With 2018 coming to a close, the last remaining remnant of that year is the award ceremonies that follow in early 2019, and my favorite of these is the Academy Awards. While I don't consider any awards show to be gospel when it comes to marking what is the best in a given time frame (especially since the medium of film is subjective and what is good to one person might not be that way to another), the Academy Awards, or Oscars, are my favorite mostly because it is the longest standing awards show for film and the statue is iconic.
What I like most about awards shows like the Oscars and Golden Globes is that it brings to the forefront movies most people don't see in a given year. Winners like The Shape of Water and The King's Speech wouldn't normally get a massive viewing audience, but by being named best of the year it garnered more attention than it normally would. Do I really believe The Shape of Water is a more well crafted film than Dunkirk or Get Out or The King's Speech is better than The Social Network or Toy Story 3? No, but that is what's great about these awards shows. Others not like me who end up seeing only the popular films pushed by big production studios might become curious about smaller movies that garner more attention during awards season.
When I was younger and the Academy only recognized five nominees for each category I normally had seen most of the nominated films prior to announcing its list a few weeks before the big night. Since having kids my free time to see the "important" films has been less and less. The past few years I normally have to catch up prior to the night of the ceremony and that is done at a special screening of the Best Picture nominees at AMC Theatres. This year is no different. Of the eight Best Picture nominees, I have seen only Black Panther. The films I'm looking forward to viewing in the coming weeks are Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, and A Star is Born. Roma peaks my interest only because of all the praise it has been getting, but the actual story doesn't sound very interesting. As for Blackkklansman, The Green Book, and Vice, I could take those or leave them.
I am disappointed that First Man wasn't nominated for Best Picture. I thought it was a long shot that it would be, but I missed it in theaters and was hoping to get a second chance at the special screening. I was also a little surprised that If Beale Street Could Talk wasn't nominated in the Best Picture category. The biggest snub I saw was leaving Bradley Cooper out of the Best Director category. With eight nominations total, I just assumed Cooper would also be in the running for Best Director.
No movie is in contention for the Academy's Big Five, which is Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. Only three films have won the Big Five: It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and The Silence of the Lambs.
We'll see how all this shakes out, but I am already formulating my picks and hope to win another year in the Best Picker category at our annual Oscars party.