2021 Film Awards

 

Top 15 Films of 2021:

1. Worst Person in the World

2. Pig

3. C'mon C'mon

4. Parallel Mothers

5. Annette

6. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

7.West Side Story

8. Shiva Baby

9. Malignant

10. Red Rocket

11. Summer of 85

12. Dune

13. Drive My Car

14. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

15. Coda

Oscars Tomorrow

 God, this Oscars season has felt like a decade! Of course that is true of the last year in general. I'm rooting for Chloé Zhao tomorrow and so happy for her to get this moment. 

I'm most excited for Best Actress which could go in any number of ways. I'm predicting Viola Davis will win with the support of SAG behind her, but really hoping Carey Mulligan gets an Oscar that she has deserved many times over. McDormand gave my favorite performance of the year so I'll be very happy if she can pull it off too. 

My 2020 Film Awards

 

(The Forty Year Old Version - Radha Blank

 Straight Up - James Sweeney

Shirley - Josephine Decker

Rocks - Sarah Gavron)

For having a big chunk of films moved from 2020 to 2021, we really ended up with a great slate of films. There were a bunch of great films that went mostly under the radar, meanwhile I find the films circulating around the Oscars to be a mostly good but lukewarm group. I'm not sure why I'm saddened by this fact since it happens every single year, but it is what it is. Those four films I listed above were just outside of the top ten, but I loved them all and wanted to highlight them. For the last ten years or so I've done my own personal awards for directing, acting, writing, etc. I'm just sort of burned out of the whole awards season thing, so I won't be doing a full ballot, but here is my top 10 of the year.

My Top 10 Films of 2020: 

1. Nomadland (Director - Chloé Zhao)

2. The Kid Detective (Director - Evan Morgan)

3. First Cow (Director - Kelly Reichardt)

4. And Then We Danced (Director - Levan Akin)

5. Promising Young Woman (Director - Emerald Fennell)

6. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Director - Eliza Hittman)

7. Spontaneous (Director - Brian Duffield)

8. Get Duked! (Director - Ninian Doff)

9. Sound of Metal (Director - Darius Marder)

10. Dating Amber (Director - David Freyne)

The Whale

 News broke yesterday that Brendan Fraser has been cast in Darren Aronofsky's next film. I've long been a fan of Brendan Fraser, I think it was all the times we had to watch George of the Jungle in the afterschool program I was in. 

He's playing a 600 pound man which sounds quite interesting. I'm struggling to imagine how they will even do it, but I'm excited for it. Aronofsky is one of my favorite directors. The Wrestler and Black Swan are both my choices for Best Picture of their respective years and I nominate both mother! and Requiem for a Dream as well. 

I'm excited to see whom gets cast alongside Fraser. Aronofsky always gets the best out of his performers. Ellen Burstyn, Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Natalie Portman all are my winners for acting awards for their performances in his films. I also nominate Jennifer Lawrence and Mila Kunis. I imagine Fraser will be in contention for my Best Actor prize for this performance.

Oscar Predictions - September 1st

 

 Usually I do monthly predictions for the upcoming Academy Awards, but this has been such a strange year that it hasn't really felt right to do them. Honestly, I'm not sure what films are even going to be released in time and what's going to be delayed until 2021. 

It feels like Netflix is set to dominate this upcoming season and I guess that would be fitting for a pandemic? However the Academy has been resistant to Netflix winning Best Picture, but maybe they will reward them for keeping the industry alive during this year? Anyway I wanted to do some predictions, but it's impossible. I have no idea what's coming out other than Netflix. 

When  we get closer, I'll try to actually do these. However all I know is that it's going to feel so wrong if Glenn Close finally wins an Oscar and she has to accept it over Zoom???????

Wow...

 

Finally watched Certain Women, can everyone cast Lily Gladstone in their films please????? What a performance!

