Roma is on Netflix.
I’ve seen A Star is Born (loved it), Green Book (liked it), Can You Ever Forgive Me (excellent performances), Beautiful Boy (excellent acting, esp TC), Black Panther (enjoyable but no more than a well-made superhero movie IMHO, and that’s just not my genre).
I’d like to see BlackkKlansman, and I’m amazed that Spike Lee has never been nominated before. I also want to see The Wife and The Favourite. I’m going to watch Roma on Roku, but I hope that The Wife and the Spike Lee movie come round again so I can see them. The Favourite is still in the theater, if I act fast.
Bohemian Rhapsody had gotten almost uniformly bad review from critics I respect, so I’m not feeling driven to pay to see it. I’ve seen the preview for Cold War twice and it looks very clicheed, but I guess I will give it the benefit of the doubt.
He has been nominated before, although he’s never been nominated for Best Director before this year
I’ve seen Green Book, Vice and Black Klaansman as well as Roma but watched that on Netflix. I saw several other films that received no nominations for acting such as Mary Queen of Scots (surprised about Margot Robbie not being nominated here) and the Mr. Rogers documentary. DH saw Black Panther on plane and couldn’t understand why such a huge hit but admittedly he is hardly the target audience. I thought both Green Book (and I am a huge fan of both actors) and Black Klaansman very strong films. Roma especially beautifully filmed and well acted but not sure I would think of it as Best Picture given how limited and personal a story it is although impeccably filmed. Vice very well acted and somewhat scary overall but I don’t see it as Best Picture… too over the top. Amy Adams outstanding in a very Lady Macbeth kind of way.
I just watched Roma and it is beautifully shot and an intimate glimpse into life in Mexico City in the 70s. I’m not sure how it stands up against the other nominees, but I enjoyed it.
Of the Best Film nominees the only two movies I haven’t seen yet are The Favourite and Roma. I’ve heard terrible things about The Favourite (other than critics love it) so I probably won’t see that one. I loved Green Book, A Star is Born, Vice and BlacKkKlansman so I’d be happy if any of those won. The later two have a connection to my undergrad, Colorado College, so that’s kind of cool, too. I’m a movie junkie so the Oscars are my Super Bowl.
For some great Oscar coverage, try New York magazine’s Vulture section. They recently listed streaming options for this year’s nominees: https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/where-to-stream-2019-oscar-nominated-movies.html
I LOVED The Favourite – it caught me by surprise. I thought it would be a naughty PBS/BBC historical drama… conservative and not objectionable, like The King’s Speech. I was amazed how creatively it was shot and edited, how well it was written, and of course the superb acting. I now get the hype.
Imwas ok with The Favorite, but no LOVE. Actresss terrific. But not a movie I would watch again and again.
“Early Oscar buzz” = large publicist’s budget. Generally.
So saw Roma today. It’s beautifully done, but I just didn’t feel very invested in the characters. It seemed very slow.
I’ve seen all the movies Nominated for Best Picture.
I’ll list my favorites in order.
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Green Book
- A Star is Born
- Blackkklansan
- Vice
- Roma
- Black Panther
- The Favorite.
I fell asleep in Black Panther and I hated The Favorite, but I think Roma will take the win as the critics seem to love it.
I still need to see A Star is Born and Vice! You’re an overachiever! 
I’m not an overachiever… I have the AMC movie pass and can watch 3 movies a week. I’ve also seen a lot of junk along the way.
The only movie out of the Oscar bunch I have seen so far is Bohemian Rhapsody. It was greatly entertaining and very well done. And the cats!! 
The people at the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast are very convincing about the shortcomings of Bohemian Rhapsody, Which I haven’t seen. And Green Book, Which I enjoyed, but I agree with them. They also weren’t too crazy about Vice, and had some reservations about BlackKKlansman, as did their guest Gene Denby, from Code Switch. I missed that one, but I would like to see it.
I liked The Favourite a lot more than my H did. It was a terrific way to tell Queen Anne’s story.
H and I failed at watching Black Panther. It was on Netflix and we kept falling asleep.
I don’t usually see movies but this year I am dragging my husband. He has grudgingly liked them. We have seen Bohemian Rhapsody, A star is Born and Green Book. We liked them all for different reasons. I cant say which one I would choose. I enjoyed all of them but is rare. I will watch a couple on Netflix.
I just heard there won’t be a host this year. Interesting.
@skieurope, you wrote -
“The challenge is that both movies came out relatively early, and Oscar voters have the long-term memory of an amoeba.”
I don’t vote for the Oscars, but I do vote for the Screen Actors Guild Awards (I am a member of SAG). I get screeners for all movies/shows all at once at the end of the year, immediately after the nominations are out, and I have a three week binge fest watching everything - even if I have already seen the movie on my own earlier in the year. This way, everything is fresh. I take the voting very seriously. I suspect the Oscar voters also get screeners for everything all at once, right after the nominations are announced.