Hello everybody. Hope you are doing well. Since the Oscars are this coming weekend, I’ve decided to pause my regular movie review/roundup again and instead run through the Best Picture nominees and try to figure out what movie will win. And more importantly, I want to highlight why the nominees SUCK this year. Out of the 8 movies nominated, HALF (that’s right) HALF of these movies do not deserve to be on this list. Which ones shouldn’t be there? Which ones are actually decent? And which movie will win? Let’s find out shall we!

BlackkKlansman: Starting off strong with Spike Lee’s latest joint in BackkKlansman. I believe this is one of the front runners for the big award and I think deservedly so. This movie is incredible; everything from the acting to the writing to the soundtrack is breathtaking. Also (not to get political) I think this might have a good chance at winning the big prize because of its subject material and its connection to current racial problems, and whether you agree with Lee’s conclusion, it is a powerful movie and one I think will affect many Academy voters.

Black Panther: Welcome Exhibit A for “Why the 2019 Oscar Best Picture Nominees suck.” Now before you get angry, I really love Black Panther. In fact it was one of my best films of 2018.  However, that does not make it Best Picture worthy. Infinity War was my best/favorite movie of 2018 but never in a thousand years would I nominate it for Best Picture. It’s just not at that level. And neither is Black Panther. Sure, it is a cultural touchstone that will have ripples on mainstream cinema for years (maybe decades) to come, but that does not make it that good of a film. And that is what a Best Picture nominee should be.

Bohemian Rhapsody: Speaking of not that good of a film, enter Exhibit B: Bohemian Rhapsody. This movie is just your regular run of the mill biopic and while you might feel the spirit while watching it, that is more due to the music and not the movie. I mean come on. It’s QUEEN. I’m ALWAYS excited when Queen comes on the radio. Let me put it another way. This movie is like cotton candy. Sure it’s sweet and you might crave it now and then, but after you finish it, you’ll still be hungry. That’s all I have on this one. MOVING ON!!!!

The Favourite: Now this is a weeeeeeeeeeeeeird movie. Good. But weird. Olivia Coleman is spectacular and the feuds between Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are equal parts riveting and concerning. I don’t think this one will win Best Picture BUT I think it has a chance. Because of how the voting for Best Picture works, the Favourite might win if other big nominees steal votes from each other. Be sure to keep your eye on this one, and if you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend it. Just be ready for strangeness to the 10th degree.

Green Book: As I said at the top, half of the nominees belong on this list and half don’t. In terms of the not deserving, this is Exhibit C. Another cotton candy movie, Green Book is a movie you’ve probably seen 30 times in your life. White person is a little (probably a lot) racist and has to spend time with a black person and sees what they go through in life (typically in the Jim Crow south) and they bond and the white person realizes his wrongs and everyone rides off into the sunset. Yeah I think that’s a good description of Green Book. Again. Don’t get me wrong. This is a nice feel good movie, but 12 Years a Slave this is not. It’s a movie I would recommend but would not vote for.

Roma: Netflix coming in STRONG with Roma here, hoping to win Best Picture to legitimize the platform in the eyes of Traditional Hollywood. I watched this at the end of 2018 and it just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know if it was when I watched it or how I watched it but I just did not see the magic that most do. That being said, I do recognize the technical proficiency and masterpiece of a movie that this is. In the past, “artsy” movies like this generally do very well, and I think this movie might take the day. Similar to the Favourite though, the path to victory might be hoping Black Panther and Green Book steal votes from the other heavy hitters. Nevertheless, this is a movie to be ready for.

A Star is Born: This is the other movie that I personally believe is a front runner for winning. This movie has everything. Star studded cast. Great music. Beloved by most who’ve watched it. Yuge marketing campaign behind it. This movie, any other year, might get looked over, but not this year. With the nominations this year, this is A Star is Born’s game to lose. It’s the bottom of the 9th and the bases are loaded. Will Bradley Cooper knock it out of the park? Or pitifully strike out like a loser?

Vice: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOk. Enter Exhibit D. And in this case, D is representative of my letter grade for this movie. Putting political differences aside, this movie is just not there. The Big Short (which was the last film director Adam McKay did before Vice) was super tight, funny and most importantly, when you watched it, you didn’t feel like you were being lectured to. Vice is the complete opposite. It is as loose as hell and feels like nothing was cut from it. It isn’t really funny- it feels more like a biopic than a comedy. And the entire run time is spent with McKay telling you how awful Dick Chaney is, and regardless of your opinions of Chaney, it’s just really tiring. If you love him (if that’s possible) then you’ll want to break your tv, and if you hate him, you’ll be bored by the 30 minute mark. You might enjoy this film (I didn’t) but I certainly do not think it deserves to be on this list.

And there you have it. My prediction is a toss up between BlackkKlansman and A Star is Born but if I had to choose, I’d probably settle on BlackkKlansman. But again, Roma or the Favourite could win if the voting works in their favor. Regardless, I’m excited to see where everything falls and I can’t wait to see some of these movies again! We’ll check in next week to see if I was right.

And of course, next week we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming. Cheers fam!

(The Oscar logo is a copyright belonging to the Academy. All movie posters from their respective Wikipedia pages. I do not own any of the images used in this post. All copyright material used under fair use and for review purposes only)

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