Top Films of 2016

Top 10 Films of 2016:
1. Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)
2. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
3. La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
4. Elle (Paul Verhoeven)
5. Other People (Chris Kelly)
6. American Honey (Andrea Arnold)
7. The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig)
8. The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn)
9. Jackie (Pablo Larraín)
10. Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)

Top Films of 2017

Top 10 Films of 2017:
1. Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)
2. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)
3. God's Own Country (Francis Lee)
4. mother! (Darren Aronofsky)
5. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
6. Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve)
7. Get Out (Jordan Peele)
8. Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan)
9. Brad's Status (Mike White)
10. Detroit (Kathryn Bigelow)

Top Films of 2018

Top Films of 2018:
1. Hereditary (Ari Aster)
2. Minding the Gap (Bing Liu)
3. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
4. BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee)
5. Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham)
6. Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Rodney Rothman, Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti)
8. Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino)
9. If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)
10. Mid90s (Jonah Hill)

Top 10 Films of 2019

Top 10 Films of 2019:
1. Little Women (Greta Gerwig)
2. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
3. The Irishman (Martin Scorsese)
4. Climax (Gaspar Noé)
5. Greener Grass (Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe)
6. 1917 (Sam Mendes)
7. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
8. Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)
9. Midsommar (Ari Aster)
10. Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)

Quarantine Watches

Well today marks three weeks since I've had to go into work so I've been watching quite a few things during my time off.

These are the films I watched for the first time:

(By order of release)
Freaks
Bringing Up Baby
His Girl Friday
Citizen Kane
Rashomon
81/2
The Honeymoon Killers
Badlands
The Wicker Man
A Fish Called Wanda
The Bridges of Madison County
The First Wives Club
10 Thing I Hate About You
Moulin Rouge!
Ghost World
Kill Bill Vol. 2
The Squid and the Whale
The Kitchen
Onward

Things I rewatched:
The Perks of Being A Wallflower
The Hateful Eight

Elisabeth Moss

I just watched The Invisible Man and Elisabeth Moss is again fantastic. What more does she have to do to get her due?!!!!! She's always great and I think people just take her for granted.

BEST OF THE DECADE AWARDS - 2010 - 2019

Here are my selections for the best films of the 2010's. For me personally it was a phenomenal decade and was hard to narrow down the choices.

WINNERS IN BOLD

Best Picture
Arrival
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Call Me By Your Name
Frances Ha
A Separation
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Xavier Dolan, Mommy
Greta Gerwig, Little Women
Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Actress
Amy Adams, Arrival
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Toni Collette, Hereditary
Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
Anna Paquin, Margaret
Suzanne Clément, Laurence Anyways

Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Logan Lerman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Joaquin Phoenix, Her

Best Supporting Actress
Hong Chau, Downsizing
Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Lesley Manville, Another Year
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Molly Shannon, Other People
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor
Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
James Franco, Spring Breakers
Garrett Hedlund, On the Road
Dwight Henry, Beasts of  the Southern Wild
Ben Whishaw, Cloud Atlas
Steven Yeun, Burning

Year In Advance Predictions...predicting next year's Oscar nominations.

(Frances McDormand in Chloé Zhao's Nomadland)

A whole whopping 30 hours or so have passed since the 2019 Oscar nominations were announced and so obviously it's time to move on to next year. Last year I went about .500 with my predictions so it will be interesting to see how this coming year unfolds because there seems to be a lot less obvious picks.

Predicted winner in BOLD.

Best Picture

Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)

Dune (Denis Villenueve)

The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)

In The Heights (Jon Chu)

Mank (David Fincher)

Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi)

Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)

Tenet (Christopher Nolan)

West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)

Best Director

Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch

Jon Chu, In The Heights

David Fincher, Mank

Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods

Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Actor

Tom Hanks, News of the World

Gary Oldman, Mank

Joaquin Phoenix, C'mon, C'mon

Denzel Washington, Macbeth

Steven Yeun, Minari

Best Actress

Ana de Armas, Blonde

Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy

Jennifer Hudson, Respect

Jennifer Lawrence, Untitled Lila Neugebauer Project

Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Best Supporting Actor

Timothée Chalamet, The French Dispatch

Brian Tyree Henry, Untitled Lila Neugebauer Project

Richard Jenkins, The Humans

Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods

LaKeith Stanfield, Jesus Was My Homeboy

Best Supporting Actress

Toni Collette, I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Gaby Hoffmann, C'mon, C'mon

Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans

Olga Merediz, In The Heights

Marisa Tomei, Untitled Judd Apatow Project

2019 Film Awards

This morning the nominations for the Academy Awards were announced. This event always brings along excitement, mourning, annoyance and a little happiness. Anyway what it really means is that it is time for me to announce MY choices for the best of film for 2019. 

