Not every film has to be hard hitting and challenging, but this one just made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because it’s being award nominated and is another of those films that if it had been released in May or October, I wouldn’t be so critical towards.

Roma
I’ve watched this film twice now. On first watch I was incredibly unimpressed with it, but the amount of critical praise and number of awards it was getting made me think I may have missed something. On second watch, looking for the things that people had praised, I could see that I had been overly harsh on the film. I could see the beauty in the cinematography, and I was certainly more appreciative of the acting, particularly from absolute new comer Yalitza Aparicio. However, I still feel, there is just not enough meat in the film. All the characters and relationships are quite straightforward and there’s very little attempt to develop them. Everything feels very surface, no attempt to share the backstory of either characters or history, it’s just a sequence of things that happen. On first watch I was completely bored, on second watch I was a bit more engaged, but already, less than 10 minutes after finishing watching, it’s fading from my memory. I’ll raise my review from “awful” to “fine”, but it’s nothing more than that.

A Star is Born
First of all I want to say that Lady Gaga is absolutely phenomenal in this film. I knew she could act a bit from her tv work, but here she is a full blown, award worthy actress. The character has depth and complexity, she is clearly saying one thing while thinking another, and often clearly not even really knowing how feels. It is a stunning performance, and I’m just disappointed that the rest of the film didn’t feel as worthy of her talents.
The biggest problem for me was that I didn’t feel the film made any attempt to dig into the issues that it was raising, let alone some of the issues it should have raised. For me, the plot was about the exploitation of talent – a young girl with clear talent being manipulated by a much older and more experienced man, then in turn she’s also manipulated by the wider industry, turning her into a successful artist rather than necessarily the one she set out to be. Most of that is on the screen but whenever it edged towards really calling out any of it, it instead went to another song or an emotionally manipulative set piece and sidestepped without any real development or resolution. It felt like it was romanticising the whole thing, but I spent most of the time finding the relationship between Ally and Jack downright creepy. Add to that the timeframe within the film felt rushed (everything happening within just a year or two) while watching the film dragged. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get.

Vice – Alphabetically last, and the only one I haven’t seen.

What’s Missing
A Quiet Place and Love, Simon both impressed me as incredibly well put together examples of their genres, and with Love, Simon also breaking a barrier that was long overdue for breaking, it’s a real shame that it didn’t get a nomination here. I’ve also heard a lot of good things about If Beale Street Could Talk and it sounds like a far more interesting and important film than Green Book.

What I Would Like to Win
The Favourite – I was entertaining, surprised, and impressed by this film as I watched it and it has stayed with me in a way that the other films haven’t really. Now that I think about them as a set, I have to say I find them a slightly underwhelming list. Nothing really blew me away, nothing had me unreservedly telling other people they should go and watch it and with the exception of The Favourite nothing surprised me. I’m disappointed that of 8 films, I think only 3 (Black Panther, Favourite and Roma) pass the Bechdel test, and I had some serious concerns about some of the content of 2 of them (Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born).

What I Think Will Win
Roma – all the smart money seems to be on Roma, which I find disappointing. When I went looking for things to like in the film, I found a few, but it fundamentally doesn’t have enough to say. I don’t care that it’s in black and white, or foreign language, or even that it takes its time – but there is no substance to this film. It didn’t engage me while I was watching it, and if not for my compulsive need to write about everything, I wouldn’t have given it a thought after it had finished. If it wins, it will be so far from what ‘normal’ film goers appreciate and respect that it just emphasises how out of touch these awards are.

Yesterday I posted my full reviews of 8 out of the 9 nominees for best picture and my thoughts on what should and will win (tldr – I think Dunkirk should win, although I didn’t see Ladybird which might have been a contender, but I think Shape of Water will win). By my count there were 4 films which received at least one nomination, and I saw 23 of them, a very respectable 52% (the same as last year). In terms of nominations there were a total of 106 slots, and I saw the films that contributed to 82 of them, 77% which I’m very happy with (7% higher than last year). I’m just kicking myself I haven’t seen Ladybird which is the only film with more than one nomination that I haven’t seen (plus it looked good and I really want to see it). Below are my thoughts on the nominations, occasional mentions of missed nominations and my predictions for what will win.

Lead Actor:

Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name – He did a good job with a very mediocre script, forced to talk in a way that no real human person would ever talk.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread – I never got a sense of what this character was really like, whether he really loved or cared about any of the other characters or was even self aware of what he was like. Not sure if that’s script or performance, but either way, it didn’t make for a strong nomination.

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out – Interesting. This didn’t occur to me while I was watching, but there’s a huge range to the performance from quite cheesy comedy and the kind of ridiculous situations that appear in horror films, but also there’s real depth to the character and the quality of Kaluuya’s performance make this more than ‘just’ a cheesy horror.

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour – unrecognisable physically and completely inhabiting the role, far from just a caricature

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq. – Sorry Denzel, I haven’t seen it. Although I’m sure he’s superb as usual

Wouldn’t it have been something to see Hugh Jackman here for Wolverine in Logan. It really was an impressive performance in Logan, that delivered incredible emotional punch. Tom Hanks gave a storming performance in The Post as well, maybe that’s just what is expected from him now though. Of course it wouldn’t have mattered because the award should and will go to Gary Oldman. For the record my runner up would be Kaluuya.

Lead Actress:

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water – an impressive performance with the restriction of zero dialogue

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – McDormand for me was about the only thing that truly worked in this film.

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya – Just like her character, I don’t think she’s got as much attention and praise as she deserved. It’s a brash performance on the surface, bordering on comedy sometimes, but there’s also depth to it.

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird -I haven’t seen it, but she’s 23 and this is her third nomination (this, Brooklyn and one for supporting in Atonement 10 years ago!)

