Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

I saw that new dino movie, and there is plenty to discuss, so let’s get right to it. The beginning is flat out terrible. I hated it. Like, I did not come into this movie expecting an Aaron Sorkin script-- or even a Michael Crichton script-- but this was just bad. The opening scene may be the worst of it filled with cliches, conveniently stupid characters, and utter predictability. It was obvious the film was determined to start off with action and a subplot to be brought back at the end of the film, and they just went with the first idea that was thought up. After this abysmal opening, the transitioning from showing where our 2 main attractive leads are to how they end up at the next big action set piece is chopped up with throwaway narrative. Seriously, Owen (Chris Pratt) has supposedly moved on from both Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard-- filmmaker and actor Ron Howard’s daughter) and dinosaurs in these past 3 years. He meets Claire for a drink, and all she does is say that he is better than this and that there is a plane tomorrow. That is all she does to try to convince him to come on this suicidal rescue mission. And it works! One look back at his time with baby Blue, and Owen suddenly remembers about his caring side for these animals. His cabin will have to wait for another film to be finished.

    And now on to the island eruption escape rescue mission prominently featured in the trailer. Surprise, I mostly did not care for this at all. Ted Levine will forever have a special place in my heart for his role as Captain Stottlemyer in the show Monk. And his acting honestly isn’t bad. But his character is atrocious. A greedy, evil mercenary in a Jurassic movie? What a surprise! Side character Zia is also super boring to watch, and Franklin is more annoying than he is funny. Chris Pratt did his worst Leo DiCaprio impression from The Wolf of Wall Street when he tries escaping the flowing lava in his tranquilized state. The scene with the dinosaur in the lava-splitting control room is cool to look at but also suffers from being mostly ridiculous. And when you really think about it, the fact that the island blows up right as they are completing their rescue mission to allow the most implausible of escapes just really tests the limits of what I allow in an action film. 2 more issues: the music up to this point is bland, and there’s a CGI issue. When the movie slows down and takes its time, I think everything looks pretty good overall; but once you add chaos, the movie can’t quite handle all the dinosaurs trying to interact and move with each other in the smoothest of ways. Sorry, one more issue. If you remember the “There’s always a bigger fish” line from Star Wars Episode I, you can apply that to dinosaurs anytime the main characters are in trouble of being devoured.

    There are definitively 2 things that I can look back at from the first half of this film and actually enjoy. I think that at the beginning of the film, having Owen and Claire switch roles from the first film is actually a clever move. Claire is working for a conservation effort desperate to get Congress and lobbyists to save the dinosaurs that are stuck on Isla Nublar that has been threatening to explode, and Owen has retreated to a hermitlike life trying to build a cabin and stay away from the craziness of what happened 3 years ago. It’s a smart way to introduce these characters even if the rest of the opening is butchered. Also, from the island escape scene, the underwater gyrosphere scene is a really awesome and tense shot. I also want to point out that even though I was mostly tough on the first half of this film, I feel like the average moviegoer won’t be as annoyed as I was. I’m being picky about an action film that has dinosaurs in the present day, so many of you honestly probably won’t have all the same problems that I have. And that’s okay. I just want to make everyone aware that the problems are there.

    Now then, it is probably clear by this point that I have talked non stop about the first half of this film with little mention of anything else. So as to not give away anymore of the plot, I’ll try to keep things as vague as possible. But do know that I thought the third act of this film was awesome. The action was suspenseful and thrilling, the filmmaker got creative with some shots, and the dinos shone through. The villain is terrible, but that doesn’t diminish the action for me. In case you forgot from Jurassic Park and World, Dr. Wu is determined to continue his research no matter what the cost, and there is a shady corporation that plans to use these dinosaurs as weapons. Oh, and the film has James Cromwell as basically an exact replacement for John Hammond.

