After barely surviving a mandatory shutdown in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the executive class running some of the largest film studios in the world decided that they weren’t quite ridiculously rich enough yet and furthermore they hadn’t taken enough liberties – financial, creative and moral – with those employed by them.

And so the actors and writers collectively said no and downed tools for five months in a dispute over pay (including residual payments in the age of streaming), working conditions, and especially the increasing threat of artificial intelligence being used to not only write screenplays based on algorithms but to steal the likenesses of actors (living and dead) and store them in perpetuity without just compensation.

With Hollywood productions quiet for half the year and none of the “talent” allowed to promote those movies that were completed prior to the strikes, we ended up with a more limited and less enthusiastically received slate of major releases. Not even superhero movies or franchise sequels fronted by Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise were guaranteed hits anymore.

Despite all this, 2023 ended up being a pretty good year for cinema, with plenty of examples of not only memorable blockbusters but of distinct filmmakers leaving their mark and under-represented communities providing vibrancy and freshness to a myriad of new stories. Based upon UK release dates, these are my 10 Best Films of 2023.

Follow me @SSPThinksFilm on X (Twitter).

10. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah Review

2023 has been a great year for films about how Gen-Z processes their major life experiences, and this delightful, hilarious little film starring most of the Sandler clan (including Adam as an adorably schlubby dad) is up there with the very best.

As she approaches her her 13th birthday and the Jewish coming-of-age ritual, Stacy Friedman (Sunny Sandler) is determined to make her Bat Mitzvah the most perfect and memorable of her peer group, including that of BFF Lydia (Samantha Lorraine). But things get a lot more complicated as hormones, teenage crushes and petty but damaging psychological manipulation via social media enter the mix.

Five years ago, Bo Burnham made his memorable feature debut with Eighth Grade and told one of the most connective, visceral stories about becoming a teenager in years. Sammi Cohen’s film has the same aim but demonstrates how seismically culture has changed in just half a decade, all through a Jewish cultural lens. There may have never been a more challenging time to be growing up in an always-online age, and Alison Peck’s insightful script in addition to the across-the-board wonderfully naturalistic performances help to make this an unexpectedly profound crowd-pleaser.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 Review

#JusticeforJamesGunn incarnate, the final chapter of the unlikeliest a-hole superhero team’s story shatters expectations and satisfyingly delivers on almost every level.

After years of defending the countless worlds together, the Guardians team has reached a precarious place. Their leader Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) has slumped into a depressed, alcoholic stupor after losing the love of his life Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), and Rocket’s (Bradley Cooper) past as a bio-engineered test subject comes back to haunt him in a very real way. Can the team come together one last time and save the galaxy, and themselves?

Marvel is seen as a pretty risk-averse studio and certainly much of their recent output has been received with a shrug from many viewers, but Guardians Vol 3 shows what happens when one of the best directors they partnered with is left to finish the story he wanted to tell. The action has never been more polished and visually dazzling, the performances from people and animated raccoons alike so honest and full of pain, Gunn’s love of animals so prominent as the team go up against a truly detestable figure who causes pain for the hell of it.

Recommended for you: MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranked

Maestro (2023)
Director: Bradley Cooper
Screenwriter: Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Sam Nivola

When On the Waterfront opened in 1954, its score gained just as much critical praise as any other element of the film – which isn’t a light feat considering it won eight Oscars. Amazingly, it would remain Leonard Bernstein’s only contribution to cinema. At least, his only contribution that was intended to be part of a film – the music he composed for West Side Story is probably some of his most iconic work, but it was composed for the stage rather than for the screen. For a character as big as Bernstein with a mark on American culture of similar stature, it’s amazing to think that it has taken this long for his second mark on cinema to be made.

Bradley Cooper writes, directs, and stars in Maestro as the man himself. Cooper’s belief in his own ability to multitask is clearly quite strong, and its strength is only matched by his ambition to make a film that spans a life as long and as rich as Bernstein’s. We meet him as an old man who has already done it all, and then we take a step back into his mid-twenties in the early 1940s.

Maestro is a rare case in which style becomes substance. Bradley Cooper’s performance as Bernstein changes to fit each historical era that the film visits – he is more stagey and theatrical in the 40s, and looser and, seemingly, more improvisational in the 70s. It’s not only Cooper’s performance that changes – the cinematography changes to suit the era it’s portraying in more ways than just the use of black and white footage for the older sequences.