Overall, I found 2019 to be a tremendous year for film. After a disappointing 2018 perhaps I was desperate for a good year, but no matter what the reason I gave seventeen different films a five-star rating. In 2018 I gave two films that same rating. With that in mind, I found it extremely difficult to narrow each category to six nominees. Best Picture, Director and Actress were the hardest to decide upon, but I think I've finally collected a solid set of nominees. Without anymore blah, blah, blah from me, here are my nominees and winners for the best in film for 2019. Please enjoy the third grade images! 

*NOTE that Frankie and Portrait of a Lady on Fire was not yet available to me. When I'm able to see it, I will edit these awards if applicable.

**WINNERS ARE IN BOLD

BEST PICTURE

Climax 

Greener Grass

The Irishman

Little Women

1917

Parasite

BEST DIRECTOR

***Category changed after seeing Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe, Greener Grass

Greta Gerwig, Little Women

Marielle Heller, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Bong Joon-ho, Parasite

Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Martin Scorsese, The Irishman

BEST ACTRESS

Jillian Bell, Brittany Runs a Marathon

Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose

Elisabeth Moss, Her Smell

Lupita Nyong'o, Us

Florence Pugh, Midsommar

Saoirse Ronan, Little Women

BEST ACTOR

Antonio Banderas, Pain & Glory

Robert De Niro, The Irishman

Adam Driver, Marriage Story

Taron Egerton, Rocketman

Kelvin Harrison Jr., Luce

Brad Pitt, Ad Astra

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

*** Category changed after seeing Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Laura Dern, Little Women

Adèle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers

Florence Pugh, Little Women

Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell

Marisa Tomei, Frankie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jamie Bell, Rocketman

Timothée Chalamet, Little Women

Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse

Skyler Gisondo, Booksmart

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Joe Pesci, The Irishman

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Booksmart (Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, Katie Silberman)

The Farewell (Lulu Wang)

Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)

Pain & Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)

Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, Han Jin-won)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Noah Harpster, Micah Fitzerman-Blue)

Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria)

The Irishman (Steve Zaillian)

Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi)

Little Women (Greta Gerwig)

Toy Story 4 (Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Escape Room

Greener Grass

1917

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

Parasite

BEST SCORE

A Hidden Life

Joker

The Lighthouse

Little Women

Parasite

Us 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Climax

The Lighthouse

Little Women

Midsommar

1917

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

BEST EDITING

Ford V Ferrari

The Irishman

Little Women

Parasite

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Uncut Gems

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Glasgow" from Wild Rose

"I'm Gonna Love Me Again" from Rocketman

"I Punched Keanu Reeves" from Always Be My Maybe

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Echo in the Canyon

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins

Films with multiple nominations:

10 - Little Women

6 - The Irishman, Parasite

5 - Portrait of a Lady on Fire

4 - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

3 - Greener Grass, The Lighthouse, 1917, Rocketman

2 - Booksmart, Climax, The Farewell, Hustlers, Pain & Glory, Midsommar, Us, Wild Rose, Marriage Story

Films with wins:

Little Women - 3 (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay)

The Irishman - 2 (Supporting Actor, Editing)

Parasite - 2 (Original Screenplay, Production Design)

Us - 2 (Actress, Score)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire - 1 (Supporting Actress)

Marriage Story - 1 (Actor)

1917 - 1 (Cinematography)

Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins - 1 (Documentary)

Wild Rose - 1 (Original Song)

Oscar Predictions - On the Eve of the Golden Globes nominations.

          Wow, this year went quickly didn't it? Tomorrow brings us the nominations for the Golden Globes. The Golden Globes of course are picked by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and act as a huge precursor for the Academy Awards.

Since the race will be a little clearer after tomorrow I thought I'd take a quick jab at the acting Oscars since the Screen Actors Guild will be announcing their picks later in the week as well.

Predictions for the acting categories at the 2020 Academy Awards:

Best Actor:
Antonio Banderas, Pain & Glory
Robert De Niro, The Irishman
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Best Actress:
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Lupita Nyong'o, Us
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Renee Zellweger, Judy

Best Supporting Actor:
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Brad Pitt, Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood
John Lithgow, Bombshell

Best Supporting Actress:
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell
Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell

2020 Oscar Predictions - June 1st (Post Cannes)

The Cannes film festival wrapped up recently which means we are about halfway to the Oscars. I figured I'd do a quick update on my Oscar predictions since it's still so early. The main Oscar news out of Cannes was that Brad Pitt is a huge contender for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Antonio Banderas could contend for Pain & Glory. Tarantino was already my predicted winner before Cannes and I still think that is happening.


