The Top Ten of The Last Ten

10 - The Social Network (2010)

The protagonist of Fincher's Facebook film may have lost some of our respect over recent years, following criticism of his involvement with Cambridge Analytica and attitudes to ads, but whilst Mark Zuckerberg has fallen, The Social Network has soared. Its razor-sharp dialogue, powerful editing, and compelling acting never presents its characters as anything but flawed and broken trying to make it in a world that only cares about popularity. It's still a highly entertaining, and culturally damning, portrayal of the power of social media and the overwhelming desire to be liked. It could be argued that it is more meaningful now than ever.

9 - The Hurt Locker (2009)

Really, The Hurt Locker is what started everything for me. Not my love for films, that was well established, but my love for all things Oscars. The Hurt Locker was one of those rare films that took my breath away like nothing had done before. So why the love for the Oscars? In my mind, Avatar was going to win Best Picture; it was a two horse race. But Hurt Locker won. That was exciting - to see this superb piece of cinema topple the $2 billion behemoth. And every year there's a competition, a battle with a winner to predict. But that's not why The Hurt Locker is so high on this list. Yes it holds a special place in my heart, but it is also a gosh-darn great movie.

8 - Up In The Air (2009)

Some films get better the more you watch them, some get worse. My master's thesis focused on airports in American Cinema (fun, right?)*, looking at 2004's The Terminal and 2009's Up in the Air. I liked both films when starting but now I'd be happy to never see a single frame of The Terminal again. Up in the Air, however, got better with every viewing, despite excruciating analysis. Now that's the sign of a good film. A beautifully crafted movie with George Clooney's Ryan as a living embodiment of airport life - busy, impressive, free, but ultimately empty, devoid of any solid, concrete relationships, revelling only in temporary connections. It's as warm as it is heartbreaking, and much more grounded than its title lets on.

*Full title: Representation of the Airport in American Film: Exploring Marc Augé's Non-Place, its Effect on Relationships, and the Concept of Home in The Terminal and Up in the Air

7 - Django Unchained (2012)

Slavery may not seem like a natural topic for Tarantino, the wise-cracking, violence-loving, history-warping filmmaker that he is. In fact, slavery should surely be treated with the upmost sincerity? I mean, look at 12 Years a Slave - they won Best Picture with their very serious (and very good) representation of one of the darkest times in American History. But with Django, an organic pairing emerges. Tarantino does not treat slavery lightly, but never does he let his audience dwell in sorrow. While this is a victorious story, it still shows all the gruesome realities of slavery and doesn't hide the ugliness of revenge. Is it stylised, yes. Is it often tongue-in-cheek, yes. But does it ever downplay the suffering of those who were enslaved or make light of their plight? No. It could very easily be a disaster, but in Tarantino's hands, it is a major success.

6 - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) 

It's tempting to assign Birdman's success to a gimmick: the single long take in which the film is shot. And whilst it's stylistic properties are worth all the merit they're given, Birdman is so much more than clever camera work. As well as being the highest Best Picture winner on this list, it's a stunning piece of visual artistry and outstanding strong telling, contained within the parameters set by the single wandering viewpoint. It's immersive and subversive, funny and miserable, stacked with world-class performances and complimented by a strong rewatch value. Well, how could Birdman not make the top ten?

5 - The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

At three hours long, The Wolf of Wall Street is easily the longest film to break the top ten, but unlike other similar-length films, particularly those released around Oscar season, it never drags. It portrays the exhilarating appeal of Belfort's lifestyle, regardless of its condemnable morality, whilst not shying away from the ugly, crushing devastation that it brings. It is bold, brutal, breathtaking, and boasts a career-best performance from Leonardo DiCaprio (don't @ me). The picture it paints may be shades of moral and ethical grey, but grey has never dazzled so brightly.

4 - Black Swan (2010)

What happens when you combine the high art of ballet with spine-tingling unease and paranoid suspense of a horror film? The answer: you get one of the best films of the last ten years; an unnervingly dark dive into the human psyche as it pursues perfection. Black Swan is as scary as it is steamy, whilst never being insincere and we, as the viewer, share in Nina's swan dive into madness, experiencing every second of it through her as our unreliable guide with Aronofsky's directing perfectly positioning his audience to constantly surprise, scare, and shock us. As far as films go, this one is on pointe (sorry).