As Bernstein himself ages with constantly shifting makeup and facial prosthetics, the look and feel of the world around him informs us as to when it is all taking place by becoming a part of the era it’s portraying. When it’s showing us something from the 40s, it could easily be dropped into a Charlie Chaplin film, whereas the shots that take place in the 70s could be mistaken for Deliverance. In the few glimpses we get into the 80s, it has the atmosphere of a cheesy Miami-set disposable action movie.

The only aspect that isn’t changing and reinventing itself throughout is Felicia, Bernstein’s wife portrayed by Carey Mulligan. Mulligan’s performance is in such stark contrast to Cooper’s that it accentuates both of their characters – Felicia is caring and stable while Leonard is passionate and erratic. They aren’t compatible as lovers, but they share a warmth towards each other that neither takes for granted.

Bernstein is such a flawed character that, if it wasn’t for Felicia’s stability beside him, it would be hard to empathise with why he makes such chaotic life choices at every available opportunity. Maestro never advocates for those choices or attempts to put Bernstein in a light that he isn’t worthy of – it’s as critical of him as it needs to be – but seeing how quickly his personality and his life can change does go some way to creating some relatability for how he could become so self-destructive. A kind light is encouraged by the wealth of context that we’re afforded.

Of course, Maestro isn’t breaking new ground in telling quite a personal story in contrast to an otherwise well-crafted public image. Tár even beat it to be the first one about a conductor to be released in the 2020s. The best comparison for Maestro, however, is probably in something it’s the opposite of, The Greatest Showman. They’re both films about Americans who broke new ground in their respective eras – the former as the first American to lead a symphony orchestra and the latter as the American (P. T. Barnum) who popularised the circus. What makes Maestro and The Greatest Showman so different, though, is that Maestro never attempts to glorify its subject under the pretence that his achievements should outweigh his character. It celebrates his art while retaining the integrity of his flaws.

What it all amounts to is a biopic that is long overdue but served well by its existence now that it is finally here. Bradley Cooper has managed to make Maestro a thoughtful depiction of Leonard Bernstein’s life and character, but also of the world that shaped him and the people who were around him for it all.

Score: 17/24

Written by Rob Jones

You can support Rob Jones on his website: rbrtjones.com
Twitter: @rbrtjones

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Director: James Gunn
Screenwriter: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, Maria Bakalova, Sylvester Stallone, Nathan Fillion, Linda Cardellini, Asim Chaudhry, Mikaela Hoover

How many trilogies really stick the landing?

In 2018, writer-director James Gunn was unceremoniously fired by Disney after some bad taste jokes from his early days as a comedian were unearthed on Twitter by right-wing trolls who objected to Gunn’s outspoken political views. Following a passionate campaign from fans and Gunn’s friends and colleagues, a year later he was brought back on board at Marvel to finish what he started. If you love this particular bunch of a-holes, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is going to be an emotional one.

Scoundrel-turned-superhero Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is in a dark place after making a mistake that doomed half the universe and lost him the love of his life, Gamora (Zoë Saldaña). The Guardians were restored following the defeat of Thanos, but a different Gamora – one who doesn’t even like Peter let alone love him – now stands in his paramour’s place. When an attack on the Guardian home base of Knowhere leaves one of their number mortally injured, the team set out on a quest that brings them into conflict with mad scientist the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) and causes Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) to confront his traumatic past.

What James Gunn has been hiding in plain sight up to now is that the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is really about Rocket above anyone else. This is his journey, one that takes him from a bad start in life to being a full and happy person with people in his life he can trust and rely upon.

Much like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, if Rocket didn’t work as a VFX creation, then nothing else in this instalment (where he’s driving pretty much all the action) would either. Thankfully, the time-lapse transition between a terrified caged raccoon and Rocket’s older, cynically twitching nose that opens the film puts those doubts immediately to rest. Gunn’s empathy for all living things, but particularly those who have been mistreated, is what gives this story its power, and Bradley Cooper’s pitch-perfect vocal performance has the strength to make you feel all the feelings. Just as a raccoon crying over his lost tree friend made us shed tears in 2014, his relationship with his fellow abused creatures brings on the waterworks all over again here with some almost unbearably intense scenes in captivity. We don’t get to spend all that long with young Rocket’s animal experiment friends Lylla the otter (Linda Cardellini), Teefs the walrus (Asim Chaudhry) and Floor the rabbit (Mikaela Hoover), but we quickly grow to love them just as deeply he did.