I'm going with the assumption that Nomadland, Wendy and The French Dispatch are all going to come out next year. Otherwise these would look quite different.

Best Picture:
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Little Women
The Irishman
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
The Report
Harriet
Jojo Rabbit
Rocketman
The Farewell

Best Director:
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Greta Gerwig, Little Women
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Marielle Heller, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit

Best Actress:
1. Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
2. Awkwafina, The Farewell
3. Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Downhill
5. Charlize Theron, Fair & Balanced

Best Actor:
1. Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2. Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
3. Antonio Banderas, Pain & Glory
4. Taron Egerton, Rocketman
5. Robert De Niro, The Irishman

Best Supporting Actress:
1. Laura Dern, Untitled Noah Baumbach Project
2. Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
3. Margot Robbie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4. Florence Pugh, Little Women
5. Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit

Best Supporting Actor:
1. Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
2. Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse
3. Al Pacino, The Irishman
4. Joe Pesci, The Irishman
5. John Lithgow, Fair & Balanced

Early Predictions for 2019 Oscars (February 2020 is so close!)

The smoke has just barely cleared from the 91st annual Academy Awards so of course we have to move on to the next one already. The next ceremony is about three weeks earlier next year which means late breaking films will have less time than usual to enter into the race. Usually a couple films every year are still filming late into spring and are able to make it in just under the wire. However that just seems a lot less likely with the nominations moving up next year. That will likely push several 2019 films into the next year. Even with this development 2019 looks stacked on paper with many big directors releasing their latest offerings. Jordan Peele's Us starts us off in just a couple weeks. Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodóvar, and Steven Soderbergh all are prior Oscar winners releasing in this calendar year. Greta Gerwig releases her sophomore film Little Women, and we have potential new releases from Chloe Zhao, Benh Zeitlin, Todd Haynes and Wes Anderson.

It will be fun to see a year from now which films end up pulling ahead, but for now my gut is saying they finally reward Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He has never won the directing prize and there is nothing the Academy loves more than films about Hollywood.

For these predictions I am not including Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch or Benh Zeitlin's Wendy until we have confirmation that they will be released this year.

March Predictions (Predicted winners in BOLD)

Best Picture
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The Irishman
Little Women
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Jojo Rabbit
The Report
Pain and Glory
Rocketman
Us
Nomadland

Other Contenders:
The Last Thing He Wanted
The Laundromat
Dry Run
Knives Out
The King
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Harriet
Cats
Queen & Slim

Best Director
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Greta Gerwig, Little Women
Marielle Heller, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Pedro Almodóvar, Pain and Glory

Other Contenders:
Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit
Todd Haynes, Dry Run
Steven Soderbergh, The Laundromat
Jordan Peele, Us
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Best Actress
Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Amy Adams, The Woman in the Window
Lupita Nyong'o, Us

Other Contenders:
Awkwafina, The Farewell
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Downhill (I will predict her if it is a 2019 release.)
Julianne Moore, Gloria Bell
Kristen Stewart, Against All Enemies
Charlize Theron, Fair & Balanced

Best Actor 
Robert De Niro, The Irishman
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Taron Egerton, Rocketman
Mark Ruffalo, Dry Run
Michael B. Jordan, Just Mercy

Other Contenders:
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, The Report
Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems
Timothée Chalamet, The King
Matthew Rhys, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Will Ferrell, Downhill
Edward Norton, Motherless Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern, Little Women
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Meryl Streep, The Laundromat
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey

Other Contenders:
Scarlett Johannson, Jojo Rabbit
Penelope Cruz, Pain and Glory
Jennifer Hudson, Cats
Meryl Streep, Little Women
Emma Thompson, Late Night
Janelle Monae, Harriet
Bryce Dallas Howard, Rocketman
Anna Paquin, The Irishman
Anne Hathaway, Dry Run
Toni Collette, Knives Out
Jamie Lee Curtis, Knives Out
Emma Watson, Little Women

Best Supporting Actor
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Jamie Bell, Rocketman
Timothy Olyphant, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Other Contenders:
Willem Dafoe, The Last Thing He Wanted
Timothée Chalamet, Little Women
Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit
Richard Madden, Rocketman
John Lithgow, Fair & Balanced
Robert Pattinson, The King

Predicted Winners:
Picture: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Director: Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Actress: Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Actor: Robert De Niro, The Irishman
Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Little Women
Supporting Actor: Al Pacino, The Irishman
Original Screenplay: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adapted Screenplay: Little Women

My Film Awards for 2018

Another year has bit the dust and so it's time for my annual awards for the best in film. 2018 was a strange year in that it only delivered two five-star film in my ratings, but from top to bottom it was a strong year. Very few films really bombed for me (The Mule being the big one) and I even found many films to be unfairly maligned. The year before delivered seven five-star films. However things quickly fell off after those seven films so it was nice to have a good balance of solid films throughout the year. 

