Oscars Recap 2019.
Every year Katie and I have a mission: see every Best Picture Nominee prior to the Oscar’s Awards Ceremony. It’s a SUPER fun tradition and a good challenge too. It’s not as easy to achieve as one would think.
The vast majority of nominated films release in theaters WAY before the nomination list comes out so we have to kinda play a guessing game as to which movies to see in theaters. We have to see what has “buzz” and do our best to see everything we can when it’s released.
Otherwise, we risk not being able to find the movie once the list comes out. Often times the films that are nominated are in this “dead zone” when they release the nominees. They aren’t in theaters but they also aren’t yet available to stream or rent. It can be tricky!
This year we saw two movies that we didn’t need to see. They both had buzz but didn’t end up being nominated. The first was First Man which I ZERO percent recommend seeing. It was not good at all. Disappointing lack of character development and just not a great Ryan Gosling movie. I was glad to see that it wasn’t nominated.
The second that we saw and didn’t need to was Widows. I knew NOTHING about it prior to seeing it and once we started watching it both Katie and I really, really enjoyed it. It was so different. Not at ALL what we’d expected when it first got going. It’s got a great story that draws you in and is a movie that both men and women will enjoy so it’s a perfect date night movie to watch together!
Last year Katie and I actually achieved an extra bonus goal of seeing all the best picture noms AND all of the films nominated in the category of Best Actor and Best Actress. We did NOT achieve that this year. It just didn’t work out for us to see them all although I would like to see The Wife as well as Can You Ever Forgive Me (seeing Melissa McCarthy nominated for Best Actress has me SO INTRIGUED).
A Star Is Born
We saw A Star is Born very early on in the Oscar movie watching. I have very low expectations of it…I’d heard a TON of buzz and assumed it was just that, buzz. More based on Lady Gaga being in it and coming from her massive fan base than it being based on the actual acting in the movie.
I never assume that singers translate into actors. Very rarely does that really happen right?
I’ve also never really been that into Bradley Cooper. I mean I’ve enjoyed some of his movies but didn’t really see him being a professional singer kinda guy…
The movie was great! Both Katie and I liked it, but we weren’t like OMG THIS IS LIFECHANGING. We enjoyed it. Lady Gaga did well but not Oscar-worthy well. I don’t know much about her as a person but it didn’t seem like it was a stretch for a singer to be acting as, a singer.
We didn’t cry. We both kinda saw the ending coming. The storyline is solid but nothing new or especially exciting.
What did get us excited? Two words: Bradley Cooper
Yall where did he come from? Katie read up some on how he truly worked to “get hot” for this role and he did it well. I’m not into regular Bradley Cooper but A Star Is Born Bradley Cooper totes would have been on a movie poster hanging above my bed in high school next to Armaggedon Ben Affleck (am I right?)
The movie was one where I didn’t LOVE it when watching it but the more I listened to that soundtrack (and trust me, I’ve given it an abundant listen) the more obsessed with it I became. Her voice. His voice. Their voices together. MAGIC.
It’s a rare movie that I want to watch again. Because I think I’ll enjoy it more a second time through. The more I learned about it, the more I also appreciate it. I love that they legit sang the songs and that they were sung live and that the last song was done in one take. All really add to the movie and think that knowledge would make it a great second watch (maybe I can get Zach to see it!).
Katie and I were basically watching the Oscars FOR Bradley. We were DYING during their performance. Yall. It was SO AMAZING. It did not disappoint! Their chemistry is crazy and they both did just so, so great on that stage! We knew it wouldn’t win (or at least we knew it didn’t deserve to win) but we wouldn’t have minded if Bradley had somehow stolen that Best Actor win 😉
And can I also add how weird was it that Barbara Streisand introduced Blackkklansman durig the awards show and not A Star is Born when she was in the original? Weird, right?
Green Book
This year was a rare Oscar year for us, the majority of the movies we knew nothing, or very little, about going into them. I kinda liked it because we didn’t already have any sort of base opinion and could just enjoy the films for whatever they had to offer.
We knew nothing about Green Book but I’ve always really liked Mahershala Ali (LOVED him in House of Cards).
Our society right now is very focused on racial/gender issues. When the movie first started I was interested to see where it’d go, how it’d play out, how it’d feature the characters and in what light they’d present them in. I was blown away impressed.
For a film based during such a racially charged time in our country’s history, this movie did a beautiful job of being respectful to everyone. It wasn’t “make the white guy look bad” kinda thing. It was positive all around. Positive focus on these men, their backgrounds, their bond and friendship, and their learning new things and experiences.
Katie and I both shed tears. We LOVED IT.
It was such a great feel-good film that left your heart feeling full and joyful. We saw it over the Christmas holidays and it was such a great holiday movie.
