'Three Billboards' and 'Lady Bird' Win Top Golden Globes

Looks like I really underestimated the HFPA's love for Three Billboards. They gave it Best Drama, Actress, Screenplay and Supporting Actor, but I wonder how much of that love translates to the Academy Awards, which is a completely different voting group. It's in the mix, but I still think Lady Bird, which did win over on the comedy/musical side, and Get Out are stronger consensus choices. Plus, the Globes really aren't that influential, a lot of their winners don't win the Oscar, so this thing is still open.

• Best Drama: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Best Comedy/Musical: Lady Bird
• Best Actor in a Drama: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
• Best Actress in a Drama: Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical: James Franco, The Disaster Artist
• Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical: Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
• Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, I, Tonya
• Best Director: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
• Best Screenplay: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Best Score: The Shape of Water
• Best Song: “This is Me,” The Greatest Showman
• Best Foreign Language Film: In the Fade
• Best Animated Film: Coco

My predictions didn't pan out too well, just 8 for 14, but four of the winners were my runners-up choices. Oh well. The highlight of the night was the solidarity shown by the women on the red carpet in support of the #MeToo movement and especially Oprah's acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille award, which brought the house down and will undoubtedly have people advocating for her to run in 2020. I'm hoping for a return to sanity in the form of a non-celebrity to be honest, but I will take ANYTHING. Seth Meyers did a pretty good job with the opening eight minutes taking on the elephant in the room, but that was really all it was- eight minutes of him and then he was offstage the rest of the night.

Oprah's speech is worth watching in full:

National Society of Film Critics Names 'Lady Bird' Best Picture

The NSFC went with Lady Bird for Best Picture, although it ended up beating Get Out by just two votes, and Gerwig won director over Jordan Peele by just one, so this is a real race. I already said I thought Get Out could win the Oscar, but I should say that Lady Bird is right there too. Both are the consensus choices this year that have turned up everywhere they needed to with the guilds and appear strong in the industry. The National Society of Film Critics is the last of the four major critics groups- The New York Film Critics chose Lady Bird as well, while L.A. went with Call Me By Your Name and the National Board of Review chose The Post. But Lady Bird is certainly looking good so far.

• Best Picture: Lady Bird
• Best Director: Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
• Best Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
• Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
• Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
• Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
• Best Screenplay: Lady Bird
• Best Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049

Golden Globe Movie Predictions

I don't feel comfortable about my predictions this year. The race is really scattered and the Hollywood Foreign Press is, as usual, all over the place most of the time. But it's tradition, so I have to do it. Here goes!

BEST MOTION PICTURE- DRAMA

• Call Me By Your Name
• Dunkirk
• The Post
• The Shape of Water
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

This is a really tough one this year. The HFPA seemed to like The Shape of Water a lot, giving it the most nominations, with seven total. I could see that winning. Then again, Three Billboards also seemed popular with them, even as it seemed an unlikely film for them to grab onto. I think I’m going to go with Del Toro’s film, but this one’s shaky.

Winner: The Shape of Water

Alternate: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST MOTION PICTURE- MUSICAL OR COMEDY

• The Disaster Artist
• Get Out
• The Greatest Showman
• I, Tonya
• Lady Bird

I think this one goes to Lady Bird, but Get Out is a possibility as well. I think Lady Bird’s a tad stronger with them, since it got a screenplay nod, so I’m leaning towards that one.

Winner: Lady Bird

Alternate: Get Out

BEST ACTOR- DRAMA

• Timothee Chalamet, Call My By Your Name
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
• Tom Hanks, The Post
• Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
• Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

I sort of assume that Gary Oldman is going to end up walking through this whole awards season, as a kind of career prize for his Winston Churchill performance. Guessing it’ll start here.

Winner: Gary Oldman

Alternate: Timothee Chalamet (I guess? Hard to know who’s even the runner-up here)

BEST ACTRESS- DRAMA

• Jessica Chastain, Molly’s Game
• Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
• Frances McDormand, Three Billboards
• Meryl Streep, The Post
• Michelle Williams, All the Money in the World

Oof. This one’s tough! I think it’s between Sally Hawkins and Frances McDormand and it’s probably really close. I’m gonna go with Sally (the HFPA actually likes her and awarded her Best Actress nine years ago for Happy Go Lucky), but McDormand’s right on her heels.

