Oscar Nominations 2019

The Academy Awards, more commonly known as the Oscars, are the most anticipated awards of the film season. This year, the unfortunately host-less Oscars will take place on Sunday, February 24th, at 8:00 PM (EST) and you can watch it live on ABC. The nominees’ list was released earlier this month and caused quite a stir both within the film community and on social media.

Actors Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish) and Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) presented the list of nominees over a live stream broadcast that could be watched on the Academy’s various social media platforms, on the Oscars’ ABC website, and other related websites. The presentation itself was not nearly as glamorous as the awards’ night always is, but surely fans, actors, and entire production teams for the hit films of the year were hanging on to every word of the broadcast.

In the first half of the live stream various performance and technical categories including Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, and Achievement in Costume Design had their nominees announced. In the second half, category nominations for Best Documentary Feature, Achievement in Production Design, and the long-awaited nominees for Achievement in Directing, and Best Picture, among others, were announced. Overall, Alfonso Cuarón’s wildly successful Netflix film, Roma, and Yorgos Lanthimos’ period piece The Favourite lead with 10 nominations each. Once the approximately 20-minute long broadcast was over, those who have been following the film awards’ season closely took to social media to participate in familiar discourse about the nominations.

Over the course of the year, there are other awards presented to films that can be indicators of who will take home the coveted Oscars seeing as the Academy Awards conclude the film awards’ season. These awards such as the Golden Globes, and the Critics’ Choice Awards, can help people predict who will win big at the Oscars at the end of February. However, this year there is an increasingly common disconnect between the winners of these awards across various presentations with some films taking multiple wins from one institution, but nothing from another.

One such film this year is the popular Bohemian Rhapsody in which actor Rami Malek delivers an engaging performance as Queen’s legendary rock icon Freddie Mercury. Both Malek and Bohemian Rhapsody won big at the Golden Globes with Malek taking home the Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture and the movie taking the award of the night– Best Drama Motion Picture. Despite these big wins, Bohemian Rhapsody was not nominated for similar categories at the Critics’ Choice Awards, and although Malek was nominated for Best Actor, he did not win, with the award going to Christian Bale for his portrayal of former U.S. Vice President and controversial political figure, Dick Cheney, in Vice. Malek was nominated for the Oscar in his category as was Bale.

Some controversial Oscar nominations that created buzz on social media included Black Panther’s nomination for Best Picture. Although the film made over a billion dollars in box offices worldwide, film enthusiasts disagree with its nomination for one of the night’s biggest awards. People on social media were also generally disappointed with Ethan Hawke’s absence from the Best Actor nominees list for his performance as a deeply troubled pastor in First Reformed, and Timothée Chalamet’s absence from the Best Supporting Actor category for his portrayal of methamphetamine and opiate addict Nic Sheff in Beautiful Boy. However, fans were overall pleased with Roma’s plentiful nominations because of the film’s ever-growing popularity due in part to its unique cinematography and touching, personal story.

No one can predict who will take home Oscars at the 91st Academy Awards this February, so all that’s left is to tune in to the broadcast and root for your favorite films of the year. Check the Oscars’ website for the full list of categories and nominees, and don’t miss the ceremony on February 24th at 8:00 PM on ABC.