 Lead Actress was the toughest category like usual. I had originally made this post with Glenn Close making it in for The Wife, but couldn't hit submit without including Lady Gaga for her role as Ally in A Star is Born. Gaga replaced Close at the last second, but Close is likely winning the Oscar for her great turn and it will be well earned. Elsie Fisher, Melissa McCarthy and Helena Howard were also very close to making the list. I had already claimed Toni Collette as my favorite working actress prior to this year, but her career-best turn in Hereditary even blew away my expectations. The dinner scene should be shown in acting classes for years to come. 

Unlike the Oscars my Lead Actor category is full of performances from the younger crowd. Strange to think of Ryan Gosling as the third oldest nominee in a category. Bradley Cooper's growling rock star and Ethan Hawke's idealistic minister both put up a strong fight, but Charlie Plummer's performance as a young man dealing with loss was my choice for the best of the year. Lucas Hedges earned his third straight nomination but his first in lead for his turn in Boy Erased.

Timmy Chalamet wins his second acting award in as many years. Last year he won my Best Actor award for his all-time great performance in Call Me By Your Name and followed it up this year with his fantastic supporting turn as a young man dealing with addiction in Beautiful Boy. I have a feeling at age 23 this won't be the last acting award that I give to him. He's quickly proving to be one of cinema's best talents. 

Supporting Actress went to Emma Stone for her turn as the class climbing Abigail in The Favourite. I had trouble deciding if she was lead or supporting (along with Weisz and Colman from the same film and Erivo as well.) Ultimately went along with where the studio campaigned her which was supporting to Olivia Colman's Queen Anne. This is Stone's first win after four nominations. 

Best Director was another hard category this year as I found many strong choices without a clear cut set of nominees. Paul Schrader, Barry Jenkins, Yorgos Lanthimos and Lee Chang-dong were all strong choices that I had to leave just on the outside. Ultimately I went with Spike Lee for BlackkKlansman.

Original Screenplay was the single greatest challenge in deciding between The Favourite, First Reformed and Eighth Grade. Adapted was much easier as BlackkKlansman was the winner for me there with Can You Ever Forgive Me? a close second.

Anyway enough of my rambling, here are my awards for the best films of 2018. Winners are in BOLD and are also listed at the end.

Thanks for reading and I hope this list might inspire you to see a film or two that you may have avoided otherwise. 

Best Picture

BlackkKlansman

Burning

Eighth Grade

The Favourite

Hereditary

Minding the Gap

Best Actress

Toni Collette, Hereditary

Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born

Regina Hall, Support the Girls

Carey Mulligan, Wildlife

Charlize Theron, Tully

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

Ryan Gosling, First Man

Ethan Hawke, First Reformed

Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased

Charlie Plummer, Lean on Pete

Nick Robinson, Love, Simon

Best Supporting Actress

Cynthia Erivo, Bad Times at the El Royale

Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Blake Lively, A Simple Favor

Rachel McAdams, Disobedience

Emma Stone, The Favourite

Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Best Supporting Actor

Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy

Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Brian Tyree Henry, If Beale Street Could Talk

Na-kel Smith, Mid90s

Alex Wolff, Hereditary

Steven Yeun, Burning

Best Director

Ari Aster, Hereditary

Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade

Josephine Decker, Madeline's Madeline

Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk

Spike Lee, BlackkKlansman 

Chloé Zhao, The Rider

Best Score

Black Panther

First Man

If Beale Street Could Talk

Isle of Dogs

Madeline's Madeline

Suspiria

Best Original Screenplay

Eighth Grade

The Favourite

First Reformed

Hereditary

Sorry To Bother You

Tully

Best Adapted Screenplay

BlackkKlansman

Burning

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

If Beale Street Could Talk

The Tale

Widows

Best Editing

The Favourite

If Beale Street Could Talk

Minding The Gap

The Other Side of the Wind

Roma

Suspiria

Best Cinematography

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

If Beale Street Could Talk

Madeline's Madeline

Minding the Gap

The Rider

Roma

Production Design

Black Panther

The Favourite

If Beale Street Could Talk

Paddington 2

Roma

Suspiria

Best Original Song

"Alfie's Song (Not So Typical Love Song)" (Bleachers) 

from

Love, Simon

"All The Stars" (Kendrick Lamar & Sza)

from Black Panther

"Always Remember Us This Way" (Lady Gaga)

from A Star is Born

"Revelation" (Troye Sivan & Jonsi)

from Boy Erased

"Shallow" (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper)

from A Star is Born

"Suspirium" (Thom Yorke) 

from Suspiria

List of Winners:

