The long slog to Oscar Sunday is almost over. You're tired, I'm tired. This, despite the Olympics pushing the Oscar ceremony to June.
Thus, the usual overanalyzing, politicizing, backlashing, surging, and pontificating has been in overdrive. The result? Best Picture is still up in the air as I write this. The preferential ballot is the wild card and has been since BP went to more than five films. Forget the guild winners, for those ships have sailed. They're not the barometers they used to be, which makes this all the more fun, and frustrating as hell.
I've always said that Best Picture, for me, was an afterthought, because I'm the geek who cares about writing and editing and cinematography (and I don't know shit about sound, nor do you). Various elements make a movie, but Best Picture is the shiny object Hollywood wants to hold up to the world to say, "See what we made?" It's about putting butts in seats, not art, these awards, sadly. However, sometimes better, less pedestrian films break through, which is why the Oscars are like a bad car accident, we can't help but look at them despite ourselves.
You have to admit, last year's envelope snafu was a hell of a lot of fun. But what I like to keep pointing out is that art did break out last year. Moonlight, the small-budgeted film that could with fine performances, a terrific screenplay, and a last shot that packs an emotional wallop, won fucking Best Picture, and that fact has gotten lost in the shuffle.
Will a more artistic film break out again this year, what with the more diverse makeup of new Academy members? The jury's still out, because just because a new crop of voters have joined the Academy doesn't mean they won't also give their ballots to others to vote, vote for studios that employed them, etc. I've always appreciated more the nominations over the wins because that's where the true diversity lies. I think this is largely because each faction votes only for their own categories (actors for acting, editors for editing, etc.). With the entire membership voting for every category, this is why we are back to square one of trying to figure out what will win any category, especially Best Picture this year.
If I was a voting member of the Academy (and I still hold to my claim of willing to sleep with a member of PricewaterhouseCoopers to get the vote totals for any given year), this is how I would vote for the major categories:
Picture
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Get Out
Call Me By Your Name
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Post
The Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Acting
Timothee Chalamet
Saoirse Ronan
Woody Harrelson
Laurie Metcalf
Writing
Lady Bird
Call Me By Your Name
But I'm not a voting member of the Academy.
My last-minute observations:
1--Don't count on Editing to tip you off to what will win BP. I think Baby Driver will win. But if you see a couple of early awards for Three Billboards or The Shape of Water, maybe. But it was an hour and a half into the show last year before La La Land won its first award. The days of folks ticking off a single film to sweep awards are gone, baby, gone.
2--Roger Deakins will finally win a goddamned Oscar more than likely. Won't be upset with Shape of Water if it wins, and this may be more an indicator of BP this year.
3--I know Agnes Varda won an honorary Oscar this year, so will she or one of J.R.'s cutouts make an appearance? I still can't believe this is her first nomination (not for Vagabond? Seriously?), and I think she will and hope she wins. Her win and Deakins will make my year.
4--You know how romantic it seems to shower with your significant other? The problem with this is that someone always is left cold. When the nominations were announced, I thought that Get Out would be that film to be left out in terms of any wins, especially with just four nominations. But my gut this past week says that Lady Bird will be the one to go empty-handed, and it pisses me off. I thought Lady Bird (and Phantom Thread) was the best film of the year, it was quite well reviewed, and I know a lot of folks love Ronan. As much as I loved Brie Larson in Room, I think that vote total was closer than we think because there have been a lot of folks invoke Ronan's performance in Brooklyn when discussing her nod this year. Will voters tick off her name to make up for Brooklyn, not unlike Renee Zellweger winning for Cold Mountain (which I thought she deserved/earned) when she should have won for Chicago? Maybe. Ronan's the only threat to McDormand (and Sally Hawkins is lovely, and she should have been up for Happy Go Lucky, underrated). And, seriously, like being on the jury to convict OJ, would you vote against McDormand? She can do anything. She's not as good here as she was in Fargo, but she and Harrelson are what make Three Billboards work, not the directing and definitely not the screenplay, for Martin McDonagh; he wrote himself into a hole in the last third of the film. I enjoyed the hell out of it, I didn't find it racist, and I like the sloppy aspects. But the best? Nope.
5--If Jordan Peele should win in any category, I would love to see Keegan-Michael Key come out and translate his acceptance speech.
