My 2019 Oscar Picks
I've already given you the list of my 10 favorite films released in 2018. Now I'm going to go one step further and pick my personal favorites for each category in the 2019 Academy Awards. This is not my attempt at predicting which films The Academy will actually reward. Instead, if the Oscars were completely up to me, this is how they would shake out. Nominees which appear in bold are my choice for the winner of that category. If a category has an asterisk next to it, that means that I saw an admittedly low number of the films in that category. In such situations, I fill out the nominations based upon the films that have previously been nominated in the various critics awards that have already taken place. However, if there is no asterisk next to the category, that means I have personally seen each nominee as well as others that would compete in that category. In all categories, nominees appearing in bold (my picks for winners) represent films that I have personally seen.
Best Original Song
“Shallow” - A Star is Born
”The Big Unknown” - Widows
”Always Remember Us This Way” - A Star is Born
”Hearts Beat Loud” - Hearts Beat Loud
”When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Best Animated Feature*
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Isle of Dogs
Incredibles 2
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Mirai
Best Foreign Language Film*
Roma
Cold War
Shoplifters
Burning
Capernaum
Best Documentary Feature*
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
RBG
Free Solo
Minding the Gap
Best Animated Short*
Late Afternoon
Age of Sail
Bao
Bilby
Bird Karma
Best Documentary Short*
Zion
Lifeboat
Los Comandos
Black Sheep
End Game
Best Live Action Short*
Caroline
Fauve
Chuchotage
Mother
Icare
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Vice
Black Panther
Mary, Queen of Scots
Best Costume Design
The Favourite
Black Panther
If Beale Street Could Talk
Mary Poppins Returns
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Best Production Design
The Favourite
Annihilation
First Man
Roma
Mary Poppins Returns
Best Visual Effects
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Annihilation
Mary Poppins Returns
Ready Player One
Black Panther
Best Sound Mixing
A Quiet Place
First Man
Roma
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Annihilation
Best Sound Editing
First Man
A Quiet Place
Annihilation
Roma
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Original Score
If Beale Street Could Talk (Nicholas Britell)
Annihilation (Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow)
First Man (Justin Hurwitz)
Widows (Hans Zimmer)
BlacKkKlansman (Terence Blanchard)
Best Cinematography
Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
If Beale Street Could Talk (James Laxton)
First Reformed (Alexander Dynan)
Cold War (Lukasz Zal)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Bruno Delbonnel)
Best Film Editing
Roma
Cold War
Widows
First Reformed
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Best Adapted Screenplay
Annihilation - Alex Garland
BlacKkKlansman - Spike Lee, Kevin Willmott, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel
Widows - Steve McQueen, Gillian Flynn
Can You Ever Forgive Me? - Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty
If Beale Street Could Talk - Barry Jenkins
Best Original Screenplay
Private Life - Tamara Jenkins
First Reformed - Paul Schrader
Cold War - Pawel Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki, Piotr Borkowski
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - Joel and Ethan Coen
Roma - Alfonso Cuaron
Best Supporting Actor
Richard E. Grant - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Daniel Kaluuya - Widows
Sam Elliott - A Star is Born
Adam Driver - BlacKkKlansman
Michael B. Jordan - Black Panther
Best Supporting Actress
Elizabeth Debicki - Widows
Rachel Weisz - The Favourite
Amy Adams - Vice
Regina King - If Beale Street Could Talk
Kayli Carter - Private Life
Best Director
Pawel Pawlikowski - Cold War
Steve McQueen - Widows
Alfonso Cuaron - Roma
Tamara Jenkins - Private Life
Spike Lee - BlacKkKlansman
Best Actor
Ethan Hawke - First Reformed
Christian Bale - Vice
John David Washington - BlacKkKlansman
Bradley Cooper - A Star is Born
Ryan Gosling - First Man
Best Actress
Joanna Kulig - Cold War
Kathryn Hahn - Private Life
Viola Davis - Widows
Yalitza Aparicio - Roma
Melissa McCarthy - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Best Picture
Roma
Cold War
Widows
Annihilation
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Private Life
First Reformed
BlacKkKlansman
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Most Nominations
Roma - 10
Widows - 9
Cold War - 7
Annihilation - 7
BlacKkKlansman - 6
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - 5
Private Life - 5
First Reformed - 5
Can You Ever Forgive Me? - 5
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - 5
Most Wins
Roma - 4
Cold War - 2
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - 2
The Favourite - 2
Private Life - 1
Widows - 1
Annihilation - 1
First Reformed - 1
Can You Ever Forgive Me? - 1
First Man - 1
A Star is Born - 1
A Quiet Place - 1
Vice - 1
If Beale Street Could Talk - 1
Won’t You Be My Neighbor - 1
Zion - 1
Late Afternoon - 1
Caroline - 1
Honorable Mentions - Every year when the real Oscar nominations are announced, focus usually turns to those who were "snubbed." With any list of nominations like this, there will always be deserving artists that get left off. Even in these personal nominations, it's impossible for me to reward everyone who is deserving. I could do this for every category, but that might get a bit tedious. So, instead, below you will find a list of a few of the artists who very nearly made it on my nominations. I want to recognize them in some way, so consider this my list of honorable mentions.
Paul Schrader (First Reformed) - Best Director
Lady Gaga (A Star is Born) - Best Actress
Rob Hardy (Annihilation) - Best Cinematography
Olivia Colman (The Favourite) - Best Actress
Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara (The Favourite) - Best Original Screenplay
Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Kindergarten Teacher) - Best Actress
Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) - Best Actress
Vice - Best Film Editing
Linus Sandgren (First Man) - Best Cinematography
Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk) - Best Actor
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) - Best Director
Mahershala Ali (Green Book) - Best Supporting Actor
Black Panther - Best Adapted Screenplay
Paul Giamatti (Private Life) - Best Actor
First Man - Visual Effects
Zoe Kazan (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) - Best Supporting Actress
Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade) - Best Director
Eighth Grade - Original Screenplay
Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born) - Best Director
Yen Tan (1985) - Best Director
Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) - Best Director
Kiki Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk) - Best Actress
David Zellner, Nathan Zellner (Damsel) - Best Director
Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) - Best Actor
Mia Wasikowska (Damsel) - Best Actress
Corey Michael Smith (1985) - Best Actor
Private Life - Best Film Editing
Avengers: Infinity War - Best Visual Effects
This post was updated on February 15, 2019 to include nominations for Cold War after I saw it for the first time prior to the 2019 Academy Awards ceremony.