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colinrobinsonn · 3 years ago

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ahhh I never write fics but here’s nandor x guillermo after this week’s ep 🥺

- x -

Guillermo sat on the front steps of the house after driving back from dropping off the Baron, the Sire, and the hellhound at their new home in New Jersey. It had been a long, long night and he should really be heading to bed but he just needed a few moments of quiet.

The night air was sharp and the dark sky had only a few clouds overhead. Today had been successful, yes, but also very scary. He wasn’t thinking about facing the Sire, or the Baron again (although it had terrified him). No, he could not let go of the horrible feeling he’d been having all day that he may lose his entire family.

He heard the front door open quietly and he turned round to see Nandor coming out the door and walk towards him.

“Ah, Guillermo, there you are. What are you doing out here? It’s fucking freezing.”

“Just taking a minute.”

Nandor came and sat next to Guillermo on the same top step, looking out onto the street and then up at the sky as Guillermo was. It was quiet for a few moments between them, then Guillermo turned to Nandor, “Was there something you wanted, Master? You were looking for me?”

Nandor didn’t turn to look at him as he said, “Oh, nothing…”

“Okay…” Guillermo let the silence linger on.

“It’s just-“ Nandor began before he noticed Guillermo shiver. He was only wearing his shirt and waistcoat and the sun was, obviously and fortunately for Nandor, yet to come up. “You’re cold.”

Guillermo put his arms around himself, “Yeah, I guess it’s a little chilly.”

“Why don’t you go back inside?”

Guillermo shrugs, not being able to explain why he wants to be outside right now. Maybe he’s enjoying sitting here peacefully with Nandor under the night sky too much. Maybe he needs to clear his head. “But your fragile human body is going to freeze to ice. You don’t want to be made into an ice chip do you, Guillermo?”

“What? I’m not going to-“ he shakes his head, huffing quietly from Nandor’s ridiculousness, “I’m fine.”

Nandor stares at him, fangs bared, like he doesn’t believe him, like he really will turn into an ice chip in a few moments. “Eesh, fine. Here,” he says as he unclasps his black cape and drapes it delicately over Guillermo’s shoulders, and then quickly turns back to look at the sky.

Guillermo froze - not into an ice chip - but out of surprise, slight nervousness, and an uncertainty about how to react to Nandor’s… kindness. “Thank you, Nandor,” he went with, looking up at his strong profile.

“You are welcome, you will not freeze now and I will not have to defrost you and ruin my precious Persian rugs,” he replied matter-of-factly, nodding his head and putting his hands straight out on his knees.

Guillermo grabbed the cape and brought it round his body to wrap up in. The material was very warm and as he brought it up towards his chin he became very aware of being surrounded by Nandor’s very distinct and familiar scent: of oils and incense and musk, of history and comfort and home.

Nandor looked at his bodyguard and felt his dead heart constrict. The sight of Guillermo snuggled into his cape with a content smile on his face challenged Nandor. It challenged him to give in. To give in to feelings of softness towards Guillermo which he mostly did not allow himself to give into, and was always weary of whenever he was around him. Or saw him. Or thought about him. For Nandor, it was Him, for he had become everything. Everything he believed in, everything he fought for, and everything he smiled for. It is suffice to say, he did not win the challenge, but it felt good to lose.

“Guillermo-“, he took a quick breath in and held it, “I came to say that I am sorry for what happened today.”

“Huh? But we did it, we-“

“Just-“ Nandor put his hand up to tell Guillermo to let him finish.

“I am sorry for how you were treated today and if that hurt your feelings. I mean, it should hurt your feelings but I don’t know if you always let it.”

“Mas- Nandor, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Guillermo said. Nandor could literally be talking of about twenty different points today where his feelings could have been “hurt”.

“You know what I am talking about,” Nandor growled, impatient. He shot up off the steps and paced in front of Guillermo. Did he want to make him feel even more ashamed? He guessed he deserved it. He calmed his voice, “I am talking about the time when I allowed for you to be used as bait for the Sire.”

“Oh.” Guillermo breathed out, looking up at Nandor who had stopped his pacing now and was looking at Guillermo. There was a small silence, and then Guillermo also stood up and walked down the steps towards Nandor, cape still round him and falling far below onto the floor.

As he stood in front of Nandor, Nandor could not stand how adorable he looked wearing his cape, oversized on him. It made him feel… protective and proud.

Nandor was too caught up in his thoughts so Guillermo spoke first, “That’s my job, right? To protect you?”

“Yes, I suppose it is…” Nandor said quietly, unsure as Guillermo approached him further.

“But I would have done it anyway. I always would have.” It’s true, he went the extra mile whilst he was his familiar and even before he didn’t know of his bloodline.

Nandor did not know what to say to that. So instead he focused on how the cape was falling off of one of Guillermo’s shoulders. Without thinking, he raised his arm and pulled the material back up and around his shoulder.

He did this with such care and without agenda that it made Guillermo choke up slightly. He felt tingly all in his chest and willed himself to hold on. To not fall too far tonight, as he did so many nights, especially since Meg’s comments at Massive Fitness. As much as he was committed to Nandor, he could never let himself believe that Nandor felt the same.

The small act felt unnaturally natural for Nandor. When he fully comprehended what he was doing, he did not have the instinct to jump back and push Guillermo away, to tell him to get out of his way. Instead, the act made his next words come much easier.

“Guillermo… it should be my job to protect you. You came into my life, and it is a dangerous one. I have… taken too much from you, and you should not be willing for me to take your life.”

The double meaning was there. Yes, he was talking about what happened today, but Guillermo could not help but apply Nandor’s words to his own vampiric dream.

“No.” Guillermo could not, would not, keep going on like this. “It’s not that you have taken too much from me, Nandor,” he said with conviction, “it’s that you haven’t given me enough.”

“Guillermo…-“

“I’d die for you,” Guillermo said bluntly and laughed, “you know that? I would actually die for you. Not become undead, not become a vampire, I would die.”

Nandor looked away from him and took a step back, “Do not speak this way, Guillermo.”

“And I’m fine with that, I am,” he continued, “you’re not taking anything away from me, I’m giving it to you, because I want to. Because that’s how I feel.” Guillermo felt breathless from the outburst and he was slightly shaking, not just from nerves, but because the cape had unwound itself from his middle and only lay across his shoulders again. He shook his head slightly; tonight of all nights he was going to go there. “How do you feel, Nandor?”

“I-“ Nandor was stunned and his brain was working overtime to keep up with his little ex-familiar.

In all of his anxious tension, Nandor’s hesitance was too much. Guillermo huffed and span round to go back inside.

Nandor’s chest clenched and his heart fell, he couldn’t stand the sight of Guillermo walking away from him anymore. “Wait-“ he said as he grabbed Guillermo’s hand and gently pulled him back round to face him. The cape fell off his back.

Guillermo looked up at him, small tears in his eyes as he waited with little hope. His optimistic heart started again, however, when Nandor brought his hand up and drew his fingers through the front of Guillermo’s hair, sweeping it gently to the side and pushing small strands behind his ear. Guillermo’s heart was beating so hard he was sure Nandor could hear it, feel it even. His hand landed delicately on Guillermo’s cheek, like he was touching something precious, and he leaned in.

As their lips touched tears ran down Guillermo’s cheek which Nandor smoothly wiped away with the pads of his thumbs, as he brought his other hand to Guillermo’s other cheek. Guillermo was once again encased by Nandor, except this was the real thing and infinitely better. Guillermo’s hand found its way to Nandor’s neck, his fingertips pushing their way into his hair.

The kiss was gentle and undemanding; a shy but loving meeting with someone you have loved for years. Nandor pulled away but only slightly, so their foreheads rested against each other’s. Their eyes were both closed as they breathed unevenly with each other.

“Guillermo, I would die a thousand times over for you to have one more minute alive.”

Guillermo, teary, giggled dizzily and with relief at the vampire’s words and opened his eyes to find Nandor’s still closed.

“Hey,” Guillermo said as he leaned away and gently urged Nandor to open his eyes by putting his hand under his chin, “so… we’ll protect each other, right?”

Nandor had opened his eyes and was looking down at Guillermo who wore a bright, understanding smile on his face. His cheeks were quite pink and so Nandor leaned down to pick up the fallen cape and pull it back around the smaller man. He held on to Guillermo’s hand, brought it to his lips and kissed the top of it, where the knuckles lay. “Always.”

#im so embarrassed hahah #goodbye #nandor x Guillermo #nandermo #what we do in the shadows #nandermo fic #wwdits #mypost

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fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy · 3 years ago

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Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

#tales of arcadia #rise of the titans #trollhunters #rott #rise of the titans spoilers #rott spoilers #toa #3 below #athena's own original post!#jim lake jr #claire nuñez #toby domzalski

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thenightling · 4 years ago

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My opinion on some of the Netflix Sandman rumors

We fans don’t have much in the way of substantial news about The Sandman Netflix series. All we have are rumors and gossip. I have compiled some of the rumors here along with my opinions on those rumors. Consider this a disclaimer. I am only a fan. I do not have any inside info. All the rumors here are ones that can easily be found on various sites online. Now to begin...

Rumor: Morpheus will be captured in 1916 but will not escape until present day.

This rumor has been confirmed true by Neil Gaiman on his Tumblr account and other Social media websites. In my opinion this was wise because it enables Morpheus’ capture to continue to overlap with the real-world sleeping sickness outbreak of Encephalitis Lethargica.

Rumor: Michael Sheen is playing Lucifer.

This rumor was debunked months ago by Neil Gaiman but I surmised that the one who started the rumor had found out he was playing Lucifer for The Sandman audio drama and had gotten confused. I was right. I DO however suspect Michael Sheen and possibly David Tennant will have roles in The Sandman Netflix series, just not the same role Michael Sheen had in the audio drama.

My Opinion: I’m all for Michael Sheen having a role in The Sandman Netflix series. Him and David Tennant.

Rumor: Doug Jones is going to be in The Sandman as a supporting character.

This rumor comes from two clues. The first being that Neil Gaiman has spoken about his like of Doug Jones and Guillermo Del Toro almost did a Sandman adaptation with Doug as Morpheus. Doug Jones even brought this up recently, which suggests that the subject might be on mind.

My opinion: Doug is an excellent character actor and I want this to be true. He should be in Sandman. I love Doug. And there are plenty of characters he could play. Lucien, Mervyn Pumpkinhead, Doctor Destiny, various nightmares.

Rumor: Liam Hemsworth or Dacre Montgomery will play The Corinthian.

Opinion: I like Liam Hemsworth. He deserves a shot but Dacre is also good.

Rumor: Tom Sturridge is playing Morpheus.

Opinion: I am 90% sure this rumor is true. There are a number of sources claiming the same thing. Also just google how the man looks. I think he’ll do a fine job. I thought Oliver Farnworth would have been excellent too but I’m sure Tom Sturridge would be fine.

Rumor: The Netflix Sandman series will see Dream take many forms including a female form.

Opinion: This isn’t really new. We saw Dream’s feminine side in Overture. If it bothers you to see Morpheus might have a feminine side, you probably shouldn’t be watching something like Sandman anyway.

Rumor: Death will be played by a black woman.

The source of this rumor comes from Neil Gaiman saying something about loving the actress chosen for Death but feeling some people will complain.

Opinion: ...So? She’s an Endless. She can look any way she wants. I would have liked to have seen Jamie Chung in the role though. She voiced her for the Death short that accompanied the Wonder Woman: Bloodlines Blu Ray.

Rumor: Morpheus’ extended capture will effect his reunion with Hob.

My opinion: Uhhhh Duh.

Honestly though this makes me VERY curious as to how their reunion will play out. I hope it is just as sweet as the comic.

Rumor: The Corinthian will appear fairly early in the series and even advise Roderick Burgess how best to contain Morpheus.

Opinion: Well, according to the leaked Corinthian audition this is true. I don’t mind it at all. It makes sense. It fits.

Rumor: Alexander Burgess’ story is now more sympathetic and he as well as his father will age slower because of Morpheus’ capture.

Opinion: This seems likely based on certain leaks. And I kind of hope this means Morpheus will be able to punish Roderick and not Alex.

Rumor: Alex will now have an older brother who died during World War 1, a brother that Roderick preferred, and he takes out his grief on Alex in abusive ways. it also gives Roderick a new motivation for wanting to capture Death.

Opinion: This is likely true based on certain leaks from last February. I have mixed feelings about this because sometimes parents are just assholes. They don’t need a tragic loss to set off their abusive behavior. It also made Roderick worse (in the comics) that he treated his only (known) son the way he did. It’s been recently established in the comics that John Dee was actually Alex’s half-brother. I guess it all depends on how this is done.

I also don’t think Roderick needs to be grief stricken in order to want to control Death. This is a cliché, a cliché we saw in Disney’s Gargoyles and even in Hercules and Xena. Someone loses someone they love and tries to capture Death in order to bring them back. Roderick doesn’t need this trope. He was an occultist who wanted to be a big shot in the world of early twentieth century magick users. In my opinion that should be enough but I’ll keep an open mind.