    But if you put the human motives aside, the entire third act is pretty great. And I believe I can explain why. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to the amazing Jurassic Park. You do have the likes of "Hello, Newman" Wayne Knight as a greedy two-timer trying to steal the dino DNA, but he is never the focal point. He gets the action set and rolling, but the emphasis is always on the dinosaurs. Granted, Michael Crichton did a great job writing the characters, but it isn’t the human-to-human interactions that make the movie so beloved. It is the dinosaur-to-human threat. Spielberg knew this. The first half of Fallen Kingdom did not. The dinosaurs are constrained while the plot is moved forward solely by humans. This contrast is even more evident once the third act kicks in and the dinos are unleashed. The audience is not terrified by black market auction dealings; no, it is when a T-Rex or Abdominus Rex or Indo Raptor has little regard for who is good and who is evil and is simply on the hunt. And having Cromwell’s granddaughter Maisie Lockwood--  the best side character for the record-- part of the action ups the ante of the danger of the situation appropriately. Heck, the music also improves tremendously. As for the ending of the film, there are some cool ideas implemented, and it certainly brings the series to a point of no return. How the eventual third film will handle it is completely unknown by me, but hey, it makes me curious and enthusiastic about what will come.

    I believe a good chunk of people will find the first half to be anywhere from bearable to entertaining, I personally thought it was extremely lazy and poorly executed. What saves this film from a scathing review to an actual recommendation is the third act. The thrilling action is exactly what you are hoping for when you pay to see this movie in theaters. It is gripping, edge-of-your-seat quality stuff, and even though it doesn’t make me forget the beginning, it absolutely helped with my lasting impression. This is not the movie of the summer, but it still is a good time at the theater.

In Brief:

• You may have heard of Hotel Artemis and probably just didn’t care or bother to go watch it. If you see it on TV in a couple years, it’s worth the watch. Not much more though. Hey, it has Dave Bautista and Jeff Goldblum (who holds nothing more than a cameo in Fallen Kingdom), okay.
• Watched I, Tonya. Dialogue was super choppy. Margot Robbie is always a plus though. Decent movie all around with great ice skating shots-- even if it is quite obvious that the triple axel is fake.
• Hearts Beat Loud is a good enough feel-good indie flick with an interesting role for Nick Offerman (and such a different character for Toni Collete after just watching her Hereditary). Go see the movie or don’t, doesn’t matter to me. But check out the songs from it. Really, really enjoyed the soundtrack.
• For all you haters, I just want to put it out there that Jurassic Park 3 is an entertaining film. If you sit back and leave your cares at the door, it’s just a fun movie. Honestly.
• I highly recommend looking up the author Michael Crichton. He wrote the novel and the screenplay for the original Jurassic Park, and his main genre is sci-fi thriller. And he adds a bunch of plausible science to everything and makes you wonder in books like Timeline if time travel could actually be possible. Books like Sphere and Prey are also at the top of my book recommendations.
• Hotel Transylvania 3 is coming out with Adam Sandler back as Drac. I have approximately 0 thoughts about that series; however, I did see Billy Madison recently. Absolutely a dumb film, but for every 3 jokes that I did not laugh at, there was a decent one. And a couple really funny moments-- like Billy pelting kids with dodgeballs. Also also, of everything I have seen from Sandler, what might warrant a review-- or at the very least my recommendation-- is Punch-Drunk Love. It’s a strange and great film.
• Fallen Kingdom may not be the film of the summer, but we all know what will be. That’s right. There is nobody that can stop me from going to see Mission Impossible: Fallout in a couple of weeks. Possibly multiple times. There is a 0% chance that it will be a bad movie.

Hereditary

I saw A Quiet Place earlier in the year, and to me that was the best horror movie since It Follows a few years back. Hereditary is also a horror movie, but you can’t really compare it to A Quiet Place. A Quiet Place is a brisk 90 minutes that gets started right from the get-go without bothering with any clunky exposition because it knows it already has a solid premise that doesn’t need dialogue explaining the backstory. Hereditary, however, is a slow burner. It is atmospheric and disturbing and is always setting itself up. There are surprises and scares along the way, but it certainly fills up its 2 hour runtime engaging the core characters. Both of these movies mentioned are worth seeing in theaters (shame on you if you didn’t see A Quiet Place), but this review is obviously only for 1 of these movies.

