Oscar Noms for 2019!

So, the announcements from the Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences have been disclosed to the public. And while some were obvious choices, there were a few surprises thrown in the ring. 

Here are the list of 2019 nominees and of course me being an opinionated sob, will offer my take on practically,  each nominated category:

Best Picture

Black Panther

Kevin Feige, Producer

BlacKkKlansman

Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee, Producers

Bohemian Rhapsody

Graham King, Producer

The Favourite

Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos, Producers

Green Book

Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga, Producers

Roma

Gabriela Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón, Producers

A Star Is Born

Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor, Producers

Vice

Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers

"You really think you'll win, do you"?

Big shock how Black Panther made the cut. Despite being slightly derivative, I can't disagree with Panther being nominated thanks to its social political narrative, designs, the hidden metaphors and of course, the Shakespearean angle involving Erik Killmonger.

Sure it's fantasy, do is Star Wars that was also nominated for a Oscar. My personal pick would be either Black KKKlansman or the sanitized yet, superb Bohemian Rhapsody. 

Roma just didn't do it for me, but I loved Cuaron's brilliant use of cinematography. Greenbook was another worthy pick but I have a feeling that Roma will sweep.

Actress in a Leading Role

Yalitza Aparicio, Roma

Glenn Close, The Wife

Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born

Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Colman nailed it as a neurotic "Queen Bitch" in the Favourite but let's not count Gaga out. Didn't really care for another Star is Born remake however, her performance was quite good. 

The omission of Regina King from If Beale Street Could Talk, is disappointing but hey, dems the Oscars for ya! 

": I would go with Colman but the close call may go to Glenn Close.

Actor in a Leading Role

Christian Bale, Vice

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born

Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

Viggo Mortensen, Green Book

Never tell me the odds"!

This is a tight race, and while I may wish for Malek to win a second time for his portrayal of the late, great Freddie Mercury, the dark horse winner is Dafoe! 

Best Director

BlacKkKlansman

Spike Lee

Cold War

Paweł Pawlikowski

The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos

Roma

Alfonso Cuarón

Vice

Adam McKay

Spike unfortunately, will not win but at least he received a nomination for the excellence that was Black Kkklansman. Alfonso Cuaron is the likely choice.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Mahershala Ali, Green Book

Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman

Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born

Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Sam Rockwell, Vice

Its a tie between Driver and Ali, but Ali will win out!

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams, Vice

Marina de Tavira, Roma

Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Emma Stone, The Favourite

Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Turn to Stone"!

Emma deserves a win for Teh Favourite hands down. However, it would be also great if Regina King won. 

Adapted Screenplay

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

BlacKkKlansman

Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty

If Beale Street Could Talk

Written for the screen by Barry Jenkins

A Star Is Born

Screenplay by Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters

Original Screenplay

The Favourite

Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara

First Reformed

Written by Paul Schrader

Green Book

Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly

Roma

Written by Alfonso Cuarón

Vice

Written by Adam McKay

Cinematography

Cold War

Łukasz Żal

The Favourite

Robbie Ryan

Never Look Away

Caleb Deschanel

Roma

Alfonso Cuarón

A Star Is Born

Matthew Libatique

Roma is a no brainer because again, Cuaron is an amazing cinematographer!!

Production Design

Black Panther

Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart

The Favourite

Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton

First Man

Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas

Mary Poppins Returns

Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim

Roma

Production Design: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Bárbara Enríquez

A big budgeted Superhero movie  vs  a few period pieces! Tough call!

Costume Design

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Mary Zophres

Black Panther

Ruth Carter

The Favourite

Sandy Powell

Mary Poppins Returns

Sandy Powell

Mary Queen of Scots

Alexandra Byrne

Black Panther should win for its original Afrofuturism based costume

designs, but again, period films like Queen of Scots and The Favourite may win instead.

Film Editing

BlacKkKlansman

Barry Alexander Brown

Bohemian Rhapsody

John Ottman

The Favourite

Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Green Book

Patrick J. Don Vito

Vice

Hank Corwin

Foreign Language Film

Capernaum (Lebanon)

Cold War (Poland)

Never Look Away (Germany)

Roma (Mexico)

Shoplifters (Japan)

Well, at least Roma has a definate shut in for that category.

Documentary Feature

Free Solo

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill

Hale County This Morning, This Evening

RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim

Minding the Gap

Bing Liu and Diane Quon

Of Fathers and Sons

Talal Derki, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert

RBG

Betsy West and Julie Cohen

Documentary Short Subject

Black Sheep

End Game

Lifeboat

A Night at the Garden

Period. End Of Sentence

Animated Feature Film

Incredibles 2

Brad Bird, John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle

Isle of Dogs

Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson

Mirai

Mamoru Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Animated Short Film

Animal Behaviour

Alison Snowden and David Fine

Bao

Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb

Late Afternoon

Louise Bagnall and Nuria González Blanco

One Small Step

Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas

Weekends

Trevor Jimenez

Live Action Short Film

Detainment

Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon

Fauve

Jeremy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon

Marguerite

Marianne Farley and Marie-Hélène Panisset

Mother

Rodrigo Sorogoyen and María del Puy Alvarado

Skin

Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman

Original Score

Black Panther

Ludwig Goransson

BlacKkKlansman

Terence Blanchard

If Beale Street Could Talk

Nicholas Britell

Isle of Dogs

Alexandre Desplat

Mary Poppins Returns

Marc Shaiman

Original Song

“All The Stars” from Black Panther

Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith; Lyric by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solana Rowe

“I’ll Fight” from RBG

Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns

Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyric by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman

“Shallow” from A Star Is Born

Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt

“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Music and Lyric by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch

It has to be "All the Stars"!

Visual Effects

Avengers: Infinity War

Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick

Christopher Robin

Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould

First Man

Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm

Ready Player One

Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy

Earth's Mightiest Heroes in spaaaacce" should win, but my spider sense predicts Ready Playa One!

Makeup and Hairstyling

Border

Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer

Mary Queen of Scots

Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks

Vice

Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia DeHaney

"Vice, Vice Baby"!

C'mon, when you factor in heavy facial prosthetics in order to resemble the vile monster that is Dickhead Cheney, Vice should be an easy win!

Sound Editing

Black Panther

Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker

Bohemian Rhapsody

John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone

First Man

Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan

A Quiet Place

Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl

Roma

Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay

"The Sounds of Silence"!

Its tricky but A Quiet Place will make some noise!!

Sound Mixing

Black Panther

Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin

Bohemian Rhapsody

Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali

First Man

Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis

Roma

Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio García

A Star Is Born

Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow

"Now, hear this"!

Bohemian Rhapsody might win but First Man will likely grab the gold.

Any predictions or comments, drop em while you got 'em!

Stalks, out!