It was just last week that the Academy Award nominations were announced, and giant movie fan Siskoid, along with his friends Marty (from Lonely Hearts) and Nath (from oHOTmu or NOT) sat down to talk about this year's crop of nominated films and the people who worked on them. Check it out as they set themselves on their annual Road to the Oscars.
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I think this may be the second time Siskoid has cited MAGNOLIA as his favorite film. I say we pester Rob to do a roundtable discussion for Film and Water. Or, if that doesn’t work, Siskoid takes MAGNOLIA and I take BOOGIE NIGHTS.
Rob and I have talked about it a couple times.
Most of PT’s movies deserve a roundtable.
There’s always a lot to unpack.
Very much enjoyed this episode! Each year I hope to do an “Oscar special” but I end up only seeing a small number of the nominated films.
Of the three Best Picture nominees I have seen, I vote for GET OUT to take the top prize, though that seems unlikely. I can’t see LADY BIRD getting it either, so THE POST seems like a safe bet.
To spread the wealth a little, I’d like to see Peele win for Best Director and Gerwig for Best Screenplay. I haven’t seen SOW, but Sally Hawkins has been so good in so many movies I wouldn’t mind at all if she won.
Good on Nath for browbeating your local theater into getting Shape of Water!
Which we still haven’t seen! Snowstorm last night, boooooo.
Maybe God doesn’t want us to see it.
Fun episode, even though I haven’t seen any of the best picture nominees this year. I still desperately want to see The Shape of Water, but finding kid-free movie time is difficult.
I used to love to watch the Oscars when I was a teen. Not sure why I stopped, but I personally have a hard time sitting through award shows nowadays. But that’s me.
Even though I haven’t followed the Oscars for years, your party sounds like a lot of fun. I never have much interest in the Super Bowl, but basically watch it for the commercials, so I would certainly have fun at an Oscars bash.
Lego Batman Movie being snubbed for Boss Baby is criminal. I still think Coco should have won over Batman (I know, sacrilege), but it deserved it’s shot.
I wonder if Wonder Woman didn’t have that phoned-in ending that no one seems to like…would it have had a better chance at a nomination in some category?
Chris
Not sure I would watch it if it weren’t an event shared by a dozen+ friends. You’re invited this year, if you want to come. But don’t tell the others.
Very fun episode! At this point I’ve seen four of the major contenders (Phantom Thread, Three Billboards, The Shape of Water and Get Out) and that’ll probably be all I squeeze in before the awards. If I’m honest most typical Oscar nominees are movies I don’t have much interest in. I’m sure Lady Bird is very good, but I just don’t feel any pull towards the subject matter and the trailers didn’t change that.
Honestly I probably wouldn’t even watch the Oscars anymore but for the fact that I too attend a pretty great Oscar party that features themed food. All the food is made by the hosts and they do their best to represent all the major contenders with themed items. I honestly have forgotten many of the specifics, but here’s a few quick examples. The year that Django Unchained was up for some stuff there were spaghetti and meatball bites on toothpicks (because it’s a spaghetti western.) The year that Tree of Life was nominated there was chocolate covered bacon (because it, like the movie, makes no sense.) And the year with Life of Pi there was a little boat with a toy figure and tiger floating in the punch bowl. There’s always clever names to go with these as well, but I can never remember them. And of course there’s an Oscar pool, though we do it with good old fashioned money. I won one year out of the 7 or so that I’ve been going, which not only got me the pot but also got my name added to the trophy (which is a plastic Oscar the Grouch painted gold on a little pedestal) which I got to keep in my home for a year. It’s usually a pretty close contest between the participants because if you know the politics then the major awards aren’t too hard to call, and more often than not the winner is the person who pegged the right film to sweep the technical and/or got lucky and blind guessed two or more categories that nobody in the room is got anything to go on (live action short, foreign, documentary, etc.)
But onto this year’s crop. I’ll try to be brief.
Picture – Get Out or Shape of Water should win. Three Billboards will win, and it does not deserve to. At all.
Director – Del Toro deserves it and will win. So yes, I am predicting a picture/director split which is becoming way more common that it was in the 20th century where it was a major exception.
Actor – Daniel Day Lewis will get it, and it wouldn’t be undeserved.
Actress – Frances McDormand will win (which isn’t a total travesty) but Sally Hawkins should.
Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell will win but literally anybody else on that list should win over him (yes, including Woody Harrelson.)
Supporting Actress – Alison Janney will win and I don’t have strong feelings about most of the other options. Octavia Spencer was good, but it’s the same character she always plays so I’d say she’s the least deserving.
Original Screenplay – Get Out will win and deserves to.
Adapted Screenplay – Call Me By Your Name will win though I think Logan should.
Animated Feature – Coco will win and should out of what’s there. Lego Batman should win, but wouldn’t even if it was nominated. Oh and fuck Boss Baby. Also fuck Ferdinand even harder.
Cinematography – Roger Deakins. Finally. Please.
Those are the ones I’ve got major thoughts on. However I have a theory as to why Shape of Water isn’t up for makeup. I think that because the fish man is so all encompassing that you literally don’t see ANY of Doug Jones in it, or even a hint that there’s really a human there in the first place, they decided it’s more of a costume than a makeup job. Which would also explain why it’s up for costume considering the costuming is fine but unremarkable (UNLESS you’re counting the creature as costume rather than makeup.)
More Oscar pool rules: These are entirely personal, and no one but me has to adhere by them. Whatever I win, I pledge to watch and review on my blog before the next Oscars. Which is why people like Marty love to find the worst possible thing to put in the pile (the last Dr. Doolittle sequel, Zombie Bikers from Detroit, EZ Money, Fat Albert, etc.) and why I think everyone sort of LETS me win.
Your comments on specific nominations make a lot of sense.
Some of the AMC theatres run a Best Picture Showcase where you pay $60 to watch the Best Picture nominees over two days. I think that’s how I’m going to see all of them before the awards. However, I’m wary of watching things via binge since I feel I don’t get enough time to reflect on what I’ve seen.