6--I think there are two possibilities of upsets for acting. One is Christopher Plummer over Sam Rockwell, not because of the circumstance under which Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey, but he is beloved and is fine in All the Money in the World. Wouldn't it be funny if he and Varda both win, making them the oldest Oscar winners in history? The other, more plausible possibility is Laurie Metcalf over Allison Janney. I've heard several members say they didn't vote Janney (whom I've always liked and hope she wins), and the chatter I heard toward when ballots were due was more for Metcalf than for any other aspect of Lady Bird, including Gerwig or Screenplay. Will she win ala Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock? Maybe it's wishful thinking of seeing an upset because Metcalf embodies everything a girl has endured with her mom, but it could happen.
7--And how the hell has Gary Oldman not won an Oscar nor had more nomination by now?
8--If there are a few upsets, think Russia had anything to do with it?
9--Should be a fun show. And the team of Jennifer Lawrence and Jodie Foster presenting Best Actor in lieu of Casey Affleck (who had no business winning last year anyway) is a class act. And will be interesting to see what politics pop loose via acceptance speeches and such.
10--Finally, I said after the nominations that I thought there would not be a Picture/Director split, even with this volatile year. Any film could pop loose because we don't know if voters even ranked all the nominated films. I said it would be The Shape of Water/Del Toro, and I still favor Shape because I flipped a coin.
Enough. Here are my predictions, with my upsets:
Best Picture: The Shape of Water
upset:
Best Actor: Gary Oldman
upset: Timothee Chalamet
Best Actress: Frances McDormand
upset: Saoirse Ronan
Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell
upset: Christopher Plummer
Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney
upset: Laurie Metcalf
Best Original Screenplay: Get Out
upset: Lady Bird
Best Adapted Screenplay: Call Me By Your Name
upset: Mudbound
Best Animated Feature: Coco
upset: Loving Vincent
Best Foreign-Language Film: A Fantastic Woman
upset: Loveless
Best Original Score: The Shape of Water
upset: Phantom Thread
Best Original Song: "This is Me"
upset: "Remember Me"
Best Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049
upset: The Shape of Water
Best Editing: Baby Driver
upset: Dunkirk
Best Production Design: The Shape of Water
upset: Blade Runner 2049
Best Costume Design: Phantom Thread
upset: Victoria and Abdul
Best Sound Editing: Dunkirk
upset: The Shape of Water
Best Sound Mixing: Dunkirk
upset: The Shape of Water
Best Visual Effects: War for the Planet of the Apes
upset: Blade Runner 2049
Best Makeup: The Darkest Hour
upset: Wonder
Best Documentary Feature: Faces Places
upset: Icarus
Best Documentary Short Subject: Heroin(e)
upset: Edith + Eddie
Best Animated Short: Dear Basketball
upset: Lou
Best Live Action Short: DeKalb Elementary
upset: The Silent Child
Wins
The Shape of Water 5
Three Billboards 3
The Darkest Hour 2
Dunkirk 2
Get Out 1
Call Me/Name 1
Lady Bird 0 (Damn it!)
Running Time: 3 Hours 26 Minutes
Them's my predix, and I'm sticking to them. As usual, I'll be venting my annual rite of passage via Facebook and Twitter (@Franster23) in all my perverse glory. No Oscar pool again, saving my energy and funds for my March Madness pool (and you thought the Oscars this year are unpredictable) and to patch a hole in the wall in the event I punch a hole through it tomorrow night.
Buckle up, peeps! Happy Oscar Sunday, y'all! And, of course, Shalom!
Saturday, March 3, 2018
Monday, January 22, 2018
The Shape of Oscar, aka The MS Maven Oscar Nomination Predix Extravaganza 2017
It's the midst of winter, all my sports teams have lost so far, and it's 60 degrees. And as up and down as this season has been, I feel the same about the Oscars this go-round. Many pundits are even saying they aren't feeling it this year.
This year's Oscar crop has been, to use the vernacular of the millennials, meh overall. I've only been excited in pockets, to the point of when seeing and hearing any Oscar buzz, I'm like, "Oh yeah, that." And I'm not sure if it's the pall that has been cast by the Harvey Weinstein mess or the sexual harassment scandals. It's not helped, but still.
