2019 Academy Awards (the lookback)

I never watch the Oscars. Like an NBA All-Star Game (which I also never watch), it sounds like it'll be fun to get a bunch of stars together but mostly its boring. My interest is in the movies themselves, which is why I would rather watch a movie than the Oscars. But I am curious to see what won, so looking back over the winners: Roma won more than I thought it would as did Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book, so those were the undercurrent films the Academy wanted to remember (I thought it would be Vice); and it was Green Book that snatched Best Picture rather than A Star is Born. I only got one of the four acting categories (and if I'd been watching, I probably would've switched back to Christian Bale after Bohemian Rhapsody took both the sound categories). A few of these I nailed, mostly I was wrong. Oh well.

Picture: Green Book
I dug Green Book and it is a worthy recipient. But I am surprised because I thought it was a little mainstream for the highbrows, a little cheesy for the masses, and the bit of negative criticism it received was right as the voting opened. But rather than a glum night, picking up Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor shows a deeper appreciation of this film than I thought was out there. I'm cool with this, Green Book was just outside my top ten (#12 actually), it was one of my more favorite movie going experiences this year, a surprisingly funny and resilient film. I suspected that something other than Roma, the odds-on favorites, would win (do you know how many foreign language films have won Best Picture? Not a lot), but if the Academy is going to reach for something (I thought they'd reach for A Star is Born), why not go with Bohemian Rhapsody? The amount of trophies it picked up is indicative of its underlying popularity, why not go ahead and give it the big prize? Instead, Green Book gives outsiders the chance to vent their frustrations on the perception of the film (that it is a milquetoast piece of feel-good fakery made by pseudo-right-wingers) rather than the actual film (which was actually quite enjoyable and in the end the most popular film within the Academy). This is a curiously Trump-y move by the Academy: the members get to burnish their politically correct bonafides while thumbing their nose at those that would question their choices. (Also, I haven't heard anyone say what they would've preferred instead of Green Book, I don't hear anyone say that Roma got robbed or Black Panther or Vice or Bohemian Rhapsody, just that Green Book is unacceptable)

Actor: Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
I got this one right. Freddie Mercury is beloved, man, and by all accounts Malek nailed his look and passion, which are not easy to do. Four of the five nominees were from biopics (and Bradley Cooper was playing the 4th version of his character), so the popularity of the subject was destined to make a huge difference.

Actress: Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
I loved The Favourite (#3 in my top ten) and Colman is great in it. An interesting detail of the ensemble: any one of Colman, Emma Stone or Rachel Weisz could've been considered the lead with the other two being supporting. Colman was great (as were Weisz and Stone), I'm all in on this choice, but I am surprised they passed on Glenn Close.

Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Another good choice. I thought he was a co-lead rather than a supporting, but the other relative nominees determine the categorization. Ali and Viggo made for a great pair and I thought the most laudable quality of the screenwriting was its ability to push the two together, then pull apart and back together with relative ease. The tension between the two never boiled over but it never went away and that push-and-pull is hard to pull off in the screenwriting and the chemistry of the actors. A little surprised they gave Ali his second Oscar in three years, thought this would go to one of the old-timers, but not a bad choice.

Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
I'm okay with King here, she was good--indeed, I wanted more of her in the movie because what was there was only a hint of the family dynamic. I didn't dislike the performance but I would not have put her ahead of Amy Adams (thought she'd be part of the Vice onslaught) or the pair from The Favourite (a little surprised Colman won when neither of the supporters did).

Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Roma )
An excellent choice, Cuaron is truly one of the best in the game these days, good to see him getting the recognition. I thought Roma would be a bit of a disappointment on Oscar night but it did well.

Original Screenplay: Green Book (Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly)
I thought it was a good choice. The dialogue and the machinations are well-constructed, they give the actors and the director good stuff to work with. I'm pleased to see this was a little more well-regarded than I realized.

Adapted Screenplay: BlackKklansman (Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmot, Spike Lee)
Meh. I'm not surprised this won but I don't think it's a good choice. If they just wanted to throw Spike an Oscar, I thought giving one to Terence Blanchard's score made more sense. In the wake of complaints that Green Book didn't deserve its awards, I would point out that this was a career award for Spike, not an acknowledgment that this was the best screenplay of the year...because it was not...not by a long shot...not in the top twenty....not at all worthy of this honor on its own. But congratulations, Spike.

