Indie Gems: Shattered Glass

Just a little reach..

Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen) is a hot shot journalist at The New Republic. He always finds the craziest, most out there stories. The only problem is, he's fabricating a bunch of them. And a rival journalist, Adam Penengberg (Steve Zahn) starts asking questions about his latest story, it puts a lot of pressure on his new editor Chuck. (Peter Sarsgaard)

I've been meaning to watch this movie for years. It always escaped me, but now it's available on HBO Go so I, well....gave it a go.

I'm glad I did. I love journalism movies and this one is fast paced and interesting as it should be. Sometimes it's hard to watch Christensen after being subjected to him in Star Wars, but like he did in Life as a House, he gives a good performance here. Stephen is not likable at all, but you can understand why others might gravitate towards him. The real star here is Peter Sarsgaard who add so much nuance to his character. He's immediately painted as the bad guy when he really isn't.

The only thing I wish the film did differently was follow the aftermath a little more. That almost seems to be the theme with me lately. I just finished watching American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace and felt the same way. They take us through the deed, but sometimes a few extra minutes on top of those ending title cards would've helped.

Grade: A

Watched on: HBO Go

Memorable Quote: "Why would a big tech company only have one phone line?" - Adam (Steve Zahn)

Thursday Movie Picks: TV Edition - Non English Shows

This week's theme at Wandering Through The Shelves is a tough one. Non English TV shows. We had this topic last year and I ended up being a bit creative with it,and using shows that were originally in another language, but were dubbed over when I saw them. This time around, I'm going with a few shows in my Netflix queue that I haven't watched yet that I plan to.

1) Death Note

My niece highly recommended this to me and it's an anime I've been curious about for a long time. And when I say recommended, I mean she angrily turned off the new Netflix movie version after 10 minutes and ranted about how the show was so much better. 

2) Attack on Titan

I watched a few episodes of this with my husband but never finished it for some reason. He loves it, and I liked what I saw. So this is one I'll definitely be revisiting. 

3) Dark

I love all things German and this is one of Netflix's newer shows. I've been in my queue for a while. I'll eventually get to it. 

Review: Unsane

Maybe it's all in my head.

Sawyer (Claire Foy) has just moved to a new city to flee a stalker, though she still "sees" him everywhere she goes. She goes to a mental health facility looking for a therapist to talk to and winds up getting involuntarily committed instead. Then she finds that her stalker, David (Joshua Leonard) is working at there with her, or is she seeing things again?

Hearing that director Stephen Soderbergh of all people is going to shoot a film on an iPhone is strange enough as it is. He has plenty of funds at his disposal, he can shoot on whatever he wants. So why the gimmick? Apparently atmosphere. Shooting like this makes us feel like we're actually right there with Sawyer. Like we're following her, locked somewhere we don't want to be with her, it's very claustrophobic. The graininess you see in the trailers is easily forgotten one you're fully immersed in the film.

This is one of the best thrillers I've seen in a long time. It doesn't play it safe and you consistently question whether or not Sawyer is seeing things as they really are or if this is all a figment of her imagination. I think films that involve people trying to get themselves out of treatment can fall into a territory where they make plot based decisions instead of logical ones. I didn't feel that here. Sure, Sawyer lashes out and that doesn't help her, but it never feels like something that's just there for the sake of keeping the plot rolling. 

If anyone has seen Claire Foy's work on The Crown, you know how strong of an actress she is, and she is excellent here. I loved her scenes with fellow patient Nate, played by Jay Pharaoh. The surprise for me Leonard. I'm not familiar with his work but I was really impressed with his outing here. 

A film like this may not give you all the answers you're looking for, but it gives you plenty to think about.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A-

Memorable Quote: "You're a fucking Simpleton.." - Sawyer (Claire Foy)

Review: Ruin Me

Sleep out time!

Alex (Marcienne Dwyer) is reluctantly tagging along with her boyfriend Nathan (Matt Dellapina) on a "Slasher Sleepout." Part scavenger hunt, part escape room, horror isn't really Alex's thing. When people start actually dying, she finds herself really fighting for her life.

I tend to have a good time with slasher movies. Many of them start to look the same so I appreciate when one like Ruin Me comes along and tries something different. It takes the fun weekend trope and spins it just a little to feel fresh. It's also littered with humor. I laughed out loud when resident douchebag, Pitch (John Odom) chooses Chaos as his favorite horror movie. Is there anything douchier then someone looking at Last House on the Left and going "I can do that, and grosser!" I'm not sure if that's how the director intended that exchange to be taken but I got a kick out of it. 

