It's been a long time since Best Actor was a competitive race of any kind. Last year, Gary Oldman was anointed before Darkest Hour even came out, practically. It was the same the year before with Casey Affleck, even though Denzel Washington's performance in Fences was beyond belief. The year before, Leonardo DiCaprio was given his "Lifetime … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Best Actor
This year the Academy has been all about pleasing the audience, for better or worse. On the plus side, more crowd favorites are up for major awards, including Black Panther and Bohemian Rhapsody, which makes the ceremony more accessible to the audience at large, even if it's something of a stopgap measure to stave off the possibility … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Documentary Feature
Film Editing is arguably the most personal category to me, as I've got about a decade of experience as a TV editor under my belt, the vast majority of it in cable sports (those SportsCenter highlights don't cut themselves). As such, I know the incredible amount of hard work that the post-production staff puts in on … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Film Editing
By its very nature, the Visual Effects category is the most fluid of the entire ceremony. Not only do the artists and editors constantly put in some insane hours trying to one-up each other, but as technology evolves, so does the collective taste of the audience and the Academy voters. It's amazing to look back … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Visual Effects
In recent history, the Supporting Actress category has unfortunately been treated as a foregone conclusion. Part of it is a side effect of trying to make the Best Actress category less competitive (see: Vikander, Alicia), and part of it is recognizing great actresses who you'd never see on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine. It's become a … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Best Supporting Actress
I'm always a bit conflicted on this category. Traditionally, this is the most glamorous award handed out on Oscar Night, as the anticipation is almost as high to see what the winner is wearing as it is to learn who the winner will actually be. It's kind of sexist in a way, because the dress … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Best Actress
Ah, my favorite of the major categories, Original Screenplay. The world's best writers vie for supremacy with these weird things called original thoughts, stories, and dialogue. Or, at least, that's what it should be. These days it's more of a consolation prize for a Best Picture nominee that doesn't really have a chance to win … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Original Screenplay
Most of the time when I do these breakdowns it's with the intent of being as objective as possible without truly prognosticating on the result. But this year, the Original Song category is one where I just can't pretend. We all know what's going to happen. "Shallow," from A Star is Born, is almost certainly going … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Original Song
For some reason, this is still the only category that defaults to three nominees instead of five. I honestly don't get it. There are plenty of talented artists throughout the film industry who do incredible makeup work on a daily basis. I'd understand if once in a while there were only a few worthy films … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Makeup & Hairstyling
With the Screen Actors Guild Awards taking place last weekend, three of the four acting categories begin to take greater shape, including Supporting Actor. This year's field isn't as strong as it's been in previous years, and as such I think it's very possible that we've already got this one sewn up. Be that as … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2019 – Best Supporting Actor
I Actually Paid To See This 