It’s always nice to see James Bond is back. And no, it’s no time to die, especially when this is Daniel Craig’s last turn at the wheel. This time, he’s been given a partner, apparently– a young black woman who wants to be the next James Bond. And then of course there’s Rami Malek as a slithery villain who wants to Kill James and blow up the world.

Here are some more lists for the Best of 2019 as I see them, this time Best Director, Supporting Actor and Actress, Original and Adapted Screenplay, Score and Song.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Laura Dern– Marriage Story

2. Kathy Bates– Richard Jewell

3. Margot Robbie– Bombshell/Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

4. Nicole Kidman– Bombshell

5. Florence Pugh– Little Women

6. Zhao Shuzhen — The Farewell

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Tom Hanks– Beautiful Day

2. Al Pacino– The Irishman

3. Sam Rockwell– Richard Jewell

4. Brad Pitt– Once Upon a Time

5. Joe Pesci– The Irishman

6. Sterling K. Brown– Waves

7. Anthony Hopkins– The Two Popes

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Martin Scorsese– The Irishman

2.  Quentin Tarantino — Once Upon a Time

3. Sam Mendes-1917

4. Clint Eastwood– Richard Jewell

5. Noah Baumbach– Marriage Story

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. The Irishman

2. Once Upon a Time

3. Marriage Story

4. The Farewell

5. Richard Jewell

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. The Irishman

2. Downton Abbey

3. Just Mercy

4. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

5. Two Popes

BEST SONG

1. I’m Standing with You– Diane Warren, from “Breakthrough”

2. “Beautiful Ghosts” — Taylor Swift, from “Cats”

3. “Never Too Late”– Elton John, Bernie Taupin from “The Lion King”

4. “Stand Up” — Joshua Brian Campbell & Cynthia Erivo, “Harriet”

5. “The Song Of Names (Cantor Prayer),” Howard Shore, Jeffrey Caine, “The Song of Names” (Sony Pictures Classics)

BEST SCORE

1. Howard Shore, “The Song of Names”

2. Arturo Sandoval, “Richard Jewell”

3. John Lunn, “Downton Abbey”

4. Alexandre Desplat, “Little Women”

5. Alberto Iglesias, “Pain and Glory”

The incredibly irrelevant National Board of Review has made its choices for this year. This is a group of fans who pay hefty membeship fees. Their leader, Annie Schulhof, makes the final decisions with a secret committee based on who they like, which studio will pay for tables at their annual gala and supply talent. Most of their choices this year are ok, but Adam Sandler as best actor is a…stretch. But that’s a long story about Schulhof’s connection to indie A24. The NBR went big time on Netflix but didn’t include “Two Popes,” one of the best movies of any year. That’s because they had to include A24’s “Uncut Gems” and “Waves” instead. Schulhof is tiresomely predictable. She even threw in “The Souvenir.” I’m surprised no “Lighthouse” or “Farewell.”

Best Film: THE IRISHMAN
Best Director: Quentin Tarantino, ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Best Actor: Adam Sandler, UNCUT GEMS
Best Actress: Renée Zellweger, JUDY
Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Best Supporting Actress: Kathy Bates, RICHARD JEWELL
Best Original Screenplay: Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, Ronald Bronstein, UNCUT GEMS
Best Adapted Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, THE IRISHMAN
Breakthrough Performance: Paul Walter Hauser, RICHARD JEWELL
Best Directorial Debut: Melina Matsoukas, QUEEN & SLIM
Best Animated Feature: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD
Best Foreign Language Film: PARASITE
Best Documentary: MAIDEN
Best Ensemble: KNIVES OUT
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Roger Deakins, 1917
NBR Icon Award: Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: FOR SAMA
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: JUST MERCY

Top Films (in alphabetical order)

1917
Dolemite is My Name
Ford v Ferrari
Jojo Rabbit
Knives Out
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Richard Jewell
Uncut Gems
Waves

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order)

Atlantics
Invisible Life
Pain and Glory
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Transit

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order)

American Factory
Apollo 11
The Black Godfather
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
Wrestle

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order)

The Farewell
Give Me Liberty
A Hidden Life
Judy
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Midsommar
The Nightingale
The Peanut Butter Falcon
The Souvenir
Wild Rose

“1917.” Ron Meyer and Donna Langley recently hosted the first screening for Academy voters and tastemakers at the Linwood Dunn in Hollywood. Director Sam Mendes, the actors George Mackay and Dean-Charles Chapman, the Director of Photography Roger Deakins, the Writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, the Producer Pippa Harris and the film’s composer Thomas Newman were there.

At the pre-reception I asked Mendes how it felt that the film already is garnering glowing notices and awards buzz. “Considering that we just finished it eight days ago it’s all a bit surreal.” Roger Deakins–who at 70 has been nominated for an Oscar 14 times and only recently won in 2018 for “Blade Runner”– told me, “I hope people like the film, that’s all that matters. All of that is just hoopla. I love working on movies. That’s it. It’s nice when people appreciate your work, but I judge my own work and I know when I’ve done something, I feel I could have done better or achieved something. I can’t really be totally objective about it. “Give me a year or so and I’ll come back to watch it and I won’t think of all the things I could have done better. “

Donna Langley then introduced Mendes. She noted “This is a film that Sam Mendes seemed destined to make. It’s not only a tribute to his grandfather who served honorably in the great war and who shared his stories of that unfathomable experience with his young grandson. But it represents the full cumulative power of Sam’s vision and his talent and tenacity as a storyteller. It’s one of those rare films that reverberate with you long after you leave the theater.”

Mendes then took the stage and noted “This is my first chance publicly to say thank you to all of those who helped me make the film. It’s not an easy film to cough up the dough for when you have two leading actors who are relatively speaking new to the game. But they trusted me, and I hope you see in the movie that these two wonderful actors re-paid that trust tenfold. It’s a strange environment, where movies like this are rarer and rarer. Middle budget movies that are not 250-million-dollar franchise movies nor are they 20 million-dollar independent movies. So, it’s your civic duty to tell everyone to come and see this film.” He went on to thank some of the people that are involve with the film, and quipped, “including a young cinematographer whom I’ve given an early chance too, he needed a lot of help from me. But with my wisdom and insight I think he can amount to something, Roger Deakins.”

Sam  switched gears and told the origin of the story. “This was inspired by my grandfather. He fought in the great war from 1916 to 1918. He enlisted as a 17-year-old. My fascination with the war started watching him when I was eleven years old, he used to wash his hands over and over again. I said to my father ‘Why does Granddad do that silly thing of watching his hands all the time?’ He said, ‘Well he remembers the mud of the trenches and the fact that he could never get clean. And this man was in his late 70’s and still it was in his body and in his soul, the experiences he had when he was a teenager. He told me a story of carrying one message across no man’s land. That little acorn of that stayed with me and grew into the script. It’s not my grandfather’s story directly but it’s very much his spirit that remains alive in this movie. “