2017 Oscars

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 This year's Oscars are possibly the most Oscar Bait worthy i have seen in over a decade, hell some i haven't even seen, which is a first in over a decade as well. Here are my picks of who should win, who will win and who is more deserving that others.

Picture
Arrival(A Monster Calls should have been nominated)
Fences (have not seen)
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures (have not seen)
La La Land (should win & will win)
Lion (have not seen)
Manchester by the Sea (Swiss Army Man should have been nominated)
Moonlight (have not seen)

Directing
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival (J.A. Boyana for A Monster Calls should be nominated)
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Damien Chazelle, La La Land (should win & will win)
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (have not seen)
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert for Swiss Army Man should be nominated)

Best Actor
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea(will win but i think Paul Dano for Swiss Army Man should have been nominated)
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land (should win)
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences (have not seen)

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight (have not seen but will win)
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water (should win)
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea (John Goodman for 10 Cloverfield Lane should be nominated)
Dev Patel, Lion (have not seen)
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals

Best Actress
Emma Stone, La La Land (should & will win)
Natalie Portman, Jackie (have not seen)
Ruth Negga, Loving (have not seen)
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins (have not seen)
Isabelle Huppert, Elle

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, Fences (have not seen but thinking she will win)
Naomie Harris, Moonlight (have not seen)
Nicole Kidman, Lion (have not seen)
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures (have not seen)
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea (Felicity Jones should be nominated for a Monster Calls)

Adapted screenplay
 Lion, by Luke Davies (have not seen)
 Arrival, by Eric Heisserer (Patrick Ness for a Monster Calls should be nominated)
 Moonlight, by Barry Jenkins (have not seen)
 Hidden Figures, by Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroeder (have not seen)
 Fences, by August Wilson (have not seen)

Original screenplay
 Manchester by the Sea, by Kenneth Lonergan (Daniel Scheinert & Daniel Kwan for Swiss Army Man should have been nominated)
 Hell or High Water, by Taylor Sheridan
 La La Land, by Damien Chazelle (should & will win)
 20th Century Women, Mike Mills
 The Lobster, by Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos (Shane Black for The Nice Guys should have been nominated)

Cinematography
Bradford Young, Arrival (Natasha Braier for The Neon Demon should have been nominated)
Linus Sandgren,La La Land (should & will win)
Greig Fraser, Lion (have not seen)
James Laxton, Moonlight (Have not seen)
Rodrigo Prieto, Silence

Documentary feature(have not seen any)
Fire at Sea
I am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
OJ: Made in America (will win)
13th

Documentary short:(have not seen any)
Extremis (will win)
4.1 miles
Joe’s Violins
Watani: My Homeland
The White Helmets

Foreign language film(have not seen any)
Toni Erdmann, Germany (will win)
The Salesman, Iran
A Man Called Ove, Sweden
Tanna, Australia
Land of Mine, Denmark

Sound editing
Sylvain Bellemare, Arrival (A Monster calls should have been nominated)
Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli, Deepwater Horizon (have not seen)
Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright, Hacksaw Ridge
Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan, La La Land (should & will win)
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, Sully (Green Room should have been nominated)

Sound mixing
Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye, Arrival (A Monster Calls should have been nominated)
Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace, Hacksaw Ridge
Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow, La La Land (should & will win)
David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth, 13 Hours (Neon Demon should have been nominated)

Original score
Justin Hurwitz, La La Land (should & will win)
Mica Levi, Jackie (have not seen)
Nicholas Britell, Moonlight(have not seen)
Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O'Halloran, Lion (have not seen)
Thomas Newman, Passengers (Neon Demon should have been nominated)

Original song
 City of Stars, La La Land (should & will win)
How Far I’ll Go, Moana (have not seen)
Audition, La La Land (instead of two for Lala Land i would have put the Riddle of the Model of Drive it Like you Stole It from Sing Street in here)
The Empty Chair, Jim: The James Foley Story (have not seen)
Can’t Stop the Feeling!, Trolls (have not seen)

Production design
Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte, Arrival (Imperium should have been nominated)
Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Nice Guys should have been nominated)
Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh, Hail, Caesar! (Neon Demon should have been nominated)
David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, La La Land (should & will win)
Guy Hendrix Dyas, Gene Serdena, Passengers (Star Wars should have been nominated)

Visual effects:
Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton, Deepwater Horizon (have not seen)
Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould, Doctor Strange
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon, The Jungle Book (should & will win)
Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff, Kubo and the Two Strings (have not seen)
John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (A Monster Calls should have been nominated)

Makeup and hairstyling
Eva von Bahr and Love Larson, A Man Called Ove (have not seen but will win)
Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo, Star Trek Beyond (should win)
Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson, Suicide Squad (Hacksaw Ridge should have been nominated)

Costume design
Mary Zophres, La La Land (should & will win)
Madeline Fontaine, Jackie (have not seen)
Consolata Boyle, Florence Foster Jenkins (have not seen)
Colleen Atwood, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Neon Demon should have been nominated)
Joanna Johnston, Allied (have not seen)

Film editing
Joe Walker, Arrival (Swiss Army Man should have been nominated)
John Gilbert, Hacksaw Ridge
Jake Roberts, Hell or High Water
Tom Cross, La La Land (should & will win)
Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon, Moonlight (have not seen)

Live-action short (have not seen any)
Ennemis intérieurs, Selim Azzazi
La femme et le TGV, Timo von Gunten
Silent Nights, Aske Bang, Kim Magnusson
Sing, Kristof Deák, Anna Udvardy (will win?)
Timecode, Juanjo Gimenez

Animated short film(have not seen any)
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl (will win?)
Piper

Animated feature film (have not seen any)
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia (will will)