    To start reviewing Hereditary more, I actually want to make one more comparison, and you probably won’t be able to guess it either. I’m talking about How To Train Your Dragon 2. I will give a moment to process why on earth I might use this film as a comparison… Okay, moment over. If you saw this animated sequel-- and you really should, it’s a fantastic film honestly-- you probably enjoyed the visuals and the story and the likable characters. But that’s not why I’m talking about it. What makes How To Train Your Dragon 2 stand out from other animated films are the scenes in between the action. There would be scenes with just two characters talking with each other, and the writing was just spot on. It was really well done and pulled the entire film together cohesively. Hereditary is similar in how it builds its arcs with all of the family members.

    If you watched the trailer, there isn’t too much to know about the film except a creepy looking little girl in the family with dead grandma waving to the camera. Dead grandma is in fact how the film starts out, and I’m not spoiling anything by saying that her soul isn’t quite done with whatever mission it had to do. We get to know the mother Annie played absolutely brilliantly by Toni Collette who seems a bit disconnected and is trying to figure out the right way to grieve her mother’s passing. The father Steve is introduced in that amicable way where he’s happy if the family is happy and brings about a sort of mellow warmness to the film. The eldest is a pot-smoking high school student named Peter (pretty sure one of the bongs he uses was penis shaped, but I have not and will probably not try confirming that). The daughter Charlie has this creepy look where you’re not sure if there is any sort of deformity or mental issue, but other than her slightly off look and her peanut allergy, she’s a little girl. Who also makes this creepy clicking noise. And cuts off the head of a dead bird. But just a little girl.

    Without explaining any of the mystery away, the rest of the plot is pretty simple. The family tries moving on all in their own ways, but there’s obviously something supernatural lurking in the background. The mother goes to one of those meetings like AA except it’s for grieving parents, and despite her hesitation, it seems like that is helping her. Also, side note, Annie makes miniature lifelike scenes-- all of which she draws from her life. There isn’t much story relevance to this, but the first time filmmaker Ari Aster (one of the catchiest names ever) uses it to a really cool trippy effect in transition shots. One of her sets is of their large house surrounded by trees, and in some transition shots, it is difficult to tell if you’re looking at real life or one of the mom’s scenes.

    The acting-- especially from Toni Collette-- is top-notch, the story-- while simple-- is executed better than almost any, and the scares are genuine. For one more comparison that I think will help, I saw The Shining written all over this film from art direction, pacing, and overall mood. The horror here is just genuine. You will not get your dozens of jump scares like from The Woman in Black for instance, but you get truly unsettling scenes, disturbing moments and images, and a constant sense of dread settling in. The whole movie is engaging, but I do not want to lie in saying that the movie does take its time in getting to the climax. It’s the kind of movie that rewards the audience for paying attention the whole time, and just for the climax alone, it is worth seeing this movie in theaters. Luckily for me, I saw this with my oldest brother who dashed out 10 minutes into the film because the lights weren’t turned off, and he got them to turn them off because this film totally needs it. Although I’m a huge fan in the execution of the climax, the ending itself won’t please everybody-- possibly myself included. It was not what I was expecting, it’s also a bit confusing, and it’s just one of those endings that needs time to process. I’m not 100% behind it, but I still respect it. This will not be a film for everybody by any means. It is not mainstream horror. But it is the well executed type of film that keeps me coming back to horror. I’m picky about my horror films, and Hereditary easily cracks my top 5 for the genre. If you want high quality horror and a hard time sleeping that night, go see Hereditary this week before it leaves theaters.

In Brief:

• Incredibles 2 is arguably better than the original. A somewhat predictable villain, but a strong motive and good execution makes it work. And overall, it really is great fun the whole family can enjoy. And give me a Frozone spinoff.
• I will probably do a review for a different animated film coming up. Also possibly one for an 80s gangster crime film. My internship ends in a couple of weeks, so that might open me up to doing more reviews this summer
• Never really watched the show, but I found it interesting to learn about Mr. Rogers in Won’t you be my Neighbor? It’s probably more interesting than the show itself
• Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a gritty, bloody thriller. It doesn’t have the visceral punch that Denis Villeneuve and Johan Johansson brought to the first, but the plot from Taylor Sheridan (wrote the first, Hell or High Water, and wrote and directed Wind River) is actually an improvement. It sets up a possible third movie, and bringing Emily Blunt back I think would be a good move.
• The action in Skyscraper looks too much like a Fast and Furious film, so I have little hope for that film.