Winner: Sally Hawkins

Alternate: Frances McDormand

Dark Horse: Meryl Streep (Because she’s Meryl Streep and the Globes seemed to like The Post as well)

BEST ACTOR- COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Steve Carell, Battle of the Sexes
• Ansel Ellgort, Baby Driver
• James Franco, The Disaster Artist
• Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman
• Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Oh, man. This one’s really hard too. Could easily be Franco, Kaluuya, even Elgort, honestly. I guess I’ll go with Franco, since his performance was the most out there and singled out critically (although that hardly matters to the HFPA). It’s a toss-up.

Winner: James Franco

Alternate: Daniel Kaluuya

Dark Horse: Ansel Elgort

BEST ACTRESS- COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Judi Dench, Victoria and Abdul
• Helen Mirren, The Leisure Seeker
• Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
• Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
• Emma Stone, Battle of the Sexes

I think this is Soairse Ronan’s, pretty easily. Lady Bird is the frontrunner for film in this category, so it should be hers.

Winner: Saoirse Ronan

Alternate: Margot Robbie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
• Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name
• Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
• Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
• Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards

Dafoe has taken the majority of critics prizes for this category, with Sam Rockwell as runner-up. Going to assume that the Globes go with that as well, although they could go in a different direction entirely, with either Plummer or Jenkins. Sometimes they do wacky stuff like that out of nowhere. Dafoe is the safe bet though.

Winner: Willem Dafoe

Alternate: Sam Rockwell

Dark Horse: Christopher Plummer

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
• Hong Chau, Downsizing
• Allison Janney, I, Tonya
• Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
• Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Laurie Metcalf has been the critics favorite on this one, so I’m going with her, but Janney is a real threat too.

Winner: Laurie Metcalf

Alternate: Allison Janney

BEST DIRECTOR

• Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
• Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
• Ridley Scott, All the Money in the World
• Steven Spielberg, The Post

I think this is between del Toro and Nolan, and I’m really not sure what the Globes will go for. I feel like flipping a coin on this one, but I’m gonna go with del Toro. 

Winner: Guillermo del Toro

Alternate: Christopher Nolan

Dark Horse: Martin McDonagh

BEST SCREENPLAY

• The Shape of Water
• Lady Bird
• The Post
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Molly’s Game

Eek. I have no clue in this category. They do like to spread the wealth occasionally…then again, they didn’t do that at ALL last year with La La Land. This group is a tough nut to crack- they could easily want to spread the wealth or fall for one movie in everything. I’m taking a shot in the dark here.

Winner: Three Billboards (it’s a guess- mostly because I haven’t picked it for anything yet)

Alternate: The Shape of Water

Dark Horse: The Post (or hell, Molly’s Game could win this because of their love of Aaron Sorkin- it’s a true crapshoot)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• Three Billboards
• The Shape of Water
• Phantom Thread
• The Post
• Dunkirk

Ummm…I think The Shape of Water. But Dunkirk had memorable music too.

Winner: The Shape of Water

Alternate: Dunkirk

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “Home,” Ferdinand
• “Mighty River,” Mudbound
• “Remember Me,” Coco
• “The Star,” The Star
• “This is Me,” The Greatest Showman

I think the Coco song will probably take this, right? Either that or Mary J. Blige’s from Mudbound.

Winner: “Mighty River” (Gonna hope Mudbound can win something)

Alternate: “Remember Me”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• The Boss Baby
• The Breadwinner
• Coco
• Ferdinand
• Loving Vincent

I think Coco takes it easily.

Winner: Coco

Alternate: None

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
• First They Killed My Father (Cambodia)
• In the Fade (Germany/France)
• Loveless (Russia)
• The Square (Sweden/Germany/France)

I think this is either The Square or the Angelina Jolie movie. I haven’t seen any foreign films this year, sadly, so I can only go on hype at the moment.

