My 2019 Oscar Predictions

I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to see almost all of the movies nominated in the Best Picture and Actor/Actress categories. There was one exception due to this horrible winter weather...and it was one of the ones I was looking most forward to watching, too. No worries though - I'll be sure to see it in the next couple weeks when it's out on Redbox. Unfortunately, I also ran out of time to see the shorts this year as well. Chris has assured me those show up as an on demand feature in the next few weeks so I am looking forward to catching them that way this year.

Nevertheless, here are my favorites in each category. My vote for winner is in italics. I have also put the best picture nominees in order of how well I liked them. However, please note that I enjoyed all the nominees this year and would recommend all of them!

Best Picture

Green Book
BlackkKlansman

Vice
Black Panther

Roma
The Favourite

A Star is Born

Bohemian Rhapsody

Best Actor

Christian Bale, Vice

Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

Willem Dafoe, Eternity's Gate

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

Viggo Mortenson, Green Book

Best Actress

Yalitza Aparicio, Roma

Glenn Close, The Wife

Olivia Coleman, The Favourite

Lady Gaga, A Star is Born

Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Supporting Actor

Maharshala Ali, Green Book
Adam Driver, BlackkKlansman
Sam Elliott, A Star is Born
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, Vice

Marina de Tavira, Roma
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk (Did Not See)
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

What are your favorites this year?

Andrea :)

Best Picture Nominees - Part 2

If you missed Part 1, please find it here.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed The Favourite. It was the one movie I wasn't really looking forward to watching, but I am glad I made time for it. What a dreadful, terrible Queen! What fantastic acting from Olivia Coleman! She was wonderful. The movie follows her relationship with two different ladies in her court. Lots of twists and turns and a multitude of deception.

Green Book was my favorite of all the movies this year. Mahershala Ali was amazing! He and Viggo had great chemistry. So much talent. Despite the reason for the story (segregation), it was exciting to watch. It kept me wondering what would happen next. Of course, it was heart warming to watch the characters grow and develop throughout the movie as well. I loved the story that much more knowing that it was based on truth. It is a great story of the power of friendship.

Roma was tough for me to watch. There were SO many struggles to overcome for nearly all of the characters! It also seemed a bit long to me. I felt such sadness for the lead character. She had so many highs and lows. It was really just hard to watch, particularly so close to the birth of my daughter.

Vice was an unexpected joy. I didn't anticipate liking this political story as much as I did. It was told in a manner that really appealed to me. Christian Bale blew me away. Totally blew me away. What a fantastic actor! Sam Rockwell was SO good as George W. Bush, too. The story follows Dick Chaney's VP experience. It was extremely well told. Definitely recommend seeing this one!

Did you have any Oscar favorites this year?

Andrea :)

Best Picture Nominees - Part 1

I really enjoyed all the Best Picture nominees this year. You really can't go wrong checking out any of them. Maybe its because there were a handful of my favorite genre - memior based films. If you are looking for a good movie, here are my thoughts...

A Star is Born wasn't at the top of my list though it certainly had mega chemistry between the main characters and some breathtaking vocal talent by Lady Gaga. I just thought the story was incredibly predictable. To be honest, the characters weren't all that likable for me either - especially Bradley Cooper's character. The highlight was definitely the undeniable chemisty between Lady Gaga and Cooper - wowza!!

We watched Black Panther for Chris' birthday nearly a year prior to the Oscars. Even though I'm not a big comic book movie fan, I thought this one was interesting. I am a Michael B. Jordan fan so I enjoyed seeing him even if he was the bad guy. It held my interest (mostly) and that is FAR more than I can say for any of the other comic book movies I have attempted to watch.

BlacKkKlansman was one of my favorites. The story was true, but new to me so I was really on the edge of my seat wondering how it would all play out. Such a fascinating story! I was also super excited to see my old NFL Europa buddy (John David Washington) play the lead. Unfortunately, I don't have any photo evidence, but I can definitely say I knew him when...

Chris loves Queen so he was nitpicking the timeline and various scenes throughout Bohemian Rhapsody. I enjoyed it as someone with minimal knowledge of the backstory of Queen and Freddie Mercury. It could have been a little shorter and still driven home the main points of the movie, but it was an interesting look into one of the greatest bands of all-time.