• July 27th. Mission Impossible: Fallout. It’s going to be great.

The Apartment

The last few reviews have all been recent movie releases, so I thought we would rewind the clock and look back at the 1960 Best Picture winner The Apartment. This movie won 4 other Oscars-- including director and writer-- and a handful of nominations like nods to the 2 lead roles in Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Lemmon plays Mr. Baxter, a gullible schnook (his coworkers’ words, not mine. Well… yeah, my words too) who can’t say no to his superiors at the office. They borrow his key to the apartment, and they use it for their scandalous affairs; in return, Mr. Baxter keeps getting high recommendations which result in promotions. It’s not exactly the lightest of fares, but a consistent script and an endlessly likable lead keep the comedic tone.

    The light-hearted tone mixed with egregious company behavior is seen in full swing on the elevators. Here, executives are quick to play off contact with the elevator girls that laugh it off; such is not the case with the respectable Mr. Baxter. He treats elevator girl Fran with care and shows genuine interest in her. It is indeed the makings of a rom-com, but the film actually gets quite melancholy. Mr. Baxter’s boss Mr. Sheldrake finds out about the key, and it turns out he wants in on the action. Only, unbeknownst to Lemmon at the time, that action is supposed to be with Fran. There’s an interaction that takes place halfway through the movie that, to me, shows the style of wit, character interaction, and overall mood of the film. Mr. Baxter is feeling down on his luck since it is New Year’s Eve and everyone seems to be having the time of their life (including a coworker who has Baxter’s apartment reserved for the night), and even though he is being promoted at a breakneck pace, he does not really have any companion to tell about-- now not even Fran. This leads him to a bar with quite an intoxicated woman whose husband is currently on the other side of the country. She tries striking up a conversation, asking about his family (he has none) and relationships (none). After his deadbeat attitude, she says, “Night like this, it sorta spooks you, walking into an empty apartment,” to which Lemmon replies, “I said I had no family. I didn’t say I had an empty apartment.” It’s not really laugh-out-loud kind of wit that we think of in today’s sense, but it is just that clever twist in writing that tries to uplift a story that has its darker moments.

    This will not be the funniest comedy you see, but there are plenty of reasons to watch it. The story unfolds nicely, and I think the leads bring loads of charm to the screen. But really, the main quality brought about upon a viewing today is the level of nostalgia that comes along. The music is fitting but completely over the top, the dialogue is clever without pushing the envelope, the clothes and cars and elevators and lights all reek of 1960, and heck, it is a black and white film. There is inexplicably some joy of watching people have to twirl their fingers to dial each number to make a phone call, and I had the greatest time seeing the remote control Mr. Baxter had for his tv.

For those of you that think old films are too slow-paced, unrelatable, too black and white, and simply not interesting, really take a look at this movie. The story is one of the most engaging, the characters are vibrant (and yes, a little old-timey), and you will ultimately leave the movie feeling better than before. I’m not really sure how stiff the competition was, but the Oscars for this film feel well-deserved. You hear about Casablanca and Citizen Kane and To Kill a Mockingbird and whatever else, but despite all the acclaim, you don’t really hear about The Apartment. And I think that is a bit of a shame because this film should be right up there in being considered a classic.

In Brief:

• I’m considering making this a mainstay section at the end of reviews. I continue to watch movies, but I don’t always feel the desire to make a whole review for the film. So I can briefly give input on other films that I’ve seen that probably won’t get the review treatment, along with any other news I find interesting.
• Deadpool 2 is funnier than the first
• Solo is fun in a meh way-- you never get behind the star as actually being a young Harrison Ford (but the guy in The Age of Adaline would have been perfect)
• Going back a bit, A Quiet Place was the best and most original horror film since It Follows (might actually do a review for that at some point)
• Make sure to rewatch The Incredibles before seeing 2 because obviously it is going to start right where the original ended
• For those of you that don’t know, July 27 will be a great day because the movie of the summer, Mission Impossible: Fallout comes out
• I’m hearing good things about the new Jurassic World, but I honestly haven’t been all that impressed with the trailers
• Lastly, if you have a suggestion for what I should call the In Brief section, or if I should just continue calling it In Brief, please let me know

