The 2010s All-Decade Oscars: And The Nominees Are…

I did my fair share of complaining after last year’s Oscars ceremony in my first column for Film Inquiry. My mantra of justification for paying even an iota of attention to the Academy Awards is because I concluded that since the industry thinks they are important, it’s necessary to discuss the ripple effects that the award have on representation and career trajectory of its winners and nominees. As we all know, they get it wrong… a lot.

When I was a dumb kid, I treated the Oscars like a legacy-defining parameter the way that All-NBA Team selections and championships determine the legacy of NBA players. Art is after all subjective, so this was never a proper analogy, but there was, and still sometimes is, a sense of fun in looking back at the Oscars as a historical record book for who was relevant during which time and sometimes, you find big surprises (did you know in 1959, the Oscars nominated The 400 Blows, North by Northwest, and Wild Strawberries for Best Original Screenplay? What a lineup!), and years where big winners were movies no one ever remembers or cares about anymore (really, who ever talks or thinks about 1966 Best Picture winner A Man For All Seasons, or 1985’s Out of Africa?).

In the lead-up to yet another Academy Awards filled with wrong decisions, we have online discourse that is driving everyone insane if more-so for the fact that this year’s ceremony is coinciding with the Democratic primary elections and the slow ruinous collapse of everything around us. In that sense then, the Oscars should serve as a respite right? Right? No? Ok.

Anyway, this year instead of an article complaining about the Oscars, I decided to selectively fix them. I decided to go back to the last 10 years of the Academy Awards and pick out five nominees and a winner for each category. My editor asked if I wanted to take a public poll to determine the nominees and winners, but I decided to make this process completely self-serving. As the late NBA Commissioner David Stern said after being asked how it was decided to wave off the Chris Paul-to-Lakers trade, “the votes were unanimous… 1 to 0”.

What’s that? Am I just doing something totally pointless like this to distract myself from the complete shitshow of the Iowa Caucuses? Why would you say that? Shut up! This is…. The 2010s All-Decade Oscars!

A few rules before we begin:

1. Only films that were actually nominated at the Oscars in a particular category can be nominated for that category.
2. 10 Nominees for Best Picture
3. 3 Nominees for Make-Up & Hairstyling
4. 5 Nominees for every other category
5. At least 1 female nominee for Best Picture (producer), Best Director, Screenplay (both adapted & original), International Feature, Documentary (short & feature), Animated (short & feature), Live-Action Short.
6. No actor/actress can be nominated twice in the same category.

Ready?

The 2010s All Decade Oscars

Best Documentary – Short Subject

• Claud Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah – Adam Benzine
• A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness – Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
• Period. End of Sentence. – Rakya Zehtabchi & Melissa Berton
• The Reaper – Gabriel Serra Arguello
• White Earth – J. Christian Jensen

Best Documentary – Feature

• The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer
• CitizenFour – Laura Poitras
• Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy
• O.J. Made in America – Ezra Edelman
• Restrepo – Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger

Best Live-Action Short

• Curfew – Shawn Christensen
• Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? – Selma Vilhunen
• Fauve – Jérémy Compte
• The Phone Call – Matt Kirkby
• Stutterer – Benjamin Cleary

Best Animated Short

• Dear Basketball – Kobe Bryant
• Fresh Guacamole – PES
• Paperman – John Kahrs
• World of Tomorrow – Don Hertzfeldt
• Wild Life – Wendy Tilby & Amanda Forbis

Best Animated Feature

• Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jennifer Yuh Nelson
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Bob Perischetti, Peter Ramsey, & Rodney Rothman
• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya – Isao Takahata
• Toy Story 3 – Lee Unkirch
• The Wind Rises – Hayao Miyazaki

Best International Feature Film

• Dogtooth – Yorgos Lanthimos (Greece)
• Embrace of the Serpent – Ciro Guerra (Colombia)
• Honeyland – Tamara Kotevska (North Macedonia)
• The Missing Picture – Rithy Panh (Cambodia)
• Parasite – Bong Joon-ho (South Korea)

Best Original Score

• Carol – Carter Burwell
• Inception – Hans Zimmer
• Mr. Turner – Gary Yershon
• Phantom Thread – Johnny Greenwood
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams

