Oscar Chat: Spoilers Permitted
1Since I have this shiny new Moviepass I’ve decided to see all the Best Picture nominees before the awards, and as many of the others as I can. There have been threads on a couple of the movies already, so I thought I’d start one about all the Oscar hopefuls. I’ll make a comment section by category and spoilers are fine. It’s hard to really talk about a film without talking about important plot points.
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Best Picture Nominees
"Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
So far I’ve seen Dunkirk, Ladybird, The Post, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards. I feel like Three Billboards is the strongest of these. It just hit on all marks for me; great storytelling, great acting, funny and sad (often simultaneously), and memorable.
Lead Actor
Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”
Lead Actress
Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep, “The Post"
I’ve seen all but I, Tonya. Meryl Streep gave a great performance in The Post, but I have to go with McDormand. Mildred Hayes is a complicated and not terribly likable character, with a lot going on beneath the volatile outward self. McDormand did a great job of portraying her.
Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”
Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Supporting Actress
Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”
Director
Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
“Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro
Cinematography
Runner 2049,” Roger Deakins
“Darkest Hour,” Bruno Delbonnel
“Dunkirk,” Hoyte van Hoytema
“Mudbound,” Rachel Morrison
“The Shape of Water,” Dan Laustsen
Oops, that should be Blade Runner. Copy error.
I think of cinematography as grand scale, and that puts Dunkirk at the top for me on this list. Blade Runner and The Shape of Water were beautifully shot, but didn’t have the sweep and grandiosity of Dunkirk.
Visual Effects
"Blade Runner 2049,” John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick
“Kong: Skull Island,” Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlan
“War for the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist
Being a sci fi buff, this is a tough one for me. I loved all these films. I want to choose Kong, because I loved the creatures of Monster Island (I want a giant musk ox!). But I’m going to have to choose Planet of the Apes. The apes were so fully realized, so distinctly individual, that I believed in them wholly. Either way this award is for the apes.
Original Score
"Dunkirk,” Hans Zimmer
“Phantom Thread,” Jonny Greenwood
“The Shape of Water,” Alexandre Desplat
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” John Williams
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Carter Burwell
John Williams always deserves another Oscar, amiright? Man’s a freaking legend.
I left out some categories, feel free to add them.
I love Oscar.
@therealjrn But he’s such a grouch!
@moondrake Much like today’s Hollywood, you’ve got to try to meet Oscar on his level.
Sound Editing
"Baby Driver" Julian Slater
"Blade Runner 2049" Mark Mangini and Theo Green
"Dunkirk" Richard King and Alex Gibson
"The Shape of Water" Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce
Sound Mixing
"Baby Driver" Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H. Ellis
"Blade Runner 2049" Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth
"Dunkirk" Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo
"The Shape of Water" Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart Wilson
I honestly think Last Jedi probably deserves this one. Set aside the entire rest of the movie, the decision to cut to dead silence for 10 seconds in the middle of a fraught battle sequence was such a masterfully impactful decision… and that goes without the myriad other sound mixing decisions made for a scifi movie like this.