Winner: First They Killed My Father

Alternate: The Square

Dark Horse: A Fantastic Woman

PGA Nominates 'Get Out,' 'The Post,' 'Lady Bird'

The Producers Guild put out its top ten list today, which actually turned out to be a top eleven, claiming a tie produced an eleventh pick, although I find that suspicious. Not too many surprises here:

• The Big Sick
• Call Me By Your Name
• Dunkirk
• Get Out
• I, Tonya
• Lady Bird
• Molly's Game
• The Post
• The Shape of Water
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Wonder Woman

The PGA never matches the Oscar list 100%, and with 11 choices this time, I would say take three off, add one that didn't make it and that will be the Best Picture lineup. The three that won't make it from this would be Wonder Woman, Molly's Game and....either The Big Sick or I, Tonya or both. Both are looking strong with the guilds right now, but at least one of them will miss, since every year there's one or two guild favorites that don't go all the way. As for the movie that gets in instead, I would bet on The Florida Project, which is sort of a passion vote movie. I'm annoyed enough that it missed here, as it's my own favorite movie of the year, but I still have hope for it. The Golden Globes will happen this weekend, but I'm waiting for the DGA nominations to confirm what I've been suspecting for while, that Get Out is the movie that could actually win Best Picture this year. If Jordan Peele makes the DGA, I would start calling it the frontrunner.

WGA Nominees Include 'I, Tonya,' 'Logan,' Snub 'The Post'

So the Writers Guild has announced its annual nominations for the best original and adapted screenplays of the year. They came in as follows:

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• The Big Sick
• Get Out
• I, Tonya
• Lady Bird
• The Shape of Water

Missing from the list was Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which wasn't eligible with the guild and not expected to show up, but it almost certainly will at the Oscars. Either in place of The Big Sick or I, Tonya. Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread was another dark horse contender that missed. The big surprise here though was the omission of The Post, which was eligible and plainly snubbed. The movie missed SAG noms and now the WGA in favor of I, Tonya, a film that's showing more strength so far than people thought. The Post is still a timely, well-reviewed Spielberg movie though, so it could easily show up in the Oscar nominations.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Call Me By Your Name
• The Disaster Artist
• Logan
• Molly's Game
• Mudbound

Hey, Logan got nominated! The WGA seems to have a yearly tradition now of nominating at least one of the well received blockbuster superhero movies for screenplay, even though the movie never goes anywhere with the Oscars after that. Looks like Logan got that honor this year. The rest of these were more or less expected, as most of the best picture contenders are in original this year. I'm hopeful that Mudbound, one of my favorites of the year, will at least get a couple of Oscar nods, this one included.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2018

I'm back! I'd like to welcome the new year by saying that this site will be back live with regular postings again, including reviews, trailers, and updates for the coming year. It's been slow going these days, but I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season, and I'm ready to turn my attention back to my favorite shows, movies, and entertainment for the year to come. Hope you'll join me!

REVIEW: "Logan" (2017) Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart. Dir. James Mangold

The massive success of last year’s Deadpool opens the door for studios to green light more R-rated superhero projects. Or, at least it does for Fox, which agreed to fund an R-rated Wolverine movie for the first time, after the character has lived the entirety of his onscreen life in a bloodless, PG-13 world. The rating itself isn’t a guarantee of success, as Deadpool’s triumph wasn’t simply due to the filth aspect, but the lack of restrictions can lead an individual filmmaker to be more creative with the genre, something the X-Men franchise could benefit from. James Mangold takes full advantage of his opportunity with the final Wolverine film, which feels nothing like any other X-Men movie, and has more in common with a gritty, violent Western from the 1970’s. 

