The 91st Annual Academy Awards are tonight, and I have some notes.

Nominees are sorted in order, with the best of the year coming first. And since I was already doing what I want, there are ten best picture nominees and six for each following category.

(My own personal favorites may be different, but that’s an even more indulgent project.)

Enjoy the TOSCARS.

Best Picture
First Reformed
Roma
The Favourite
Shoplifters
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Cold War
The Rider
Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Annihilation
Support the Girls

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite
Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Shoplifters
Chloe Zhao, The Rider
Marielle Heller, Can You Ever Forgive Me
Paweł Pawlikowski, Cold War

Best Actress
Olivia Coleman, The Favourite
Sakura Ando, Shoplifters
Carey Mulligan, Wildlife
Regina Hall, Support the Girls
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Helena Howard, Madeline’s Madeline

Best Actor
Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Bradley Jandreau, The Rider
Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here
and Bradley Cooper, he really did a great job in A Star Is Born

And those were the only great leading man performances this year, so we’ll fill the rest of the slots with two more great female performances:
Joanna Kulig, Cold War
Rachel McAdams, Disobedience

Best Supporting Actress
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Elizabeth Debicki, Widows
Anne Hathaway, Ocean’s 8
Haley Lu Richardson, Support the Girls

Best Supporting Actor
Nicholas Hoult, The Favourite
Richard Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Armie Hammer, Sorry To Bother You
Daniel Kaluuja, Widows
Hugh Grant, Paddington 2
******* [This is my spot for Steven Yeun in Burning. Have I seen Burning? No not yet! So why is Steven Yeun here? Because critics I like liked him in this a lot, and I just bet I will too. To be continued once I actually see Burning.]

Best Screenplay
Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara, The Favourite
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Phil Lord & Rodney Rothman, Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Steve McQueen & Gillian Flynn, Widows
Boots Riley, Sorry To Bother You
Paul Schrader, First Reformed

Best Cinematography
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
James Laxton, If Beale Street Could Talk
Robbie Ryan, The Favourite
Łukasz Żal, Cold War
Alexander Dynan, First Reformed
Ashley Connor, Madeline’s Madeline

Best Editing
Joe Bini, You Were Never Really Here
Jaroslaw Kaminski, Cold War
Yorgos Mavropsaridis, The Favourite
Ben Rodriguez Jr., First Reformed
Sandi Tan, Shirkers
Peter Lambert, The Death of Stalin

Best Production Design
Fiona Crombie, The Favourite
Eugenio Caballero, Roma
Fernanda Guerrero, Dirty Computer
Keiko Mitsumatsu, Shoplifters
Marcel Slawinski & Katarzyna Sobanska-Strzalkowska, Cold War
Grace Yun, First Reformed

Best Score
Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk
Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow, Annihilation
Ludwig Goransson, Black Panther
Jonny Greenwood, You Were Never Really Here
Alexandre Desplat, The Sisters Brothers
Erik Friedlander, Thoroughbreds

Best Original Song
It’s ‘Shallow’. From A Star Is Born. You know the one.

Best Costumes
Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther
Sandy Powell, The Favourite
Giulia Piersanti, Suspiria
Andrea Flesch, Colette
Deirdra Govan, Sorry To Bother You
Kazuko Kurosawa, Shoplifters

I don’t know enough/haven’t seen enough of the other categories to make judgements, but I do have opinions on things that aren’t awards but would be if I ran things:

Best Ensemble Cast
The Favourite
Shoplifters
Paddington 2
Support the Girls
Widows
Annihilation

Best Use of An Existing Song (so, Music Direction)
Elton John’s ‘Skyline Pigeon’ in The Favourite
Enya’s ‘Sail Away’ in Eighth Grade
Cynthia Erivo singing ’This Old Heart of Mine’ in Bad Times At the El Royale
‘Are You Washed In the Blood?’ in First Reformed
Rosie & the Originals’ ‘Angel Baby’ in You Were Never Really Here
Bill Haley & His Comets’ ‘Rock Around the Clock’ in Cold War

Best Trailer
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
The Favourite
Sorry To Bother You
A Star Is Born
Suspiria

 

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Note: Reviews for all of these movies can be found in the archives, with the exception of Support the Girls and You Were Never Really Here, which I just caught this weekend and haven’t had time to write up yet. Coming soon! They were both real good in REAL different ways.