EDITORIAL: 19 films to watch for the 2019 Oscars

In what has become an annual day-after-hangover and post-Oscars tradition, I have this editorial that closes the book on one awards season and declares the next one open for competition. Each year, I pull out the crystal ball and look into the murky future to prognosticate which films coming in 2018 will we be applauding for at this time next year for the 91st Academy Awards. Here are 19 films to watch for the 2019 Oscars.

2018, Column, Editorial, Foreign Film, Film Festival, Independent Film, LIST, SPECIALDon ShanahanMarch 5, 2018Oscar nominee, Oscar contenders, Oscar bets, Oscar hopefuls, Oscars, Oscar talks, Oscar nominations, Oscar winners, Oscar snubs, Oscar Predictions, Oscar surprises, Oscar bait, Oscar Checklist, Oscar race, Oscar, 2019 Oscars, 2019 Academy Awards, 91st Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Academy Award nominees, Academy Award nominee, Academy Award, Academy Award nominations, Academy Award hopeful, Academy Award winner, Awards Predictions, Awards Tracker, Awards bait, Awards seasons, Award Prediction, Awards, First Man, If Beale Street Could Talk, A Star is Born, Widows, Backseat, Mary Queen of Scots, Bohemian Rhapsody, Where'd You Go Bernadetee, Where'd You Go Bernadette, Mortal Engines, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Burden, Beautiful Boy, The Women of Marwen, Boy Erased, White Boy Rick, Won't You Be My Neighbor, Chappaquiddick, The Front Runner, Mary Magdelene, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Column, Editorial, 2018, 2019, 2018 films Comments

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2018: My full and official list of predictions

All of the tea leaves on my 2018 Awards Tracker have been read. The analysis and breakdown. My seven editorial columns of detailed picks are complete using my head more than my heart. These aren't my personal choices of what "should" win. It's what I think "will" win because you and I have got Oscar pools to dominate! Here's my complete and master list of predictions for the 90th Academy Awards.

2018, Column, Editorial, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanFebruary 28, 2018Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Short Film, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hair-Styling, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Academy Award winner, Academy Award nominations, Academy Award, Academy Award nominee, Academy Award nominees, Academy Awards, Academy Award hopeful, 90th Academy Awards, 90th Oscars, 2018, 2017 films, Get Out, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Oscar snubs, Oscar hopefuls, Oscar Checklist, Oscar nominee, Oscars, Oscar winners, Oscar, Oscar race, Oscar contenders, Oscar bait, Oscar talks, Oscar Predictions, Oscar surprises, Oscar nominations, Awards seasons, Awards, Awards Predictions, Awards bait, Awards Talk, Awards Tracker, Award Prediction, Checklist, checklist, List, list, 2018 Oscar Predictions Comments

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2018: The race for Best Picture

Throughout the awards season, I’ve been tallying the minor and lead-up award winners in all of the Oscar categories on the 2018 Awards Tracker as a big source of my prognostication data. In this seventh post, we look at the race for Best Picture. As I say every year, stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

2017, 2018, Best Films, Column, Editorial, SPECIALDon ShanahanFebruary 28, 2018Best Picture, The race for Best Picture, Best Motion Picture of the Year, Academy Award hopeful, Academy Award nominee, Awards Talk, Academy Award, Academy Award winner, Academy Award nominees, Awards Tracker, Awards seasons, Award Prediction, Awards, Awards Predictions, Awards bait, Oscar Predictions, Oscar nominee, Oscar nominations, Oscar winners, Oscar snubs, Oscar hopefuls, Oscars, Oscar talks, Oscar contenders, Oscar Checklist, Oscar, Oscar surprises, Oscar bait, #OscarsSoWhite, Oscar race, 90th Oscars, 90th Academy Awards, 2018 Academy Awards, 2018, 2018 Oscars, 2017 films, Academy Awards, Academy Award nominations, Best Director, Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing MissouriComment

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2018: The male acting awards

Throughout the awards season, I’ve been tallying the minor and lead-up award winners in all of the Oscar categories on the 2018 Awards Tracker as a big source of my prognostication data. In this sixth post, we look at the races for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. As I say every year, stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2018: The female acting awards

Throughout the awards season, I’ve been tallying the minor and lead-up award winners in all of the Oscar categories on the 2018 Awards Tracker as a big source of my prognostication data. In this fifth post, we look at the races for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. As I say every year, stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2018: The writing and directing categories

Throughout the awards season, I’ve been tallying the minor and lead-up award winners in all of the Oscar categories on the 2018 Awards Tracker as a big source of my prognostication data. In this fourth post, we look at the screenplay and directing awards.

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2018: The visual and artistic categories

Throughout the awards season, I’ve been tallying the minor and lead-up award winners in all of the Oscar categories on the 2018 Awards Tracker as a big source of my prognostication data. In this third post, we look at the visual and artistic categories that include cinematography, production design, editing, visual effects, costume design, and makeup and hair-styling.

