2018 Oscar Nominations-And the Oscar Goes To..........

GaryProtein

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It's always interesting to see who won, but I don't have it in me to follow the events leading up to the awards, nor can my interest span the time needed to watch any of the awards programs.

I'm happy to see the list of winners online or in the newspaper.

Who am I kidding, I don't get a newspaper anymore. I'll see the winners online. :D
 

jazdoc

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Having seen all but "The Phantom Thread" in the major categories; I would agree that it has been a good, but not great year for movies. IMO, "Dunkirk" is the best movie of the year, but "Shape of Water" is likely to win. I would be happy if "I, Tonya" won. "Get Out" wasn't even a good horror movie, but pushes all the right Hollywood buttons. Shocked that "Blade Runner" wasn't nominated.

Respect del Toro and "Pan's Labyrinth" is one of my all-time favorites. While the cinematography, set and costume design were terrific, the plot and character development of "Shape of Water" were cartoon-like and incredibly predictable. I left the theater thinking that "Splash" will be remembered as a better movie.

"Coco" is a great movie (better than many other Best Picture nominees) and wouldn't be surprised if it also wins best song.

Looking forward to our annual night of watching live action and animated shorts next month.

Would prefer Margot Robbie but Frances McDormand will probably win.

Oldham and Janney are shoe ins.

I would be happy if either Wilem Defoe or Sam Rockwell won.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Sam Rockwell will win

I believe This Is Me from The Best Show Man will win Best Song

As for The Shape Of Water vs Pans Labrynth I totally agree. I liked the movie but it was cartoon like and try as I could it wasn’t best film for me. I Tonya is although we did watch Dunkirk last week in 4K and liked it more the second time

As for Three Billboards it was picking my 2nd choice

TVH I would prefer to see Dunkirk win rather than Three Billboards
 

NorthStar

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It's funny; each person has their own favorites in each category, would like to see them win, but know already that the winners are not necessarily their selections but what the Academy (Hollywood) collectivity decides/votes. So, we are predicting what Hollywood is going to vote, instead of what we would vote ourselves if we were part of the Academy.

All the predictions, and there are many of them, they all agree pretty much on who's going to win.

The Shape of Water is a love story between a cleaning lady and an amphibian, a romantic science-fiction. Hollywood loves love stories.
I've never been outside Ebbing, Missouri, USA. I know nothing about its people and culture and decors and opportunities. It's a mystery to me.
Dunkirk I thought was a very innovative delivery on history, war history, some of the darkest moments in history.
Blade Runner 2049 is art film, pure sci-fi, CGI, miniatures, visuals, lights, camera atmospheric, sounds, music score.
Get Out is a comedy, or an horror thrill ride?
Baby Driver is an action comedy, fast editing/sync type.

After surviving through 2017 and now in 2018 on the precipice of this planet's extinction; there is no surprise to see a romantic love story purely fictional fantasy take the main Oscar. It's like the only way out, the only way to get out and visit Ebbing, Missouri.

Coco for animation.
 

NorthStar

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gary!!!!!!!

It's always interesting to see who won, but I don't have it in me to follow the events leading up to the awards, nor can my interest span the time needed to watch any of the awards programs.

I'm happy to see the list of winners online or in the newspaper.

Who am I kidding, I don't get a newspaper anymore. I'll see the winners online. :D

Someone did call your name. Lol
 

jeff1225

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Jan 29, 2012
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Steve, those are my two next movies - we are on MoviePass so thankfully it doesn't really cost us much to see movies anymore.

And you were right - why was an Aussie cast as the chief's wife? I think the director/writer doesn't have a clue about rural America and resorted to 20 year old Tarentino-type humor on race/sexual orientation/dwarfism/dimwits to keep a meandering script going. And the ending was like "say what?."

I agree McDormand and Rockwell were very good and probably deserve the hardware.

The end was perfect. This movie was like a great fable from an earlier time. The "oracle" of the story is Woody Harrelson's character. If you remember the phenomenal dialog that he and McDormand's character had on the swings, he stated that these types of cases were difficult to solve and it might take years.

This is a small town with small town thinking. Accept for the "oracle," an intelligent and sophisticated person that traveled to world and would of course have a wife from another country.

Extremely well thought out and imagined movie....no wonder he makes so few.
 

KeithR

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The end was perfect. This movie was like a great fable from an earlier time. The "oracle" of the story is Woody Harrelson's character. If you remember the phenomenal dialog that he and McDormand's character had on the swings, he stated that these types of cases were difficult to solve and it might take years.

This is a small town with small town thinking. Accept for the "oracle," an intelligent and sophisticated person that traveled to world and would of course have a wife from another country.

Extremely well thought out and imagined movie....no wonder he makes so few.

Jeff, no offense but I don't need the film explained to me as I find you are searching for depth that wasn't there. I simply found it the most overrated film of the year. Full of shock value with no real point. Yes, indeed it tried to be a Coen film in the first half hour then went off the rails. Faux brilliance.

and if you believe this is a microcosm of rural america's thinking and intelligence, I suggest you explore more. ironically the writer/director is Irish, didn't shoot the film in Missouri, and Ebbing of course isn't a real town.
 

jeff1225

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Jan 29, 2012
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Jeff, no offense but I don't need the film explained to me as I find you are searching for depth that wasn't there. I simply found it the most overrated film of the year. Full of shock value with no real point. Yes, indeed it tried to be a Coen film in the first half hour then went off the rails. Faux brilliance.

and if you believe this is a microcosm of rural america's thinking and intelligence, I suggest you explore more. ironically the writer/director is Irish, didn't shoot the film in Missouri, and Ebbing of course isn't a real town.

