The Oscars Turn
90 – Here are the Silver Screen Surprises of This Year's
Nominations
By Chris Sabga
Just
as I did last year, I will list the nominees and then examine the
"Silver Screen Surprises" for each of the main categories.
Which
films and performers was I surprised to see on the list?
Were
there any surprising omissions?
And
the Oscar goes to...
Best Picture
"Call
Me by Your Name"
"Darkest
Hour"
"Dunkirk"
"Get
Out"
"Lady
Bird"
"Phantom
Thread"
"The
Post"
"The
Shape of Water"
"Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Surprises: With
all of the hoopla surrounding "Wonder Woman,"
I really expected it to the lead the pack –
and maybe even win. Instead,
it has been completely shut out. That's somewhat surprising in the year
of #MeToo and #TimesUp where women
are rising up and exposing widespread
systemic sexual abuse, unfair
gender wage gaps, skewed power dynamics, and many other major
problems both in and out of Hollywood.
It's long overdue. If there
was ever a movie I assumed the Academy would choose as
a "symbol" of everything that's happened, it
was this one. In the past,
phony Tinseltown has shamelessly attached itself and certain movies
to major issues going on in the world in a futile attempt to "look
progressive." While
this omission is sure to upset many, perhaps it's a sign that
everyone in Hollywood finally realizes that these women aren't going
anywhere – nor should they – and a token nomination or award
isn't going to be enough this time to solve all of the very real
problems plaguing the film industry.
However,
in the battle of "superhero movies," my heart was with the
surprisingly powerful and poignant
"Logan"
– which stripped the iconic X-Men characters of most of their
powers and instead explored their humanity and fragility. Alas, it
too was completely omitted from most of the major categories.
Another
major omission, for me, is the wonderful "The Big Sick." It
takes real artistry to turn a movie about a girl in a
medically-induced coma into one of the funniest and most heartwarming
films of the year. Combining comedy and drama is never
easy, and this movie does it effortlessly.
Of
the current nominations, none of them are even remotely shocking to
me. They're the same movies I've seen in other awards ceremonies and
on various prediction lists for the past several weeks.
Lead Actor
Timothée
Chalamet, "Call Me by Your Name"
Daniel
Day-Lewis, "Phantom Thread"
Daniel
Kaluuya, "Get Out"
Gary
Oldman, "Darkest Hour"
Denzel
Washington, "Roman J. Israel, Esq."
Surprises: "Roman
J. Israel, Esq." has been plagued by critical
scorn and audience
indifference, so I wasn't
necessarily expecting Denzel to show up here. He is always solid
though.
James
Franco was predicted to be the front-runner at one point for "The
Disaster Artist," but allegations of sexual misconduct may have
put the deep freeze on his Oscar chances – and his career in
general. A far cry from just one year ago where Casey Affleck faced
similar accusations and sailed away with the Academy Award anyway.
#TimesUp indeed.
I
loved Kumail Nanjiani's
semi-autobiographical performance in "The Big Sick," and
while expected, I'm still sad to see him left off this list.
Lead Actress
Sally
Hawkins, "The Shape of Water"
Frances
McDormand, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Margot
Robbie, "I, Tonya"
Saoirse
Ronan, "Lady Bird"
Meryl
Streep, "The Post"
Surprises: Meryl
Streep gets an unexpected nomination. Oh, who am I kidding? There are
only three certainties in life: death, taxes, and Meryl Streep
getting nominated for an Academy Award.
Supporting Actor
Willem
Dafoe, "The Florida Project"
Woody
Harrelson, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Richard
Jenkins, "The Shape of Water"
Christopher
Plummer, "All the Money in the World"
Sam
Rockwell, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Surprises: I'm
not sure I was expecting both
supporting actors to be nominated for "Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,"
but you can never go wrong with Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell.
Patrick
Stewart's heartbreaking turn in "Logan" as an elderly
superhero who can no longer control his powers was unjustly
overlooked by the Academy. Surely, we could've had one
billboard
outside Ebbing, Missouri in this category to make room for the former
Captain Picard.
Speaking
of former TV actors, Ray Romano's kicked puppy dog performance in
"The Big Sick" was quietly powerful – and unfortunately
nowhere to be found in this category.
Supporting
Actress
Mary
J. Blige, "Mudbound"
Allison
Janney, "I, Tonya"
Lesley
Manville, "Phantom Thread"
Laurie
Metcalf, "Lady Bird"
Octavia
Spencer, "The Shape of Water"
Surprises: No
real surprises here. Octavia Spencer has become the new Meryl Streep
with all of the nominations she's racked up over the years – not
that I'm complaining, because she's terrific. It's also nice to see
Laurie Metcalf too.
Director
Christopher
Nolan, "Dunkirk"
Jordan
Peele, "Get Out"
Greta
Gerwig, "Lady Bird"
Paul
Thomas Anderson, "Phantom Thread"
Guillermo
del Toro, "The Shape of Water"
Surprises: With
"Wonder Woman" not in the Best Picture race, its director
Patty Jenkins isn't here either. Neither is James Mangold for
"Logan."
Animated Feature
"The
Boss Baby" – Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann Naito
"The
Breadwinner" – Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo
"Coco"
– Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson
"Ferdinand"
– Carlos Saldanha
"Loving
Vincent" – Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan
Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman
Surprises: I
never expected "Loving Vincent" to be recognized. Look for
a review soon!