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2018: The minor film categories

Throughout the awards season, I’ve been tallying the minor and lead-up award winners in all of the Oscar categories on the 2018 Awards Tracker as a big source of my prognostication data. In this second post, we look at the minor film categories of foreign film, documentaries, animated films, and short films.

2017, 2018, Editorial, Column, SPECIALDon ShanahanFebruary 25, 2018Best Live Action Short Film, Best Animated Short Film, Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Short, Best Animated Film, Best Documentary, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Documentary Feature, Best Short Film, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Foreign Film, Oscar talks, Oscar hopefuls, Oscar winners, Oscar nominations, Oscar Predictions, Oscar snubs, Oscar surprises, Oscar, Oscar nominee, Oscars, Oscar bait, Oscar contenders, Oscar Checklist, Oscar race, #OscarsSoWhite, 2018 Oscars, 2018 Academy Awards, Academy Award, Academy Award hopeful, Academy Award nominations, Academy Award nominees, Academy Award winner, Academy Award nominee, Academy Awards, Awards bait, Awards Talk, Award Prediction, Awards seasons, Awards Predictions, Awards, Awards TrackerComment

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2018: The music and sound categories

Throughout the awards season, I’ve been tallying the minor and lead-up award winners in all of the Oscar categories on the 2018 Awards Tracker as a big source of my prognostication data. In this first post, we look at the musical and sound categories that include the original score, original song, sound editing, and sound mixing.

EDITORIAL: The 10 best Irish-themed films

I felt obligated to update an editorial list I made five years ago in 2012 of the best Irish-themed movies in time for celebrating St. Patrick's Day. It was due for a dusting with two new additions. For this list, I opened the field to either movies set in Ireland or those that feature notable Irish characters or stories outside of the Emerald Isle. That possibilities spanned movies both foreign and domestic. Pour the Guinness, heat the corned beef, and enjoy my list of the 10 best Irish-themed movies!

2017, Column, Editorial, SPECIAL, LISTDon ShanahanMarch 16, 20172017, Irish films, Irish American films, Ireland, Northern Ireland, films set in Ireland, Irish, Irish-themed films, Ireland films, St. Patrick's Day, Gangs of New York, Good Will Hunting, Ryan's Daughter, David Lean, Martin Scorsese, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cork, Palme d'Or, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, The Commitments, Dublin, Best Irish Film of All-Time, Jameson Whiskey, British Academy Award, Unbroken, Jack O'Connell, '71, In the Name of the Father, Yann Demange, Jim Sheridan, Oscar nominee, Michael Collins, Liam Neeson, P.S., P.S. I Love You, Gerard Butler, The Departed, The Boondock Saints, Sean Patrick Flannery, Norman Reedus, Billy Connolly, Brooklyn, Saoirse Ronan, The Quiet Man, John Wayne, John Ford, Editorial, Column, UPDATE, film commentary, movie commentary, List, 10 Best, Top 10 list, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, The IrishmanComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast

Bill Condon’s “Beauty and the Beast” stands firmly on its own merit. True to Disney’s recent trajectory, its goal is to “reimagine” a previous animated classic into the live-action medium for a new era and audience. Unlike the recent treatments of "Cinderella" and "Malificent," this "Beauty and the Beast" stays a full-blown musical. Imitation, emulation, and homage are all part of that process, but so is reappraisal and reinterpretation. Those later two actions are what drive this new fantasy film to soaring and successful heights.

2017, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanMarch 15, 2017AMC Navy Pier IMAX2017, 2017 Spring Movies, Beauty and the Beast, La Belle et la Bete, Christophe Gans, Bill Condon, Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellan, Guga Mbatha-Raw, Emma Thompson, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Kevin Kline, Oscar nominee, Best Picture, Disney classics, Disney, animated films, live-action, remakes, Reimagining, Jeanne-Marie Leprine de Beaumont, Hattie Morahan, Kevin Kline Moustache Principle, Audra McDonald, Sarah Underwood, Katie Spencer, Atonement, Sherlock Holmes, Jacqueline Durran, Tobia A. Schliessler, Peter Berg, IMAX, IMAX 3D, Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Evan Spiliotopoulos, Hercules, Tim Rice, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Evermore, Josh Groban, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Beast, Hugh Jackman, Controversy, La La Land, Screen Junkies, Honest Trailers, YouTube, Gaston, life lessons from film, life lessons, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, Life lessons, movie review, film review, movie commentary, film commentary, review, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Feelin' Film" post-Oscars podcast

One of the perks of becoming a regular blogging contributor on a podcast site is getting the occasional chance to appear on the actual podcast. Aaron White, one of the hosts of "Feelin' Film," connected time zones to bring myself and Popcorn Confessional critic Steve Clifton together for an extended post-Oscar wrap-up show. Listen to our reactions, rants, loves, and heartbreaks to both the 89th Academy Awards and the website's first annual "Feeler's Choice Awards."