Amph 2018 Oscars

With McDonagh getting locked out, guess that makes Shape of Water the favorite for Best Picture.

 

Not nessecary. They have split the best director and best picture winners In recent memory.

 

Very happy with the Oscar nominations for TLJ, but more importantly, if the Rey/Kylo/Praetorian guard duel doesn't win Best Fight at the MTV Movie Awards, then what are we even doing?

 

Shape of Water was the best film I've seen last year, so I'm happy it was nominated for Best Picture.

Yet, another year with only 9 nominations for Best Picture. I don't know if I'll ever watch Phantom Thread, but all of the other nominations that I haven't seen yet, Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Lady Bird, The Post and Three Billboards, I'll probably catch when it's available for home video. Three Billboards is the film I most want to see on that list followed by Darkest Hour even though it's not a follow up to the Dark Knight films.

Here's what I'll be rooting for:

Best Actor:
Daniel Kaluuya/Get Out

Best Actress:
Margot Robbie/I, Tonya because she was robbed from not getting a nod for Harley Quinn

Cinematography:
Roger Deakins/Blade Runner 2049

Directing:
Guillermo del Toro/Shape of Water

Visual Effects:
Joe Letteri/War of the Planet of the Apes The motion capture of the Andy Serkis and the rest of the apes in the films are indistinguishable from real life. The best visual effects are the ones you don't really notice.

Best Adaptation:
Logan

Original Screenplay:
Guillermo del Toro/Shape of Water

 

The weird thing is that up until the 1980's, the best picture nominees generally were amongst the highest grossing films of the year. I wonder what changed?

 

VCRs became widespread so studios could send home mass produced screeners.

 

Makes sense

 

@The Krynoid Man

What @Diggy said is 100% true but also the era of the comic book/franchise movie began. And no matter how much acclaim they get, they have never and will never get respect from the inner circle of Hollywood. Just look at what Jodie Foster said about comic book movies just last week.

There just seems to be a big divide between Hollywood as an institution and everyone else it seems. And I do not mean that in “Hollywood is too liberal” way at all because blue states typically go and see the same films as red states do.

And we are seeing the same phenomenon play out with TV as it is with movies.

 

The only category I'll be bullish about this year is Dunkirk for Best Editing. What a feat.

 

To be fair the main reason Wonder Woman wasn't nominated for anything was because it was one of the worst movies of the year.

 

Ah, Kevin Spacey screaming at a young boy isn't quite the same anymore.

 

I wouldn't say Wonder Woman was one of the worst movies of the year but I do think it was one of the most overhype movies of the year. It was a solid origin story that frankly stole a lot from CA: Winter Soldier. But it wasn't anything that made me go OMG. If The Dark Knight didn't get a best picture nomination then WW certainly does not deserve it. Heck I say it was middle of the pack when it comes to superhero movies last year.

 

Wonder Woman is one of my favorite movies of 2017, but I recognize the problems it has with the CGI and the third act. I was pleasantly surprised it was able to score some awards during the awards season.

Collider put up a list of the 50 best comic book films of all time and Wonder Woman landed in the Top 10. That's too high on the list for me.

I would even say the 90's had blockbusters films are part of the nominees with films like Titanic and Beauty and the Beast. Perhaps later if you take in account Lord of the Rings.

Here's the list of Best Picture nominations though out the years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture#1980s


I think attitudes changed. I think studios and voters have change their tunes about what should be considered "best picture." I mean, when studios feel like they have a best picture film in their stable, they hold off in releasing that film until December and even then, it's typically has a limited release in LA and NYC, thus not even giving the movie an opportunity to make a good box office run. Additionally, the Hollywood machine trying to invent the next big franchise probably turned off voters to blockbuster films; thus more art house like films getting Oscar nominations. Moreover, I think social media and websites like Rotten Tomatoes shines a spotlight on the smaller films that voters can use to help in deciding on how to cast their vote. Whereas, prior to the internet, it was the blockbuster films or films that studio pushed that got the nominations.

 

I'm more annoyed that Boss Baby was nominated over Lego Batman. Seriously? I mean, I know Coco will win, but what little I saw of Boss Baby looked awful.

 

Well you saw more than me. I saw enough from the trailer to know it's essentially a silly computer animated flick with no real story to it or interesting characters.

 

I’m surprised that nobody has thought to mash up Boss Baby with random Trump insanity, considering that its a movie about a tyrannical infant. I wonder if anybody would notice.

 

It's not just that, I think, but it has a lot to do with home video.

The Oscars haven't really changed much in terms of what types of films get awards. The top box office is what has changed. Before the 2000s and especially before the 1980s the more prestigious stuff would frequently make the top ten-- e.g., Dog Day Afternoon, The Godfather. But people have 60" HDTVs and surround sound now, and going to the movies is more expensive than it used to be even accounting for inflation. So people will just go to see the big, 'splosion-y blockbusters that benefit from being shown in a theater. I don't think it's just audience-driven trends, though. Focusing on mega-budget, hopefully-mega-return, little-brains blockbusters using existing IP to the detriment of more thoughtful films is a direction the industry has consciously taken and to a big extent the audiences are dragged along.

 

To bad Hamill did not get nominated

 

You know as well as I do that they'll find some way of coming up with some cheap laugh relating Trump to the movie; come to think of it, that may have been the only reason it was nominated in the first place!

 

of best picture nominees, Haven't seen Phantom Thread. And ain't going to anytime soon cuz doesn't expand up here this weekend, argh (maybe next week). But to me top tier Best Picture (ie. any of these can win) I'd go Dunkirk, Shape of Water & Get Out. marginally down a hair 2nd tier but still awesome and they can win too: 3 billboards, Lady Bird. then we got the mid to it was alright at Darkest Hour & The Post. And then No sir, I didn't like it with Call Me by Your Name. Although there could have been 10 nominees and I'd vote for that 3rd slot shoulda been something like Blade Runner 2049, Logan or Last Jedi. Maybe Wonder Woman but I'd have picked either of those 3 before that. Although the fact there's (more than 1) sci-fi/horror even nominated for best picture is really awesome in general (and I'd say Get Out and Shape of Water are pretty high up there too!). Although, both are definitely more horror than sci-fi, to be fair.

Logan getting Best Adapted Screenplay is awesome and at the very least acknowledgement that it was a fantastic, different entry in the comic book superhero-ing genre. (Although it is weird that Dark Knight didn't get Best Adapted in it's year making Logan the 1st) It'll be interesting to hear how it's announced as "Based upon characters created by Marvel Comics"? It had more than a few influences in there, not just Mark Millar's Old Man Logan comic. So I'm just wondering what it's credit for Adapted Screenplay will be. (And, to be fair, I would have loved if Logan got a lot more)

I'd say Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart for acting would have been great, ditto Mark Hamill for Last Jedi, the Denzel Washington nomination for Roman J Esq seems to be the most left field one. (Stewart really should have slipped into supporting, same with Hamill if they had campaigned him as Support instead of lead)

Can John Williams please win again, finally, after over 20 years? Like the fact his PT scores weren't nominated are befuddling and both of his ST scores are great too (and deservedly got nominated). And, c'mon, he's been nominated consistently since 1994 and hasn't won once? And that freakin' music sting in Last Jedi when Luke walks out is basically all the reason he should win that.

3 of the best doc features are on the netflixs (and 2 are netflix exclusives!) so definitely going to watch those in the next month or so. Also the March 4th ceremony date is a bit too late for my tastes, freakin' Olympics.