Adapted
Screenplay
"Call
Me by Your Name" – James Ivory
"The
Disaster Artist" – Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
"Logan"
– Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green
"Molly’s
Game" – Aaron Sorkin
"Mudbound"
– Virgil Williams and Dee Rees
Surprises: "Logan"
gets something
at least – this is its one and only nomination – but can it win?
Original
Screenplay
"The
Big Sick" – Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
"Get
Out" – Jordan Peele
"Lady
Bird" – Greta Gerwig
"The
Shape of Water" – Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor
"Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" – Martin McDonagh
Surprises:
No real surprises, but I'm happy to see "The Big Sick"
here. This is its lone nomination.
_____
Other thoughts: This
is the first Oscars of the post-Weinstein era. In addition to being a
horrible monster
accused of multiple counts of sexual assault and misconduct, he also
used his considerable power and influence to shift the awards
advantage to movies under his own banner. Ask any regular person why
they stopped taking the Oscars seriously and they'll likely point to
the year "Shakespeare in Love" upended "Saving Private
Ryan." Now, "Shakespeare" was a nice little trifle of
a movie – I enjoyed it well enough – but nothing in it comes
close to the staggering open scene of "Ryan." Let's hope
for a purer and fairer Academy Awards this year.
Note from Silver
Screen Lawyer: Please
automatically assume
"alleged" or
"allegedly" are
attached to every sentence
written here about
famous and powerful men accused of sexual abuse and misconduct,
whether the words are actually present or not – even if they aren't
grammatically correct or otherwise appropriate to include. Also, add
"Mr. [Fill-in-the-Monster-Here]
unequivocally denies any allegations of non-consensual sex."
_____
The
rest of the categories and nominees are:
Animated Short
"Dear
Basketball" – Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant
"Garden
Party" – Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon
"Lou"
– Dave Mullins, Dana Murray
"Negative
Space" – Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata
"Revolting
Rhymes" – Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer
Cinematography
"Blade
Runner 2049" – Roger Deakins
"Darkest
Hour" – Bruno Delbonnel
"Dunkirk"
– Hoyte van Hoytema
"Mudbound"
– Rachel Morrison
"The
Shape of Water" – Dan Laustsen
Best Documentary
Feature
"Abacus:
Small Enough to Jail" – Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie
Goldman
"Faces
Places" – JR, Agnès Varda, Rosalie Varda
"Icarus"
– Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan
"Last
Men in Aleppo" – Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Soren Steen
Jepersen
"Strong
Island" – Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes
Best Documentary
Short Subject
"Edith+Eddie"
– Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright
"Heaven
is a Traffic Jam on the 405" – Frank Stiefel
"Heroin(e)"
– Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon
"Knife
Skills" – Thomas Lennon
"Traffic
Stop" – Kate Davis, David Heilbroner
Best Live Action
Short Film
"DeKalb
Elementary" – Reed Van Dyk
"The
Eleven O’Clock" – Derin Seale, Josh Lawson
"My
Nephew Emmett" – Kevin Wilson, Jr.
"The
Silent Child" – Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton
"Watu
Wote/All of Us" – Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen
Best Foreign
Language Film
"A
Fantastic Woman" (Chile)
"The
Insult" (Lebanon)
"Loveless"
(Russia)
"On
Body and Soul (Hungary)
"The
Square" (Sweden)
Film Editing
"Baby
Driver" – Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss
"Dunkirk"
– Lee Smith
"I,
Tonya" – Tatiana S. Riegel
"The
Shape of Water" – Sidney Wolinsky
"Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" – Jon Gregory
Sound Editing
"Baby
Driver" – Julian Slater
"Blade
Runner 2049" – Mark Mangini, Theo Green
"Dunkirk"
– Alex Gibson, Richard King
"The
Shape of Water" – Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira
"Star
Wars: The Last Jedi" – Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood
Sound Mixing
"Baby
Driver" – Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin
"Blade
Runner 2049" – Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill
"Dunkirk"
– Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo
"The
Shape of Water" – Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern
"Star
Wars: The Last Jedi" – Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker,
Michael Semanick
Production Design
"Beauty
and the Beast" – Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer
"Blade
Runner 2049" – Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola
"Darkest
Hour" – Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
"Dunkirk"
– Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
"The
Shape of Water" – Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin,
Shane Vieau
Original Score
"Dunkirk"
– Hans Zimmer
"Phantom
Thread" – Jonny Greenwood
"The
Shape of Water" – Alexandre Desplat
"Star
Wars: The Last Jedi" – John Williams
"Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" – Carter Burwell
Original Song
"Mighty
River" from "Mudbound" – Mary J. Blige
"Mystery
of Love" from "Call Me by Your Name" – Sufjan
Stevens
"Remember
Me" from "Coco" – Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert
Lopez
"Stand
Up for Something" from "Marshall" – Diane Warren,
Common
"This
Is Me" from "The Greatest Showman" – Benj Pasek,
Justin Paul
Makeup and Hair
"Darkest
Hour" – Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick
"Victoria
and Abdul" – Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard
"Wonder"
– Arjen Tuiten
Costume Design
"Beauty
and the Beast" – Jacqueline Durran
"Darkest
Hour" – Jacqueline Durran
"Phantom
Thread" – Mark Bridges
"The
Shape of Water" – Luis Sequeira
"Victoria
and Abdul" – Consolata Boyle
Visual Effects
"Blade
Runner 2049" – John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover,
Gerd Nefzer
"Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol. 2" – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams,
Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick
"Kong:
Skull Island" – Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza,
Mike Meinardus
"Star
Wars: The Last Jedi" – Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris
Corbould, Neal Scanlon
"War
for the Planet of the Apes" – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel
Barrett, Joel Whist