This is pretty low budget so don't expect to be wowed by any of the special effects, but it's very well done for what they had. I'm glad I got the opportunity to catch this in theaters. Dwyer carries this film and I'll definitely search out what she does next. 

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "I don't think it's that kind of crowd." - Pitch (John Odom)

Indie Gems: Antiviral

Got needles?

Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) works in a facility that harvests celebrity illnesses so they can inject their rabid fans for top dollar. Want your favorite actor's herpes? There's a place for you! Of course, Syd can't play it straight and attempts to sell illnesses to shady side dealers by injecting himself before he leaves work for the day. This all backfires when he injects himself with a disease that kills their top client, Hannah Geist. (Sarah Gadon)

Does anyone play shady white trash like Jones? I don't think so. He's perfect for this roll. Syd is a sleazeball but one you end up caring about despite the level of fucked up-ness that is his day to day life. 

Director Brandon Cronenberg definitely shares a few of his father's traits. This film isn't over the top gory but the amount of needles you see going into skin is very unsettling. And this is coming from someone who has never been bothered by needles. Unfortunately even with this great idea, it feels like they didn't know where he wanted to go with the 3rd act.

I love when horror movies get creative like this but I felt like this just didn't come together the way it could've. The synopsis describes this as a satire but I didn't feel that at all while watching. I wanted more, but it's not to say that what I got was bad. I just think he had more potential. Still, I can't not recommend it. It's very different.

Grade: C+

Watched on: Netflix DVD

Memorable Quote: "Almost...perfect." - Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones)

Thursday Movie Picks: Nostalgia

This week's them from Wandering Through the Shelves is nostalgia. Last week we talked about our childhood favorites, and this week is almost a continuation of that. Here are some films that make me feel young again.

Edit: So, I think I may have misunderstood the theme. I think perhaps I was supposed to use movies featuring nostalgia, so let's just pretend Lando was nostalgic for the Falcon in Return of the Jedi. Everyone in Jurassic Park was nostalgic for when they were a kid and loved dinosaurs, and Robin is nostalgic for when he didn't have to babysit Bebe's kids. 

1) Return of the Jedi

Have I mentioned that I watched the original trilogy backwards for the first time? We had Return of the Jedi on tape, but we couldn't find Empire Strikes back. So I went ahead and watched it. Eventually we found our copy of Empire, so that came second. We never had A New Hope, so the first time I saw it was when they re-released them in theaters in 1997. Star Wars still means a lot to me and Return of the Jedi always makes me feel like a kid again.

2) Jurassic Park

This was the first "grown up" movie I remember seeing in theaters. I loved dinosaurs and adored this movie. I remember being surprised when one of my friends came over to my house when it was on tape and said she wasn't allowed to watch it. It didn't strike me as being too mature for our age. 

3) Bebe's Kids

This movie was on EVERY SINGLE TIME I stayed home sick from school. Nothing helps you feel better from a cold, flu, or fever than Bebe's Kids. Truth be told, I haven't seen this movie in probably 20 years. For all I know it's ridiculous and offensive but I always remember laughing at it when it came on. 

2018 Blind Spot Series: The Seventh Seal

What I knew going in: Apparently nothing. 

A knight, Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow) and his squire (Gunnar Björnstrand) are returning home from the crusades when Block meets death personified. (Bengt Ekerot) He doesn't feel it's his time, so he challenges Death to a game of chess. As they play, their game affects the lives of others around them as the Black Death begins to sweep across the lands. 

I know I've said this before, but Ingmar Bergman is a filmmaker who I was not aware of at all until I became a movie blogger. I was never very good at looking further back into the history of cinema to begin with, so when the Blind Spot opportunity came along, I've had a Bergman film nearly every year. Why am I bringing this up again? Because in my Bergman research I mixed this film up with a different one. See, I thought this was one of the films in his Faith trilogy, which I meant to finish after watching Winter Light. I keep a list of films I want to watch and I change the order of said list often, Apparently somewhere down the line I messed up my Bergman one, because I was expecting this to be a heavy drama and it was essentially the opposite. 

It was kind of a nice surprise after preparing myself for it. The Seventh Seal has an airiness to it. Ekerot is startling as death. He's continuously very unsettling to look at but for a film about dying they manage not to drown in that sorrow.

Max Von Sydow was so handsome back then, I loved watching him in this. Bibi Andersson is also wonderful to watch. Unfortunately not all the other characters are as dynamic as those two. Occasionally I had trouble remembering who was who, even though this isn't a long film.

