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Post by Jeremy on Jan 23, 2018 6:23:53 GMT -8
The nominees are in!Not many surprises among the Best Picture contenders, if you've been following the awards season as nerdily as I have. But Logan got a Best Screenplay adaptation, which is fairly awesome. ETA: Okay, The Boss Baby getting a Best Animated Film nomination is beyond moronic. So much for the Logan goodwill.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 23, 2018 14:16:14 GMT -8
People were not necessarily expecting Phantom Thread to get in for Best Picture and Director, so that's a pleasant surprise.
And even though I wasn't totally in love with The Shape of Water, it would amuse me greatly if a film where a woman forks a fish-man won Best Picture. And GDT's a loveable, hard-working guy, so I'd enjoy seeing him up at that podium. But you never know: Three Billboards might still win BP, even without the Director nom (Argo did, a few years ago).
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 23, 2018 17:27:26 GMT -8
It's funny - before today, The Post felt like the generic Oscar frontrunner, due to its pedigree and current parallels. But of all the BP contendrs, it's got the fewest nominations (scoring just one other award, for Streep's performance).
The Shape of Water has gained a lot of attention, and it's bound to go home with some technical awards. But as you say, the premise isn't all that "Oscar-y." And Three Billboards has been subject to some racial controversy lately, which could hurt its chances, even if it's the awards leader.
And of course, the two films could just as easily cancel each other out, letting some other film take home the prize.
At this early stage, I'd say...
Frontrunners: Get Out, Shape of Water, Three Billboards
Dark Horses: Dunkirk, Lady Bird, The Post
Not Happening: Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Phantom Thread
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Post by Jay on Jan 27, 2018 9:03:00 GMT -8
It's a silly thing to pin one's hopes on, but as I've seen reviews and reflections come in on The Shape of Water, everyone loves the fishman and the actor portraying him has gotten no meaningful nominations so I hope that it wins something good and GdT drags Doug Jones up there with him.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 27, 2018 10:54:53 GMT -8
I think Doug Jones would have to get in line behind Andy Serkis for that kind of thing, and as Serkis hasn't gotten any Oscar love (has been nominated for a few critics awards at times), you can imagine what Jones' chances are.
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Post by Jay on Jan 27, 2018 14:17:06 GMT -8
Ehhh, I mean I'll admit to being a total Doug Jones fanboy, but I think we can probably appreciate both without lumping together what are rather different skillsets. Serkis ends up doing a lot of CGI and vocal work, although he has been able to be a normal human in film and theatre, whereas Jones is usually in heavy prosthetics (he's said that the Star Trek role is the most traditional acting role he's had) and has very often had his own vocal contributions dubbed over by the studio after the fact. They're both underappreciated because it's not "serious acting material" that they're doing, but I don't really see them as being in competition with one another.
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 4, 2018 21:11:27 GMT -8
Yay for Allison Janney! And Roger Deakins, for finally breaking his losing streak. And Frances McDormand, for giving the best speech of the night.
Boo to the endless drag of a show, which was even longer than last year's ceremony.
More thoughts tomorrow, when I'm less mentally exhausted.
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Post by Jay on Mar 5, 2018 5:05:02 GMT -8
Two observations courtesy of Twitter on The Shape of Water winning big:
"She tapped that bass." "Grinding Nemo"
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 5, 2018 10:42:16 GMT -8
The Shape of Water was the most obvious BP winner based simply on the number of nominations (spread out across virtually every field), but - regardless of all the fish jokes - I kind of doubt it'll be remembered as one of the Academy's more perennial picks. It hasn't been a hit with audiences, and it doesn't really reflect on the world climate the way so many awards-season films tend to do.
Of course, I don't think the Academy has even half the understanding of the world climate as they say they do. There was a lot of talk last night about female empowerment, but at the end of the night, despite how widely-spread the wins were across the nominees, the two most visibly female-produced films of the evening - Lady Bird and Mudbound - went home completely empty-handed. (I was underwhelmed by Lady Bird myself, but this still struck me as an odd contrast during the show.)
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Post by Jay on Mar 5, 2018 11:22:28 GMT -8
It didn't seem inherently obvious to me, since it was more of an ensemble effort in casting and was going to get more hits for design than acting. I liked The Shape of Water, but I also felt like there were some compelling things that it was doing (Baltimore in the 1960s! Race! Same-sex relations!) that remained subtextual in favor of the fantasy elements which were allowed to take center stage. But, as I've said many times over, I really don't find myself caring a whole lot about the major awards since much of the time, it seems like awards are passed out to later, less stellar work as a mea culpap for ignoring earlier, more vital work. I'd probably take Pan's Labyrinth over The Shape of Water without much hesitation, but the year Pan's was up, it was running against Scorsese who had never gotten his due even though I'm not sure too many people would regard The Departed as his best. The whole thing is just a mess and consistently years behind.
Anyway, I have noted some people note the lack of feminist attention that the ceremony brought although lipservice was in place. Nevertheless, I.... okay, I'll admit that I didn't watch Lady Bird and it didn't really seem like something up my alley to begin with, so I'm wrong to cast aspersions at it based off a superficial knowledge of the film, but one of the accounts I follow on twitter, Titular Lines (@saythetitle), thoroughly a parody account unto itself, retweeted another account's sentiments on Lady Bird which I'll just be a jackass and quote: Basically, I watched Juno, was.... okay with it but not happy, and Lady Bird seemed like another variation on "teenaged girl has some bad sex and finds herself as an artist" which isn't a narrative FOR me since I am not now nor have I ever been a teenaged girl, but I'd like to see art as a vehicle through which to tell stories that aren't so seemingly self-indulgent.