Rumor: They were supposed to start filming in May but it was delayed to late October because of Covid.

This one is true.

Opinion: Hurry up!

Rumor: Roderick Burgess has no real magick in the show.

Opinion: Sadly this is likely true based on a character description leak from the casting call. I shall miss seeing Sykes’ head explode... Honestly I kind of hope this is wrong. I’m tired of magick being diminished in comic book TV and film.

Rumor: The first season of Sandman will combine Preludes and Nocturnes with The Doll’s House.

Opinion: This is likely true. I’m fine with it. It might flow better for TV this way.

Rumor: The “A game of you” storyline will have trans people writing.

Opinion: This makes sense And this is pretty much already confirmed true.

Rumor: The Netflix show will have the same cast as the audio drama.

Opinion: Though I would not mind this, I know it is not true. This is likely the result of an IMDB listing for the audio drama mistakenly calling it a show and some fans mistaking that IMDB page as being the one for the Netflix series.

Rumor: The Netflix Sandman series is canceled and the audio drama is all we’re getting.

This rumor is absolutely false! It’s a stupid rumor made by those who had no idea the audio drama was happening before the pandemic even hit. The audio drama is not compensation because there will not be a Netflix show. Both will exist.

Opinion: Shame on those leaping to this conclusion and spreading it as fact.

Rumor: A character named “Ann” is being cast and she’ll be a major recurring character.

Opinion: I’ve seen this sort of thing before. It’s how you hide what character they are trying to cast. Clearly this is a major female character for the show and probably was a name used as a place holder for Death of The Endless or even Rose Walker. I’m not too concerned about this. Some fans are upset and already raging that they’re making up a new character just for the show, ala Chloe Decker in Lucifer. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about here.

Rumor: Tom Ellis will not be playing Lucifer.

Opinion: Tom Ellis has wanted to move on from Lucifer for a while. He wants season six of Lucifer to be its last. Let him move on. Neil Gaiman also wants his Lucifer to be different from the Lucifer TV show version. The Lucifer TV series deviated heavily from the comics and it might confuse people with the big differences in lore. It is probably for the best that Tom Ellis not play Lucifer.

Rumor: The Sandman is why Lucifer is being canceled.

Opinion: No. Lucifer has been canceled three times now. In fact the first time it was canceled The Sandman TV series had not been picked up by Netflix yet. Lucifer has had six seasons. For a paranormal police procedural that’s a good, long, run. Not everything can be Supernatural. Forever Knight (and most shows of that type) only had three seasons. Lucifer out lived the norm for its type of show and survived two cancelations. Let it go. Do not blame Sandman. The Sandman is what gave us Lucifer, not took it away. The Sandman is where the story of Lucifer quitting, opening Lux, and taking up piano came from.

Rumor: The Sandman is the most expensive show DC has ever made.

According to Variety this is true.

Opinion: It probably has to be expensive. Look at all the stuff they need to show us, the sets and special effects needed.

Rumor: Lucien might be played by a woman.

Apparently this rumor started because some of the Morpheus auditioners let slip that they auditioned with a woman as Lucien.

Opinion: I’m not sure how I feel about this. I love the character of Lucien. A a woman version might take a little getting used to. I don’t hate the idea, I just prefer how he appears in canon. Further note, I kind of hope he has a full head of hair like he does in the recent comics. There is a very high chance she was just reading his lines since at the time the role being cast was Morpheus, not Lucien.

Rumor: The Sandman could air as early as Summer of 2021.

Opinion: *Insert bitter laugh here.* I wish...

Rumor: Alexander Burgess is gay.

Opinion: And in other news water is wet!

Rumor: Desire will be played by someone who identifies as Genderfluid or nonbinary.

Opinion: This is very likely true.

#The Sandman

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discovisiondreams · 4 years ago

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Top 15 First Watches of 2020

I’ve never been good at staying current on pop culture, and that became especially pronounced in 2020. A year where most of the anticipated theatrical releases were pushed to VOD (and the price nearly tripled) meant that a lot of flicks I was excited for got added to the end of the “Maybe Someday” watchlist.

But in this strange year, I did manage to watch 245 movies- and 195 of those were first-time watches. Some were new, only available on the (virtual) festival circuit. Some were Criterion mainstays, films I’m horrified to admit I hadn’t seen before. But this year, when movies cemented themself as my biggest joy, I began to really track what I watched- including a “top 5 first watches of the month” roundup for every month. These top 5s weren’t ranked, and weren’t even based on technical ability, strength of dialogue, or critical acclaim. They were just the 5 I loved the best.

So without further ado, here are my top 15 of the year- one selected from the top 5 of each month, with some bonus entries thrown in as well. As a general rule, I only included features on this list- I was fortunate enough to catch shorts that streamed at Chattanooga Film Fest, Celebration of Fantastic Fest, and more, but to add them to the running would have made writing this listicle absolutely impossible.

HONORABLE Honorable Mention: The Holiday. Inspired by the fine folks at Super Yaki, I finally watched this Nancy Meyers classic. Why is it two and a half hours long?! Why is that two and a half hours so significantly lacking in Jack Black?! The scenes that Black is in, though, really shine. This one is going to be a Christmas mainstay in the Disco household (and not just because I spent money on the DVD).

15: The Love Witch (Honorable Mention, April). This one came highly recommended to me by friends of all sorts, and like most of my 2020 first watches, I’m deeply embarrassed that it took me this long to get to it. Upon finally watching it, on a rainy Sunday, I described the movie in general (and the color palette, specifically) as “sumptuous,” which is one of the most complimentary visual descriptors I can bestow upon a movie. The plot felt a little convoluted at times, but I still found The Love Witch incredibly enjoyable and am hoping to explore more of writer-director Anna Biller’s filmography in 2021.

14: The Guest (Honorable Mention, October). The Guest is one of the few movies I watched multiple times this year- and the only one I watched twice in one week. From the sultry industrial soundtrack selections to the numerous visual nods to Halloween III: Season of the Witch, The guest was Extremely My Shit. The casting here is truly tremendous- especially Maika Monroe, who was similarly brilliant in It Follows. Also of note: Lance Reddick, one of my current favourite character actors.

13: The Fast and The Furious (Honorable Mention, May). 2 Fast 2 Furious (and its bespoke theme song, Act A Fool, by Ludacris) came out when I was in the 6th grade. Do you remember the music and movies that entered the world when you were in 6th grade? Do you have an inexplicable zealous love for them? 2F2F was the only film in the Fast Cinematic Universe I had seen for a long, long time. Then I saw Fate of the Furious. Then I bought the series box set, as a joke?? And then, slowly but then also all at once, I genuinely started to love this franchise. Some of them are truly ridiculous. Some of them are genuinely bad. But the first one? The Fast and The Furious (2001)? Timeless. Point Break updated and adapted for the early-aughts, The Fast and the Furious walked so The Italian Job (2003) could run. Without The Fast and The Furious, Paul Walker would just be “the guy from Tammy and The T-Rex” to millions of casual cinemagoers. The cultural impact of The Fast and The Furious simply cannot be denied!!

12: Come to Daddy (Top 5, July). Honestly, this is the exact flavor of bonkers bullshit I’ve grown to expect from Elijah Wood, and that is not an indictment. Wood’s genuine love for genre film is evident here, in what can only be described as an uncomfortable film of family, reunion, and redemption. The tense and abrasive first half gives way to a surprisingly relieving wave of violence and exposition in this critically-acclaimed flick.

11: The Stylist (Top 5, September). The feature-length debut of writer-director Jill Gevargizian, based off her short of the same name, is female-led horror that pays homage to genre mainstays like Maniac and Psycho while still being decidedly singular. Not only shot in Kansas City, but set in Kansas City, The Stylist made my midwestern heart happy. This is one that I really, really would have loved to see in a crowded theater auditorium, were this year a different one.

10: In The Mouth of Madness (Top 5, March). Despite being the beginning of pandemic awareness, March was a slow month for me, movie-wise (even though it’s not like I had anything else going on??). But I finally made time for this Carpenter classic, and I’m so happy I did. I’ve long been fascinated by stories about stories, and the people who find themselves trapped within those stories, and this one is truly, in the most basic sense of the word, horrifying. Sam Neill proves that he belongs in horror here, making his role in Event Horizon seem like a natural fit. Also a highlight: noted character actor David Warner, best known (to me) as “Billy Zane’s bodyguard guy in Titanic,” who never ever fails to be unsettling.

9: Profondo Rosso (Top 5, April). Before this year, my only Argento exposure was Suspiria (which is phenomenal), but Deep Red goes off the deep end in all the best ways. The score (by frequent Argento collaborators Goblin) is truly groovy. The number of twists and turns the plot takes is kind of mind-boggling, but also delightful. Daria Nicolodi (RIP) is at the top of her acting game here. This quickly became one of my beloved background movies- if I opened Shudder and Profondo Rosso was playing on one of their live-streaming channels, it stayed on while I was cleaning or cooking or paying bills. Profondo Rosso is a must-watch for those hoping to get into giallo.

8: Crimson Peak (Top 5, November). This one was definitely not what I was expecting, but it was GORGEOUS. I loved the world immediately (a Del Toro trademark, to be honest). As a longtime Pacific Rim stan, it made my heart happy to see Charlie Hunnam and Burn Gorman reunited under Guillermo Del Toro’s vision.

7: Palm Springs (Top 5, August). I am not typically a time-travel movie enthusiast- but I am a sucker for witty repartee and Andy Samberg. This one made me ugly-cry, which I should probably be a bit more ashamed to admit. August had a lot of really great first watches, but the Hulu exclusive takes the cake due to its novel premise, some truly heart-wrenching reveals, and the amazing casting (is there anything JK Simmons cant do?).

6: Scare Package (Top 5, May). Is there any format I love more than the horror anthology? While there have been so many over the years (Creepshow, All the Creatures Were Stirring), Scare Package might be my favourite of them all. A variety of fun and inventive stories combined with a genre-lovers dream of an overarching narrative make this one a must-see- in fact, it was the whole reason I bought a pass to this year’s online version of Chattanooga Film Fest. There’s a cameo here that absolutely knocked my socks off (and continued to do so even on repeat viewings). While the scares here are honestly minimal, Scare Package is a great love letter to the genre at large.

5: Do The Right Thing (Top 5, June). Yes, it took me until 2020 to watch Do The Right Thing for the first time. The palpable tension, the interwoven stories of Bed-Stuy’s residents, all seem timeless. Giancarlo Esposito is, as always, a joy to watch.

4: Knives Out (Top 5, February). “It’s a Rian Johnson whodunnit, duh,” states the SuperYaki! T-shirt famously worn by Jamie Lee Curtis, star of Knives Out (2019). This one has received worlds of critical acclaim, I truly do not know what I could even hope to add to the conversation. I want more old-school murder mystery cinema.

3: The VelociPastor (Top 5, January). It should be testimonial enough that The VelociPastor beat out Miss Americana, Netflix’s Taylor Swift documentary, as the top pick for January- but in case it isn’t, let me end 2020 the way I began it; by evangelizing the HECK out of this movie. Written and directed by up-and-coming triple-threat (Director/songwriter/prolific cat-photo-poster) Brendan Steere, The VelociPastor is a true love letter to genre cinema, complete with a big wink to the criminally underloved Miami Connection. Alyssa Kempinski shines as Carol, a doctor/lawyer/hooker with a heart of gold. The VelociPastor premiered in 2019 but gained tons of attention in 2020 (thanks in part to YouTube sensation Cody Ko)- attention that it truly deserves. A sequel is rumored to be in the works, but mark my words, anything to come from the imagination of Brendan Steere will be worth a watch.

2: Dinner in America (Top 5, October). I genuinely feel sorry for the other movies I watched in October (there were a lot) (they were all SO GOOD). Dinner in America, which I caught during the Nightstream hybrid festival, was not at all what I was expecting. While the other features were all very solidly genre flicks, this was…. A comedy? A modern love story?? I’mn honestly still not exactly sure, but I do know I loved every second of it. I laughed. I cried. I threw my hands up in the air exuberantly (in front of my laptop, looking like a true fool). I did not shut up about this movie online for weeks. I told anyone and everyone that Kyle Gallner is the most underrated actor of my generation and I still believe it! Dinner in America, the story of a punk band frontman who unwittingly takes refuge from the police in the home of his biggest fan, was an unexpectedly heartwarming tale of family, young love, and arson. Watch it as soon as you can.

1: Promising Young Woman (Top 5, December). This last-minute debut from Emerald Fennell, originally scheduled to hit theaters in April of this year, finally made its way to the big screen on Christmas Day, and became the 2020 entry on my annual “Christmas Day Trip to the Theater” list.* Carey Mulligan is an icon and deserves all of the awards for this. The soundtrack is sublime. The casting choices are truly incredible. While I have no doubt that the general themes of the movie will be polarizing, I absolutely loved this one- I sat in my car in the theater parking lot for a WHILE, considering just buying a ticket for the next showtime- that’s how badly I felt like I needed to see it again immediately. I look forward to writing its inevitable Criterion essay.

