It's the most wonderful time of the year!
I love the Oscars more than I love my birthday or Christmas. We get to celebrate the year's greatest films and I'm hosting my 3rd annual Oscars party with some family. This was a pretty solid year for movies. Surprisingly, I've already watched all of this season's films (usually it takes me until the morning of the Oscars). The nominations for the 90th Academy Awards were announced this morning and I wasn't all that shocked. I mean, James Franco did get snubbed, but I'm not sure he'd have a shot at the Best Actor title after recent sexual misconduct allegations. Some people are unhappy about Wonder Woman and Armie Hammer not getting nominated, however I'm perfectly fine with both. Perhaps one thing that I wasn't all that happy about was Get Out's nominations. Don't hate me, I just don't feel like it's an award season movie. It's more of a "popcorn movie" that gets you talking with your friends and family. It was certainly eye opening and relevant in today's world, I'm just not down for it racking in all of those nominations. Check out the full list of nominees below (via Variety): Best Picture: “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” 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” 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 Animated Feature: “The Boss Baby,” Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann Naito “The Breadwinner,” Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo “Coco,” Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson “Ferdinand,” Carlos Saldanha “Loving Vincent,” Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman Animated Short: “Dear Basketball,” Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant “Garden Party,” Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon “Lou,” Dave Mullins, Dana Murray “Negative Space,” Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata “Revolting Rhymes,” Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer Adapted Screenplay: “Call Me by Your Name,” James Ivory “The Disaster Artist,” Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber “Logan,” Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green “Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin “Mudbound,” Virgil Williams and Dee Rees Original Screenplay: “The Big Sick,” Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani “Get Out,” Jordan Peele “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh Cinematography: “Blade Runner 2049,” Roger Deakins “Darkest Hour,” Bruno Delbonnel “Dunkirk,” Hoyte van Hoytema “Mudbound,” Rachel Morrison “The Shape of Water,” Dan Laustsen Best Documentary Feature: “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie Goldman “Faces Places,” JR, Agnès Varda, Rosalie Varda “Icarus,” Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan “Last Men in Aleppo,” Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Soren Steen Jepersen “Strong Island,” Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes Best Documentary Short Subject: “Edith+Eddie,” Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright “Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” Frank Stiefel “Heroin(e),” Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon “Knife Skills,” Thomas Lennon “Traffic Stop,” Kate Davis, David Heilbroner Best Live Action Short Film: “DeKalb Elementary,” Reed Van Dyk “The Eleven O’Clock,” Derin Seale, Josh Lawson “My Nephew Emmett,” Kevin Wilson, Jr. “The Silent Child,” Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton “Watu Wote/All of Us,” Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen Best Foreign Language Film: “A Fantastic Woman” (Chile) “The Insult” (Lebanon) “Loveless” (Russia) “On Body and Soul (Hungary) “The Square” (Sweden) Film Editing: “Baby Driver,” Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss “Dunkirk,” Lee Smith “I, Tonya,” Tatiana S. Riegel “The Shape of Water,” Sidney Wolinsky “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Jon Gregory Sound Editing: “Baby Driver,” Julian Slater “Blade Runner 2049,” Mark Mangini, Theo Green “Dunkirk,” Alex Gibson, Richard King “The Shape of Water,” Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood Sound Mixing: “Baby Driver,” Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin “Blade Runner 2049,” Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill “Dunkirk,” Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo “The Shape of Water,” Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick Production Design: “Beauty and the Beast,” Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer “Blade Runner 2049,” Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola “Darkest Hour,” Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer “Dunkirk,” Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis “The Shape of Water,” Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin, Shane Vieau 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 Original Song: “Mighty River” from “Mudbound,” Mary J. Blige “Mystery of Love” from “Call Me by Your Name,” Sufjan Stevens “Remember Me” from “Coco,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez “Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall,” Diane Warren, Common “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” Benj Pasek, Justin Paul Makeup and Hair: “Darkest Hour,” Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick “Victoria and Abdul,” Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard “Wonder,” Arjen Tuiten Costume Design: “Beauty and the Beast,” Jacqueline Durran “Darkest Hour,” Jacqueline Durran “Phantom Thread,” Mark Bridges “The Shape of Water,” Luis Sequeira “Victoria and Abdul,” Consolata Boyle 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 I didn't love them and I didn't hate them. I could just leave it at that, but I know you want the juice. I was prepared for 2 hours of endless man-hating, however I was pleasantly surprised. After how the Golden Globes used the show as a platform to protest sexual harassment in the workplace and gender inequality, I thought the rest of the award shows this season would follow suit. The SAGs handled those issues with heart and compassion - starting with host Kristen Bell's lighthearted opening. As I did with the Golden Globes, I'm only going to focus on the film categories. You can view a complete list of winners here. Pretty much everyone who won at the Globes won at the SAGs. James Franco decided to show up after skipping the Critics Choice Awards. Thankfully he didn't win Best Actor because that would have been awkward as f*ck (he's one of the many men in Hollywood who have been accused of sexual misconduct). Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri cleaned up and is looking like a top contender for many Oscars. I'm very much looking forward to the nominations being announced tomorrow morning. Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and the film as a whole are surreal. It's a raw and relatable film that can easily give other Oscar top contender, The Shape of Water, a run for its money. Here's a list of the winners for the film categories: Best Ensemble: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Best Actor: Gary Oldman Best Actress: Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney - "I, Tonya" A special Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to the great Morgan Freeman. His acceptance speech left me scratching my head and laughing. Check it out below: That's all for my recap and the last televised award show before the Oscars.