Best Original Song

• “Let it Go” – Frozen (music & lyrics: Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez)
• “Everything is Awesome” – The Lego Movie (music & lyrics: Shawn Patterson)
• “If I Rise” – 127 Hours (music: A.R. Rahman, lyrics: Rollo Armstrong & Dido)
•  “Shallow” – A Star is Born (music & lyrics: Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, & Andrew Wyatt)
• “The Simple Song” – Youth (music & lyrics: David Lang)

Best Visual Effects

• Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Peter Bebb
• Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott R. Fisher
• Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer, Donald R. Elliot
• Mad Max: Fury Road – Andrew Jackson, Dan Oliver, Andy Williams, Tom Wood
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Daniel Berrett

Best Sound Mixing

• Hugo – Tom Fleischman & John Midgley
• Inception – Gary Rizzo, Lora Hirschberg, & Ed Novick
• Interstellar – Gary Rizzo, Gregg Landaker, & Mark Weingarten
• Mad Max: Fury Road – Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, & Ben Osmo
• Whiplash – Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, & Thomas Curley

Best Sound Editing

• Dunkirk – Richard King & Alex Gibson
• Inception – Richard King
• Interstellar – Richard King
• Mad Max: Fury Road – Mark Mangini & David White
• Sicario – Alan Robert Murray

Best Production Design

• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen & Anna Pinnock
• Hugo – Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo
• Mad Max: Fury Road – Colin Gibson & Lisa Thompson
• Midnight in Paris – Anne Seibel & Helene Dubreuil
• Parasite – Lee Ha-jun & Cho Won-woo

Best Costume Design

• Black Panther – Ruth E. Carter
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Cannonero
• The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin
• Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan
• Phantom Thread – Mark Bridges

Best Make-Up & Hairstyling

• Border – Goran Lundstrom & Pamela Goldhammer
• Mad Max: Fury Road – Damian Martin, Lesley Vanderwalt, & Elka Wardega
• The Revenant – Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, & Robert Pandini

Best Film Editing

• Dunkirk – Lee Smith
• The Irishman – Thelma Schoonmaker
• Mad Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel
• Parasite – Yang Jin-mo
• Whiplash – Tom Cross

Best Cinematography

• Cold War – Lukasz Zal
• Inception – Wally Pfister
• Mad Max: Fury Road – John Seale
• Sicario – Roger Deakins
• The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubeszki

Best Original Screenplay

• Inception – Christopher Nolan
• Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
• The Lobster – Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthymis Filippou
• Parasite – Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won
• Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Moonlight – Barry Jenkins & Tarrell Alvin McCraney
• Carol – Phyllis Nagy
• The Irishman – Steven Zaillian
• 12 Years a Slave – John Ridley
• Moneyball – Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• Emma Stone – The Favourite
• Jackie Weaver – Animal Kingdom
• Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread
• Lupita N’yongo – 12 Years A Slave
• Patricia Arquette – Boyhood

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

• Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
• Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
• Michael Fassbender – 12 Years A Slave
• Phillip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
• Tom Hardy – The Revenant

Best Actress in a Leading Role

• Cate Blanchett – Carol
• Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
• Olivia Coleman – The Favourite
• Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
• Viola Davis – The Help

Best Actor in a Leading Role

• Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years A Slave
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
• Steve Carell – Foxcatcher

Best Director

• Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
• George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
• Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
• Paul Thomas Anderson – Phantom Thread
• Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life

Best Picture

• 12 Years A Slave – Fox Searchlight Pictures
• Hugo – Paramount Pictures
• Inception – Warner Bros. Pictures
• Mad Max: Fury Road – Warner Bros. Pictures
• Midnight in Paris – Sony Pictures Classics
• Moneyball – Columbia Pictures
• Moonlight – A24
• Parasite – CJ Entertainment
• Phantom Thread – Focus Features
• The Tree of Life – Fox Searchlight Pictures

The Tally

3 Awards – The Tree of Life, Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road

2 Awards – Carol

1 Award – Lincoln, The Master, 12 Years A Slave, Moonlight, Hugo, Interstellar, A Star is Born, Parasite, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Stutterer, Fresh Guacamole, O.J. Made in America, Period. End of Sentence.

Thoughts? Share below. And while you’re at it, share your All-Decade Oscars winners, too.