My Oscar Picks For The 90th Annual Academy Awards

It’s almost time for the Oscars! I love/hate them so much!! 🙂

I’ve seen quite a few nominees, but have missed out on some that I do badly want to see. Oh I hate it when so few cinemas show the “worthy” or indie films! Of the nominees I’ve not managed to see yet, the only ones I really want to watch are:

Call Me By Your Name
The Florida Project
All the Money in the World
War For The Planet Of The Apes
Loving Vincent
Wonder
Faces/Places
The Silent Child

Of the Best Picture nominees, I must admit I have no interest in Dunkirk or Phantom Thread. I’ll watch The Post on Netflix or whatever at home.

**Post updated since I’ve now seen I, Tonya. Loved it.**

Nominees I’ve Seen (including everything with at least one nomination):

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2. Blade Runner: 2049
3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
5. I, Tonya
6. Baby Driver
7. The Shape Of Water
8. Lady Bird
9. Darkest Hour
10. Logan
11. The Greatest Showman
12. Coco
13. Mudbound
14. The Big Sick
15. Get Out
16. Kong: Skull Island
17. Beauty and the Beast
18. The Boss Baby

Other Nominees Seen (Shorts):
Lou
Garden Party
Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405

Now onto the “predictions”! As usual, I’m not too bothered about who wins. For each category, I’ll put what I personally want to win & what I think will actually win. Here we go….

NOMINEES:

Best Picture:
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water (Also WANT – It’s close between this & Three Billboards)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (WANT & WILL)

Directing:
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
Guillermo del Toro, Shape of Water (WANT & WILL)

Actor in a Leading Role:
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour (WANT & WILL)
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Actress in a Leading Role:
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (WILL)
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya (WANT)
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post

Actress in a Supporting Role:
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya (WANT & WILL)
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Actor in a Supporting Role:
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (WANT)
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (WILL)

Adapted Screenplay:
James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name (WILL)
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green, Logan
Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
Virgil Williams and Dee Rees, Mudbound (WANT)

Original Screenplay:
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird (WANT)
Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (WILL)

Animated Feature Film:
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco (WANT & WILL)
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

Foreign Language Film:
A Fantastic Woman (Chile) (WILL)
The Insult (Lebanon)
Loveless (Russia) (WANT)
Body and Soul (Hungary)
The Square (Sweden)

Documentary Feature:
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Faces/Places (WANT & WILL)
Icarus
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island

Cinematography:
Roger A. Deakins, Blade Runner: 2049 (WANT & WILL)
Bruno Delbonnel, Darkest Hour
Hoyte van Hoytema, Dunkirk
Rachel Morrison, Mudbound
Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water

Film Editing:
Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos, Baby Driver (WANT)
Lee Smith, Dunkirk (WILL)
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
Sidney Wolinsky, The Shape of Water
Jon Gregory, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Production Design:
Beauty and the Beast (Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)
Blade Runner: 2049 (Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Alessandra Querzola) (WANT & WILL)
Darkest Hour (Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)
Dunkirk (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis)
The Shape of Water (Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin)

Costume Design:
Jacqueline Durran, Beauty and the Beast
Jacqueline Durran, Darkest Hour
Mark Bridges, Phantom Thread (WILL)
Luis Sequeira, The Shape of Water (WANT)
Consolota Boyle, Victoria & Abdul

Makeup and Hairstyling:
Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, and Lucy Sibbick, Darkest Hour (WANT & WILL)
Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard, Victoria & Abdul
Arjen Tuiten, Wonder

Original Score:
Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk
Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water (WILL)
John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (WANT)
Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Original Song:
“Mighty River,” Mudbound
“Mystery of Love,” Call Me by Your Name
“Remember Me,” Coco
“Stand Up for Something,” Marshall
“This Is Me,” The Greatest Showman (WANT & WILL)

Sound Editing:
Julian Slater, Baby Driver
Mark Mangini and Theo Green, Blade Runner 2049
Richard King and Alex Gibson, Dunkirk (WILL)
Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira, The Shape of Water
Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (WANT)

Sound Mixing:
Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin, and Mary H. Ellis, Baby Driver
Ron Bartlett, Dough Hemphill, and Mac Ruth, Blade Runner 2049
Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landarker, and Gary A. Rizzo, Dunkirk (WILL)
Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern, and Glen Gauthier, The Shape of Water
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Stuart Wilson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (WANT)