This does have the feel of a victory lap, bringing everything full circle and giving everyone their time to shine. Everyone loves the literal-thinking lunk Drax (Dave Bautista) and towering tree-man Groot (Vin Diesel) but it is stoic cyborg Nebula (Karen Gillan) and eager-to-please empath Mantis (Pom Klementief), previously both pretty one-note, who end up being the undisputed highlights here. The former’s gruff and tough personality has gradually been eroded over her time with the Guardians, and the rare occasion when she lets down her guard and lets emotion overwhelm her really hits hard. The latter is the heart of the team, gets most of the funniest lines, and her unique power helps her and her friends out of a few tough spots in some unexpected ways.

Newcomers to this universe include Borat 2‘s Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the talking psychic cosmonaut dog who has an adorable film-long argument with space pirate Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Will Poulter as genetically engineered gold man-child Adam Warlock, and Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, arguably the most evil and irredeemable bastard in the galaxy who will mutilate, torture and thoughtlessly dispose of countless living things all in service of his delusional mission to create a “perfect society”.

The action is all very polished and exciting, and because this is the team’s last ride it all feels a lot more dangerous for our heroes somehow. A fight in a corridor in the final act might be the finest couple of minutes of action in the MCU to date – not only is it meticulously choreographed, ludicrously entertaining and set to a killer Beastie Boys track, but it lets the team work in violent harmony and gives every member of the team a chance to showcase their special abilities, each getting their own big character moment at the same time.

James Gunn has always happily leaned into the sillier visual and conceptual aspects of space opera, and rarely have such strange ideas been more convincingly brought to life as here. From a bio-formed space station seemingly made of meat to learning that the city of Knowhere (built inside the skull of a dead space god) can actually be driven to a new location, and even to a mirror image “Counter-Earth” populated by humanoids forcefully evolved from lower lifeforms, big swings are taken. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is an epic, galaxy-spanning quest, but all this imagination vitally remains in service of a very intimate story. 

A minor criticism that could be levelled at this particular Guardians iteration is that the soundtrack isn’t as memorable or pitch-perfect as in the previous two films, with John Murphy’s (Sunshine, The Suicide Squad) original score extensively incorporating choral singing provoking a stronger reaction than the vast majority of the needle-drops. Similarly, the final act of the film, after over two hours of putting every Guardian through one life-threatening incident after another, keeps piling on the jeopardy to an almost absurd degree even when it is already fit to burst.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 brings this unlikely team’s journey to an immensely satisfying and appropriately epic conclusion. It is spectacular to look at and really funny, but it is also easily one of the darkest stories in the Marvel universe and does not pull its punches to make its pretty explicit discussion of abuse and animal testing any more palatable. We may see some of these characters again down the road, but for now it’s a fond farewell to them all, especially the acerbic Racoon who just wanted to be loved.

Score: 21/24

Recommended for you: MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranked

Nightmare Alley (2022)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Screenwriters: Guillermo Del Toro, Kim Morgan
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Richard Jenkins

A Guillermo del Toro film is an event, a spectacle which has the potential to transcend cinema and become something more. In his return to the big screen following The Shape of Water (2017), the Academy Award winner turns his hand at re-adapting William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of the same name (it was previously adapted by Edmund Goulding in 1947). Exploring the seedy underbelly of the carnival and showbiz trade, Bradley Cooper’s Stan Carlisle works at a carnival as a runner and stagehand before acquiring the secrets to a powerful mentalism act. He and fellow performer Molly (Rooney Mara) make their way to the city to find their fortunes, only for greed and lust for power to intertwine with dark pasts and darker secrets.

Del Toro’s choice to switch monsters for men sees him step into psychoanalysis-inspired noir and away from the fantastical. Despite this, his experience and talent allows him to bring to life this wonderful world with precision and flair, always touching upon the supernatural but remaining firmly grounded in the real. Backed up by the rest of the production team, from Cinematographer Dan Laustsen and Production Designer Tamara Deverell, to the beautiful costumes by Luis Sequeira, every moment in the film is a visual feast, a pleasure and a joy to behold and watch. Every second is worthy of a poster on a boy’s bedroom wall.

