Oscars 2019: My Worst Score Ever!

“I mean every time somebody's driving somebody, I lose. But they changed the seating arrangement!” – Spike Lee

I haven't gone back through all my Oscar scores over the years, but I'm pretty sure that this was my worst score ever. I got 13 out of 24, which is pathetic. I underestimated BLACK PANTHER (3 Oscars!), thought GREEN BOOK would only win one Academy Award® - Mahershala Ali. Ali did win, but the film also got Oscars for Best Original Screenplay, and the big one, BEST PICTURE, which shocked me and I bet a lot of folks since just about every list of predictions I saw had ROMA winning.

Anyway, here's the ones I got wrong:

1. BEST PICTURE: GREEN BOOK (I picked ROMA) 

4. BEST ACTRESS: Olivia Colman for THE FAVOURITE (I had gone with Glenn Close for THE WIFE) This was a shocker.

7. PRODUCTION DESIGN: BLACK PANTHER (my prediction was THE FAVOURITE)

9. COSTUME DESIGN: BLACK PANTHER (just like the last category I had THE FAVOURITE down for this - sigh) 

10. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: FREE SOLO (I really thought RBG had this in the bag) 

11. DOCUMENTARY SHORT: BLACK SHEEP (wrong) PERIOD, END OF SENTENCE

12. FILM EDITING: BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (why did I think VICE would win this? I really can't remember)

15. ORIGINAL SCORE: BLACK PANTHER (IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK really felt like the no brainer for this category, but BLACK PANTHER-mania cancelled it out I guess) 

19. SOUND EDITING: BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (FIRST MAN didn't have a chance one can see in retrospect)

21. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: GREEN BOOK (another shocker - THE FAVOURITE seemed so much to be a  shoo-in.)

24. BEST FOREIGN FILM: ROMA (I didn't pick ROMA here because I thought it was going to win BEST PICTURE. COLD WAR, which I enjoyed much more than ROMA, looked to me like a surefire winner, but like just about every category this year I was way off.)

Okay, that's enough Oscars '19 for now (or ever). With hope, I'll do a lot better next year.

More later...

Hey Kids! Funtime 2019 Oscar® Predictions!

Yep, here we are again. The 91st Academy Awards® Ceremony is coming up this Sunday night, so, as I always do on the Friday beforehand, here's my predictions for who and what will win. Now, I have a feeling I'll do worse than last year when I got 17 out of the 24 categories right (my best score was in 2014: 21 out of 24), but we'll see. I just have the feeling that this year may be more full of upsets than any other Oscar race in recent memory.

Anyway, here are my picks/guesses:

1. BEST PICTURE: ROMA

2. BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón

3. BEST ACTOR: Rami Malek for BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

4. BEST ACTRESS: Glenn Close for THE WIFE

5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Mahershala Ali for GREEN BOOK

6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Regina King for IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

7. PRODUCTION DESIGN: THE FAVOURITE (Fiona Crombie)

8. CINEMATOGRAPHY: ROMA (Alfonso Cuarón)

9. COSTUME DESIGN: THE FAVOURITE (Sandy Powell)

10. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: RBG

11. DOCUMENTARY SHORT: BLACK SHEEP

12. FILM EDITING: VICE (Hank Corwin)

13. MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: VICE (Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe,  Patricia Dehaney)

14. VISUAL EFFECTS: FIRST MAN (Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter,  Tristan Myles, J.D. Schwalm)

15. ORIGINAL SCORE: IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (Nicholas Britell)

16. ORIGINAL SONG: “Shallow” from A STAR IS BORN

17. ANIMATED SHORT: BAO

18. LIVE ACTION SHORT: SKIN

19. SOUND EDITING: FIRST MAN (Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou)

20. SOUND MIXING: BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, John Casali)

21. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: THE FAVOURITE (Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara)

22. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: BLACKKKLANSMAN (Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee)

23. ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

24. BEST FOREIGN FILM: COLD WAR

As I always say, tune in Monday to see how many I got wrong.

More later...

Film Babble Blog's Top 10 Movies Of 2018 Part 2

And now Part 2 of Film Babble Blog’s Top 10 Movies of 2018. Included are memorable lines, or exchanges from each film. For Part 1, featuring entries 10-6 click here.

5. THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS (Dir. Tim Wardle)

Robert Shafran: “I guess I wouldn't believe the story if someone else were telling it, but , I'm telling it and it's true, every word of it.”

4. SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (Dir. Boots Riley)

Langston (Danny Glover): “Let me give you a tip. You wanna make some money here? Use your white voice.”

3. COLD WAR (Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)

Zula (Joanna Kulig): “Are you interested in me, because I have a talent or in general?”

2. BLACKKKLANSMAN (Dir. Spike Lee)

Ron Stallworth (John David Washington): “Then why you acting like you ain’t got skin in the game, brother?”

1. FIRST REFORMED (Dir. Paul Schrader)

Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke): “The man who says nothing always seems more intelligent. Why couldn't I just keep silent?”

So that's 5-1 of my Top 10 of 2018. Next up, my Oscar predictions. Stay tuned to this space.

More later...