{"id":4311,"date":"2019-02-21T12:33:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T17:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/?p=4311"},"modified":"2019-02-21T12:51:55","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T17:51:55","slug":"if-avenging-force-ran-the-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/?p=4311","title":{"rendered":"If Avenging Force Ran the Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards were first announced a few weeks ago, we read through them with a mixture of happy surprise, ambivalence, resignation, and disappointment. While we felt that some of the nominated films, performances, and technical work were well deserving of recognition, we couldn’t help but feel that many of the others on the list were just not representative of the best of the year. With a few notable exceptions (such as Black Panther’<\/em>s Best Picture nomination), we felt like the nominations tended to overlook genre and family films in favor of somber dramas, biopics, and period pieces. We also noticed — again, with a couple important exceptions — a tendency to favor narratives that centered, or at least significantly and positively included, characters matching the demographics of the majority of Academy voters (72% male and 87% white, according to last year’s numbers<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This isn’t to say that if your favorite film of the year was nominated for — or wins — an Academy Award on Sunday, that you’re wrong for liking it or being happy about it. But since both Sarah and Lauren went to the movies a lot\u00a0<\/em>last year (thanks A-List and MoviePass!), we decided that instead of complaining about what\u00a0did\u00a0<\/em>get nominated, we’d take this opportunity to highlight the films that, in an alternate universe where we ran the Academy, we<\/em> would’ve nominated as representing the best of 2018.<\/p>\n

You’ll notice a lot more genre films on our lists, along with family films and comedies, all of which tend to get overlooked at awards time. We are of the opinion that it takes just as much skill to craft a side-splitting comedy or a breathtaking thriller as it does to create a compelling historical epic or gritty biopic. If we’re the ones doling out awards, we want to recognize good craftsmanship in every type of movie, not just the serious ones.<\/p>\n

And since this is our list and we make the rules, we changed up a couple categories. We’ve long felt that the Best Animated Feature category should be amended to Best Family Feature, so that it can stop being padded with undeserving filler films (such as 2017’s\u00a0Boss Baby\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Ferdinand\u00a0<\/em>nominations) and can instead highlight films aimed at young audiences that aren’t necessarily animated. However, since animation\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>its own unique art form, we believe there should also be another Best Animation category that recognizes the craftsmanship of the animators without the implication that the overall film is superior. For the purposes of this post, though, we’re only including the\u00a0Best Family Feature category, as the Best Animation nominees would honestly stay the same as the current Best Animated Feature nominees.<\/p>\n

We also added a category for Best Stunt Coordination, because there really should already be one.<\/p>\n

We did\u00a0<\/em>decide to stick to the Academy’s caps for how many films we could nominate in each category (as well as its eligibility rules for each category), which was\u00a0brutal\u00a0<\/em>in some cases, but we had to draw the line somewhere.<\/p>\n

You’ll also notice we eliminated the categories where we haven’t seen enough qualifying films to make any changes to what was already nominated. So if you notice a category is missing, it’s not because we think it’s less important; it just means we haven’t seen enough of the films that would’ve been in that category to make an informed decision on which ones were the best.<\/p>\n

And last but not least, we didn’t pick winners. Not just because it was hard and we didn’t want to (although it\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>hard and we\u00a0didn’t\u00a0<\/em>want to), but because we wanted to highlight\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>of our picks as worthy of recognition, and not get bogged down in trying to decide which one is the “best.”<\/p>\n

Turns out, 2018 was a pretty great year for film.<\/p>\n

Best Picture<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack Panther\u201d
\n\u201cBlindspotting\u201d
\n\u201cThe Favourite\u201d
\n\u201cSorry to Bother You\u201d
\n\u201cSpider-Man: Into the Spiderverse\u201d
\n\u201cA Star Is Born\u201d
\n\u201cGame Night\u201d
\n\u201cA Quiet Place\u201d
\n\u201cIf Beale Street Could Talk\u201d
\n\u201cEighth Grade\u201d<\/p>\n

Adapted Screenplay<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe Hate U Give,\u201d Audrey Wells
\n\u201cBlack Panther,\u201d Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole
\n\u201cCan You Ever Forgive Me?,\u201d Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
\n\u201cIf Beale Street Could Talk,\u201d Barry Jenkins
\n\u201cA Simple Favor,\u201d Paul Feig, Darcey Bell, Jessica Sharzer<\/p>\n

Lead Actor<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Daveed Diggs, \u201cBlindspotting\u201d
\nEthan Hawke, \u201cFirst Reformed\u201d
\nStephan James, \u201cIf Beale Street Could Talk\u201d
\nJohn Cho, \u201cSearching\u201d
\nLakeith Stanfield, \u201cSorry to Bother You\u201d<\/p>\n

