2019 Oscars at a Glance: Final Critics Choice Nomination Predictions

Now that the Golden Globes has given us our first insights into what the industry awards are thinking this year, it’s time for the Broadcast Film Critics Association to announce their nominees. With the Globes in mind, I have made a few changes here and there to my list, and here are my final predictions in the large categories. Remember, this group ludicrously spends time voting for Best Actor in an Action Movie and those sort of awards. Unfortunately, I have no inclination to worry about that. Given the timetable to work with here, the major awards are where the focus is going to be.

 

Best Animated Feature

I see a complete overlap between Critics Choice and Globes. The nominees will be:

Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

 

Best Ensemble

The ensemble prize is an opportunity to reward some of the actors in a film that might now win individual awards, and looking over the list of potential nominees, I have it whittled down to these five:

Black Panther
Crazy Rich Asians
If Beale Street Could Talk
The Favourite
Vice

This category always seems to have a trick or two up its sleeve, so there are a few films that I would not entirely discount, including A Star is Born, Widows, Green Book, BlacKkKlansman, and Mary Poppins Returns.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

The only screenplay the Globes nominated from a previously published material was If Beale Street Could Talk, so expect to see a lot of films here that were absent at the Globes. My five are:

A Star is Born
BlacKkKlansman
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Crazy Rich Asians
If Beale Street Could Talk

This is another category where there’s some wiggle room. Widows, First Man, and The Hate U Give will also be considered here, and only time will tell how correct I am with these five.

 

Best Original Screenplay

Four of the five nominees at the Globes were from the original category, but I am counting on one of them to miss. The five nominees will be:

Eighth Grade
First Reformed
Green Book
The Favourite
Vice

Roma was a bit of a surprise for me at the Globes, considered Cuaron has struggled there in the past. His script for Gravity, for example, missed out at the Oscars, too. Still, he’s definitely in contention at Critics Choice and beyond. Another script that could pop up on the list is A Quiet Place, a critical darling from earlier on in the year.

 

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Since the acting and directing categories all have six nominees, we get a further offering here that shows who else can slip in at the Oscars, maybe. My six in this category are:

Amy Adams for Vice
Claire Foy for First Man
Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone for The Favourite
Rachel Weisz for The Favourite
Michelle Yeoh for Crazy Rich Asians

I think these are the six, but Nicole Kidman in Boy Erased is one that could sneak up on us. Also, Natalie Portman may have missed out on the Globes this morning, but she’ll be in full force for Vox Lux in the supporting category.

 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

These are my six for this category:

Mahershala Ali for Green Book
Timothee Chalamet for Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver for BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott for A Star is Born
Richard E. Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell for Vice

Elliott may have been a surprise miss at the Globes, but he’s definitely still in the runnings. Maybe Michael B. Jordan could score a nom for Black Panther, but a Globe nomination would have helped him out big time.

 

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Again, considering we have six slots here, it allows for more question marks in this category moving forward. I see five nominees from the Globes repeating here on Monday, and one new nominee. They are:

Yalitza Aparicio for Roma
Emily Blunt for Mary Poppins Returns
Glenn Close for The Wife
Olivia Colman for The Favourite
Lady Gaga for A Star is Born
Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me?

While Yalitza’s miss for Best Actress Drama at the Globes is a bit of a surprise, I think Roma still scores very well here at Critics Choice. A few other names to throw in the hat are Viola Davis for Widows, Rosamund Pike for A Private War, and her nom at the Globes was a big bounce back, Nicole Kidman for Destroyer, who also benefited from that Globe nod, and Toni Collette for Hereditary.

 

Best Actor in a Leading Role

My six nominees for Best Actor are:

Christian Bale for Vice
Bradley Cooper for A Star is Born
Ethan Hawke for First Reformed
Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen for Green Book
John David Washington for BlackKkKlansman

Washington’s nod was a welcome one at the Globes, and I can see him being this year’s Daniel Kaluuya, whose nominations for Get Out were a shocker to me at first, but as he kept getting in, I eventually added him to my Oscar picks, too. If Washington can secure a Critics Choice and SAG nomination, he pretty much as Oscar in the bag, too. A few other names to bandy about: Lucas Hedges for Boy Erased, another one who benefits from the Globe nomination, Willem Dafoe for At Eternity’s Gate, another one who may bounce back, and Ryan Gosling for First Man.

 

Best Director

The six directors here are really the six that I think are going to fight it out for the five slots at the Oscars, plus one or two. They are:

Bradley Cooper for A Star is Born
Alfonso Cuaron for Roma
Peter Farrelly for Green Book
Barry Jenkins for If Beale Street Could Talk
Yorgos Lanthimos for The Favourite
Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman

I would also throw Adam McKay into the fight, too, since his nomination for Vice for directing was pretty telling at the Globes. Another director who might get in is Ryan Coogler for Black Panther.

 

Best Film

Ten films will be selected here, and there’s a lot to choose from. The ten films I have predicted are:

A Star is Born
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Crazy Rich Asians
Eighth Grade
Green Book
If Beale Street Could Talk
Roma
The Favourite
Vice

There’s these ten and a few more that will be vying for these spots. Widows could pop back in, First Man isn’t done yet, and don’t count out A Quiet Place or First Reformed just yet, and maybe Mary Poppins Returns strikes hard here, too.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association announces their nominations on Monday, December 10th, and will further shed some light on what films are really in going forward, and which ones are going to be left out in the cold.