Official Oscar nominations were announced this morning and my second favourite movie of the year and pick to win Best Pic ‘Three Billboards’ received 7 nominations (Picture, Screenplay, Actress, Supporting Actor x2, Score, Editing) while my favourite movie of the year Blade Runner 2049 received 5 nominations in the technical categories and did not bubble up to major contender like I hoped (Cinematography, Visual Effects, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing) still an achievement. Lady Bird my fourth favourite of the year (I really need to make a list) received 5 major nominations (Pic, Direction, Script, Maj./Minor Fem Acting). The Shape of Water which I’m off to see today received 13 nominations (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume, Score, Editing, Sound Editing & Mixing). And Dunkirk received 8 with the technical categories, Best Picture and a long awaited Best Director nomination for Christopher Nolan.

Noticeably, James Franco missing was a bit of a surprise but spares us the outrage considering the gross behavior he’s accused of in the L.A. Times article. Denzel Washington getting his eighth(!) acting nomination was not a surprise to me considering he’s always been a good hustler when it comes to campaigning . It boggles me just a bit there has never been a female cinematographer nominated until now with Rachel Morrison (Mudbound) who is also cinematographer on the upcoming Black Panther. That industry sexism has held women back is a given, additionally camera technologies have become less physically demanding and less intimidating. It’s worth noting that fellow nominee Hoyte Van Hotema (Dunkirk) is famous for rejigging heavy IMAX cameras equipment to fit handheld on his shoulders via brute strength. Nonetheless as good as their work is I think they should both lose to the most clear cut winner this year: 14 time nominee with no wins Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049.

Surprisingly, the quiet Phantom Thread received 6 nominations, while an sixth acting nomination for 3-time winner Daniel Day Lewis in his presumably final role is no surprise, P.T. Anderson for directing I guess is to some, and Lesley Manville for supporting actress is the one performance I’d never heard mentioned until now. Finally, while Michael Green’s script for Blade Runner 2049 which I found to be one of the best of the year and apparently the best Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford have ever read was not nominated, Michael Green’s script for Logan was, which is a first for the superhero genre and worth celebrating.
I put a star next to my own predicted winners. I was accurate in my nomination predictions and would have been moreso had I not factored in what I thought deserved to win over who I predicted. But if you don’t give your own opinion on things and just follow others whats it matter?
BEST PICTURE
Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*
DIRECTING
Christopher Nolan — Dunkirk
Jordan Peele — Get Out
Greta Gerwig — Lady Bird
Paul Thomas Anderson — Phantom Thread
Guillermo del Toro — The Shape of Water*
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Big Sick — Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani
Get Out — Jordan Peele
Lady Bird — Greta Gerwig
The Shape of Water — Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — Martin McDonagh*
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Call Me By Your Name — James Ivory
The Disaster Artist — Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Logan — Scott Frank, James Mangold, Michael Green
Molly’s Game — Aaron Sorkin
Mudbound — Virgil Williams, Dee Rees
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Timothée Chalamet — Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day Lewis — Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya — Get Out
Gary Oldman — Darkest Hour*
Denzel Washington — Roman J. Israel, Esq.
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sally Hawkins — The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand — Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*
Margot Robbie — I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan — Lady Bird
Meryl Streep — The Post
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Willem Dafoe — The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson — Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins — The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer — All the Money in the World (at 88, oldest nominee ever)
Sam Rockwell — Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Mary J. Blige — Mudbound
Allison Janney — I, Tonya*
Lesley Manville — Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf — Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer — The Shape of Water
DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail — Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie Goldman
Faces Places — Agnès Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda
Icarus — Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan
Last Men in Aleppo — Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Søren Steen Jespersen
Strong Island — Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Boss Baby — Tom McGrath, Ramsey Naito
The Breadwinner — Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo
Coco — Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson*
Ferdinand — Carlos Saldanha
Loving Vincent — Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Ivan Mactaggart
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Fantastic Woman — Sebastián Lelio, Chile
The Insult — Ziad Doueiri, Lebanon
Loveless — Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia
On Body and Soul — Ildikó Enyedi, Hungary
The Square — Ruben Östlund, Sweden
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Blade Runner 2049 — Roger A. Deakins*
Darkest Hour — Bruno Delbonnel
Dunkirk — Hoyte van Hoytema
Mudbound — Rachel Morrison
The Shape of Water — Dan Laustsen
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Beauty and the Beast — Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Blade Runner 2049 — Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola
Darkest Hour – Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Dunkirk — Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
The Shape of Water — Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, Jeff Melvin
VISUAL EFFECTS
Blade Runner 2049
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Kong: Skull Island
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes*
FILM EDITING
Baby Driver — Paul Machliss, Jonathan Amos
Dunkirk — Lee Smith*
I, Tonya — Tatiana S. Riegel
The Shape of Water — Sidney Wolinsky
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — Jon Gregory
COSTUME DESIGN
Beauty and the Beast — Jacqueline Durran
Darkest Hour — Jacqueline Durran
Phantom Thread — Mark Bridges
The Shape of Water — Luis Sequeira
Victoria & Abdul — Consolata Boyle
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Darkest Hour — Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick
Victoria & Abdul — Daniel Phillips, Lou Sheppard
Wonder — Arden Tuiten
ORIGINAL SCORE
Dunkirk — Hans Zimmer
Phantom Thread — Jonny Greenwood
The Shape of Water — Alexandre Desplat
Star Wars: The Last Jedi — John Williams
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — Carter Burwell
ORIGINAL SONG
“Mighty River” — Mudbound, Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, Taura Stinson
“Mystery of Love” — Call Me By Your Name, Sufjan Stevens
“Remember Me” — Coco, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
“Stand Up for Something” — Marshall, Diane Warren, Lonnie R. Lynn
“This is Me” — The Greatest Showman, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul
SOUND EDITING
Baby Driver — Julian Slater
Blade Runner 2049 — Mark Mangini, Theo Green
Dunkirk — Richard King, Alex Gibson
The Shape of Water — Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira
Star Wars: The Last Jedi — Matthew Wood, Ren Klyce
SOUND MIXING
Baby Driver — Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin, Mary H. Ellis
Blade Runner 2049— Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Mac Ruth
Dunkirk — Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo
The Shape of Water — Christian Cooke, Bran Zoern, Glen Gauthier
Star Wars: The Last Jedi — David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Stuart Wilson
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