The Oscars

March 5, 2018 • 8:15 am

I didn’t watch the Oscars last night as I have a thousand pages of books to review (not on this site), as well as reading Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have watched the show anyway, as the awards go on too long and I can always read who won the next day. I just did that, and, to my despair I see that I missed all but two of the nominated movies, which are listed below. I saw Dunkirk, which was highly touted but I found disappointing, and The Post, which I quite liked, with a terrific performance by Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham.

I’m sure many of you watched the other nominated movies, as well as the show itself, so weigh in below while I ponder what to write today. And which movies or performances should I see? (Note: I don’t like action or superhero movies.)

 WINNER: THE SHAPE OF WATER

Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale, Producers

Other nominees:

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME  (Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges and Marco Morabito, Producers)

DARKEST HOUR Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten and Douglas Urbanski, Producers

DUNKIRK Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

GET OUT Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr. and Jordan Peele, Producers

LADY BIRD Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O’Neill, Producers

PHANTOM THREAD JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison and Daniel Lupi, Producers

 THE POST Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers

96 thoughts on “The Oscars”

    1. I saw Get Out and hated it. It took for granted the idea that every white person is racist and most would murder a black person without a second thought.
      The idea that old white people would kidnap blacks for brain transplants was antithetical do what a genuine racist would do. And how was it that the black person in question was still there and conscious in some sense?? That wouldn’t happen if their brain was gone. The whole thing was completely muddled.

      Having said that, historians may look back on this movie as a very important indicator of what was going on in society during the Obama/Trump period.

      1. I have not seen it, but I am interested in doing so. No idea what it’s about, but i suppose one has to suspend a lot of logic to get into the more fantasy/sci fi / horror type movies. Explosion sounds in space?? Try not to think about it.

        There are many movies that I hated initially, then came around to later once I saw it again and could study it more carefully. I walked out on Blue Velvet (never done that before!), but saw it again later and liked it much better.

      2. I quite liked the first half hour of Get Out, but then it turned to absolute schlock. Not a fan of supernatural horror. I do like Jordan Peele teamed with Keegan-Michael Key.

      3. It seems you may have viewed it through too-political a prism and missed some of its satiric subtleties. Get Out was actually lampshading and subverting the tropes you mention.

        2. I did pick that up and for a while thought this was movie length parody of racism along the lines of Eddie Murphy’s classic skit on SNL where he gets made up to look white and goes out in the world to ‘experience the world as a white person’, but in the end I didnt think that was the message that came through.

          I’d be more than happy though to defer to your judgement. I’d rather be clueless than angry.

      4. Major disagreement.

        “Get Out” is about the repressed conflicted feelings that many white liberals have about African Americans.

        I have lived in four states of the USA, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and California, and Ohio was heavily populated by people who believed they were not racist, but in many ways really were.
        (I hasten to add that Berkeley, CA has a lot of folks who claim certain speech/actions are racist, which I would say is not. Yes, it works both ways.)

        The theme of the white folk who believe they are not racist, but are is a recurring theme in the novels of Toni Morrison who grew up in Ohio.

        1. I think that the repressed racist feelings of white liberals bit worked beautifully, but why jump the shark into the hokey horror? It seemed like two different movies: one an edgy, slightly cringe-inducing satire, and the other just stooopid (like the last part of Aronsky’s “mother!”.

        2. If this was the goal of the story then the plot seriously undermines that effort. If someones racism is so deeply buried that one has to root around in their subconscious to discover it then the term ‘racism’ has lost its meaning. Racism should be defined by a persons actions. MLK said he didnt care what people thought of him, he cared what people did to him. I think the plot of this story doesnt allow it to work as a parody – there’s no room for interpretation and no subtlety. A porn film that parodies other porn films is, in the end, just another porn film.

          I’ve always loved Key and Peele and as I say above, I’d prefer to be persuaded I’m wrong on this.

          1. We really do need different words for different forms of racial tension.

            Classics scholars (and Anglican Christians) are fond of observing that the Greeks had many more words for “love” (as a verb, not just a none) depending on the flavor of love involved.

            IMO, fear of a race, hatred of a race, ignorance about a race- we should have separate words for all of these. Racism simply has too many meanings, and adding more further exacerbates problems.

            The movie is meant to have a certain dream-logic.

          2. Agreed. And with that would go the view that some forms of ‘racism’ verge on harmless – like the stereotype that asians are generally better at math.

