Oscar Picks 2018

Another year of great cinema.

Tough choices to make again.

I think 3 Billboards will win best picture. It's a great film, well written and acted, presenting a comprehensive narrative within which everyone is awkwardly skewered. It wasn't my favourite. There were a couple of films I preferred, some of which weren't nominated, damn it, but if it wins it certainly deserves it, it is an outstanding film.

As is Lady Bird.

The most compelling contrast for this year's Oscars that I can think of is Gary Oldman and Daniel Day-Lewis. Both performances are outstanding and the characters are so remarkably different. Phantom Thread and Darkest Hour would make for a great double feature. I'm picking Oldman myself. That speech in the end was just so inspiring. And I've had so much respect for him since I saw him speaking Spanish in The Backwoods at Fantasia. Or as Dracula when I was like 15. He's an outstanding actor who still does sci-fi and horror. I love that. Totally.

It's not hard not to pick (double negative!) Saoirse Ronan because Frances McDormand was so freakin' good, but note, I wanted to pick Ms. Ronan, I kept thinking about picking her, but then I kept remembering how good Frances McDormand was, and had to change my mind every time. Crazy good performance. Ronan's was pretty amazing too. Sally Hawkins, Meryl Streep and Margot Robbie also quite good.

Don't explain things you idiot, tomorrow is going to be a living . . . 

The Shape of Water is possibly the coolest film I've ever seen. I absolutely loved it. If it wins I would be extremely happy. It has the most nominations. But that's spelt doom for films in recent years outside of the director's category.

Tough to take The Square over Loveless (Nelyubov). Whereas Loveless reminded me why I love reading Dostoyevsky so much, and love watching Dr. Zhivago from time to time, it's like Russian artists are so much more passionate than artists from anywhere else (I attribute this claim to its climate [the same climate that motivates Canadian artists]), Loveless was still classically Russian, and I thought The Square had more international applicability. Perhaps that's pure idiocy. I need something to base my picks on though, when they're close.

Idiocy will do.

I'm not a spy.

I feel guilty about all the films I'm not picking from the documentary categories.

Very hard not to pick Christopher Plummer. He's a Canadian icon who's been delivering first rate performances for longer than I've been alive. I loved Richard Jenkins in The Shape of Water though. And I have to pick him, he added so much to that film in a supporting role.

Same with Octavia Spencer but I've loved Laurie Metcalf since I was a kid and her performance in Lady Bird was outstanding.

I always wondered what happened to her 15 or twenty years ago. Then bam, Oscar nomination.

Yes!

Also hard not to pick Kobe over Garden Party, I loved his film, but even though they're both full of innocent childlike wonder, I just absolutely loved Garden Party, and feel like I have to pick it.

I'm thinking Revolting Rhymes will win.

Tough to pick between The Silent Child and Watu Wote/All of Us as well, guilt guilt guilt, but I thought Watu Wote had more international war stopping power, even if The Silent Child was so heartbreakingly adorable.

And finally, even though I'd be crazy surprised if it won, I honestly think the best film of the year is Call Me By Your Name, and that's my pick for best picture. It takes on arguably the most difficult subject matter possible (no built in sympathies here) and narrativizes it with a joyful loving intellect that's impossible to match.

Not that any of the other nominees aren't authentic.

It's just rare that you see love so honestly and unsentimentally depicted.

Apologies if I didn't pick you.

This is so much easier with the NFL.

I'm in too deep already.

Here are my picks:

Actress in a Supporting Role: Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)
Actor in a Supporting Role: Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water)
Animated Feature Film: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, and Ivan Mactaggart (Loving Vincent)
Cinematography: Roger A. Deakins (Blade Runner 2049)
Costume Design: Mark Bridges (Phantom Thread)
Film Editing: Paul Machliss and Jonathon Amos (Baby Driver)
Makeup and Hairstyling: Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick (The Darkest Hour)
Production Design: Dennis Gassner (Production Design) and Alessandra Querzola (Set Decoration) (Blade Runner 2049)
Short Film (Animated): Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon (Garden Party)
Short Film (Live Action): Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen (Watu Wote/All of Us)
Documentary (Short Subject): Frank Stiefel (Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405)
Documentary (Feature): Steve James, Mark Mitten, and Julie Goldman (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail)
Visual Effects: John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover (Blade Runner 2049)
Foreign Language Film: Sweden, directed by Ruben Östlund (The Square)
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): James Ivory (Call Me By Your Name)
Writing (Original Screenplay): Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
Actress in a Leading Role: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Actor in a Leading Role: Gary Oldman (The Darkest Hour)
Directing: Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)
Best Picture: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, and Marco Morabito (Call Me By Your Name)

*Denzel's really good too. Roman J. Israel, Esq. wasn't so good though. He may still win because (I think) he should have won last year and the Academy may reward him this year consequently.

**Icarus is also outstanding. Mind-blowing in fact.