That being said, the win for Best Picture surprised us.
Don’t get me wrong, LOVED the movie. But it felt like a family movie from the mid-90s that you’d sit around and watch as a family. Not one that would win Best Picture. However,
Vice
After seeing the previews I was pretty excited about seeing Vice. I cannot BELIEVE, still even after seeing it, that Christian Bale is who is playing Dick Cheney. I also cannot believe he didn’t win for Best Actor. He was ROBBED.
I really loved The Big Short a few years ago and Vice was done in a similar style which I really enjoyed.
I am thankful we had the heads up going into it that it had a very liberal spin. Originally Zach was planning to see it with us but when we heard about that side of it he opted not to see it. And I don’t think he should. It was def the right call for him not to go!
A group of people watching the movie got up and left during it.
I’m able to toss the stuff I don’t agree with and just focus on the film for what it is. Knowing going in that it’d have a political agenda it was pretty easy to not take those elements to heart too much. It annoyed me, and Katie and I discussed some of the things during it, but it didn’t hinder me from still, overall, liking the movie.
I do think it’s important to note when seeing it that it’s not a TRULY TRUE story.
Sam Rockwell zero percent deserved his Oscar nomination in my opinion. The film did incredible with Christian Bale but totally dropped the ball on even attempting to make Sam Rockwell look like George W. Bush. He didn’t look like him AT ALL and was barely in the movie. So weird that he was nominated!!!
I wasn’t rooting for it to win Best Picture but if it had I wouldn’t have been super bitter or anything as the style of film is SO different and such a great way to tell a story!
The Favourite
We saw Vice and The Favourite on the same night. Again, we had no clue about this movie. I knew literally nothing. When I first saw that it was a period piece I assumed I’d be falling asleep. But I was so wrong in the best way possible.
First, who doesn’t love Emma Stone? It’s like she can do no wrong. She’s always great.
She was my personal vote for Best Supporting Actress but I LOVED Regina King’s speech and her entire outfit was STUNNING. We didn’t see If Beale Street Could Talk but I love that she had such a beautiful Oscar moment!
Anyway, The Favourite was THE most creative film I’ve seen in a long, long time.
It truly had every single element. Love, hate, war, death, horror, humor, satire, drama – literally all of it. It was an interesting story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s filled with constant surprises that keep you guessing had great acting and great romance and was also just so FUN. The original score was also awesome. It was just truly perfection.
We both really, really loved it and agreed it was THE most deserving of the Best Picture Win.
While we loved Green Book, we did feel like The Favourite was a bit robbed of their win. However, I’m SO GLAD that Olivia Colman won for Best Actress.
Yall…wasn’t her speech just PERFECTION?
Not joking. I teared up! It was just PRECIOUS. She was adorable and just SO HUMBLE. I loved every second and I’m just so, so glad she won! Totally deserving and she clearly appreciated it so much which made it even better.
Roma
Again, I knew nothing going into Roma. I ended up having to get a free trial of Netflix in order to watch it but it was well worth the hassle of signing up.
It’s a beautiful film. I wish I’d known the back story prior to watching it because I kept looking for deeper meaning in things that had NO deeper meaning haha. Like there are tons of references to airplanes so I was trying to think about the reasoning behind the airplane scenes and it bugged me that they never revealed them. So I googled and apparently, there were just a lot of airplanes during filming and they just left them.
I read all these deep things into the movie that really weren’t there – it’s a true story based off of childhood memories from the director of the film.
It’s all in Spanish and in black and white. It is beautifully done but be warned that there are a lot of really raw moments. If you have experience with pregnancy or infant loss it will cause a lot of emotions. It was the type of moment where I could SOB if I allowed myself to go there. There is also some violence to be warned about too.
And, also, an additional warning but it’s the most male frontal nudity I’ve ever seen in a movie. Which total side note but can we just say that with SO MANY FEMALE NUDITY SCENES in movies that it’s refreshing to see males being put on display every now and then. It was a total shocker moment for sure and we joked that maybe the guy didn’t realize he was being filmed for a movie haha.
It didn’t take away from the depth of the film but it was just as unnecessary as every single set of breasts every movie has ever shown.
It would have been super adorable for Yalitza Aparicio would have won for Best Actress since this was her first ever movie.
It had the weight of a Best Picture film. It could have held it’s own as the winner and was my runner up choice behind The Favourite.
Bohemian Rhapsody
I cannot understand for the life of me why so many people love this movie so much. Yall. THEY ARE LIP SYNCING. A Star Is Born? They are REALLY SINGING. This movie? NOT REALLY SINGING.
I also heard that several of the most interesting scenes in the movie aren’t even true.
How was this nominated for Best Picture?