Meryl Streep, The Post – I was expecting a powerful character and performance and was hugely surprised and impressed that the character was nowhere near as forceful as expected, but the performance was exquisite as usual

Again, it’s bad luck to be nominated this year against Frances McDormand, but Robbie is the runner up for me. I would have put Jessica Chastain in for Molly’s Game too, seems odd that Vicky Krieps wasn’t nominated for Phantom Thread given she actually had a more interesting character than Day Lewis. I’m also a bit surprised that Judy Dench wasn’t nominated for Victoria and Abdul.

Supporting Actor:

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project – not seen.

Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – a quiet performance, mostly quite unremarkable, but with some very nuanced scenes in the middle. Shame his character didn’t make much sense. The nice guy he played didn’t go at all with his actions – why did he not do a better job of communicating with the family of a murdered girl, or dealing with an out of control subordinate?)

Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water – wonderful as ever. Many of his scenes look on the surface to be the comic relief, but there’s a depth to him that’s heartbreaking.

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World – not seen, but it’s an impressive achievement to turn in a performance at such short notice

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – he played all the extremes of his character expertly, despite the fact the plot made very little sense for him.

I think Sam Rockwell will win, and I don’t think I disagree. I could also have put Patrick Stewart in here for Logan

Supporting Actress:

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound – I didn’t think there was much nuance in the role or the film as a whole.

Allison Janney, I, Tonya – hilarious and terrifying, this is a long way from CJ and a great comedic and dramatic performance all at once.

Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread – a performance as someone restraining their feelings is only impressive if they also reveal what it is they’re restraining. I didn’t know whether Manville’s character loved or loathed those aorund her, or just didn’t give a crap and was thinking about her pay cheque or what was for lunch.

Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird – She’s one of the reasons I’m annoyed I haven’t seen this.

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water – sorry, but there wasn’t enough here to warrant a nomination for the always excellent Octavia Spencer.

I align with popular opinion again and will be happy to see Allison Janney lift the award. Wouldn’t it have been lovely to see Carrie Fisher in here for Star Wars

Director:

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan – the scale of the filming was phenomenal. The sheer number of extras, special effects and visual effects, stunts, sets and locations that required coordination breathtaking. And then to not lose the individual stories in there, was a true marvel.

Get Out, Jordan Peele – was there anything outstanding in the direction of this? I don’t really think so. The script and performances, yes. But the direction, while well done, wasn’t anything special that I recall.

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig – I wish I’d seen this so that I could offer comment beyond “only the 5th woman to be nominated for best director”.

Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson – It was stylish, in the way that you’d expect a story set in 1950s about fashion to be stylish. The richness and attention to detail, focus on stitches and the perfection was very real.

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro – if the director is to blame for a runtime, then I think this is where the film fell down. The pacing was too slow, spending too much time really drilling home every look, every bit of body language, until all subtlety was lost and I was bored.

I think this one should go to Christopher Nolan, it’s the bigger achievement to deliver a technically difficult film and make a film that’s more than just a technical achievement. The absolute cynic in me wonders if they’d give it to Greta Gerwig for political reasons, but I think they’ll award Guillermo del Toro. Missing – I wasn’t actually a big fan, but wouldn’t it have been fantastic for Patty Jenkins to be nominated for Wonder Woman and double the number or women director nominations

Animated Feature:

The Boss Baby – I didn’t like the trailers so didn’t bother. There seems some surprise it was nominated.

The Breadwinner – not even heard of it I’m afraid

Coco – There was a lot of good in Coco in terms of the bigger stuff – style, message and heart; but I was slightly underwhelmed with the ‘small’ stuff like plot and pacing.

Ferdinand – looked unremarkable

Loving Vincent – this looked like an incredible artistic achievement, although I’ve got no idea of the plot etc.

I rather hope Loving Vincent wins from the point of view of the greater artistic achievement, but I think it will go to Coco.

Adapted Screenplay:

Call Me by Your Name, James Ivory – awful. No one talks or behaves like real human beings.

The Disaster Artist, Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – Not seen

Logan, Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green – I was impressed at this film, a moving character piece about aging, while also still an entertaining superhero film.

Molly’s Game, Aaron Sorkin – the master of dialogue is on fire here, except for a miss-step (on a park bench) that I found unforgivable.

Mudbound, Virgil Williams and Dee Rees – the dreary narrative was completely unnecessary and spoilt the film.

Of that list, I think I’d vote for Molly’s Game, but I suspect the Academy will go for Call Me by Your Name. Death of Stalin should have been nominated.

Original Screenplay:

The Big Sick, Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani – I know it’s based on a true story, rather limiting the creativity, but the structure didn’t work for me, I just didn’t see the couple in it, they had too little time together for this to feel like the romance was justified.

Get Out, Jordan Peele – both classic and original, a by the numbers horror film with the twists and turns you’d expect, but with a modern look at race that just adds to the horror.

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig – not seen

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor – solid idea, but I just don’t think there’s anything remarkable here.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Martin McDonagh – sorry, but this didn’t work for me. I didn’t feel that the story made any sense, that the characters (including the off-screen ‘town’) behaved logically and threads were raised and dropped indiscriminately (particularly the race element and the criminally underused ‘black best friend’ cliché)

I would have like to see I, Tonya here, the creativity of mixing interviews and live action, and breaking the fourth wall was really innovative and worked incredibly well. Get Out is the winner for me, but I think the award will go to Three Billboards.

Cinematography:

Blade Runner 2049, Roger Deakins – beautiful. I was bored almost to tears by the film, but at least that gave me plenty of time to appreciate the visuals.

