My 2018 Oscar Predictions

The nominees for the 90^th Academy Awards were announced recently, and since that means we’ll be going through the annual cycle of bellyaching over how the Oscars don’t matter while having intense online debates about whether or not the Oscars matter, I thought I’d throw my two cents into who will or probably should win. On one hand, I think it’s great that there’s more diversity on display this year, but I’m a bit more cynical about who the awards will actually go to. This isn’t academy voting, just predictions based on what I know about the Oscars’ taste and my own personal opinion, with all my biases in tow. Also, there were some categories where I saw none of the nominations (Best Foreign Film, Best Animated Short, Best Short, Best Documentary, Best Documentary Short), so those will be skipped. Let’s start with the big one:

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How (And How Not) To Make A Movie Soundtrack

WARNING: The following essay contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Baby Driver, and Suicide Squad. 

I, Tonya: The Story You Thought You Knew

The Top 5 Movies of 2017 (That I Wish I Liked More)

When you’ve seen as many movies as I have, you come across a few that are this close to being great, but have one or two things that hold it back. Maybe there was some element baked into the film that you flat-out hated (a certain scene, a certain character, an underlying message etc.), maybe it doesn’t live up to the hype surrounding it, or maybe it just doesn’t appeal to your particular taste. Keep in mind that I do like all of these movies to some degree. Most of them were even in the running for my year-end list. But there was something in the way that kept me from outright loving them. Many a fan and critic have lined up to court these movies, but I’m perfectly content with just staying friends.

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The Top 10 Movies of 2017 (in my opinion)

I could open this list with a cynical diatribe of what a miserable year 2017 was, but I won’t. Why? Because A. I already did that last year, B. I don’t want to start the year off with a bunch of doom and gloom, and C. for all the bad stuff that went down, there was still some good stuff to help balance things out. One of those things being that, thanks to this blog, I got to see enough movies that I can make an actual top 10 list where I don’t have to scrape from a really small pool. There were some very painful cuts that I had to make, but in the end, I’m satisfied with my picks. Keep in mind that I didn’t get to see everything that I wanted to, so if you’re wondering why Good Time, The Florida Project, Loving Vincent, A Ghost Story, Mudbound, John Wick: Chapter 2, Phantom Thread, Call Me by Your Name or I, Tonya aren’t on the list, that’s why. Regardless, these are the Top 10 Movies of 2017 (in my opinion).