Trollhunters Season 3: What It Means To Be A Hero

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Trollhunters is a series that I’ve taken time to cover several times on my blog. When I first found it, I was immediately brought in by seeing Guillermo Del Toro’s name attached to the project. After watching the first season I was well aware that what … Continue reading Trollhunters Season 3: What It Means To Be A Hero

Let’s Talk About The 2018 Oscar Nominations

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One of my favorite days of the year is when the Oscar nominations get announced. Luckily for me that was yesterday morning. I have to say I went into this year’s announcement cautiously optimistic. After seeing how other awards were leaning, I was afraid certain movies would get snubbed pretty bad. Once the announcements started coming out though, I was relieved and excited at the possibilities. The Oscar nominations as a whole were fantastic.

If you read my review you know how much I love Get Out. Coming into the announcements I was crossing my fingers hoping it would at least get a best adapted screenplay nomination. I am thrilled to say that Get Out got 4 nominations. Best original screenplay, best director, best lead actor, and best picture. It feels good knowing that Jordan Peele is going to be recognized for this beautiful film that he’s created. The way it tackles social issues while being a creepy and funny ride is something that very few movies could pull off. I will say that Daniel Kaluuya getting the nomination for best lead actor was probably the biggest surprise. His inclusion meant someone would have to be left off. We’ll get to that later. Still, this is a huge accomplishment. Jordan Peele becomes only the third director in history to get director, screenplay, and best picture nominations on his first film. He is also only the fifth black director to be nominated in the best director category. This is a huge historic moment for everyone involved with this movie. I would lose it if they actually won one of these awards.

The next big news is Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water getting 13 nominations. It was clear when I saw it, that this film would be a force in every award show, and I wasn’t wrong. Every single nomination feels absolutely deserved. The big story here is how a monster movie is finally going to take center stage at the Oscars. I have loved monster movies for most of my life, especially the zombie movies from the late George A. Romero. This happening at the first Academy Awards since his death feels like a fitting tribute to him and all of the monster movie legends. I can’t think of a better person to represent all of their work than Guillermo Del Toro. It’s been clear for his entire career that these monsters have meant a great deal to him. His Golden Globes speech expressing his love and attachment to them really moved me. He’s so passionate and so likable that I am going to be rooting for him in pretty much every category.

Logan made history by becoming the first comic book movie to ever get nominated for best adapted screenplay. I know every year there’s talk about how comic book movies are overlooked by the Oscars, but I don’t think that’s the case. Most comic book movies just aren’t good enough to be considered. It’s no surprise that the only comic book movies that have gotten non-technical award nominations are Logan and The Dark Knight. Both are top 5 comic book films all time and it’s great to see Logan represented among this year’s crowd.

Speaking of screenplay nominations, I’m a big fan of the original screenplay category. I’ve seen four of the five films and will hopefully be watching 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri soon. Movies I’ve mentioned like Get Out and The Shape of Water are in this category, but i’m especially excited because The Big Sick got a nomination as well. I feel like this movie has been going under the radar during this award season, so it’s great to see it get at least one nomination. I think it’s great that a story about Kumail Nunjiani’s relationship was written by him and his now wife. There’s something extra sweet about that.

The director category is usually stacked and this year is no exception. Something to note here is the diversity in this category. Guillermo Del Toro and Jordan Peele are both here. Aside from them is Greta Gerwig who becomes the fifth woman to get a best director nomination. Ladybird is definitely a worthy film in this category. Gerwig was able to get some extremely grounded and realistic portrayals out of her cast. Some of which who also got nominations here. This is an exciting category with amazing choices.

The best picture category is the big one. The front runner has to be The Shape of Water, but there is certainly room for an upset. Get Out making this group made me so happy I couldn’t contain myself. The only questionable thing about this category is how Blade Runner 2049 didn’t get a nomination. I might not be the biggest fan of that movie, but it received 5 other nominations. It just seems weird for it not make it on this list.

Best original score certainly has a lot of heavy hitters, but it seems like this will be a win for Alexandre Desplat. His enchanting score for The Shape of Water is an absolute thing of beauty. Happy to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi get a nomination as well.

The visual effects award is my opportunity to mention that War For The Planet of the Apes is now an Oscar nominated film. I love this movie and hope it takes home the award. Looking at the other nominees, it actually has a pretty good shot.

Best original song is a category I love because all of the live performances that happen during the award ceremony. Watching “Remember Me” from Coco and “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman are going to be awesome.

There are other less exciting categories like best animated feature film. This is usually the one I look forward to the most, but what a crap year it’s been for animated films. It’s so bad that The Boss Baby landed up getting a nomination. Really? That’s the best you got? Coco is going to wipe the floor with them.

That’s enough of that though. Let’s talk about those…

Snubs

Every year there are going to be Oscar snubs. This year there weren’t many, but there were some that really disappointed me. James McAvoy’s performance in Split has gone completely off the radar during this year’s award season. I really don’t know how though because he seriously deserves some credit for the phenomenal performance he gave.

There’s also Wind River, which received zero nominations. The movie overall is fantastic and I think Jeremy Renner for best lead actor and Taylor Sheridan for best original screenplay should’ve been considered.

The last snub is quite possibly the biggest, but where is James Franco for The Disaster Artist? I understand he had the allegations against him leading up to this, but at this point they’re just allegations. I would like to believe that they had nothing to do with his omission from the group, but I would be naive to think that. James Franco was absolutely amazing as Tommy Wiseau and he definitely deserved to be acknowledged for it.

 

I’ll save my predictions for later. I want to give myself an opportunity to catch up on these movies. Once I do I’ll be sure to give my predictions and see how close I get to the real thing.

 

 

1 Year of My Movie Reality

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When I made this blog a year ago I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I started it as a new years resolution so that I could have a place to put all of my thoughts. I wasn’t sure if I would keep up with it considering how quickly I move from one thing to another, but here I am one year later.

As I look back at all of the reviews I’ve written I can say that I’m really proud of myself. I didn’t make this blog for tons of views, but I do appreciate anybody who’s taken the time out of their day to read what I write. While my reasons for writing are 100% selfish, it doesn’t change that the conversations I’ve had on this platform and the people I’ve spoken to are absolutely amazing.

So I just want to say thank you to my regular viewers who help make sure I reach my 8 to 10 views per post. You guys are the real MVP and deserve a pat on the back. Also, a big thank you to the bloggers that I follow. I do read your posts and I feel that it’s helped me get better at my own stuff.

In 2018 I’m hoping I can keep this up. Ideally I’d want to up the amount of content I put out, but who knows if that’s going to happen. I will try to expand more though. I want to get back to posting about interesting movie news. I want to review more anime because it is a medium that I do love. I also want to review more movies. All I know is that I’m excited about this blog.