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Best Picture: out of the 9 films that are nominated this year, I saw 4 of them:
Three Billboards, The Shape of Water, Get Out and
Call Me By Your Name. I also think
Dunkirk and
The Post shouldn't have been nominated in the first place - but were so "
because it's Nolan and Spielberg" - especially when you had movies like
Blade Runner 2049 and
Good Time that truly deserved to be on there.
Anyway, I liked all those 4 films that I watched. Initially I had my vote for
The Shape of Water mostly because its been winning the major awards along with Best Director and stuff, but when I really thought about it the film that I actually liked the most was
Three Billboards[...]. I managed to catch a screening of
Get Out earlier this month, and while it was enjoyable and interesting it was also extremely predictable past a certain point.
Call Me By Your Name also surprised me by its performances but it's not really a film that speaks to me. So yeah,
Three Billboards pls.
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Best Director: my pick was between
Greta Gerwig, Del Toro and Jordan Peele. As some "trivia" as pointed out, it's been extremely rare for a film to win best Picture but NOT Best Director... so personally I think
Del Toro is going to win, and the Academy will just pat themselves on the back for having nominated a female director as well as a black director.
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Best Actor: I don't think
Timothée is going to win, but that would be cool. The Academy loves to nominate young kids but they almost never win.
Daniel-Day Lewis? Haven't seen the film because it's not of interest to me. While he is truly a great actor, I feel like if he won for this role it would simply be because it's, apparently, his last film... so my vote goes for
Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out.
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Best Actress: for me it all comes down to
Sally Hawkins (Shape of Water) and
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards). Even before seeing
Shape of Water I was dead set on voting for Sally, thinking that her character being mute and all would make her shine a lot more throughout the film compared to the other actresses. But once again, I changed my vote and decided to stick with
Frances since Three Billboards was the film that entertained me and kept me guessing all the way throughout. Of all the films I've seen I think it should win in the big categories.
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Supporting Actor: another extremely tough one. I saw The Florida Project last week and really enjoyed it, it's a shame it didn't get more recognition. I also liked Willem Dafoe in it and would definitely be happy if he won... however, when it came to importance in the plot + screen time and all that, I gotta vote for
Sam Rockwell. I also don't understand why
Woody Harrelson was nominated, as well as
Richard Jenkins. Richard's character in
The Shape of Water was good, but I don't feel like it was "Supporting Actor" good. Actually, I would've given that nomination to
Michael Stuhlbarg instead, who could've just as easily have been nominated for
Call Me By Your Name as well, not just
The Shape of Water.
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Supporting Actress: I feel the same in regards to
Octavia Spencer; she was good, but not "supporting actress" good. I think she's barely in it, and kinda acts more like a comic relief sorta character... Haven't seen
Lady Bird, but I'll vote for
Laurie Metcalf. From the trailer it seemed like she played quite an important, dramatic part.
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Adapted Screenplay: vote goes to
Call Me By Your Name. Maybe
The Disaster Artist should win, but I think the Academy will ignore it largely because of the James Franco scandals. Should it influence their decision? No, but let's face it, that's how things work in Hollywood so I gotta make sure my picks actually have a realistic chance of winning. Also don't crucify me, but I don't think
Logan should've been nominated. It's cool and awesome for what it represents for the genre - even though it's been said many times already that
Logan isn't your typical superhero movie - but I found it to be completely overrated and overhyped. From the trailers, reactions and reviews that I'd seen prior, I thought I was in for a real treat but it's like nothing ever happens throughout the film. I felt 0 connection because the girl and Logan, and also didn't feel anything at the very end of the film. I get what they were trying to do, but it was a complete and utter miss for me.
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Best Original Screenplay: vote goes to
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Get Out and
The Shape of Water were good and all that, but they were extremely predictable to a certain degree. Does that make them bad in any way? No, but
Three Billboards actually had some twists and turns and I - emphasis on
I - could never correctly guess what was gonna happen next and was systematically surprised throughout the whole film, so I feel like it's the most original and superior screenplay in almost every way.
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Best Animated Feature + Original Song: haven't seen
Coco, but this one is a no-brainer, I'd say.
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Foreign Language Film: seen
Loveless,
On Body and Soul and
The Square.
Loveless, just like Leviathan (which was also nominated I believe) is extremely bleak and portrays a russian family going through some extremely dark times.
On Body and Soul was beautful, but I wish it had gone a step further, also wished to have seen a lot more from both main characters, but especially the woman. So with that being said, I will vote for
The Square because the Academy will probably feel like it's the most "universal-friendly" film out of the bunch, compared to, say,
Loveless which only deals with Russian stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I fee like
The Square will win, also because of the themes it tackles and whatnot that happen to be, as I said, more international overall.
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Best Documentary:
Icarus, because of the subject overall. Haven't seen it though, but with the whole interest going on regarding "Russian activities", I feel like it's a good contender.
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Best Cinematography + Production Design + Sound Editing + Sound Mixing + Visual Effects:
Blade Runner 2049 deserves everything it got nominated for, especially when you consider that it was all technical. Sorry but that's just how it is. Will it win everything? Probably not, but it should.
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Best Costume Design:
The Shape of Water. Only one I've seen out of the bunch, but that's not the only reason. Del Toro always nails everything when it comes to his films, and this time was no different I believe.
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Film Editing: haven't seen it, but I'll vote for
Baby Driver because of the whole thing to do with music. I could've just voted for
Three Billboards, but I noticed a few editing errors so right then and there I start wondering why it even got a nomination in the first place.
The Shape of Water had some interesting shots and transitions, but it probably won't top
Baby Driver's.
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Makeup and Hairstyling:
Darkest Hour. Haven't seen it and have absolutely 0 interest in it. Only voting for it because it seems like the one with higher chances of winning.
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Original Score:
Three Billboards. Would've voted for
Blade Runner 2049 had it been nominated.
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Documentary Short Subject:
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405.
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Short Film Animated:
Negative Spaces.
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Short Film Live Action:
DeKalb Elementary.
And that's it