3 - Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

There's no other film on this list quite like Mad Max: Fury Road. Firstly, it's a sequel. Not only that, it's a reboot-sequel. And not only that, but it's a reboot-sequel set in dystopian wasteland, ruled by a cult of radioactively decaying, kamikazing mad-men that drive spikey sand-buggies and swing flamethrower-guitar players from ropes whilst chasing the few females left in their world. Not your typical Oscar bait, but simply brilliant. A visual masterpiece, a joyous thrill-ride, an overwhelmingly unique piece of cinema; Fury Road is all these things and more. But what does Fury Road have that few others on this list have? Fun. It takes it's fun seriously, and as a result it is seriously fun. Whilst other films may make us well up or pull on our heartstrings, Fury Road begs us to watch again and again and again. It says 'hey, hop in. Enjoy the drive', and we can't not. It's just too good.

2 - The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Auter is not a word thrown around much these days, and probably for good reason. Do many directors today really have a distinguishable style, something immediately recognisable? A few names spring to mind, but none more so than Wes Anderson; his style is uniquely crafted and The Grand Budapest Hotel is the jewel in his crown. A ridiculously comic, character driven caper featuring a dream cast, a non-linear narrative (complete with complementary aspect ratios) and signature cinematography. It is a meticulously detailed cinematic experience which never sacrifices its entertainment value or its beauty. In fact, it truly encompasses all that the medium of film has to offer in order to tell a fantastic and phenomenally funny story.

1 - Whiplash (2014)

It's not often I finish a film and want to re-watch it immediately, but that's what happened with Whiplash. I was rewatching it the very next day after thinking about it all night. Almost five years since its release, and I'm still thinking about it all the time. It is a reminder that films don't have to be box-office behemoths filled with cherished intellectual property to be brilliant, but great performances, a sharp edit, a contained narrative, and only personal stakes can do the job fine. Damien Chazelle has become a regular at the Oscars (with La La Land and First Man in the last few years) but not because his films are 'Oscar-bait', but because they are good films without appealing to the conventions of a typical winner. And sure, he hasn't gone home with a Best Picture gong yet but his best film to date gets the absolute privilege of sitting at the top of this completely pointless list, on this completely pointless blog with an author who will fight tooth and nail for it to stay there. 

Ranking 10 Years of Best Picture Nominees

So for the last ten years, since the Academy moved to ten spots for Best Picture nominations, I've committed to watching every Best Picture nominee. That's 89 films. Some of which I've seen many times since, some I've not watched again, and a couple I wished I'd never watched. The winners by year have been bolded and I've included some occasional thoughts. Do let me know your thoughts too! What should be higher, lower or am I spot on?

So here we go, with all objectivity out the window and only subjectivity left, this is Phil's rankings of the last ten years of Best Picture nominees:

89. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)

Taking a proud spot at the bottom of this crucial list, the only film nominated for Best Picture in the last ten years that I thought was simply bad. It was distasteful, badly made, and had an irritating lead (though Max von Sydow is a glimmer of excellence in an otherwise poor film). It stands at 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is about half of what most nominees get (for reference, the next 'worst' film is The Blind Side at 66%, a whopping 20% clear). I'm with Andrea Peyser who called it 'Extremely, incredibly exploitive' in her review. The handling of a subject such as the devestating effects of 9/11 deserves better, more thoughtful treatment and, less importantly, the Oscars deserve better films.

88. Bohemian Rhapsody  (2018)
89. The Kids Are All Right (2010)
90. Lion (2016)
91. The Post (2017)
92. The Blind Side (2009)
93. American Sniper (2014)
94. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
95. Moneyball (2011)
96. War Horse (2011)
97. American Hustle (2013)
98. Hidden Figures (2016)
99. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
100. Selma (2014)
101. Hugo (2011)
102. Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
103. Les Misérables (2012)
104. The Theory of Everything (2014)
105. The Imitation Game (2014)
106. Phantom Thread (2017)
107. Her (2013)
108. Hell or High Water (2016)

67. Green Book (2018)

 

The lowest ranking of the Best Picture winners. This is not a bad film but it is forgettable (see also Argo at 62), and that is where it's success came from. A safe commentary on racism that appealed to everyone but dazzled no one. It falls at the better end of mostly forgettable films (see numbers 88-68) which suggests, whilst still one of the better films of the year, it's not going to survive in cinematic memory like those just a few further up the list. 

