The 2018 Oscar nominations were announced today. While I agree with most of the nominations, there were some glaring omissions. For one, I would have nominated Emma Stone and Steve Carrell for Best Actor award. The pair literally morphed into Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. I would have replaced Timothee Chalalmet with Steve Carrell in this category. Judi Dench as Queen Victoria in “Victoria and Abdul” was also as powerful as my beloved Meryl Streep in “The Post” this year. I was happy to see Denzel Washington nominated in an amazingly nuanced performance in “Roman J Israel, Esq.”
The Best Picture nominations also missed a couple great films. “Battle Of The Sexes” and “Star Wars:The Last Jedi” were two of the best films of the year. These films would have replaced “Darkest Hour” and “Call Me By Your Name” for me. While Gary Oldman should definitely win for Best Actor, “Darkest Hour” as a film was just ok. The age difference between the man and the boy in the gay relationship in “Call Me By Your Name” made me uncomfortable with this film. I feel this is Hollywood pandering.
In addition, every person that votes in the Documentary category needs to be replaced. Year after year, they get it wrong. This year, Amanda Lipitz‘s “Step” was definitely, without a doubt, the best documentary of the year and it wasn’t even nominated! I could almost boycott the whole proceeding, I am so pissed about this omission! People were literally on their feet cheering the two times I saw this wonderful film.
Here are the nominations with my vote in bold.
(TGATP Note: In some categories, a couple of films or people get my vote. Like Best Picture, I just can’t pick. I loved 4 in that category and will be happy if any of those win. And in that aforementioned documentary category, I am a write-in with “Step”.)
Best Picture
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Best Actress
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post
Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Supporting Actress
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water
Best Director
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
Best Adapted Screenplay
James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
Scott Frank and James Mangold and Michael Green, Logan
Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
Virgil Williams and Dee Rees, Mudbound
Best Original Screenplay
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Animated Feature
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent
Best Animated Short
Dear Basketball, Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant
Garden Party, Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon
Lou, Dave Mullins, Dana Murray
Negative Space, Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata
Revolting Rhymes, Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer
Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Bruno Delbonnel, Darkest Hour
Hoyte van Hoytema, Dunkirk
Rachel Morrison, Mudbound
Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water
Best Documentary Feature
Abacus Small Enough to Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island
(TGATP Note: STEP should be here and should have won this category!)
Best Documentary Short Subject
Edith + Eddie
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop
Best Live Action Short Film
Reed Van Dyk, DeKalb Elementary
Derin Seale, Josh Lawson, The Eleven O’Clock
Kevin Wilson, Jr., My Nephew Emmett
Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton, The Silent Child
Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen, Watu Wote/All of Us
Best Foreign Language Film
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
The Insult (Lebanon)
Loveless (Russia)
On Body and Soul (Hungary)
The Square (Sweden)
Best Film Editing
Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss, Baby Driver
Lee Smith, Dunkirk
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
Sidney Wolinsky, The Shape of Water
Jon Gregory, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Sound Editing
Julian Slater, Baby Driver
Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Blade Runner 2049
Alex Gibson, Richard King, Dunkirk
Nathan Robitaille, The Shape of Water
Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Best Sound Mixing
Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin, Baby Driver
Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill, Blade Runner 2049
Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Dunkirk
Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern, The Shape of Water
Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Best Production Design
Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Best Original Score
Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk
Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
John Williams, Star Wars The Last Jedi
Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Original Song
“Mighty River” from Mudbound, Mary J. Blige
“Mystery of Love” from Call Me by Your Name, Sufjan Stevens
“Remember Me” from Coco, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
“Stand Up for Something” from Marshall, Diane Warren, Common
“This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul
Makeup and Hair
Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick, Darkest Hour
Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard, Victoria and Abdul
Arjen Tuiten, Wonder
Costume Design
Beauty and the Beast
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Victoria and Abdul
Visual Effects
John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer, Blade Runner 2049
Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus, Kong: Skull Island
Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlon, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist, War for the Planet of the Apes
