The 91st Academy Awards takes place this Sunday, February 24th. This year finds eight movies battling it out for Best Picture. Each of these films pulled in at least five different nominations, with two of them - Roma and The Favourite - gaining a whopping ten nominations each. This year’s nominations contained many box office smash hits - including one superhero blockbuster - although some of these films didn’t as well with critics as they did with audiences. See which ones were the best and which ones weren’t so great below:
8) A Star is Born
Directed by: Bradley Cooper
Starring: Lady GaGa, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Dave Chappelle, Andrew Dice Clay
The music’s great. Lady GaGa is fantastic. Sam Elliott gives one of his most emotional performances. Even Andrew Dice Clay turns in a surprisingly solid performance. So why is this fan favorite ranked last? Well, the movie has one glaring problem and that’s Bradley Cooper. Not the actor himself. He gives it his all, and his direction is on point, doing a fantastic job at highlighting some of the film’s more emotional moments. The issue is, his character, Jackson Maine, is far from the most likable person we’ve ever met. After the film’s initial setup, Jackson doesn’t really do a whole lot that really warrants our sympathy. The whole point of the movie is that he’s an alcoholic and it’s affecting all of his relationships, and that does make for some compelling drama. The issue is the film repeatedly tries tugging at our heartstrings to let us know we need to feel bad for this character. Yet, he does very little that’s positive to match any of the countless negative moments he has in the film. If anything, his drunken antics just make us feel even worse for Lady GaGa’s character. Alcoholism is a serious issue and the film does try to convey what happens when it’s at its worst. And while I don’t think that just because someone’s an alcoholic, it means they’re a bad person. But this particular alcoholic does feel like a bad person and the film doesn’t do a very good job convincing you otherwise. See the full review here.
7) Bohemian Rhapsody
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Aiden Gillen, Tom Hollander
Coming in at second-to-last is the other musical drama that was nominated. Rami Malek gives an excellent performance as Freddie Mercury. He truly nails many of the rock star’s eccentric, flamboyant mannerisms, and there are moments where he truly pulls at your heartstrings. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is nowhere near as great as he is. The film would have benefitted more if it was a miniseries rather than a two-hour movie. It tries to cram in way too much and ultimately feels rushed. The film makes an extensive use of montages and we only get glimpses of many defining moments in both Queen’s and Freddie Mercury’s career. It also turns the rest of Queen into more antagonistic people, which is a really odd creative decision, considering Brian May and Roger Taylor had a hand in this movie’s artistic direction. The film feels like a sneak peek at something much larger. Some of the individual scenes are done well, but the film then jumps around so much it doesn’t allow anyone to get the full dramatic weight of some of these moments. The only other really great thing this movie had going was that the musical sequences were wonderful to watch, with the Live Aid scene being the film’s highlight. See the full review here.
6) Green Book
Directed by: Peter Farrelly
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini
Green Book is another one of those movies where its individual scenes work much better than the sum total. It’s by no means a bad movie, but at times it can feel a bit disjointed. It starts off headed in one direction, then does an about-face after the first twenty minutes or so and heads in a completely different direction for the rest of the movie. The film introduces us to its lead character - “Tony Lip” Vallelonga - as an unlikable racist, who then takes on a job as a chauffeur to famed black pianist Don Shirley. The film gives us the impression this is going to be a redemptive journey for Tony as he spends two months with someone he feels extreme prejudice towards. Yet, he essentially immediately warms up to Dr. Shirley within their first scene or two together, and the film becomes a buddy movie of both Tony and Dr. Shirley standing together against even bigger racists, all the while arguing over Kentucky Fried Chicken and Little Richard. The film feels like a series of vignettes, some that are funny, some that are emotional, all of which containing the not-so-subtle message that racism is bad, yet never really offering anything insightful to say about the topic, despite it’s well-intentioned nature. The film does contain a pair of wonderful performances from both Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, who have some truly great chemistry together. The film is overall problematic, but these two committed performances help you overlook the story’s many faults. See the full review here.
5) Roma
Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron
Starring: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Fernando Grediaga, Jorge Antonio Guerrero
Alfonso Cuaron gives us one of the most beautifully filmed movies of the year, and the fact that he initially released it on Netflix almost feels like we were robbed of a truly cinematic experience (it would go on to get a limited release in theaters shortly after). A semi-autobiographical tale of what it was like for Cuaron growing up in Mexico City in the 1970s, the film is made up of many unknown actors, all bringing with them a raw energy that feels like we’re actually watching someone’s home movies (further exemplified by the fact that there’s no musical score present). The film’s biggest find was lead actress Yalitza Aparicio, who had no prior acting experience before this film and ends up completely nailing it. Cuaron handles each scene with such delicate care, that he goes into such extreme detail with every little shot. The only issue is sometimes this is a bit to the film’s detriment as the pacing tends to drag in certain moments, with an extended focus on certain moments that do more to capture the actual feel of Colonia Roma rather than do anything to add to the story. It’s still a wonderful film though that tells one of 2018’ most personal stories. See the full review here.