66. The Fighter (2010)
67. Philomena (2013)
68. Winter's Bone (2010)
69. Life of Pi (2012)
70. Argo (2012)
71. Precious (2009)
72. Vice (2018)
73. A Serious Man (2009)
74. The Help (2011)
75. Room (2015)

56. Avatar (2009)

 

Despite being pipped to the post for Oscar glory by small-budget The Hurt Locker, Avatar has left its mark on cinema history, developing groundbreaking technology, and taking more money in its box office than any film that came before it. Only in uniting 11 years worth of superhero films in the MCU's Avengers: Endgame has anyone even come close to beating that record, and they only managed it with a re-release.  Before that, the record was held by Avatar director, James Cameron with Titanic. Was Avatar the best movie of the last ten years? Evidently not. But it was one of the most spectacular cinematic experiences I've had (and I saw it three times in the cinema). It's worth taking a moment to remember the magic that it brought to the big screen, particularly in a world of CGI lions singing Hakuna Matata and endless streams of superheroes. 

55. 127 Hours (2010)
56. Boyhood (2014)
57. Lincoln (2012)
58. Black Panther (2018)
59. An Education (2009)
60. The Martian (2015)
61. Darkest Hour (2017)

48. The Tree of Life (2011)

 

Of all the films on this list, why would I pull out The Tree of Life for a brief comment? It falls somewhere around the middle of this list (despite my own five-star review) and it's not a film we talk about a lot. But it is, and I say this reservedly, the best looking, most beautiful film on the list. Terrence Malik guides us, in a dream-like state, through an exploration of life - its purposes, its meanings and its relationships, not just with one another, but with the world we live in. It's safe to say, there's no other film like it on this list.  

47. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
48. Dunkirk (2017)
49. The Big Short (2015)
50. Roma (2018)
51. Up (2009)
52. The Revenant (2015)
53. The Descendants (2011)
54. Midnight in Paris (2011)
55. Bridge of Spies (2015)
56. BlacKkKlansman (2018)
57. The Shape of Water (2017)
58. Spotlight (2015)
59. The King's Speech (2010)
60. Gravity (2013)
61. True Grit (2010)

32. Amour (2012)

One of two films on this list that have actually made it into my academic study* (the other falls at number 8), Amour is a beautiful and painful film about love and life. It may be one you haven't seen - thus me highlighting it here - and if that's the case, you should correct that. Six years after the previous foreign-language film made it to the Best Picture race (Babel - 2006) and six years before last year's Roma, Amour was tragically under appreciated. It was a small, heartbreaking movie that wrongly passed under many radars. J'adore Amour.

*Full title: The Shocking Nature of Violence in Films; Film Violence, Aesthetics and Context: An In-Depth Analysis of Audience Reception of Representations of Violence

31. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
32. Arrival (2016)
33. A Star Is Born (2018)
34. Captain Phillips (2013)
35. Nebraska (2013)
36. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
37. Moonlight (2016)
38. The Favourite (2018)
39. Fences (2016)
40. Manchester by the Sea (2016)
41. Toy Story 3 (2010)
42. The Artist (2011)
43. District 9 (2009)

18. Inception (2010)

 

Christopher Nolan's boggling masterpiece left everything spinning back in 2010: tops, corridors, and our minds. Its stunning set pieces, action paced plot, and ensemble cast have solidified their place in cinematic history. Who can forget the first time they saw Paris fold in on itself, or how they felt after the corridor fight sequence, or the tension in that final shot; did it wobble? Will it fall?! We may never know but what we do know is this was something unique, hugely creative, with jaw-dropping visuals, from one of the best, most influential directors of the current age.

17. Get Out (2017)
18. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
19. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
20. Lady Bird (2017)
21. Brooklyn (2015)
22. La La Land (2016)

11. Call Me by Your Name (2017)

 

Just falling shy of the top ten is a beautiful piece of cinema. Gentle, loving film-making; the type of film-making we just don't see much of these days. Director Luca Guadagnino lets his camera wander in a day-dream-like manner through the stunning landscapes of rural Italy, watching his characters as they go about exploring relationships, sexuality, faith and much more. They're not in a rush, and neither is the viewer, allowing the audience time to understand Oliver and Elio as they begin to understand one another. We're not just a witness to their relationship, but participants in it, feeling what they feel, experiencing what they experience. It makes the long shot over the credits of Elio all the more heartfelt and real. Pitch perfect performances combined with a genuine artist behind the camera - this is fine fine film-making and a true rarity. 