    2. I thought it was a middling horror movie and extended “white people be like…” riff.

  3. Did not watch the show but did see a few of the movies. I agree The Post was a pretty good movie and it was second on my list of movies I saw. The Darkest Hour was first on my list, I think the actor playing Churchill was very good. Dunkirk was third on my list, it was good but primarily a visual movie. Maybe two movies on the same subject cancel each other. The other movie I saw was Three Billboards and I would say it was an unusual movie, those kind always get awards. But the story got kind of lost at the end from my look. Why spend a lot of effort getting to the who done it part and then just dropping it without a finish? Could have been much better with a different ending.

    1. Gary Oldman is a fantastic actor. Anyone who can go from Sid Vicious to Winston Churchill in the course of a career has got some range. Still, my all-time favorite role of his, even though it was essentially an extended cameo, was as “Drexel” in True Romance.

      1. I don’t think I have seen him in anything other than the Churchill movie but he was outstanding. Never seen Churchill done anything close to this good. Might say he was this movie.

        1. Among his other roles, he played the bad guy in The Professional and George Smiley Tinker, Tailor (for which he received his earlier Oscar nomination). He’s something of a chameleon on the screen, so you may have seen him, but not recognized him, in other films.

          1. “The Professional” is one of my guilty pleasure movies and Oldman is outstanding as the baddie. I also loved his performance as Oswald in “JFK”. He most certainly deserved his award for the Churchill role.

          2. My god, Oldman was great as Oswald. I’ve spent a fair bit of time brooding on the Kennedy assassination over the years, and when I think about it now, I’m never quite sure if the Lee Harvey of my imagination is the real thing from the Dallas police station, or Oldman from JFK.

          3. Ditto on “The Professional” and Oldman as the whacko and totally unpredictable baddie. Natalie Portman, who was 12 or 13 at the time, said that she didn’t have to act during the scene when Oldman confronts her in the public bathroom: “I was scared to death!”

          4. The former is honored with a place on my Favorites Shelf for many reasons, the greatest of which is Oldman as Stansfield. That madman might be my favorite offbeat movie villain, but I would have to think about it. Like most “favorites” of mine, I would probably come up with a list of twenty tied for first place, but Stansfield would be in there.

          2. Also, the three-timing patsy for Lena Olin’s femme fatale in the neo-noir Romeo Is Bleeding.

        3. He’s bloody brilliant in The Firm. Far superior to any of the other hooligan films. (Green Street, Football
          factory etc)

      2. It ain’t white boy day, is it?

        I thought he was even better than Alec Guinness as George Smiley. I always felt Guinness slightly overplayed some of the subtleties of the character, and some of his dialogue delivery didn’t feel right. Oldman was perfect in every way.

        1. I thought so, too. His performance was a tour de force in understatement — from a guy who’s famous for his scenery-chewing.

          1. I haven’t seen that, but I will definitely check it out. I see it stars Ray Winstone, who I always enjoy on the occasions when he actually shows in up a good movie. Sexy Beast is another film that has a place on my favorites shelf, and Ray Winstone is fantastic in it. While Kingsley rightly gets the glory as Don Logan, Winstone as Gal is at times hilarious, sad, and determined, and often all at once.

          2. Sexy Beast is one of my favorites, too; it seemed to give Sir Ben a new lease on life as a heavy (see also You Kill Me). I love Ray Winstone — also Brendan Gleeson, another character actor from the Anglo-Irish film trade who plays similar roles.

          3. Yes, Brendan Gleeson steals the show in the black comedy “In Bruges,” a favorite of mine.

          5. Brendan Gleeson was terrific playing a subtle, Nazi-defying German in Alone in Berlin.

          6. In Bruges is one of my favourite films of the last decade. It’s perfectly formed, sad and fucking hilarious. And it gives the lie to all those jokes about Colin Farrell’s acting ability.

          7. Love In Bruges, the first outing by Three Billboards director Martin McDonagh. Hell, Colin Farrell even put those twitchy, meth-ridden caterpillars on his supraorbital ridge that pass for eyebrows to work for him on that one. 🙂

          9. Brendan Gleeson is among my favorite actors of all time. He can be funny, heartfelt, warm, tough…he’s one of the rare actors who can sell any character or emotion. Have you seen Calvary? Directed by Martin McDonagh’s brother, John Michael. Gleeson’s performance in that is my favorite of his

            In Bruges/i> holds one of the top spots on my Favorites Shelf. Colin Farrel is actually an excellent actor when he’s given good material. Ralph Fiennes is also hilarious.

          10. Haven’t seen Calvary, BJ, but I’m putting it on my list. Ray Winstone starred in Nil By Mouth, the film directed by Oldman.

          2. Another on my Favorites Shelf! So fantastic. The dialogue is just a wonder.

            This is my favorite scene:

          3. I’m a big fan of Tom Stoppard’s playwriting — and of his script for Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.