Through this exquisitely crafted world dance the cast, each of them firing on all cylinders to truly inhabit this world of literal Bakhtinian carnivalesque. The powerhouse trio of Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett never have a single down moment, and it’s as much down to their performances as the writing and filmmaking talents of the crew that the 150 minute runtime feels more like 120. Every scene is charged with need for power, control being wrestled between the performers.

Of particular note is a sequence in the third act, where plans and cons are made and threaten to unravel. It is suspense in its purest form, built on emotion and empathy rather than some monster going ‘boo’. Not only is it suspenseful because it is magnificently crafted, erected meticulously over the two hours preceding, but because the outcome for the particular event is almost inevitable. The hairs on the back of your neck stand on end as if you’re in the carnival’s Electra act. You shuffle in your chair. You realise that it is working because the film is showing you what must happen if the world is to truly be reflected on screen. This is how people really are, and that the cast and crew can capture this so perfectly is incredibly rare, making it even more remarkable.

Much of Nightmare Alley’s story is devoted to looking into mankind and seeing their true selves, to see one’s true nature underneath the mask presented to others. When we step into that alley of nightmares, we know that we must inevitably give up our true natures, we must be found out because we want to be (as Stan tells Blanchett’s Dr. Ritter). What we are, it seems, is beastly, and we will inevitably give up the pretence and return to being beasts, to being monsters, and for that we shall get our comeuppance.

Even if del Toro’s vision doesn’t go too far beyond the basic psychoanalytical concepts of the 40s when they were first introduced to film (such as in Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound) and when the “Nightmare Alley” novel was written, and chooses instead to play it fairly safe in terms of character and storyline, what is on the screen is stunning. Nightmare Alley is a truly marvellous carnival ride which will likely be unfairly missed and skipped over, much to everyone’s detriment.

20/24

Licorice Pizza (2021)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Screenwriter: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Bradley Cooper, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Benny Safdie, Skyler Gisondo, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, John Michael Higgins, Christine Ebersole,  Harriet Sansom Harris, Danielle Haim, Este Haim

The latest film from Californian auteur Paul Thomas Anderson – his ninth feature – is a sweet and sunny but by no means schmalzy coming-of-age film set on the periphery of Hollywood in 1973. Calling your film Licorice Pizza might not mean much to international audiences (the title references a record store, fact fans) but it is evocative of childhood for Anderson and sets his stall for perhaps the most personal film of his career so far.

Fifteen year-old entrepreneur Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) falls for his high school photographer Alana Kane (Alana Haim) who makes it clear to him in no uncertain terms that they can be friends but nothing more. Instead, they go into business together to get in on the ground floor of the waterbed and then the pinball machine crazes, just as a fuel shortage and an election campaign hit the San Fernando Valley.

Most aspiring young businessmen still in high school would sell sweets, or cigarettes, or drugs to their classmates, but Gary has far more lofty ambitions, operating his various high-aiming but unsuccessful ventures out of a corner of his mum’s (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) office, usually employing a certain amount of grifting/being economical with the truth to increase his minimal profit margins. Waterbeds are a weird, naff artefact of the 70s and it’s only by hiring a model in a bikini and making use of Alana’s sexy phone voice that they get any business at all before the fuel crisis causes their materials supply chain to dry up.

With the age gap of the central pairing and the somehow-not-icky unrequited romance between a teenage boy and an adult woman, you find yourself thinking of the few other films that managed to strike just the right delicate balance of tone for maximum comic and dramatic effect, like Crazy, Stupid Love.

Incredibly, both Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman make their film debuts here, and they make it all look so easy. Their weird, warm chemistry and boundless energy keeps Licorice Pizza alive even in some of the film’s less successful stretches, and there’s certainly time enough that this film might have dragged at 133 minutes.