Avengers: Infinity War is Overhyped

I swear I’m not a cynic that wants to watch the world burn. I liked the movie; in fact, I might see it again, but is it deserving of the box-office Hulk smashing and saying it is the best Marvel film over the past decade? Well, I don’t think so. I’ve contemplated doing a ranking of the Marvel films, but we can save that for later. Also, with so much going on and so much safeguarding that has happened, I’ll do my initial review and then clearly mark a spoiler section afterward where we really discuss the juicy stuff if you’re one of the 12 people left that hasn’t seen this film. I saw it a week ago, and I still felt like I was late to it.

            So many characters. It hurts trying to think of everybody that appeared in this film. Some shined more than others. The directors did a wonderful job of making sure the tone of each franchise was appropriate. The improv heavy Thor: Ragnarok shown through with Thor and Hulk, the galaxy guards felt right, and Black Panther and Wakanda all made sense. So they got the vibe down. But not all individual characters were consistent. Let’s try to go down the list:

Iron Man: Tony is mostly a success in this film

Thor: I’d argue that Thor is the star and is given some of the greatest moments. I do have to say, however, that there is a fight scene where Thor flies up and the half second shot of him was the most egregious CGI in awhile.

Captain America: He does his part. Nothing else to note really

Bruce Banner: Really tried putting on the cheese, and I think of all the humor, his missed the most.

Doctor Strange: Plays a nice role, but Tony Stark honestly does overshadow him.

Spider-Man: More hit or miss than in Civil War, but I’m still a Spidey fan.

Black Widow: Would be totally forgettable except that it’s impossible to forget Scarlett Johansson. God bless.

The Guardians: We’ll discuss controversy with Star-Lord later, and despite some good moments, he also had his own missteps. Drax was the best part about Vol. 2, and he was the funniest thing about this movie as well—love the big dude, especially when he plays comedically off of Mantis (one of Drax’s funniest lines about Gamora was also improvised, just fyi). Groot and Rocket Rabbit Raccoon are great. I like Gamora, but I was hoping for more depth.

Vision: I’m a Paul Bettany fan, and he dominated the previous Avengers film, but he was trash in this film.

Scarlet Witch: She brings good contrast to Vision.

Black Panther: Not given enough screen time, but he’s a bright side.

            There are others like Nebula and Falcon, but I just can’t do anymore. Oh, but one more character of note is Peter Dinklage. That guy is great. Okay, enough about the heroes. I’m looking forward to seeing Cable in Deadpool 2, but Josh Brolin is fantastic as Thanos in this film. I do get a bit tired of his motion-capture face with all the other CGI that goes on during the impressive film, but he represents a real threat—and as a fully realized character. It’s truly a joy to watch, and you never know what to expect when he appears in a scene.

            Look, here’s what I’m most upset about the film. It didn’t quite bring the magic I wanted (not talking about Strange either). When The Avengers came out and we watched that cast save New York, that was a blast. There are glimpses during some of the fights of enjoying what can happen when all these heroes come and fight together, but it never fully engaged me. And the way the story plays out, there was never really a chance for it.

            I could tell there were some strange transitions due to trying to cut the film down, but I was mostly impressed by the editing. It’s a gargantuan film and not an easy task. Like refrain from the large soda because it is a long movie, but it works out decently well. I will discuss more in detail the spoiler section below, but I had problems with the opening, and the ending did not affect me all that much. It’s a long, CGI filled movie with so many stars that mostly are balanced out. It’s entertaining, and it really is fun to watch in theaters. But is it still overhyped? Yeah. Yeah, it kinda is.

--SPOILERS—

            I hate what happened in the opening scene. The idea behind it is obviously that hey, Thanos easily attacks the remains of the Asgardians, and it is supposed to set the tone for the rest of the film. RIP to Idris Elba, a great part about the Thor trilogy, but I’m not 100% yet that Loki is dead. He’s died before, and even Thor contemplates about it. But anyways, 2 big players die in the opening. That’s supposed to set the tone for the rest of the movie and wants to say to the audience, hey, this is the kind of Avengers film this is going to be. Get ready to say bye-bye to many of your heroes… But then, that didn’t really happen. Gamora had her green blood spilt, and Vision was destroyed, but that was really it. One of those was a latter half death and the other was in the climax. They almost killed Tony, but they chickened out of that death and made Doctor Strange give in (a nice emotional moment, but no deaths). If they don't clean up their act and actually kill big people off next year, I will be upset.