*Nobody else in rural iowa was interested in seeing this movie at noon on Christmas Day. I’m shocked.

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letterboxd · 5 years ago

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Play Fright.

“It’s fun-scary, as opposed to you feeling scared because it's disgusting or something.”

We talk to Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark and Troll Hunter director André Øvredal about working with Guillermo del Toro, finding the line with tween-friendly horror, and the good-and-bad of anthology films. (And, yes, we threw in a few Troll Hunter questions.)

Produced by Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro, who also has a Screen Story credit on the film, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is a new PG-13 horror adapted from the three-book series of the same name first published between 1981 and 1991.

Prefiguring the likes of Goosebumps and its many imitators, the original Scary Stories books, written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell, presented short horror tales aimed at a young-adult readership. Many of the stories were inspired by (or perhaps the source of) widely known urban myths.

Despite the stated target audience, the stories—with assistance from some deeply disturbing illustrations (see below)—struck a nerve and traumatized readers of all ages. They were controversial to the point where there was, briefly, a minor movement to have the books removed from schools.

A movie adaptation would seemingly point to a classic horror anthology film, but del Toro and his collaborators have instead constructed a singular narrative around a group of young teenagers in 1968.

After learning the tragic story of a girl who was murdered in their sleepy little town many years earlier, Stella (Zoe Margaret Colletti) and her friends start encountering supernatural events that allow for various Scary Stories to come to life on screen.

The film’s director is Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal, the man behind 2016’s The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and the inventive 2011 found-footage fantasy epic (and Letterboxd community favorite) Troll Hunter.

Guillermo del Toro, star Zoe Margaret Colletti, and director André Øvredal on the set of ‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’.

What was your relationship to Guillermo del Toro before you worked together on this film? André Øvredal: I was a big fan of his from when I went to film school, because I used to live with a Mexican friend and he showed me Cronos when it came out. I was floored by the beauty of that film. Mimic terrified me, I loved it. Even though I know there is a tough history behind that film and the cut that came out, I still found it terrifying. And then Blade II was just one of those amazing sequels that stood out beyond the original.

That didn’t really happen very often back in those days, that the sequel was better than the original. And on and on with Pan’s Labyrinth and one great movie after another, culminating with The Shape of Water. But our relationship started on Twitter; he tweeted about The Autopsy of Jane Doe, that he enjoyed it. And we had a Twitter exchange about that.

Had he seen Troll Hunter? It seems like it would be right up his alley. Yeah he had, and he liked it. Obviously I’m sure he’s paid attention to other people’s love for monsters and creatures.

Illustrated by Stephen Gammell, ‘The Pale Lady’—from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark story ‘The Dream’—is a favorite of both Øvredal and del Toro.

So how did you end up getting this job? He was supposed to direct Scary Stories himself. It was supposed to be his next movie after The Shape of Water, and then he decided not to make it his next movie and they decided, well, let’s find another director. He proposed me to the other producers on the film, Sean Daniel and J. Miles Dale, and they all agreed that I would be a good fit.

They offered me the script to read and of course I fell in love with it immediately. It’s the kind of movie I grew up loving, like an Amblin-esque movie, but the idea being to do it with a horror sensibility and make it really scary. I thought it would be a great movie for me to be able to make. And speaking of the PG-13 audience, it was what I grew up with as well. When I was a kid in my teens, those were the movies I got to see. So I felt very close to this movie through the whole process.

There is indeed a nice Amblin vibe informing this movie. How would you describe that vibe, if you had to put it into words? There is a sense of humor. It’s out to entertain more than it’s out to hurt you as a horror movie. It’s not an existential horror. It’s not out to grind you down. It’s out to use horror as fun; there’s a playfulness. It’s oftentimes several characters, a group of friends, that these movies are about. It has a high energy and it can go from intense, suspenseful, or in this case very scary and horrible, to playful banter between friends. I think that broad range creates a feeling of real life.

All the characters in those movies back then were very grounded; even though they were fun and had a lot of energy, they also had real issues in life, they also came from a background where there were serious things they were dealing with. I found that very interesting, especially about the character of Stella, who has a lot of things in her life that are profoundly affecting her. And how that also relates to the life of the antagonist, Sarah Bellows. And in some ways how it feeds into today. I think the social commentary thing is clear in Amblin films as well.

How challenging was it to make this good ’n scary without it ever spilling over into being too ‘adult’? It’s about playing with the audience. The audience should know that they should enjoy being… tormented, if you will. So it’s kind of trying to communicate both ways. So I’m like, setting something up, I’m always thinking of the audience, shot-by-shot-by-shot. How does the audience feel? If we put the camera here, what will the audience feel then? If we put it up here, how will the audience react then? And if we cut from there to there? It’s all about communication. I’m trying to imagine how it’s going to make the audience feel, so it’s about back and forth. I think that creates a playful tone. It’s fun-scary, as opposed to you feeling scared because it’s disgusting or something.

What do you think this film gained from tying together the various short stories into a single narrative, as opposed to having them play out in the traditional anthology format? Guillermo has said something that is kinda true about anthology films, which is that they’re never as good as the best [story], and they’re always as bad as the worst [story]. So you always have one story that isn’t great, and it kind of deflates the whole experience. In a way, [a traditional anthology movie] isn’t a whole experience because you never get to engage in characters for a long time and feel all their dilemmas, because as soon as you’re out of [each story], you’re on the next one. And that can work, but I’m not attracted to that as a storytelling form, it’s just a personal thing. Many other people are, and thank god for that, because then we get a diverse set of movies.

I love a full narrative. When I received the script for Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, I thought it was an anthology, so when I opened it, I was so happy when it wasn’t, because by page ten I was in love with the characters and then I saw that I was going to follow them all the way.

An image from André Øvredal’s ‘Troll Hunter’.

We’re massive fans of Troll Hunter at Letterboxd. That’s fantastic, that’s great. It’s a great site. I go there a lot to see people talking about the movies.

What kind of life has that film had since it was released? Everyone who sees it loves it, but it deserved a much bigger audience. Was a remake or sequel ever considered? There was talk of a remake. Chris Columbus [writer of Gremlins and The Goonies, and director of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films], and a company called CJ Entertainment, bought the rights for it years ago. So I was in awe—one of the heroes of my youth, Chris Columbus. So I was sorry to see that that never came through. We talked about a sequel of course, but I feel like I told the story of this world, and anything else would just be more trolls. The way you used scale in that film was amazing. No blockbusters made since have come close to how effectively you conveyed the gargantuan size of the creatures. That’s great to hear. I don’t know how other people shoot movies but it was shot so much in reality. I mean, we CGI-ed in the creatures, but everything else was so grounded and real with a hand-held camera. We were just running around in the wilderness shooting it for real. So we naturally had to position it, physically, in some natural way, a very simple natural way, and maybe that helped.

‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ is in US theaters now, and rolling out globally over the next few months. Comments have been edited for clarity.

#troll hunters #scary films #horror #anthology #gdt #guillermo del toro #andré Øvredal #letterboxd

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popcorn-for-dinner · 7 years ago

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Predictions for the 90th Academy Awards

Nothing takes the sting out of these tough economic times like watching a bunch of millionaires giving golden statues to each other"- Billy Crystal, 2012 host

The Oscars are an enigmatic ceremony. In its simplest form, it’s a group of celebrities all patting themselves on the back for their various film achievements during the year. The majority of these celebrated films are often movies that mainstream audiences have neither watched (certainly not watched at the time of the Oscars) nor have any intention of watching. This, coupled with the derision usually aimed at the perceived self importance of the awards, makes it quite surprising how much attention is still paid to the ceremony. People still care who wins, people still want to know what happened during the almost 3-hour ceremony. The term “Academy Award winner” still commands a level of widespread respect, even to the person who has “Transformers: The Last Knight” as his best film of 2017.

So in anticipation of this year’s 90th Academy awards, I assembled a panel of other like-minded weirdos, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Chika Akachukwu and Obiora Ifeacho (all my female friends have lives so won’t waste their time watching the Oscars at 3a.m),and we discussed our reactions to this year’s nominees, who we want to win and who we believe will eventually take home the awards come March 4th.

POPCORN FOR DINNER: OKAY, LET’S START OFF WITH THE BIG ONE. THE “DRUMROLL AWARD”. WHO WINS BEST PICTURE?

Bankole Imoukhuede: This is the only category I will comment on. I think it’s such a shame Get Out isn’t the frontrunner at the moment. I do think it was the best movie this year and it’s a shame it doesn’t look like winning.

SHOULD WIN: Get Out

WILL WIN: The Shape of Water

Afolabi Adekaiyaoja: It is in years like this that I wish the Academy had stuck to their 5 nominees for this category. In that scenario, we don’t get so many filler movies. I think it is down to The Shape Of Water or Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. I prefer Three Billboards for its storytelling and simple character tales.

SHOULD WIN: Get Out

WILL WIN: Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Obiora Ifeacho: I’m hoping that the Academy bucks its trend of being unfavourable to horror and comedy films, and gives Get Out the win. Don’t think it will though.

SHOULD WIN: Get Out

WILL WIN: The Shape of Water

Chika Akachukwu: I was actually (pleasantly) surprised Get Out got nominated. It might have just been a peace offering from the Academy though, to show they aren’t prejudiced. *insert relevant Sunken Place joke*

SHOULD WIN: The Shape of Water (despite its weak attempt to pass off bestiality as cool and romantic)

WILL WIN: Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

POPCORN FOR DINNER: THE ACTING CATEGORIES ALL SEEM PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD. RAPID FIRE. LEAD ACTOR

O.I: Gary Oldman (The Darkest Hour)

C.A: Yep, same

A.A: Yep, Oldman. Although I think Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) should win it.

POPCORN FOR DINNER: LEAD ACTRESS

O.I: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri)

C.A: I really want Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) to win it but I think Frances McDormand wins it

A.A: Same. I think Sally Hawkins deserves to win it but its most likely going to Frances.

POPCORN FOR DINNER: SUPPORTING ACTOR

O.I: As Bill Simmons puts it, a “that guy” actor is an actor who you see everywhere but you don’t actually know his name and he never really has leading roles in successful films but you know him and appreciate his efforts knowing his time will soon come. Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri) was probably the greatest “that guy” actor of his generation. The award is firmly his. Sorry, that wasn’t quick fire lol.

C.A: Ditto. Loved Sam since Seven Psychopaths (Also written and directed by Martin McDonagh)

A.A: Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) started off as the favourite, Christopher Plummer (All The Money in the World) is a big middle finger at Kevin Spacey, Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water) is conveniently riding the wave of The Shape of Water (apologies for the pun), even though Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water) turns in a far better performance and Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri) is on for a little while but is naturally amazing. The only one left (Sam Rockwell) is the actor who really does make magic happen on screen and is just a delight to see.

POPCORN FOR DINNER: SUPPORTING ACTRESS

O.I: While I think Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird) should win this, it seems to be another foregone conclusion. Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

C.A: She’s won every other award. Imagine if she didn’t win this one?

A.A: Allison Janney, although I would have preferred a debut win for Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)

POPCORN FOR DINNER: BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY.

O.I: This really comes down to Get Out, Lady Bird and The Shape of Water, in my opinion. I think The Shape of Water wins it but I’ll be rooting for Get Out or Lady Bird.

A.A: I think Get Out should and will win it.

POPCORN FOR DINNER: FINAL CATEGORY. DIRECTOR.

Bankole Imoukhuede: Okay, I know I said that Best Picture was the only category I would give an input in but I am so annoyed Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk) isn’t winning this. Dunkirk in the cinema, in IMAX, was such an experience. I have absolutely nothing against Guillermo Del Toro (The Shape of Water) but I really wish Nolan was winning this.

A.A: Same. I think Nolan should win this. None of the other nominees, in my opinion, pushed the limits of the cinema experience while combining all the other aspects of moviemaking into a truly riveting and remarkable production, like he did with Dunkirk. It’s probably going to Del Toro though.

O.I: Christopher Nolan has found a way for production companies to fund his movies without relying on previous original material which is great. Very difficult to be commercially and critically successful in this day and age. Proper visual storytelling masterpiece. Del Toro wins it though.

C.A: Christopher Nolan could make a movie about anything and I’ll be game for it. The man gave us The Dark Knight. Not to mention, Bane impressions.

POPCORN FOR DINNER: OKAY, A COUPLE MORE QUESTIONS TO ROUND THIS OUT. WHAT WERE YOUR SNUBS AND OSCAR BAIT FLOPS THIS YEAR?

B.I: Snubs. Probably Franco (The Disaster Artist) (although with good reason). Oscar bait flop of the year would have to be Surburbicon. A period piece written by the Coen Brothers and George Clooney, including a true story subplot that reflects our current societal issues, directed by Clooney and starring Matt Damon, Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaacs doesn’t get a single nomination? Has to be the flop of the year.

