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

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) Review

***SPOILER-FREE Initial Thoughts***

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Directed & Written by Rian Johnson

Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Benicio del Toro

Music by John Williams

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
Having taken her first steps into the Jedi world, Rey joins Luke Skywalker on an adventure with Leia, Finn and Poe that unlocks mysteries of the Force and secrets of the past.

My Opinion:

When I reviewed Star Wars: The Force Awakens (HERE), I wrote about it right after seeing it and before having time to fully process it. I didn’t want to put a rating on it right away & I didn’t want to go overboard on raving about how much I loved it just in case I was still too high on the feeling of having seen a new STAR WARS MOVIE!!!!

I’m a huge fan of the original trilogy and I can’t see ever loving one of the new films quite as much but The Force Awakens came very close. I knew immediately that I loved it, even though I tried to hold back a bit when first writing about it. With The Last Jedi, it’s a bit different. I’m again writing this too soon after seeing it, which I don’t really like to do as I like to think about a film first. However, this time I’m not worried about going overboard raving about my love of the movie. This time, I’m afraid of being too harsh. This time, I don’t immediately love the movie. At least, I don’t think I do. I hate to make a statement like that so soon as maybe I’ll change my mind. I hope I change my mind.

Don’t worry – this isn’t like the prequels. This is a good film. I think the problem, for me, is that it isn’t much like Star Wars. I didn’t feel that way about The Force Awakens. That film instantly felt like a part of the Star Wars universe. I love Rey & Finn & BB-8 and it didn’t take long at all for me to accept them as a part of that world. I don’t feel that way about any of the new characters introduced in The Last Jedi. In fact, I thought there were too many new additions and it took time away from further developing existing characters that I actually care about.

Okay – let’s do this a different way otherwise I’ll just ramble on incoherently. As I’m still processing the film, I’ll try to separate my thoughts out into the good stuff & the not-so-good stuff.

What I Liked:

Several Great Moments Linking To The Original Trilogy. Well, this is tough to talk about in any sort of way as I have to stay completely spoiler-free. I mean, I’m not Holly Willoughby (yeah, she spoiled something major live on TV. you can see a clip here if you really want a big spoiler. luckily, I don’t watch TV). There are a few really good moments involving original trilogy characters and those moments made me feel all warm & fuzzy. And I guess that’s all I can say. Let’s discuss this movie like crazy in the comments, though! My comment section can be a spoiler zone!

Again Seeing Characters I Know & Love. Obviously. How awesome to see Luke doing much more than just standing there & staring at Rey. And Mark Hamill does a fantastic job, by the way. Loved him! And Leia… I’ll forever be heartbroken about Carrie Fisher and hate knowing she can’t be in the final film. Luckily, she does have plenty to do in this one compared to the last one. R2-D2 (my personal favorite), C-3PO, Chewbacca… I adore these characters. I grew up with them. I’ll always love seeing them up on screen. And, of course, it was great to see Rey & Kylo Ren develop much more (especially Kylo, as he came across as a slightly whiny emo kid last time). Finn has a lot to do but I felt he was quite wasted and far preferred his storyline in The Force Awakens. Poe also has a much bigger role this time but I don’t really feel much of a connection with him. And BB-8 rules. I do care about these Force Awakens characters, even though it’ll never be quite as much as I care about the original trilogy characters. Unfortunately, I can’t say I care about any of the new characters in The Last Jedi (more about that later).

Porgs. They’re cute.

What I Didn’t Like So Much:

Porgs. They’re utterly & completely pointless.

The New Characters. Oh man. After the fantastic job they did with the introduction of new characters in The Force Awakens, I really was expecting to walk away from this one with at least a couple of new favorites. The best new addition is probably Rose. I liked her & Kelly Marie Tran did well in the role but it’s far too big of a part. We already have our main characters. I think this wasn’t helped by the fact that her storyline dragged a little and, by having so much time devoted to it, it was taking time away from characters we already know and want to see much more of than we do (I’ll get to this later – don’t expect to see very much of the “lesser” original trilogy characters in this). Laura Dern also does a good job, but… Why should I care about this character who has come from out of nowhere? There are other characters around Leia who we already know & who I’d have rather seen given more authority & screen time. Benicio del Toro was very Benicio del Toro. Meh.