For starters, there is no reference to any event or character from any of the other films, a fact that makes it a true standalone, so don’t worry about continuity issues. The year is 2029, and Logan, aka Wolverine, is a beat up, broken down mess. It’s not exactly an apocalyptic universe, but mutants have stopped being born at all, leading to what we must presume is their ultimate extinction. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart in his best ever performance as Professor X) is a 90-year-old man suffering from a dementia-like illness and hiding out in a Mexican warehouse where Logan must keep him alive with illegally procured meds that prevent seizures (in his case, events that paralyze everyone in the vicinity surrounding him and make him a danger to himself and others). Logan is tired, tired of life and of the constant killing that is and has always been the result of his adamantium claws that for the first time are shown to rip people limb from limb whenever he gets in a fight. His healing powers are no longer as strong as they once were either.

Newcomer Dafne Keen is a scene-stealer

It’s a desolate, depressing existence, made ever more brutal by the shocking, graphic bursts of bloody violence that accompany action scenes, the likes of which have not been seen before in the X-Men films. Eventually, we find out that a secret government program has been creating its own mutants using the stolen DNA codes of the existing (and likely dead) ones, which has led to a select group of genetically engineered adolescents, possessing the powers of their unknown parents. One of that group is Laura, played by 11-year-old Dafne Keen, who winds up in Logan and Charles’s care, and the three set out on a violent road trip intended to escape to freedom as they are being pursued by the feds. 

What sets this movie apart is the tone and pace of it, a complete departure from its predecessors. I’ve mentioned the bursts of violence, which are very brutal and may wear you out eventually, but there is real care taken in the development of Logan, Charles and Laura, who are exhausted, world weary survivors of the shattered mutant race that sees no real hope for evolution. For X-Man fans, this is probably pretty sad, as Professor X’s idealistic dream of peaceful mutant and human co-existence is revealed to be the ultimate façade. For non-comics fans, it’s a lengthy, deliberately paced, melancholic road movie, one where Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart play out a pseudo father-son relationship that’s doomed like everything else in this universe, but lent some added weight thanks to the 17-year history the two have of playing these characters. 

In some ways this film is an oddity, and one wonders if many fans will actually enjoy the hardened experience of it. Sentiment is enhanced by the character’s histories and the terrific performances from the leads (this is also the best Jackman has ever been), due to a screenplay that asks for more from them than any other entry in the franchise ever has. But Keen is also a standout, a tough, commanding presence that is in no way coached to be anything resembling a cute movie kid. The bond between her and Jackman takes its time, as do many scenes in the film itself, which misses the frantic pace of a typical action movie. The boldness of Logan in striking out its own path and its own integrity is to be admired on the part of writer-director Mangold, and it’s a fitting end to Jackman’s iconic two decade run as the character unlikely to be recast anytime soon.

* * * 1/2

The 'X-Men' franchise bids farewell to Wolverine and Professor X

Scarlet Johansson is a Futuristic Robot in 'Ghost in the Shell'

Despite the whitewashing controversy over casting a white actress in a what was a very famous Japanese animated film and franchise, everyone involved in the movie is pretty unapologetic about it and it's headed for a big release on March 31st. Unfortunately, it'll probably also be a hit and do nothing to discourage studios from continuing to refuse to cast Asian or Asian-American actresses as leads in these properties. 

Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst Star in Sofia Coppola's 'The Beguiled'

Catching up on some of these summer movie trailers today. Sofia Coppola's films don't get much attention anymore, but I've always had a soft spot for them, having liked every movie she's made so far. This one is a remake of a 1971 Clint Eastwood vehicle and the creepy story is totally right for her sensibilities. Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell join old Coppola favorites Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning for the ensemble drama about a bunch of repressed Southern women who basically kidnap a Union soldier during the Civil War. It's coming out in June. Can't wait.

New Trailer for 'Kong: Skull Island' Ups the Action

This movie looks nuts. Looks like they're going for sort of a comedic, B-movie tone, with Samuel L. Jackson and John C. Reilly providing the comic relief, but without a comedy director at the helm, that's a tricky balancing act. Either they pull it off and it's big dumb fun, or it's really, really bad. Who knows with this one, but it can't get much worse than Peter Jackson's 2005 Kong movie. Comes out next Friday, March 10th.