Andrea :)

Date Nights - October

It's finally baby month!! We managed to squeeze in two final date nights before our daughter arrived on October 17. Neither quite lived up to what we imagined them to be in our mind, but it was fun to spend a little more time together as a twosome before becoming a family of three!

I suggested we check out a book sale at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. We found a couple books that we took home, but overall there weren't too many great options for us. We were happy to support the library though.

Chris planned one final trip to the movies - we saw Monsters & Men. It starred my old NFL Europa pal, John David Washington. The premise was interesting, but we both agreed that it kind of played out in a weird manner. I won't say too much more in case you check it out.

What is your favorite movie genre?

Andrea :)

Date Nights - September

With September being the final month before the birth of our baby, I was feeling quite large. I still wanted to take part in all the fall fun so I planned an apple picking trip. Chris preferred to enjoy a quiet game night at home before the chaos of having a newborn became a reality.

This year, we decided to try Lynd Fruit Farm for apple picking. They also have pumpkin patches and a large country store there. We didn't spend a lot of time picking apples because we only wanted to get what we knew we'd be able to use in the next couple of weeks. We gave the pumpkin patch a shot, but it had already been really picked over so we decided to just find some pumpkins at the store. We enjoyed some hot cider and cider donuts while we looked around the store. We discovered the deliciousness of pumpkin bars as we looked around for tasty treats to take home with us. We brought back one big pumpkin for our front porch and two little ones that I planned to paint and use as a way to reveal the gender of our baby at the hospital. I was persistent that we try the corn maze before we left. Oh, boy! It was quite an adventure in there. I am surprised I didn't give birth halfway through it. Definitely not the smartest choice to do ALL that walking, but I refused to give up before we completed it. Chris had no option - he was forced to go along with his stubborn pregnant wife on this one! We had a lot of fun. I can't wait to take our little one next year!

Game night proved to be a huge hit! We had a blast. I literally peed my pants laughing so hard at one point. Not a super difficult feat for a nearly nine month pregnant lady, but playing the Ellen DeGeneres Heads Up game was THE best decision of the night. We had SO much fun...and it didn't cost a penny! Don't you just love nights like that?

What is your favorite date night in activity?

Andrea :)

Date Nights - August

In August, we did a good deal of traveling as we spent time in both Kentucky and New York for baby showers. When we weren't traveling, we were attempting to organize baby gifts and set up the nursery for our little one. We still found time for a couple of fun date nights though.

While we were in New York, we managed to catch my former improv teachers in a show. We also made time for a true NYC dinner - chicken and rice from the Halal Guys. I used to live just a couple blocks away from their midtown Manhattan carts so it was a super tasty inexpensive dinner that we enjoyed regularly. It was a lot of fun to enjoy a couple of our favorite things about the city while we were visiting!

For my date night, I suggested COSI After Dark. COSI is a science and industry museum that has fun things for both children and adults. On these COSI After Dark evenings, no children are allowed. There is often a theme and it is a really neat way to spend the evening. We hadn't ever been free for one until now. We had a blast running around and playing at all the stations. Definitely recommend taking part in one of these in you live in the Columbus area. It is an entirely different experience when there aren't hundreds of kids running around in there!

What types of museums do you enjoy visiting?

Andrea :)

Date Nights - July

July is easily the best month of the year. It's possible that I would think that even if it didn't play host to my birthday. Haha! Whether you love it or not, we sure did make the most of it this year.

Chris loves music - especially those old school smooth grooves! When he saw that the Commodores were coming to the Ohio State Fair, it was a no brainer that we'd go. We had great seats so close to the stage I could see the sweat pouring off their faces. From Easy to Brick House, it was a night full of fun and laughter. They definitely still have it going on after all these years. I was surprised how much I got into it! Chris also indulged me in trekking over to the infamous butter sculpture. It featured scenes from A Christmas Story this year. It was incredible - over 2,000 pounds of butter was used to make the creation. It was certainly a night to remember!

For my date night, we headed to a night of improv and trivia at the Nest before enjoying the Red, White, and Boom fireworks show from their patio area. It was a fun night all around! The view was perfect from their patio, and I'm so glad we had a chance to see the big firework display without having to deal with the annoying crowds.

What are your favorite summer date nights?

Andrea :)