This may not have been the film I was expecting, but I enjoyed it very much. Especially with how popular it seems to be among Bergman fans.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "I want knowledge." - Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow)

Indie Gems: We Don't Belong Here

Ground yourself.

Nancy Green (Catherine Keener) is no stranger to mental illness. Not only does she show signs of it, so do 3/4 of her children. Madeline (Annie Starke) is the well adjusted one. Elisa (Riley Keough) is estranged from her mother and has gone on to become a famous singer. The only daughter still living at home, Lily (Kaitlyn Denver) whose not taking her meds. When her only son Max (Anton Yelchin) goes missing, Nancy begins to re-evaluate her life. 

There's no way around this, We Don't Belong Here is technically not a good movie. The dialogue is full of platitudes. It feels like it was hacked apart in the editing room and the side stories don't mesh well. But despite that, I enjoyed watching this.

I always feel like I'm drawn to stories where the main character feels uncomfortable. I don't know why, but that describes Lily well. Her therapist says she's bipolar, but she doesn't want to be on medication. She's the one sibling linking Max and Elisa back to the family, and Denver is a great actress. I think she carries this film well. The acting across the board is excellent, Anton was heart breaking, Riley (and Kaitlyn) both have lovely singing voices that I didn't know about. And Maya Rudolph and Molly Shannon even show up too.

I just wish this film was better. I feel like director Peer Pedersen chose to shoot this like a music video instead of focusing on the core plot. Because of that, we drift from scene to scene, then abruptly cut away. Then an elaborate dream sequence throws everything out of whack for a minute. I really did like this movie, it kept my interest, but I can't ignore the editing here. It just didn't work.

And ugh, I miss Anton. 

Grade: C+

Watched on: Netflix DVD

Memorable quote: "I love you, so I'll take you home." - Elisa (Riley Keough)

Thursday Movie Picks: Childhood Favorites

This week, Wanderer wants to take us back to our Childhood favorites. Who doesn't love talking about films they enjoyed as a child? I do. Here are some of my favorites. 

1) The Secret of NIMH

I did a post back in August where I ranked all of Don Bluth's films and this was my number one. I loved watching this as a kid and still do. It's one of my all time favorite animated films.

2) A Little Princess

While I liked Shirley Temple's version, the 1995 film was so much more magical to me. I even had a plastic version of the same locket in the film. 

3) The Last Unicorn

My sister is a decade older than me and this was one of her favorites that ended up being one of mine as well. It's weird as fuck when you watch it now but I really liked it back then. 

Review: Thoroughbreds

What do you feel?

Amanda (Olivia Cooke) feels nothing. Never joy, hate, love. She's just good at pretending. When a former friend, Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) comes back in her life as a tutor, Amanda see's that Lily's seemingly perfect life isn't so. She hates her stepfather, Mark. (Paul Sparks) Amanda suggests killing him, and Lily at the end of her rope considers it. 

This was at Sundance last year, and it's Anton Yelchin's final film. Of course I wanted to see it for him at the very least. He plays a skeezy drug dealer, but still. 

Thoroughbreds is an interesting take on unlikely friendships. Both Cooke and Taylor-Joy excel in their roles. When I saw the previews, I wondered whether or not they should've switched characters just based on what I had seen them in previously, but they were perfect where they are. A film like this would fail of the lead actresses couldn't carry their parts, because really a lot of the scenes are just Amanda and Lily talking, but these two are wonderful.

The film has a very interesting score and that also sets it apart. At times the film comes up short, but overall I really enjoyed it. I'm still shocked my theater got this in the first place. Per Box Office Mojo this only opened in around 500 theaters this week. 

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "Were you using the technique?" - Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy)

Review: A Wrinkle in Time

Be a warrior

Meg's (Storm Reid) father (Chris Pine) disappeared without a trace four years ago. Since then, she's no longer the top student she once was. She's angry, and nothing makes sense. Strange things start happening when her younger brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) introduces her and her friend Calvin (Levi Miller) to three women they've never seen before. Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling) and Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) Their father is alive and they must cross through time and space to reach him.

I never read the beloved book, but I still wanted to see this. I love director Ava DuVernay and I wanted to see how she handles a potential block buster like this. It's also nice sometimes to not have the written word to compare it too. Unfortunately, even going in without knowing the story didn't stop the glaring issues.