C.A: There’s nothing I love more than simplicity and nothing I hate more than overcrowded stuffed casts. Hence, my vote has to be The Post. Sure, it got an obligatory Oscar nomination for Meryl Streep and a consolation best picture nomination but it was definitely shooting for bigger targets. I don’t want to see that many stars in one movie. It just screamed “Oscars” to me.

A.A: That’s funny because Tom Hanks (The Post) is one of my snubs, the other being Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri). My Oscar bait flop has to be The Greatest Showman. It was a musical written by Oscar-winning songwriters (check), had a big name star (check) and a romantic subplot (check). I’m pretty sure someone expected this to be the next Chicago. It sucks because I really love Hugh Jackman and think the basis- PT Barnum is a riveting tale. Still, it got nearly shut out.

O.I: My big snub is Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name). Others were Robert Pattinson (Good Time), Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me by Your Name and The Shape of Water) and Tifanny Haddish (Girls Trip). I have to go for The Post for my flop too. Was never a fan from the moment it was announced last year

POPCORN FOR DINNER: WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE OSCARS’ MOMENT

O.I: Roberto Benigni winning Best Foreign Language film. How can you not be happy for Roberto Benigni when the Italian actor-director stood on top of his chair, waving at anybody and everybody, as he was walking across the seats to accept his award for Life is Beautiful? I mean, even Steven Spielberg was helping him on his way!

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A.A: Knowing that everyone on my TL and circle expected Boyhood to win, hearing Sean Penn remark about a guy’s green card and realising it was Birdman in the split second before he confirmed it…amazing. It was a great reward for an amazing movie, great concept and wonderful execution.

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B.I: Mine has to be Lupita’s acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Supporting role for 12 years a Slave. “No matter where you are from, your dreams are valid”. If that ain’t a clarion call to get creative, I don’t know what is.

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C.A: “Hold on imma let you finish but Moonlight had the best picture award this year, La La Land”. (This is how it played out in my head last year)

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POPCORN FOR DINNER: Parting words?

A.A.: And the nominees for now overdue Oscar win are: Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Michael Shannon, Joaquin Phoenix and Jessica Chastain…and the next one off is…

B.I: In a world where Logan got a (deserved) adapted screenplay nomination, I’m speaking it into existence that I believe, with the right campaign, Black Panther can nab at least one of a Supporting Actor, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture nomination.

O.I: GIVE ROGER DEAKINS HIS FUCKING OSCAR ALREADY

Bankole Imoukhuede

@banky_I

#oscars #academy awards #get out #call me by your name #the shape of water #three billboards #dunkirk #christopher nolan #jordan peele #daniel kaluuya #lupita nyong'o #gary oldman #allison janney #laurie metcalf #lady bird #film

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lifejustgotawkward · 7 years ago

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365 Day Movie Challenge (2017) - #391: The Shape of Water (2017) - dir. Guillermo del Toro

(Warning: some spoilers ahead!)

The Shape of Water is a film that pulls me in several directions. It contains themes and storytelling choices that I love immensely, but there are also aspects of the narrative that I believe could have been improved. From the reviews I have read so far, reactions are extremely polarized; moviegoers either worship Shape as a masterpiece beyond reproach or, on the other end of the spectrum, they throw around “D” words like disappointed and disgusted. I want to point out again that I enjoyed Del Toro’s production a lot - I would put it at #9 or 10 in my top ten for 2017, out of the thirty features I have seen so far - so I hope that my criticisms are tempered by my admiration for all that the film gets right, whether technically or ideologically.

All things considered, I’m probably the ideal viewer for The Shape of Water. In the Venn diagram of intersecting genres that the film explores, I’m right in the middle as a lover of romance, science fiction and fantasy, horror, thrillers, period pieces, studies of “the grotesque” and portraits of outsiders who challenge societal expectations of normalcy. I have a ton of respect for Guillermo del Toro’s ambitions as a filmmaker (I definitely dug Hellboy back in the day and I remember getting a kick out of Pacific Rim too) and I applaud his commitment to telling a socially conscious story in which historically marginalized people are our heroes and the clean-cut, stereotypical authority figures are the villains. I also adore Del Toro’s irrepressible cinephilia, which is evident throughout Shape via constant references to the films, actors and genres that have inspired him. In that regard, The Shape of Water is successful just as a celebration of the power that the silver screen has to change our lives.

The story is almost painfully simple: in Baltimore circa 1962, mute janitor Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) discovers a fantastical new world of love when an Amazonian fish-god (Doug Jones), referred to in the film’s credits as “Amphibian Man,” is brought to the government facility that she cleans at night. Elisa and her best friend at work, Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer), are assigned to take care of the Amphibian Man’s private room by high-ranking security official Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), who brought to the creature to America and, in his words, they “didn’t get to like each other much” during the trip. This much is obvious at the beginning of the film, when we see the aftermath of an attack on Strickland by the captured fish-god, who has bitten off two of Strickland’s fingers.

Elisa quickly forms an attachment to the Amphibian Man, with whom she learns to communicate by teaching him sign language, feeding him hard boiled eggs and playing him Benny Goodman records on a portable hi-fi. (I’m amazed that more critics haven’t noted the connection to Annie Hall’s famous ending monologue about how human beings continue to look for love after failed relationships because we “need the eggs.”) It soon becomes apparent to Elisa that Strickland and his boss, General Hoyt (Nick Searcy), plan on killing the imprisoned creature, so Elisa devises a plan to steal the Amphibian Man from the facility with help from her neighbor, Giles (Richard Jenkins), an older gay man who has worked as an advertising artist but was fired from his job, in part because of his alcoholism but presumably also because of his sexual orientation. Giles and Zelda stand since they are the only two people in Elisa’s life who have bothered to learn ASL. They understand that she is disabled, but she is not “lesser than” in their eyes because they have adapted themselves to the language she uses.

It’s wonderful that Guillermo del Toro gave space to main characters who are a non-speaking woman, a black woman and a gay man, all of whom are over forty years old. Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins do beautiful work in the film, particularly Hawkins, who has finally broken through in American cinema thanks to this film. I have been a tremendous fan of Hawkins ever since she starred in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky nine years ago, so it has been glorious to see her shine in Maudie and The Shape of Water this year. She radiates tenderness, humor, curiosity and compassion as Elisa, a performance that absolutely deserves the Best Actress Oscar nomination it will certainly receive next month. Jenkins also gives a remarkable performance as Giles, making his friendship with Elisa plausible and heartwarming. Spencer has less to work with as Zelda since the character often comes across as a collection of cinematic stereotypes (both as a black woman and as a best friend/sidekick), but Spencer elevates the role to something special, occasionally with a mere glance or a roll of her eyes.

More complex and difficult to pin down is the film’s antagonist, Richard Strickland. I almost snorted at the ominous horn sounds that accompanied the character’s entrance in the film, which I suppose many viewers accept as de rigueur since Michael Shannon is synonymous with malefaction on the big and small screens. Some viewers see Strickland as a textbook villain, evil for evil’s sake (is that the inverse of Ars gratia artis?), but I would argue that the character's motivations are explained to a greater extent than those of anyone else in the film. Strickland is the definition of toxic masculinity, a white man who abuses his position of power by mocking, harassing and sadistically torturing the people (and fish-god) he identifies as inferior to him. Strickland strives for the American Dream - the suburban home, the wife and two kids, a brand new Cadillac - but underneath the exterior of perfection is a man who doubts himself. (For my money, one of the funniest moments in the film is the shot of Strickland sitting in his office, solemnly poring over a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking.) It’s not by accident that one of the digits that the Amphibian Man tore off of Strickland was his ring finger, or that this racist man can’t handle the fact that his body rejects fingers whose skin has turned black.

There is also significance in Del Toro’s disparate approaches to sexuality involving Strickland and his wife versus Elisa and the Amphibian Man (or Elisa by herself). Elisa’s desire is never ignored because of her inability to speak; she is a sexual being and her strong connection to that aspect of her life is viewed with delicacy and respect. The film incorporates two brief scenes showing her masturbating as part of a daily routine, but they don’t feel exploitative; Del Toro went out of his way to create intimacy that wasn’t designed for the male gaze. This is why I’m glad that he didn’t go all the way and show Elisa and the Amphibian Man having sex, contrary to the grumblings of many frustrated viewers who feel cheated out of hot fish-on-human action. What little we see of Elisa and her beau’s encounters glows with eroticism because the characters’ most private moments are withheld from us.

In response to other complaints voiced by moviegoers, the sex scene with Strickland and his wife Elaine (Lauren Lee Smith) was disturbing yet necessary. It’s mechanical, heartless and, as it progresses, turns into marital rape. It was one of the moments that seemed to freak out the audience I was in the most, leading the woman sitting directly behind me to loudly say “blecch” when Strickland placed his hand over his wife’s mouth. (Isn’t it interesting how obsessed Strickland is silent women, whether it’s Elaine or Elisa?) Leave it to Guillermo del Toro to make an interspecial romance inviting and arousing, while sex between two humans is the true act of monstrosity.

All this happens, and politics too. Yes, The Shape of Water covers the topics of human/fish-god courtship, sexism, racism, homophobia and American exceptionalism, but the Cold War also plays a big part in the story. The one expert working at the Baltimore facility who cares about the Amphibian Man’s well-being is Dr. Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg), who aids in the creature’s escape. I won’t go into detail about Hoffstetler’s various complicated allegiances, but suffice it to say he comes through as a dedicated scientist and a decent person who recognizes the supreme value of love over country. Del Toro infuses Hoffstetler with a number of fascinating characteristics, even when they’re as seemingly minor as him baking a butter cake in his apartment.

There are a lot of cooks in Shape’s kitchen. With so many compelling characters, plot lines and images, the film is an aesthetic feast for the senses. On the other hand, Del Toro never satisfactorily answers the question of whether the Amphibian Man is an entity of high intelligence. Elisa is smart, funny, creative and resourceful; is her water-bound lover capable of those same feelings and abilities? He is more than the “wild animal” that Giles sees him as - the Amphibian Man’s first face-to-face experience with Giles’ cats ends bloodily, but we later see the fish-god petting the remaining felines sweetly - but I’m not convinced that the Amphibian Man is on Elisa’s level emotionally. Doesn’t it strike anyone as odd that the love song featured in the film’s gorgeous, black-and-white dream sequence, was “You’ll Never Know”? Wasn’t Elisa implying that her lover either didn’t or couldn’t comprehend the depths of her affection?

(Incidentally, that dream sequence, which is modeled on Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” scene from the 1936 film Follow the Fleet, is reminiscent of another musical that copied the same number, 1981′s Pennies from Heaven. There, Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters dance and lipsync to Astaire and Rogers; the entire film is a cinephile’s dream, paying homage to old Hollywood while simultaneously maintaining a dark, tragic tone amidst the colorful song-and-dance confections.)

The Shape of Water hurtles towards its finale with intense speed, perhaps too much. The conclusion involves a number of coincidences and a lot of good fortune on Strickland’s part. He’s able to do a bunch of dastardly deeds due to characters who tell him what he needs to know or because he’s lucky enough to have information fall in his lap. The exact nature of the ending is also telegraphed from the beginning (at least that’s what I thought), so if you’re expecting a brilliant revelation regarding one or more characters, your hopes will be dashed. I was touched by the final scene, but I also longed for more of a resolution to the story at large, especially for Giles and Zelda.

Del Toro’s film succeeds thanks to the astonishing acting done by Hawkins, Shannon, Jenkins, Spencer and Stuhlbarg. Doug Jones’s performance can’t be gauged in terms of conventional acting, but his commitment to the role and the way that he physically brought the Amphibian Man to life (along with the services of the film’s makeup/special effects artists) is indeed worthy of praise. Visually, the cinematography, sets and costumes are stunning, while the score by Alexandre Desplat and the song selections (including a Madeleine Peyroux cover of one of my favorite Serge Gainsbourg tunes, “La Javanaise”) are charming. Despite the weaknesses, The Shape of Water is a beautiful film that encourages love, diversity and the importance of taking risks. In today’s political climate, we could all benefit from more of those attributes.

#365 day movie challenge 2017 #the shape of water #2017 #2010s #guillermo del toro #sally hawkins #doug jones #octavia spencer #michael shannon #nick searcy #richard jenkins #lauren lee smith #michael stuhlbarg #alexandre desplat

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nightmareonfilmstreet · 7 years ago

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The Shape of Waiting: 7 Guillermo Del Toro Films Stuck In Development Hell

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The Shape of Waiting: 7 Guillermo Del Toro Films Stuck In Development Hell

The Shape of Water, which finally gets its worldwide release this weekend, has already stolen the hearts of many. With near unanimous praise from critics, Guillermo Del Toro’s gothic romance is prime for a busy awards season. The Shape of Water leads the Golden Globes with 7 nominations, which is the icing on the cake of a year dominated by genre film. Taking home some hardware would be a much deserved cherry atop Del Toro’s incredible career, who is widely regarded as one of the most imaginative filmmakers working in Hollywood today. In the wake of his new film, there have been many articles chronicling Del Toro’s career and ranking his filmography. Instead of contributing another, we’re venturing into a world of what could have been.