For me, until I finish plowing said Oscar fields (I only have a few to go, primarily The Florida Project, Phantom Thread [dying to see this one, PT Baby!], and Darkest Hour), there have only been a few films that are as fine as any I've seen in this, or any, year.
Lady Bird is the cat's ass. I've always liked Greta Gerwig's quirky nature, and here she's in full bloom. She's likely to be up for Director, and I hope the film at least wins Original Screenplay, though that category is a bloodbath. And Saoirse Ronan keeps getting better and better; would love for her to win this year, but I'm thinking she won't. Just hope the film doesn't get hosed.
And forming the one-two punch of performances of the year along w/ Ronan is Timothee Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name. The film is a slow burn, not sure where it's going but lovely throughout, but Michael Stuhlbarg's talk (think he misses the cut, nom kicks to Armie Hammer) is powerful, but that's tiddlywinks compared to the last shot of the film. Goddamn. The only time in recent memory that a close-up, static shot has been powerful was the last shot in Michael Clayton.
I suspect The Shape of Water will get the most noms and, right now, though many pundits have said they see a Picture/ Director split, I think they both go to this film. Again, went in expecting to like it decently, but, to apply the term to this film that the recently-deceased Dr. Bill Koon, my Southern lit professor at Clemson, applied to Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms, "It's like Jack and the Fucking Beanstalk." And I would also love to see Sally Hawkins win, but not sure that will happen, either.
But let me not get ahead of myself. It does seem this time many of us keep looking at what can win more than what will be or not be nominated. It's almost as if we all want the season to be over and done.
The paradox: After the nominations are announced at 8:22am tomorrow morning (why the odd time? Don't ask, don't know), we have almost six weeks before the actual Oscar ceremony March 4th. Thank the Olympics for that. At least it's not like it was in the 70's and 80's, when the ceremony would be in April. Why not have it two weeks after the SAG Awards, not unlike the two-week break between the playoffs and the Super Bowl? With over a month, there is plenty of time for many a backlash involving various films. Plus, who knows what scandals could bust loose. Calling Olivia Pope...
Here are a few last-minute thoughts before tomorrow morning's new and improved nominations reveal:
1--I don't know how Three Billboards will be handled. Uniformly well-acted, but, hell, Frances McDormand is great by just existing. I'm not ready to call her or Sam Rockwell a lock yet. And I hope Woody Harrelson makes the cut. But the screenplay's a bit of a mess. I do love how the loose ends stay loose, but the last third of the film loses its way. I like the film, and I'm not part of the posse piling onto the film, but it's not solid.
2--Speaking of screenplays, it's seems a lot of the films just sputter out at the end, like the writers can't find a way to carry a story through or write themselves into a corner. I enjoyed the hell out of I, Tonya (and, yes, Allison Janney, who could read the phonebook and be brilliant, is a lock, Charlie Brown), but the last third of it looses momentum. The film reminded me of Ali, starting w/ tremendous energy then slowly deflating fast. Did Tom Brady have a hand in this?
3--Will we see diversity come through in the morning? I think so, but this will be gradual moving forward. As the makeup of the Academy membership evolves, so will the noms and wins. I just hope avenues open for more women and people of color to have their visions come to fruition and get films made, distributed, and promoted.
4--You knew it was coming: Is Cinematographer Roger Deakins ever going to win a goddamned Oscar? This year, he very well may, for Blade Runner 2049 (I see you, Craig Kennedy). Is it his best film? No. Doesn't matter. Just win, baby...
5--And while I'm at it: Is Paul Thomas Anderson ever going to win a goddamned Oscar? If Deakins wins this year, this will be my new mantra.
6--I don't know what's going to happen w/ Dunkirk. I'm not convinced Christopher Nolan will win Director. Is my bias kicking in? Yes, it is. The man cannot develop characters if his life depends on it. The film will be up in most the technical categories, and it may win a couple. But I think the momentum's died down for the film. I enjoyed it, for a change, but I wasn't bowled over. Now if Nolan wins the DGA, though, things will get interesting.
7--Get Out is Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? on steroids. Talk about a film that's a flashpoint for the current cultural climate, but, again, not sure what the Academy does w/ it. It will get several noms, but I also wonder if momentum's dwindled.