Best Picture: Hereditary

Best Director: Spike Lee, BlackkKlansman

Best Actress: Toni Collette, Hereditary

Best Actor: Charlie Plummer, Lean on Pete

Best Supporting Actress: Emma Stone, The Favourite

Best Supporting Actor: Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy

Best Original Screenplay: The Favourite

Best Adapted Screenplay: BlackkKlansman

Best Editing: The Other Side of the Wind

Best Cinematography: If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Production Design: If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Score: If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Original Song: "Always Remember Us This Way" from A Star is Born

Oscar Predictions - Nov 20 (critics awards are about to begin!)

(Roma)

NOVEMBER OSCAR PREDICTIONS

As we approach Thanksgiving, the critics are about to unleash their picks for the best in film for 2018. The critics can help clear up the race or make it murkier. Last year Laurie Metcalf, Timothee Chalamet and Willem Dafoe seemed to be the critics favorite, but when the televised awards came around Allison Janney, Gary Oldman and Sam Rockwell swept their categories. However the critics can help bring attention to an underseen or early in the year contender that can result in them making it to the party.

Next month at this time many organizations will have announced their winners and the Golden Globes and SAG will have announced their nominees, so the picture will be much clearer.

****I don't predict the tech categories until closer to showtime. ****

November Predictions: (October's Predictions in parenthesis)

Best Picture:

1. A Star is Born (1, =)

2. Roma (2, =)

3. Vice (7, +4)

4. The Favourite (4, =)

5. Black Panther (6, +1)

6. Green Book (3, -3)

7. BlackkKlansman (8, +1)

8. Widows (5, -3)

9. First Man (9, =)

Other Contenders:

Mary Poppins Returns

If Beale Street Could Talk

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Crazy Rich Asians

Best Director:

1. Alfonso Cuarón, Roma (1, =)

2. Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born (2, =)

3. Spike Lee, BlackkKlansman (3, =)

4. Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite (4,=)

5. Adam McKay, Vice (New)

Drop Outs:

Damien Chazelle, First Man (5)

Other Contenders:

Steve McQueen, Widows

Ryan Coogler, Black Panther

Best Actor:

1. Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born (1, =)

2. Christian Bale, Vice (2,=)
3. Viggo Mortensen, Green Book (3, =)
4. Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody (New)
5. Ryan Gosling, First Man (4, -1)

Drop Outs:
Ethan Hawke, First Reformed (5)

Other Contenders: 
Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns

Best Actress:
1. Olivia Colman, The Favourite (2, =1)
2. Lady Gaga, A Star is Born (1, -1)
3. Glenn Close, The Wife (3,=)
4. Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me? (5,+1)
5. Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns (New)

Drop Outs:
Viola Davis, Widows (4)

Other Contenders: 
Toni Collette, Hereditary
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Saoirse Ronan, Mary, Queen of Scots
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Mahershala Ali, Green Book (1, =)

2. Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? (4, +2)

3. Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy (3, =)

4. Sam Elliott, A Star is Born (2,-2)

5. Steve Carell, Vice (New)

Drop Outs:

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns (5)

Other Contenders:

Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther

Daniel Kaluuya, Widows

Sam Rockwell, Vice

Adam Driver, BlackkKlansman

Hugh Grant, Paddington 2

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Amy Adams, Vice (1,=)

2. Emma Stone, The Favourite (2,=)

3. Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk (3,=)

4. Rachel Weisz, The Favourite (4,=)

5. Meryl Streep, Mary Poppins Returns (New)

Drop Outs:

Claire Foy, First Man (5)

Other Contenders:

Nicole Kidman, Boy Erased

Linda Cardellini, Green Book

Elizabeth Debicki, Widows

Sissy Spacek, The Old Man & The Gun

Margot Robbie, Mary, Queen of Scots