I've lived in LA for six years and have several close friends with high positions in the industry. I'm not at all trying to brag—everyone in LA knows someone in the industry—I just want to share some of our conversations as award season approaches. There is an overwhelming sense that it's a weird year.
The one thing we can agree on is that there are no clear frontrunners for best movies this year. There are no clear front runners for best director or best performances. In fact, it feels like even the nominations are totally up in the air. In all our years as cinephiles, we've never experienced anything like that.
Having seen virtually everything, including pre-release stuff like The Post and Phantom Thread, here's what I'm hearing.
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There are rumors that both Get Out and Wonder Woman will be nominated for Oscars Best Picture. That a horror comedy, as good as it was, like Get Out would be nominated for Best Picture is an interesting absurdity. As for Wonder Woman...don't even get me started.
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Best Picture bait from our major directors—Dunkirk, Phantom Thread, Detroit, The Post—were misses.
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Those of us who have seen Call Me By Your Name say that Timothee Chalamet was by far the best performance this year. But has there been a 21 year old best actor winner before? Is he really going to take down Daniel Day-Lewis in his last performance? Best actor is going to be a really weird race.
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Very small indie movies like Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird are widely considered the best of the year. But they're just so non best picture-y. They're just small fun little movies. Not really what we love going to the theaters to see.
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Phantom Thread being Daniel Day-Lewis' last performance is even more sad because it's far from his or Paul Thomas Anderson's best film.
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The one exception may The Shape of Water, which none of us have seen yet. If that sweeps, how about the total dominance of Mexico City filmmakers in the past decade? They're like the New England Patriots right now.
I pass the mediocrity of this year's films off on the rise of non-episodic television. The best stories and the best talent are all being used up on TV projects like Mindhunter (Fincher) and Game of Thrones. That's also where the biggest risks are being taken, and risk-taking is necessary for really great films.
Not to beat a dead horse, but movies seem increasingly content either being reliable money-making tentpoles (almost every superhero movie) or making a political statement and thinking that's enough for a great movie (The Post, Detroit). Some of our best auteurs, e.g. PTA/Tarantino, have been in decline (not really sure why that is), while others seem more interested in TV (Fincher). Even those auteurs taking risks on big, serious, expensive, original films are making odd ones that don't really smell like best pictures (Nolan with Dunkirk, Mel Gibson with Hacksaw Ridge).
So my question is, will we ever return to a time where stuff like Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, Shawshank Redemption and Gladiator are leading the best picture field? I have to admit I miss the hell out of those days.
Submitted December 11, 2017 at 11:12PM by Vietnom http://ift.tt/2yfhSw6