The Sammys 2019! Or: If I was an Oscar voter

We are finally at a close. This unpredictable Oscar season is at an end and the Academy's choices will soon be unveiled. While I'm used to my favorite film losing Best Picture, I'm not used to my favorite being shut out of nominations entirely. In fact, my top three films of the year all failed to register with Oscar voters.

Annihilation is a sci-fi fever dream. It feels like a spiritual successor to Aliens in many ways. It presents some of the most beautiful, disturbing, and hypnotic visuals of the year. The finale has haunted my mind since I saw it. The film dares to ask unanswered questions of the audience, and your interpretation of the film and its meanings will differ from your friends. It's a movie that offers new insights and revelations upon each viewing.

Eighth Grade has the most incredible screenplay of the year. Full stop. I have no idea how Bo Burnham so successfully captured the cadence and mannerisms in the way eighth-graders speak. The "umms," the stilted dialogue, the insecurity. And none of it ever feels like a schtick. Marry this writing with Elsie Fisher's painfully honest performance and you have one incredibly recognizable and moving film experience.

And then there's Leave No Trace. I knew next to nothing about the movie going in, but it quickly jumped to the top of my list after I sobbed my way through it. It's not a dialogue-heavy piece. The script is sparing with its language, there is no excess or fat on this thing. Instead, much of the story comes from the chemistry forged between its two stars Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie. And from the way Debra Granik charts them with the camera. She knows exactly when to get in close so you can see the story in their eyes and when to pull back and bring in the environment. An environment she can manipulate to be lush and gorgeous one moment and a dire threat the next.

I alternated between which of these three films was my favorite. Ultimately the gut punch of Leave No Trace is what is seared into my mind and heart. But all three were entirely ignored by the Academy. So let's fix that. Here are my own personal Oscars, the Sammys, for the year in film.

Picture

10. Colette

9. Can You Ever Forgive Me?   

8. Mary Poppins Returns

7. BlacKkKlansman

6. A Star is Born
5. Black Panther

4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

3. Annihilation

2. Eighth Grade (runner-up)

1. Leave No Trace (winner)

Director

Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade

Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

Alex Garland, Annihilation (runner-up)

Debra Granik, Leave No Trace (winner)

Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

Lead Actor

Christian Bale, Vice

Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born (runner-up)

Ben Foster, Leave No Trace (winner)

Ethan Hawke, First Reformed

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

Lead Actress

Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns

Glenn Close, The Wife (runner-up)

Toni Collette, Hereditary (winner)

Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade

Keira Knightley, Colette

Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali, Green Book

Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? (runner-up)

Josh Hamilton, Eighth Grade (winner)

Dominic West, Colette

Ben Wishaw, Mary Poppins Returns

Supporting Actress

Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place

Danai Gurira, Black Panther

Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Thomasin McKenzie, Leave No Trace (winner)

Rachel Weisz, The Favourite (runner-up)

Ensemble

Black Panther (winner)

Crazy Rich Asians (runner-up)

The Favourite

Mary Poppins Returns

A Star is Born

Animated Feature

Incredibles 2 (runner-up)

Isle of Dogs

Ruben Brandt, Collector

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (winner)

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Documentary Feature

Free Solo

McQueen

Minding the Gap (runner-up)

RBG

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (winner)

Original Screenplay

Colette

Eighth Grade (winner)

The Favourite (runner-up)

Private Life

A Quiet Place

Adapted Screenplay

Annihilation

BlacKkKlansman (runner-up)

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Leave No Trace (winner)

A Star is Born

Film Editing

Annihilation (runner-up)

BlacKkKlansman (winner)

First Man

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse   

A Star is Born

Cinematography

First Man (winner)

Hereditary

If Beale Street Could Talk

Roma (runner-up)

A Star is Born

Production Design

Annihilation

Black Panther (runner-up)

The Favourite

Mary Poppins Returns (winner)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Costume Design

Black Panther (winner)

Colette

The Favourite

Mary Poppins Returns (runner-up)

Mary Queen of Scots

Makeup/Hairstyling

Black Panther (winner)

Mary Poppins Returns

Mary Queen of Scots

Suspiria (runner-up)

Vice

Sound Editing

Annihilation (winner)

Avengers: Infinity War

First Man

Ready Player One

A Quiet Place (runner-up)

Sound Mixing

Annihilation

A Quiet Place

First Man (runner-up)

Mary Poppins Returns (winner)

A Star is Born

Score

Black Panther

Annihilation (winner)

Colette

Hereditary

Mary Poppins Returns (runner-up)

Song

“Nowhere to Go But Up,” Mary Poppins Returns (runner-up)

“The Place Where Lost Things Go,” Mary Poppins Returns

“A Place Called Slaughter Race,” Ralph Breaks the Internet

“Sunflower,” Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

“Shallow”, A Star is Born (winner)

Visual Effects

Annihilation (runner-up)

Avengers: Infinity War (winner)

Christopher Robin

Ready Player One

Solo: A Star Wars Story

WINS

4 - Leave No Trace

3 - Black Panther

2 - Annihilation

2 - Eighth Grade

2 - Mary Poppins Returns

1 - Avengers: Infinity War

1 - BlacKkKlansman
1 - First Man

1 - Hereditary

1 - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

1 - A Star is Born

1 - Won’t You be my Neighbor?