She's ADORABLE!! Everybody watch this little girl's amazing speech, which didn't make the actual telecast and was streaming only. And also, seriously, please seek out The Florida Project, it's an incredible movie that's being overlooked by most of the awards this year (come on, Academy!) and really deserves the attention.
'The Shape of Water' Wins Best Picture, Best Director At Critics Choice Awards
Well, here we go with a variety of movies about to start winning the big prize at the different awards shows! I'm glad these guys picked Shape of Water, even if it looks like they copied the Golden Globe winners exactly for all the acting categories. I hope those four do not sweep. Surprising that Lady Bird came up empty-handed here. And the strength of Three Billboards continues, winning Actress, Supporting Actor and Ensemble. Starting to think Frances may be the winner for Best Actress, which would be her second, her first since Fargo twenty years ago. I really, really hate that Willem Dafoe's award is slipping away from him- will hold out hope for SAG, but it doesn't look good.
BEST PICTURE: The Shape of Water
BEST ACTOR: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
BEST ACTRESS: Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Allison Janney, I, Tonya
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS: Brooklynn Prince, The Florida Project
BEST ENSEMBLE: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Jordan Peele, Get Out
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Coco
BEST ACTION MOVIE: Wonder Woman
BEST COMEDY: The Big Sick
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY: James Franco, The Disaster Artist
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY: Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE: Get Out
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: In the Fade
BEST SONG: “Remember Me,” Coco
BEST SCORE: The Shape of Water
DGA Nominations Announced
The all important Directors Guild announced the five nominees of the year, and there wasn't a real surprise among them:
- Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
- Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
- Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
These are the movies that have basically hit every guild and the DGA is right there with them. The real question is who gets snubbed by the Academy's directors branch? Usually 1-2 people from the DGA miss out, sometimes even three. And the ones who seem vulnerable to a miss there are Gerwig and/or Peele, because that directors branch likes to go for flashy, artistic "vision" nominees, and often there can be people who show up there who didn't make it in anywhere else leading up to it. But no matter who gets left off or doesn't, the fact that Get Out and Lady Bird both hit the DGA means either one of them can win Best Picture, because the support is there across the board. I would rather it be either of them than Three Billboards, that's for sure. As for who's going to win director specifically, I really think it's Guillermo del Toro, and I think that will repeat for him at the Oscars. But I also think it's going to be a split year for Picture and Director, so one of these others is going to take Best Picture, but we don't know which yet. It's a close race right now.
Here are the DGA's other category nominees, for first time director, where Jordan Peele got in twice (and I bet he wins here):
- Geremy Jasper, Patty Cake
- William Oldroyd, Lady Macbeth
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
- Taylor Sheridan, Wind River
- Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game
'The Shape of Water' Leads the BAFTA Nominations, Followed by 'Three Billboards' and 'Darkest Hour'
The BAFTAS decided to go really British this year, which is fine. I prefer when each awards body does their own thing rather than trying to predict the Oscars, and since they are the British Academy anyway, it makes sense for them to go for homegrown talent. I guess this explains the love for Three Billboards, which is a film written and directed by a British man, Martin McDonagh, although acted by nearly all Americans and supposedly about rural American racism/anger. I do not love that movie, as you'll see in my next lightning round of reviews, and I'm really hoping that this adoration from foreign voting groups (the HFPA and now BAFTA) gets turned around when the Academy goes all in for Get Out, which they clearly didn't like that much here, giving it just screenplay and one acting nod. For that matter, Lady Bird was nearly shut out as well, which is interesting. There is some overlap with Academy voters here, and since voting for Oscar nominations is literally happening right now, this may be a hint of where some things are headed. The Shape of Water looks really set to win Best Director in my opinion, but who knows what BAFTA will do in Best Film. They definitely gave a huge boost to Darkest Hour, which could be a Brits only thing, or maybe there's enough love there for it to sneak into Best Picture at the Oscars as well, despite being overlooked just about everywhere else. Despite my favorite movies, The Florida Project and Mubound once again being completely ignored, at least they liked Lady Macbeth at this one, acknowledging it in a few areas, and for Best British Film. And despite shutting out Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele, they went for a couple of interesting names in director, like Denis Villenueve (the Baftas are the one place that really liked Blade Runner 2049) and Call Me By Your Name's Luca Guadagnino.