Darkest Hour, Bruno Delbonnel – I didn’t think there was anything special here

Dunkirk, Hoyte van Hoytema – completely immersive in each of the settings

Mudbound, Rachel Morrison – the cinematography does stick with you, you can almost feel the mud and the rain and the dreariness of the environment. Also, the first ever woman to be nominated for cinematography. Yup, really.

The Shape of Water, Dan Laustsen – the tone of water throughout was quite mesmerising, it did have a very interesting and immersive style to it.

Roger Deakins for Blade Runner surely, if for no other reason than this is his fourteenth nomination and he’s never won!

Best Documentary Feature:

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – not seen

Faces Places – not seen

Icarus – the revelations of the Russian state driven doping scandal were breathtaking, but the documentary structure was muddled and confusing given the filmmakers seemed to stumble into the revelation by accident.

Last Men in Aleppo – not seen

Strong Island – an incredibly powerful and personal account of the murder of the filmmaker’s brother.

Of the two I’ve seen, Strong Island would be hard to beat.

Best Foreign Language Film:

A Fantastic Woman (Chile); The Insult (Lebanon); Loveless (Russia); On Body and Soul (Hungary) The Square (Sweden)

I haven’t seen any of these, despite having seen several really great foreign films last year, but I suspect that the year of release is different. I’ve heard great things about both Loveless and A Fantastic Woman so i think I’ll guess at A Fantastic Woman.

Film Editing:

Baby Driver, Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss – the key thing about this film is the editing and the sound, keeping many of the sequences feeling like music videos without making it gimicky or annoying is an impressive achievement.

Dunkirk, Lee Smith – there was a huge amount to be pieced together here, but I wouldn’t think it was anything that other blockbuster action type films do.

I, Tonya, Tatiana S. Riegel – there are some clever edits for the ice skating segments, and some very well timed edits for the pieces to camera

The Shape of Water, Sidney Wolinsky – I didn’t notice the editing at all. Is he responsible for how drawn out it was?

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Jon Gregory – Ditto

I think Baby Driver was the one that was doing the most interesting and original work here.

Sound Editing / Sound mixing – the same films are nominated for both and I still don’t understand the difference

Baby Driver – As for editing, the sound landscaping is integral to the film, perhaps the entire point of it.

Blade Runner 2049 – I watched this on one of the superscreens with the boosted sound system and I do remember a lot of deep rumbling noises that helped me not fall alseep

Dunkirk- the sound was absolutely key to the immersiveness of this film, the gunfire and explosions, the sound in the plane and the relative peace of the chugging boat engine.

The Shape of Water – so much dripping that I noticed a higher than normal percentage of the audience taking bathroom breaks

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – a lot of created noises blending together

As usual, I’m going to completely guess here. Let’s go Dunkirk for mixing and Star Wars for editing.

Production Design:

Beauty and the Beast – if you’re just developing an animated film into a real life, I’m not sure you can really take credit.

Blade Runner 2049 – yup, lots of interesting design.

Darkest Hour – nothing special I thought, lots of recreating historical stuff and not much creativity that I could see.

Dunkirk – ditto.

The Shape of Water – Very beautiful and interesting to look at, the mixture of period industrial, with the detailed homes of the characters and the theme of water across absolutely everything.

I sometimes wonder whether animated films are eligible here, the design of Coco was absolutely stunning. I think Shape of Water was the most creative and original.

Original Score:

Dunkirk, Hans Zimmer – another one of the excellent and complex elements building this film

Phantom Thread, Jonny Greenwood – sorry, I can’t remember the music.

The Shape of Water, Alexandre Desplat – the tonal wateriness of this was impressive, blending with and supporting the style of the film.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, John Williams – still managing to bring something new to the Star Wars score after all these years. A legend.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Carter Burwell – I’ve got no memory of the music I’m afraid

I do love John Williams, but I think I’d have to vote for Hans Zimmer’s Dunkirk score. I suspect the academy will reward Jonny Greenwood, but for the There Will Be Blood soundtrack which was disqualified on a petty technicality a few years ago.

Original Song:

Mighty River from Mudbound, Mary J. Blige – unremarkable, and I’m not 100% sure that it went with the style/tone of the film, I think it just played over the end credits.

Mystery of Love from Call Me by Your Name, Sufjan Stevens – I at least remember this song being in the film and the tone matches much better. I wouldn’t chose to listen to it, but I also wouldn’t necessarily switch the radio off.

Remember Me from Coco, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez – not only matching the film in tone and style, but a really integral part of the story. Not my favourite Disney song, but it’s a solid entry.

Stand Up for Something from Marshall, Diane Warren, Common – I’ve not seen the film, but I like the song and it seems to match the subject at least.

This Is Me from The Greatest Showman, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul – a catchy tune, with a powerful message and the absolute heart and soul of the film.

This is Me should and will win.

Makeup and Hair:

Darkest Hour – I presume this nomination is all about making someone who looks nothing like Churchill a dead ringer for him. Which was impressive.

Victoria and Abdul – I have no memory of anyone’s hair or makeup.

Wonder – some heavy prosthetics work I understand, particularly challenging on a young child I would imagine.

I find this category baffling. Only 3 nominations, but where are films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars which have a huge amount of complex hair, makeup and prosthetics, requiring skill and creativity. Or even just Shape of Water for the monster design and making it something the incredible Doug Jones could work in. Guardians should win this one, but Darkest Hour will.

Costume Design:

Beauty and the Beast – does it really count if you’re just re-creating something done in animation?