4) Vice
Directed by: Adam McKay
Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Tyler Perry, Jesse Plemons
How do you take one of the most disliked political figures in recent memory and turn him into someone likable? Well, Vice doesn’t answer that question. In fact, it looks to do the exact opposite, trying to explain to us why former Vice President Dick Cheney was as despicable as he was, with a fictional narrator attempting to explain his thought process without necessarily justifying his actions. Vice suffers from losing a bit of its momentum in its second half, playing at times more like a straightforward documentary than delivering a lot of the biting satire present in the film’s much stronger first half. Despite some missteps, it manages to still be a funny look that serves as a reminder as to some of the inner workings of the Bush administration. The cast is pitch perfect, even if many of its supporting players are a bit underused. Christian Bale and Amy Adams give performances that turn the Cheney’s into Macbeth and Lady Macbeth-type characters, and the film ends up being a good timing watching these real-life political figures that we love to hate. See the full review here.
3) The Favourite
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Nicholas Hoult
Period pieces often tend to be a bit too dry, with a heavy reliance on dialogue-heavy scenes in order to build dramatic tension. And The Favourite does tend to veer into this territory from time to time. But luckily, the film is in the hands of quirky cult director Yorgos Lanthimos, and the film mostly manages to be the exception to the rule. The film ends up being one of the year’s funniest, with a lot of quirky, witty exchanges to help keep a lot of the expository-heavy scenes feel fresh and engaging. The film also ends up being a compelling cat-and-mouse film, with a constant back and forth between two cousins to gain the companionship of an ailing Queen who’s slowly losing her mind. While Olivia Colman - the ailing, demented Queen in question - tends to be a bit too grating with her constant outbursts that come off as being whiny rather than sad, the film does contain a pair of stellar performances from both Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone. Weisz clearly appears as if she’s having a blast as the more sinister of the two cousins, while Stone steps out of her comfort zone, starting off like she’s playing one of her normal “good girl” type of characters and transforming into someone much more cunning and able to hold their own. The film could have hit a bit harder at times, but it ends up being one of the year’s biggest battle of wits. See the full review here.
2) BlacKkKlansman
Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace
It’s the son of Denzel Washington pitted against the Ku Klux Klan. An elevator pitch like that should alone make this movie worth watching. In all serious though, Spike Lee’s 22nd film is easily his most important film. A brilliant satire that draws many parallels from its 1970s setting to events in the present day. The film is one part comedy, one part action thriller, one part compelling drama, and even to an extent one part horror. Lee shows us, through the foolish Klansmen that get tricked throughout the movie, that just because someone appears unintelligent and ignorant, they can still be an extreme danger to society if they’re fueled by hatred. The film can often be laugh-out-loud hilarious, with the humor often used to alleviate moments of uncomfortable racial tension. With the exception of a monotone Topher Grace as the head of the Klan, the film contains quite a few wonderful performance, with John David Washington and Adam Driver in particular being a fantastic pair to watch. The film also contains a hilarious cameo from Alec Baldwin at the beginning of the film as a doctor poorly attempting to spew hateful propaganda, as he constantly flubs his lines. See the full review here.
1) Black Panther
Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman
It’s the one movie that everyone feared would get snubbed for Best Picture. It’s a blockbuster. It’s a superhero movie. It’s also a Marvel movie, a franchise that - while widely praised - is known for its heavy world-building and reliance on having watched its many other films in order to understand the full scope of the universe it’s been building since 2008. So what makes Black Panther any different than any of its fellow superhero films, in a time where some people have started to express a “superhero fatigue?” Well, it has plenty going for it. Not only is the film culturally significant for its rich portrayal of African American culture in a superhero setting, it contains excellent social and political commentary on the subjects of blind nationalism and loyalty for one’s country. It contains a number of characters who are incredibly well-written, including a heavily layered villain that winds up almost gaining the audience’s sympathy. The performances are all fantastic, especially for a superhero film. And even what many normal blockbusters do, this does much better. The action is top-notch. The visuals are eye-popping. The costume design is superb. It also contains one of the best soundtracks in recent memory, with a stellar list of original songs curated by Kendrick Lamar. While it’s highly doubtful Black Panther will come home with the top prize, it was still one of the best movies to come out of 2018, and of all the films nominated for Best Picture, this one is by far more than deserving of the award.
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