WASHINGTON — The 91st annual Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning with “Roma” and “The Favourite” leading the field with 10 nominations each.
Here are my five biggest takeaways:
1) Superheroes: “Black Panther” makes history as the first comic book movie ever nominated for Best Picture. This probably should have happened a decade ago with Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” (2008), but the Academy wasn’t ready yet. Congrats to filmmaker Ryan Coogler and the entire Wakanda team for finally getting superheroes over the genre hump.
2) Streaming: Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” makes history as the first Netflix film nominated for Best Picture. This should have happened last year for Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” (2017), but again the Academy wasn’t ready for a shift. Now, “Roma” ties “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) for the most nominations by a foreign-language film. No foreign flick has ever won Best Picture, but is “Roma” even “foreign” if it’s produced by Netflix in Hollywood? Is this the year?
3) Directing: Spike Lee finally gets a Best Director nod after 30 years. He is long overdue, from “Do the Right Thing” (1989) to “Malcolm X” (1992), and “BlacKkKlansman” is a fitting film to finally do it. Meanwhile, Bradley Cooper did not land a nomination for his directorial debut “A Star is Born,” which featured brilliant background symbolism to foreshadow its tragic end. Instead, the other directing slots went to Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”), Adam McKay (“Vice”) and Pawel Pawlikowski (“Cold War”). Can Cuaron win again?
4) Movie Snubs: With only eight nominees, “A Quiet Place,” “First Man,” “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Tully” were snubbed for Best Picture. All were superior to “The Favourite” and “Vice” in my book. Still, the biggest snubs came in the documentary category where “Three Identical Strangers” and “Wont You Be My Neighbor?” came home empty. How did this even happen?
5) Top Prize: While “Bohemian Rhapsody” just won at the Globes, I doubt it will withstand the backlash. Better bets are “Roma” or “Green Book,” which is still nicely positioned after Best Picture wins at the Globes and PGA Awards. The PGA has predicted the Oscar champ eight out of the last 10 years. Only four films have won Best Picture without a directing nod, one of them being “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989), but “Green Book” was nominated at the DGA Awards, meaning there may be just enough votes in the directors’ guild to push it over the top.
Full list of nominees:
Best picture: Black Panther,” ”BlacKkKlansman,” ”Bohemian Rhapsody,” ”The Favourite,” ”Green Book,” ”Roma,” ”A Star Is Born,” ”Vice.”
Best director: Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”; Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”; Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”; Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite”; Adam McKay, “Vice.”
Best actor: Christian Bale, “Vice”; Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”; Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”; Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”; Willem Dafoe “At Eternity’s Gate.”
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 supporting actor: Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”; Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born”; Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”; Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”; Sam Rockwell, “Vice.”
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.”
Original Song: “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” music and lyrics by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch; “All The Stars” from “Black Panther,” music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and lyrics by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solana Rowe; “I’ll Fight” from “RBG,” music and lyrics by Diane Warren; “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns,” music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman; “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born,” music and lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.
Original Score: “Black Panther,” Ludwig Goransson; “BlacKkKlansman,” Terence Blanchard; “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Nicholas Britell; “Isle of Dogs,” Alexandre Desplat; “Mary Poppins Returns,” Marc Shaiman.
Foreign language film: Germany’s “Never Look Away”; Japan’s “Shoplifters”; Lebanon’s “Capernaum”; Mexico’s “Roma”; Poland’s “Cold War.” Documentary feature: “Free Solo,” ”Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” ”Minding the Gap,” ”Of Fathers and Sons,” ”RBG”
Documentary feature: “Free Solo,” ”Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” ”Minding the Gap,” ”Of Fathers and Sons,” ”RBG”
Documentary short subject: “Black Sheep,” ”End Game,” ”Lifeboat,” ”A Night at The Garden,” ”Period. End of Sentence.”
Adapted screenplay: “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen; “BlacKkKlansman,” Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee; “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty; “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Barry Jenkins; “A Star Is Born,” Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters
Original screenplay: “The Favourite,” Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara; “First Reformed,” Paul Schrader; “Green Book,” Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly ; “Roma,” Alfonso Cuaron; “Vice,” Adam McKay
Film Editing: “BlacKkKlansman,” Barry Alexander Brown; “Bohemian Rhapsody,” John Ottman; “The Favourite,” Yorgos Mavropsaridis; “Green Book,” Patrick J. Don Vito; “Vice,” Hank Corwin
Sound Editing: “Black Panther,” ”Bohemian Rhapsody,” ”First Man,” ”A Quiet Place,” ”Roma.”
Sound Mixing: “Black Panther,” ”Bohemian Rhapsody,” ”First Man,” ”Roma,” ”A Star Is Born.”
Visual effects: “Avengers: Infinity War”; “Christopher Robin”; “First Man”; “Ready Player One”; “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
Makeup and hairstyling: “Border”; “Mary Queen of Scots”; “Vice.”
Costume design: “The Ballad of Buster Scriggs,” Mary Zophres; “Black Panther,” Ruth Carter; “The Favourite,” Sandy Powell; “Mary Poppins Returns,” Sandy Pwoell; “Mary Queen of Scots,” Alexandra Byrne
Production design: “Black Panther,” ”The Favourite,” ”First Man,” ”Mary Poppins Returns,” ”Roma.”
Cinematography: Lukasz Zal, “Cold War”; Robbie Ryan, “The Favourite”; Caleb Deschanel, “Never Look Away”; Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”; Matthew Libatique, “A Star Is Born.”
Best animated film: “Incredibles 2,” ”Isle of Dogs,” ”Mirai,” ”Ralph Breaks the Internet,” ”Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”
Animated short film: “Animal Behavior,” ”Bad,” ”Late Afternoon,” ”One Small Step,” ”Weekends.”
Live Action short film: “Detainment,” ”Fauve,” ”Marguerite,” ”Mother,” ”Skin.”