            People are speculating all over the ending, but I’m honestly just a bit meh over it. Firstly, after thinking it over, I don’t blame Star-Lord for going berserk on Titan and ruining the plan. Like the love of his life was murdered, so I don’t blame his reaction. Side note—the biggest glimmer I talked about earlier with the fight scenes was the fight with Thanos on Titan. Like Spidey jumping through Strange’s portals and delivering blows with one-liners is fun. And earlier seeing him use Stark gadgets to aid him in the fight is cool too. But alas. The biggest reason I’m not concerned over what the ending really means or what will happen is that Black Panther is one of the ones that dissolved. We all know for a fact that Black Panther isn’t actually dead, and that alone is enough to convince me not to worry about half the population being disintegrated. And since I wasn’t all that worried, it didn’t really hit the emotional level it wanted me too; however, of all the characters, Tom Holland’s disappearance was really well done. Also, when Doctor Strange was looking at all those futures, he mentions that of the millions of possibilities, they only won once. And right before he disappears, he tells Tony that this was the only way. So again, I have no idea how the Avengers manages to fix this, but I know it will happen somehow, and as the end credits tell, we’re not done with Thanos yet—even if he is currently watching his sunset on his summer break.

            Predictions for Avengers 4: I honestly have done very little thinking on this, but here goes. Unlike popular belief, Captain America won’t die; he will probably hang up his shield though. Since they scared us once in this film, Iron Man won’t die either. Maybe someone like Bucky, er Winter Soldier, er White Wolf will sacrifice himself. Uh, Black Widow still hasn’t gotten a solo film, and I think the origin films are getting a little old, so maybe she won’t die. I think Marky Mark Ruffalo will get some moments as the big green guy, but he ultimately dies. I’m not sure how stuff gets reversed, but it could have something to do with the Time Stone. What I’m really trying to say is that I have no idea what will happen. I’m not losing any sleep over it, but I will be sure to check it out next year.

The Shape of Water

It doesn’t hold as much weight now that the Golden Globes have already happened, but I predicted Guillermo del Toro would win best director at the Golden Globes. I think he’s still likely to win that award at the Oscars, but it’s a tougher road there. At the end I’ll talk more Oscars, but right now is for The Shape of Water.

            This is very much an arthouse film. For you young guns out there, all I mean by that is that this movie will be appreciated more by cinephiles. It has enough plot structure to be enjoyed above the surface, but it’s really looking for the focused to dive into the deep end to find the subtleties and metaphors about. I don’t find this to be a masterpiece of storytelling, but let’s simply look at its elements by themselves.

            The story builds up Sally Hawkins’ deaf character’s mundane routine as a janitor at a research facility for about the first 20 minutes. Although del Toro’s directing is at its most prominent, it also could’ve been shortened down a bit—especially when you consider the story that still has to be told. Also, to backtrack a bit, the very opening sequence is absolutely phenomenal—but anyways. Soon, a mysterious creature led by the always-evil Michael Shannon is transported to the facility for some testing. While everyone views it as a monster that has to be taken care of in some way or another, Hawkins starts to see the other side to the amphibious creature. I don’t think they ever specify what it is, but for all intents and purposes, let’s call it a merman. To avoid spoilers the plot follows this thread for a little over halfway, then it switches over to a different type of plot to finish the film out. Basically, it switches the main objectives of what needs to be done, and with the time it takes to properly develop each of these story elements, some of the added stuff I feel should’ve been cut down more: namely, the opening montage and actually getting to the reveal of the creature, and eating some lovely nasty pie at the shop (but I’m sure Richard Jenkins needed the boosted screen time to put him contention for a best supporting actor nod).