Visual Effects:
Blade Runner 2049 (John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, and Dan Sudick)
Kong: Skull Island (Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, and Mike Meinardus)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould) (WANT)
War for the Planet of the Apes (Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon, and Joel Whist) (WILL)

Animated Short Film:
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou (WANT & WILL)
Negative Space
Revolting Rhymes

Live Action Short Film:
DeKalb Elementary
The Eleven O’Clock
My Nephew Emmett
The Silent Child (WANT)
Watu Wote: All of Us (WILL)

Documentary Short Subject:
Edith and Eddie (WILL)
Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 (WANT)
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop

Oscar Nominated Movie Review Roundup

I have come here to hire billboards and kick ass… and I’m all out of billboards.

Thanks to the hubby for the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri & They Live mashup. He loves doing those. 🙂 I can’t think of a better quote to go with this one. Hmm…

Well, the Oscars are on Sunday night (the middle of the night in the UK, which means I’ll be a zombie for work on Monday). I’ve managed to see way more Oscar nominees than last year, so I thought I should do a quick post with a roundup of all my reviews of the nominees. I’ll include everything that has at least one nomination. And, of course, I’ll rank them!

I’m gutted that I’ve not managed to make it to see I, Tonya this week with the crappy weather & snow in the UK. If I manage to see it over the weekend, I’ll review it before the Oscars air. It’s one I really want to see – I’ve always been fascinated by that story.

**Post updated since I HAVE now seen I, Tonya. Loved it! But no time to review it before the Oscars. I’ll review it next week.**

Ranked from favorite to least favorite movie, here are the links to my reviews of the 2017 Oscar nominated films I’ve seen so far:

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2. Blade Runner: 2049
3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
5. I, Tonya
6. Baby Driver

7. The Shape Of Water
8. Lady Bird
9. Darkest Hour
10. Logan
11. The Greatest Showman

12. Coco
13. Mudbound
14. The Big Sick
15. Get Out
16. Kong: Skull Island
17. Beauty and the Beast
18. The Boss Baby

Other Nominees Seen (Shorts):

– Lou: Cute, like all Pixar shorts, and I liked the anti-bullying message. Not their strongest short, though.

– Garden Party: Another animated short with Lou, which certainly won’t beat Pixar (I don’t know about the other nominees). The animation is impressive, especially as it was made by 3D animation students as their graduation film. The story is an odd one. I liked the somewhat surprising ending (don’t watch it with your young kids).

– Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405: This was an interesting short documentary about artist Mindy Alper, who has channeled her depression and anxiety from a traumatic childhood into her art. It’s worth a watch as it’s on YouTube (link HERE). 

Tomorrow I’ll post my Oscar Winner predictions. 🙂

My Top Ten Movies Of 2017

Here’s my final list of 2017: All the movies released in the UK in 2017 that I saw. As always, I’ve ranked them from my least favorite to my favorite. Remember that the UK gets all the “Oscar” stuff in January & February (so annoying), so a lot of last year’s nominees are here. And I need to point out that I missed out on seeing a lot this year so I’ve listed some of those at the end.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2018 is a good year for films other than just superhero movies. Here are My Top Ten Movies Of 2017 (starting at the bottom – I saw 37 & there’s one tie):

36-31

36. Sing
35. Smurfs: The Lost Village
34. 1922
33. Beauty And The Beast (2017)
32. Jackie
31. Okja

Top Thirty

30. The Fits
29. Life
28. Mother!
27. Alien: Covenant
26. Split
25. Ancien And The Magic Tablet (aka Napping Princess)
24. Before I Fall
23. Despicable Me 3
22. The Babysitter
21. Get Out

Top Twenty

20. Manchester By The Sea
19. Spider-Man: Homecoming
18. La La Land
17. Gifted
16. A Dog’s Purpose
15. Moonlight
14. Lion
13. T2 Trainspotting
12. John Wick: Chapter 2
11. The LEGO Batman Movie

Top Ten

10. TIE: Logan & Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets

9. Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle

8. Thor: Ragnarok

7. Gerald’s Game

6. Wonder Woman

5. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2

4. Baby Driver

3. Blade Runner 2049

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

1. It

As I said, I missed out on more films than usual that I really wanted to see this year. Some of these are probably even Top Ten contenders so it’s worth mentioning that I’ve not seen them (I especially want to see the ones in bold):

A Monster Calls, Hidden Figures, Kong: Skull Island, Ghost In The Shell, The Circle, Colossal, The Red Turtle, My Life As A Courgette, It Comes At Night, War For The Planet Of The Apes, The Beguiled, Dunkirk, Atomic Blonde, A Ghost Story, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Dark Tower, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The Glass Castle, Happy Death Day, Call Me By Your Name, Murder On The Orient Express, Wonder, Brigsy Bear, Better Watch Out, The Greatest Showman

Baby Driver (2017) Review

Baby Driver (2017)

Directed & Written by Edgar Wright

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.

