1. Sorry to Bother You
Easily the most entertaining and thought-provoking film I watched in 2018. While Sorry to Bother You was pretty fast-paced, it managed to pack in the basics of an entire Sociology degree into 1 hour and 52 minutes. If you’re into that thing, it’s well worth watching more than once, because you might not even catch every allusion and metaphor the first time around.
Because this was a genuinely brilliant directorial debut from Boots Riley, and an impressive original screenplay, I immediately hit CTRL and F on the nominations list yesterday to see if it was up for any awards, and I was a little disappointed and surprised that it wasn’t nominated for anything at all. Director Boots Riley, on the other hand, was not surprised at all.
The 47-year-old rapper and activist explained that he and the rest of the team behind Sorry to Bother You “didn’t actually run a campaign that aimed to get a nomination for Screenplay or Song.“
We didn’t buy For Your Consideration ads in the trade magazines and we didn’t service the whole academy with screeners. Not doing that made it a self-fulfilling prophecy that we wouldn’t get nominated, so I had no actual belief that we would get nominated.
2. If Beale Street Could Talk
Made by the makers of Moonlight, If Beale Street Could talk is as tender and beautifully shot as the 2017 Best Picture, and packs as much emotion as it too. Unfortunately, there’s no chance we’ll have a repeat of the iconic moment that Moonlight won Best Picture back in 2017, unless they opened the envelope and reveal it that they accidentally forgot to include this movie and want to apologise for their mistake.
3. Beautiful Boy
After a huge year at last year’s Oscars, it looks like the Academy are leaving Timothée Chalamet on read. There were plenty of Timothée Chalamet fans out there who were completely convinced he’d be receiving an actual award, never mind a nomination, for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his performance alongside Steve Carrell in Beautiful Boy.
4. Mary Queen of Scots
I have yet to hear one person say that Mary Queen of Scots is incredible, but when has that ever stopped a film from getting an Oscar nomination? (See: The Shape of Water). It wasn’t my personal opinion that had me surprised that this film didn’t make it to this year’s nominations, but rather the fact that The Academy loves Saoirse Ronan.
5. A Quiet Place
For several weeks, there were so many people who were incapable of talking about this film and how great it was. It most likely inspired Netflix’s Bird Box, since they’re almost the same movie. And what does it get? Nothing. Not even a bit of recognition for Best Original Score. Or Emily Blunt! Who convincingly gave birth SILENTLY.
6. Crazy Rich Asians
Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, Crazy Rich Asians managed to achieve huge commercial success around the globe, but it’s not going to be receiving any recognition at The Oscars. This film got a couple of nominations at the Golden Globes, won Best Actress in a Comedy and Best Comedy at the Critic’s Choice Awards, but it did not impress the panel at the Oscars enough to consider it for Best Costume Design or Production Design, as fans of the film had expected.
Well, at least it started a much-needed conversation about representation in film.
7. Aquaman
I haven’t seen Aquaman myself, but DailyEdge.ie editor Nicola Byrne claims that Jason Momoa was robbed of a nomination for Best Actor. Whether or not that’s true, Momoa’s performance has been hailed by critics as one of the only things that saved this film from being complete garbage, so maybe we should give him an Oscar for it after all.