It started off SO SLOW but also felt like it jumped too fast at the same time. Like it didn’t give us ANY back story of WHO Freddy was. How’d he get so talented? It gave us very little background.
It got better and to a point where I was truly enjoying it then it just got bad again.
Katie pointed out that it felt like a movie. It didn’t make you feel like it was REALLY happening. Instead, it seemed like people in costumes. Like their hair was obviously a wig. It just wasn’t a movie where you felt lost in the film.
I was SO NERVOUS about this movie winning Best Picture. It won so many of the smaller awards that I was nervous it’d win the biggies. I didn’t think Rami Malek deserved his Best Actor win in the least. Christian Bale was truly robbed. Truly.
All of this being said, I didn’t know anything about Queen going into seeing the movie. And I think movies like that should leave someone like me wanting to know more, wanting to become a fan. And it didn’t. So I get that maybe Queen fans loved it because it was about a band they love (like I’m sure I’ll love the Rocketman movie about Elton John coming out) but that doesn’t make a movie great. Phoning it in based on knowing your fans will come through and support it is just lame.
Blackkklansman
Last year Get Out was nominated and we all liked it. Blackkklansman was the opposite of how I felt about Bohemian Rhapsody. It started out STRONG. It was a great set-up and great storytelling and great acting. But then it just fell super, super flat.
I understand it’s based on a true story and you can’t make a true story more exciting than it actually was but the film acts like this dude took down the KKK and he def did not. A lot of it was a chance happening and had zero percent to do with him.
Like the climactic scene of the film was just a total letdown but then all the rest of the movie acted like it was SO EPIC when it wasn’t.
Much like Green Card, I did think this movie did a good job of being respectful towards all parties involved. I mean obviously, the KKK is horrible and they were painted in a horrible light but not over the top either. Like it was realistic and well done and I thought the casting was all very well done too.
It wasn’t the worst movie I’ve seen and I did enjoy it more than Bohemian Rhapsody but if it were between it and Get Out I think Get Out was much more deserving of the Best Picture win. I felt like this movie couldn’t decide what type of film it was. It wasn’t funny enough to be a comedy or serious enough to be a drama.
I’m glad it didn’t win for Best Picture but I also didn’t think Spike Lee was deserving of Best Director. I was shocked the director of Roma didn’t win! I found out later that it was Spike Lee’s first win so it made sense that he got it…kinda like a “we owe you” win like Leonardo DiCaprio a few years ago!
Black Panther
We put off watching Black Panther for as long as physically possible. Like we legit watched it right before we watched The Oscars. To be honest we didn’t legit watch watch it. We chatted, ate dinner and fast-forwarded our way through it.
And I have zero regrets about that. Even with only half-way watching it we still got the gist of what was happening. Neither of us are superhero-type girls and we knew going in that we wouldn’t enjoy it.
We also knew it wouldn’t win. I get that the academy is trying to appeal to the masses by nominating more mainstream, blockbuster success type stuff. I get it. I really do. And I think movies like this have their place and I understand the fandom surrounding them, but c’mon it ain’t no best picture.
The casting was great and it was funny seeing Randal from This is Us being in such a different role than I’m used to seeing!
I knew it’d probably take home some of the smaller wins and that didn’t surprise me. I know there is an audience that LOVES these kinds of movies, but that’s just not me 😉
Overall we did really well this year in knocking out all the movie watching. There are still a couple we’d like to see, but those didn’t win so we didn’t miss much as far as being able to follow along with the awards as they were presented.
Katie came over early and we “watched” Black Panther, ate some queso and burritos and didn’t start the actual awards show until 9:30ish. About 90 minutes into it and it worked out PERFECTLY. We were able to fast-forward through all the awards we weren’t interested in, all the performances we didn’t want to see, all the speeches we didn’t care about and all the commercials and still never caught up to live time.
For Christmas this year I got Katie a hat to wear for our big night. Katie and I have decided hats are our “thing” so duh we had to have a hat for Oscar night!
I love this tradition every year and love that I have such a great friend to share the fun with. We are both equally committed to the goal and both agree it’s gonna be hard to ever top that Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performance!
I swear I will have “shallow” stuck in my head and on my heart FOREVER 😉
Who else was BEGGING him to KISS HER ALREADY?!?!?!
Did you see all the Oscar noms this year? Any favorites? Did your reviews match up with mine or differ?
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Definitely agree that bohemian rhapsody was over rated. I would recommend giving black panther a second chance! It isn’t your typical super hero movie and there are so many strong female characters! I thought the ending of blackkklansman was appropriate, especially with some of the current racial issues our country is dealing with. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of racism, as illustrated by the final scenes. You can’t wrap a story like that up with a nice bow and happy ending.
Cant wait to see what movies come out this year!