BEST PICTURE
“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST DIRECTOR
Denis Villeneuve, “Blade Runner 2049”
Luca Guadagnino, “Call Me by Your Name”
Christopher Nolan, “Dunkirk”
Guillermo del Toro, “The Shape of Water”
Martin McDonagh, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST ACTOR
Timothee Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
Jamie Bell, “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”
BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”
Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Hugh Grant, “Paddington 2”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Kristin Scott Thomas, “Darkest Hour”
Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Get Out”
“I, Tonya”
“Lady Bird”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Call Me by Your Name”
“The Death of Stalin”
“Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”
“Molly’s Game”
“Paddington 2”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BLADE RUNNER 2049 Roger Deakins
DARKEST HOUR Bruno Delbonnel
DUNKIRK Hoyte van Hoytema
THE SHAPE OF WATER Dan Laustsen
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Ben Davis
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Jacqueline Durran
DARKEST HOUR Jacqueline Durran
I, TONYA Jennifer Johnson
PHANTOM THREAD Mark Bridges
THE SHAPE OF WATER Luis Sequeira
BEST FILM EDITING
BABY DRIVER Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss
BLADE RUNNER 2049 Joe Walker
DUNKIRK Lee Smith
THE SHAPE OF WATER Sidney Wolinsky
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Jon Gregory
BEST MAKE UP & HAIR
BLADE RUNNER 2049 Donald Mowat, Kerry Warn
DARKEST HOUR David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji
I, TONYA Deborah La Mia Denaver, Adruitha Lee
VICTORIA & ABDUL Daniel Phillips
WONDER Naomi Bakstad, Robert A. Pandini, Arjen Tuiten
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
BLADE RUNNER 2049 Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola
DARKEST HOUR Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
DUNKIRK Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
THE SHAPE OF WATER Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau
BEST SCORE
BLADE RUNNER 2049 Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer
DARKEST HOUR Dario Marianelli
DUNKIRK Hans Zimmer
PHANTOM THREAD Jonny Greenwood
THE SHAPE OF WATER Alexandre Desplat
BEST SOUND
BABY DRIVER Tim Cavagin, Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater
BLADE RUNNER 2049 Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Mark Mangini, Mac Ruth
DUNKIRK Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten
THE SHAPE OF WATER Christian Cooke, Glen Gauthier, Nathan Robitaille, Brad Zoern
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood
BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
BLADE RUNNER 2049 Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson
DUNKIRK Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson
THE SHAPE OF WATER Dennis Berardi, Trey Harrell, Kevin Scott
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Nominees tbc
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Nominees tbc
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Coco” Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson
“Loving Vincent” Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Ivan Mactaggart
“My Life as a Courgette” Claude Barras, Max Karli
BEST DOCUMENTARY
“City of Ghosts” Matthew Heineman
“I Am Not Your Negro” Raoul Peck
“Icarus” Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan
“An Inconvenient Sequel” Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
“Jane” Brett Morgen
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Elle” Paul Verhoeven, Saïd Ben Saïd
“First They Killed My Father” Angelina Jolie, Rithy Panh
“The Handmaiden” Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim
“Loveless” Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexander Rodnyansky
“The Salesman” Asghar Farhadi, Alexandre Mallet-Guy
BEST BRITISH FILM
“Darkest Hour”
“The Death of Stalin”
“God’s Own Country”
“Lady Macbeth”
“Paddington 2”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
“The Ghoul” Gareth Tunley (Writer/Director/Producer), Jack Healy Guttman & Tom Meeten (Producers)
“I Am Not a Witch” Rungano Nyoni (Writer/Director), Emily Morgan (Producer)
“Jawbone” Johnny Harris (Writer/Producer), Thomas Napper (Director)
“Kingdom of Us” Lucy Cohen (Director)
“Lady Macbeth” Alice Birch (Writer), William Oldroyd (Director), Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (Producer)
BEST BRITISH ANIMATED SHORT
HAVE HEART Will Anderson
MAMOON Ben Steer
POLES APART Paloma Baeza, Ser En Low
BEST BRITISH LIVE-ACTION SHORT
AAMIR Vika Evdokimenko, Emma Stone, Oliver Shuster
COWBOY DAVE Colin O’Toole, Jonas Mortensen
A DROWNING MAN Mahdi Fleifel, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Patrick Campbell
WORK Aneil Karia, Scott O’Donnell
WREN BOYS Harry Lighton, Sorcha Bacon, John Fitzpatrick
RISING STAR AWARD (previously announced)
Timothee Chalamet
Daniel Kaluuya
Josh O’Connor
Florence Pugh
Tessa Thompson
Lightning Round Reviews, Part 1: Catching Up on 2017
I’m obviously behind on major reviews, but I wanted to do a sort of lightning round mini review round-up (still catching up with things as always at the beginning of the year), so here’s what I think of what I did manage to view in 2017. This is for the first half of the year, I’ll be back soon enough with Part 2:
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE * * * 1/2
A hilariously affectionate send-up of all things Batman that understands the character in ways the DCEU can’t even comprehend. Funny, sweet, and one of my favorite comedies of last year.
