On the eve of 2018, I’d like to share eight movie wishes for the coming year. Perhaps some Hollywood magic will make every one of them come true.
I wish for:
1. Ready Player One (March) to be as good as the combination of the page-turning book + director Steven Spielberg magic. Anything short of “This generation’s Back To The Future,” and I’m like, totally disappointed.
2. Oscars to get over itself and last year’s envelope mishap, and focus on the films and craft. Ugh, I know the marketing angle of that will be hard to resist, but it’s a tacky tactic and I can hear the tired Kimmel jokes already. He’s better than that.
3. The Overboard remake (April), starring Anna Faris,to be the modern Goldie Hawn style comedy that we did not get last year with Snatched. I also want her to get back together with Chris Pratt, so that we can have an Overboard/Jurassic World crossover. Not really.
4. AMC Theatres to settle its dispute with Movie Pass, so that I can use mine to see writer-director Damine Chazelle’s (La La Land, Whiplash) new 2018 film First Man and writer-director Barry Jenkin’s (Moonlight) new and curiously titled film, If Beale Street Could Talk.
5. That the opening date move of A Star Is Born from May to December 2018 is a sign that this film is strong enough to delay it to award season — and not in need of time to fix. This remake stars Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in the Redford and Streisand roles and I’m intrigued.
6. The new Star Wars story, Solo (May) to be good enough for audiences to want more than one.
7. More Laura Dern in 2018. Everything she touched last year was better for it: Big Little Lies, The Founder, Twin Peaks and Star Wars: The Last Jedi
8. A supercalifragilisticexpialidocious year at the movies. To be blunt, I’m counting on Mary Poppins Returns (December), starring Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda, to save the year.
Happy 2018, everybody!
State of shock.
After about 15 minutes of watching the brat kids at the centerpiece of Sean Baker’s (Tangerine) The Florida Project, I wanted to walk out of the theater. I’m glad I didn’t; it won me over.
There are two sides to this film; much like the views of life in this outside-Orlando town is to the children and adults who inhabit this film. It’s no accident that the very real moments on screen happen outside of the most magical place on earth, in the Sunshine State.
Credit to Baker and the actors, the characters slowly become more real than most onscreen. Plus, Alexix Zabé's camera work pulls you into this world, and William Dafoe has rarely been better.
The realism isn’t as perfected as Richard Linklater's (Boyhood), but it’s approaching that level of film excellence. Except for the final minutes, there are no film cheats nor trite treatments of borderline poverty in America. Baker got it just right, and this film will surely stick with you long after watching.
In a nutshell: Not a Friday night film getaway, but you should find the right time to see this story
Award potential: The Academy Award nominations will likely be kinder to this film than those of Golden Globes, who like big stars, and SAG which focuses on ensemble casts.
Expect nominations for Best Movie and Best Supporting Actor (Dafoe) and possible nominations for Best Screenplay (Baker), Best Cinematography (Zabé) and Best Supporting Actress (Brooklynn Prince), a long shot for the young actress.
The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.
A cinematic mess-terpiece.
If the title of “worst filmmaker” has not previously been awarded to director Ed Wood (Plan 9 From Outer Space), then that dubious honor would have to go to Tommy Wiseau for The Room, a 2003 cult classic still shown today under the billing of “the worst movie ever made.”
Hilariously, that mess of a movie became its own bit of mess-terpiece cinema, as audiences have lined up for midnight laughs ever since. Fourteen years later, it has inspired another bit of cinema. If you enjoy stories from Hollywood, this will be one of your favorite films this year.
The Disaster Artist takes us behind the scenes of that disaster and provides us with one of the funnier films of the year. James Franco brings on the biggest laughs as Tommy. His brother, Dave Franco, brings laughs but mostly heart to the film as Tommy’s friend, roommate and The Room co-star Greg Sestero. Seth Rogen, as filmmaker Sandy Schklair, delivers the rest.
It's not necessary to have seen The Room to enjoy this film about friendship, dreams and accidental art. But afterwards, you’ll probably want to.
In a nutshell: Definitely not the worst movie of this year
Award potential: Franco’s memorable performance puts him on the short list for Best Actor Oscar nods, but to me there is a sense that he’s having more fun making this film than should be allowed. That, plus his disastrous Oscar-hosting stint, should put him on the snub list by the time we get to Oscar nomination time. The film and Franco should do well in the comedy category at the Golden Globes.
The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.
The Golden Globes are voted on The Hollywood Foreign press, which is 89 foreign journalists who choose to live in Southern California — so who knows what they think? Apparently, I do. I have an 87.5% accuracy rate in the past, so here goes.
