It’s Academy Award time! Here are my picks in the top categories:
- Best Picture – There are a lot of great movies up for the award this year: The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Darkest Hour, Get Out to name some of them. I think The Shape of Water will win. But the movie I’d vote for is Dunkirk. A re-imagining of the war movie, Dunkirk does an incredible job of conveying the emotion and story through directing, pacing and visuals. More on that when I talk about my Best Director pick.
- Best Director – You can probably tell from my Best Picture pick that I’m a Christopher Nolan fan. Nolan is the master of “show, don’t tell”. As a general rule, a movie should endeavor to show you the story, not “tell” the story. “Tell” is a sign of laziness, whether it’s in the extreme of a voice-over narration, or with one actor explaining key elements to another. In Dunkirk, Nolan delivers a clinic on show, don’t tell. The entire movie is brilliantly conceived and executed. I think the Academy will give this one to Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water. No question he’s a great director. But I think Nolan has done something more original and unique with Dunkirk.
- Best Actor – Best Actor this year is a shoe-in. Gary Oldman deserves it for his brilliant performance of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. He makes an incredible transformation for the role.
- Best Actress – Lots of great performances make this a tough pick, but I have to go with Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing. Margot Robbie and Sally Hawkins are my close seconds.
Regardless of who wins, there’s a fantastic set of nominees this year, and I look forward to the show!