The Best Picture category in this year's Academy Awards is incredibly intriguing. I don't think it was a strong year for the category overall, but there is an enormous box office hit involved and a film that I would consider a favorite to win the award in most years.
Here's the hierarchy in which I view this year's nominees ahead of the Oscars' ceremony in a couple of weeks.
Best Picture Rankings: #1 Roma
Roma was the best movie I saw this year, and it's not particularly close. It tells a beautiful yet heartwrenching story of a housekeeper in a wealthy Mexican home. The theme of the film describes how women are often tied so closely to the family while men are able to sew their seed whenever they please without any sort of repercussions. Roma has some incredibly painful moments that will make you want to bury their face in their hands and sob, but the resolution provides imperfect satisfaction.
Best Picture Rankings: #2 BlacKkKlansman
Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman tells an insane but true story that has every element you'd want in a film. The acting is superb from the entire cast, and there are moments that have you laughing hysterically and times where you're left speechlessly contemplating the race issues in our country. I didn't know what to expect coming in, but I believe this is some of Spike Lee's finest work.
Best Picture Rankings: #3 A Star is Born
A Star is Born is the film I was most excited to see this season. The tragic love story mixed with a musician's life story is exactly the type of plot that pulls me in. However, the last 20-30 minutes of the movie left me unsatisfied even though I usually root for sad endings over a happy resolution. I'm not sure this remake of a remake lived up to the hype despite an outstanding soundtrack.
Best Picture Rankings: #4 The Favourite
The Favourite was the most unique film among these nominees. It could make you feel incredibly uncomfortable and then have you guffaw with laughter within the same scene, which is difficult to do. The film's leading ladies all put in incredible performances, and I think it was extremely well made. However, the re-watchability factor is pretty low.
Best Picture Rankings: #5 Black Panther
I'm not a huge Marvel movie fan at this point in my life, but I loved every minute of Black Panther. Some of the cinematic elements that make a movie Oscar-worthy are missing like they are in almost every Marvel film, but this work of art had everything you want from a true blockbuster and more. The African and modern spin on a comic book movie was exactly the breath of fresh air we all needed from Marvel.
Best Picture Rankings: #6 Green Book
Green Book was the typical 7/10 movie we usually see included in this category. While it was certainly worthy of being nominated thanks to outstanding and lovable performances from Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, I don't think it has a chance of taking home the hardware for Best Picture this year.
Best Picture Rankings: #7 Bohemian Rhapsody
I was really excited for this film to come out when it was announced a couple of years ago and Rami Malek was cast to play Freddie Mercury, but I was pretty underwhelmed when it was over. The Live Aid concert scene was fantastic, but the rest of the movie was a bit shallow and I think Malek's performance was slightly overrated due to a lack of depth in his character.
Best Picture Rankings: #8 Vice
I had a bad feeling about Vice about five minutes in to the film when they chose to go with a narrator as the driving voice throughout the film. Christian Bale is a strong candidate for Best Actor and the cast did a fantastic job throughout, but I wasn't a fan of the structure of the film that followed the same exact model of Adam McKay's Oscar nominated Big Short, which has grown a bit old in round two.