Licorice Pizza feels of a piece tonally with something like George Lucas’ American Graffiti but also Anderson’s own Boogie Nights, only exploring the workings of a very different entertainment industry with much more likeable characters. Like that latter film, this is a tableau of 1970s Los Angeles. It’s a version of reality that references real events and famous people who were around at the time but tweaks them to more snugly fit the story Anderson is trying to tell. The cheeky self-awareness of aspects of the film’s construction is made the most explicit by the fact that the entire Haim family (the band are friends and frequent collaborators with the director) appear as versions of themselves, offering fans of their music both a chance to sit in on their traditional Jewish family dinner and to see Alana telling both of her older sisters to “f*** off”.

This is one of Anderson’s funniest films so far, the best moments making the most of Haim and Hoffman’s natural comic timing. Gary is a former child star and Alana wants to try her hand at acting, so there’s a side-splitting scene where Gary advises Alana to say “yes” to every question his formidable talent agent (Harriet Sansom Harris) asks of her, meaning she ends up claiming to be proficient at horseback riding, archery (separately or at the same time) and speaking Portuguese to maximise her chances of being hired for acting work.

Aside from Gary’s many failed business ventures and Alana’s continuous struggle to find her place in the world, at least until she finds a modicum of purpose volunteering for Benny Safdie’s idealistic mayoral candidate, Anderson’s screenplay is made up of a series of loosely connected vignettes where the central pairing encounter the many eccentrics and troubled souls that inhabit the San Fernando Valley.

In probably the closest thing the film has to a set piece, Gary and Alana have to deliver a waterbed to an emotionally volatile film producer (Bradley Cooper), but when they mess up his house in the process they are forced to attempt an escape in their delivery truck with an empty fuel tank, downhill, and backwards. What Alana can make a heavy goods vehicle do using only her side and rear-view mirrors, and gravity, surely makes her a shoo-in for a future Fast & Furious spinoff. 

This has to be up there with the most evocative and moving portrayals of growing into the person you will be for the rest of your life, a huge subject approached largely through visual storytelling, Anderson acting as co-director of photography with Michael Bauman and using 35mm film to evoke the movies of the period. We’re presented with a series of beautiful locked-off shots that illustrate isolation, the characters’ uncertainty over where their lives might lead them next; stand-out visual constructions include Alana standing nervously in a doorway in silhouette against a garish yellow corridor wall, and Alana and Gary filmed from above, lying side by side, intimate but still platonic, suspended by a waterbed lit from below.

It is admittedly less perfect than some of Anderson’s earlier works. Early in the film we meet a sleazy business associate of Gary’s (John Michael Higgins) where a hugely racist but period-appropriate joke at the expense of the Japanese is deployed, and it’s not funny, but Anderson unwisely still decides to recycle it later in the film to leave a bad taste in the mouth all for the sake of an underwhelming punchline. There is also a detour with Sean Penn’s actor character based on William Holden which feels the least essential sub-plot in this story, as good as Penn and a reliably deranged Tom Waits are in it.

Licorice Pizza is big-hearted and soulful, an uplifting coming-of-age quasi-romance that makes for an interesting look at aimless young adulthood. Ease into the film’s unhurried pacing and delightful teenage flights of fancy and you might find yourself compelled to start running, in a tracking shot, towards a brighter future.

21/24

In estimating data accumulated from Nielsen, ComScore, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as industry insiders, Forbes have created a top 10 list of the best paid actors.

(All figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers (generally 10%, 15% and 5% respectively) are not deducted.)

10. Will Smith
Earnings: $35million

9. Paul Rudd
Earnings: $41million

8. Chris Evans
Earnings: $43.5million

7. Adam Sandler
Earnings: $57million

6. Bradley Cooper
Earnings: $57million

5. Jackie Chan
Earnings: $58million

4. Akshay Kumar
Earnings: $65million

3. Robert Downey, Jr. 
Earnings: $66million

2. Chris Hemsworth
Earnings: $76.4million

1. Dwayne Johnson
Earnings: $89.4million

All earnings totals are estimated for the period of June 1st 2018 – June 1st 2019.

Dwayne Johnson reportedly has one of the best financial deals of anyone in Hollywood, commanding upwards of $20million as an up front fee for most feature projects and earning as high as 15% of the profits on big productions he stars in like Fast & Furious and Jumanji. The actor is also paid a reported $700,000 per episode of ‘Ballers’ on HBO, while taking home 6-figures from his merchandising deal with Under Armour.

