So, so late, but I just realized I'm done with this year's Oscars. Well, not exactly: I've been unable to find decent, reasonably sized copies of "BPM" or "The Square" or "Foxtrot," and I don't plan on seeing, say, "War for the Planet of the Apes" on its own (i.e. if I'm watching it, I'm doing a franchise marathon). Anyway, if I were a member of the Academy Awards, these would have been my choices--and I'm hewing as close as possible to the actual list, meaning as long as I'm at least civil towards the inclusion of a certain name, the name stays. Also, no Foreign Language Film category because, again, I feel I haven't seen enough, and among the ones I've seen, I found no particularly compelling winner. As for Animated Feature, the only one I've seen is "Coco."
* * * * *
"Phantom Thread."
BEST PICTURE
Winner: "The Shape of Water"
Should Have Won: "Lady Bird," "Call Me by Your Name" and "Phantom Thread" are far more superior films, but "Shape" was a fine winner.
Should Have Been Nominated: "The Big Sick" was the notable snub; instead, two stinkers--"Darkest Hour" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"--snuck in, with the latter almost dominating the season.
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: Guillermo del Toro, "The Shape of Water"
Should Have Won: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Phantom Thread," maybe--gasp!--Christopher Nolan for "Dunkirk."
Should Have Been Nominated: The slate was a formidable five.
BEST ACTOR
Winner: Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"
Should Have Won: Timothée Chalamet, "CMBYN"--by a mile!
Should Have Been Nominated: Tom Hanks for "The Post" and Jake Gyllenhaal for "Stronger," instead of Oldman's histrionics and Denzel Washington's stiff, middle-of-the-road turn in the awful "Roman J. Israel, Esq." Heck, I'd even nominate James Franco in "The Disaster Artist" and Robert Pattinson in "Good Time" over those two.
BEST ACTRESS
Winner: Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards..."
Should Have Won: Meryl Streep, "The Post" (her best since "August: Osage County") or Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird." Actually, anybody but McDormand would have been fine with me; Margot Robbie kept me glued to "I, Tonya," a movie that was just half as brilliant as its lead performance, and Hawkins was simply sublime in "Shape."
Should Have Been Nominated: Annette Bening, "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool" over McDormand.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards..."
Should Have Won: Richard Jenkins, "Shape"
Should Have Been Nominated: Michael Stuhlbarg(!) and Armie Hammer(!), "CMBYN" over Woody Harrelson, "Three Billboards" and Christopher Plummer, "All the Money in the World." Stuhlbarg's omission, in particular, was the season's biggest injustice.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Allison Janney, "I, Tonya"
Should Have Won: Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird"--again, by a mile!
Should Have Been Nominated: I'd keep Lesley Manville's much-deserved nomination for "Phantom Thread"; Janney, Octavia Spencer in "Shape" and Mary J. Blige in "Mudbound" would have to give way for the more deserving Holly Hunter in "The Big Sick," Hong Chau in "Downsizing" and Tiffany Haddish in "Girls Trip."
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Jordan Peele, "Get Out"
Should Have Won: I once thought Greta Gerwig for "Lady Bird," but a second serving of "Get Out" confirmed Peele deserved this more.
Should Have Been Nominated: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Phantom Thread" (which would then be my choice for the win). I mean, over steaming shit like "Three Billboards"?
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: James Ivory, "CMBYN"
Should Have Won: Ivory was really the only choice.
Should Have Been Nominated: "The Death of Stalin" by Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin and Peter Fellows. I'd probably remove--and I shock even myself by saying this--Aaron Sorkin's "Molly's Game," which I didn't like at all.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Roger Deakins, "Blade Runner 2049"
Should Have Won: Nobody else. Duh.
Should Have Been Nominated: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, "CMBYN" over Bruno Delbonnel, "Darkest Hour." I mean, if you saw, like literally saw, "CMBYN," it should have been a no-brainer.
BEST EDITING
Winner: Lee Smith, "Dunkirk"
Should Have Won: Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos, "Baby Driver"
Should Have Been Nominated: Joe Walker, "Blade Runner 2049." And the "Three Billboards" nomination can go flush itself down the toilet.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Winner: "Shape," which was a deserving winner
Should Have Been Nominated: Again, "CMBYN"--over the predictable "Darkest Hour."
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner: Alexandre Desplat, "Shape"
Should Have Won: As much as I'd like to say Jonny Greenwood, "Phantom Thread," Desplat thoroughly earned this. Also, I haven't seen any "Star Wars" movie.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Winner: "Remember Me" from "Coco"
Should Have Won: "Mystery of Love" from "CMBYN"
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