Darkest Hour – similarly, it’s all just straight period costume, and not exactly an exciting period (costume-wise) at that

Phantom Thread – given that the costumes were about as much a part of the film as any of the characters, there really was some outstanding work

The Shape of Water – unremarkable

Victoria and Abdul – more recreating period pieces, but they’re a lot more varied and impressive

What I think should win, and what will win – The Phantom Thread

Visual Effects:

Blade Runner 2049; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2; Kong: Skull Island; Star Wars: The Last Jedi; War for the Planet of the Apes

By this point, I’ve lost the will a bit, I’m not sure how to really compare those films. I’m semi-randomly going to pick Star Wars. They turned puffins into porgs

Shorts
I watched 4 out of the 15 shorts, which is pathetic to be honest, but I ran out of time to seek the documentaries and live action shorts out on youtube.

Animated Short:

Dear Basketball – stunning. Stunningly animated, a beautiful poem and a powerful message. Less than 4 minutes long and so powerful.

Garden Party – odd. The animation is a little uncanny valley, but it’s cleverly constructed.

Lou – cute idea, nice animation on Lou and everything you expect from Pixar.

Negative Space – trailer only. The animation looks original and nicely animated.

Revolting Rhymes – based on Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’s work, this trailer really made me want to watch.

Dear Basketball is the clear standout.

Best Documentary Short Subject:

Edith+Eddie – available on Youtube but I only watched the trailer. It looks heartbreaking

Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405 – as above.

Knife Skills – unlike some of the others here that I felt I should watch, I actually wanted to watch this based on the trailer

Traffic Stop – not sure that I feel I need to watch the rest of the film after watching the depressingly familiar trailer

Heroin(e) – availabie on Netflix. A fascinating case study of an American town that has a catastrophic drugs problem, but not with the standard from the point of view of the violence or criminality, but from the point of view of the people trying to save lives. Very interesting

A hard group to compare, particularly only based on the trailers, Knife Skills, because I think more people would watch it.

Best Live Action Short Film:

DeKalb Elementary; The Eleven O’Clock; My Nephew Emmett; The Silent Child; Watu Wote/All of Us

I’m out of time, so I pick The Silent Child entirely randomly.

My thoughts on the nominees for Best Picture at the 90th Academy Awards, tomorrow I’ll share my picks and predictions for the other awards.

Call Me By Your Name
I wasn’t enthusiastic about seeing this, I thought the trailer was tedious and the name ridiculous. But there was nothing else on and it’s getting a lot of award nominations, so I gave it a try. It was insufferable. I was bored, annoyed and irritated by hokey writing and cheesy direction. The characters never talked like normal people, the development of the relationship never felt natural and it was so slow I was begging it to be over. The film makers made a critical error when they didn’t spell out the age difference, they did eventually indicate that Elio was 17, but Oliver’s age was never given (apparnetly he’s 24 in the book) and Armie Hammer is 29 and looks considerably older, so I wasn’t sure how creeped out I was supposed to be. The acting was good though, even if they were delivering a nonsensical script.

Darkest Hour
This is a film of a performance. Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill is nothing short of miraculous. The physical transformation is key to it, I don’t believe that anyone but his closest friends would have recognised Oldman beneath the prosthetics and makeup. However this isn’t just an impersonation, because Oldman also delivers depth to the character. I’m sure the physical transformation helped him find the character, and mimicking the intonation and phrasing helped the voice; but it is the realisation of complex, contradictory and fully rounded person that is gaining him the awards. I don’t think the film around the performance really rises to the same level. The rest of the characters are sorely under-developed, with people either for, or against our hero; heroes and villains. The narrative itself indicates just how precarious events were, and just how easily Churchill could have been wrong; but the emotional presentation manipulates you to villainise the critics anyway. While the period sets and costumes were very impressive, much of the direction was unremarkable, bordering on twee at times, and there were some clunking scenes and lines in the script. Really this is a 10/10 performance in a 7/10 film.

Dunkirk
I had a couple of problems. First – I didn’t understand the structure of the film until near the end. I’ve had a couple of people suggest that I’m an idiot, but a similar number of people have agreed that it’s confusing. Once you know that the there are three stories woven together but that each is covering a different period, it makes sense. But without that knowledge, I was distracted by the fact it was dark in one scene and light in the next; everything seemed to be happening too fast in one of the stories and that meant it lost some emotional impact (it’s not an incredibly bad day, it’s an absolutely horrific week). The second problem was that I couldn’t keep track of the young soldiers, I think that was intentional, after all these are just a small representation of the thousands of men there, they are just faces to some of the numbers. But it did mean, in a practical way, I couldn’t keep track of some of the action and connect bits up.
Everything else about the film however is incredible. Literally breath-taking, I can’t remember the last time I jumped or gasped so much in the cinema. It’s an immersive and intimate experience that shows up in your heart rate. Every actor gave it their all, but also showed restraint – there are very few moments of big emotion, for the most part everyone is just too tired and resigned for that. It’s a superb piece of film making.

I, Tonya
The early months of the year are always a mixture of optimism and slog for film watching. The wave of award nominated films make for some real jems, but also some dull pretentiousness. I seem to have had a bit of a role with films that I’m told are Good, Important and Worthy, and that I have found underwhelming and frankly a bit dull. Thank heavens for I, Tonya. Finally I got to watch a film that I found both impressive and thoroughly entertaining. I knew the headlines of the story of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, but none of the details or the backstory. A mark of the success of the film is that by the time it came to the ‘incident’ I had sort of forgotten about it. The background is absolutely fascinating and that, and the quality of performances would probably have been enough to make this a good film. But it’s the construction of the film with interviews to camera that really make it stand out. I laughed out loud throughout the film from the humour, the ridiculousness of the situations and occasionally the horribleness of the characters. Despite the number of award nominated films I’ve watched in recent months, I can’t think of one I’ve been so happy to have seen.