First thing, I love the story. I really do, it's inspiring to see a young girl be in touch with herself, acknowledge her faults, and use all of that to save others. I found that aspect very moving. What doesn't help this already strong story is the dialogue. It's full of platitudes and the side characters like the bully, the principle, the teachers, they're all caricatures. Maybe this is the fault of the book, but I found myself rolling my eyes often whenever one of them had lines. But that's not even the worst part.

It's the actors. I'm not sure what happened here. Ava's directed excellent performances out of so so material before in Selma, but I felt like no direction was given to the child actors in this film. Storm Reid is good for the most part. I can't wait to see her in something again because I think she'll have a long career. But at the beginning, she's only given "stoic" just as Miller feels like he's only been given "obsessed." Calvin spends the entire film looking madly in love with Meg, which is fine but I've seen this kid emote before, he should've been given more. On the flip side, McCabe should've been toned down. He is completely over the top and cringeworthy to watch. I've also never been this annoyed with hearing a character's name since "Jeliza-Rose" in Tideland. My God. I never want to hear the name "Charles Wallace" again. 

I don't know how I would've felt about this film having read the novel first. But right now, I'm disappointed because I wanted so desperately to love this. I liked the cast, and Disney usually has a good hand on these things. When I asked my son if he liked this film as we left the theater, he responded with "It's fine, but I don't want to watch it again." This is after begging to see it. I guess we were both underwhelmed.

Recommended: No

Grade: C-

Memorable Quote: "That's right, your beautiful faults." - Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon)

Thursday Movie Picks: Just One Day

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is movies that all take place in one day. I had all these horror movies in mind and then I realized I need to save those for Halloween. Here's what I came up with.

1) 12 Angry Men

This is one of my all time favorite films to come out of my Blind Spot list. Not only does this take place in one day, but the majority of the film is set in one room.

2) The 25th Hour

Another film I love, it's pretty out there and at times brutal to watch. But I absolutely love the cast.

3) Do The Right Thing

Another product of my Blind Spot list. This film about racial tension is nearly 30 years old, but is still so relevant today. 

Indie Gems: Una

I need answers, but I don't know the question.

When Una (Rooney Mara) was 13, she ran off with her adult neighbor, Ray. (Ben Mendelsohn) After their relationship turned sexual, he abandoned her, then spent a short amount of time in prison for what he had done. He got a new name, a new job, and a new life. Una didn't. And 15 years later she still has questions and feelings and she finally gets to a point where she tracks him down and confronts him.

Una brings in an interesting and little talked about voice to the sexual abuse conversation. What happens when the victim still has feelings for their abuser? What happens when they aren't allowed to move on? And how should we look at those abusers after they have been "rehabilitated?" We all want to think that Una went to therapy, came to terms with what happened to hear and was allowed to move on, but she wasn't. Her parents kept her in the same town, and the same house. Like she says to Ray at one point in the film "You got to change your name. I had to keep mine." It's so unfair for her to still be in this position. Una herself doesn't seem to know what exactly she wants from Ray. An apology or an acknowledgement of her feelings. That felt very real to me. She just wanted to talk to him about what happened. There's a flashback of his trial earlier on where she asks the police officer to give him a message from her. Now she's living out her message.

Mara is excellent here. Una is understandably very melancholy and Mara plays those types of characters well. She also tackles an English accent well. I felt like she was actually from England. She didn't put on the "Nowhere, United Kingdom" accent that many do. Mendelsohn has a hard job as well. He has to humanize a sexual predator and make us wonder if he really did feel terrible for what he had did and moved on from it. Riz Ahmed also has a supporting role as Scott, Ray's coworker whom Una meets, which was a surprise to me. I didn't realize he was in this. I had only heard of this movie after Alex talked about how much he loves Mara's performance in it. 

The film is based on a play called Blackbird, and you can tell by the set pieces it wasn't originally intended for cinema. I think the director did a great job of making it more cinematic by including flashbacks of Una when she was younger with Ray. And he does it without actually showing any sexual acts, which I was thankful for. The film does flounder towards the end. Like its not sure what to do with itself. Or maybe that was intended. Where do you go from there?

Grade: A-

Watched on: Netflix DVD

Memorable Quote: "Does she know?" - Una (Rooney Mara)

Review: Mute

.....

Set in a futuristic Berlin, a mute bartender, Leo (Alexander Skarsgard) goes searching for his girlfriend Naadiah (Seyneb Saleh) after she abruptly goes missing. He ends up crossing paths with some dangerous people, mainly Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd) in the process.