Well then - only ten left to go. Click here for the top ten!

1001 Movies - An American in Paris

In 2009, Hugh Jackman proclaimed 'The musical is back!' as he performed with the stars of hit musicals High School Musical 3 and Mumma Mia! at the 81st Academy Awards. It's hard to argue with him; since then The Greatest Showman, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins Returns, and even the modern retelling of the classic Les Miserables have all hit the top ten highest grossing musicals, have become cultural hits and have led to more musical magic being slated in the coming years. But none of those films performed as well critically. Despite great songs, they lacked something: a pulse. Life. A beating heart in and amongst their big name leads, flashy productions, and Oscar nominated numbers. Vincente Minnelli's 1951 classic An American in Paris had that so who could ask for anything more?  

Of course, it's rare to find a film with quite as much as heart as An American in Paris. It's an emotional roller-coaster with joy and sadness, love and loneliness, paints and pains. The story of struggling artists that struggle equally in love. Their poetic minds fantasising about what love is, how love should be, and who to love. And the heart of the film is not one that beats, but rather taps as a gleaming Gene Kelly and a solid supporting cast explore the passionate rhythm of art and humanity through song and dance, tip-tapping their toes through some of the most enjoyable musical numbers ever committed to screen. To sum it up in the language of the film: S'wonderful, s'marvellous!

Its vibrant pastel palette protrudes from the screen, engulfing the audience in its radiancing warmth and joy, the picture it paints paying homage to the art it so obviously admires. This is most explicitly and exceptionally clear in its final astonishing dance sequence which leaves the audience gasping and breathless, before throwing them back into reality, just as Gene Kelly's Jerry is at the film's end. There's something undeniably special about the construction, presentation, and execution of every element of An American Paris from the contagious dancing, to the heart warming singing, to the gut punching finish. Is it Kelly's raw charisma and talent? Is it Gershwin's moving music? Is it that jaw-dropping ballet climax? Whatever it is, it's got a pulse; it's got rhythm.

Despite its obvious, major influence on later acclaimed films (see Best Picture winner nominee La La Land) as well as less critically adored musicals, one thing is clear: they just don't make them like this anymore.

Oscar Predictions 2019

In a so-so year for awards, was there anything astounding? With the distinctly average Bohemian Rhapsody having a chance to win Best Picture and Best Actor (awards that could easily belong to the non-nominated First Reformed), there's an odd feeling over the Oscars this year. A hostless show, awards added and withdrawn, removed from the broadcast and reinstated, and a bland voting ballot characterise the year. With only hours to go, here are my musings on who will win and who should.


Shorts:

Best Animated Short

The best animated short of the year was Lost & Found which was snubbed. So then it's a toss-up between the cutesy Bao and the more daring Weekends. The others were a bit more predictable or just trash (Animal Behaviour). It's a bit of a guess but in a world dominated by Pixar, this is Bao's to lose.

Will Win: Bao

Should Win: Lost & Found  Weekends

Best Live Action Short

Live actions shorts this year have got an unfair (in my opinion) bad press. Regardless, no one has had anything bad to say about Mother and it'd be a shame to see anything less beat it to the prize, but it may have been too shocking and upsetting to win voters over. Detainment has suffered too much controversy to be awarded whilst Skin proved divisive and Fauvre too unsettling. Marguerite, however, is appealing to all. A short, emotive little drama. Easy, safe, and effective. 

Will Win: Marguerite
Should Win: Mother

Best Documentary Short
This year's shorts are a bit all over the place. Some say very little but are impactful (Night at the Garden) and some feel too familiar, showing the same old problems again (Lifeboat, End Game). Black Sheep is an interesting insight into a black teen in a town that doesn't accept him, but Period. End of Sentence feels like the most original and insightful documentary. Exploring a stigma and following those trying to overcome it, Period gets into its subject matter more than its competitors. 

Will Win: Period. End of Sentence
Should Win: Period. End of Sentence

Technical Categories:

Best Cinematography

Full disclosure: I've not seen Never Look Away so I cannot comment on that. 

