Academy Award Picks

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!

 

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