GET OUT * * * 1/2
Don’t know what I can say about this one that hasn’t already been said- part satire, part horror movie, Jordan Peele’s take on race relations in America remains completely unpredictable from beginning to end, never letting you see what wild direction it’s going in next. Undoubtedly one of the best and most original movies of the year.
KONG: SKULL ISLAND * *
A waste of time, bad CGI, worse acting, and completely forgettable. I had to see it written on my list just to remember that I actually watched this last year.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST *
One of the most painfully excruciating experiences of 2017, this bastardization of the Disney animated musical is at best grotesquely bizarre, at worst completely inexplicable. A film that has no justification for its existence and forces you into a garish live action cosplay retelling of a cartoon classic that makes all the songs and music worse. Horrifying.
WONDER WOMAN * * *
A solid, old-fashioned superhero origin story that became a cultural phenomenon on the strength of director Patty Jenkins’ old pro style helming of the story. A second viewing made me appreciate this a tad more than I did originally- the pace is brisk, the actors charming and the humor good-natured yet not snarky in the occasionally oppressive Marvel style. Its sincerity and earnestness allow it to overcome the usual cliches and irritating studio dictated action climax, if only just by a hair. And it goes without saying it’s miles better than anything else in the DC Universe, so they’d be wise to emulate it.
THE BEGUILED * * *
A genuinely good remake of a Don Sielgel/Clint Eastwood starring film from the 1970’s, with Sofia Coppola directing a solid cast with assured performances from Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Colin Farrell. Both this and the 70’s version would make an interesting double feature night.
THE BIG SICK * * 1/2
A romantic comedy of sorts that tells the story of how writer/star Kumail Nanjiani met his now wife Emily, (who co-wrote the film with him and is played by Zoe Kazan in the movie). I wished I had liked this more than I did, but I just didn’t find the focus on Emily and her parents as interesting or entertaining as the film did. I kept wishing to know more about Kumail’s own Pakistani family, who are kind of given the brush-off in favor of less interesting people, even if the film has its charming moments.
BABY DRIVER * * 1/2
Another half success for me. A quasi-musical that starts strong, gets shaky and eventually veers off the rails. Doesn’t help that star Ansel Elgort is one of these anti-charisma leads who can’t carry a movie, especially one that’s embracing style over substance. Still, it has a couple of exciting musical sequences from innovative director Edgar Wright.
OKJA * * 1/2
And again, another uneven attempt from a worthy filmmaker, Bong Joon-ho. A little girl raises a genetically engineered pig creature and must save it from the clutches of evil corporate goons. The wildly veering tone is no surprise from the director of Snowpiercer and The Host, but this movie doesn’t hang together quite as well as those former efforts and may leave you a bit baffled, in spite of some exciting action scenes.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING * * *
To my enormous surprise, a delightfully appealing Tom Holland becomes by far the best Peter Parker/Spider-Man and his movie has more in common with a John Hughes-esque high school comedy than the usual Marvel action film. I enjoyed all the kids in this and look forward to more teen hijinks and smaller scale neighborhood crime fighting as opposed to boring world destroying visual effects.
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES * * *
A sober conclusion to the Apes trilogy, with astonishing visuals and serious themes as the end of humanity draws near. I don’t know if the franchise can go on without Andy Serkis’s Caesar, who really carries the whole thing, but I’d definitely look forward to seeing the apes evolve even more and start wearing clothes, speaking English and becoming politicians, as in the original 60’s movie. Here’s hoping it continues.
LADY MACBETH * * * 1/2
Director William Oldroyd fashions a cold, gripping Victorian chamber drama with an electric performance from newcomer Florence Pugh as a miserable young wife who engages in a torrid affair with the new stable boy (Cosmo Jarvis). Dark, strange and completely unlike your average period drama, this one burrows into your soul.
'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.
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