Oscar Nominees and Predictions for 2018
2017 was a well dressed year for film in both changing it up with original stories and remakes of real life tales as well. Granted my favorite and most likely to deserve the award for picture of the year is without a doubt "The Disaster Artist". However due to James Franco's recent accusations made against him just before this year's nominees were announced he was snubbed for both Best Picture, Director and Oscar Nominations. If we had left hearsay and gossip mixed with slander left at the wayside without blinding our views then clearly we could see how The Disaster Artist more than likely would have swept. The reason being that this truly was the Best Picture of the year but apparently once again politics have outweighed logic in Hollywood, omitting this year's finest film.
Suffice it to say that The Academy typically allow their hearts to be played by politics we still have nominees that tell tale of objectified women such as two true stories about the abuse and murders of women. First is "I, Tanya" where a young woman's life was destroyed along with her dream of being an Olympic skating gold medalist. Yet no matter how sad and devastatingly accurate this real life chilling tale was turned into somewhat of a dark comedy. Maybe funny if your dreams as a young woman were not shattered along with your leg. We also have "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri" AKA "Three Billboards" where a woman comes next to breaking the law after the unsolved murder of her daughter goes seemingly unnoticed. Granted only the latter of the two films were nominated for best picture it still seems a bit ironic in Hollywood's current dilemma of sexual misconduct against women to have two nominated movies about the plight that women face and have faced for centuries.
Best Picture
Granted this category is still filled with some amazing films such as; "The Shape Of Water", "Get Out", "Call Me By Your Name", "Darkest Hour", "Lady Bird", "Dunkirk", "The Post" and "Three Billboards" it is difficult to say but with its 13 different nominations I would not be surprised to see "The Shape Of Water" take this category. Namely due to the fact that this film takes something completely non-relatable and turns it into your best friend's dilemma. This was no easy feat and its winning best picture against this great list of films will be just that. Yet it is my first prediction pic for Best Picture.
Best Actor
Although The Academy loves to praise Daniel Day-Lewis I believe that this year will either go big or go home. I would not be surprised if Daniel Kaluuya wins for his chilling performance in "Get Out", still many of us yearn to see a long-time household name take the category this year. For years Gary Oldman has been overlooked for his excellent character acting in such films as "Sid and Nancy", "True Romance" and "The Fifth Element" just to name a few I believe that he will take home the Oscar for Best Actor this year for his performance in "Darkest Hour".
Best Actress
It is never fun to go up some of the biggest names in Hollywood such as Meryl Streep or Francis McDormand, this year to me looks like a close toss-up between Sally Hawkins "The Shape Of Water" and Margot Robbie for her hauntingly accurate yet comedic qualities as she plays Tanya Harding to perfection in "I, Tanya". Still it will be a close call I believe Robbie deserves the spot after an alarmingly good and accurate portrayal of Harding.
Best Supporting Actor
Here we are once again with Woody Harrelson up against his co-star for "Three Billboards" Sam Rockwell. Rockwell has already won a Grammy for this performance but is an Oscar win on top of that a bit too much for too little of acting? Personally I think just a tad bit and as much as I am a Sam Rockwell fan I could easily see the aging underrated Richard Jenkins taking home the award for "The Shape of Water" although it is beyond me why Michael Shannon was not nominated in this category for his role in the same film. All that I can conclude after best guess is that Shannon would have swept the award and The Academy wants to give Jenkins a shot. After all it may be a bit much to pin four great actor's together for two films, albeit how excellent the acting/films are.
Best Supporting Actress
No doubt Octavia Spencer was dynamic and added a sense of realism to a very unrealistic film in "The Shape of Water", but is it Oscar worthy? Mary J Blige's soulful character in Mudbound" is compelling, but does Netflix yet have what it takes to compete with blockbuster films? Probably not. That said Allison Janney was a strong crutch in a very unusual dark comedic sense in "I, Tonya" much like that of which I have never seen before on screen, therefore Janney is my guess for this category.
Best Director
Chris Nolan really brought his A game on this war piece. Still I found Dunkirk to be a bit too fast paced and rushed through acts almost to the point where the main character and story were shot out of the sky only to plummet toward a tailspin of a water landing nose first. Granted Jordan Peele gives all nominees a run for their money I think that he is more favored on the original screenplay category where Guillermo del Toro is more suited for this award for what he did with "The Shape Of Water".
Best Original Screenplay
While we have several great contenders in this area we need to think originality that is easy to watch. A film so palatable for all that it truly was the talk of 2017 that spilled over into conversations nation wide into 2018. This film is "Get Out". Jordan Peele really showed us his diverse range in this particular film. If he does not win I will be surprised.
Best Adapted Screenplay I am hoping that despite allegations made against Franco that due to the complex nature of this film and having to work with Tommy Wiseau in an adaptive process this award hands down goes to Scott Neustadter for "The Disaster Artist". Although Aaron Sorkin is a great screenwriter he has already proven that with "Molly's Game" being his directorial debut he fell short. Mostly with the over-usage of voiceover narratives.
In closing I will not cover every category just as the ceremony does not air each one but in summary it looks like "Dunkirk" for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing "Three Billboards", Best Sound Editing "Baby Driver", Best Sound Mixing "Baby Driver", Best Animated "Coco", Best Production Design "Beauty and the Beast", and Best Original Score Hans Zimmer for "Dunkirk" and Best Original Song "Mighty River" from "Mudbound". Until then, we will see you at The Oscar's as we watch The Academy Awards turn 90!
-- Kyle Manfre