Being a huge fan of Duncan Jones' Moon - which gets a nice little easter egg in here - I was really looking forward to this one. Even when all the bad reviews started rolling in. While I didn't find it nearly as bad as its Rotten Tomatoes score suggests, calling this movie a mess is a bit of an understatement. 

I'm not sure Jones knew which way to take this story. Naadiah and Leo feel like they've only been in a relationship for a week or so, so the lengths he's going to find her seem odd. Not to mention, Saleh is not good in this film at all so it was hard for me to actually route for him to find her again. Bringing in Cactus Bill also felt a bit forced, even when you find out why he's a bigger part of the story other than some guy Leo happens to run into a few times, the whole thing felt shoehorned in. Then there's another subplot with a character who is a pedophile, and I cannot for the life of me understand what Jones was thinking here. It served no purpose. Sure, he succeeded in making his audience feel uncomfortable but not without asking "why is this even here?" 

Mute essentially has three good things about it. Futuristic Berlin looks cool, even though they are lacking things like reverse look up and voice assistance for those who cannot speak. Skarsgard and Rudd are both very good in their roles but they're wasted with this mess of a script. Skarsgard got lucky, he didn't get saddled with any of the horrendous dialogue. 

Recommended: No

Grade: D+

Memorable Quote: "People are so fucking rude." - Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd)

2018 Academy Award Winners

I made a new Awards Coverage banner but I wanted to see Saoirse and Greta one last time too.

#WakandaForver

Another Oscar season in the bag! Truth be told, Kimmel wasn't the greatest host and since the winners were so predictable this year it ended up being kind of boring. Plus they did another cringey "surprising real people!" bit. How did I do with my picks? 17/24. I missed Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Animated Short, Doc, Editing, Live Action Short, and Foreign Film. Here are a list of the nominees. The winners are in blue. 

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
I knew as soon as Three Billboards lost Screenplay that they were in trouble. I liked The Shape of Water quite a bit but it was nowhere near my favorite of the nominees. Three Billboards would've made a far better winner. 


Best 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.”
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. This was the dullest win of the night. Chalamet and Kaluuya were far better in their roles and I would've rather seen one of them win. 


Best 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”
You all know how much I wanted Saoirse to win this. Frances did give a great performance, and her speech ended on a high note. 

Yaaaaaaassssssssssss

Best 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”
One of my favorite wins of the night. It's about damn time. 

Best Supporting Actress
Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”
Janney did make me laugh when she started her speech with "I did it all by myself."


Best Director
“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
“Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro
I love Guillermo but this was another one that underwhelmed me. It would've meant more had Nolan, Gerwig, or Peele won. 


Best Animated Feature
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent


Best Live Action Short
DeKalb Elementary
The Eleven O’Clock
My Nephew Emmett
The Silent Child
Watu Wote/All of Us
I guessed DeKalb Elementary. I really liked how one of the winners signed her speech for the deaf child that starred in their film. That was a lovely touch. 


Best Adapted Screenplay
Call Me by Your Name
The Disaster Artist
Logan
Molly’s Game
Mudbound
The Disaster Artist should've won, but nothing stood a chance against CMBYN

The man who wrote "Hingle McCringleberry" is an Oscar winner.

Best Original Screenplay
The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,
I thought Three Billboards would take this but I am SO glad Peele did. He truly had the most original screenplay of the year. 


Best Cinematography
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Mudbound
The Shape of Water
FINALLY. Finally Roger Deakins is an Oscar winner. This should've been his 5th win. He was so overdue. 


Best Documentary Feature
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island
Keep in mind I didn't see Faces Places and Abacus, but based on the other three Icarus winning is some serious fuckery. I found it to be boring and it had no heart like Last Men in Aleppo and Strong Island did. I was hoping Strong Island would come through. 


Best Documentary Short Subject
Edith+Eddie
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop


Best Animated Short Film
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou
Negative Space
Revolting Rhymes
Academy Aaward Winner Kobe Bryant. Wow. What a world we live in.


Best Foreign Language Film
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
The Insult (Lebanon)
Loveless (Russia)
On Body and Soul (Hungary)
The Square” (Sweden)
I haven't seen A Fantastic Woman yet, but I look forward to watching it. 

For no reason other than Greta wore my favorite dress and Timothee is always happy

Best Film Editing
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
This surprised me because I thought Baby Driver would win, and instead they got completely shut out. 


Sound Editing
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi



Best Sound Mixing
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
I'm happy that Dunkirk took home both sound (and editing!) awards. I wish it won more. 