'Moonlight' Defeats 'La La Land' for Best Picture in Most Stunning Finale in Oscar History

WOW. So...what can I even say???? This will go down as the infamous ceremony where the WRONG BEST PICTURE WINNER was actually announced on live television, given out, the winners were in the middle of their acceptance speeches, and then mayhem commenced as the mistake was realized, leading La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz to declare that Moonlight had won Best Picture, not them! Jaws dropped in the room, across the country and around the world, as confusion spread, seemingly in slow motion while the befuddled Moonlight winners then got onstage and the crushed La La Land people retreated, having to hand over their statues. Unbelievable! How did this happen?? Apparently Warren Beatty was given a duplicate of the Best Actress envelope with Emma Stone's win printed in it, which he didn't realize until he opened it, and clearly flustered and not knowing what to do, he handed it to Faye Dunaway, who blurted out La La Land as the winner, leading to the epic fail. This ultimately robbed the Moonlight crew from being able to have their moment unsullied, while simultaneously humiliating the La La Land team for good measure. In all 89 years of Oscar history, never before has such a thing occurred. 

• Best Picture: Moonlight
• Best Director: Damien Chazelle, La La Land
• Best Actress: Emma Stone, La La Land
• Best Actor: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
• Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Fences
• Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight
• Best Original Screenplay: Manchester by the Sea
• Best Foreign Language Film: The Salesman
• Best Animated Feature: Zootopia
• Best Film Editing: Hacksaw Ridge
• Best Cinematography: La La Land
• Best Original Score: La La Land
• Best Original Song: “City of Stars,” La La Land
• Best Costume Design: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Best Documentary Feature: O.J.: Made in America
• Best Production Design: La La Land
• Best Visual Effects: The Jungle Book
• Best Sound Editing: Arrival
• Best Sound Mixing: Hacksaw Ridge
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Suicide Squad
• Best Short Film, Animated: Piper
• Best Documentary, Short Subject: The White Helmets
• Best Short Film, Live Action: Sing

Aside from the last five minutes, everything else that happened in the show feels ancient. I completely screwed up the techs on my predictions, leading to a pathetic 15/24 score (ugh), but seriously, who cares after that wild finish? And we do have to take a moment here to appreciate the fact that Moonlight, a $1.5 million budgeted movie about gay black men in Miami, won BEST PICTURE at the Academy Awards! That's incredible. This is the same academy that voted for Crash over Brokeback Mountain eleven years ago, which had been the biggest Best Picture upset ever until now. La La Land had won the DGA, PGA, BAFTA, Golden Globes and Critics Choice awards. How did it lose??? That alone is unprecedented. All I can think is that the backlash to awarding a fluffy musical over more important subject matter during this politically charged time we live in, must have had an impact during the voting after all. That and the preferential ballot they use for tallying Best Picture (ranking the films), in which a close race can make the movie that garners a lot of #2 and #3 votes just as important, if not more so, than #1's. That's how Spotlight won last year. La La Land was apparently much more divisive than people realized. It still won 6 Oscars to Moonlight's 3, so both films go home with big wins, but another interesting stat is that under this system of voting, only once in the last five years has Best Picture and Best Director lined up. That's a HUGE shift in Oscar history. Not since the 1930's have they seen such division in those two awards, which for decades had been so closely linked. But all stats aside, nothing can beat that crazy moment at the end of the show, already set to go down as the most insane in the history of the ceremony. What a strange and stunning ending. It was an unforgettable television moment.

Jimmy Kimmel hosts the 89th Academy Awards

Bill Paxton 1955-2017

Some bad news this morning, as it was announced that Bill Paxton has died at the age of 61, from complications due to heart surgery. A longtime veteran actor who appeared and starred in many films since the 1980's, most memorably including Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), True Lies (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Twister (1996), Titanic (1997) and A Simple Plan (1998). He starred in HBO's Big Love from 2006 to 2011 and was nominated for an Emmy for the 2012 miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. Most recently he'd guest starred on ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He is survived by his wife Louise and children James and Lydia.