2019 OSCARS: The Winners

The 2019 Oscars were last night. According to my predictions for the Top 8 categories, I only predicted 4 of 8 correctly, and went 12 out of 24 overall.

• Documentary (Feature) — Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Free Solo
• Actress in a Supporting Role — Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
• Makeup and Hairstyling — Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, and Patricia Dehaney, Vice
• Costume Design — Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther
• Production Design — Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart, Black Panther
• Cinematography — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
• Sound Editing — John Warhurst, Bohemian Rhapsody
• Sound Mixing — Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, and John Casali, Bohemian Rhapsody
• Foreign Language Film — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
• Film Editing — John Ottman, Bohemian Rhapsody
• Actor in a Supporting Role — Mahershala Ali, Green Book
• Animated Feature Film — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
• Animated Short Film — Domee Shi, Bao
• Documentary Short Subject — Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton, Period. End of Sentence.
• Visual Effects — Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm, First Man
• Live Action Short Film — Guy Nattiv and Jamie Ray Newman, Skin
• Best Original Screenplay — Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, Green Book
• Best Adapted Screenplay — Spike Lee, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele, BlacKkKlansman
• Original Score — Ludwig Goransson, Black Panther
• Original Song — Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt, “Shallow,” A Star Is Born
• Best Actor in a Leading Role — Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
• Best Actress in a Leading Role — Olivia Colman, The Favourite
• Best Director — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
• Best Picture — Green Book

2019 OSCARS: My Predictions for the Top 8 Categories

Here is my annual prediction post for the 2019 Oscars. I really just consider the Top 8 categories on the blog but I play the Oscar game like everyone else (on other websites). Last year I predicted 7 out of 8 and 17 of 24 correctly.

Best Picture:

• “Black Panther”
• “BlacKkKlansman”
• “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• “The Favourite”
• “Green Book”
• “Roma”
• “A Star Is Born”
• “Vice”

SHOULD WIN: A Star Is Born.
WILL WIN: Roma.

Director:

• Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”
• Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
• Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite”
• Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma”
• Adam McKay, “Vice”

SHOULD WIN: Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman.

WILL WIN: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma.

Lead Actor:

• Christian Bale, “Vice”
• Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”
• Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”
• Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”

SHOULD WIN: Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born.

WILL WIN: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Lead 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?”

SHOULD WIN: Glenn Close, The Wife.

WILL WIN: Glenn Close, The Wife.

Supporting Actor:

• Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
• Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”
• Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born”
• Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
• Sam Rockwell, “Vice”

SHOULD WIN: Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

WILL WIN: Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman.

Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams, “Vice”
• Marina de Tavira, “Roma”
• Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
• Emma Stone, “The Favourite”
• Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”

SHOULD WIN: Amy Adams, Vice

WILL WIN: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk.

Adapted Screenplay:

• “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Joel Coen , Ethan Coen
• “BlacKkKlansman,” Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, 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, Will Fetters

SHOULD WIN: Can You Ever Forgive Me?

WILL WIN: BlacKkKlansman.

Original Screenplay:

• “The Favourite,” Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
• “First Reformed,” Paul Schrader
• “Green Book,” Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly
• “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón
• “Vice,” Adam McKay

SHOULD WIN: Roma.

WILL WIN: The Favourite.

2019 OSCARS: The Nominations

And they're off! The nominations for the 91st Academic Awards, i.e. the Oscars, have been annonced.
The nominations in the top 8 categories are given below. For Best Picture I have currently seen 4 of the 9 nominees (indicated in bold), and definitely intend to see "The Favourite" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" before the ceremonies. I don't even want to hate-watch "Green Book." "Vice" is a strong possibility too.

Best Picture:

• “Black Panther”
• “BlacKkKlansman”
• “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• “The Favourite”
• “Green Book”
• “Roma”
• “A Star Is Born”
• “Vice”

Director:

• Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”
• Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
• Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite”
• Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma”
• Adam McKay, “Vice”

Lead Actor:

• Christian Bale, “Vice”
• Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”
• Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”
• Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”

Lead 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?”

Supporting Actor:

• Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
• Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”
• Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born”
• Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
• Sam Rockwell, “Vice”

Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams, “Vice”
• Marina de Tavira, “Roma”
• Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
• Emma Stone, “The Favourite”
• Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”

Adapted Screenplay:

• “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Joel Coen , Ethan Coen
• “BlacKkKlansman,” Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, 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, Will Fetters

Original Screenplay:

• “The Favourite,” Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
• “First Reformed,” Paul Schrader
• “Green Book,” Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly
• “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón
• “Vice,” Adam McKay

Total Nominations

• 10 — “The Favourite” and "Roma"
• 8 — “A Star Is Born” and “Vice” 
• 7  — "Black Panther”
• 6  — “BlacKkKlansman”
• 5 — “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Green Book”
• 4 — “First Man” and “Mary Poppins Returns

Fusion Adds Data To #GayMediaSoWhite Discussion

John Walker at the Fusion website analyzed the covers of the magazines of The Advocate, Out and Attitude and produced this useful infographic (seen above) to determine the (lack of) diversity represented therein.

