Academy Awards: The 2019 Best Picture Nominees, Ranked By Letterboxd

At the 91st Academy Awards, the 8 films nominated for Best Picture included one of Marvel’s biggest hits and a handful of biopics. A choice that divided many movie fans, Green Book won Best Picture, along with Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay. But its competition was just as celebrated during award season.

Other top contenders for the night’s top award included Alfonso Cuarón’s black-and-white drama Roma, Yorgos Lanthimos’ black comedy and historical epic hybrid The Favourite, and the fourth remake of A Star Is Born, this time starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. While each of these 3 films took home at least one Oscar, Green Book won the grand prize.

8 Vice (3.32)

Christian Bale stars in Adam McKay’s Vice, a political black comedy surrounding former Vice President Dick Cheney. The film depicts the path Cheney took to become one of the most powerful and influential Vice Presidents in American history after he was selected as George W. Bush’s running mate for the 2000 presidential election.

The film received numerous awards and nominations, including 8 nominations at the 91st Academy Awards. Vice’s hair and makeup team won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Bale earned the fourth Oscar nomination of his career and Amy Adams, who played Dick’s wife Lynne, received her sixth nomination.

7 Bohemian Rhapsody (3.39)

His lead role in Bohemian Rhapsody, the musical drama surrounding Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, helped Rami Malek win his first Academy Award. The film celebrates the music and story of Queen, following the band from its formation to the iconic Live Aid performance in 1985. The drama also weaves Freddie’s personal life into the story, including his romances and the early stages of his battle with AIDS.

Bohemian Rhapsody received mixed reviews but still managed to take home 4 Academy Awards. The film won Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. Malek’s performance won accolades from some of the industry’s most notable award ceremonies. Along with the Best Actor Academy Award, he won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and SAG Award.

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6 Green Book (3.64)

Inspired by jazz pianist Don Shirley’s tour in the Midwest and Deep South with his white bodyguard and driver Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga, Green Book beat out the 7 other nominees to take home Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards. For his performance, Mahershala Ali won his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Viggo Mortensen earned a nomination for Best Actor, the third in his career.

The historical drama received mixed reviews, with Ali and Mortensen’s performances earning praise while some critiqued the film for playing into the white savior trope. A divisive film, Green Book is the lowest-rated Best Picture winner of the 2010s on Metacritic. The film’s 4 screenwriters won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

5 A Star Is Born (3.64)

Bradley Cooper directed, produced, wrote, and starred in the fourth remake of A Star Is Born, the story of a fading star who finds love with a talented newcomer. Cooper plays Jackson Maine, an alcoholic country-rock singer who discovers Gaga’s Ally while she performs at a drag bar. The two start a whirlwind romance and Jackson helps Ally forge her path in the music industry.

But as Ally’s career takes off, Jackson’s stalls out and their relationship becomes tumultuous. Jackson meets a heartbreaking end, leaving Ally grief-stricken. Gaga became an Oscar winner for penning and performing the film’s hit song “Shallow.” At the Academy Awards, Cooper, Gaga, and Sam Elliott earned acting nominations. Cooper’s directorial debut was one of the best in the 2010s.

4 Black Panther (3.73)

Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther was the first superhero movie to receive a nomination for the Best Picture Academy Award. The film follows T’Challa as he prepares to become King of Wakanda after the death of his father. But when he faces threats to his power from inside and outside the country, T’Challa must take up the Black Panther mantel to protect Wakanda and his loved ones.

Featuring one of the more sympathetic antagonists in the MCU, Black Panther explores and critiques complex topics like modern imperialism and social inequality. Black Panther won 3 Academy Awards out of 7 nominations. For her beautiful, traditionally-inspired costumes, Ruth E. Carter won Best Costume Design. Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson, a frequent Coogler collaborator, won Best Original Score. Black Panther’s art direction was awarded the Academy Award for Best Production Design.

3 BlacKkKlansman (3.94)

Critically acclaimed director Spike Lee won the first competitive Academy Award for his work on BlacKkKlansman. The black comedy crime film is based on Ron Stallworth’s 2014 memoir, Black Klansman. In the 1970s, Ron is Colorado Springs’ first Black detective. Along with his partner Flip Zimmerman, he works to infiltrate a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Ron poses as white over the phone while Flip takes on Ron’s identity when interacting with Klan members in person.

John David Washington, most recently seen in Tenet and Malcolm & Marie, stars as Ron, and BlacKkKlansman is undeniably one of his best films. The black comedy received 6 nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Lee also earned the first Best Director nomination of his career for BlacKkKlansman. Adam Driver’s performance as Flip earned the actor his first Oscar nomination.

2 The Favourite (4.03)

Yorgos Lanthimos’ historical black comedy received critical acclaim, especially for turning the period piece genre on its head. Featuring stellar performances from its 3 female leads, The Favourite tells the complicated story of England’s Queen Anne and her two closest confidantes, Sarah Churchill and Abigail Hill. The two women ruthlessly compete to become Anne’s companion in this ridiculously off-kilter retelling of history.

Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz earned numerous accolades and nominations for their performances in the film. At the Academy Awards, Colman beat out the heavily-favored Best Actress nominees Glenn Close and Lady Gaga to win the statuette. The Favourite tied with Roma for the most nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, both films receiving 10. The film won 7 BAFTAs out of 12 nominations, including 2 for Colman and Weisz’s performances.

1 Roma (4.07)

Alfonso Cuarón’s semi-autobiographical drama Roma follows the life of Cleodegaria “Cleo” Gutiérrez, an indigenous woman who works as a middle-class family’s live-in housekeeper in 1970s Mexico City. Cuarón drew inspiration from his upbringing in the city to create one of the year’s most emotionally-poignant films. Starring Yalitza Aparicio in an impressive film debut, the tender Roma is one of Cuarón’s most personal films and earned universal praise.

One of the best modern black-and-white films, Roma won 3 Academy Awards and received a total of 10 nominations, tying with The Favourite. Cuarón won in the Best Director and Best Cinematography categories while also receiving nominations for Best Original Screenplay. With Roma, Mexico won its first Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.

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