Feelings on Oscars 2019 (written before the Awards)

This isn't well thought out but I want to give my thoughts anyways. As soon as the nominations came out I should've attempted to watch the nominated movies at least for the big categories. There's a lot of funny stuff that's been going on with the Oscars this year due to whoever is incharge being out of touch. It's capitalism at it's finest and most confusing. The two big things is Kevin Hart hosting debacle and possibly making a blockbuster category. Now, the purpose of these are to bring back the Oscars from the ratings slump. Really I can't speculate what will fix the ratings.

 When it comes to my personal reason for watching, I just don't enjoy seeing celebrities pat themselves on the back. The other nuisance to go along with that subject is how politically lop sided the hosts can be and while making jokes assume everyone else agrees with them. Feel like even without the disagreement, it's just not the time or place. It's bad enough we get these people, who are talking down to us for the most part for 3 hours but then also making jokes at our expense for our moral beliefs. One of the reasons movies exist is for escapism. Now, it's true that film exist to show audience possibly a different perspective but at least in those aspects compared to an award show, they're tastefully done and well thought out.

The awards attempted to fix this a little by taking out a mediocre talkshow host, Jimmy Kimmel and replacing him with one of the hottest personalities in Hollywood, Kevin Hart. Of course, that didn't last as political correctness had to strike with folks being triggered by something Hart joked about almost a decade ago when he first started. Hart has came out and say he's grown since those jokes and that's not the kind of humor he relates to anymore. In the end, there ended being no host this could be better but it's tough to hook folks without a face for this year's ceremony.

Addressing the other issue of creating a category just for blockbuster, they kind of did that.  There was no category just for blockbusters but the best picture is loaded with best pictures that at least have a majority of them being wide release with large returns. This idea is to give viewers something more recognizable to root for rather than just movies that are unaccessable. Attempting to fix this issue is messy. In my movie list for best of the year, I address this by choosing a movie from every month of the year rather than just the last quarter of the year, where all the Oscar bait comes pouring out. Saying they should copy me is ridiculous because my list isn't necessarily the best of the year due to the format there are some movies that need to be hunted down. Some of these movies I'm sure use the Oscars as a means to get the word out about their picture.

I at least think a deadline before 2019 would give folks a better chance of seeing the movies. I watch about 90 movies and I still don't haven't seen all the movies nominated.  Opinion on movies of course is very subjective but seeing movies like Black Panther make the list is very sad. The thing is if viewership bounces back up or down. It's going to a madhouse figuring out why. I think it's the entertainment and integrity of the awards that makes it worth watching while the academy thinks it's the stale jokes and attacks upon half the countries political beliefs that make folks turn on the show. Now enough of my gargling, here's who I'd be hoping wins if I was a voter.

Best Picture:

The Favourite - Wonderfully acted with a odd take and what feels like it could be your typical biopic at first.  Style is something I won't forget especially compare to the other movies nominated. A lot of them come off as your typical Oscar bait while this finds an odd combination of Mean Girls if it was presented in the 1700s.  Also, I love Olivia Coleman's performance as Queen Anne. Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz did excellent as combating adversaries but their performance as manipulators didn't seems so interesting to me.

Why not the others -
Roma; while technically great, there wasn't quite a hook to keep me invested as the story went on, Blakkklansman; just seems like the whole point was to show David Duke was epically pranked and most of the suspense fell flat since the racist were portrayed as being so dumb and one note.  Bohemian Rhapsody: didn't see
Green Book; really good for what it was especially the performances by Ali and Viggo but the story didn't have anything going for it
Vice: I know what I was getting in for watching it but I learned nothing new about Cheney besides he was pure evil because of that it was boring.
Star is Born- I really enjoyed this movie and can't say much wrong with it. Besides the brilliant execution of their main song 'Shallow', the movie didn't have that much standout compared to The Favourite

Best Director

Yorgos Lanthimos - Will have to give it to Yorgos. I just find his odd dark tone so enticing and he owns the movie with that in an enthralling way. Simply just love how authentic the atmosphere felt while Yorgos pushed for these obscene situation of these ladies battling for power and love(?).  Yorgos enjoys giving the audience choices but makes them feel helpless in the fact both choice hold such major faults. Feel lazy making this choice because it's difficult to separate best picture and best director because the picture should all be by the director's design but that's why it shouldn't be a surprise especially with a standout personality that Lanthimos presents these things go hand in hand.

Best Actor



Viggo Mortenson - This was an incredibly tough choice to make since every single individual nomination was well deserved. I especially was trapped between Viggo and Bradley Cooper, who was playing a normal person but was a totally different character I've never seen him portray before. Viggo literally transformed though. It was more than just the makeup with his cheesy one note personality flushed out so well, I didn't even recognize him. Was just surprised when the credits came up for Green Book that it was Mortenson playing Tony Lip. Just didn't see an actor, I saw Lip. He's earned this one.

Best Actress



Olivia Colman -  This was so easy. I've seen roles with mad royalty before but what Colman brought forth was something completely unique.  Watching her perform, I laughed and was nervous at the same time. This character was all over the place but that's due to the strings being performed. I've barely seen her perform before but am hoping a win can get her more spotlight.

Best Supporting Actor



Sam Rockwell - I didn't quite get it when he won for Three Billboards; not saying the performance wasn't bad by any mean, just didn't see it standout that year. As Bush, he wasn't super amazing either but I appreciate how little make up was needed and I still had no problem believing he was W. Rockwell really clicked as Bush. Elliot and Driver was fine but nothing special. I really did enjoy Ali in Green Book but I didn't see the performance as being too unique. Didn't like the movie but with Rockwell, I saw Bush and not an actor who had to go overboard with the makeup to believe they're someone else.

Best Supporting Actress 



Marina de Tavira - This was a tough one to make because I love the both performances by Stone & Weisz. It sort of comes off as a wash but I mean that as a compliment. I chose Marina due to how real her performance came off. It sort of reminded me of Florida project where either the actress was picked of the street due to her living the character's life or she's that good of an actress. I believe Marina fits that description. It was a very subtle performance but I felt for her when she was distressed, happy, or just trying to solve an issue that's not hers to begin with.

Best Animated Feature

I don't like this category. Not due to the fact that these are animated films but I think these movies take away from having a chance at the Best Picture.  I don't truly believe they have a shot but I do believe they deserve it. Two years in a row my #1 movie on my top 13 list has been animated films(Coco & Isle of Dogs).  Usually due to Disney being a sponsor and the limited animated full feature films, the options for nominations is kind of embarrassing and a joke at times. Boss Baby was really nominated for an Oscar. Give me a break! Think taking away this category could give these animated movies more notoriety if they were nominated as best pictures instead. Saying that...

Isle of Dogs - Stop motions isn't a brand new style but Wes Anderson sure made it his own. Between his combination of utilizing Japan's stoic culture and his framing design. I loved that this was meant to be for grown ups but due to that didn't have to be vulgar. It was a fun time seeing the movie that delved into themes that always are an easy hook for me such as loyalty, courage and embracing diversity. This is a tough call to make with Into the Spider-Verse. That one was such a fresh breath of air due to it's style. Hard to not choose that cause I utterly loved it. The characters were fun and the animation was extraordinary. Wouldn't mind if it won to certify the new style but I don't think overall was a better film than Ilse of Dogs.

There are other categories I do care about but really with missing so many viewings and would need to repeated watchings to truly pick out if the editing, cinematography or sound mixing were the best. Really like I mentioned with the best picture, a lot of these nominations seem more political than artistic. It's tough to truly be excited by other's pick for this industrial award ceremony.