Roma and The Favourite lead the pack with 10 nominations each
Roma and The Favourite lead the pack with 10 nominations each

As Timothy mentioned in our Slog AM post, the nominations for the 2019 Academy Awards came in this morning—you can check the full list below. Let's discuss, shall we?

*Best Picture: Okay, so there are really no surprises here, except maybe Black Panther which is the first superhero movie to ever be nominated for this category. For the record, I'm putting all my hopes and dreams on Roma, leading with 10 nominations, to win because it's one of the best films of the millennium so far. It would also be the first foreign language film to win Best Picture. The Favourite, which also has 10 nominations, is a worthy contender, but knowing how much Hollywood loves basic feel-good racial dramas, there's a good chance that we'll see Peter Farrelly ambling up the steps to accept the award while we here at the Stranger offices let out a collective groan. We feel you, Chadwick, we feel you.


*Best Director: No women were nominated here which isn't really a surprise, but simply the norm. Spike Lee picks up his first nomination in this category which is a shame because BlacKkKlansman is truly an unwatchable film. Read Charles's take on the longest two hours spent watching a movie here. Also I've been hearing that Bradley Cooper was apparently "snubbed" for his direction in A Star Is Born, but did we watch the same film? Did you also notice the weird shift in perspective that occurred halfway through the film? The slow, uneven plotting? Do we still wanna stand behind Cooper as best director!? Pawel Pawlikowski was nominated for Cold War, which I haven't seen but heard was beautiful.

*Best Actress: Yalitza Aparicio! My heart! I was so happy to see her nominated. For someone who has never acted before she brought such a depth of emotion to Cleo in Roma. If there were any justice in this world, Aparicio would be a fucking superstar. She might be a long shot for the win, as I think Olivia Colman in The Favourite and Glenn Close in The Wife are the real main contenders in this one. Still crossing my fingers though.

*Best Original Screenplay: God, there were so many well written original films this year and I'm actually pretty excited to see which one will take this prize home. Paul Schrader's First Reformed was unlike anything I've seen in the past ten years. The story of a pastor of a small church, played by Ethan Hawke at his best, in upstate New York who begins to question his faith after meeting an environmental activist and his pregnant wife was hauntingly pessimistic and just plain good. Along with Roma, The Favourite, Vice, and Green Book (blech), this is the most interesting race of the year.

The Academy Awards will air on February 24th, 5:00pm PST on ABC.

Best Picture
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Roma
Green Book
Vice
A Star Is Born

Best Director
Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)
Adam McKay (Vice)
Alfonso CuarĂłn (Roma)
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)

Best Actress
Glenn Close (The Wife)
Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)
Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)
Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Best Actor
Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Willem Dafoe (At Eternity's Gate)
Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)
Christian Bale (Vice)
Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Best Supporting Actress
Emma Stone (The Favourite)
Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)
Amy Adams (Vice)
Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Marina De Tavira (Roma)

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Sam Rockwell (Vice)
Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born)
Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)
Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Best Original Screenplay
First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
Roma (Alfonso CuarĂłn)
Vice (Adam McKay)
The Favourite (Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara)
Green Book (Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga)

Best Adapted Screenplay
If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty)
A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters, and Eric Roth)
BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

Best Foreign Language Film
Shoplifters (Japan)
Roma (Mexico)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Capernaum (Lebanon)

Best Cinematography
Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
Cold War (Lukasz Zal)
Never Look Away (Caleb Deschanel)
The Favourite (Robbie Ryan)
A Star Is Born (Matty Libatique)

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

Best Original Song
Shallow (A Star Is Born)
All the Stars (Black Panther)
The Place Where Lost Things Go (Mary Poppins Returns)
When a Cowboy Trades his Spurs for Wings (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
I’ll Fight (RBG)

Best Animated Feature
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Incredibles 2
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Isle of Dogs
Mirai

Best Costume Design
Mary Queen of Scots (Alexandra Byrne)
Black Panther (Ruth E Carter)
Mary Poppins Returns (Sandy Powell)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Mary Zophres)
The Favourite (Sandy Powell)

Best Film Editing
Vice (Hank Corwin)
Bohemian Rhapsody (John Ottman)
The Favourite (Yorgos Mavropsaridis)
Green Book (Patrick J Don Vito)
BlacKkKlansman (Barry Alexander Brown)

Best Production Design
The Favourite (Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton)
First Man (Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas)
Black Panther (Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart)
Roma (Eugenio Caballero and Barbara Enriquez)
Mary Poppins Returns (John Myhre and Gordon Sim)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Border
Mary Queen of Scots
Vice

Best Sound Editing
First Man
Roma
A Quiet Place
Bohemian Rhapsody
Black Panther

Best Sound Mixing
A Star Is Born
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
Roma

Best Visual Effects
Avengers: Infinity War
First Man
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Christopher Robin

Best Animated Short
Bao
Animal Behaviour
Late Afternoon
One Small Step
Weekends

Best Documentary Short
A Night at the Garden
Period. End of Sentence.
Black Sheep
End Game
Lifeboat

Best Live Action Short
Marguerite
Mother
Skin
Detainment
Fauve