The presence of most Avengers cast members is due to the overwhelming $2billion plus takings at the worldwide box office for the latest instalment in the franchise Avengers: Endgame, though Bradley Cooper is the exception to that rule. Cooper, who earned just 10% of his $57million annual total from his work as the voice of Rocket Raccoon in the franchise, earned the remaining $50million plus from his deal as the writer, director, producer and star of A Star Is Born, one of 2018’s sleeper hits and an awards season headliner.

Read last year’s results, headlined on the male side by George Clooney, here.

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FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: JOEL C RYAN/INVISION/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

For this list, we’ve analysed the contemporary era of cinema (1970 and beyond) for the very best rom-com ensemble casts that came to define eras, surprise audiences and ultimately sell their film, whether the picture could be considered good or not.

As a rule, we’ve avoided films that are firmly attached to other genres, such as musicals like Grease and La La Land or dramas like The Silver Linings Playbook and Shakespeare In Love (all of which have rom-com elements), and have judged all casts based on casts alone – beware, there may be some seriously trash movies in the list ahead!

In no particular order…

1. No Strings Attached (2011)

Starring that year’s Best Actress Oscar winner Natalie Portman and arguably the decade’s most trustworthy go-to rom-com leading man Ashton Kutcher, this early 2010s offering from Ivan Reitman, the director of Ghostbusters (1984), featured a stacked cast of future industry leaders including Oscar-nominated director Greta Gerwig and multi-time Emmy nominee Mindy Kaling.

Oscar winning actor Kevin Kline played Kutcher’s father, meanwhile Lake Bell, Ophelia Lovibond, Ludacris and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s Jake Johnson offered their two cents in some of the film’s smaller roles, filling No Strings Attached to the brim with some of the decade’s most influential and recognisable names.

Cast: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Kline, Lake Bell, Cary Elwes, Greta Gerwig, Olivia Thirlby, Ludacris, Mindy Kaling, Jake Johnson, Ophelia Lovibond

2. You’ve Got Mail (1998)

The 2nd half of the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks rom-com double bill, You’ve Got Mail, also directed by Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally), peaks its older sister to this slot due to each of its stars (particularly Hanks) being even closer to the top of their game, with the supporting cast being nothing short of a who’s who of top class late 90s names.

Leading male Tom Hanks had won two Oscars between Sleepless In Seattle and You’ve Got Mail (for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump) and was about to win his 3rd for 1998’s Saving Private Ryan, while the supporting cast featured that year’s Supporting Actor Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear, award-winning comedian Dave Chappelle, Steve Zahn, Parker Posey and even Chris Messina in a small role.

Cast: Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Dave Chappelle, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns, Jean Stapleton, Chris Messina

A memorable acceptance speech from Actress In A Leading Role winner Olivia Colman who got a standing ovation for one of the most endearing moments in recent memory, meanwhile Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper went viral for their hugely passionate performance of “Shallow” from A Star Is Born.

The major controversy of the night was Green Book winning the Best Picture award despite recent commentary from within the industry regarding its problematic premise and presentation.

Here is the full list of 2019 Oscars winners:

Best Picture – Green Book

Black Panther
BlackKklansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice

Directing – Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Spike Lee (BlackKklansman)
Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
Adam McKay (Vice)

Actor in a Leading Role – Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Christian Bale (Vice)
Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate)
Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)

Actress in a Leading Role – Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)
Glenn Close (The Wife)
Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)
Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Actor in a Supporting Role – Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Adam Driver (Blackkklansman)
Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born)
Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me)
Sam Rockwell (Vice)

Actress in a Supporting Role – Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Amy Adams (Vice)
Marina De Tavira (Roma)
Emma Stone (The Favourite)
Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

Costume Design – Black Panther

Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Favourite
Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Queen of Scots

Film Editing – Bohemian Rhapsody

BlackKklansman
The Favourite
Green Book
Vice

Original Score – Black Panther

BlackKklansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Isle of Dogs
Mary Poppins Returns

Animated Short Film – Bao

Animal Behaviour
Late Afternoon
One Small Step
Weekends

Live Action Short Film – Skin

Detainment
Fauve
Marguerite
Mother

Sound Editing – Bohemian Rhapsody

Black Panther
First Man
A Quiet Place
Roma

Sound Mixing – Bohemian Rhapsody

Black Panther
First Man
Roma
A Star Is Born

Animated Feature Film – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet

Cinematography – Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Cold War
The Favourite
Never Look Away
A Star Is Born

Documentary Feature – Free Solo

Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Of Fathers and Sons
RBG

Documentary Short Subject – Period. End of Sentence.