Not Enough Of The Original Trilogy Characters. Maybe a tiny spoiler but don’t expect to see much of R2-D2, C-3PO or Chewbacca. I’m extremely disappointed with how little screen time they got.

Some Of The Comedy. I love the small bits of comedy in the Star Wars original trilogy & in The Force Awakens. There’s even more in this, which was unexpected as it’s a dark film but wasn’t totally unwelcome. We need bits of comedy that are done well & they worked perfectly in the previous films. I got a few giggles from The Last Jedi but I have to agree with the hubby when he said that the humor in this one felt more like what we get in a Marvel movie. Okay, fine. I guess. But it didn’t feel like Star Wars humor. It just didn’t quite fit.

Very Few Great Images. I’ve seen some comments already about how good this movie looks. I agree there’s some “pretty” imagery. The use of red works really well. But the whole film is so damn dark. And there weren’t really any moments where I thought “wow – that’s a great, artistic shot”. I can think of SO many images from the original trilogy that looked amazing and like something you’d hang up and frame as a work of art. I know not everyone cares about this sort of thing but it’s very important to me. It’s a big part of why I’m a weird girl who likes things like Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns. They’re gorgeous. I want to see art up on the big screen. This movie feels more focused on telling its (somewhat convoluted) story. The story is important, yes. But so is everything else. Check out this video the hubby sent me of “The Star Wars: Concept Trailer“, which shows what Star Wars would look like if all of Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art had been used. Can we please get these students to work on the next Star Wars film??

The Shades Of Gray. This is something that people will either love or hate (mostly love). It seems there can be no simple good vs evil in movies anymore. Everyone wants shades of gray and conflicted characters and blah blah blah. And that’s fine & I totally get that. That’s exactly what I want from a lot of films, especially sci-fi. From things like Blade Runner 2049. From Star Wars? Not quite so much. Give me the Joseph Campbell hero’s journey thing. It was done beautifully in the original trilogy and the formula clearly works otherwise there wouldn’t be this massive Star Wars following. The Force Awakens started to follow the same pattern. Now? I don’t know. Just be prepared to see these movies go in a completely different direction now. And R2-D2 & C-3PO will clearly no longer be our “droid guides” through this journey. They seem to have been cast aside. Which leads me to my next gripe…

The Way It Feels Like The Original Trilogy Characters Are Being Cast Aside. I’m very happy that Luke & Leia are given loads of screen time in this. I don’t really have any complaints about how their characters were handled. As I said, though, R2-D2, C-3PO, Chewbacca and some other characters I won’t mention (not sure what’s common knowledge when it comes to others) are truly cast aside in this film. It felt almost as though Rian Johnson wants rid of them & to focus more on all new characters. I know times are very different nowadays and people are demanding that things be new & constantly changed, but this is the most beloved film franchise. Do it justice. Don’t throw it away. Did J.J. Abrams do too much “fan service” in The Force Awakens? Maybe. But this is Star Wars. The rules are a little different. Surely you can keep old as well as new fans happy.

I Can’t See Where They’ll Go With The Next Film Or Why We Should Care. I also can’t say much about this in order to avoid spoilers. Let’s just say that I’m less excited about the next film now. I think it’s going to be too “different” for my own liking. The hubby & I have discussed this movie quite a bit since seeing it (as much as I love it, he’s a far bigger Star Wars fan than I am) and I think we both feel similar in not yet knowing exactly what to think about it. It’s disappointing to not instantly love it. One thing he asked me is if I feel that these sequels are adding to the story in a way that feels right or if they’re starting to kind of ruin the magic of the original trilogy now. Okay – that’s not quite how he phrased it but it was something like that. At this point in time, I can say that I thought The Force Awakens was taking my beloved Star Wars forward in a way that would do no harm to the original trilogy’s legacy. After seeing The Last Jedi, I’m not sure if I can make that same statement. I guess we’ll have to see where Episode IX takes us and just hope that it doesn’t damage something that so many of us love.

Overall, at the moment, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has left me feeling a little bit cold. Which is heartbreaking. I’ll give it my initial rating, which I may think is a bit too low once I’ve watched the movie a second time. We’ll see (and maybe it will change depending on what I think of the next film & how it all ties in). But I can’t see my rating going up by more than half a point.

My Rating: 7/10

Now let’s discuss this movie in the Comments! SPOILERS ALLOWED!!! I’m dying to discuss this. 🙂 Just try to still put a warning & a bit of a gap….