Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

Apparently Black Panther has been doing well when the academy members have been informally polled :scratch:

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

Good. I was really please last year when they announced the shakeup after the rating decline and said they were going to introduce a new popular movie category because I thought it was finally a chance for films like Star Wars/MCU/Ready Player One etc to get recognised and not get a silly award for sound editing. I didn't realise until last week when I was reading a news article about this years ceremony that the popular award category has now been dropped.
I have still got three films left I need to watch before the ceremony tomorrow night but I have watched all the films nominated for best picture. With the exception of Roma I enjoyed watching all of them. Each one was engrossing and told a different story. Black Panther is a standalone film as are the others so can be treated equally (unlike Infinity War if it was nominated because it has 10 years of work behind it) and I genuinely believe that out of the group of nominees this year Black Panther was the best film. It wasn't the best film of the year but it is the best out of the nominated films. There may be other films (e.g. Roma) that may have had a better screenplay or cinematography and that is why categories exist for those films; so they can be recognised. The award for best movie is a culmination of every aspect of the film and Black Panther should get it. I am sure that there will be some speeches for any award it receives touting equality, black actors, black director, female cast etc but it should stand on its merits.

I think I have said it before but I am a firm believer that the best picture should be voted on from a list of the top 5 highest grossing films globally. Your list for last year would be Infinity War, Black Panther, Jurassic World, Incredibles 2 and Aquaman.

I'll never forget 2009 when Avatar didn't win. I thought The Hurt Locker was a really good film and enjoyed it but it was no way the best film of the year and incomparable to Avatar. The Hurt Locker grossed $50m globally vs Avatar's $2.7bn. How can it be the best film if nobody watched it?

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

Doing the nominations from the biggest grossing films would always end up benefiting the blockbusters with bigger budgets and bigger marketing pushes though. Shawshank Redemption wouldn't have got a nomination under such a system as it was a flop, a commercial failure hardly anyone watched in cinemas, but it did get a nomination and in retrospect that decision was right. It's a great film. You're also unlikely to ever have a non-English language film get nominated or anything only for adults.

Ultimately it's an industry awards show voted for by actors, directors and the rest as to what they think are the best performances and films. It's not an indicator of quality either of course. But it's why films like Roma and Green Book get nominated at all.

Anyway they might bring back the Most Popular Oscar next year.

I wouldn't mind Black Panther winning. I think there is something to be said for it's cultural impact too. It would be a biggest impact than Roma winning (although no film 'predominately not in the English language has ever won best film). I can't see who else would win, maybe A Star is Born will spring a surprise, or Green Book but the backlash against he latter might have hurt it.

I also have a feeling Star Wars will be nominated and maybe win next year. Not so much for the film itself but like 'A Return to the King' they'll award it as a general nod towards 'Star Wars' itself. Everyone understands Lord of the Rings Best Picture Oscar was awarded to the trilogy as a whole.

Anyway I am off to put £10 on Black Panther to win :D

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

I am fully expecting Roma to win best picture

I flipping hope so. It would be perfect timing for Endgame to get it in recognition of what will be the highest grossing film of the year and a tribute to the dedication and passion which has gone into the entire MCU and given joy to billions of cinema goers all around the world.

Tbh I wouldn't be against either Green Book or A Star is Born winning because I enjoyed the stories in both and the acting performances. The only film I am going to be very mardy about is Roma because I just thought it was a very very bad film. The only award it should get if any (if you want it to be recognised) is best foreign language film.


Each of the LOTR films were superb in their own way as each had a different tone, different supporting cast, different locations and told a different aspect to the story. I would happily have seen each one win each year but I can understand why one trilogy shouldn't monopolise the awards for three years and I was very happy to see ROTK sweep up the Oscars. I remember watching it and Peter Jackson thanking everyone in New Zealand a million times was hilarious. I would like to see the same thing happen for Star Wars next year in recognition of the entire franchise and it's cultural impact for the last 40 years.

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

I have watched the 12 films on the summary list I made at the beginning of this thread and I am ready to take a crack at it. This is who I would like to see win in each category:

Best Film: Black Panther
Director: The Favourite
Actor: Rami Malek although I would happily see Christian Bale get it
Actress: Olivia Colman
Support Actor: Mahershala Ali
Supporting Actress: Emma Stone
Screenplay: The Favourite
Adapted Screenplay: A Star is Born
Animated Film: Incredibles 2
Cinematography: Roma
Costume Design: Black Panther
Makeup: Vice
Film Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody
Production Design: Black Panther
Sound Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody
Sound Mixing: Black Panther
Original Score: Black Panther
Original Song: A Star is Born
Visual Effects: Ready Player One

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

33/1 on Black Panther btw. I put a £10 on. Worth it for those odds.