Black Sheep
End Game
Lifeboat
A Night At the Garden

Foreign Language Film – Roma

Capernaum
Cold War
Never Look Away
Shoplifters

Makeup and Hairstyling – Vice

Border
Mary Queen of Scots

Visual Effects – First Man

Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story

Adapted Screenplay – BlackKklansman

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Can You Ever Forgive Me
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born

Original Screenplay – Green Book

The Favourite
First Reformed
Roma
Vice

Original Song – “Shallow” (A Star Is Born)

“All the Stars” (Black Panther)
“I’ll Fight” (RBG)
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” (Mary Poppins Returns)
“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)

Production Design – Black Panther

The Favourite
First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Roma

Film Totals: 

4 – Bohemian Rhapsody
3 – Black Panther
3 – Green Book
3 – Roma
1 – A Star Is Born
1 – Bao
1 – BlackKklansman
1 – The Favourite
1 – First Man
1 – Free Solo
1 – If Beale Street Could Talk
1 – Period. End of Sentence.
1 – Skin
1 – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
1 – Vice

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Highlights from the winners included an impassioned speech from Rising Star award winner Letitia Wright about her rise from almost quitting the industry to Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, and the endearing acceptance speech for Best Actress from The Favourite star Olivia Colman, who explained that she was to share her award with co-stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, but it was the acceptance speech of BAFTA Fellowship awardee Thelma Schoonmaker that stole the show with a classy, thankful, hopeful and gracious acceptance speech deserving of the Fellowship’s “all time great” status.

The awards, sponsored by EE, are seen as some of the most significant on the awards season calendar, with many of the BAFTA winners also indicating favourites for the coming Oscars. With a field of names that included lots of films and filmmakers not recognised at all in the 2019 Oscar nominations, the BAFTAs this year offered a distinct class of winners that are as follows…

The full list of results from the 2019 BAFTAs:

Best Film – ROMA
BLACKkKlANSMAN
THE FAVOURITE
GREEN BOOK
A STAR IS BORN

Outstanding British Film – THE FAVOURITE
BEAST
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
McQUEEN
STAN & OLLIE
YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

Film Not in the English Language – ROMA
CAPERNAUM
COLD WAR
DOGMAN
SHOPLIFTERS

Documentary – FREE SOLO
McQUEEN
RBG
THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD
THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

Animated Film – SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
INCREDIBLES 2
ISLE OF DOGS

Director – ALFONSO CUARON (Roma)
SPIKE LEE (BlackKklansman)
PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI (Cold War)
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Leading Actress – OLIVIA COLMAN (The Favourite)
GLENN CLOSE (The Wife)
LADY GAGA (A Star is Born)
MELISSA McCARTHY (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
VIOLA DAVIS (Widows)

Leading Actor – RAMI MALEK (Bohemian Rhapsody)
BRADLEY COOPER (A Star is Born)
CHRISTIAN BALE (Vice)
STEVE COOGAN (Stan & Ollie)
VIGGO MORTENSEN (Green Book)

Supporting Actress – RACHEL WEISZ (The Favourite)
AMY ADAMS (Vice)
CLAIRE FOY (First Man)
EMMA STONE (The Favourite)
MARGOT ROBBIE (Mary Queen of Scots)

Supporting Actor – MAHERSHALA ALI (Green Book)
ADAM DRIVER (BlacKkKlansman)
RICHARD E. GRANT (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
SAM ROCKWELL (Vice)
TIMOTHEE CHALAMET (Beautiful Boy)

EE Rising Star Award – LETITIA WRIGHT
BARRY KEOGHAN
CYNTHIA ERIVO
JESSIE BUCKLEY
LAKEITH STANFIELD

Original Screenplay – DEBORAH DAVIS, TONY McNAMARA (The Favourite)
JANUSZ GLOWACKI, PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI (Cold War)
BRIAN CURRIE, PETER FARRELLY, NICK VALLELONGA (Green Book)
ALFONSO CUARON (Roma)
ADAM MCKAY (Vice)