My Opinion:

I’m so behind on movie reviews but don’t want to miss out on writing something about this one. Because it’s good! So this will be a quickie review. I’d love to hear from others who’ve seen it. More than anything, I badly need to catch up on replying to all your comments on my blog! Sorry about that. I’ll catch up on that soon. Now let’s talk a little bit about Baby Driver…

I know Edgar Wright has some diehard fans thanks to his Cornetto Trilogy (I reviewed all three films together HERE). Those are great, especially Shaun Of The Dead, so it’s obvious why he has loyal fans. Baby Driver, in my opinion, is actually the best film he’s done so far. I love Shaun & it’s a great horror comedy but Baby Driver feels more timeless. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but did think it would be a little more similar to Shaun, Hot Fuzz, World’s End, Scott Pilgrim, etc. It’s not. It’s very different. It’s not a comedy, although it does have some humorous moments (which is fine with me, as I’m not a huge fan of most comedies anyway). But it’s a kick ass crime/heist movie with great characters & a fantastic soundtrack. It’s pure entertainment, which is missing from movies far too often nowadays. But it’s not dumb Michael-Bay-Style pure entertainment – it’s pure entertainment that puts time & effort into its script, its characters, its look, and its awesome soundtrack (Did I mention its awesome soundtrack? Oh yes, I believe I did. It has an awesome soundtrack).

Baby Driver feels like it can stand alongside some of the great crime/heist thrillers of the 70s & 80s in that, 20 years from now, I think it will be seen the same way that we see things like The French Connection nowadays (although I’ve never actually seen that – I better add that to Blind Spot 2018!). Or… Perhaps Walter Hill’s The Driver (which I’ve also never seen) since Wright gave Hill a cameo in this film. Oh! Yes, I just checked IMDb trivia to verify. I wanted to know Wright’s influences for Baby Driver:

“This film drew inspiration from The Driver (1978), Raising Arizona (1987), The Blues Brothers (1980), and Riding Bean (1989).”

Well, Walter Hill’s The Warriors easily remains my absolute favorite older film that I watched for the very first time since starting my blog almost five years ago, so… Hill’s The Driver is probably worth a watch as Wright clearly has good taste since he’s made such a good film. Oh – and he also gave Paul Williams a small role in this as well. You know – the Rainbow Connection, Phantom Of The Paradise Paul Williams (you young bloggers don’t know who I’m on about). Wright’s influences are obvious (and similar to the things I like seeing as we’re a similar age, I guess) and his love of films & music really shows in how he’s made Baby Driver. It reminds me of how Tarantino makes his films: as a nerdy superfan. And that’s the way it should be. If you love your job, it’s going to be obvious in the final product that you produce.

I liked Baby Driver a lot and I’d say it’s probably my number one movie of 2017 so far but I’m not sure if I exactly loved it in the same way I loved the insanely fun & action-packed Mad Max: Fury Road a couple of years ago. I compare them as it seems like I should feel similar about two really great action films, which is a genre that often disappoints me. I really liked the characters in Baby Driver and I always adore a good love story. In this case, there are several and the girl/boy love story isn’t necessarily my favorite. Baby’s love for a pretty waitress is nice but we also see his love for his mother, his foster father, driving, and MUSIC. I’m going to connect with any movie that shows as much passion for music as this one does. I can’t think of any other movies that have focused on the love of music so much (without the story actually being about music). It works really well so I’m not sure why the film didn’t quite connect with me as much as I expected it to. I do think it’s a film that will grow on me, though, and I’d happily watch it again sometime to see if my opinion changes at all. I can certainly see why the movie has had so much love already as it feels very unique despite having such obvious influences. As I said, I do believe Baby Driver is a film that will stand the test of time & possibly be even more respected in future years than it is now.

My Rating: 8.5/10

**Hmm. I think Baby Driver would probably make it somewhere onto my list of My Top Ten Movies With Song Title Titles… 🙂