Ladybird
I’m kicking myself because this is the only film that I haven’t managed to see. It doesn’t actually seem to have got a very wide release in the UK, neither my local Cineworld or Odeon are showing it which is a real shame, particularly as it has only been on release a week and it’s been snowing pretty much the whole time limiting my desire to travel. I am looking forward to seeing it, the trailer had a nice balance of humour and drama, and also looked quirky and stylish without being irritating.

Phantom Thread
I was uninspired by the trailer, but my favourite film reviewers both vouched for it – Mark Kermode has a tendency to like rather pretentious twaddle, but Simon Mayo is usually more reliable for knowing what ‘normal’ people actually like to watch. So given they both gave it an enthusiastic review for being both meaningful AND enjoyable I gave it a try. They let me down.
Firstly it committed the cardinal sin of being boring, I continually wanted to look at a watch I wasn’t wearing to see how much longer I’d have to endure, and while it wasn’t quite bad enough that I would have given up on it, I certainly was wishing for it to be over faster than it was. There were brief moments of wit, but they were too small and too dispersed to give any real enjoyment. I didn’t quite get a handle on the characters, I never felt like they had a strong enough core to define them. I didn’t really know whether they liked each other, let alone loved one another. The style of it was vaguely interesting, and some of the ideas too, but neither was well enough developed to really make that the centrepiece of the film. I was utterly underwhelmed.

The Post
It’s somewhat astonishing that Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have never worked together before, and when you add on an excellent supporting cast and an interesting, and topical, historical event you’re on to a winning formula. I would suggest that the film doesn’t really do much more than put those ingredients together and let it go, there’s not much in the way of embellishment or decoration to it, but then good ingredients do speak for themselves. Everyone is on solid form and the whole thing trips along nicely, just about keeping me understanding a story and background that I knew almost nothing about. I don’t think there’s anything particularly remarkable about the film, but when it brings so many greats together, it can’t help but be something a little bit special.

The Shape of Water
I’d been looking forward to this film. I’ve enjoyed many of Guillermo del Toro’s films and been impressed by the style and blending of fairy tale and horror. For the first half hour or so of the film I tried to immerse myself in the beautiful look of it, the quirky characters and the unusual pacing of the dialogue with chatty characters balanced by the silence of the lead characters, who still managed to say a lot even if they weren’t speaking. But after a while I realised that I was trying to immerse myself in it, and trying to enjoy it, rather than actually being immersed or enjoying it. It felt like it was trying to force feelings that weren’t there. After I realised that, the rest of the film became a little bit of a slog. When the dream sequence started my brother and I looked at each other and just rolled our eyes. I was actually very glad it was over when it eventually trudged to a halt.
There’s something bugging me about the whole film. At its heart it’s a basic monster movie, I know a lot of people have related it to Beauty and the Beast, but for me it was more King Kong. I don’t know at what point it was decided to try and make it ‘more’ than ‘just’ a monster movie, but I think that was a real mistake. Monster movies, or science fiction, or horror already have all the scope to say more than just “the monster needs to escape”, there is always subtext and metaphor, but they don’t have to make a song and dance about it. Yes, they can form a connection without speaking, we get it, we don’t need long drawn out scenes to make the point. You can still get all that power without sacrificing pacing, action, comedy or character. And you can certainly integrate those things without having to have each scene and character fulfill one aspect. For the amount of talent, money, and runtime that this film has, it actually had less impact than something like Hellboy, or Pan’s Labyrinth. Fundamentally – I was bored. Also the constant sound of trickling water left me quite distracted by my need to go to the bathroom.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
A film which is hard to really describe, and I find hard to decide whether I liked it or not. I think for me it fell a little too much in between a lot of different posts, but I know that is the very thing that has worked for a lot of people. I laughed, cried, gasped and flinched in all the right places; and each with a depth and enthusiasm that isn’t often found in films; but somehow the combination left me cold. The elements of farce driven by the underlying tragedy is certainly deftly delivered by cast and crew. However there seemed to be a lot of unanswered questions and unexplained character steps that didn’t really sit right with me. At the start characters were hated and excused and I didn’t understand why, and then by the end there seemed to be forgiveness and redemption that likewise didn’t seem explained. I didn’t understand (and still don’t) why a town would be so angry at the mother of a murdered girl, why the town wouldn’t be scared at the idea of a rapist, why they wouldn’t be questioning the sheriff more. I didn’t understand why such a ‘nice’ sheriff would do a bad job liaising with a murder victim’s relatives, or why he would do nothing about a staff member who was clearly completely out of control. I think to me this is a film where all the individual scenes were excellent, but bringing them all together and understanding the underlying context of the characters and the community around them, just made no sense at all.

What I think should winI’ve found this a rather disappointing year for best picture nominees to be honest. I thought Call Me By Your Name and Phantom Thread were actively bad; Three Billboards and Shape of Water were flawed, and Darkest Hour was clunky. The Post was a solidly entertaining film which i would happily recommend as a good film to watch, but not as remarkable as the names behind it might have inspired and not really Best Picture material. I haven’t seen Ladybird which is massively annoying me as I come to write this. So I’m left with Dunkirk and I, Tonya. What a bizarre choice to have to make. While I really, really enjoyed I, Tonya, and actually found Dunkirk a little confusing on first watch, I think I have to go for Dunkirk in the end. It’s the far greater achievement in terms of filming the un-filmable and deserves the accolade.

What will win
I think it’s down to Three Billboards or The Shape of Water really and I’m not sure which way it would go. Would the Academy give it to a ‘monster movie’ or is it actually time that people are looking beyond the simple labels. I think Three Billboards will be recognised in the acting categories, and that might be where the emphasis is. So, I think The Shape of Water will win.