Simply put, this seems to be Roma's award to lose. It could be close with Cold War in similar black and white, or The Favourite with its fish-eye lens isolating its characters, highlighting their lonlieness, but it'd be unlikely to see anything topple the Mexican Masterpiece. 

Will Win: Roma

Should Win: Darkest Hour

Best Costume Design

Historically, period pieces do extremely will in costume design. So The Favourite is the best pick here. That being said, recreating and exaggerating a style is one thing, but creating a nation's tribal-wear is a whole different matter. The Favourite is the safe bet. Black Panther is the right bet. 

Will Win: The Favourite

Should Win: Black Panther

Best Make-up and Hairstyling

Vice is similar to Darkest Hour last year. The performance was 50% makeup and as such, it has to take this award. Though Border and Mary Queen of Scots were excellent competitors in this category too, they just can't edge out the Best Picture contender.

Will Win: Vice

Should Win: Vice

Best Production Design

World building in Production Design often fall into the same categories as costume. That being said, The Favourite is so detailed, so precisely designed that it deserves this one over Black Panther which, like much of the film, felt limited by its Marvel overtones. 

Will Win: The Favourite

Should Win: The Favourite

Best Visual Effects

This award belongs to Ready Player One, a world built on passionately designed visual effects. It may fall to the might of The Avengers which was also impressive, but Ready Player One felt real, it felt varied. It didn't feel like too much or like inconsistent like The Avengers but will the Academy recognise that? A fringe option is First Man, but it feels undeserved next to the two technical marvels it is up against.

Will Win: Avengers: Infinity War

Should Win: Ready Player One

Best Film Editing

Most of all, I'm praying this doesn't go to the painfully edited Bohemian Rhapsody. This feels like Vice's award. If nothing else, Vice was well paced, well pieced together, and that is where most of its success was found. Similar to makeup, Vice was made, literally and figuratively, by its editing.

Will Win: Vice

Should Win: Vice

Best Sound Editing

As always, the sound predictions are all over the place. As its (sadly) sole nomination, A Quiet Place may get this as a well deserved compensation. Considering it was one of the best films of the year and its narrative was based on sound, it seems like a sure bet. But other, more 'soundy' films could interject. Films like (shudder) Bohemian Rhapsody or (shrug) First Man. Both worthy, but the sound editing is not nearly as impactful as A Quiet Place. First Man may nip it for its space sequences but it is ultimately hard to say.

Will Win: A Quiet Place

Should Win: A Quiet Place

Best Sound Mixing

Music equals a good chance here. Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born both stand a chance but the Freddie Mercury biopic is coming out on top in the polls. But Bohemian Rhapsody didn't make me feel a Queen live performance. Just listen (not watch) to the real Live Aid performance and feel the tingles. A Star is Born created that in its live shows. 

Will Win: Bohemian Rhapsody

Should Win: Anything but Bohemian Rhapsody A Star is Born

Music:

Best Original Song

One word: Shallows. Tingles, every time. 

Will Win: 'Shallows' from A Star is Born

Should Win: 'Shallows' from A Star is Born

Best Original Score

This should be Beale Street's for the taking. It's a beautiful score and I don't want to indulge anything else winning

Will Win: If Beale Street Could Talk

Should Win: If Beale Street Could Talk

Writing:

Best Adapted Screenplay

Tough tough call here. Beale Street and Can You Ever Forgive Me? are good options here as they were shuffled out from the Best Picture contest and this often works as a compensation prize. But Blackkklansman is also a strong contender with Best Picture backing, though not looking likely to win there. It'd be a shame to not see Can You Ever Forgive Me? take home some gold and this would be its category to do so, but it looks to be edged out. 

Will Win: Blackklansman

Should Win: Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Original Screenplay

The screenplays this year are so tightly contested. More than anything, it's nice to see things not nominated for Best Picture to succeed here and First Reformed should be the pick here. And it's a toss-up. GoldDerby's experts pin this as The Favourite's to win. The Oscarcast's formula gives it to First Reformed (similar split in adapted screenplay). When maths and experts disagree it's hard to decide, but I'm going to side with humans. Bo Burnham was robbed. 