Though Del Toro has a decent sized filmography, the list of films he’s almost created is three times as long. The Mexican director has a relentless work ethic and more ideas than he knows what to do with. He’s infamous for being attached to many projects whether it be via writing, producing, or directing. I’m sure we all wish Del Toro had the time and resources to make every film his heart desired but alas, some projects will never come to be. In the spirit of the holidays, let’s visit some of the ghosts of movies’ past. Here are 6 films that Guillermo Del Toro almost brought to life!

1. Hellboy 3

I have to get this one out of the way first because it hurts the most. Del Toro was already well known in the film community for The Devil’s Backbone, but it was Hellboy that brought him into the mainstream spotlight. Hellboy was a unique, gothic superhero film released towards the beginning of the comic book movie boom.. It was our first taste of Del Toro’s insane world-building abilities, blending fantasy with the paranormal. This world was then expanded upon in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, elevating everything from the first. Del Toro imagined the franchise as a trilogy, but ran into trouble getting the third into production reportedly due to conflict over budget. But the franchise gained a strong fanbase, banding behind Del Toro and Ron Perlman. Back in January, GDT took to Twitter to see if the fans could help. Despite efforts from passionate fans, Del Toro later confirmed in February that film was 100% not going to happen. But, it didn’t take long for Lionsgate to announce a Hellboy reboot for 2019.

2. I Am Legend

We all know Guillermo Del Toro loves working with creatures and monsters, including his vampires of Blade 2 and The Strain. So to little surprise, Del Toro was approached to direct the zombie-vampire thriller I Am Legend by Will Smith himself. He expressed a lot of interest in the film, being a big fan of the Richard Matheson novel. Del Toro ultimately had to pass in favor of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. There was a small silver lining though, GDT stated in an interview with TIME that his influence still made its way into the film:

Some of the notes about their biology actually came from me going to Warner Bros. to show them my ideas. I found it quite nice that visually the vampires in that movie had some passing similarity to those from my movie Blade II. The way they move, the fact that they all lose their hair and become these pale creatures.

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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It’s a little hard to imagine Guillermo Del Toro working within an established franchise despite the fact that the Harry Potter is practically a gothic fairy tale centered around a school of children. That said, one word makes it easy to see why GDT almost directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Werewolves. But let’s be real, it would have been DOPE to see a practical effects werewolf (performed by long time-collaborator Doug Jones, maybe?) on screen rather than the mediocre CGI lycan we were given. Del Toro passed on the project to direct Hellboy and Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, 2013) went on to direct the well-received Harry Potter film. So everything worked out in the end I guess.

4. Justice League Dark

Of all the movies on this list, Justice League Dark was the closest film GDT came to actually making. The film is currently in development hell, as many other directors such as Joseph Kahn (Detention, Bodied) have also dropped from the project. Del Toro was attached all the way back in 2012, with a penned script that was completed in 2014. For those who aren’t comic book nerds, Justice League Dark is a team of superheroes/antiheroes who deal with the darker paranormal threats of the DC universe. The team is comprised of: a dead guy, a demon, an occultist detective, a magician, and a character literally named Swamp Thing. Everything about the team and premise begs for Guillermo Del Toro to bring it to the big screen. A comic book movie seen through a horror lens with a unique story and killer effects could have been a game-changer. Del Toro was incredibly passionate about the material and we’ve already seen what he could do with dark superhero franchise. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts with Pacific Rim 2 and the rise of the DCEU, Del Toro had to step away from the project.

5. Pinocchio

It’s been a grueling 10 years of development hell for Del Toro’s imagined stop-motion take on Pinocchio. And of course whats holding it back, as the case with a few other unrealized projects, is getting it financed. GDT is a true artist in the sense of the word, he won’t make something unless it’s exactly his vision. Del Toro’s dark take on the classic tale would would be a Frankenstein twist on the original fairy tale, utilizing a combination of stop-motion and live puppetry. Though ambitious, the heavily practical production would be expensive, with a proposed budget of aprox $32 million. All the pieces are in place from the script to the production team, we’ve seen promo art and even a short clip. All that’s missing is the money to make it happen. Hopefully The Shape of Water‘s box office performance makes the nice list this Christmas and we get one step closer to seeing the film brought to life.

6. The Wolverine

Fans really enjoyed James Mangold’s The Wolverine, but it’s hard not to think of what it would have looked like through Del Toro’s eyes. GDT has been connected to several superhero films over the years, including Thor and the above mentioned Justice League Dark, but this one fascinates me the most. In an interview with Collider, Del Toro revealed he actually sat down with Fox Executives and Hugh Jackman about directing the film. It would have been cool to see him take on a story set in Japan, as Del Toro often drenches his films in culture like Pan’s Labyrinth or even Crimson Peak. Logan and Hellboy share a lot of similarities, so I could see why this was an attractive project to him. Two things I desperately wanted from The Wolverine was more body horror with Logan losing powers and a practical Silver Samurai. Had GDT taken on this project, perhaps I would have gotten my wish. Del Toro eventually passed the project along to Darren Arronofsky, who then passed it on to Mangold. How cool would it be too see each director’s different vision on the iconic character.

7. At the Mountains of Madness

Lastly is Guillermo Del Toro’s passion project, the classic H.P. Lovecraft novella At the Mountains of Madness. The story is a connected anthology of sorts, a professor recounts stories during an Antarctic expedition. Del Toro has been trying to get this movie for over a decade, with the project being cancelled in 2004 by Dreamworks and then again in 2012 when he refused to make it PG-13. The second time around came pretty close: the script was complete, James Cameron was on board to produce, and Tom Cruise was in talks for the lead role. The film was denied once again over funding and the creative differences in tone, but as of 2013 Del Toro has stated he would try one more time. The film sounds like a terrifying thriller and the story would be treated with the highest respect, Lovecraft is a clear influence in Del Toro’s work. Hopefully with his relentless passion, the film will eventually get made and see the light of day.

There are plenty more unrealized or up-in-the-air projects in Del Toro’s catalog including Godzilla, Beauty and the Beast, and The Haunted Mansion. At one point, he was even offered the entire Dark Universe! The talented director can only do so much, but with a mind like his can you blame the world for wanting as many Del Toro movies as possible? Today’s film landscape is so saturated with reboots and remakes, every Guillermo Del Toro project is a breath of fresh air. It’s unfortunate we can’t get more unique and imaginative films like Pacific Rim or Pan’s Labyrinth. To heck with the Dark Universe and the DCEU, I’m putting the GDTEU (Guillermo Del Toro Extended Universe, working title) on my Christmas List. One thing is for sure, at least The Shape of Water isn’t a project on this list. Go and support the film so we can get even more from Del Toro, perhaps At the Mountains of Madness if we’re lucky.

Which Guillermo Del Toro dream project do you most want to see on the big screen? Let us know in the comments below!

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chrismaverickdotcom · 7 years ago

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Mav’s Big Fucking Oscar Predictions List – 2018 (Why can't my favorite movie win?)

Who wants to do an Oscar pool? I love the Oscars. Everyone knows that. Oh, you didn’t know that? Well, then you haven’t been paying attention… how the hell are you even reading this? To me the Oscars are almost as exciting as the Super Bowl (come on, last year’s last minute buzzer beater by Moonlight was amazing).. I watch them every year and I make Stephanie watch with me so we can fill out ballots and baton the winners. In 2015 and 2016, I posted my “Big Fucking Oscars Prediciton List” for the awards so that people could try to beat me. For some reason I seem to have forgotten to have done a predictions list online last year; I was probably too busy working on a conference paper or something. I’m busy working on papers right now, but you know what… fuck it.

I love the Oscars!

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So I’ve written at various points about what it means to be an Oscar movie and why something like Wonder Woman, as much as I loved it, doesn’t deserve to be there. It just isn’t “good” enough in an objective sense… at least not in the any of the ways that the Oscars are meant to measure. The Oscars often take criticism for being “out of touch with the fans”and just being “the Hollywood industry just taking a chance to blow itself.” And well, YES! It is! It is totally Hollywood taking the chance to blow itself. That’s why I use the silly sex metaphor in my predictions. It is what it is, and that’s ok. The Oscars are the movie industry looking at the their peers and celebrating their technical and artistic merit. They’re about the artistic statement that the Academy wants to present. The Oscars aren’t about what people like. They’re not about connecting with the fans. That’s the People’s Choice awards and the Billboards. Wonder Woman was hugely inspiring to a great many people who needed that inspiration and will carry it with them for the rest of their lives. Black Panther is doing much the same this year. But you don’t get an Oscar for that. You get a different award. It’s called a billion dollars. And when you compare that billion dollars to a little golden statue that something like Moonlight takes home, well… it’s not that bad a trade.

Movies are a funny art form. Pop culture entertainment is in general, but especially movies. Pop culture fandom often develops such a sense of ownership over the media that it consumes that it feels entitled to demand that others see it the same way as they do. No one ever writes think pieces complaining that Pulitzer Prize should have considered Twilight or The Hunger Games or even Harry Potter series. And when’s the last time you read a hot take on someone being snubbed by the Dentistry Awards? To argue that the popular choice film should get the award because the Academy is out of touch for wanting to celebrate their values rather than the public’s is much the same thing.

That said, I don’t always think the Academy gets it right. Sometimes I disagree with their choices, even within their own metric. Lots of critics do. Famously Shakespeare in Love beating out Saving Private Ryan back in 1999 and the Artist arguably should have lost to literally ANY of the other nominees back in 2012. So this year I figured maybe I’d offer two sets of picks when applicable: The pick I think will win and the pick I want to win when I disagree. It will be interesting to see if any of my wishes for will actually pull an upset.

Steph and I will be watching the show Sunday night and probably drinking a bunch (yay, I don’t have to work on Monday!!!!) so if anyone is up for Oscarsing and Chilling as the kids say (well, the cool kids say… ok… well they should say… whatever… fuck you!) let me know. And one way or the other, I’d love to see your Oscar Picks as well. Post them here, it’ll be fun to see if anyone can beat me. You can get a ballot here: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/02/printable-2018-oscar-ballot. For extra super awesome points, feel free to comment with your guesses before you read mine. That makes it more fun to compare.

And now my picks… Mav’s Big Fucking Oscar Predictions 2018:

Best Picture:

The biggest award of the night is probably the most obvious place where I’ll disagree, and it’s the place where the common viewer probably has the most problem with the Oscars. It’s where people think Wonder Woman got snubbed. But when you look at the other films there… films, which granted only 5-10% of the Wonder Woman audience saw, and you objectively judge them it doesn’t fit. If anything, the snub here for me was The Big Sick, which really probably should have snuck in here. It is worth noting that the Oscars allow up to ten nominations for Best Picture (instead of the five for most categories). This year they only chose nine, and so there was an open spot which has actually been pretty debated. In some respect, I guess everyone can just assume their favorite film should have been inserted there and was snubbed for political reasons. Or maybe it’s like saving a seat for Elijah? I dunno. Anyway Conventional wisdom is that this is a two dog race between The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I personally actually liked the latter film more, but for Best Picture, I think the visual artistry of former film is going outweigh the storytelling mastery of the latter. Especially since Three Billboards isn’t really “enjoyable” so much as it is “good.” The social issues being so unresolved and so present in Three Billboards is going to leave some voters uncomfortable for this category. Of course, if it were up to me, I’d go with Lady Bird. I do think it was the best film of the year in terms of storytelling and theatrical craft, plus it fit the social message of the time period and it was hella enjoyable. Lady Bird was like the first time you have sex. It was true love or what felt like it. Maybe you don’t totally know what you’re doing yet, but it was sweet innocent and beautiful. You’ll never forget it. But that just won’t compare to the mastery of what is Shape of Water, this year. After all, who doesn’t love the beautiful touching story of a woman fucking a fish. Everyone wants to see that, right? You know you do!

Mav’s wishful thinking: Lady Bird

Mav’s prediction: The Shape of Water

Best Directing:

Much of what I said under Best Picture applies here as well. This is the place where a lot of people thought Patty Jenkins should have been nominated for directing Wonder Woman (she shouldn’t have been). And it’s a place where I personally would love to see Greta Gerwig win for Lady Bird. She won’t. A lot of people are probably also probably pulling for Jordan Peele to get the Oscar for Get Out. He won’t. Hopefully Gerwig and Peele will have future opportunities. But as far as how this year is going to shake down, this is all about Guillermo del Toro. And this is for the same reasons that I think his film is going to take Best Picture. This is a movie that honestly isn’t all that innovative from a storytelling point of view. It was a cute little fairytale, that I’ve seen before (specifically it’s Splash… but if you want to take out specific plot details, it’s just a lot of star-crossed lovers romances), but what made it special was the exceptional craft of presentation and that was all del Toro. Who else could make such a beautiful visual statement out of woman fucking a fish? Exactly!