I think there are 48 films nominated for at least one Oscar, and a total of 106 nominations for the full length films. I’ve managed to see 25 of the films (52%) covering 75 nominations (70%). I’ve linked to reviews on my other website where I’ve seen things. I only managed to see a couple of the shorts unfortunately. I wish they were more easily available. Here are my preferences and predictions for the winners across all the categories, even the ones I have absolutely no knowledge of.

Film (see my previous post for detailed reviews)

• Arrival – I wasn’t a fan, but I don’t think I viewed it fairly
• Fences – I haven’t seen it, but from what I hear it’s a bit too theatrical to be the best film, the stage play was already heavily rewarded and I don’t think ‘just’ translating the cast and the words to a different medium is necessarily worthy of award
• La La Land – I thought it didn’t successfully blend gritty modern relationship drama with old school musical fantasy, leaving me disappointed
• Hacksaw Ridge – not seen, but broad opinion doesn’t seem to have been positive
• Hell or High Water – I enjoyed this film a lot, and was impressed at how solidly put together it was, but I don’t think it was ‘outstanding’
• Hidden Figures – wonderfully entertaining, but it takes slightly too light-hearted an approach to be a worthy Oscar winner, it is however likely to be one of my favourite films of the year
• Lion – a good film, but not a great film. I wasn’t a fan of the structure (either much too long an ‘introduction’ or a film of two halves that struggle to stick together) and there wasn’t much subtlety on offer.
• Manchester by the Sea – I thought this was a very powerful film, mostly thanks to the performances but certainly supported by a great script and interesting direction to make this a very strong contender for best film
• Moonlight – I may be one of the only people that didn’t like this film. I respect it a lot, but I was bored.

What’s missing – outstanding films from last year were a little thin on the ground I thought. My top film was Eye in the Sky, but as ‘just’ a thriller it didn’t get a look in, even if it was a superb one. Money Monster was a similarly tightly put together piece. I’m ok with not seeing Jackie there as I thought was a better performance than film (flawed in the decision to only show a short period of time, giving no context for the character’s emotions). I didn’t like Nocturnal Animals either, I thought it confusing and unnecessarily arty (what was that opening?!). I haven’t seen 20th Century Women; I, Daniel Blake; or Loving, but all got a lot of praise and are under-represented in the awards (or not at all for I, Daniel Blake). Deadpool would have been a hilarious addition (it got a golden globe nod), and maybe it deserved it for originality and balls alone.
What should win: I’m really not that blown away by the selection, my pick would probably be Manchester by the Sea.
What will win: La a Land

Director

• Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) – I was frustrated by the disjointed and unbalancing direction of Arrival but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense.
• Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) – I haven’t heard anything particularly positive about it
• Damien Chazelle (La La Land) – I don’t think any of the things I didn’t like La La Land were due to the director, and it’s no easy achievement directing musicals
• Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) – I would have actually preferred a less arty and fussy directorial style, the writing and acting didn’t need it and it might have improved the runtime and pacing.
• Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) – I didn’t like the direction, but I can respect it

What should win: I don’t really care
What will win: La La Land

Actress

• Isabelle Huppert (Elle) – Not seen
• Ruth Negga (Loving) – Not seen, but I’ve loved her on Preacher and other TV work
• Natalie Portman (Jackie) – a great performance, although I thought it came a little close to impression with the strange voice for my tastes, but I think the writing actually limited the scope of her performance.
• Emma Stone (La La Land) – I thought the character was badly written, but Emma Stone still delivered.
• Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins) – can’t help but think that this is more a political nomination than anything else, which isn’t to say that Streep wasn’t good in a delicate balancing act of comedy and tragedy. Actually, the more I think about it the better her performance seems.

Who’s missing – poor Amy Adams, did she split the vote with Nocturnal Animals and Arrival or did she just get pushed out by Trump’s hatred of Streep? I’m not sure either performance would have won the award, but she should be here. Taraji P. Henson in Hidden Figures was also wonderful. Annette Benning seemed to have a lot of buzz for 20th Century Women.
Who should win – Natalie Portman
Who will win – Emma Stone

Actor

• Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) – superb.
• Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge) – not seen
• Ryan Gosling (La La Land) – I’ve never enjoyed Gosling’s performances and between him, and his character, I wasn’t a fan here either.
• Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) – not seen
• Denzel Washington (Fences) – not seen, he’s impressive in the trailers, but then if he’s ‘just’ re-creating the exact same performance that he won a Tony for is that really fair? Getting multiple bites of the pie surely?

Who’s missing – I thought Tom Hanks was a shoe-in for Sully, he’s always incredibly good and a popular nominee, although I’ve no idea if it’s deserved. Colin Farrell for The Lobster? Michael Caine for Youth?
Who should win and will win – Casey Affleck

Supporting Actress

• Viola Davis (Fences) – as for Washington above. With the added souring that she should almost certainly be in the best actress category, not supporting, she won the Tony for *lead* actress.
• Naomie Harris (Moonlight) – impressive
• Nicole Kidman (Lion) – I was instinctively going to say that she wasn’t in it enough to warrant the nomination, but then I thought about the half dozen or so scenes she does have and the level of emotion and power and started thinking differently. The film in general is a bit heavy handed, but Kidman delivers it in spades.
• Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) – she was good, but outstanding? I’m afraid not, she just didn’t have the material
• Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea) – I wanted to see more of the character, her story was never really told, only in how it related to the other characters (oh crap, is this film a Bechdel test failure?), which is a shame because given what she did with what little time she had, she would have been incredible.