Will Win: The Favourite

Should Win: Eight Grade First Reformed

Fringe Films:

Best Animated Feature

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Versewas snubbed for best picture. It's dominated everything so far and rightly so. There's a fear that Incredibles 2 may sneak out of nowhere with Pixar's power. 

Will Win: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Should win: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Best Documentary Feature

A strange category this year after two frontrunners didn't make the nominees (Will You Be My Neighbour? and Three Identical Strangers), but a thrilling category nonetheless. Minding The Gap and Free Solo are the front runners and whilst the former is more compelling in its story, the latter is technically and visually overwhelming. It is a triumph of documentary filmmaking even if it's not quite as moving as Minding the Gap.

Will Win: Free Solo

Should Win: Free Solo

Best Foreign Language Film

As before, Never Look Away is unseen.

Despite Shoplifters and Cold War being brilliant, when a Foreign Language film is also up for Best Picture it seems unfair to even have a Foreign Film category at all. Roma has this in the bag and it would bizarre (and brilliant) if anything else took it. 

Will Win: Roma

Should Win: Roma

The Big Five:

Best Supporting Actor

Sadly dominated by the underwhelming and mostly forgettable Green Book, Mahershala Ali seems a shoe-in. But I would love to see Richard E. Grant prevail here. His performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me? was astonishing. A real performance from a great man that deserves recognition. 

Will Win: Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Should win: Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Best Supporting Actress

The biggest race of the night. This could go to the wire between Regina King and Rachel Weisz, but Amy Adams and Emma Stone are not far behind. With The Favourite's momentum, I think Weisz may have the edge here but my adoration for Beale Street gives me a soft spot for Regina King's outstanding performance and the critics at GoldDerby seem to be backing her too.

Will Win: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Should Win: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Best Actress

Glenn Close. Should be Olivia Coleman or (if it were up to me) Mellissa McCarthy who both give performances of a lifetime (particularly McCarthy). Close will get it as a 'right person-wrong film' award whilst McCarthy and Coleman will be back another day. Shouldn't be how it works, but there you go. 

Will Win: Glenn Close (The Wife)

Should Win: Mellissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper and Willem Dafoe are brilliant. They won't win because they didn't impersonate someone that can have clips played side-by-side with their real-life counter part. Rami Malek is the top choice here for his performance as Freddie Mercury but it's undeserved (especially as Malek is a brilliant actor who deserves it for a better performance in years to come). Bale is great, but he's working with material better than his performance, but at least he becomes Cheney, unlike Malek with Mercury. Ethan Hawke was robbed. 

Will Win: Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Should Win: Ethan Hawke (First Reformed) Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born)

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron deserves this and earned this. Roma is a beautiful piece of art and only Pawlikowski came close to doing something similar.  

Will Win: Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Should Win: Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Best Picture

A mostly so-so year. It's between Roma and Green Book. Both are good and the Academy may go for the safe, American Green Book but this should be Roma's. Roma is breathtaking, bold, and beautiful. It's everything we want from cinema. Somehow classic and modern at the same time and entirely captivating. Green Book is emotive and fun, but ultimately forgettable. If voters are voting immediately after watching Green Book it may win. A week later and Roma has it.

Don't forget, the Best Picture votes are different and voters choose a top five in order. In each round a film is eliminated so Green Book may come through due to being a lot of voters second choice. All that being said, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was robbed. 

Will Win: Roma

Should Win: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse A Star is Born

Best Picture 2019: Part II

Green Book

Racism is bad, buddy road movies are good, and few show that better than Green Book. In many senses, it's too formulaic and adheres to too many stereotypical scenarios and characters but the chemistry onscreen is electric. Mortensen and Ali are both on brilliant form and it is the way they work together that really lends Green Book its success.

Green Book manages to be powerful in the issues it portrays but also funny and heartwarming. That may seem like it would undermine the severity of racism but it actually emphasises the contrast in the way successful African Americans were (and are) treated. The film has been riddled with some scandals - some more scandalous than others - but that shouldn't detract you from the fact that this is a good, mostly well crafted, film. That being said, its biggest weakness is not anything that happens on screen, but rather that none of that is hugely memorable. There's nothing bold here and it causes Green Book to slowly fade into a cinematic mist of similarly well-intentioned but safe film-making.

