2019 OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

"The Favourite", a dark comedy about Queen Anne’s court in the 18th century with Yorgos Lanthimos receiving his first nomination as Best Director, and "Roma", Best Director nominee, Alfonso Cuarón's drama loosely based on his childhood which was also acknowledged for Best Foreign Language Film, led the field of the 2019 Oscar nominations with ten each, including Best Picture. There were a total of eight films selected for Best Picture this year and they also include "A Star Is Born," "Vice" and "Black Panther" (the first super-hero movie EVER nominated) which each scored a total of eight nominations; "BlacKkKlansman" which received six nominations; "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Green Book" with both scoring five nominations.

Kumail Nanjiani (an Oscar nominee for Best Original Screenplay for "The Big Sick") and Tracee Ellis Ross (who I don't think has ever been in a feature film) announced the nominations today and while they had a nice chemistry, their banter was hardly humorous and seemed to only make each other laugh. Perhaps they really were delirious from getting up so early which was all they seemed to talk about.

Anyway, back to the nominations. There were certainly some unexpected nods that nobody saw coming which we have come to expect from the Oscars. One was Willem Dafoe's nomination for his portrayal of troubled painter, Vincent Van Gogh in "At Eternity's Gate" which hadn't gotten much buzz or box-office. Another was Pawel Pawlikowski for Best Director for his beautiful work in "Cold War". The Best Actress nomination for first-time performer, Yalitza Aparicio and Marina De Tavira for Best Supporting Actress for their performances in "Roma" were pleasant surprises. The biggest upset, to me, was the omission of "Will You Be My Neighbor?" for Best Documentary. This film about the life of Fred Rogers was not only one of the best non-fiction films but it was one of the best movies of 2018.

And there were a few nominations that recognized some veteran talent long overdue for award attention. Sam Elliot received a career first nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his moving performance in "A Star Is Born", the noted writer of "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull", Paul Schrader has inexplicably just been honored for the first time for Best Original Screenplay and Spike Lee has shockingly received his very first nomination for Best Director.

The 91st Annual Academy Awards will be broadcast on February 24, 2019 from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Due to the Kevin Hart controversy, there is no host planned for the ceremony at this present time.

Here is the complete list of the 2019 Oscar nominations:

Best Picture:

“Black Panther”
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book”
“Roma”
“A Star Is Born”
“Vice”

Best Director:

Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”
Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite”
Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma”
Adam McKay, “Vice”

Best Original Screenplay:

Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, "The Favourite"
Paul Schrader, "First Reformed"
Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly, "Green Book"
Alfonso Cuarón, "Roma"
Adam McKay, "Vice"

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”
Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"
Barry Jenkins, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters, "A Star Is Born"

Best Actress:

Yalitza Aparicio, “Roma”
Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”
Lady Gaga, “A Star Is Born”
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Best Actor:

Christian Bale, “Vice”
Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”
Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”

Best Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams, “Vice”
Marina de Tavira, “Roma”
Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Emma Stone, “The Favourite”
Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”

Best Supporting Actor:

Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”
Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born”
Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Sam Rockwell, “Vice”

Best Cinematography:

Lukasz Zal, "Cold War"
Robbie Ryan, "The Favourite"
Caleb Deschanel, "Never Look Away"
Alfonso Cuarón, "Roma"
Matthew Libatique, "A Star Is Born"

Best Film Editing:

Barry Alexander Brown, “BlacKkKlansman”
John Ottman, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Patrick J. Don Vito, "Green Book"
Yorgos Mavropsaridis, "The Favourite"
Hank Corwin, "Vice"

Best Production Design:

Hannah Beachler, "Black Panther"
Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas, "First Man"
Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton, "The Favourite"
John Myhre and Gordon Sim, "Mary Poppins Returns"
Eugenio Caballero and Bárbara Enrı́quez, "Roma"

Best Foreign Language Film:

“Capernaum” (Lebanon)
“Cold War” (Poland)
“Never Look Away” (Germany)
“Roma” (Mexico)
“Shoplifters” (Japan)

Best Documentary Feature:

“Free Solo”
“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”
“Minding the Gap”
“Of Fathers and Sons”
“RBG”

Best Documentary Short Subject:

“Black Sheep”
“End Game”
“Lifeboat”
“A Night at the Garden”
“Period. End of Sentence."

Best Animated Feature:

“Incredibles 2”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Mirai”
“Ralph Breaks the Internet”
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

Best Animated Short:

“Animal Behaviour”
“Bao”
“Late Afternoon”
“One Small Step”
“Weekends”

Best Live Action Short Film:

“Detainment”
“Fauve”
“Marguerite”
“Mother”
“Skin”

Best Original Score:

Terence Blanchard, “BlacKkKlansman”
Ludwig Goransson, "Black Panther"
Nicholas Britell, "If Beale Street Could Talk"
Alexandre Desplat, "Isle of Dogs"
Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, "Mary Poppins Returns"

Best Original Song:

“All The Stars” from “Black Panther”; Written by Kendrick Lamar, Al Shux, Sounwave, SZA and Anthony Tiffith
“I’ll Fight” from “RBG”; Written by Diane Warren
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns”; Written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”; Written by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt and Benjamin Rice
“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”; Written by Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch

Best Sound Editing:

Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker, "Black Panther"
John Warhurst, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan, "First Man"
Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl, "A Quiet Place"
Sergio Diaz and Skip Lievsay, "Roma"

Best Sound Mixing:

Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin, “Black Panther”
Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis, “First Man”
Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio García, “Roma”
Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow, “A Star Is Born”

Best Costume Design:

Mary Zophres, “Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
Ruth E. Carter, "Black Panther"
Sandy Powell, "The Favourite"
Sandy Powell, "Mary Poppins Returns"
Alexandra Byrne, “Mary Queen of Scots”

Best Hair and Make-Up:

Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer, “Border”
Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks, “Mary Queen of Scots”
Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia DeHaney, “Vice”

Best Visual Effects:

Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick, “Avengers: Infinity War”
Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould, “Christopher Robin”
Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm, “First Man”
Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk, “Ready Player One”
Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy, “Solo: A Star Wars Story”