Get Out

2017, how I love you, so far there have been 5 films this year that have been awesome. For this early in the year, that is fantastic. From now on, January & February will no longer be considered dump months, look at the reviews for Split, Lego Batman, John Wick 2, look at the money they made, hell this weekends Get Out is currently sitting at a 100%. The film is fucking amazing, it starts off in a classic horror way, from there we get to know the leads, and then we enter her family, the whites that seem to have a lot of black servants. I predicted the twists at the start, but that did not ruin my enjoyment. Bradley Whitford & Catherine Keener are great in this, their son, Caleb Landry Jones runs with his role, Allison Williams does her best acting yet, way better than Girls(except her ass eating scene). The lead, Daniel Kaluuya, is super charming in this, i have been a fan of his since Sicario, and and re watched his work in Kick Ass 2 and saw his episode of Black Mirror, dude is destined to be a star! Through his acting you legit feel his nerves, anxiety, paranoia and fear. His best friend, LiRel Howery, steals the show, the dude blends humor in such a great way that it doesn't distract you from the horror. And this is a horror film, a legit creepy one, one that makes you think, i wonder if this could happen. Jordan Peele i love, i loved Key & Peele plus on interviews, the dude is a legit nerd, and this film is directed to perfection, the camera moves in great ways, the edits & sound mixing add a lot to the film and at times it feels like a 70s horror film, but not in a throwback sort of way. The font on the opening credits geeked me out, the score is perfect, and the imagery is at times simple and other times surreal, yet all brilliant! This is the sort of horror film Kevin Smith should aspire to make, nay the type of film anyone should aspire to make!

The Great Wall

On paper, a sci fi, fantasy retelling of the Great Wall of China, should be a B Movie fans dream. Only this film doesn't portray itself as a B Movie, instead it is dead serious. Overly serious fantasy is the go to in film & TV these days with Game of Thrones, but unlike Game of Thrones, this here is wooden, and not at all entertaining. Atleast it is well crafted right? I mean it comes from Yimou Zhang, the director of Hero and Curse of the Golden Flower....nope, it still sucks, this is indeed an awful film across the board. Matt Damon must have really thought he was doing the Chinese justice when he signed on to this, plus the great Willem Dafoe is wasted in this film, and you just don't waste his greatness.

Fist Fight

Charlie Day is great, in It's Always Sunny, is is amazing, in his cameos in films such as Vacation, he steals the show, hell he is even the best part of the Horrible Bosses films. Ice Cube was great in Friday, together, the two have chemistry, they just needed a better film. This is indeed a comedy that critics are hating that i will agree with. Comedy seems to be the new punching bag, and i don't want to beat a dead horse as to why this film is bad, but the very talented cast, deserves a better script. The script doesn't need a master director, anyone could do this picture, it's just the jokes are lame and the plot screams 00's Adam Sandler. Perhaps is this was in the hands of Will Ferrell it would have fared better, but somehow, i doubt that.

The Comedian

Take the best parts of the King of Comedy and Funny People, add them together.....well obviously it is better than the Comedian, now take the worst parts of those films, they are still better than the Comedian. The cast phones it in, the script is dull, nothing works. If you want a real film about comedy, watch Sleep Walk With Me or Don't Think Twice It is not that the film is awful, it just isn't good.

A Cure For Wellness

A Cure For Wellness is a Cure for Gore Verbinski! The dude has always made solid flicks(well maybe not the past decade) but has always come off as a studio director for hire. Now he has a film with a vision, a film with atmosphere, a film he directed the fuck out of! If Richard Matheson wrote a book, a book that Stanley Kubrick wanted to direct but never did. If Richard Kelly decided to adapt it in tribute to Kubrick but wanted Terry Gilliam to direct, plus Damon Lindelof produced it along with Zack Snyder being the Director of Photography, then this would be that film. Congrats Gore, you made a compelling film, an unnerving film, a film with shades of Ken Russell, and yes, this film is, as i mentioned unnerving. It build up slow, but not with a slow pace, it lure you in, you take your hit of acid, and wait, then you feel it, and it is great, you don't know what to expect, then blood & fire, oh yes, the come down period. This film is an acid trip of a film, and i would love to trip while watching this, and fully intend to actually do so in the future. The plot even deals with experimental drops on the tongue, and is full of 60s psychobabble quack doctors. The acting is great, the art direction is beautiful, the cinematography is gorgeous, the set design & costuming is top notch, the effects are fantastic.....why the fuck is this rotten on Rotten Tomatoes? I loved every single second of this film, and it fully inspired me, it reignited the passion i have been losing, as a matter of fact, this is the third film from 2017 to do so, along with Split & John Wick, this year has been amazing for films so far!This is the type of film i wanted to make a decade ago, i was highly influenced by Lost, Donnie Darko, 12 Monkeys, Eraserhead, A Clockwork Orange, and other mind fuckish & mind altering films. I don't care, i found this to be perfect! THe marketing, not so much, some ads are saying you will have trouble sleeping, many will go in expecting a satanic or supernatural film, but it is scarier than that, it is about the human mind, and the sick fucks that populate this planet. Now i am going to eat an orange, go to sleep and have amazing dreams because of the fucked up & hauntingly beautiful images i saw in this motion picture. Because it is full of amazing shots....but as beautiful as it is at times, it is equally as dark, there is one scene towards the end that is rather tough to watch, but that was the intention, this film has balls & is innovative, even if the plot is the Prisoner meets Shutter Island, it does so with a twist!

Top 5 Matches of January

1. Bobby Roode vs Shinsuke Nakamua: Takeover San Antonio

2. John Cena vs AJ Styles: Royal Rumble

3. Kevin Owens vs Roman Reigns: Royal Rumble

4. Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega: Wrestle Kingdom

5. Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly: Wrestle Kingdom