            Speaking of Jenkins, the characters are mostly good. Jenkins fills his role admirably, Hawkins is obviously amazing, Shannon is just playing the role he always plays, and Octavia Spencer turns in a great supporting role as Hawkins’ janitor friend. But with the exception of Hawkins, everyone is still second fiddle so that the merman can shine. The characters are all interesting and all developed, but they fill the necessary gap and not too much more. And in the hands of Pan’s Labyrinth (and Pacific Rim, but that doesn’t help the guy here) del Toro (who also wrote), the fantastical mythicalness of the merman shines through. It’s really quite a spectacle that fits perfectly within his realm of adult fairy tales.

            I think the other praise that has to be mentioned is the production design. If you actually take a look at everything like the apartment, the detail and thought put in in impeccable. It has the uphill task against the gorgeous Blade Runner: 2049, but I’d give production design to The Shape of Water. To wrap it up a bit, make sure to pay attention to every form of water throughout the film because, well, there’s a lot of it. It’s a solid film with a true marvel in the merman creature, but it’s not necessarily the best film out there. Now, whether related to or not (but with 13 nominations, it’s in most of the categories anyways), let’s get some Oscars predictions in. Keep in mind that I’m watching Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri tonight, so I can only use intuition right now when judging that film.

Best Picture: There’s only 4 nominees I haven’t seen yet—including Three Billboards—but I don’t see any of the other films taking down Three Billboards. I’d personally consider something like Dunkirk, but the next best shot is probably in fact The Shape of Water.

Leading Actor: I think the obvious choice is Gary Oldman, and as good as his performance was, I’m gonna go with Daniel Day-Lewis just because you don’t vote against that guy. I will say I’m really happy with the Daniel Kaluuya nomination—the film was good enough, but he really did give a great performance.

Leading Actress: Again, haven’t seen it yet, but it would be tough to vote against Frances McDormand. Hawkins is right up there. I’ll let my dark horse be the lovely Saoirse Ronan (who I have to look up every time to make sure I’m spelling the first name right).

Supporting Actor: I’d be really happy to see Sam Rockwell win. Christopher Plummer gets the dark horse vote just because of the story behind it all.

Supporting Actress: From the looks of it, Allison Janney is a runaway for it.

Animated: Coco is going to win, but Loving Vincent will at least make it interesting. Still upset that Ferdinand and especially Boss Baby are in instead of the likes of The Lego Batman Movie and the underrated Cars 3.

Cinematography: Has to go to Blade Runner: 2049. I will say I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the cinematography in Darkest Hour.

Costume Design: Heck, actually haven’t seen it, but let’s go with Beauty and the Beast.

Director: As happy as it would truly make me to see Christopher Nolan finally win an Oscar for himself, I think del Toro has him beat.

Editing: Dunkirk has the best chance at winning an Oscar in this category. Also feel a bit bad admitting this, but still haven’t seen Baby Driver, but that could be dark horse.

Makeup and Hair: Haven’t seen it, but let’s say Wonder.

Original Score: I feel that he wasn’t really deserving of it for The Force Awakens, but I loved what John Williams did for The Last Jedi. Considering it’s mostly just that super intense pocket watch ticking, I don’t see Hans Zimmer winning.

Original Song: Lots of my friends will probably be rooting for “This is Me,” but I’ll stick with Coco with “Remember Me.”

Animated Short: Lou was really good, but here’s to hoping Kobe wins an Oscar.

Sound Editing and Sound Mixing: I always mess up which one is which, and I’m too lazy to look up the difference again right now, so let’s just give one to Dunkirk and one to Blade Runner.

Visual Effects: Really enjoyed the whole trilogy, and I honestly kinda wish Andy Serkis got like an acting nod, but Blade Runner has to run away with this. The effects are bounds ahead of everyone else, and they were truly stunning to see on the big screen.

Adapted Screenplay: I’m only giving my dark horse which is Molly’s Game because that’s the amazing Aaron Sorkin.

Original Screenplay: Pick ‘em.

            If you can’t believe one of my choices or are just curious, leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to explain more as to some of my Oscar choices. Got more reviews I should have coming. Like I watched Black Panther yesterday, so I’m sure that would make for an interesting review. Will consider Three Billboards as well after I watch it tonight. Got other surprises on the way because who doesn’t love a good M. Night Shyamalan like plot twists?