Roma

A cinematic love letter, in part to Cuarón's home country of Mexico, and in part to the language of film making. An emotive, powerful piece of cinema that never drifts through life, but purposefully captures the unfolding events of a young maid's life.

Roma has everything one could ask for (except colour, I suppose). Its shot in beautifully crisp black and white (rivalled only by this year's Cold War), holding its gaze and refusing to cut away. The camera pans with characters as they navigate relationships with one another, balancing employment and class. Cuarón isn't afraid to let things sit for a moment, allowing the audience to fully absorb everything in front of them. Similarly, he introduces details that seem small or insignificant and grows them into a full and powerful climax without the need for constant action, CGI magic, or big names to make it captivating. This love letter is written to ask its lover, the viewers, to come home and remember what made them fall in love with cinema to begin with.

The Favourite

What happens when you take a director known for a film about single people being turned into animals and have them direct a period piece about a 1700s queen and the ladies in her court? You get The Favourite; a daring and dizzying display of regal ridiculousness captured with whip pans and a fish-eye lens.

The Favourite boasts stunning performance from its three leading ladies, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, and Olivia Coleman. They are all devilish and controlling but also weak at times which opens up opportunities for power struggles to emerge, and these struggles are the backbone of the narrative. This is a weird world of duck and lobster racing, of sapphic love-making, and of rotten fruit throwing Torys but its absurdity never feels out of place or unneeded. This is the world Lanthimos has created in order to tell this story, this foul-mouthed reality is not so different from our own and it is the best reality to tell this story.

Blackklansman

Blacksploitation films may have faded out of popular culture (and probably for good reasons) but if there were one man to play with the genre, it would be Spike Lee. The veteran director is back with a fun recreation of a completely bizarre police case.

The concept alone, a black man infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, seems ridiculous but there is a reality here Lee wants to present. From the moment the screen flicks into life, you can feel Lee's purposeful hand guiding the viewer, using cinema as a point of focus. Scenes from Gone With The Wind and Birth of a Nation grace the screen before anything happens, putting the slave-driving South (particularly that glorified in celluloid) in the audience's mind immediately. The rest of the story is fun, dramatic, and well performed but don't let the light tone and historic setting fool you. Lee closes as purposefully as he opens, jumping forward to the present and showing the viewer cars ploughing through crowds of black protestors, reminding us that racism is not dead and in fact, racism still kills.

Animated Shorts

Bao

Pixar's obligatory nomination in the short category is arguably one of their weaker. It ticks a lot of boxes, is pertinent to a particular culture, and is poetic in some of it's storytelling, but it's a little confusing and underwhelming. It's cute, but the emotional core of it just doesn't quite hit home. 

Animal Behaviour

The weakest of the nominated shorts (and of those shortlisted, in all honesty). It's a mildly entertaining skit with animals seeking therapy for their animalistic behaviour (haha), but the entire first half is too safe. The jokes are too obvious and the dialogue is strained. It picks up in its second half, but it's still too simplistic with it's real focus only appearing at the very end - too late.

Late Afternoon

A moving little short about how precious our memories really are, especially when the mind starts failing. Its abstract animation drifts through loose memories in swirls of colour, diving into a cup of tea and out into happier days gone by. Its gloriously animated and powerfully emotive.

One Small Step

Simple stories are sometimes the best, and One Small Step is no exception. Beautifully animated and brilliantly paced. It builds you up, knocks you down, but like its protagonist, you get right on back up and keep going. It will tug at your heartstrings and may even send chills down your spine. It may be simple, but it's proof that you don't need dialogue to say something great.

Weekends

The boldest of the shorts. It's daring in its animation, examining the difficulties of a child spreading their lives across their parents separate homes. through dreamlike (read: nightmare) sequences that embody the fear and isolation the kid feels. It feels like the freshest, most original of the shorts that has the most unique voice. It may seem a little jarring, but it's compelling.

Special Mention

My ultimate 'snub' this year was the astonishing Lost & Found. A stunning seven minute stop motion animation that you can watch now on Youtube. It was on the shortlist for the Oscar nomination, but failed to make the final five. It is a powerful, emotive story, and despite not a single word, it builds suspense like that of a Hitchcock film. It will tug on a loose thread from your heart and make it unravel. Brilliantly produced, beautifully shot; this was an oversight by the Academy and it's a shame that the short won't get the recognition it deserves.