Who do you think will be nominated? What do you think of the winners so far? This show keeps getting better!
I was thrilled when I was presented the opportunity to review the latest season of Netflix Original Grace & Frankie (starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) a month ahead of its release. Today, it became available to all of you to watch and I think if you're a fan of the show, you're in for a real treat. Just when you thought things couldn't get more complicated after that major cliffhanger in the season 3 finale, they do. You see Grace and Frankie go through more ups and downs as they begin to realize that they're not getting any younger and family matters get a tad trickier. Love, aging and standing up for what you believe in are the main themes. I love how raw and relatable each episode is. Lisa Kudrow appears at the top of the season as Grace's new tennant after Frankie takes off with Jacob. I can't help but see her as Phoebe from Friends no matter what role she's given, but her chemistry with Jane Fonda is incredible. The end of the season has a lot of twists and turns and definitely leaves room for another enjoyable season. I'm giving it a 10/10 rating and hope you'll give it a watch! I've been playing with the idea of creating a list of films I think you should watch this award season and decided to just go for it. This doesn't mean I'm giving away my Oscars picks (don't want to ruin my chances of winning the Oscars pool), I just thought I'd share some of my favourite films this season. There are always so many to choose from. I start the list during festival season and add films that are getting a lot of buzz. As the nominations start rolling out, I start eliminating films from the list. Here are some films that stood out to me: Baby Driver - This film is epic! Maybe I feel that way because I went in with zero expectations - I mean, how good can a film with Jon Hamm be? I loved everything from the music to the non-stop action. It hasn't been winning in any of the major categories, but it's still part of award season. The Disaster Artist - This film was well done. James Franco nails it as Tommy Wiseau. It's a story that I think a lot of creative people can relate to. Even if the film sucked, the press tour brought us pure gold aka Tommy Wiseau being Tommy Wiseau doing interviews. Coco - Okay, don't judge me. Even though this is meant for children, I loved it. Every minute of it. The storyline is perfect for children and adults and the music gets you grooving and feeling things. Darkest Hour - Give Gary Oldman an Oscar for this performance as Winston Churchill right now. Don't even bother announcing nominees. He deserves every Best Actor win he's received this season. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - I wasn't considering giving this one a watch until it started cleaning up at award shows such as the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards. I know a lot of people aren't thrilled about this one winning, but I loved it. There are so many twists and Frances McDormand gives a stellar performance as a grieving mother seeking justice for the rape and murder of her daughter. You HAVE to watch this one.
You're all in for a treat on this fine Monday.
If you haven't yet, you have to check out "Out to Lunch", a video series on YouTube. It's just as fresh as it is funny and ever episode is better than the last. Dylan Mask is the writer, director, producer and acts in the series that was created over two years ago. Fun fact: the pilot was filmed two years ago, but got scrapped due to audio issues which had Dylan feeling relieved. The synopsis goes a little something like this: "Out to Lunch is about the main character Dylan Crawfords dream of becoming a famous actor. In order to achieve this he creates a documentary about acting in order to try and get noticed. However he rips off the intro to one of the most iconic comedies of all time! This lands him in a lawsuit and court date with the movies creator. On top of all that his best friend gets kidnapped and he has to save him before the court date." Dylan's goal for the series is to give people a professional unique show to work on that they can truly call their own and to make someone he's never met laugh. So far there are four episodes, but there's an Indiegogo campaign to assist in completing the rest of Season 1. You can find and support it here. I can't wait to watch more and really hope that you'll check the series out. Out to Lunch is on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and (obviously) YouTube. |
Archives
September 2019
|