90th Academy Awards: Best Actor

Oscars 2018: Best Actor

With the Academy managing to get the winner of the Best Actor category absolutely spot on last year, with Casey Affleck’s performance in Manchester By The Sea one of the best on-screen character depictions I have seen in recent history, the spoils this year all seem to be heading in the direction of Britain’s own Gary Oldman, whose portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour is one of uncanny excellence, a performance with much more credence and power than simply stating it’s Oldman’s “turn” to win an Oscar after being seemingly snubbed for previous nominations in a similar vein to Leonardo DiCaprio’s seemingly odds on win for 2016’s The Revenant. With Daniel Day Lewis shining as always in his so-called final role as Reynolds Woodcock in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread and Daniel Kaluuya creating his own personal waves in Jordan Peele’s Get Out, either performers would be worthy of awards success, whilst Timothée Chalamet and Denzel Washington fill up the remainder of the ballot paper for Call Me By Your Name and Roman J. Israel, Esq. respectively. In regards to missed nominations, Christian Bale’s outstanding performance as Captain Joseph Blocker in Hostiles has been shockingly snubbed in every major awards ceremony worldwide, whilst the more out-of-there mind could argue Vince Vaughn’s career changing role in Brawl In Cell Block 99 could easily have seen recognition too. Anyhow, here are the main points:

Winner – Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

Personal Favourite – Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Nomination Snub – Christian Bale (Hostiles)

90th Academy Awards: Best Director

Oscars 2018: Best Director

With a trio of veteran filmmakers and a duo of directorial newcomers, this year’s Best Director category is undoubtedly the tightest one to call, and whilst Guillermo del Toro seems to be the named favourite after picking up awards at both the BAFTA’s and the Golden Globes, any of the five nominees stand a more than plausible chance at walking away with the top prize. Whilst del Toro himself more than deserves at least the slightest of Academy Award recognition after failing to win the Best Foreign Language gong for Pan’s Labyrinth back in 2007, no one can seriously question the remarkable directorial skills of Christopher Nolan on Dunkirk, and whilst many may see Nolan’s wartime masterpiece as more of an technical exercise than that of a classical historic drama, the chance for Nolan to finally win an award after being royally snubbed previously for the likes of Inception and The Dark Knight is a mistake that may indeed come full circle. Elsewhere, Paul Thomas Anderson is a equally prestigious and remarkable filmmaker who has seemingly bypassed the Oscar award fever, and whilst Phantom Thread is an outstanding work of melancholic brilliance, the chance to succeed may indeed seep by once again, but for the likes of Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele for their work on Lady Bird and Get Out respectively, the Academy does deserve some form of applause for attempting to widen its’ cinematic scope when it comes to choosing films worthy of such a prestigious award, and whilst snubs for the likes of Denis Villeneuve for Blade Runner 2049 and Darren Aronofsky for mother! prove that that they can’t get it right all the time, at least the Academy are slowly catching up.

Winner – Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)

Personal Favourite – Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Nomination Snub – Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049)