Sorry I offended you. The brilliance and the depth are there, but don't take my word for it. A 88 Metacritic rating and a lovely review Kenneth Turan from the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-three-billboards-review-20171109-story.html
 

KeithR

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Sorry I offended you. The brilliance and the depth are there, but don't take my word for it. A 88 Metacritic rating and a lovely review Kenneth Turan from the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-three-billboards-review-20171109-story.html

Reviews don't mean much to me. Many on this forum didn't care for Lady Bird which was the highest rated movie of all time (I loved it). Star Wars was like an 85 on Metacritic and loved by the LA Times as well - but a truly awful chapter as you and I discussed.

We can agree to disagree and that's fine.
 

853guy

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Aug 14, 2013
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Critic vs. audience expectations often diverge.

However, I haven't seen a single film in the last 12 months I thought was as perfectly executed as Paddington 2. The way character and story beats were articulated while propelling the (silly, but fun) plot forward and without recourse to histrionics was a masterclass in filmmaking. Ben Wishaw, Hugh Grant, Sally Hawkins and Brendan Gleeson are pitch perfect, and I dare anyone to leave the theatre without a tear in their eye. For all the talk of film as a critique of contemporary culture, Paddington 2's message is as on-point as they come, and without being on-the-nose.

I thought it was brilliant.

Best,

853guy
 

bonzo75

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Yeah Paddington 2 was better than even the first one, I think.

Dunkirk sucked.

From this list I will try to watch the international films.
 

NorthStar

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Jeff, no offense but I don't need the film explained to me as I find you are searching for depth that wasn't there. I simply found it the most overrated film of the year. Full of shock value with no real point. Yes, indeed it tried to be a Coen film in the first half hour then went off the rails. Faux brilliance.

and if you believe this is a microcosm of rural america's thinking and intelligence, I suggest you explore more. ironically the writer/director is Irish, didn't shoot the film in Missouri, and Ebbing of course isn't a real town.

One, we truly need a "spoiler" feature here @ WBF. It is something we can make the best use of. So if Steve is reading this he can mention it to his web designer...as a good beneficial suggestion.
The other option resides with us; being aware and in control. In my enthusiastic passion of films I sometimes let slip some, ...accidentally, innocently, humanly, emotionally nature wise.

Two, I didn't even know that Ebbing was a fictional town that did not exist in Missouri. And that's why I previously mentioned that it's all mystery to me. In my search I did not see that village/town.
I did read though about the director's inspiration, where it came from, and how he had the two main actors, Frances and Sam (nominated for Oscars as best actress and supporting actor) in mind. And also about that favorite actress, Frances, who first wanted to play a grandmother but her husband, Joel Coen, convinced her to take that role offered by the director, and the director was quite firm and certain about his choice...I guess he was 100% right because we might see some gold statuette going with his choice(s).

I cannot spoil anything regarding Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri because I've only seen few trailers, read few articles, ...and all that kind of stuff of what Hollywood is comprised of.
 
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NorthStar

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Yeah Paddington 2 was better than even the first one, I think.

Dunkirk sucked.

From this list I will try to watch the international films.

It's very true that films and music are like cars and cigars; we all have our taste in the moment we connect or not. There is no black and white, nothing to argue, what we share goes with the seasons.

I've only seen the original first Paddington's flick, kid's flick, and adults too, adult families with kids. I liked it, funny and heartwarming. Looking forward to see its sequel...number two, with its main character.

I loved Dunkirk; the cinematography, the aerials...wow, the boats scenes...wow, the music score...wow, the everything...wow, truly cinema art of high caliber. ...All high production values that are all there in the visuals and sounds and silence and music. The film director and his director of cinematography and his director of music composition and the entire cast of actors and full crew deserve high kuddos for giving us the master craftship of their arts. I consider Dunkirk top cinema art all the way. Maybe it deserves the top this year, to me it does, only from what I've seen so far. Comes March we'll see what shifting winds might be ...

International/Foreign films... Did you hear about the one from Chile?


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fantastic_Woman

? http://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-fantastic-woman
? https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/14/a-fantastic-woman-review-sebastian-lelio-daniela-vega
? http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-fantastic-woman-review-20171116-story.html
? https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/movies/a-fantastic-woman-review.html
? http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/a-fantastic-woman-review-berlinale-2017-1201985505/
? https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/a-fantastic-woman-review-berlin-2017-974866
? https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-fantastic-woman-berlin-review/5114926.article



 
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NorthStar

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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Dunkirk, Blade Runner 2049, The Shape of Water, ... one of them is going to take the Oscar for Best Cinematography, which one would that be? And for Best Picture?


* I saw 'Mudbound' from Netflix recently. ...Overall: 89
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Me too Steve, because of its more natural environment over the sci-fi Blade Runner 2049 with its miniature decor sets and visual CGI effects, darker atmosphere but some beautiful shots in brighter scenes with magic lighting movements.
Overall Dunkirk is more cinematographic to my eyes.
But I did not see The Shape of Water yet.

The video I just posted above was very interesting for the cameras used in each film.
I'm dying to see The Shape of Water which I did not go see @ the theater.
I know that it has more indoor scenes than outdoor.

I'm not expert on cameras, indoor and outdoor shots.
I like the outdoors, I'm from the outdoors...The Revenant, and with natural lighting.

I am reading on past Oscars to have a better grip on what cameras were used for Best Cinematography. I discovered that Birdman won all for Best Cinematography and best director and Best Picture and best original screenplay in the past (4), same guy who directed The Revenant, which won Best Cinematography and best director and best actor (3).
 
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