This week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with the help of Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis, presented the nominees for the 2018 Academy Awards. This year was truly a fantastic year for film, so I have decided to take a look at a few of this year’s categories and give my reactions, thoughts, and all of that good stuff. But first, a few overall takes.
Get Out has four nominations!! FOUR. Get Out was my favorite film of 2017 and I yelled ridiculously loud when I saw the nominations it got. But I’ll talk more about that later. Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water leads the pack with a whopping 13 nominations, continuing its successful streak throughout this awards show season. I have to admit I have not seen The Shape of Water, but I’ve only heard great things and if it’s Guillermo Del Toro I’m sure it’s fantastic. I’m incredibly happy to see Logan in there for Adapted Screenplay because that movie was wonderful and it’s a superhero movie nominated for something other than a technical award. When does that ever happen? Speaking of technical awards, Rachel Morrison scored a Best Cinematography nomination for Mudbound, making her the first female cinematographer to do so. It’s about damn time, if I do say so myself. I’m happy to see Blade Runner 2049 get nominated for Best Visual Effects as well as numerous other technical awards. Finally, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri had a fantastic score and I’m glad Carter Burwell got nominated for it, even if he is going up against Hans Zimmer and John Williams. Yikes.
Okay, it’s time to take a closer look at a few (not all, there are 24 for Christ’s sake) of these categories, starting with the top prize.
Best Picture
This is the big one right here. This category is packed with so many fantastic movies because there were just more good movies overall this year than previous ones. 2017 as a whole for film killed it. As mentioned above, the one that got me the most excited was Get Out. I’m certain Get Out isn’t going to win but the fact that it’s here gave me chills simply because of how important this movie was. It also definitely is not a stereotypical Oscar nominated movie and I am always excited when there’s a film nominated that defies the stereotype.
Aside from my gushing over Get Out, other notable nominees include Call Me By Your Name, which was absolutely beautiful and I’m incredibly excited it’s in there. Lady Bird continues to dominate awards season, as it should. And I know I haven’t seen The Shape of Water which seems to be a fantastic movie, but if I had to pick something I’d love to win that I think actually has a chance, it’d be Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. That film was phenomenal. This is a packed race, though, so we shall see.
Lead Actor
Daniel Kaluuya YES!!! I have honestly never been this excited about a nomination before. He gave such a brilliant performance in Get Out and I’ve been waiting for him to get recognition like this since I saw how good he was in Black Mirror. He’s finally getting his due justice if you ask me. I’m also psyched to see Timothee Chalamet nominated for Call Me By Your Name. But Daniel Day-Lewis is nominated as well for his supposedly last film Phantom Thread. It’s his last movie and it’s Daniel Day-Lewis so like…he’s going to get it? Right?
Lead Actress
If Meryl Streep is in a movie that year, Meryl Streep will get nominated. You can’t stop the Streep. She’s fantastic though so it’s fine. What’s really nice here is to see Saoirse Ronan, who truly shined in Lady Bird. Margot Robbie, who I was worried about when I first saw the I, Tonya trailer simply because I couldn’t shake the Harley Quinn of it all, completely got rid of my worries and secured an Oscar nomination which is wild because Suicide Squad was not good. She managed to break free of that role, though, and I’m happy for her. But what really has me pumped, and who I’d really love to win, is Frances McDormand. Her morally gray performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri made that film as fantastic as it was. But I’d be happy with any of these wonderful woman winning, truly. Maybe not Streep though. She’s had enough.
Supporting Actor
Very interesting to see all the love Christopher Plummer is getting for All the Money in The World, given all of the last minute reshoots after the Kevin Spacey allegations arose. I haven’t seen that movie, nor The Florida Project or The Shape of Water, for which Willem Dafoe and Richard Jenkins are nominated for, respectively. However, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson were remarkable in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and I would be perfectly happy if either of them got the award.
Supporting Actress
Yes Laurie Metcalf securing that nomination!!! I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but she just killed it in Lady Bird. Like I said, I haven’t seen The Shape of Water, but Octavia Spencer is simply wonderful and I’d give her all of the awards if I could. Allison Janney won a Golden Globe for her performance in I, Tonya so I would not be surprised to see her win the Oscar and I would not be upset about it either. But I’d really love for Metcalf to get this one.
Director
COME THROUGH JORDAN PEELE!!! I’m so excited about this and Peele’s tweets regarding the nomination that he got for this (and original screenplay) only made me even more excited. He did such great work writing and directing Get Out, plus it was his directorial debut as well. He’s not the only one nominated for their directorial debut, as Greta Gerwig is in there for Lady Bird, which she also wrote, making her only the fifth woman to be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars. So much fresh new directing talent being recognized here makes me feel a lot better about that fact, though (and it’s definitely a plus that this new talent is a women and a person of color). Christopher Nolan’s nomination is certainly no surprise and neither is Guillermo del Toro’s based off the way The Shape of Water has been performing this awards season. This is a packed category, I honestly have no idea who’s going to get it, although I doubt it’ll be Peele or Gerwig, as much as I would love that.
There is so much more that I could go in depth about but unfortunately I do not have all the time in the world (college sucks). This year’s Oscars is going to be really interesting as I truly do love a lot of these films and have no clue who or what will win, nor do I have that many preferences as there was just so much good stuff this year. The Oscars air on March 4th on ABC, hosted for the second year in a row by Jimmy Kimmel, and we should all be tuning in. Or looking up who won the next day because let’s face it, award shows are so damn long.