8--Does James Franco make the cut? Rumblings have been many Academy members who voted for him wanted to rescind their votes, but that's not allowed. I have him in for this reason, but if he is shunned, I expect Denzel Washington squeaks in. I want to say Tom Hanks, but The Post, despite the promotion ad nauseam, came out way late. If he wasn't up for one of his best performances, in Captain Phillips, I don't see it here. And if Meryl Streep should miss the cut, your big surprise of the four acting categories may be Jessica Chastain for Molly's Game, and I say surprise only because it's a bit more crowded than Actor; I hope she makes it.
Enough already. As usual I don't do the the music, docs, or shorts, but my nomination totals will account for music. but here are The Maven's predix, with three alternates, save for Picture and Makeup, for each category. No more trying to guess now what will win, no more looking at the forrest for the trees, here's what I think will be this year's nominees:
Best Picture
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards
Lady Bird
Dunkirk
Get Out
Call Me By Your Name
The Post
Mudbound
---
I, Tonya
Phantom Thread
Best Director
Guillermo Del Toro
Christopher Nolan
Greta Gerwig
Jordan Peele
Luca Guadagnino
---
Martin McDonagh
Steven Spielberg
PT Anderson
Best Actor
Gary Oldman
Timothee Chalamet
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Kaluuya
James Franco
---
Denzel Washington
Tom Hanks
Jake Gyllenhall
Best Actress
Frances McDormand
Saoirse Ronan
Sally Hawkins
Margot Robbie
Meryl Streep
---
Jessica Chastain
Emma Stone
Kate Winslet
Best Supporting Actor
Sam Rockwell
Richard Jenkins
Armie Hammer
Willem Dafoe
Woody Harrelson
---
Christopher Plummer
Michael Stuhlbarg
Steve Carrell
Best Supporting Actress
Allison Janney
Laurie Metcalf
Mary J. Blige
Octavia Spenser
Holly Hunter
---
Lesley Manville
Tiffany Haddish
Hong Chau
Best Original Screenplay
Lady Bird
Three Billboards
Get Out
The Shape of Water
The Big Sick
---
The Post
Phantom Thread
I, Tonya
Best Adapted Screenplay
Call Me By Your Name
Molly's Game
Mudbound
The Disaster Artist
The Beguiled
---
Wonder
Wonder Woman
Logan
Best Cinematography
Blade Runner 2049
The Shape of Water
Dunkirk
Mudbound
Call Me By Your Name
---
Darkest Hour
Three Billboards
Phantom Thread
Best Editing
Dunkirk
Baby Driver
The Shape of Water
Get Out
I, Tonya
---
The Post
Lady Bird
Blade Runner 2049
Best Production Design
The Shape of Water
Phantom Thread
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Beauty and the Beast
---
The Greatest Showman
The Post
Wonder Woman
Best Costume Design
Phantom Thread
Beauty and the Beast
The Greatest Showman
Darkest Hour
The Shape of Water
---
Wonder Woman
Victoria and Abdul
Murder on the Orient Express
Best Sound Editing
Dunkirk
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Shape of Water
Baby Driver
War for the Planet of the Apes
---
Blade Runner 2049
Beauty and the Beast
Wonder Woman
Best Sound Mixing
Dunkirk
Blade Runner 2049
Baby Driver
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
---
The Greatest Showman
Beauty and the Beast
War for the Planet of the Apes
Best Visual Effects
War for the Planet of the Apes
Blade Runner 2049
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Dunkirk
---
Wonder Woman
Beauty and the Beast
Best Makeup
Darkest Hour
I, Tonya
Wonder
---
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
The Shape of Water
This year's Oscar crop has been, to use the vernacular of the millennials, meh overall. I've only been excited in pockets, to the point of when seeing and hearing any Oscar buzz, I'm like, "Oh yeah, that." And I'm not sure if it's the pall that has been cast by the Harvey Weinstein mess or the sexual harassment scandals. It's not helped, but still.
For me, until I finish plowing said Oscar fields (I only have a few to go, primarily The Florida Project, Phantom Thread [dying to see this one, PT Baby!], and Darkest Hour), there have only been a few films that are as fine as any I've seen in this, or any, year.
