Another year, another Oscar telecast, some delightful surprises, some embarrassments you saw coming a mile away, you know the drill. I didn’t get to see it live, but it looks like I got 16 out of 24 of my predictions correct, which kind of annoyed me since some of my I changed some of my initial gut feelings for certain categories – so for future reference, if you want to predict Oscar winners, just think to yourself: when in doubt, pick cynically.
Anyway, here is the list of all the winners from last night.
Best Picture: Green Book
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Best Actress: Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Best Actor: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Best Adapted Screenplay: Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Best Original Screenplay: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Best Animated Feature: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Best Foreign Language Film: Roma
Best Documentary Feature: Free Solo
Best Cinematography: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Best Film Editing: John Ottman, Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Original Score: Ludwig Göransson, Black Panther
Best Original Song: “Shallow,” with Music and Lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt, A Star Is Born
Best Production Design: Hannah Beachler, Black Panther
Best Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney, Vice
Best Visual Effects: Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J. D. Schwalm, First Man
Best Sound Editing: John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone, Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Sound Mixing: Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali, Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Live-Action Short: Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman, Skin
Best Animated Short: Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb, Bao
Best Documentary Short: Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton, Period. End of Sentence.
Well…certainly some choices here. The only real surprise is maybe Colman winning for The Favourite considering how well Glenn Close has been doing this awards season. Even most of the ones I didn’t predict correctly, I could’ve easily seen as a potential win. And for the most part, I can’t say I’m particularly happy with many of these, especially for all the ones that went to Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody. I mean, the fact that those two won as many awards as they did is nothing short of a colossal embarrassment.
However, it’s worth noting that there’s a lot of female winners here, and there’s a lot of black and various other POC winners as well. So, in typical Oscar fashion, some good, some bad, you just gotta deal with it. I’m guessing a lot of this comes from the sort of tug-of-war between the new, younger, more diverse members of the Academy and the old guard still sticking to their traditional ways, and I feel this will go on for a while longer.
So, until next time, let’s be glad for the wins we got for films like Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, or BlacKkKlansman and for folks like Spike Lee, Regina King, and Olivia Colman. I’m just glad this awards season is over and done with. And also remember that there are tons of great films that came out in 2018, many of which haven’t even been nominated, you can read my 50 Films I Loved In 2018 article, and see if there’s anything that you might consider checking out.
So, what are your thoughts on…all this? You feel there were some surprises, some snubs, what are you happy about, whatever it is, feel free to discuss in the comments!