Mav’s wishful thinking: Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird

Mav’s prediction: Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

I try to see most of the movies that I think have Oscar potential. Partly because I want to make informed guesses here. Partly because I’m like the pop culture weenie guy so understanding the current zeitgeist is sort of my job. And partly because I just really like movies. I’m going to admit that I never got around to seeing Darkest Hour. I wanted to, it was just never the right time. So I’m kind of judging it based on trailers and clips. But I think I have the basic plot down. The story goes like this: Let’s dress up Gary Oldman in a fat suit and win him an Oscar. And something about Churchill too, maybe, but really what can we do to get Oldman and Oscar? That’s the story, and I think it’s going to work. The only thing could possibly fuck it up is that we know Daniel Day-Lewis is giving up acting after his latest movie (Phantom Thread), presumedly to continue to pursue his lifelong dream of being a cobbler (no, really!). And it’s possible that the Academy just wants a chance to blow Day-Lewis last time… you know how it is… sometimes the love of your life is leaving you… you know there’s nothing you can do to make them stay, but if this is going to the last night together, then you’re going to make it memorable and you’re going to fuck the shit out of them! Really work it this time. Suck harder than ever. No orifice is off limts. Maybe call in a friend as well. The Academy wants Daniel to know what he’s giving up. They want him to remember their name. But let it go, Academy. He’s already moved on. I mean, it’s not that he doesn’t care about you. He does. And if you beg hard enough… then sure… he’ll finish on your face one last time. But honestly, he’s doing that for you, not for himself. The magic is gone for Daniel. It’s over. If you love him let him go. But Gary… look at Gary over there in his fat suit. He’s doing that for YOU! Gary loves you. He just wants a little recognition. He just wants to know you love him. You don’t need to do too much. Maybe just a little hand stuff. He deserves it. Don’t make him beg. He will. And you know what that’s like. Besides, Oldman is totally ok with you having a side piece.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Gary Oldman for The Darkest Hour

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

And speaking of being a side piece. Sam Rockwell wants this bad and will do ANYTHING for you and I mean ANYTHING. All the stuff you’re willing to do for DDL plus stuff you’ve never even heard of and wouldn’t know to google. Filthy stuff. Sam’s going reach down your — Ok, I just want to break away from the sexual metaphor gimmick for a second. Same Rockwell, fucking owned his role in Three Billboards. No one else matters here. Not even a little bit. And yeah, there’s a little bit of controversy about “should we be celebrating someone in this day cultural moment for playing such a racist?” And the answer is yes. Rockwell embodied that character perfectly. That was the definition of acting and he did it in a way that made a character that was completely over the top seem very real and tangible. So much so that he caused the controversy. That’s craft and there’s just no question that he deserves this. Ok back to the sexual metaphor gimmick already in progress. — and you’ll both be walking funny for weeks afterwards.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

So there’s this problem in Hollywood. They favor the young, particularly among women. And really… I get it. Because given the chance I totally would totally fuck both Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan. And if you don’t want to… well, something is wrong with you. But they’re both in their 20s. They’re skinny, white, blonde and pretty. Frankly, even if they weren’t talented (and they both are) Hollywood find something for them to do. Sally Hawkins is 41 and brunette, so she had to do a little something extra and fuck a fish on camera to get noticed (and again, I don’t want downplay the cinematic achievement there… it was beautiful… like, I mean, I’m questioning stuff about myself). But you know who’s willing to really work for it? A sixty year old France McDormand, who like her co-star Sam Rockwell (see above) was good enough that my whole stupid Hollywood orgy metaphor just kind of falls apart. She was just that good. It doesn’t matter who else was nominated. What? There are five spots and we only nominate four women? I don’t know, someone throw Meryl Streep in there for whatever she’s done most recently… because it doesn’t fucking matter. This is McDormund’s year.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

So this is a weird one. Here’s the one place that I feel like there was a serious snub this year. Holly Hunter really deserved a nomination here for The Big Sick. It didn’t happen. Probably just because the movie came out too long ago and no one really expected much to come of it. I’d argue it’s probably the biggest omission in this year’s nominations. She was amazing in it. The only things that come close are Allison Williams not getting nominated for lead actress in her role in Get Out (and she’s young, white and pretty… even without being blonde she’ll get another shot… especially given how talented she is) and Patrick Stewart not getting a nomination for supporting actor in Logan (but that’s a comic book movie… so probably a lot of Academy voters didn’t take it seriously even though he was very good). However, in each of these cases, including Hunter, it wouldn’t have mattered. Rockwell is taking the category that Stewart would have been nominated for. McDrormund is taking the category that Williams would been in. And supporting actress is coming down to one of two people. Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird and Allison Janney for I, Tonya. This one is kind of a steal. Janney is going to take it. And Janney totally deserves an Oscar. But even at 58, she’s going to get another shot. This is a body of work award. She’s paid her dues and she was good in this and she’s going to take it. I personally think Metcalf was better. And she’s 62 and doesn’t do as many movies (she’s a TV actress) so this is probably her last shot. But it’s not going to happen. This is Janney’s year. Everyone else should just be happy to be there. But this is the one place where I would have replaced a nominee. I like Octavia Spencer a lot and she has an Oscar win and another nomination for a reason. Shape of Water was not her best work. Hunter was better. So since they’re all going to lose to Janney anyway, I would have liked to have seen Hunter get a nod here.

Mav’s wishful thinking: Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird

Mav’s prediction: Allison Janney for I, Tonya

Best Animated Feature:

Animated Feature is probably the one category in all the Oscars where being the super popular movie is actually the best way to guarantee a win. Sometimes this is deserved. Sometimes it’s not. This time it is. The answer here is Coco. Arguably, Coco deserves that 10th spot in the Best Picture race. There shouldn’t even be a contest here really. To continue the Hollywood orgy metaphor that I’ve been doing one last time (it doesn’t really matter for the awards after this) and be quite inappropriate for a film that is aimed very much at children, Coco is like deep sensual lovemaking while everyone else is still waiting for their first kiss. I mean, really… we’re comparing this to fucking Boss Baby. Are you fucking kidding me?

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Coco

Best Animated Short Film:

And now we’re getting down to the films and awards that most people don’t understand even a little bit. That’s why the orgy metaphor is hard to continue If you’ve got an Oscar pool going, this is where you win it. Animated short films are actually really hard to judge. Partly because it’s sort of like Best Picture in that there are a lot of different ways to win it. Sometimes it’s technical achievement. But it’s just as often to be awarded on grounds of making a really touching story or a beautiful piece of artwork. And sometimes you just give it to whatever random thing Disney or Pixar tossed out there just to win the award (this year, that thing is Lou). This was tricky this year, because I actually would kind of like to see Revolting Rhymes win in any given year. But not this one. Usually, this isn’t the kind of award that anyone that you’ve ever heard of matters at all. Best Animated Short Film is not about star fucking. But not this year. This year, I think it goes to Kobe Bryant’s Dear Basketball. Oh yeah, did you know Kobe Bryant was a film maker now? Well he is. And his short is a gorgeous and touching love letter to… well, himself… but it’s really good.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Dear Basketball

Best Cinematography:

If there is a fucking god, then this belongs to Blade Runner 2049. I loved that movie, and while I acknowledge it isn’t for everyone (and predicted that no one would see it when I reviewed it), if Blade Runner is about nothing else, it is about the beauty of the film medium. This category basically exists for Blade Runner 2049. I would argue that ninety years of fucking Oscars were all leading up to this moment when Blade Runner 2049 wins an Oscar for cinematography. But there is no god… so there’s a good chance that Dunkirk takes this instead. But I’m going against my gut… this is the one place where I’m going to put my wishes in instead and make my official prediction what I want it to be instead of what I expect the Academy to do. It’s the one award I’ll be least surprised to lose.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Blade Runner 2049

Best Costume Design:

Remember how I said that The Darkest Hour only exists to give Gary Oldman an award for best actor? Well, Phantom Thread only exists in order to win the award for Costume Design. No joking… it’s literally a movie about designing costumes. That’s it. I actually haven’t watched it yet (I should) but I mean, this is the most Oscar pandering concept ever. And by all accounts, they did a great job.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Phantom Thread

Best Documentary Feature:

This one is always hard. Generally I never get to see any of these until after the Oscars (if ever) and that’s true this year. A lot of the industry buzz is that this is going to go to either Icarus or Faces Places. But, I’m going with Last Men in Aleppo. The Documentary category is one where traditionally the Academy likes to show just how socially conscious they are. This is not not just culturally and socially relevant in this exact historic moment as a film, but it is notable because it is not only the first film ever nominated out of Syria, and the subject matter of the film itself, but because if it were to win, no one will be there to accept the award because Trump’s travel ban is keeping the filmmakers out of our country. And yeah, maybe you didn’t know that… but the people who vote for documentaries probably do.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Last Men in Aleppo

Best Documentary Short Subject:

Same issue with Documentary Short Subject. Here socially conscious and relevant matters. The two short subject categories (this and animated) are the only ones where all of the voters are required to see all of the films (since it doesn’t take long) and with documentary, this is a place where making a statement matters. I’m going with Heroin(e) purely because people are going to want to address opioid crisis.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Heroin(e)

Best Film Editing:

Remember what I said about there not being a god? If there were a god, then Baby Driver might have a shot here. Baby Driver is a movie that is all about craft. The magic of that movie is the way in which sound and visuals are expertly crafted together. The challenge was not only editing it together in a brilliant way that made for an engaging visual experience, but the technical expertise to make it work with the music and sound mixing. The film is a master class in craft. It is a singular achievement in film editing that absolutely deserves this almost as much as Blade Runner 2049 deserves the cinematography award. But I said I was only going to play that card and go against my gut once and I am sticking to it. So I think Baby Driver gets beat here just because it’s too genre and high concept and voters might never have given it a chance. So this award is going to go to the second best edited film this year, Dunkirk.

Mav’s wishful thinking: Baby Driver

Mav’s prediction: Dunkirk

Best Foreign Language Film:

Like I said, these categories are really hard. I’m going to go with A Fantastic Woman, because it’s the one I am most interested in seeing (I haven’t seen any of the nominees this year). There are a couple others that sound interesting (The Insult is getting some good buzz) but I feel like this one. And much like the documentary categories being a socially relevant can really help in this category. Not as much, but some. And this is a story focusing very heavily on transgender rights. This is something that can also tank it because… well, the Academy is a lot of very very old white men. So it might just be “icky.” But, I expect Foreign Language Film is one of the categories where a lot of the people who would be squicked out by it just don’t bother to vote, so I’m going with it.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: A Fantastic Woman

Best Live Action Short Film:

This is another one of my hard sections because I haven’t seen them. So on this one I’m judging purely on industry buzz and social relevance. I’m going with Dekalb Elementary. Honestly, a big part of this is because it will create a moment for the filmmaker to stand up and give an inspiring speech about gun control and how we have to do something to end the crisis of school shootings. And everyone will applaud and feel great… well, until he gets played off for giving a speech longer than ten seconds, because we have to make sure we have enough time left for the big names to give speeches at the end of the show. We care about school shootings… but only so much.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: DeKalb Elementary

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

This is usually a hard one. It’s not this time. Remember how I said that Darkest Hour was a movie about getting Gary Oldman his Oscar? Well, in order to that they had to transform him. And that took a massive technical achievement in makeup and hairstyling.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Darkest Hour

Best Original Score:

Original Score is a weird category this year. For obvious reasons, the industry sort of privileges the “Original” part of Original Score. And, so in a lot of ways it sort of makes sense to exclude Baby Driver from the category because the music is from preexisting sources. BUT, in the same way that Phantom Thread is a movie about costuming. Baby Driver is a movie about scoring a movie. That’s the whole gimmick of the film. And to exclude it is sort of the same thing as arguing a DJ isn’t a musician and well… that’s an argument. But in this specific case, I feel like Baby Driver at least needed to be on the conversation. Certainly more than Star Wars: The Last Jedi which I think is just sort of there because legally, Star Wars has to be nominated in this category. But Baby Driver is not there. And so I am forced to pick something else, and while I personally liked the Dunkirk score a lot, I think for what the Academy is going for, we go to Shape of Water again here. If nothing else, because it has momentum.

Mav’s wishful thinking: Dunkirk

Mav’s prediction: Shape of Water

Best Original Song:

The music categories are hard at the Oscars. You have to sort of forget that you’re at movie awards and then apply the logic that you would use for making a Grammy pick. But then you have to remember that you’re picking an award for a movie and you are at the Oscars and it’s just a whole big thing. And also, it’s music so it kinda needs to sound nice. Anyway, for some reason, 21st century Hollywood loves a musical and The Greatest Showman was one.

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman

Best Production Design:

Like I said, there is no god, but there is momentum.