Lady Bird is the cat's ass. I've always liked Greta Gerwig's quirky nature, and here she's in full bloom. She's likely to be up for Director, and I hope the film at least wins Original Screenplay, though that category is a bloodbath. And Saoirse Ronan keeps getting better and better; would love for her to win this year, but I'm thinking she won't. Just hope the film doesn't get hosed.
And forming the one-two punch of performances of the year along w/ Ronan is Timothee Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name. The film is a slow burn, not sure where it's going but lovely throughout, but Michael Stuhlbarg's talk (think he misses the cut, nom kicks to Armie Hammer) is powerful, but that's tiddlywinks compared to the last shot of the film. Goddamn. The only time in recent memory that a close-up, static shot has been powerful was the last shot in Michael Clayton.
I suspect The Shape of Water will get the most noms and, right now, though many pundits have said they see a Picture/ Director split, I think they both go to this film. Again, went in expecting to like it decently, but, to apply the term to this film that the recently-deceased Dr. Bill Koon, my Southern lit professor at Clemson, applied to Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms, "It's like Jack and the Fucking Beanstalk." And I would also love to see Sally Hawkins win, but not sure that will happen, either.
But let me not get ahead of myself. It does seem this time many of us keep looking at what can win more than what will be or not be nominated. It's almost as if we all want the season to be over and done.
The paradox: After the nominations are announced at 8:22am tomorrow morning (why the odd time? Don't ask, don't know), we have almost six weeks before the actual Oscar ceremony March 4th. Thank the Olympics for that. At least it's not like it was in the 70's and 80's, when the ceremony would be in April. Why not have it two weeks after the SAG Awards, not unlike the two-week break between the playoffs and the Super Bowl? With over a month, there is plenty of time for many a backlash involving various films. Plus, who knows what scandals could bust loose. Calling Olivia Pope...
Here are a few last-minute thoughts before tomorrow morning's new and improved nominations reveal:
1--I don't know how Three Billboards will be handled. Uniformly well-acted, but, hell, Frances McDormand is great by just existing. I'm not ready to call her or Sam Rockwell a lock yet. And I hope Woody Harrelson makes the cut. But the screenplay's a bit of a mess. I do love how the loose ends stay loose, but the last third of the film loses its way. I like the film, and I'm not part of the posse piling onto the film, but it's not solid.
2--Speaking of screenplays, it's seems a lot of the films just sputter out at the end, like the writers can't find a way to carry a story through or write themselves into a corner. I enjoyed the hell out of I, Tonya (and, yes, Allison Janney, who could read the phonebook and be brilliant, is a lock, Charlie Brown), but the last third of it looses momentum. The film reminded me of Ali, starting w/ tremendous energy then slowly deflating fast. Did Tom Brady have a hand in this?
3--Will we see diversity come through in the morning? I think so, but this will be gradual moving forward. As the makeup of the Academy membership evolves, so will the noms and wins. I just hope avenues open for more women and people of color to have their visions come to fruition and get films made, distributed, and promoted.
4--You knew it was coming: Is Cinematographer Roger Deakins ever going to win a goddamned Oscar? This year, he very well may, for Blade Runner 2049 (I see you, Craig Kennedy). Is it his best film? No. Doesn't matter. Just win, baby...
5--And while I'm at it: Is Paul Thomas Anderson ever going to win a goddamned Oscar? If Deakins wins this year, this will be my new mantra.
6--I don't know what's going to happen w/ Dunkirk. I'm not convinced Christopher Nolan will win Director. Is my bias kicking in? Yes, it is. The man cannot develop characters if his life depends on it. The film will be up in most the technical categories, and it may win a couple. But I think the momentum's died down for the film. I enjoyed it, for a change, but I wasn't bowled over. Now if Nolan wins the DGA, though, things will get interesting.
7--Get Out is Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? on steroids. Talk about a film that's a flashpoint for the current cultural climate, but, again, not sure what the Academy does w/ it. It will get several noms, but I also wonder if momentum's dwindled.