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 5, 2018 14:41:08 GMT -8
Oh, I'd say Juno is a much better film than Lady Bird. Juno has a more interesting and vividly-developed lead character, and a more engaging story. It's also filled with great (if quirky) humor and heart, while Lady Bird is rather cold and cynical.
In truth, they're both odd and unusual picks for the Oscars. But hey, I'd prefer some more unusual picks, rather than the same talky political indies that dominate the nominations every year.
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Post by unkinhead on Mar 5, 2018 15:17:15 GMT -8
Oh, I'd say Juno is a much better film than Lady Bird. Juno has a more interesting and vividly-developed lead character, and a more engaging story. It's also filled with great (if quirky) humor and heart, while Lady Bird is rather cold and cynical. In truth, they're both odd and unusual picks for the Oscars. But hey, I'd prefer some more unusual picks, rather than the same talky political indies that dominate the nominations every year. Lady Bird was cynical? Maybe my memory is bad. Id say i liked Juno more as well for the record. I didn't watch the Oscars, its too predictable and personally i cant take any more self indulgent moral lectures. (it seems i made a good choice considering a friend of mine informed me there were plenty of 'women empowerment' speeches *gags). I would have liked to see Phantom Thread win, but, yeah that was never gonna happen. I still have yet to see Shape of Water though, it sounds like something I'd find kinda meh tho.
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 5, 2018 15:50:46 GMT -8
I found Lady Bird to have a pretty side-eyed view of adolescence and mother-daughter relationships. Sure, it brightens up by the end, but the film just rang too hollow for me to really engage with it. Of the nominees I've seen, I was rooting for Get Out, since it's got the perfect blend of quality and audience appeal. Peele winning the Screenplay award was one of the night's better moments. There weren't really many surprises at the ceremony, and no outright shocks. I didn't expect Dear Basketball to win the Animated Short award (given the seemingly bad optics of having Kobe Bryant win an award at a #MeToo-heavy ceremony), and caught off-guard when Coco beat The Greatest Showman for Original Song, but that was about it. I didn't watch the Oscars, its too predictable and personally i cant take any more self indulgent moral lectures. I don't think you're alone - this was the least-watched Oscars ever.
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Post by ThirdMan on Mar 5, 2018 17:34:10 GMT -8
Interesting. I figured Jeremy would go for Lady Bird. I thought it had a sharp screenplay (and honest to blog, far less contrived dialogue than Juno, which I liked well enough despite that) and pretty astute direction. Of the nominees, it would've been my third pick, after Dunkirk and Phantom Thread. I'd probably concur, to some degree, with those who say it went a bit too soft at the end (the phone call to her mom), but endings don't influence my overall opinion of films as much as they do with some folks: a very small percentage of films have truly great endings/final scenes, and I've learned to accept that. Anyways, I thought just about all of the characters were smart and well-rendered, with a special shout-out to the underappreciated work done by the actor playing Christine's father. That it doesn't fully line up with my personal experience of adolescence (gender aside) is of little consequence: none of it rings particularly false to me emotionally, and I think it's a warm and open-hearted film, with a well-measured -- and not overbearing or convoluted -- degree of sarcasm. Not the least bit hollow, from where I'm standing.
On to the awards, though The Shape of Water wasn't one of my absolute favourite films of 2017, GDT is a fine craftsman and a warm and generous presence, and I'm happy he's gotten some major recognition.
It was pretty harsh to send Ansel Elgort out there to watch his film (which had a genuine chance in the Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Editing categories, having won previous awards during the past few months) lose twice. Not that I'm gonna complain about Dunkirk winning tech awards, though, which are completely deserved.
Deakins was long overdue, though the cinematography in Dunkirk was every bit as good as in Blade Runner 2049, and The Shape of Water, shot-for-shot, probably had a bit better lighting.
There's not one iota of variation in Sufjan Stevens' vocal style from one song to the next. His two songs work fine in the context of Call Me By Your Name, but up on stage with Annie Clark (St. Vincent), I kept hoping she'd start wailing on the guitar.
I treat awards shows as I do sports broadcasts or SNL. Throw them on in the background when I'm online, so I can just look up when something interesting happens. Relative entertainment value becomes far less of an issue under those circumstances. But yeah, you'd think they'd be able to time them better. Those unthemed classic film montages need to go.
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 5, 2018 18:27:58 GMT -8
I was actually surprised by how little I really felt invested in Lady Bird. It's well-acted, to be sure, but the characters never really clicked. And while Juno may have some pretty out-there dialogue, I do like how the main character's speech patterns reflect on her, and how they mature across the film as she does.
Also, it's becoming increasingly clear that the technical awards are largely influenced by the major categories, and BP nominees have a significant leg up over other films. Blade Runner got a couple of well-deserved awards, but Darkest Hour beating Wonder for Makeup feels like the Oscars being the Oscars. And while Dunkirk was certainly a technical feat, it's too bad Baby Driver couldn't win even a single Editing category.
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