I've lately been caught in a real moral dilemma. Is it really appropriate to still be watching the Academy Awards ceremony? Part of me wants to keep doing it simply because it's the biggest movie night of the year and a grand celebration of film, which also honors the biggest achievements in filmmaking of the year and decides what the future of Hollywood will look like. But at the same time, the Oscars year after year has gotten deeper in its process of digging its own grave. That's not just because a majority of the films they nominate don't deserve the recognition, but it's chiefly because the body is so full of themselves and doesn't care what the general public wants or needs to see. Each year, they've become much more clueless as to what will actually get people to watch the show again, and their efforts to try and bring ratings back up have always backfired. Always. Not to mention all their attempts have only hurt the quality of the ceremony, and this year looks like it will continue that trend. With the insulting decision to not air 8 of the 23 categories live, I'm now seriously considering not watching the Oscars this year. This is just outrageously unacceptable.
But with all that said, here is my own personal version of the Academy Awards, where I award what I think is genuinely the best of the year based on the 50 movies I saw released between January 2021 and December 2021.
But with all that said, here is my own personal version of the Academy Awards, where I award what I think is genuinely the best of the year based on the 50 movies I saw released between January 2021 and December 2021.
Now as usual, here's some disclaimers I have that are a little different than the criteria that the Oscars follow:
All films eligible are anything that is at least forty minutes long and premiered either in a movie theater or on a streaming platform.
I considered the animated films for all the categories except for makeup and costume design, since there are technicians behind the editing, cinematography, and set design that deserve every bit as much recognition as those who work on live action films. So it's virtually free for all in everything.
I also consider all films that feature visual effects shots a chance in Best Visual Effects. I say that it should be the goal of any VFX artists to make the effects invisible, so that's what I've been judging this year.
I'm not following the same judgment as the Oscars, who like to judge based on technical achievement. While that's important to acknowledge to make sure the artistry of filmmaking continues to grow with its discoveries, my focus is on how the practical elements contribute to the film's unique needs, so you may find nominees in some of these categories you'd never expect to find in any other awards show lineup. I'm not saying I'm better than any of them, but rather this is my two cents on what's important in filmmaking.
All films eligible are anything that is at least forty minutes long and premiered either in a movie theater or on a streaming platform.
I considered the animated films for all the categories except for makeup and costume design, since there are technicians behind the editing, cinematography, and set design that deserve every bit as much recognition as those who work on live action films. So it's virtually free for all in everything.
I also consider all films that feature visual effects shots a chance in Best Visual Effects. I say that it should be the goal of any VFX artists to make the effects invisible, so that's what I've been judging this year.
I'm not following the same judgment as the Oscars, who like to judge based on technical achievement. While that's important to acknowledge to make sure the artistry of filmmaking continues to grow with its discoveries, my focus is on how the practical elements contribute to the film's unique needs, so you may find nominees in some of these categories you'd never expect to find in any other awards show lineup. I'm not saying I'm better than any of them, but rather this is my two cents on what's important in filmmaking.