Production Design
Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water


Best Original Score
Dunkirk
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri



Best Original Song
Mighty River - Mudbound
Mystery of Love - Call Me by Your Name
Remember Me - Coco
Stand Up for Something - Marshall
This Is Me - The Greatest Showman



Makeup and Hair
Darkest Hour
Victoria and Abdul
Wonder
You know what should've been nominated and won? It. 

I'm going to be getting a lot of use out of this gif. 

Best Costume Design
Beauty and the Beast
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Victoria and Abdul
Thank God Phantom Thread won and not Beauty and the Beast. 

Best Visual Effects
Blade Runner 2049
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Kong: Skull Island,
War For the Planet of the Apes
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
I predicted this correctly, but really, fuck everyone who didn't vote for War for the Planet of the Apes. The fact that the Apes reboots didn't win a single Oscar for the VFX leads me to believe that half of the people voting are only looking for pretty colors. I acknowledge the VFX in Blade Runner is great, but it's not POTA. 

Mount Rushmore of Marvel Beards

M.Brown over at Two Dollar Cinema is hosting his wonderful Mount Rushmore of Movies blogathon again! Here are the rules in his own words:

I'd like to have all posts done by Friday, March 2nd (where I'll create a master list, linking back to all of your, er, both of your sites), but it's cool if you finish way before that. Or later. I honestly don't mind.

Send me a heads up/steamy nude pic on twitter @twodollarcinema , reply in the comments below, text me, e-mail me (twodollarcinema@gmail.com), fart in my general direction, whatever you want, when you've finished, okay? That would be mighty kind of you.

In your post, please use the rad banner my wife designed when she should have been working.

Share the announcement with every single person you've ever met. Or being that we're all bloggers, you're digital friends.


Be awesome. And if you're here, already know that you are anyway.

When I first saw the announcement, I saved the link with the subtitle (beards) because I keep things simple like that. My week has been hectic, so it's now Thursday evening as I write this and Mettel Ray already chose her Mt. Rushmore of Sam Rockwell beards. But it's late, I'm drained, and it's too late to change. I did do a bit of a theme within a theme, so I bring to you - 

The Mount Rushmore of Marvel Beards

Idris Elba - Thor: Ragnarok: It doesn't take much for Idris Elba to look hot. The reason I went with Ragnarok specifically is we finally see him without his helmet and that beard has that sexy touch of grey. 

Robert Downey Jr - Captain America: Civil War: You have to give Tony Stark some props, the guy spends a decent amount of time manscaping. So why is his beard hotter in someone else's movie? Simple. Because he's emotionally compromised the entire time. That vulnerability, plus the fact that RDJ is a bit older makes it hotter. 

Chris Hemsworth - Thor: Ragnarok: Another Ragnarok pick, but the beards are just too beautiful. Thor was already scruffing it a bit before Hela dumps him on another planet where his hair get cut and he's thrown into a gladiator pit. Thankfully they left his face alone. Thor needs to keep this look from now on.

Chris Evans - Avengers: Infinity War Yes, I'm choosing a movie that hasn't aired yet, why? BECAUSE IT'S MY MOUNT RUSHMORE AND LOOK AT CHRIS EVANS! Evans is sexy as fuck and normally had a beard when he's not filming a Cap movie. But this year, we finally get to see Cap with that beard! No matter who dies in Infinity War, it can't possibly be as devastating as it will be if he shaves that thing off.


Bonus: Bucky's got dat scruff too.

So does M'Baku in Black Panther, but I couldn't find a gif that properly shows it.

Thanks for hosting, Mario!

Thursday Movie Picks: Oscar nominated films that should have won

You all know me and how much I love talking - and complaining - about the Oscars. This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is perfect for me. Now I have to preface this by saying I already used the ultimate Oscar snub in a previous category, and that's Brokeback Mountain. Seriously, fuck you, Crash, This should of won. Here are some other films I'd replace Best Picture winners with. 

1) Inception

The 2011 Oscars has one of the greatest Best Picture nominees of all time. They actually used all 10 slots and only one of them - Toy Story 3 was truly terrible. That being said, they gave it to The King's Speech when there were about 6 other films I liked better. My favorite of that bunch is Inception. I so wish this would've won Best Picture. 

2) Sunset Boulevard

It lost to All About Eve, which is also a great movie but Sunset was just so much better. I wish this had won.

3) The Descendants 

This one is less about a great movie snubbed and more about me still being annoyed to this day that The Artist was named Best Picture. I'm a sucker for all things tap dance and I still hated that movie. The Descendants for me was the best film nominated that year.