The summary of the data is:

Representation on the cover of Out, June 2011 – May 2016In the past five years, Out has featured 78 people on the cover of its magazine. That figure includes repeat appearances by Dustin Lance Black, Ellen Page, Neil Patrick Harris, and Zachary Quinto. The mag’s upcoming May 2016 issue will feature Troye Sivan, a gay white singer-songwriter from Australia who rose to fame on YouTube.
Sixty-six of those 78 people have been white (85%), and 31 of those white people have been queer and/or trans (40%). Twelve of the 74 individuals featured on Out‘s covers have been people of color (15%), and eight of them have been queer people of color (10%).Representation on the cover of The Advocate, June 2011 – May 2016I was unable to locate cover imagery for the following six issues of The Advocate: September 2011, December 2011, January 2012, May 2012, June 2012, and July 2012. But of the covers I was able to find—excluding the publication’s more abstract, evocative cover art—at least 35 people have been featured on the cover of The Advocate over the past five years.At least 10 of those 35 individuals have been people of color (29%). At least eight of those 35 were queer and/or transgender people of color (23%). That includes the mag’s April/May 2016 cover star DeRay Mckesson, a prominent figure in the Black Lives Matter movement who is currently running for mayor of Baltimore.Representation on the cover of Attitude, June 2011 – May 2016Attitude has featured 111 people on its covers in the past five years. That tally includes repeat appearances by Adam Lambert, Dan Osborne, Gareth Thomas, Greg Rutherford, Harry Judd, James Hill, Thom Evans, and Tom Daley.
One-hundred and six of those 111 have been men (95%). The remaining five were women (5%), all of whom were white. (This gender disparity isn’t as troubling as it could be, given that—unlike The Advocate and Out—Attitude is specifically marketed to gay men.) No trans or nonbinary people of any race or ethnicity have been featured on the cover of Attitude in that timeframe.

The overall data can be summarized with this final quote of the data analysis is:

By the way, of the 21 people who appeared on more than one of these magazine covers, we found that seven (33%) are straight white cisgender men. Two of the repeat cover stars are queer women (10%), Lady Gaga and Ellen Page. Just one (5%), Michael Sam—who has been seen on both Out and Attitude—is a person of color.

Discuss!

2016 OSCARS: The Winners

Here is the list of winners of the 2016 Oscars. This year I correctly predicted 6 of the top 8 categories correctly. Best Picture for Spotlight took almost everyone by surprise, since no Best Picture had ever occurred with only one other win it (also took home Best Original Screenplay). Mad Max: Fury Road cemented its status as the best film of 2015  with six(!) wins in the technical categories, with The Revenant only managing to win in tree categories when the personality overshadowed the vehicle: Iñárritu for Director (for the second year in a row!), Dicaprio for Best Actor (finally!) and Chivo Lubezki for Cinematography for the third year in a row (Gravity, Birdman, The Revenant).
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Martian, Brooklyn and Carol were all shut out while other Best Picture nominees Room, The Big Short and Bridge of Spies each won one award.

The only other major shock of the night was the surprise win of Sam Smith's execrable Writing's on the Wall winning the Best Song Oscar over Lady Gaga and Dianne Warren's Till It Happens To You.

• Best Picture: Spotlight
• Actor in a Lead Role: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
• Actress in a Lead Role: Brie Larson, Room
• Directing: Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
• Original Score: Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
• Original Song: "Writings on the Wall," Spectre, Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
• Best Foreign Language Film: Hungary, Son of Saul
• Live Action Short Film: Stutterer, Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage
• Documentary Feature: Amy, Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
• Documentary Short Subject: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
• Actor in a Supporting Role: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
• Animated Feature Film: Inside Out, Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
• Animated Short Film: Bear Story, Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
• Visual Effects: Ex Machina, Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
• Sound Mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
• Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Mark Mangini and David White
• Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Margaret Sixel
• Cinematography: The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki
• Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road, Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
• Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road, Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson
• Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road, Jenny Beavan
• Actress in a Supporting Role: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
• Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
• Original Screenplay: Spotlight, Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy

Some Famous Americans Who Support Marriage Equality

Hat/tip to TheFour.com via Joe.My.God