Cinematography: Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
Badass, man. To win Best Director and Best Cinematographer in the same year is baller. He deserved them both and especially this one. I'm a sucker for that sharp black and white and he does it well here.

Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody (John Ottman)
Ottman is also a composer making him the perfect choice to cut a music movie. I haven't seen this movie but this--rather than Vice--was the big winner tonight.

Production Design: Black Panther (Hannah Bechler, Jay Hart)
Okay, this doesn't strike me as the best candidate among the nominees, but it was a fine-looking film, a big hit and very easy on the eyes, so not a controversial choice.

Visual Effects: First Man (Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, JD Schwam)
I got this one right. The action scenes of First Man are really marvelous, they have a style and feel that is quite unlike the action hero stuff we've been getting pounded with for the last decade. Everything here heightens tension in its editing, sound design and general visual look, and though the film was not bad, ultimately underrated (#13 for me), the way the action scenes mix with the period piece family stuff is a marvelous juxtaposition and that begins on the set. This was my first choice anyway, I'm glad to see the Academy agreed.

Costumes: Black Panther (Ruth E. Carter)
I had this one (though I thought I was picking an underdog). I watched this again recently and I was really struck by the sheer variety of styles and utilities of the costumes themselves and multiplicity of looks the actresses in particular got to show off. Superhero movies tend toward tights and capes but this one had a much wider palette making it a good choice.

Hair/Makeup: Vice 
Yeah, the first step to Bale's transformation is in the hair and makeup, to perfect his look and to age him in character is really marvelous stuff. I had this one but this was just a toss-up (I could've said the same things about Mary Queen of Scots, where the two lead actresses have a lot of different looks and lighting schemes to work with).

Score: Black Panther (Ludwig Gorranson)
Uh...okay. I had this firmly in 5th place of the nominees. Not sure how you skip over a Terence Blanchard, a Wes Anderson, a Marc Shaiman musical starring Lin-Manuel Miranda and the sublime brilliance of If Beale Street Could Talk. I'm not down with this one, the Academy had a ton of better choices, not sure where this came from.

Song: A Star is Born ("Shallow")
Good song from a good musical-ish film, good performance from the non-actress lead, this was the clear choice. (But, again, I still can't get over how reviled A Star is Born was this season, I guess it just got swamped by Bohemian Rhapsody)

Sound Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody
Sound Mixing: Bohemian Rhapsody
Yeah, you knew it was on when this took both the sound categories. A Quiet Place and First Man were both overwhelming accomplishments of sound design but people vote for the movies they like and they liked this. The effect of splitting sound into two categories instead one is it allows for juggernauts to suddenly take over the show; Bohemian Rhapsody didn't exactly take over the night but the fans were given plenty to cheer for in a way that First Man, Vice and A Star is Born ended up not getting.

Doc: Free Solo
Little surprised RBG didn't win, though this looked like a fairly strong collection of choices. I'm not deep into this season's docs so I hesitate to discern the deeper motives of the Academy here.

Foreign: Roma 
Excellent choice. My favorite film this year was a foreign film (the Brazilian film, Zama) but this was #4 in my top ten and as lovely-to-look-at as any film I saw all year. I thought it was a strong enough Best Picture candidate that it might split votes and lose this one--and I am a little surprised the Academy showed good love to Cold War and then didn't choose it for Best Foreign, it is a sexier, livelier, and almost as visually lovely film.

Animated: Spider Man Into the Spider Verse
Excellent choice. I am not a comic book guy nor am I a superhero guy, so I was not the ideal audience for a multiple Spider-Man adventure. All the more impressive then that I really did like it (#14) and appreciated the technical heights they reached (when I was actually pretty skeptical of that as self-congratulating puffery going in), it was ambitious and creative in a way that most superhero movies are not and really stood out from the other nominees.

To recap my picks: I was correct on Actor, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Costumes, Hair/Makeup, Song and Animated. I was totally wrong on my thought that Vice would be the surprise hit of the night, more or less missed on my thought that Roma would mostly strike out and I did not see the groundswell for Bohemian Rhapsody (though I don't see how it could've been the best choice in the sound categories). The only truly egregious award in my opinion is Best Score for Black Panther (though let me repeat: BlackKklansamn was absolutely not the best screenplay of the year). I had some okay moments here, but 7 out of 21 is not a particularly good job of reading the Academy this year. Oh well.