Oscars® Nominations: 2019

It’s that time of year again – it’s award season, which means its time to start cheering that our favorite movies are being recognized and moaning because other really great movies, and the people who made them, are getting snubbed. With viewership falling every passing year, last year’s rather boring show, and no current host in sight (a little more than a month before the show), this year’s Oscars could be a very big deal in terms of how the show runs itself over the next few years. This year’s list of movies could end up being the most important – or it could be just another year to play it safe. How many have you seen?

The list of ReelTalk reviewed films is included at the end, and the list of Best Picture Nominees will hopefully be finished by Oscar’s airtime on February 24.

In a Marvel Universe Far, Far Away…

Now that both the Star Wars and Marvel franchises are housed under the umbrella with mouse ears, we can expect to see a bit more crossover in characters. Most of the castings are new, but there are a few that were decided long before the two franchises answered to Disney, so it’s interesting to go back and see which actors managed to find a foot in both worlds. With Solo: A Star Wars Story adding three characters to the overall total and several more movies (on both sides) on the way, we can only expect this list to keep on growing.

Pixar Studios Quality Spectrum

As of March 2020, Pixar has put out twenty-two animated films that have firmly earned their place in the minds of children (and let’s face it, adults) everywhere. Between some fantastic, groundbreaking animation, amazing and lovable characters, and some great stories that tug at the heartstrings, there are few filmmaking companies who have impacted storytelling like Pixar has. But, as with every studio who puts out multiple films, there are some that are far, far better than others, and some films that fall short of a large reputation. So I’ve taken the 22 films (and rejoiced at the idea of many more to come) and put them in the order I believe they should be ranked. Now, this is much harder than you would think, since there is only one movie that is actually terrible (yes there is one right answer), but the rest have at least one redeeming quality. If your opinion differs, let’s discuss it!

Marvel Cinematic Universe Quality Spectrum

As of July 2019, the Marvel Cinematic Universe that began in 2008 has put out twenty-three movies, all taking place within the same timeline and created universe (there are also television shows that go along with them, but honestly the Netflix shows are so dark you could almost argue they are an entirely different New York). When you’ve put out twenty-three different movies, there are bound to be some hits and some misses, and the MCU is no exception to the rule. So which ones were hits and which ones were misses? My list has been updated to include Spider-Man: Far From Home, and will continue to be updated as it goes, though there is not another officially announced movie for at least a year.

We will start at the top (aka the best Marvel movie) and work our way down. Where would you rank these movies in relation to each other?

Mystical in Marvel: The Lord of the Rings Crossover

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and its spin-off television shows) grows, the number of actors being cast also increases exponentially. Not only do we start to see more cross-over between actors who’ve worked together before (Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, for example, have worked together almost a dozen times now), we’re starting to see a great deal of influence from other large bodies of work. Heading in Marvel Phase 4, we’re noticing a recurring trend – there are quite a few cast members from Peter Jackson’s imaginings of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies making an appearance in this world of superheroes! Some are fairly obvious, but digging through the two extended universes, it’s actually pretty interesting just how much crossover there is.

Coming Up in January (2016)

It’s almost time to kick off the new year, so let’s take a look at the first few movies we’ll have access to! It looks like we’ll have plenty of Westerns and Sci-Fi this new year, what looks the most interesting to you?