Oscars 2019: 9 Ups & 8 Downs
4. First Man Wins Best Visual Effects
After losing both sound awards to Bohemian Rhapsody, it was starting to look like First Man might get shut out completely from the gold, but thankfully, the Academy finally saw sense and gave it the Best Visual Effects Oscar.
It's an especially impressive win given that Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong biopic was up against the might of Avengers: Infinity War, which did some truly boundary-pushing work with the absurdly convincing renderings of Thanos (Josh Brolin).
But what First Man achieved on a mere $60 million budget is nothing short of remarkable, expertly combining practical and digital effects to create a seamless, stunning whole.
It's outrageous that First Man wasn't in wider Oscar contention, but at least it gingerly avoided being completely snubbed.