            I think the studio pitch for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern must’ve been “Hamlet meets Godot.” 🙂

          4. Brazil is yet another on my hallowed shelf, along with all three Python films. Stoppard is one the wittiest writers alive.

            Oddly enough, the film was produced by PBS’ WNET (Channel 13 from the Tri-state area) and a company called “Brandenberg,” which never produced anything else before or since. So, I imagine the pitch didn’t need to be anything more than “I’m Tom Stoppard, and I want to make a movie about two characters from Hamlet.”

  4. If I recall correctly PCC mentioned seeing Dunkirk on a tiny airplane screen, which removes all the aspects (sound, size) that make the movie such an experience. It is extremely impressive in theatre, IMAX specifically.

    1. I thought so, too, and it was gorgeously filmed. As a war movie, though, it subverted expectations a bit, being more a narrative slice-of-life (or lives, as the case may be), rather than one of those sweeping David Lean/Richard Attenborough-style epics.

      1. I think both of you (and Jerry) are being too kind. I saw “Dunkirk” on the big screen and thought it a total waste of time and money. Beautifully filmed or not, movies tell stories, and it took what was a simple, inspiring story and turned it into a paean to the writer-director’s cleverness and imagination. It should have been called “Nolan.” I knew the story well and still had trouble figuring out what was going on. That it should win best editing is appalling, since it was largely the editing that screwed things up.

        On the other hand, I wish “The Darkest Hour” had done more with the Dunkirk evacuation. I agree, however, that Oldman was amazing as Churchill and well deserved the Oscar.

        1. De gustibus non est disputandum, my man; that’s why they’ve got all those screens at the Cineplex. 🙂

  5. I usually don’t watch either and didn’t this year. I would recommend I Tonya which was the only movie I saw in the theaters this year. Allison Janney was perfect. I believe she won best supporting actress.

  6. I saw all of ’em except for Lady Bird (which I still intend to see, but which I originally half-assumed was a biopic about Mrs. LBJ). Three Billboards was my fave, though del Toro’s The Shape of Water was certainly worthy.

  7. Three Billboards outside ebbing,Missouri is my favourite.. and go with it. It is a dark comdey drama with a awesome performance by lead actress.

    1. LOVED 3 Billboards, even with the ambiguous ending. Glad that McDormand and Rockwell got awards.

  9. I rather liked Dunkirk but I tend to like movies a bit more than many other people.
    What I saw in that movie was that it was not so primarily focused on the epic events in which the story is set (though there were scenes that gave glimpses of that). Rather, it focused on the smaller, more personal stories of individuals who were caught up in the epic events. Seeing it in that light, I settled in and enjoyed it.

  10. I’ve seen a few.

    Dunkirk I liked, though it was unusual in not really having a ‘star’. Very gritty.

    Darkest Hour was great, as was Gary Oldman. Though the historically ridiculous scene on the tube had me puzzled. Why on earth put it in?

    Three Billboards was okay, though I enjoyed mostly for the acting of Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell.

    Shape of Water I sort of enjoyed, though I kept feeling De Toro was trying to convey something more subtle than I was picking up on.

    The Post was perhaps the one that disappointed me the most. The acting was superb but I kept feeling that the whole story should really have been that of the NYT, though to be fair that was made clear throughout the film.

    1. Punch Sulzberger and A.M. Rosenthal don’t present the same dramatic potential as Kate Graham and Ben Bradlee. Probably too Jewish, too — more like studio heads, less like on-screen talent. 🙂

    2. I kept feeling De Toro was trying to convey something more subtle than I was picking up on.

      De Toro is always conveying something more subtle than one initially picks up. Which is why I get something new each time I re-watch one of his films.

    3. I thought it was an inspired move to cast Ben Mendelsohn as George VI in Darkest Hour — the great Aussie character actor known mainly (in this country, at least) for playing sleazeball roles, like the nodding-off junkie in Killing Them Softly and the eldest hoodlum brother in Animal Kingdom.

      Is it just me, or when Brit actors get together to make a big movie, do they all seem to be having a jolly good time, like alums of a the same repertory company — and that they all could swap roles in the script, without much fall off in the performances or ego conflict?

  11. I somehow managed to see zero best picture nominated films, which surprises me.

    I have also not seen any of the films I really wanted to watch, like “Wonder Woman” and “Black Panther.”

    I got a dog which turned out to be more life changing than you’d think, and so now I don’t do anything anymore except dog.

      1. Careful with the use of the word “dogging” if you are ever in Britain! 🙂

        1. Whoah, I had NO idea😬 Thanks for the heads’ up. “Cottaging” is an expression which people in Canada often use very innocently, but I understand that in Britain it means engaging in gay sex in public bathrooms…So many Englishes!