Best Picture (Drama)
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Spoilers: The Darkest Hour, The Florida Project, All the Money in the World
Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)
Get Out
I, Tonya
Lady Bird
The Disaster Artist
The Big Sick
Spoilers: The Greatest Showman, Downsizing, Victorial & Abdul, Beauty and The Beast
Best Actor (Drama)
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Jake Gyllenhaal, Stronger
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Tom Hanks, The Post
Spoilers: Christian Bale, Hostiles, Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Best Actress (Drama)
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Meryl Streep, The Post
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Jessica Chastain, Molly’s Game
Vicky Krieps, Phantom Thread
Spoilers: Jennifer Lawrence, mother!, Michelle Williams, All The Money In The World, Salma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner
Best Actor (Comedy or Musical)
Matt Damon, Downsizing
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman
Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Spoiler: Steve Carrell, Battle of the Sexes
Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Zoe Kazan, The Big Sick
Emma Stone, The Battle of the Sexes
Judi Dench, Victoria and Abdul
Spoilers: Annette Benning , Film Stars Don’t Live In Liverpool, Helen Mirren, The Leisure Seeker, Kate Winslet, Wonder Wheel, Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman
Best Supporting Actor (All categories)
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me By Your Name
Christopher Plummer, All The Money In The World
Spoilers: Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name, Jason Mitchell, Mudbound Patrick Stewart, Logan
Best Supporting Actress (All categories)
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
Rosamund Pike, Hostiles
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Spoilers: Tiffany Haddish for Girls Trip, Kristen Scott Thomas for Darkest Hour, Mary J. Blige for Mudbound, Allison Williams for Get Out!
Best Director
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Steven Spielberg, The Post
Spoilers: Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name, Martin McDonagh for Three Billboards; Ridley Scott for All the Money in the World, or Joe Wright, Darkest Hour Good luck, all! Nominations will be announced 7:00 a.m. Monday, December 11.
Why a nomination for Logan is super deserved
With the exception of Nolan’s World War II film Dunkirk, and Spielberg’s journalism drama The Post, the 2017 Best Picture Oscar race is free of the usual categories we expect to see. It’s the kind of year where the next likely nominations are a horror film (Get Out) and a creature feature (The Shape of Water). With a small lot of films that worked in 2017, perhaps this is the type of year where a quality super hero film could join the ranks of Best Picture nominees.
I’m not talking about Patty Jenkins’ crowd-pleasing Wonder Woman, I’m talking about Logan, director James Mangold's modern Western that elevated the superhero genre to new heights and made audiences forget it was a comic-book movie.
Logan is unburdened of comic book trappings. There is no doomsday villain nemesis, aliens invading our planet or superpower origin story. This down-to-earth film expertly fulfills the promise of the moment we were first introduced to Hugh Jackman and his Eastwood-gruff character in 2000. The R-rated Logan is gritty, raw, original and before the film is over, we finally get to see Wolverine let loose on film. It’s about bloody time; Logan is the Wolverine movie we've waited 17 years for.
It should also be noted that Jackman and the esquisite Patrick Stewart share some powerfully-written scenes that rise above the format. Fans were pleased and first-timers have a stand-alone film to love. Cue the sunset.
Most superhero films aren’t worth ten bucks which makes me respect this one even more. With Logan, Jackman’s Wolverine (the single most iconic onscreen superhero) finally has his The Dark Knight. Oscar voters, I suggest a nomination for Best Picture contender Logan.
The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.
Sink in and enjoy a fairy tale.
With Shape of Water, Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim, Pan’s Labyrinth) tosses a feature creature into the Oscar race during an unusual year that will likely feature a horror film and perhaps a super hero franchise.
Shape is kinda weird, kinda wonderful and kinda impossible to look away from.
Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky, Blue Jasmine) plays Elisa, a mute cleaning lady who makes a monstrous discovery in her 1960s America workplace. Doug Jones ( Del Toro's Hellboy) plays the beast to her beauty and that’s about as much as I’m going to say about a story that has to be experienced before discussing. Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer play her friends. Michael Shannan, the film’s cold war baddie.
Del Toro directs this fairy tale with old Hollywood magic, gathering full romantic sensibilities while somehow telling a pulp novel monster story. The story goes far into creepy territory but it’s so well crafted — touching on themes of love, social intolerance and the human need for companions — that no one will be caught laughing.
In a nutshell: H2OMG! It’s weird — and wonderful. It’s clearly going to be the love it/hate it film of the year.
Award potential: It’s a master class of craft and the most likely film to gather the most Academy Award nominations this year, perhaps 12.
Expect a splash of support for this film with nods for Best Film, Director (Del Toro), Cinematography (Dan Laustesen), Screenplay (Del Toro and Vanessa Taylor), Actress (Hawkins’ face showcased every emotion), Supporting Actor (Richard Jenkins), Art Direction (Paul D. Austerberry), Score (Alexandre Desplat), Makeup, Film Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
Octavia Spencer is repeating her one-note performance too often in similar roles and I expect she will be rightfully overlooked this time.
The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.
