2019 Cinema & Stadium Film Awards
While I generally like to write about whole movies, I also like to take the opportunity each year to recognize what I thought were the most outstanding individual accomplishments (plus, like many people, I like to share where I think the Oscars got it right - and wrong). As in previous years, there are two "rules" which make my awards a bit different from what you'll see at the Oscars:
- Only films released widely in 2019 are eligible (this is getting murkier each year, so another way to put it: whichever year it came out in my theater is the year I'm sticking it, so certain films often have to "wait" a year), and
- Only films that I've actually seen are eligible.
Please also check out my companion post, where I count down my top 10 films of the year and pick my biggest surprises, disappointments, and more. I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to let me know your own opinions!
Winners in bold
Runners-up underlined
Best Actress
Ana de Armas (Knives Out)
Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story)
Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family)
Saoirse Ronan (Little Women)
Emma Stone (The Favourite)
Oscar nominees not listed: Cynthia Erivo (Harriet), Charlize Theron (Bombshell), Renee Zellwegger (Judy) - didn't see films
Although not quite as strong as last year's brilliant roster, 2019 still featured tremendous performances in a wide variety of roles (and once again, three Oscar nominees didn't even meet my eligibility). Ana de Armas and Florence Pugh carried their more popular titles, and Jillian Bell just missed the cut in her understated part in the little-noticed Brittany Runs a Marathon. Pugh, a rapidly rising star in Hollywood, nailed her hard-scrabble working class wrestler, both believable and very sympathetic in the underdog part. de Armas was surrounded by much better known co-stars, yet I'd argue she outshined all of them; she made her every-woman compelling and fun, a difficult feat amidst such colorful companions. Emma Stone is perhaps worthy of the win here; she's that good in the bizarre period piece The Favourite; unfortunately, having seen it twelve months ago, it's no longer fresh in my mind. Both her naive introduction and her ruthless conclusion, however, still stand out. Saoirse Ronan, with Stone, is the gold standard of the younger generation of actors in Hollywood. She again flourishes with director Gerwig in Little Women, as relative rogue March sister Jo. Ronan leads the ensemble, setting the tone by displaying equal mastery of both traditional and modern touches. Johansson got the biggest, juiciest role of her peers this year, in Marriage Story, and took full advantage. Playing an actor, she could easily have made it, well, overdramatic, but she is simply a remarkably real, raw, tenacious yet vulnerable human here. Bold, yet restrained, too. Excellent performances all around.
Best Actor
Christian Bale (Ford v Ferrari)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time...)
Adam Driver (Marriage Story)
Kevin Hart (The Upside)
Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
Oscar nominees not listed: Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory), Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes) - didn't see the films
Another strong year for leading men, with both veteran and unexpected names in the list. Before that, shout-outs to two very different honorable mentions. Sandler, despite being in a drag of a film in Uncut Gems, does admittedly great work as an asshole; and Keanu Reeves continues the action role he was born to play, in the third John Wick film. Adam Driver is excellent in Marriage Story, for most of the reasons Johansson is; he plays it nicely subdued most of the way, but has a few stand out scenes, too. DiCaprio shows yet again just how ridiculously versatile an actor he is, playing the hilariously proud but oblivious TV star has-been in Once Upon a Time... Whether watching the actor "act" or shooting the breeze with a bright young co-star, he's a joy to watch. Bale is probably my favorite actor right now, and he puts in another effortlessly brilliant performance in Ford v Ferrari. He's absolutely locked in to his racing legend's stubborn, intense persona as well as his nuanced physical work in the car. Joaquin Phoenix plays a role perfected just last decade - but he nearly matches Ledger's work in the classic comic book villain role. Unceasingly creepy, Phoenix gives a fascinating, believable look at a "normal"/pre-villain Joker, from his hair-raising laughing tic to his childlike whining. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm awarding Kevin Hart's dramatic role in The Upside as my top choice. He has plenty of moments of hilarity; a few in his trademark style, but also delving into a more mature, honed style. His redemptive arc from failed father to faithful friend is the most moving one I witnessed all year, deploying a subtlety and focus that was probably hiding beneath all the hijinks all along. These actors showed what Hollywood is capable of.
Best Supporting Actress
Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Laura Dern (Marriage Story)
Florence Pugh (Little Women)
Emma Thompson (Late Night)
Cho Yeo-jeong (Parasite)
Oscar nominees not listed: Kathy Bates (Richard Jewell), Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit), Margot Robbie (Bombshell)
The supporting category is not as obviously outstanding as the lead category this year, but there is still a lot to praise. Amidst a large yet widely strong cast, Cho Yeo-jeong stood out to me in Parasite as the rich, gullible yet quietly determined mother; it could be easy to mock her or even root against her, but Cho's strong subtle performance resists that. Laura Dern inhabits the smoothest, most accomplished of divorce lawyers, consoling her client or ripping into her opponent at with ease, yet also revealing glimpses of her underlying motivations. Little Women's most fiery March sister is played by Pugh, who had quite a year at the movies; her encounters were some of the film's most interesting. Colman won the Oscar last year for Best Actress, but her pitiable, even repulsive at times, yet strong and complex Queen Anne felt like more a supporting role to the subjects around her battling for influence. Emma Thompson was far and away the best thing about the disappointing Late Night; she brings so much energy, not just via the caustic wit of her TV host but also in her flailing attempts to control a broken production behind the scenes.