          1. Some Canadian sexual euphemisms are ice hockey derived. Makes me wonder if you [as a nation] are too sporty for your own good! Eh.

          2. Can’t think of any hockey-derived euphemisms. Please elucidate..(but then I’m originally a California girl and came to Canada sort of via Europe and never knew squat about hockey till I had to help my young son put on all the gear (including the unique garter belt + cup combo for young boys)).

          3. These I got from the ‘net & aren’t as terrible as they may seem at first. The last one might be entirely made up nonsense on a message board – I know nothing about Gretzky.

            “Slipping one through the five hole”, “pulling the goalie”, “the goalie is weak between the legs”, “ringing the pipe”, “pulling a Gretzky”

          5. Canada — where couples do it doggy-style on Saturday night, so they can both keep watching the hockey game on tv. 🙂

  12. I was really surprised by how much I liked I Tonya. It’s probably my favorite film of the year and not even nominated for Best Picture.

    1. I really like it, too — and I didn’t think anything could make me give a shit about Tonya Harding. Great performances from the cast, especially Margot Robbie and Allison Janney, and bravura filmmaking from Craig Gillespie (an Aussie with whose work I was previously unfamiliar).

      1. I, like Ken and Honey Badger, could not give a shit about Tonya, but loved Allison Janey in The West Wing, so will probably try to catch the movie.

  13. Dunkirk is more auditory than visual (although it is that too). It generates an amazing effect in the audience through the use of a number of incredibly inventive mechanisms–including (but not limited to) a soundtrack modelled on an illusion of a rising tone (a Shepard tone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzNzgsAE4F0) which cretaes a sensation of impending doom. Then it has three separate timescales running in parallel and moves deftly bewteen them. Plus, it has a quiet nobility that, if it doesn’t move you, means you are dead inside and a mere robot that simply walks around looking like a normal human. (only kidding)

  14. The Oscars were more political than usual, with several instances of various stars recognizing moviedoms’ efforts to expand exclusivity for women and minorities of all sorts. Others may wince, but I thought it was for the greater good.

    1. It has always been thus. The issues de jure are always present and handled with great self-righteousness and self-congratulatory noise. Same as it ever was.

      Oh and some of the awards, as usual, were given to those who earned them.

  15. I only saw five the the 10 nominees, but I was heavily rooting for “Shape of Water” to win, and my second choice was “Darkest Hour”.

    “Water” is smartest most engaging
    fantasy/sci-fi flick in decades, which works partly because it follows almost no conventions of the genre, and has well-drawn characters.

    “Hour” is actually a fairly historically accurate war drama, which is a lot more than I can say for “The Imitation Game”

    1. Having seen “The Imitation Game” before reading the Alan Turing biography “Enigma” on which the movie was based, I was shocked at how historically inaccurate the movie was.

      The most historically accurate war movie I can remember seeing was “Valkyrie”, which had a stellar cast and the best performance I have seen from Tom Cruise.

    2. Personally, I think historical accuracy is overrated. Take JFK, for example: putrid history, but great cinema.

      (Though I will admit, it did bother me a bit that LBJ was portrayed as a civil rights slacker in Selma.)

    3. I am something of a minor Turing scholar and I seem to remember like 8 mistakes in the trailer for the latter. It did not make me want to see it.

  16. I saw Dunkirk, which was highly touted but I found disappointing.

    Christopher Nolan is like King Midas, except everything he touches turns to sh*t.

      1. Exquisite perhaps, but completely nonsensical gimmickry. Not as bad as his INTERSTELLAR. But then, again, ebola isn’t as bad as INTERSTELLAR.

  17. Last night I watched Call Me By Your Name which is a delicate little ghost of a film. It also uses 80s hit ‘Love My Way’ by The Psychedelic Furs in its two most striking scenes – I always thought that was a slightly naff song, but not after watching this.

    It’s not as sad as it’s made out to be, and not as heavy either, it doesn’t put a single foot wrong and it has Sufjan Stevens soundtracking the quietest moments. Definitely worth seeing. Just watch out for the scene with the peach.

  19. Nobody mentioned Gary Oldman’s turn as a baddie in the latest “Planet of the Apes” series, and as Beethoven in “Immortal Beloved”. In the former, I guess his performance was overshadowed by those of the apes, and in the latter it was eclipsed by the background music.

    Speaking of chameleon-like performances, I am disappointed that the actors who portrayed the similar aquatic creatures in “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and in “Shape of Water” got no recognition at all. This, like the failure of any of the apes to receive an Oscar, is rank speciesism.

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