Mav’s wishful thinking: Blade Runner 2049

Mav’s prediction: Shape of Water

Best Sound Mixing:

As I say every year, no one in the world really understands the difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. Not even the people who do it for a living. I think I understand… and if I do, then this is the one place where Baby Driver has a very real shot at winning an Oscar. And it deserves it. But again, remember, there is no god… and you’re not required to watch all of the movies to vote in this category. I can totally see old Oscar voters looking at the cover for their Baby Driver screener DVD and saying “oh fuck no” and moving on without knowing how much that movie needs this. It is a celebration of the art of film sound. But no… they’ll probably just pick Dunkirk.

Mav’s wishful thinking: Baby Driver

Mav’s prediction: Dunkirk

Best Sound Editing:

Baby Driver was more about the sound mixing than the sound editing… you know… unless I got those backwards… because again, no one really remembers which is which. If I’m right, then Blade Runner 2049 had better sound editing. But it doesn’t matter, because the same deal as with Sound Mixing and the Academy will just pick Dunkirk and move on with their lives.

Mav’s wishful thinking: Blade Runner 2049

Mav’s prediction: Dunkirk

Best Visual Effects:

Do you know why this category exists? This category exists to give trophies to Star Wars. Any year that there is no Star War is just a year that we’re standing around and waiting for a Star War to happen. And I am including the fifty years that the ward existed before the first Star War. And now that we have a Star War every year, you should be able to sort of pencil in the Star War to win this award. Only it hasn’t happened. See, the last time we brought back the Star Wars we were busy giving this award to Matrixes and Lords of Rings. And this time, now that we have a yearly Star War, we keep saying “oh, well, there will be another chance for the Star Wars, so let’s recognize an Ex Machina or a Jungle Book because we’ll totally get to the recognizing the Star War next year.” Well, this is not that year. Because this is the year of Blade Runner 2049. And frankly, there’s probably not going to be another one. In 1982, the original Blade Runner got bumped for this award by E.T. which for all intents and purposes (in this category at least) might as well have been a Star War. Well, this franchise didn’t wait thirty-five years for that to happen again. So you know… lets see how Solo: A Star Wars Story does next year (BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!!)

Mav’s wishful thinking and prediction: Blade Runner 2049

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Sometimes it’s an honor to be nominated. Two of my own personal favorite films are in this category this year. Logan and The Disaster Artist. A movie about the X-man Wolverine and a movie about arguably one of the worst movies of all time. Neither of these things have any business being anywhere near the Academy Awards… and yet, in these two specific cases… they totally do belong. They’re just not going to win. In the past we’ve had a lot of Oscar controversy about things being too white. Too male. Too heteronormative. The Academy is trying to fix that… Moonlight last year was a big part of that. But they’re not going to burn the Best Picture spot on diversity every year. And a good place to do that is the screenwriting awards. So this is going to be the Academy saying “you want diversity? Fine, we’re so woke we’re going to give an award to a gay film that you’ve never even fucking heard of. That’s right, we’re going with Call Me By Your Name. You don’t know it! Not so woke after all, are you! Fuck you!”

Mav’s wishful thinking: Logan (though to be fair, this is partly me being a comic book weenie and I haven’t seen the film that is going to win yet either… though I want to)

Mav’s prediction: Call Me By Your Name

Best Original Screenplay:

And they can consider demonstrating their wokeness with the other screenwriting award. And this is kind of a problem. Because as I said on my very first pick, Lady Bird was probably the best pure film of the year. And it really deserves and Oscar. But it’s not going to get one. It’s going to get shut out, and that sucks. Because it wasn’t the best written film. The Big Sick was actually better, and this is the only places it’s even nominated. And I really would have liked to see that get more recognition. And really, again, if there was a god, it would probably be a shoe-in here. But there is no god… and in the mind of the Academy voter, diversifying means tossing a vote towards a woman, a gay, or a black. But then when the voter looks at Kumail Nanjiani they say “what the fuck is that dude?!?!? Pakistani? Uhhh…. no… no no no… that’s just not going to happen here.” Wokeness only goes so far. But on a good note, it goes far enough that I think you can pencil in Jordan Peele to get recognized for Get Out. Oddly enough, of the three things I’ve mentioned here, Get Out is probably the LEAST well written. But it’s the one that I feel like can really get traction and win here. Of course, this is a tough category… and I wouldn’t be shocked if Three Billboards gets another nod here (and that would be reasonable) or Shape of Water because of its momentum (and this would NOT be reasonable. It’s not as well WRITTEN as the others). But I think this is one where the more diverse pick really can pull it out. Not just because he’s black, but because it’s such a different film than anything else that Academy has ever seen. And yet they liked it enough to nominate it anyway.

Mav’s wishful thinking: The Big Sick

Mav’s prediction: Get Out

So those are my picks… What are yours? And if you’re interested in watching with me an Steph, let me know (we may even say yes 😀).

Here’s how out of touch with audiences the Oscars are: None of the top 5 most-tweeted nominees are favorites to win

#OscarsSoDull: Despite the pomp and ceremony, the 2018 awards are less relevant than ever

The director of last year’s infamous Oscars telecast looks back on the ‘La La Land’-‘Moonlight’ mix-up that ended up winning him an Emmy

The 17 best movies of all time that weren’t nominated for a best-picture Oscar, according to critics

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Mav’s Big Fucking Oscar Predictions List – 2018 (Why can’t my favorite movie win?) was originally published on ChrisMaverick dotcom

#90th Academy Awards #Academy Awards #Baby Driver #Blade Runner 2049 #Coco #Dunkirk #get out #greatest showman #I tonya #movie reviews #oscars #shape of water #Three Billboards Outside Ebbing

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njawaidofficial · 7 years ago

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The 9 Films Battling for That One Best Picture Envelope

https://styleveryday.com/2018/02/26/the-9-films-battling-for-that-one-best-picture-envelope/

The 9 Films Battling for That One Best Picture Envelope

‘The Shape of Water’ leads the pack with a whopping 13 overall Oscar nominations as this year’s best picture contenders square off in an especially tight category.

It’s the most wide-open race for best picture in years. With the nine Academy Award contenders ranging from big, sweeping blockbusters (Dunkirk) to small, independent critical darlings (Lady Bird and Call Me by Your Name) and traditional heavy hitters in the Oscar race with Daniel Day Lewis in Phantom Thread, and Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks with The Post.

And that’s not even accounting for the two actual favorites that have all the award-season momentum right now (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water) or the horror film that could pull off one of the biggest surprise wins in years (Get Out).

Below is a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each of the nine contending films, plus a critic’s take on who should win best picture as well as an Oscar expert predicting who will win the Oscar.

Best Picture nominee breakdowns written by THR Film Editor Gregg Kilday.

Call Me by Your Name

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (4): Picture, lead actor Timothee Chalamet, adapted screenplay and song

STRENGTHS: A lush, idyllic summer romance, it’s a feast for the senses — you can practically taste the cheese, the pasta and the wine, to say nothing of that peach. It boasts the excitement of a rising young star in Chalamet. An indie darling, it led the Spirit Award nominations with six mentions, won best feature at the Gotham Awards and was named best picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

WEAKNESSES: Director Luca Guadagnino and supporting actors Armie Hammer and Michael Stuhlbarg all were left off the nominations list. Its most passionate fans fear the heartbreak of another Brokeback Mountain-like loss.

Darkest Hour

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (6): Picture, lead actor Gary Oldman, cinematography and three other crafts

STRENGTHS: It speaks with a properly stiff upper-lip to those Anglophiles wanting another Winston Churchill fix in the wake of Netflix’s The Crown. And heavy Oscar favorite Oldman already has picked up Globe and SAG Awards honors.

WEAKNESSES: Joe Wright was snubbed by the directors, and it also failed to secure a film editing nom, which usually accompanies a best picture winner.

Dunkirk

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (8): Picture, directing, score, cinematography and four other crafts

STRENGTHS: Everything about this movie is rousingly big. It’s the bona fide blockbuster among this year’s best pic nominees and is best viewed on a ginormous Imax screen. For re-creating war in all its hellish sound and fury, Christopher Nolan got his first directing nom, which many consider overdue. And Oscar loves war movies, 16 of which have won best pic.

WEAKNESSES: None of its actors was recognized with nominations, and the film also missed out on a screenplay nomination. Sometimes war really is hell.

Get Out

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (4): Picture, lead actor Daniel Kaluuya, directing and original screenplay

STRENGTHS: By design, it’s a horror-movie version of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner that speaks to current racial anxieties. For addressing such fears head-on, producer Norman Lear lavished praise on writing and directing nominee Jordan Peele as he presented him with the Stanley Kramer Award at the PGA Awards. And it picked up an Audience Award at the Gothams.

WEAKNESSES: There’s still that horror-film stigma to overcome, since the only horror movie that has won best picture laurels is 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs.

Lady Bird

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (5): Picture, lead actress Saoirse Ronan, supporting actress Laurie Metcalf, directing and original screenplay

STRENGTHS: In actress turned auteur Greta Gerwig, who collected writing and directing noms, a multihyphenate star is born. The National Society of Film Critics blessed her semi-autobiographical tale with four prizes, including best film, while the New York Film Critics proclaimed it the year’s best picture. And for playing a smart, small-town girl with dreams of life in the bright lights, big city, Ronan, at just 23, now has her third Oscar nomination.

WEAKNESSES: It’s modestly small in scale, and some guys just don’t get it.

Phantom Thread

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (6): Picture, lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis, supporting actress Lesley Manville, directing, score and costume design

STRENGTHS: Given that it was the last major awards contender to be unveiled this season, and that Day-Lewis — who insists that he plans to retire from acting — is famously reticent, this mysteriously introverted melodrama has to be considered a true word-of-mouth phenomenon. Paul Thomas Anderson, boosted into the directors circle for the second time, is now a genuine Oscar favorite.

WEAKNESSES: It’s far from a traditional boy-meets-girl love story, even if it’s all dressed up to the nines. And it has had limited box-office appeal, grossing less than $20 million domestically, one of the lowest totals for any of the nominated films.

The Post

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (2): Picture and lead actress Meryl Streep

STRENGTHS: The speed with which Steven Spielberg assembled and shot this clarion call in defense of the freedom of the press is admirable. It’s been greeted as a worthy and female-driven companion piece to All the President’s Men, which earned eight Oscar noms back in 1977.

WEAKNESSES: Nominations-wise, it fell short. There was no directing nom for Spielberg, and leading man Tom Hanks was left out in the cold.

The Shape of Water

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (13): Picture, lead actress Sally Hawkins, supporting actress Octavia Spencer, supporting actor Richard Jenkins, directing, original screenplay, cinematography, score and five other crafts

STRENGTHS: Sure, it’s a genre movie of sorts, and genre movies usually face an uphill battle with the Academy. But not this one, an oddly compelling interspecies romantic fantasy. With the most noms of any contender, it registered in just about every category it hoped to take, except for visual effects. At the Jan. 20 PGA Awards, it won the top prize.

WEAKNESSES: True, it wasn’t nominated for the SAG Awards’ cast prize, but nobody’s perfect.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

OSCAR NOMINATIONS (7): Picture, lead actress Frances McDormand, supporting actor Woody Harrelson, supporting actor Sam Rockwell, original screenplay, score and film editing

STRENGTHS: An unpredictable tale of small-town murder, a crusade for justice and, possibly, redemption, it’s an actors’ favorite — collecting three acting noms right after walking off with the SAG Awards’ film ensemble trophy. It also has four Globes, including best drama, on its résumé.

WEAKNESSES: While creator Martin McDonagh got an adapted screenplay nom, he was denied a directing nom, which could be ominous.

Now, the predictions…

Who Should Win: Call Me by Your Name

It’s a sign of something when the best gay-or-otherwise picture of the year, Call Me by Your Name, is perhaps seen as too “conventional” by newer Academy members, who might actually push Get Out into the winner’s circle. It’s also true that the DVDs supplied for home viewing of Luca Guadagnino’s sublimely observed and acted film don’t look so hot; the film that clearly deserves to win here (but probably won’t) is one that plays infinitely better on the big screen despite its intimate scale. – THR Chief Film Critic Todd McCarthy

Who Will Win: The Shape of Water

Even before considering the impact of the Academy’s preferential ballot system (it’s intended to produce a winner that everyone at least likes), this year’s race is especially tough.

Every top contender faces a statistic not overcome in years: Dunkirk (no acting or writing nominations), Get Out (fewer than five total nominations), Lady Bird (no craft nominations), The Shape of Water (no SAG ensemble nomination) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (no directing nomination).

All have won other awards, but The Shape of Water seems the most widely admired (among its field-leading 13 nominations are three for acting, which can be seen as negating the SAG snub) and could benefit from reverse-coattails (its director, Guillermo del Toro, is a safe bet to win best director). – THR Awards Analyst Scott Feinberg

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takenews-blog1 · 7 years ago

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12 Finest Films of 2017, From ‘Dunkirk’ to ‘Name Me by Your Identify’ (Images)

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/12-finest-films-of-2017-from-dunkirk-to-name-me-by-your-identify-images/

12 Finest Films of 2017, From ‘Dunkirk’ to ‘Name Me by Your Identify’ (Images)

2017 was a powerful 12 months for cinema, with achievements that may be measured on many yardsticks: It was the 12 months a Surprise Lady obtained to rock the seemingly unassailable superhero style, the 12 months a black sketch comic grew to become a massively worthwhile writer-director, and the 12 months when Tiffany Haddish ascended to the comedy cosmos. Company filmmaking could proceed to choke Hollywood (and a Disney-Fox merger is not excellent news in that division), however this was a 12 months when there was at all times one thing to suggest, whether or not it was blasting to the massive display or streaming to a smaller one.

