I ain’t seen diddly squirt.
I do have Dunkirk waiting patiently, and plan to see Shape Of Water and Lady Bird, but the rest don’t appeal all that much (though I don’t know much about any of them).
I always strive to see all Best Picture nominees before the Oscars, but I fear I may not make it this year. I’m going on a long vacation toward the end of February (and I’ll be in flight during the actual telecast), so I’ll have limited opportunities to get to the movies.
Also, I have little desire to see Phantom Thread and Call Me By My Name.
mmm
Not quite there, but absolutely will have seen all 9 in time. Only five half-price Tuesdays left before March 4, but I should yet succeed even giving precedence to the many foreign language non-contenders that risk being shoo-ed out of cinemas by the Oscar hype.
Have Seen (in order of appreciation)
**Lady Bird: **I thought this was a wonderful character study. Laurie Metcalf is stellar.
The Post: It’s good, not great. Streep is outstanding. Hanks is fine. The story is good. A little too Hollywoody, but it’s good.
**
Phantom Thread: **It’s well done, but I hated every character and it felt long.
Will see
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk: I hate war movies SO MUCH, but I’m gonna watch it!
Won’t see
Get Out
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Seen
Dunkirk ***
Get Out ****
Lady Bird ***1/2
The Post ***
Not Seen
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Dunkirk stands out for its scope, it’s visceral quality, and non-linear storytelling. The Post had the most phenomenal cast but I think it would have been more powerful if it had come out a year earlier. Threats to a free and independent press tiday have numbed me to the what was at stake back then.
Ladybird was wonderful and completely familiar to anyone who has been the parent of a teenager (especially a teenage girl) or has been a teenager themselves.
Get Out was a brilliantly clever social commentary and pretty good suspense/horror/black comedy movie to boot.
I have the exact same 2 lists, and pretty much identical ratings. Just saw Lady Bird this weekend.
I’m very much looking forward to Darkest Hour, but will only see Phantom Thread and Call Me for the sake of completeness…but then, a few years back I had similar feelings about Whiplash and it wound up as my favorite nominee of that year.
Yeah, two years ago I didn’t want to watch “Room” but was very impressed with it.
I’ve seen most of them. Some of the nominations surprised me, but I just don’t think this was a very strong year. I’m happy to see that Three Billboards is on the list (nominated for a total of 7 Oscars, in fact) and getting support here. The excellent acting by McDormand and the directing and pacing have really produced a quality movie. To me it has a Coen brothers feel, although AFAIK they had nothing to do with it.
I saw Dunkirk the way it was “supposed” to be seen, in real film IMAX (not digital), and it was certainly spectacular. But, much as I like Nolan’s work, throwing millions of dollars at a production to make a visual spectacle isn’t really art. For all its flaws, and a similar obsession with IMAX, Interstellar had more substance.
I thought Lady Bird and Shape of Water were overrated. I’m amazed at all the accolades that Shape of Water is getting, including front-runner for Best Picture.
Trying to get it in gear here.
Get Out - A. I’m not really a horror movie fan – and it’s more suspense than horror, I suppose – but they nailed it, had me clenching up throughout the entire second half. I have no problem with it winning BP. I will admit, I do get tired of the black v. white commentary that seems to pervade so much of the media, but then, I’m white, so most likely have a slanted POV.
The Shape of Water - A-. Saw it today. It certainly had some amazing visual moments and I just loved the expressiveness in Sally Hawkins’ character, but I felt like I wanted to like it more than I did. The villain was a cardboard cutout – maybe because it seems like Michael Shannon is always the villain – and the third act was by-the-numbers storytelling. The resolution left me a bit flat as well.
Darkest Hour ****
Dunkirk *
Get Out ***
The Post ***½
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri *
Not Seen:
Call Me by Your Name
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
[although I’ve shown a movie with 4 stars, this is not maximal. Good Bad & Ugly gets *****, for example, and Godfather ******.]
Saw The Shape of Water last nite. . .
the production design was wonderful (in every sense of the word)
The acting was great. . . even Shannon, I thought, brought some life to a cliche villain.
and yes the story was thin but to quote Roger Ebert: “It’s not what a movie is about, it’s how it is about it.” and I very much enjoyed how they told the story!
mc
I saw all the best picture nominees before the nominations were announced. Among all the categories, these are the only ones I haven’t seen. I will be seeing all the nominees in the three short film categories next weekend when they’re shown at a theater here:
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Mudbound
The Breadwinner
Loveless
A Fantastic Woman
The Square
Strong Island
Last Men in Aleppo
Icarus
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Marshall
War for the Planet of the Apes
Kong: Skull Island
I have seen 6 of 9 thus far. My rankings are as follows:
- Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (4.0)
- The Post (4.0)
- Get Out (4.0)
- Phantom Thread (3.5)
- The Shape of Water (3.5)
- Ladybird (3.0)
I think that the acting performances in all six films has been outstanding. I think this is the third year that I’ve attempted to see all of the Best Picture nominees, and I feel like this year has had the best crop of performances so far (which is certainly not a knock on the prior two years).
My rating on Ladybird is lower only because it’s the only one of the six stories that didn’t particularly move me, despite the great performances. A couple of folks have suggested to me that it may be because I didn’t have much of a connection with the story. I’m willing to buy that for now.
Just saw 3 Billboards yesterday. Not sure if it’s my favorite film of the year (actually, I think that goes to I, Tonya, followed by Lady Bird) but I’ll pick it in my Oscar pool. Very powerful and very well done.
We also saw Get Out: the 2nd time for me, but first for my wife – who hated it. But on the grounds that she doesn’t like horror/sci-fi, not that it wasn’t well done.
I highlighted the ones I haven’t seen either in red. The only other nominees (in any category) I never got around to were Victoria & Abdul, Wonder, Ferdinand and The Boss Baby. I’ve seen 3 of the nominated shorts already but will (like you) be catching the entire nomination slate once they go theatrical this Friday.
Have Seen (in order of appreciation)
**Lady Bird: **I thought this was a wonderful character study. Laurie Metcalf is stellar.
The Post: It’s good, not great. Streep is outstanding. Hanks is fine. The story is good. A little too Hollywoody, but it’s good.
**
Phantom Thread: **It’s well done, but I hated every character and it felt long.
Dunkirk: God, I hate war movies.
Will see
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Won’t see
Get Out
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
I missed Wonder in my list of the films I haven’t seen.
As mentioned, I’m not gonna get it done this year due to various circumstances including a long-ish vacation at the end of February. I’m jealous of those of you who are making progress. Heck, I’ve even checked to see which of the nominees Delta is showing in-flight (only Billboards, unfortunately).
Anyway, thanks for keeping the thread going.
mmm
Oh, never mind. I just remembered that I did see Wonder. I’m shortly leaving for a movie theater where they’re showing all the live action and animation shorts and A Fantastic Woman. The Breadwinner, The Square, and Mudbound will show at another local theater before the day of the Oscars. All the documentary shorts are showing at a third local theater next weekend. So before the Oscars, the only Oscar-nominated films I won’t have seen are these:
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Loveless
Strong Island
Last Men in Aleppo
Icarus
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Marshall
War for the Planet of the Apes
Kong: Skull Island
I will be able to see Icarus and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail at one more local theater, so it looks like I’m down to these films which I haven’t seen and apparently won’t be able to see before the Oscars:
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Loveless
Strong Island
Last Men in Aleppo
Marshall
War for the Planet of the Apes
Kong: Skull Island