Adapted Screenplay – SPIKE LEE, DAVID RABINOWITZ, CHARLIE WACHTEL, KEVIN WILLMOTT (BlackKklansman)
NICOLE HOLOFCENER, JEFF WHITTY (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
JOSH SINGER (First Man)
BARRY JENKINS (If Beale Street Could Talk)
BRADLEY COOPER, WILL FETTERS, ERIC ROTH (A Star Is Born)

Cinematography – ALFONSO CUARON (Roma)
NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL (Bohemian Rhapsody)
LUKASZ ZAL (Cold War)
ROBBIE RYAN (The Favourite)
LINUS SANDGREN (First Man)

Production Design – THE FAVOURITE
FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDEWALD
FIRST MAN
MARY POPPINS RETURNS
ROMA

Costume Design – THE FAVOURITE
THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
MARY POPPINS RETURNS
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

Make Up & Hair – THE FAVOURITE
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
STAN & OLLIE
VICE

Editing – VICE
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
THE FAVOURITE
FIRST MAN
ROMA

Original Music – BRADLEY COOPER, LADY GAGA, LUKAS NELSON (A Star Is Born)
TERENCE BLANCHARD (BlackKklansman)
NICHOLAS BRITELL (If Beale Street Could Talk)
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT (Isle of Dogs)
MARC SHAIMAN (Mary Poppins Returns)

Sound – BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
FIRST MAN
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT
A QUIET PLACE
A STAR IS BORN

Special Effects – BLACK PANTHER
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD
FIRST MAN
READY PLAYER ONE

British Short Animation – ROUGHHOUSE

British Short Film – 73 COWS
BACHELOR, 38
THE BLUE DOOR
THE FIELD
WALE

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer – MICHAEL PEARCE, LAUREN DARK – Writer/Director, Producer (Beast)
DANIEL KOKOTJLO – Writer/Director (Apostasy)
CHRIS KELLY – Writer/Director/Producer (A Cambodian Spring)
LEANNE WELHAM, SOPHIE HARMAN – Writer/Director, Producer (Pili)
RICHARD BILLINGHAM, JACQUI DAVIES – Writer/Director, Producer (Ray & Liz)

Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema – ELIZABETH KARLSEN, STEPHEN WOOLLEY (Number 9 Films)

Bafta Fellowship Award – THELMA SCHOONMAKER

Total wins per film: 

7 – The Favourite
4 – Roma
2 – Bohemian Rhapsody
1 – A Star Is Born; Beast; BlackKklansman; Black Panther; Free Solo; Green Book; Roughhouse; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; Vice

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Interestingly, Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born has been nominated in the Drama category for the awards show when many thought it might be nominated in the Comedy or Musical category, while Yorgos Lanthimos was notably absent from the Best Director category despite his latest film The Favourite taking home 5 nominations including Best Picture – Comedy or Musical and Best Screenplay.

Here’s the full list of film nominees for the 2019 Golden Globe Awards:

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Glenn Close (The Wife)
Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)
Nicole Kidman (Destroyer)
Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Rosamund Pike (A Private War)

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate)
Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased)
Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman)

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Crazy Rich Asians
The Favourite
Green Book
Mary Poppins Returns
Vice

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns)
Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade)
Charlize Theron (Tully)
Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians)

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale (Vice)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns)
Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)
Robert Redford (The Old Man & the Gun)
John C. Reilly (Stan & Ollie)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture
Amy Adams (Vice)
Claire Foy (First Man)
Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Emma Stone (The Favourite)
Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture
Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)
Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)
Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Sam Rockwell (Vice)

Best Motion Picture – Animated
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
Capernaum
Girl
Never Look Away
Roma
Shoplifters

Best Director – Motion Picture
Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
Peter Farrelly (Green Book)
Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
Adam McKay (Vice)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favourite)
Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Adam McKay (Vice)
Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie (Green Book)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Marco Beltrami (A Quiet Place)
Alexandre Desplat (Isle of Dogs)
Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther)
Justin Hurwitz (First Man)
Marc Shaiman (Mary Poppins Returns)

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“All the Stars” (Black Panther)
“Girl in the Movies” (Dumplin’)
“Requiem For a Private War” (A Private War)
“Revelation’ (Boy Erased)
“Shallow” (A Star Is Born)

Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg will host the ceremony on Sunday, 6th January 2019.

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