8--Does James Franco make the cut? Rumblings have been many Academy members who voted for him wanted to rescind their votes, but that's not allowed. I have him in for this reason, but if he is shunned, I expect Denzel Washington squeaks in. I want to say Tom Hanks, but The Post, despite the promotion ad nauseam, came out way late. If he wasn't up for one of his best performances, in Captain Phillips, I don't see it here. And if Meryl Streep should miss the cut, your big surprise of the four acting categories may be Jessica Chastain for Molly's Game, and I say surprise only because it's a bit more crowded than Actor; I hope she makes it.
Enough already. As usual I don't do the the music, docs, or shorts, but my nomination totals will account for music. but here are The Maven's predix, with three alternates, save for Picture and Makeup, for each category. No more trying to guess now what will win, no more looking at the forrest for the trees, here's what I think will be this year's nominees:
Best Picture
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards
Lady Bird
Dunkirk
Get Out
Call Me By Your Name
The Post
Mudbound
---
I, Tonya
Phantom Thread
Best Director
Guillermo Del Toro
Christopher Nolan
Greta Gerwig
Jordan Peele
Luca Guadagnino
---
Martin McDonagh
Steven Spielberg
PT Anderson
Best Actor
Gary Oldman
Timothee Chalamet
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Kaluuya
James Franco
---
Denzel Washington
Tom Hanks
Jake Gyllenhall
Best Actress
Frances McDormand
Saoirse Ronan
Sally Hawkins
Margot Robbie
Meryl Streep
---
Jessica Chastain
Emma Stone
Kate Winslet
Best Supporting Actor
Sam Rockwell
Richard Jenkins
Armie Hammer
Willem Dafoe
Woody Harrelson
---
Christopher Plummer
Michael Stuhlbarg
Steve Carrell
Best Supporting Actress
Allison Janney
Laurie Metcalf
Mary J. Blige
Octavia Spenser
Holly Hunter
---
Lesley Manville
Tiffany Haddish
Hong Chau
Best Original Screenplay
Lady Bird
Three Billboards
Get Out
The Shape of Water
The Big Sick
---
The Post
Phantom Thread
I, Tonya
Best Adapted Screenplay
Call Me By Your Name
Molly's Game
Mudbound
The Disaster Artist
The Beguiled
---
Wonder
Wonder Woman
Logan
Best Cinematography
Blade Runner 2049
The Shape of Water
Dunkirk
Mudbound
Call Me By Your Name
---
Darkest Hour
Three Billboards
Phantom Thread
Best Editing
Dunkirk
Baby Driver
The Shape of Water
Get Out
I, Tonya
---
The Post
Lady Bird
Blade Runner 2049
Best Production Design
The Shape of Water
Phantom Thread
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Beauty and the Beast
---
The Greatest Showman
The Post
Wonder Woman
Best Costume Design
Phantom Thread
Beauty and the Beast
The Greatest Showman
Darkest Hour
The Shape of Water
---
Wonder Woman
Victoria and Abdul
Murder on the Orient Express
Best Sound Editing
Dunkirk
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Shape of Water
Baby Driver
War for the Planet of the Apes
---
Blade Runner 2049
Beauty and the Beast
Wonder Woman
Best Sound Mixing
Dunkirk
Blade Runner 2049
Baby Driver
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
---
The Greatest Showman
Beauty and the Beast
War for the Planet of the Apes
Best Visual Effects
War for the Planet of the Apes
Blade Runner 2049
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Dunkirk
---
Wonder Woman
Beauty and the Beast
Best Makeup
Darkest Hour
I, Tonya
Wonder
---
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
The Shape of Water
Nominations
The Shape of Water 13
Three Billboards 7
Lady Bird 6
Dunkirk 7
Call Me By Your Name 6
Get Out 5
I, Tonya 5
The Post 5
Blade Runner 2049 5
Lady Bird 6
Dunkirk 7
Call Me By Your Name 6
Get Out 5
I, Tonya 5
The Post 5
Blade Runner 2049 5
Note: The totals don't line up with my category predix per se.
Them's my Fearless Predix, and The Maven is sticking to them. I have a feeling there will be a major omission or inclusion that many of us Oscar prognosticators are missing. And we may see a surprise that will make us collectively snap-to and wake up (8:22am, really?). And here's hoping we don't have another La La Land Massacre on our hands when the noms are announced...
The Maven's work is done here for another year. Happy Oscar Nomination Day, y'all! And, of course, Shalom, y'all!