MovieManifesto

Oscars 2019: The Supporting Actors

February 5, 2020March 4, 2021 Jeremy BeckOscars

Thus far in our ongoing Oscars analysis, we’ve looked at some odds and ends and some technical categories. Today, we get to the good stuff: the supporting actor and actress races.

One curious thing about this year’s Oscars is that all four of the acting awards are virtually sewn up; the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild all honored the same performers in each category (ignoring the Globes’ musical/comedy offshoots for lead actor, neither of whom is even nominated here). This makes predicting these particular Oscar races rather boring. But who cares? The juicy stuff with actors isn’t who will win, but who should—and, more importantly, who appears on your own personal ballot. The quality of acting in cinema these days is extraordinarily strong, so narrowing down each category to a proper quintet is always a daunting challenge.

Who made the Manifesto’s cut? Read on to find out. Read More

Oscars 2019: The Big Techies

February 4, 2020March 4, 2021 Jeremy BeckOscars

Matt Damon and Christian Bale in future Oscar winner "Ford v Ferrari".

Yesterday, we analyzed some of the less sexy categories at this year’s Oscars. Today, the sexiness has arrived; we’re moving on to five below-the-line fields that I’ve arbitrarily labeled “the big techies”. Get excited, film editing enthusiasts!

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES
The Irishman—Rodrigo Prieto
Joker—Lawrence Sher
The Lighthouse—Jarin Blaschke
1917—Roger Deakins
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood—Robert Richardson

WILL WIN
The Oscars work in mysterious ways. For a solid decade—beginning with his double-nomination in 2007, for No Country for Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James—Roger Deakins was deemed to be the greatest living cinematographer never to have won an Academy Award. Two years ago, after 13 straight nominations without a win, Deakins finally got off the schneid for his breathtaking lensing of Blade Runner 2049. This year, he’s winning again for 1917. This will not be close. Read More

Oscars 2019: The Odds and Ends

February 3, 2020March 4, 2021 Jeremy BeckOscars

It’s that time of year! Over the next week, the Manifesto will be rigorously analyzing each of the 21 feature categories for this year’s Oscars. Well, maybe not that rigorously. I used to be an Oscar obsessive, but over the past decade or so, my enthusiasm for the glorified gala has waned a bit. How the movie industry chooses to celebrate itself is no longer of tremendous concern to me. I know which films and performances I like and which I don’t; who really cares what the Academy thinks?

Well, a lot of people. And even setting aside the commercial significance of the Oscars, it’s always worth remembering that, for the most part, they tend to honor pretty good movies. Just don’t take them too seriously; that way, you can’t be too disappointed when they inevitably fuck up.

We’ll be filing a series of posts this week, culminating with a look at Best Picture on Friday. Today, we’re beginning with a handful of categories that I’ve rudely deemed to be minor—not because I discount the contributions of the artisans in these particular fields, but because I, as a cinematic neanderthal, don’t especially care about them. (Speaking of which, I never bother to even predict the three shorts categories, because come on.) Let’s get to it. Read More

Ranking Every TV Show of 2019: The Complete List

January 31, 2020March 4, 2021 Jeremy BeckTop 10 Lists, TV Rankings

"Russian Doll" was one of many excellent shows to air in 2019.

Over the past five days, we’ve ranked and written about all 101 TV shows that we watched in 2019. For your convenience, we’ve assembled those rankings into this single post. If you want to access the write-up for any particular show, just click on the header link above that set. Here are the rankings in full: Read More

The 10 Best TV Shows of 2019

January 31, 2020September 2, 2020 Jeremy BeckTop 10 Lists, TV Rankings

Rachel Brosnahan in "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"; Zendaya in "Euphoria"; Sarah Snook in "Succession"; Alison Brie in "GLOW"; Regina King in "Watchmen"

And here we are. After a week of ranking every single TV show from 2019, we finally come to the end. In case you missed it, here are links to the prior posts:

#s 101-76
#s 75-51
#s 50-31
#s 30-11

10. Watchmen (HBO, Season 1). I don’t think this is a perfect show. It’s sprawling, and tracking its complicated mythology can be a little exhausting. But in raw mathematical terms, I’m not sure any TV series in 2019 delivered more moments of flat-out greatness than Watchmen. This is a massively impressive show, full of gorgeous imagery and exhilarating technique. It’s also a work of monumental ambition, seeking to reframe a traditional comic-book narrative as a commentary on the contemporary evil of white supremacy. Whether it’s especially meaningful as a political document is an open question, but what’s undeniable is how self-assured Watchmen is, how effortlessly it develops its own cinematic language. Plus, it’s funny; this is a show that features a powerful flashback episode investigating the rise of an anti-Ku Klux Klan vigilante, yet it also makes room for Jean Smart lovingly caressing a giant blue dildo. Nothing else on television in 2019 had more to say, and nothing else said it so boldly. Read More