Best Supporting Actor
Timothee Chalamet (Little Women)
Bryan Cranston (The Upside)
Matt Damon (Ford v Ferrari)
Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
Vince Vaughn (Fighting With My Family)
Oscar nominees not listed: Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes), Robert de Niro and Al Pacino (The Irishman) - didn't see the films; Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time...) - eligible but chose not to nominate
I'd like to give honorable nods to Alan Alda's sweet but losing lawyer in Marriage Story, and Daniel Craig's hammed up PI in Knives Out; and also note that I didn't nominate Pitt because his cool guy shtick is annoying (and his Ad Astra performance was equally eye-rolling). Chalamet definitely - and appropriately - cedes the focus in Little Women, despite being a volatile character; still, his presence is an interesting foil for the March sisters. I got a whiff of Ocean's Eleven from Matt Damon in Ford v Ferrari, but that's not a bad thing; as Bale's levelheaded partner, he's a crucial stabilizer with a few moments of something more. Laugh if you will, but Vaughn really impressed me in Fighting With My Family; as a semi-fallen star in real life, he is well cast, but doesn't push his disgruntled mentor part. Tom Hanks, Hollywood's Mr. Nice Guy, was likewise an obvious pick for Fred Rogers, but he really does work hard to get the unique delivery and tone right (even if seeing these two as one was still a strange experience). I suspect Hart owes part of his emergence in The Upside to his pairing with Bryan Cranston, one of the best screen actors working. He does the physical work of playing a paraplegic so well it's invisible, and both his rapport with Hart and his interior work - quiet strength and calm masking torment to mixed success - are excellent.
Special Honorary Acting Award: Ensemble - Avengers
In the spirit of the Oscars' Honorary (or "lifetime achievement") Award, I am giving out my own in recognizing the tremendous casting and underrated performances of the Marvel superhero series. It started right at the beginning, with Robert Downey, Jr. as lead and title character Tony Stark/Iron Man. His energy, irreverence, crackling wit, and even occasional warmth set the crucial tone for the entire universe of characters and stories to come. Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth soon rounded out the main trio of heroes, as Captain America and Thor, respectively. While not quite as iconic as Downey, Jr., they turned little-known and potentially easily cliched archetypes into beloved and distinct characters of their own. And the hits kept coming: Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther... they even quickly cleaned up a rare misfire, replacing Ed Norton with Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. Is it the chicken or the egg; performance or casting? I'd argue that in addition to the inspired choices, the actors almost without exception took up their roles as faithfully and brilliantly as could be hoped for. Yes, the Marvel superhero films are undoubtedly blockbusters, with epic, interconnected stories, and plenty of action. But what made these films - all twenty-three, so far - truly worth following were the characters. We saw them introduced, develop, and mature, and the joy of watching them together in Avengers team-ups was uniquely satisfying. Certainly, the characters are what gave Endgame its breathtaking power for those of us following the whole journey. Bravo - well worth revisiting, and I can't to see what's next.
Best Director
Neil Burger (The Upside)
Greta Gerwig (Little Women)
Stephen Merchant (Fighting With My Family)
Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Endgame)
Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood)
Oscar nominees not listed: Martin Scorsese (The Irishman) - didn't see the film; Sam Mendes (1917) - not eligible (wide release in 2020); Bong Joon-ho (Parasite), Todd Phillips (Joker) - eligible but chose not to nominate
The honorable mention this year goes to James Mangold, whose Ford v Ferrari zooms along as well as the top cars at Le Mans. It's difficult for me not to nominate Quentin Tarantino when he releases a film; one of Hollywood's top filmmakers, his works are always fascinating even if not always the best. Here, it's a pretty simple story of the end of an era in Tinseltown, and he brings out that time and place vividly and entertainingly. On the other hand, comedy veteran Stephen Merchant is not so expected, but he lends a deft touch to the tired sports genre in Fighting With My Family. There's humor and a look at a bizarre, unique vocation, but family is at its heart in a genuine way. The Upside has a premise riddled with dangerous temptation for emotional bombast and cheap sentimentalism. While Burger fully explores the range of emotions involved in the story and doesn't shy away from them, crucially, he makes you earn them in the quieter moments. Gerwig, like Merchant, both directed and wrote (in her case, adapted) the screenplay. She does great work with the classic tale, from breaking up the chronology of the story to maximize pacing and character development, to looking at the traditional world through a a subtly modern lens. Finally, it's the Russo Brothers, Anthony and Joe, who are back-to-back winners with their Marvel saga conclusion Avengers: Endgame. Not to sound like a broken record, but the degree of difficulty and level of expectations were just off the charts. Granted they laid much of the foundation for success in prior efforts, along with countless others. Still, they didn't push things; in fact, it's a much quieter, slower (as in, more talk and less action), more thoughtful film than anticipated. The baddie does indeed go out with a bang, though, and the core heroes get the ending they deserve.
Best Screenplay
Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story)
Paul Downs Colaizzo (Brittany Runs a Marathon)
Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favourite)
Rian Johnson (Knives Out)
Best Visual Effects
Avengers: Endgame
The Lego Movie 2
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Toy Story 4
* Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/disneyabc/33013619801
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