Oscar thoughts About those Oscar nominations announced January 13 ... not a lot of surprises.   (See the full list at: https://oscar.go.com/news/nominations/oscar-nominations-2020-list-nominees-by-category .) Although Joker is a controversial choice to lead the pack with 11 nominations.   It won’t win, except perhaps for Joaquin Phoenix in the best actor category.   He’s as amazing as the movie is deeply disturbing. Good to see the South Korean Parasite included for “best picture” as well as “best international feature”, which it will surely win.   The Two Popes should have been included to compete for the top prize instead of Ford v Ferrari (but at least Two Popes has acting nominations for Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins and one for its screenwriter Anthony McCarten).   Also good to see Parasite director Bong Joon Ho recognized in the directing category, though it’s another all-male list excluding Greta Gerwig for her wondrous remake of Little Women . ...

First, a few comments on the 77 th “Golden Globes”.   Netflix had no less than three of the five nominees in the major category of best dramatic feature— The Irishman , Marriage Story , and The Two Popes .   Yet these collectively scored only one minor win—Laura Dern in a supporting category for Marriage Story .   (I still expect all three to be in the running for the Oscar best picture nominations to be announced January 13.)   The biggest surprise was the big-screen epic 1917 taking the top award of best drama as well as best director for Sam Mendes, giving it an undeniable boost ahead of a January 10 North American wide release.   Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood took three Globes including for best musical or comedy.   When it comes to movie awards, the streaming services have yet to catch up to these made-for-theatrical-release features.   Series are another matter as streaming increasingly dominates.   I was glad to see Olivia Colman win ...

The Ten Best Movies of 2019 Below are very brief descriptions of my favorite films of this past year. Most have been the subject of longer reviews.   For reference to these I have indicated both the blog post dates and the page number(s) in the 2019 collected reviews document.   I have also added a list of a dozen documentaries that most impressed, with information links and review dates and page numbers if applicable.   Parasite South Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s savage satire of his society’s class divides earned the Cannes film festival’s top prize Palme d’Or and should be the favorite for the best international feature film (previously best foreign-language film) Oscar to be announced February 9.   Don’t be surprised if it also makes it into the main best picture category, nominations for which will be announced on January 13.   (Reviewed 30 October, p. 67) The Two Popes Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles’ insightful imagining of this unusu...