Who should win – I think it’s Kidman for me, but Williams would have been triumphant if only she had an extra scene or two
Who will win – Viola Davis

Supporting Actor:

• Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) – he was wonderful, but I think actually the three actors playing Chiron were just as good.
• Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water) – I really liked this film, and Bridges was great as usual, but I don’t think Bridges’ role was anything outstanding – curmudgeonly and rude isn’t a stretch
• Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)- yes. The range that this young actor showed was incredible, carrying the weight of the humour in the film while never leaving any doubt he was also struggling and suffering.
• Dev Patel (Lion) – supporting? Hmm, I guess he didn’t appear for the first third of the film. It’s a powerful performance, and I love watching him, but it’s something of a “what you see is what you get” role, without the nuance of some of the others.
• Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) – to me this is an odd choice, it was Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the ‘bad guy’ that was by far the more powerful performance, I’ve utterly forgotten Shannon’s character.

Who’s missing – if Meryl gets a nom for Florence Foster Jenkins it’s a shame Hugh Grant doesn’t also, his performance walked an even narrower line between tragedy and humour. Ralph Fiennes was startling (and irritating) in the otherwise mediocre A Bigger Splash.
Who should win – Lucas Hedges
Who will win – Mahershala Ali

Original Screenplay

• Hell or High Water – An interesting idea and very solidly delivered, the mix of drama and humour is well handled and I was gripped throughout
• La La Land – nope, the writing was what I mostly took issue with La La Land, the characters, the dialogue, and mostly the ending I thought were errors
• The Lobster – I liked both halves of this film, but thought they didn’t work well together. I am glad to see it here though as something a bit unusual
• Manchester by the Sea – the structuring of this was superb and the way the past and present intertwine is delicately done
• 20th Century Women – haven’t seen

What should and will win – Manchester by the Sea

Adapted Screenplay

• Arrival – I’ve no idea how much of this came from the original, so it’s a bit hard to know. The story and idea are certainly great and cleverly gradually revealed through a tricky narrative, but that might all have already been there.
• Fences – from what I hear, there wasn’t a great deal of adaptation involved in taking this from stage to screen, with the film feeling much like a play.
• Hidden Figures – I loved this film, so I loved the writing. Taking a non-fiction book and making an entertaining and engaging narrative seems a greater achievement, but then it seems a number of liberties may have been taken
• Lion – I think it’s the true story that’s amazing here, the adaptation was fairly by the numbers and unremarkable. It would probably have benefited from some creativity in interweaving the stories or filling in gaps.
• Moonlight – I think it’s an achievement to write a film that says a lot without saying a lot, it’s about more than the words and the structure and depth of this film is impressive.

Am I supposed to be looking for a good final result or a good adaptation? Surely the bigger achievement is the one that requires the most rewriting, or taking something rubbish and making it good without losing sight of the original?
What should win – Hidden Figures
What will win – Moonlight

Animated Feature Film

• Kubo and the Two Strings – gorgeous, original and lovely
• Moana – great story, completely 3 dimensional characters, beautiful design, powerful emotion and laugh out loud humour – it had everything
• My Life as a Zucchini/Courgette – I’d never even heard of this and couldn’t find it anyone
• The Red Turtle – ditto
• Zootopia/Zootropolis – I enjoyed it a lot while I watched it, but it wasn’t one that I’ve thought back on

What’s missing – nothing for Pixar! I didn’t think Finding Dory was anything like as special as things like Inside Out, but I’m surprised it didn’t appear here. Similarly surprised that neither Jungle Book nor The BFG came in. The literally and figuratively beautiful Ethel and Ernest should both be nominated and winning this category. Another great year for animation.
What should win – Moana edges it slightly for me. Or Kubo. I wouldn’t actually mind
What will win – Zootopia – it’s got a rather powerful message on immigration that I don’t think the “Hollywood Liberal Elite” will ignore. Good for them.

Foreign Language Film

• Land of Mine (Denmark), A Man Called Ove (Sweden), The Salesman (Iran), Tanna (Australia) , Toni Erdmann (Germany)

I’ve not seen any of them, I’m a bit ashamed of that
What will win – Salesman has got the political oomph given the director was effected by the travel ban, but I think Toni Erdmann has been more popular.

Documentary – Feature

• Fire at Sea – I thought this was terrible. Pretentious arty nonsense which, with the exception of one sequence and one interview, failed to really add any understanding to either the crisis as a whole, or the impact on the island.
• I Am Not Your Negro – not seen
• Life, Animated – An fascinating look into one family’s life, thanks to frank interviews and family videos you see their history and how they reached where they are. It’s not really making any sweeping statements or education on what autism means, but as a “case study” it’s wonderful.
• O.J.: Made in America – not seen, not least because with last year’s dramatization there’s already a lot of OJ around. Also it’s incredibly long, at 467 minutes, really this is a mini-series!
• 13th – A fairly traditional documentary looking at race and imprisonment in the US via a lot of academic and expert talking heads and a small amount of archive footage. If going this traditional route, I thought there was a bit more scope for better graphics and usage of data, particularly to strengthen the opposing side of the argument to make it more balanced. I don’t think that would have changed the overall point, but actually made it stronger.

What’s missing – I really enjoyed 8 Days a Week, I like the Beatles, but this actually made me understand what it was like to be a Beatles fan, and also some insight into what it was like to be just a group of lads from Liverpool and suddenly the most popular people in the world. I learnt something about the band and the people. I think this would probably be my pick for winner.
What should win -of the three I’ve seen I thought Life, Animated was the least flawed, but 13th was the more important.
What will win – 13th

Documentary Short

• Extremis – available on Netflix, very powerful and incredibly moving, I wish it had been longer
• The White Helmets – available on Netflix and well worth watching. Some of the footage is incredible and the situation and people are amazing (in opposite ways).
• 4.1 Miles, Joe’s Violin, Watani: My Homeland – not seen

The documentary short is an incredibly powerful category, I wish it were easier to see more of them. It’s hard to pick which of the two I’ve seen is better, particularly given that I suspect the other three are just as good.
What will win – Extremis

