As I do every year and a lot of others do, I track all the awards season nominees whether it’s the BAFTAs (which I love), Golden Globes, Critics Choice, Critic Circles, to the Oscars. As seen online we all have our different opinions and we all feel strongly for some films but totally against some others. Film is subjective and its always intriguing seeing others’ opinions on what you deem awards worthy.
So below I have carefully placed what my awards ballot would be if I were to be voting for each and every category that came to mind…
It was a great year in film as I’ve said many times and here is my personal ballot for the 80+ films I saw in 2018.
Best Motion Picture
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Coen Brothers)
Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino)
The Oldman and The Gun (David Lowery)
Hereditary (Ari Aster)
First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)
Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)
First Man (Damien Chazelle)
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Widows (Steve McQueen)
WINNER – Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)
Best Director
Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here)
Paul Schrader (First Reformed)
Debra Granik (Leave No Trace)
Ari Aster (Hereditary)
Damien Chazelle (First Man)
WINNER – Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here)
Best Film Actor
Matt Dillon (The House That Jack Built)
Ethan Hawke (First Reformed)
Ryan Gosling (First Man)
Joaquin Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here)
Ben Foster (Leave No Trace)
WINNER – Joaquin Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here)
Best Film Actress
Juli Jakab (Sunset)
Joanna Kulig (Cold War)
Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns)
Toni Collette (Hereditary)
Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
WINNER – Toni Collette (Hereditary)
Best Supporting Actor
Tom Waits (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
Alex Wolff (Hereditary)
Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Daniel Kaluuya (Widows)
Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)
WINNER – Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Best Supporting Actress
Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace)
Claire Foy (First Man)
Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)
Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place)
Emma Stone (The Favourite)
WINNER – Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace)
Best Cast Ensemble
Mary Poppins Returns
A Quiet Place
Widows
The Favourite
Bad Times at the El Royale
WINNER – Bad Times at the El Royale
Best Original Screenplay
First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola)
You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)
The House That Jack Built (Lars Von Trier)
The Favourite (Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara)
WINNER – First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Widows (Steve McQueen, Gillian Flynn)
Suspiria (David Kajganich)
The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Peter Fellows, Ian Martin)
Leave No Trace (Debra Granik, Anne Roselleni)
First Man (Josh Singer)
WINNER – Leave No Trace (Debra Granik, Anne Roselleni)
Best Cinematography
Leave No Trace (Michael McDonough)
Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
Bad Times at the El Royale (Seamus McGarvey)
First Man (Linus Sandgren)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Bruno Delbonnel)
WINNER – Leave No Trace (Michael McDonough)
Best Original Score
Colette (Thomas Adès)
Suspiria (Thom Yorke)
You Were Never Really Here (Jonny Greenwood)
First Man (Justin Hurwitz)
Isle of Dogs (Alexandre Desplat)
WINNER – You Were Never Really Here (Jonny Greenwood)
Best Costume Design
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Mary Zophres)
The Nutcracker and The Four Realms (Jenny Beavan)
The Favourite (Sandy Powell)
Colette (Andrea Flesch)
Mary Poppins Returns (Sandy Powell)
WINNER – The Nutcracker and The Four Realms (Jenny Beavan)
Best Production Design
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Jess Gonchor)
The Favourite (Fiona Crombie)
A Quiet Place (Jeffrey Beecroft)
Suspiria (Inbal Weinberg)
Hereditary (Grace Yun)
WINNER – Hereditary (Grace Yun)
Best Film Editing
Suspiria (Walter Fasano)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Coen Brothers)
The Favourite (Yorgos Mavropsaridis)
First Man (Tom Cross)
You Were Never Really Here (Joe Bini)
WINNER – Suspiria (Walter Fasano)
Best Sound Design
Suspiria
Hereditary
A Quiet Place
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
First Man
WINNER – A Quiet Place
Best Original Song/Song Used in Film
“Go!” from Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
“This Old Heart of Mine” from Bad Times at the El Royale
‘Shallow” from A Star is Born
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns
“The Cover is Not The Book” from Mary Poppins Returns
WINNER – “The Place Where The Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns
Best Visual Effects
Avengers Infinity War
Mary Poppins Returns
Hereditary
Suspiria
First Man
WINNER – First Man
Best Animated Film
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (Aaron Horvath, Peter Rida Michail)
Incredibles 2 (Brad Bird)
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (P. Ramsey, R. Persichetti Jr, R. Rothman)
Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson)
Early Man (Nick Park)
WINNER – Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson)
Best Foreign Film
Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski)
Sunset (László Nemes)
WINNER – Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski)
What would be on your personal ballot for the best in each category?
Let me know on Twitter: @TheDCTVshow or by Email: Bennruk@gmail.com