I'll go too:

Best Film: Roma (well, actually Black Panther now for obvious reasons)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Actor: Christian Bale
Actress: Olivia Colman (agreed)
Support Actor: Mahershala Al (agreed)
Supporting Actress: Regina King
Screenplay: The Favourite (agreed)
Adapted Screenplay: Blackkklansman
Animated Film: Spiderverse!.
Cinematography: Roma (agreed)
Costume Design: Meh dunno
Makeup: Vice (agreed)
Film Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody (yeh probs)
Production Design: Black Panther (why not)
Sound Editing: A Quiet Place
Sound Mixing: Bohemian Rhapsody
Original Score: Black Panther (yeh)
Foreign Language Film: Shoplifters
Original Song: Whatever the song in the Black Panther credits is
Visual Effects: Avengers

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

Well l have to say l never expected "The Green Book" to win best picture.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ente...-arts-47333045

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

me neither, I was fully expecting Roma to get it. This year has been very interesting because I think it is the best I have ever done with regards to my expectations. Normally there is a stark contrast between the films I think should win/I want to win and those that actually win. I haven't added it up but I think I was right half the time and it is a great feeling to see people who you are rooting for to be acknowledged.

The thing which stuck out like a sore thumb for me this year is the shift in presenters. Even though they ditched the popular film category you can tell they are looking for opportunities to engage which a more mainstream audience. There were many MCU actors presenting awards and it was great to see Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson up there. It will be great this time next year if we can sit here and talking about Endgame or Star Wars winning the majority of awards.

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

I am pretty happy with all that. Delighted Oliva Coleman won an Oscar and that Spiderman won best animation. Like Maximus I think most the ones I agreed with.

Green Book was fine but it's a boring choice IMO. I think people will look back on this as one of the years they made mistake, Crash 2.0, and there will be backlash today over it. If they wanted to award a movie about race then Blackkklansman was better IMO, or if they wanted to make a statement then Black Panther too. In the end the usual conservationism won though and they didn't award it to a comic book movie, to a foreign film not funded by a major studio or to a movie that challenges anyone. Spike Lee (almost) stormed out.

Anyway here is the full Oscar count:

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

Personally I'd love it if they actually went to grading the awards and offer gold,silver and bronze Oscars..

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

Cannes do something like that.

Palme d'Or = Gold (obviously)
Grand Prix = Silver
Jury Prize = Bronze

The Best Picture nominations work by a preferable vote system which is why divisive films don't tend to win. The rumour last week is Roma and Black Panther were leading the pack for first choice vote and that might have been true but Green Book could have won by being the middle choice amongst most voters.

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

The thing is that nobody wants or needs surprises, shocks, upsets or anything quirky. The best film should win on its own merits and if it happens to be a political drama (e.g. JFK), civil/gay rights (e.g. Philadelphia) or foreign language (e.g. Pan's Labyrinth) then great but they shouldn't win like some people gets jobs just to massage the stats. I wanted Black Panther to win because all round taking the various aspects of the film into account, I thought it was the best of the bunch and not to tout any black agenda. I wasn't unhappy Green Book won because I thought it was a good story with great acting performances but Black Panther was better.
Likewise in the acting categories there were very strong performances and one person who I didn't mention was Melissa McCarthy. I am not a huge fan of hers but I thought she was very good in Can You Ever Forgive Me and I would have been happy for her if she won because I knew she deserved it. When people talk about acting awards they always mention "transformative performances" which is why people like Gary Oldman, Christian Bale and Rami Malek win. The one person who I wasn't keen on winning or being nominated was Sam Elliott. Like Jeff Bridges he doesn't really act, he didn't have to go out and research a person or behaviour, he was just himself and had to learn some lines.
As a whole though, even with Roma, I think the right people/films won this year in every category. I had never seen or heard of Olivia Colman before I watched The Favourite but I wanted her to win because she was the best this year. You didn't see Glenn Close getting up and spitting her dummy out; Spike Lee should be ashamed of himself.

Oh I forgot to say earlier when I was talking about popular films and the MCU being represented by award presenters, for those of you who don't watch the ceremony or only the highlights, Stan Lee was included in the In Memorium tribute, as he should have been for his contribution to the industry. I would love to see him receive a posthumous life time achievement award next year.

Re: Oscar Nominations 2019
 

The message a film tries to make is always part of the discussion though. A lot of films are trying to tell a story, make an impact, advocate for an idea. The Oscars love that too. It's why Spotlight beat Mad Max even though I thought Mad Max was such a excellent film that shows why films exist. Spotlight could have been a play or a TV drama. The academy seems to hate cinema sometimes as evident by their obvious disdain for cinematography. It's nearly 80 years since Fantasia and no animated film has ever won Best Picture, only three have ever been nominated.

There is also film politics involved. There are people who vote that don't think Black Panther should be there because it's a comic book movie and that Roma shouldn't be there because it was Netflix. Also animated films rarely stand a chance because they took down their noses at it and the bulk of the voter base are actors so are heavily biased towards that part of a film.

Yeah it's a lot more 'showy'. Subtly is not rewarded.

I think that was less about him not winning but who he lost too. I don't think another film would have got that reaction. Green Book has been compared to Driving Miss Daisy where a white character whose a bit racist is been driven by a black character and they go on a real and metaphoric journey and sort it all out. That won Best Picture the same year Spike Lee's most lauded film came out although that year he wasn't even nominated.