I thought Shape of Water was a pretty good fable for our times. My DH kept getting stuck with plot holes, but while that often annoys me in sci fi movies, I felt this movie was more like magical realism. The dreamlike quality is kind of the point. And as I had to point out to DH the movie starts with a dream!
I also noticed that they really spread around the honors this year. I would have liked Get Out to get more and was shocked that Lady Bird got completely snubbed. Was Tonya’s Mom more deserving than Lady Bird’s Mom? Didn’t see the former, but I thought the latter was fabulous.
^^ I disagree as well - I really liked many of the nominated movies, and most years I only like 2 or 3 of them (I’m looking at you, 2014). “The Shape of Water” wasn’t my favorite, but I can see why it won, and I’m a fan of Guillermo del Toro movies in general.
Really liked Allison Janney’s dress (although I wish Laurie Metcalf had won that Oscar.) I thought Frances McDormand’s dress looked like a throw rug, but it was definitely “her.”
Something I noticed this year, that I don’t think I have ever seen before. Of the five nominations for best original screenplay, four were written by the director of the film (and all of them were nominated for best film, and three of the four were nominated for best director) and the fifth was written by the film’s star. It’s not unusual for directors, or even sometimes actors, to get a screenplay credit, but all of these were super-personal, out-of-the mainstream projects. (Shape of Water won, also Lady Bird, Get Out, Three Billboards, and The Big Sick.)
Kumail Nanjiani tweeted last night - “The Big Sick came in second!”, lol.
I’m glad Get Out won for one of the screenplay awards. I hadn’t seen most of the movies nominated for anything, but it was very clever and well done. H noticed that the woman who plays the teacup lady in that film was also in Being John Malkovich, which is a similar movie.
@conmama, I thought Shape of Water was good but not outstanding. I’ve always liked fantasy/science fiction, so it wasn’t my dislike of the genre that affected my opinion. I just thought it was odd - partly serious, partly campy, and partly silly. The “bad guy” was pretty one dimensional. I did like the characters of Elisa, Zelda, and Giles. I would like to see another movie with them in it!
Rita Morena’s dress made me think of all the discussions about whether or not to keep old clothes that we loved but will probably never wear again. That material held up well for 56 years! It would take up a lot of closet space, though.
Let’s face it, it was Faye who screwed up, not Warren. He knew there was a mistake and was trying to figure out what to do. He’s been very gentlemanly about it, IMHO.
Even the am talk shows (both TV and radio) had nothing to talk about. I was shocked that CBS didn’t have a little something on the Oscars. I guess I’m not the only one who was underimpressed this year with the movie selection
Of course the accounting firm was the root cause of the screw-up last year, but IMO Warren Beatty deserves a share of the blame, because he saw there was a problem but didn’t say anything about it. He just showed the card to Faye Dunaway who blurted out the first movie name she saw. Knowing there was a problem he should have turned to the off-stage envelope wranglers and asked for a clarification or confirmation.
^^ Yep - two partners from PwC were responsible for the envelope screw-up. They were both fired from the Oscars account last year, after their mistake, but I think they’re both still with PwC.
“Nielsen reported an 18.9 overnight household rating for Sunday’s Oscars broadcast, which marks a drop of 16% from the 22.4 rating produced by last year’s telecast.”
“The 2008 Oscars were reportedly the event’s lowest-rated telecast ever, though last night’s show looks like its ratings could come in significantly lower, potentially around just 29 million viewers.”
The oscars have become way too political. I know many people on both sides of the aisle who refused to watch for that reason. They just want to be entertained and would love a few hours of politic free entertainment. My husband turned it on and said “I will watch until the first political comment”
Needless to say it was turned off rather rapidly.
I think it has more to do with people just not watching television at all any more than politics. There has always been some political stuff in award shows for years. Television viewership is down across the board.