The runners-up (alphabetically) “Seaside Rats,” “Blade Runner 2049,” “BPM,” “The Florida Undertaking,” “God’s Personal Nation,” “Commencement,” “I, Tonya,” “Ingrid Goes West,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “Phantom Thread,” “Professor Marston and the Surprise Ladies,” “Sieranevada.”

10. “My Comfortable Household” At the moment streaming on Netflix, this import from Georgia options one of many 12 months’s strongest performances: Ia Shugliasvili stars as Manana, a spouse and mom residing in an overcrowded Tbilisi house along with her dad and mom, husband, and grownup kids. She shocks all of them by shifting out and getting her personal place on this highly effective and infrequently darkly humorous character examine.

9. “Dunkirk” and “Detroit” Amidst the popcorn fluff of summer time, we obtained two auteurist movies that dropped audiences into the center of historic brutality. Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” was a suspenseful, staccato WWII story offered from quite a lot of views, whereas Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit” was a hard-to-watch horror-show about police brutality in 1967 that rang all too true in 2017 America. Each movies had been illuminating, visceral experiences.

8. “Private Shopper” This very up to date ghost story — the place are these texts coming from, and the way not too long ago had been they despatched? — reteamed Kristen Stewart with director Olivier Assayas, who beforehand guided her via the acclaimed “Clouds of Sils Maria.” Stewart is rarely lower than sensible as a millennial medium who’s as trapped between life and dying as she is caught between profession paths.

7. “Brad’s Standing” and “The Meyerowitz Tales (New and Chosen)” Mike White and Noah Baumbach strengthened their reputations as two of the main voices of graying white Gen X-ers with these hilarious and heartbreaking character research of middle-aged males going through regrets, paths not taken, and the angst of sending your child off to varsity. Adam Sandler (in “Meyerowitz”) and Ben Stiller (in each motion pictures) are given the chance to supply a few of their most heartfelt, grownup performing.

6. “Marjorie Prime” Lois Smith’s heartbreaking efficiency deserves discover, however there’s much more to this poignant and provocative take a look at the top of life and the way we regularly change into the unreliable narrators of our personal lives. The extraordinary ensemble additionally options Jon Hamm, Geena Davis and Tim Robbins, all beneath the delicate and humane path of Michael Almereyda (adapting the play by Jordan Harrison).

5. “Get Out” It’s an excellent horror film that follows the Blumhouse guidelines — most scares on as few units as doable — however this chiller is a lot extra. Making his debut as writer-director, Jordan Peele crafts a prickly, hilarious and terrifying metaphor for American life in 2017; what Ira Levin did for feminism with “The Stepford Wives,” Peele does right here for #BlackLivesMatter.

4. “Their Most interesting” Of the three Dunkirk motion pictures I noticed this 12 months, this one’s my favourite. Not like so most of the valentines to filmmaking we’ve seen recently, this one cannily sends up its topic — wartime propaganda motion pictures — whereas telling a narrative that pushes all the identical buttons. (It’s as stirring, humorous, romantic and poignant as something turned out by the Battle Workplace.) Gemma Arterton shines as a copywriter who will get promoted to the photographs, and Invoice Nighy is, as at all times, a charmingly roguish ham, but it surely’s Sam Claflin who makes probably the most of his meatiest position to this point, proving he’s greater than only a YA crush object.

3. “The Form of Water” A hauntingly lovely salute to simply about all the pieces that’s come out of the Hollywood dream manufacturing unit — from monster motion pictures to silents to musicals — and the most effective film Guillermo del Toro has made since “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Sally Hawkins suffuses her mute character with longing, Richard Jenkins upends gay-best-friend clichés, and the great thing about 1962 design hides males’s ugliest impulses on this breathtaking creature-feature romance.

2. “Woman Chicken” Greta Gerwig has been dazzling art-house audiences for years in automobiles like “Frances Ha” (which she co-wrote) and “Damsels in Misery,” however nobody was fairly ready for the way pretty or heartfelt her solo debut as writer-director can be. Saoirse Ronan dazzles anew on this good and unsentimental coming-of-age story, and Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet present key help as boys who cross her path, but it surely’s Laurie Metcalf’s brusquely humorous flip as a frazzled mother that enables this stage and TV legend a uncommon probability to shine on the motion pictures.

1. “Name Me By Your Identify” Past love is awkward, and it entails plenty of second-guessing and misreading of indicators and badly hidden obsession. Films don’t normally get that half proper, however Luca Guadagnino’s 1983-set story of a teen and his barely older crush traverses the terrain of the inexperienced coronary heart with subtlety and sensitivity. James Ivory’s script (from the novel by André Aciman) and the 2 astonishing lead performances by Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer make this a romance to recollect.

Now be sure you take a look at Alonso Duralde’s picks for the worst motion pictures of 2017.

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rafablogs · 7 years ago

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Website Blog Posts (August 2004-August 2008) - Part 1

The following blog posts have been copied from https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com forum. I have no way of confirming whether they are genuine or not since Rafa’s old website is long gone and I have been unable to retrieve any captures of the website from that time on internet archives.

AUGUST 9TH 2004 - INTERNATIONAL SERIES, SOPOT (POLAND), CLAY

I won my first ATP tournament! An International Series in the Polish city of Sopot. In the final I beat the Argentine Jose Acasuso 6-3 6-4 and although that year I would achieve other successes that would leave this one as an anecdote, I will always remember it with the warmth it deserves.> DECEMBER 5TH 2004 - DAVIS CUP, SEVILLA, CLAY

I have never hidden my admiration for Moya, a brother to me and a marvel with the racquet. Masterful on clay, his service rivals that of the best specialists and he managed to reach the final in Australia. It is hardly surprising that he has been a true number one.

The G3 captains confided in me in the clash against Roddick. I came to the team as a substitute and jumbped to the Cartuja Olympic Stadium as the second on board to be matched up against the most powerful service on the circuit in a final. Charly wished me luck, which he said I would not need to beat him, though frankly outside the team nobody believed I could beat the world number two.

But I managed to do it. I notched up the 2-0 which placed the final in our favour. The fans were not only witnesses but also accomplices: they took me in the air and I could feel the public's breath surrounding me on court... and that shook me until then I had been a practically an anonymous player.

In the fourth clash, Roddick lost to Carlos 3-1. The Salad Bowl stayed at home and the Cartuja led to delirium.

Acapulco and Costa do Squipe belong to the the Latin American clay tour, and are excellent tournaments for preparing the season on clay. I won both titles, and above all my feelings on court were entirely favourable: I was not only reaching the main courses hungry, but also at a sweet moment.> FEBRUARY 21st 2005 - INTERNATIONAL SERIES, ACAPULCO (MEXICO), CLAY

I got my first vicotry in a Master Series against Guilllermo Coria, my first significant triumph and the first of my three consecutive conquests of this tournament. It was also the first trophy I bit, and since then this has been my sign of identity. You will understand that I remember it as a first step.> APRIL 24TH 2005 - INTERNATIONAL SERIES GOLD, OPEN SEAT GODO (BARCELONA), CLAY

This was the final that the crowd demanded, a Spanish duel between two good friends. I was matched against Ferrero, one of the greatest racquet talents of the recent years, former world number one, who was hungry for titles after a complicated season and seemed to recover his best form in Barcelona.

And he confirmed this in the final.

Juanca's right hand is privileged, and his passing shots down the lines are unique on the circuit. He played at a very high level and showed his enormous class; "el mosquito" is a master on clay.

You will wonder how I managed to beat him. Well, everything went right for me that day, or maybe I should say everything went in...

After this match, the Spanish press labelled me as favourite for Paris, an awkward praise, as it was my first participation.> MAY 2ND 2005 - TMS ROME, CLAY

In 2004 I was going full sail with the wind in my favour. Hardly a fortnight had passed since Monte Carlo and I was getting my teeth into my second Master Series, after an exciting final against Coria. I felt I was in a state of grace, with complete confidence with my sight set on Roland Garros> MAY 31ST 2005 - ROLAND GARROS, CLAY - SEMI-FINAL

I am honestly making an effort to explain what I felt. Euphoria? Satisfaction? Ecstasy? No, it was something more than this. Sometimes words do not do justice, they are not enough, and this is one of those times.

In the semi-finals, I faced Federer, and it is true that I felt plethoric on clay... as true as the match seemed intimidating, I felt respect. I am not saying fear. Never.

My start was explosive. I knew that Rogerio (as I friendly call him) was not used to hitting so high and would take a few games to get used to my lifting. I had to exploit this. I won the first set comfortably, aware that Roger had now got my measure.

The next set was different. The Swiss started his showtime and made it clear that he could play a sublime tennis on a gravel court. However, I also noted a couple of things, I had to get him off the court. Roger would not waste any short ball, I had to make sure that it would impact in conditions that would not allow him to put this speed to the ball only his wrist is able of. 'Let's see what you can do hitting above your shoulders', I thought.

The third set fell to me. Roger took out the set square and the triangle, sending the ball into unreachable angles, and then I reached it. I ran as never before, trying to unsettle him, counter-attacking on each of his winning rights. I knew the premise: keep him away from the net.

Fourth set, I was exhausted, as if that was important. I was caressing my first Grand Slam final and was prepared to run to it. Literally. 'Who said weariness?', I repeated. In the last set I managed to beat him and get a ticket for the final.> JUNE 5TH 2005 - ROLAND GARROS, CLAY - FINAL

I found it hard to believe that it was actually happening, getting into a final after beating a certain Federer on my first participation in the tournament.

There, Mariano Puerta was waiting for me, a player coming back to the circuit after a two-year suspension for doping, and he gave positive once more after the test in Roland Garros, although the result would not be known until months later.

The Argentine was also a left hander, and as a specialist in opening up the court. In my favour my physique and a deep conviction of victory. These were not enought to submit him in the first set, which he won after a tight tie break. Puerta felt worn out and I imposed myself in the following games without giving him any options. First match ball, he was at service. I was ready.

His first service failed. I wasn't counting on this, I could almost touch the cup and the tension was suffocating me, the instant Puerta was preparing his second service seemed to go on and on. Dry mouth, mental block, stiffness numbness... and then the ball crossed the net.

I did not return as I should have, I gave back a tame ball, easy for a volley. I was nailed to the court, calling for a miracle, I couldn't stand playing another game: I felt the trophy, my dream, within reach of my hands and I feared it would slip away between my fingers. When Puerta hit, my head was frenetically repeating one word...

'Out'. He failed it. I was the champion of Roland Garros. Suddenly everything stopped, the world seemed to hold its breath while I fell backwards, covering myself in the red dirt.

Maybe there is a word to describe it: 'indescribable'.> JULY 4TH 2005 - INTERNATIONAL SERIES, BASTAD (SWEDEN), CLAY

After the Roland Garros hangover, it was time to get back to the grind. The clay season had not finished and I had to get the most out of the good moment I was enjoying. In Bastad, I fulfilled my role as favourite by imposing myself over Berdych in the final; maybe it is not a highly renowed tournament, although a handful of points will always be welcome.> JULY 18TH 2005 - INTERNATIONAL SERIES GOLD, STUTTGART (GERMANY), CLAY

In the final I came up against the one and only: Gaston Gaudio, a tennis player, who awakens as much praise as criticism: a potencial top 5 going downfall by a harshly censured mental fragility, and the winner of Roland Garros in 2004. 'The Cat' came to Germany way off form and I beat him comfortably in three sets. In any case, it is always gratifying to compete with a rival of his quality.> AUGUST 8TH 2005 - TMS MONTREAL, HARD COURT

I have always had self-confidence, believing myself capable of anything I proposed, and even my dreams fell short of a season like this. Nevertheless, Toni insisted that I should rid myself of the role of a clay court tennis player, and he was right. How many tennis players control clay, but never achieved important victories on fast surfaces? I did not want to be one of them, I could not afford it.

In the Master Series in Montreal I won my first title on hard courts against a legend the like of Agassi. It would not be the last.> SEPTEMBER 12TH 2005 - INTERNATIONAL SERIES, PEKING (CHINA), HARD COURT

Guillermo Coria is given the name of The Wizard. Nothing more to say. He played in the final of Roland Garros last year, he was the former world number three and has been the standard-bearer of Argentine tennis for years.

He won the first set after a tie break, and then I reacted and overwhelmed him pitilessly in the following two. One month after Montreal, I was holding my second cup on hard court, inconceivable months earlier. This made Toni as proud as Rolland Garros did.

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