Best Film Editing
| The Nominees: 2. Pig 3. Drive My Car 4. Wrath of Man 5. Licorice Pizza The Winner: Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles This visualized album of Billie Eilish's latest music captures the energy of a live concert while remaining aware of the intimate advantage behind the cinematic medium. The editing always keeps itself up close and personal to Eilish, careful to weave in the animated segments that give the deeper emotional context behind each of her songs and what they have to say about Los Angeles culture. |  |
Best Sound
| The Nominees: 2. Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles 3. The Father 4. Drive My Car 5. King Richard The Winner: Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) There is such a tight balance between the interviews and the musical performance of that iconic outdoor concert that they complement each other perfectly. The audio of this 50+-year-old video footage is made to be shockingly clear as it's balanced out appropriately with whatever the interviewees have to say about the event. |  |
Best Cinematography
| The Nominees: 2. Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles 3. Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet 4. A Quiet Place Part II 5. Nomadland The Winner: Bo Burnham: Inside Bo Burnham proves with his one-man crew that you don't need a massive budget or thousands of people to create something impactful. All you need is an imagination and something to say. With that, Burnham crafts unforgettable vibrant images that speak a thousand words each, with lighting and color compositions you never would think a man could generate all in one single room. |  |
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
| The Nominees: 2. Pig 3. Nomadland 4. The Father 5. Minari The Winner: Bo Burnham: Inside There's no prosthetics or Hollywood trickery here, this is Bo Burnham with his full unapologetic crawled-out-of-bed look. As the months go by in the time he films this project, his hair always changes shape to signify where he's at in his emotional/spiritual journey. What's amazing is that he's not altering his appearance to fit the movie, rather, he tailors this project to align with his own personal growth. |  |
Best Costume Design
| The Nominees: 2. Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles 3. A Quiet Place Part II 4. tick, tick… Boom! 5. Dune The Winner: Judas and the Black Messiah This portrait of a particularly dark era of US history had a challenging ordeal: designing costumes for the Black Panther party from a nonbiased point-of-view. How do you make these social rights activists look human without letting your personal political biases get in the way? The result is remarkable, for you can tell exactly who everyone is just by seeing what they're wearing. |  |
Best Production Design
| The Nominees: 2. Pig 3. Raya and the Last Dragon 4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 5. Bo Burnham: Inside The Winner: A Quiet Place Part II This sequel to the horror mega-hit returns to the apocalyptic wasteland with a twist: we're leaving the Abbott house to see how the rest of civilization has suffered from the plague of Death Angels. Everything has decayed within itself, and every location is an obstacle course the family must work together to figure out, which in the end is uncomfortably familiar to our COVID-era world. |  |
Best Music
| The Nominees: 2. Wrath of Man 3. The Power of the Dog 4. The French Dispatch 5. Bo Burnham: Inside The Winner: West Side Story The legendary music and songs from the Broadway/Hollywood classic has been readapted to fit the vision of Steven Spielberg while keeping the spirit in tact. The sound of it is now so much better than it was in 1961, and you can tell that improvements were made in the composition to fit how the musical and dramatic sequences were realized for 2021. |  |
Best Visual Effects
| The Nominees: 2. Wrath of Man 3. Judas and the Black Messiah 4. The White Tiger 5. No Time to Die The Winner: West Side Story It clearly wasn't easy to turn an ordinary New York street into a 1950s setting fit for extravagant dancing, but with the help of some flawless digital effects, the backgrounds are convincing enough to trick you into thinking this really was filmed way back then. This is a fine example of utilizing special effects in a way that will serve the story without calling any attention to itself. |  |
Worst Picture
| The Nominees: 2. Mortal Kombat 3. Godzilla vs. Kong 4. Lego Star Wars Terrifying Tales 5. The Suicide Squad The "Winner": Muppets Haunted Mansion It was underlooked as a Disney+ release, and imaginably so: Muppets Haunted Mansion struggles to keep the Muppets relevant by combining them with the iconic Disney park attraction to no success. There are awkward attempts to please two different fanbases, yet it ends up pleasing neither of them as they're both given a disservice by low production values and dreadful puppeteering. |  |
Best Supporting Actress
