Oscar Warm-Up

Movies are the thing I do that I've done the longest, aside from reading, and aaaahh! Oscar night.

I saw over 100 movies in 2017, a lot but there are years I've been closer to 120. Around 90 of those new first run films. Most but not all of the Oscar nominations.  I'm old enough to know what I'm not likely to like, and if there's a movie like The Florida Project or Mudbound, where every wonderful review screams out "Joshua will not like this," I am happy to listen to that voice,

Call Me By Your Name was close to being that kind of movie, but the Paris has a nice balcony, and Timothee Chalamet was very pleasant to watch in Lady Bird, and even though I hate Merchant Ivory movies I went to see this movie with a screenplay from James Ivory.  And it was about as good as a movie I'm not going to like can be? Did I snooze through the peach scene? Possibly. But I mostry stayed awake. Chalamet was good. The last scene was great. Yeah, could have and should have been ten minutes shorter, but I don't mind the movie having success, or winning an Oscar or two.

The Shape of Water, however...  That one I mind. It isn't very good at all.  It's a highly stylized movie like The Artist, but to me stylization isn't a substitute for the real world. Part of why I don't like on the whole the Wes Anderson school of filmmaking. There isn't a true word, a true moment, a true performance, a true anything. It's craft that's about nothing other than its own craft.  Not happy, not happy at all, that people talk about this as Best Picture material. Best Director material.  If someone wants to give an Oscar to Alexandre Desplat, have at it. Anything else....

Lady Bird... Frances Ha was an awful dull miserable sit through with not an enjoyable moment to be had, amd the critics swooned over it. Having the star of that in another movie with critics swooning.... I made that the second half of a DIY double feature so I could walk out guilt free when it proved to be another Frances Ha.  Which it totally is not. This movie was full of humor and great performances, and wit and reality and an utter delight through and through. My first glimpse of Timothee Chalamet. A true introduction to Sacramento.  It isn't my choice for Best Picture, but it is still an amazing movie.

And like Get Out, Lady Bird captures a moment.  And my did Get Out capture a moment. Solid acting, a script that transcends its genre, and so so so of its time.  Is Get Out in the Best Picture mix?

Phantom Thread? Tell me after the Oscars how you like your asparagus and your mushrooms. It's interesting. The Post is too safe, though accomplished. Darkest Hour is safe.

Ah, Dunkirk. A spectacular achievement for Christopher Nolan, fascinating to watch once, lots of great ingredients. And then seeing it a second time, the icy chill of a movie with barely a human soul to be find left me so utterly cold that I tuned out, and then walked out,

My clear favorite Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.

Yes, I get it.  The lead character is annoying. Agree. There are great scenes where we see the writer writing, like the lecture to the priest comparing the Catholic church  to the Crips and Bloods. There are ridiculous things, like having a cop throw someone out the window with no real consequence, someone else firebomb a police station, and no real consequence. And yet, I was utterly caught up with these characters, not as symbols of our time but as themselves. If we can enjoy the unreality of Get Out because we are caught up with the symbolism of the moment of the movie's exaggerations, can't we be caught up enough in the strength of these characters to let the falseness of individual moments slide on by?  With sharp writing, indelible characters, a suite of strong performances, one of the year's best scores, excellent photography -- the moment the movie ended, with sublime perfection with the perfect line at the perfect time, I wanted to see it again. And when I did see it again, I liked every moment and every element every bit as much.

Almost 8pm. Time to end the warmup and get ready for the live blog.