The Snubby Awards: 2018 Oscars

It's that time again: The Snubby Awards.  For those of you who don't know, the Snubby Awards take a look at all of the Best Picture nominees from a given year and determined if the correct film won or if one was subbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award!



This time, we'll be looking at the 2018 Oscars.  The Best Picture nominees were: Call Me by Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.  The winner was The Shape of Water.  Did it deserve to win or did another film get snubbed?  Let's take a look!



#9. Darkest Hour



Darkest Hour follows Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) as he becomes the Prime Minister of Great Britain and must lead the country through one of its most difficult times.  Even though it's a really good movie, Darkest Hour comes in last place.  The film has a very slow start and the ending with Winston Churchill in the Underground is a bit hokey.  But, Gary Oldman absolutely knocks his performance out of the park and the makeup looks fantastic.

 8/10: Really Good 


#8. Call Me by Your Name



The story of a teenager, Elio (Timothée Chalamet), who falls in love with his one of his father's grad students (Armie Hammer).  Call Me by Your Name has fantastic performances, particularly from Hammer and Michael Stuhlbarg.  The cinematography is also excellent.  I am just not overly interested in romance films, especially when the main character, Elio, is a bit of a d-bad, but he does get better as the movie goes on.

 8/10: Really Good 


#7. The Post



The Post chronicles a battle over freedom of the press as the Nixon administration tries to censor newspapers from publishing a set of revealing papers about America's involvement in the Vietnam War.  The owner of the Washington Post (Meryl Streep) and her editor (Tom Hanks) decide to stand up to Nixon.  Streep and Hanks are standouts in an excellent cast and the story is incredibly engaging, but it's a bit too on the nose at times and doesn't perfectly stick the landing in the 3rd act.  The Post is an interesting movie with a lot to say.

 9/10: Great 


#6. Lady Bird


 
A coming of age story about a teenage girl who calls herself Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) as she makes her way through her senior year of high school, facing college and a strained relationship with her mother (Laurie Metcalf).  Lady Bird has phenomenal performances, flawed, yet likable characters, and excellent storytelling.  It's just that, as a male, I don't think I can fully appreciate this movie as I think women can.

 9/10: Great 


#5. Phantom Thread 



Dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) takes on a young waitress, Alma Elson (Vicky Kris), as a model and his muse.  The film follows their relationship as it becomes more and more toxic and disturbing.  I wasn't very interested in seeing this film, but man, am I glad I did.  The first act is pretty much exactly what you would expect, but the second act takes this story to a dark and disturbing place.  The performances, writing, production design...everything is great.  Phantom Thread takes a while to get going, but eventually it will get to you.  It actually made me a bit nauseous, which is a major accomplishment.

 9/10: Great 


#4. Get Out

   

Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) takes her boyfriend, Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), who happens to be black, home to meet her white, wealthy parents for the first time.  Things seem a little bit weird at first, but Chris quickly learns the truth behind this trip and its much darker than he could possible imagine.  Get Out is terrifying, hilarious, and intelligent.  There are so many subtle bits and pieces that one could easily miss and this movie definitely rewards a rewatch.  This movie does everything right and is, simply put, brilliant.

 10/10: Amazing 


#3. The Shape of Water



Elisa (Sally Hawkins), a mute custodian at a top secret military laboratory forms a deep bond with a strange creature(Doug Jones) held prisoner in the facility.  They eventually fall in love and Elisa becomes determined to break him out.  Yes, the Best Picture from the 2018 Oscars is not the best movie.  Someone was snubbed!  But, make no mistake, I love this film.  It's beautiful, weird, wholly original, and a love letter to cinema.  It's an bizarre movie and I'm still shocked it was actually made.  This probably would be my favorite film of the year, if it wasn't for one flaw.  A scene involving Michael Stulhbarg's character reveling too much information to Michael Shannon's character.  It felt sloppy and I simply didn't believe Stuhlbarg's character would say what he said.  I get they needed a way to get Shannon to the climax of the film, but there has to have been a better way.  Even with that one flaw, I still love this film.

 10/10: Amazing


Now for the top two.  We'll do these in alphabetical order before the final reveal of who wins the Snubby Award!


Dunkirk



This film follows the events of the Dunkirk Evacuation from the perspectives of several characters; the trapped soldiers, the fighter pilots above, and the citizens who joined a desperate rescue operation.  Dunkirk feels like a horror movie at times, as our main characters are in constant danger from an unseen threat.  The movie holds you on the edge of you seat with a score that uses a ticking clock giving the audience anxiety.  Dunkirk does not let up and though I would have liked more from our protagonist (Fionn Whitehead), this film is another masterpiece from Christopher Nolan.

 10/10: Amazing 


Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri



Several months after the rape and murder of her daughter, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), puts up three billboards calling out the Chief of Police (Woody Harrelson) for the lack of progress in the case.  What follows is a tale of angry people lashing out and retaliating at each other and most of the town is drawn into the conflict.  I am a huge fan of the writer and director of this film, Martin McDonagh and he delivers with his best film yet.  The performances are incredible with both McDormand and Harrelson knocking it out of the park.  Best of all is Sam Rockwell who plays a violent, racist, alcoholic cop who constantly abuses his power, but by the end of the film, he finds himself on the path to redemption in one of the best characters arcs I have ever seen.  This film works on every level.  It's really funny, really sad, really dark and is just a fantastic piece of filmmaking.

 10/10: Amazing 


So those are our finalists.  Let's see who wins the Snubby Award!


  

It's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri!  I love this movie as I explained above and genuinely believe it is the best of the Best Picture Nominees.  I do believe it was snubbed, but I'm not too mad about The Shape of Water winning.  If someone wants to let Martin McDonagh know I have an award for him, that would be cool.  

Next, I'll be looking at the 2013 Oscars.  Did Argo deserve to win?  Or did somebody get snubbed?  Stay tuned! 


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