Alternate Universe Oscars: 2021 Edition

Back in 2017, I decided to post what I called the "Alternate Universe Oscars." In it, I acted as the sole member of the Academy and picked some of the best films, performances, and screenplays of recent memory. Well, with the Academy Awards arriving again tonight, I decided to dust off this idea and give it another go. 

Essentially, this list is a fantasy Academy Awards for me. I kept many of the "big" categories in tact (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay are all there) but I've blended Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay for simplicity's sake. I've also modified the acting categories to Best Performance based on gender, regardless of screen time. I've assigned winners for each year since 2000, with a handful of "Honorable Mention" picks sprinkled throughout. My winner might occasionally overlap with the Academy's, but for the most part, my picks are very, very different. For the past decade or so, the Oscars have been sliding ever-further downhill under an avalanche of artistic irrelevance and bloated political grandstanding - consider this list a helpful alternative. Enjoy! 

2000

- Best Picture: Unbreakable
- Best Director: M. Night Shyamalan - Unbreakable
- Best Screenplay: High Fidelity
- Best Female Performance: Marcia Gay Harden - Pollack
- Best Male Performance: Benicio del Toro - Traffic

2001

- Best Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Best Director: Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Best Screenplay: The Others
- Best Female Performance: Jennifer Connelly - A Beautiful Mind
- Best Male Performance: Denzel Washington - Training Day

* Honorable Mention: Ian McKellen - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2002

- Best Picture: Chicago
- Best Director: Rob Marshall - Chicago
- Best Screenplay: Changing Lanes
- Best Female Performance: Jodie Foster - Panic Room
- Best Male Performance: Mel Gibson - Signs

* Honorable Mention: Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York

2003

- Best Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Best Director: Sofia Coppola - Lost in Translation
- Best Screenplay: Mystic River
- Best Female Performance: Uma Thurman - Kill Bill: Volume 1
- Best Male Performance: Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

2004

- Best Picture: The Aviator
- Best Director: Martin Scorsese - The Aviator
- Best Screenplay: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Best Female Performance: Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
- Best Male Performance: Jamie Foxx - Ray

2005

- Best Picture: Capote
- Best Director: Steven Spielberg - Munich
- Best Screenplay: Good Night, and Good Luck
- Best Female Performance: Thandiwe Newton - Crash
- Best Male Performance: Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote

2006 

- Best Picture: Children of Men
- Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron - Children of Men
- Best Screenplay: The Departed
- Best Female Performance: Eva Green - Casino Royale
- Best Male Performance: Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

2007 
- Best Picture: Michael Clayton
- Best Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
- Best Screenplay: No Country for Old Men
- Best Female Performance: Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

- Best Male Performance: Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood

2008 
- Best Picture: The Dark Knight
* Honorable Mention: Frost/Nixon

- Best Director: Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
- Best Screenplay: Frost/Nixon
- Best Female Performance: Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Best Male Performance: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
* Honorable Mention: Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder

2009 
- Best Picture: Inglourious Basterds
- Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
- Best Screenplay: Up
- Best Female Performance: Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
- Best Male Performance: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart

2010 
- Best Picture: The King's Speech
- Best Director: Debra Granik - Winter's Bone
- Best Screenplay: Inception
* Honorable Mention: The Social Network 

- Best Female Performance: Melissa Leo - The Fighter
- Best Male Performance: Christian Bale - The Fighter

2011 
- Best Picture: Drive
- Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive
- Best Screenplay: Midnight in Paris
- Best Female Performance: Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
- Best Male Performance: Michael Shannon - Take Shelter

2012 
- Best Picture: Argo
- Best Director: Ben Affleck - Argo
- Best Screenplay: Lincoln
* Honorable Mention: The Cabin in the Woods
- Best Female Performance: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
- Best Male Performance: Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

2013 
- Best Picture: The World's End

* Honorable Mention: Gravity 
- Best Director: Edgar Wright - The World's End
- Best Screenplay: The World's End
- Best Female Performance: Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years A Slave
- Best Male Performance: Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years A Slave

2014 
- Best Picture: Birdman
- Best Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu - Birdman
* Honorable Mention: Bong Joon-ho - Snowpiercer
* Honorable Mention: Jennifer Kent - The Babadook
- Best Screenplay: Nightcrawler
- Best Female Performance: Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
- Best Male Performance: Michael Keaton - Birdman

2015 
- Best Picture: Sicario
- Best Director: Denis Villeneuve - Sicario
- Best Screenplay: Ex Machina
- Best Female Performance: Daisy Ridley - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
* Honorable Mention: Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight

- Best Male Performance: Sylvester Stallone - Creed
* Honorable Mention: Benicio del Toro - Sicario

2016 
- Best Picture: Your Name
* Honorable Mention: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

- Best Director: Fede Alvarez - Don't Breathe
- Best Screenplay: Arrival
- Best Female Performance: Kim Su-an - Train to Busan
- Best Male Performance: Anton Yelchin - Green Room 

2017 
- Best Picture: Blade Runner 2049
- Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - Detroit
* Honorable Mention: Greta Gerwig - Ladybird

- Best Screenplay: Detroit
- Best Female Performance: Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
- Best Male Performance: Jeremy Renner - Wind River 

2018 
- Best Picture: Annihilation
- Best Director: Spike Lee - BlacKkKlansman
- Best Screenplay: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
- Best Female Performance: Natalie Portman - Annihilation
- Best Male Performance: John Cho - Searching 

* Honorable Mention: Michael B. Jordan - Black Panther

2019
- Best Picture: Doctor Sleep
- Best Director: Quentin Tarantino - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
* Honorable Mention: Sam Mendes - 1917

- Best Screenplay: Ad Astra
- Best Female Performance: Florence Pugh - Midsommar
- Best Male Performance: Song Kang-ho - Parasite 

2020
- Best Picture: Hamilton
- Best Director: Lee Whannell - The Invisible Man
- Best Screenplay: Hamilton
- Best Female Performance: Elizabeth Moss - The Invisible Man
- Best Male Performance: Leslie Odom, Jr. - Hamilton