Live Action Short

• Ennemis intérieurs, La Femme et le TGV, Silent Nights, Sing, Timecode

What will win: Ennemis intérieurs

Animated Short Film

• Blind Vaysha, Borrowed Time, Pear Cider and Cigarettes , Pearl , Piper

What will and should win: Piper is the only one I’ve seen (on the front of Finding Dory and it was absolutely gorgeous, so I’ll vote for it here

Original Score

• Jackie – I actually throught the score was obtrusive and too heavy
• La La Land – lovely. The songs are catchy, and the themes are well developed and entwined through the film.
• Lion – Blended elements from lots of different styles together, reflecting both Indian and Australian culture and the overlaps between them
• Moonlight – an interesting mix of music was played, was that original music or soundtrack?
• Passengers – I’ve no memory of the score

What should win and what will win – La La Land

Best Original Song

• Audition (The Fools Who Dream) from La La Land – it’s a slow build from speaking to belting it out and I think it possibly builds beyond Emma Stone’s ability, but it’s a good full on musical number.
• Can’t Stop the Feeling! from Trolls – slightly odd pick. It’s a catchy enough pop song, but not sure what makes it Oscar worthy
• City of Stars from La La Land – incredibly catchy little tune and I love the turn in the middle, I wish someone other than Ryan Reynolds was singing it though.
• The Empty Chair from Jim: The James Foley Story – beautiful
• How Far I’ll Go from Moana – a lovely message and a catchy song

What’s missing – I loved the music from Sing Street (review), it came from the characters so much, so it’s a shame that didn’t get a look in
What should win – I really love the Moana song, and it might stand a chance if the La La Land songs split the vote and the love for Lin
What will win – City of Stars I should think, unless the La La Songs split the vote and/or Lin Manuel Miranda’s current success and fame carries him through.

Sound Editing: Arrival, Deepwater Horizon, Hacksaw Ridge, La La Land, Sully
Sound Mixing: Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge, La La Land, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
I’m hazy on the distinction, but to me it seems that outstanding sound is about taking complex, multi-layered ‘noises’ and blending them into a coherent whole. So something like La La Land doesn’t really seem complicated enough to warrant awards.The sci-fi ones have much more complicated work to be done, blending real sounds, generated ones and balancing them all so the audience can make sense of them. Anything like Hacksaw Ridge or 13 Hours, the sounds are so important for making battle feel real, but not so real the audience can’t see or understand what’s happening.
What will win: Hacksaw Ridge for editing and Arrival for mixing
Production Design

• Arrival – the design work was interesting but it was hard to get excited about given the over use of grey and dingy lighting.
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – the blend of fantasy and art deco New York was beautifully done and very evocative
• Hail, Caesar! – replicating the design of the period is well done, but it’s working from a known starting point
• La La Land – there’s a subtle and clever blending of modern LA and old school musical.
• Passengers – I’m not sure that any of it is particularly ‘realistic’ but the design is all suitably sci-fi, particularly things like the robot bartender

What should win: Fantastic Beasts
What will win: La La Land

Cinematography

• Arrival – one of my least favourite pieces of cinematography, I thought the lighting and the colourisation were dull and killed the energy of the film.
• La La Land – yup, fine. Nice.
• Lion – The different styles for India and Australia, and the different periods the film covered were all interetingly done, with the cinematography reflecting the culture
• Moonlight – I was not a fan, it made me feel a bit dizzy, but I can recognise that it was very good.
• Silence – haven’t seen, but from the trailer it did look impressively epic

What should win: Lion
What will win: La La Land

Makeup and Hairstyling

• A Man Called Ove, Star Trek Beyond, Suicide Squad

What will win: Star Trek? No criticism to the make up and hairstyling on Suicide Squad, but it cannot be “Oscar winning Suicide Squad”

Costume Design

• Allied – not seen, but the costumes looked fairly standard period stuff from the trailer
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – the fantasy elements of the costuming is very subtly done
• Florence Foster Jenkins – Just like everything else in this film, the costumes walk a very fine line between ridiculous and period, which is very cleverly done
• Jackie – should you really get an award for perfectly recreating costumes and outfits? What was the ‘design’?
• La La Land – there’s some nice costuming here, a main contributor to the old-school musical vibe of the film to counteract some of the modernity.

What should win: Florence Foster Jenkins
What will win: La La Land

Film Editing

• Arrival – I’m not sure how much of the interweaving of the jumping time line was done in the script and how much in the editing, but I would assume the little flashes were editing and they were certainly very cleverly done, keeping you inside the characters head.
• Hacksaw Ridge – not seen
• Hell or High Water – I don’t really remember anything clever or outstanding with the editing, but then that may be the magic of good editing
• La La Land – the musical sequences were well put together, supported the old-school feel of the film
• Moonlight – Does the editor decide how long to make the pauses? If so, I wasn’t a fan

What should win – I’m not really sure what I’m looking for, so I’ll say “I don’t mind”
What will win – La La Land

Visual Effects

• Deepwater Horizon – not seen, but the effects in the trailer were impressive
• Doctor Strange – the effects were impressive, but I actually found them overwhelming at times. Some of the smaller stuff was subtly done though (eg the cloak)
• The Jungle Book – it’s interesting that Jungle Book ended up in this category, rather than as an animated film, if everything other than one boy was cgi, even the backgrounds I believe, then isn’t this an animated film and not a visual effect?
• Kubo and the Two Strings – a stunning achievement, but mostly this is old school ‘effects’, ie models and manipulation, so it’s not as diverse as some of these.
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – lots and lots of different types of effects

What should win: I think that Jungle Book and Kubo, although superb, just didn’t have as many different types of effects to show off. So… Star Wars for me.
What will win: Jungle Book