Original Screenplay<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe Favourite,\u201d Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
\n\u201cEighth Grade,\u201d Bo Burnham
\n\u201cSorry to Bother You,\u201d Boots Riley
\n\u201cA Quiet Place,\u201d John Krasinski, Bryan Woods, Scott Beck
\n\u201cBlindspotting,\u201d Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs<\/p>\n

Lead Actress<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rachel McAdams, \u201cGame Night\u201d
\nAmandla Stenberg, \u201cThe Hate U Give\u201d
\nSaoirse Ronan, \u201cMary Queen of Scots\u201d
\nMelissa McCarthy, \u201cCan You Ever Forgive Me?\u201d
\nLady Gaga, \u201cA Star Is Born\u201d<\/p>\n

Cinematography<\/h3>\n

\u201cMission Impossible: Fallout,\u201d Rob Hardy
\n\u201cThe Favourite,\u201d Robbie Ryan
\n\u201cIf Beale Street Could Talk,\u201d James Laxton
\n\u201cFree Solo,\u201d Jimmy Chin
\n\u201cA Star Is Born,\u201d Matthew Libatique<\/p>\n

Supporting Actor<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Richard E. Grant, \u201cCan You Ever Forgive Me?\u201d
\nMichael B. Jordan, \u201cBlack Panther\u201d
\nRafael Casal, \u201cBlindspotting\u201d
\nRussell Hornsby, \u201cThe Hate U Give\u201d
\nTimothee Chalamet, \u201cBeautiful Boy\u201d<\/p>\n

Sound Editing<\/h3>\n

\u201cBlack Panther,\u201d Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker
\n\u201cMission Impossible: Fallout,\u201d Jed Loughran, Ben Meechan, Noyan Cosarer, James Mather
\n\u201cFirst Man,\u201d Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou Morgan
\n\u201cA Quiet Place,\u201d Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl
\n\u201cRoma,\u201d Sergio Diaz, Skip Lievsay<\/p>\n

Supporting Actress<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blake Lively, \u201cA Simple Favor\u201d
\nRegina King, \u201cIf Beale Street Could Talk\u201d
\nEmily Blunt, \u201cA Quiet Place\u201d
\nEmma Stone, \u201cThe Favourite\u201d
\nOlivia Cooke, \u201cThoroughbreds\u201d<\/p>\n

Sound Mixing<\/h3>\n

\u201cBlack Panther\u201d
\n\u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d
\n\u201cFirst Man\u201d
\n\u201cSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse\u201d
\n\u201cA Star Is Born\u201d<\/p>\n

Director<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Boots Riley, \u201cSorry to Bother You\u201d
\nYorgos Lanthimos, \u201cThe Favourite\u201d
\nBob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, \u201cSpider-Man: Into the Spiderverse\u201d
\nBarry Jenkins, \u201cIf Beale Street Could Talk\u201d
\nJohn Krasinski, \u201cA Quiet Place\u201d<\/p>\n

Production Design<\/h3>\n

\u201cBlack Panther,\u201d Hannah Beachler
\n\u201cFirst Man,\u201d Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas
\n\u201cThe Favourite,\u201d Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton
\n\u201cMary Poppins Returns,\u201d John Myhre, Gordon Sim
\n\u201cRoma,\u201d Eugenio Caballero, B\u00e1rbara Enr\u0131\u0301quez<\/p>\n

Family Feature<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIncredibles 2,\u201d Brad Bird
\n\u201cPaddington 2,\u201d Paul King
\n\u201cMary Poppins Returns,\u201d Rob Marshall
\n\u201cSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,\u201d Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
\n\u201cChristopher Robin,\u201d Marc Forster<\/p>\n

Film Editing<\/h3>\n

\u201cSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,\u201d Robert Fisher Jr.
\n\u201cMinding the Gap,\u201d Joshua Altman, Bing Liu
\n\u201cCan You Ever Forgive Me?,\u201d Anne McCabe
\n\u201cThe Favourite,\u201d Yorgos Mavropsaridis
\n\u201cSearching,\u201d Nick Johnson, Will Merrick<\/p>\n

Original Score<\/h3>\n

\u201cMandy<\/a>,\u201d J\u00f3hann J\u00f3hannsson
\n\u201cBlack Panther<\/a>,\u201d Ludwig Goransson
\n\u201cIf Beale Street Could Talk<\/a>,\u201d Nicholas Britell
\n\u201cAnnihilation<\/a>,\u201d Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury
\n\u201cMary Queen of Scots<\/a>,\u201d Max Richter<\/p>\n

Original Song<\/h3>\n