| The Nominees: 2. Imogen Poots, The Father 3. Yuh-jung Youn, Minari 4. Dominique Fishback, Judas and the Black Messiah 5. María Cecilia Botero, Encanto The Winner: Marlee Matlin, CODA The famous deaf actress proves that she can still be a relevant spokesperson for the deaf community even thirty-five years after her monumental Oscar win. In CODA, she plays a mother who has been confused and frustrated by the pressure of running a deaf family in a world not built for them, and although she doesn't quite know what's best for her hearing daughter, she still does her best to try. |  |
Best Supporting Actor
| The Nominees: 2. Mark Gatiss, The Father 3. Adam Arkin, Pig 4. David Knell, Pig 5. Jesse Plemons, Judas and the Black Messiah The Winner: Troy Kotsur, CODA Kotsur plays a father who's not like other dads, heck, he's not even like other deaf dads! His character is savage to whomever gets in his way, passionate about his wife, and tries to the best of his limited understanding to care for his daughter. He may not be a likable character, but with what Kotsur had to do for the role, he knows how to make the audience cry despite his disability. |  |
Best Actress
| The Nominees: 2. Olivia Colman, The Father 3. Stephanie Beatriz, Encanto 4. Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza 5. Abbi Jacobson, The Mitchells vs. the Machines The Winner: Billie Eilish, Happier than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles Billie Eilish may be playing herself, and yeah, she's technically not acting here, but the power is rather all in her screen presence as she sings in an environment she's not used to. As great as her singing voice is, Eilish's true power in this visual album is all in how invested she appears in her music. Just her body language is all you need to know exactly what each song means to her. |  |
Best Actor
| The Nominees: 2. Anthony Hopkins, The Father 3. Andrew Garfield, tick, tick… Boom! 4. Will Smith, King Richard 5. Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza The Winner: Bo Burnham, Bo Burnham: Inside It's just him, no supporting actors, no camera crew, no audio crew, nothing else. He's holding down the whole fort by himself, and, he's playing himself. No phony character, it's just 100% Bo Burnham. The impact of his performance is not merely in his perfectly timed jokes or his irresistible singing voice, but most of all in his transparency as he lets every tear drop in front of the camera. |  |
Best Screenplay
| The Nominees: 2. The Father 3. Raya and the Last Dragon 4. Judas and the Black Messiah 5. The White Tiger The Winner: Bo Burnham: Inside You can tell that very little of this ambitious project was scripted, Burnham most likely woke up at the start of every day not knowing what he can expect to film. While most films writing their scripts while filming has almost always led to disaster, Bo Burnham mastered it, because he allowed himself room to improvise and create what feels more like a video journal than a traditional narrative. |  |
Best Director
| The Nominees: 2. Patrick Osborne, Robert Rodriguez, Happier Than Ever 3. Lee Isaac Chung, Minari 4. Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Raya and the Last Dragon 5. Chloé Zhao, Nomadland The Winner: Bo Burnham, Bo Burnham: Inside You've heard of an actor directing himself in a feature film, but Bo Burnham takes it to the next level by doing EVERYTHING himself. If any other filmmaker tried to do what he did, it would have come off as a gimmick, but he goes the extra mile by sharing his own insecurities as he balances out the drama with striking imagery and catchy jingles. |  |
Best Picture
| The Nominees: 2. Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles 3. The Father 4. Judas and the Black Messiah 5. The Mitchells vs. the Machines The Winner: Bo Burnham: Inside It's a Netflix original special, but other theatrical releases would do good to see what Bo Burnham does with his Emmy-winning quarantine project. He gives a voice to millennials as he combats his fear to say everything that every young White man is afraid of in our present-day culture. It's not about what tools you have or what budget you have, it's how you say what you need to say. |  |
Well, that's a wrap! Now, here's my official ranking of all 50 films I saw this year:
| 1. Bo Burnham: Inside 2. Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles 3. The Father 4. Judas and the Black Messiah 5. The Mitchells vs. the Machines 6. Minari 7. Raya and the Last Dragon 8. Drive My Car 9. Pig 10. Encanto 11. Nomadland 12. King Richard 13. The White Tiger 14. Respect 15. tick, tick... BOOM! 16. Licorice Pizza 17. A Quiet Place Part II 18. The Power of the Dog 19. In the Heights 20. CODA 21. Wish Dragon 22. Own the Room 23. Summer of Soul 24. Vivo 25. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | 26. Copshop 27. The French Dispatch 28. Being the Ricardos 29. Wrath of Man 30. Luca 31. West Side Story 32. Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet 33. Don't Look Up 34. Belfast 35. The Tragedy of Macbeth 36. Fatherhood 37. Those Who Wish Me Dead 38. F9: The Fast Saga 39. The Green Knight 40. No Time to Die 41. Spider-Man: No Way Home 42. Cruella 43. Eternals 44. Black Widow 45. Dune 46. The Suicide Squad 47. Lego Star Wars Terrifying Tales 48. Godzilla vs. Kong 49. Mortal Kombat 50. Muppets Haunted Mansion |
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