Ok, so every year I do this Oscar movie recap thing right before the Oscars of all or most
of the films that are nominated for big Oscars.
And this year it's gonna be kind of that, but slightly different.
I haven't seen all the Oscar films, just cuz they either haven't come out where I live
or I just couldn't get to them, so I haven't seen the Post, and Phantom Thread.
But I'm gonna talk about the ones I HAVE seen and then just some miscellaneous movies
from 2017 that I didn't get the chance to talk about and people have asked for my thoughts
on.
So really if this video's title was accurate it would be Most Oscar Movies 2018 recap,
plus a bunch of other not really oscar related movies, like Wonder, for example.
Does Wonder have anything to do with the oscars?
I mean kinda, not really though.
But you know, that doesn't make as nice of a thumbnail.
Also I just wanna say, I won't be talking about Blade Runner 2049, Baby Driver, The
Big Sick, Logan, Dunkirk or Get Out here, because I have videos talking about those
to various degrees of detail on my channel.
Those are all linked down below.
In the description you'll also find timecodes to all the different movies.
Also I'm on a bit of a time crunch with this video, so there's going to be more
just footage of trailers laced over me talking here with less editing than my usual videos.
I'm sorry, but with the number of movies and the time I have to get this video out,
that's just what's gonna have to be.
Alright, without further ado, let's get into it.
Call Me By Your Name First movie we've got is Call Me By Your
Name, which is a film that I saw the trailer for and thought, well that'll probably be
pretty solid, and once I ended up watching it, I kinda loved it.
Timothee Chalamet is great in it, I have a feeling we're gonna be seeing a lot more
of him in the next few years.
Also he's a rare case of an adult actor playing a teen character who actually looks
the age he's supposed to be.
Armie Hammer I've been a fan of for a while and he also kills it in this, him and Chalamet
work very well together and their character's dynamic was really interesting to watch unfold,
which is obviously very important since that's really what the entire film is, as I'll
get into a little more in a second.
In terms of writing it's fantastic, the relationships in this film feel totally natural
and not remotely forced, especially the one between the two leads.
I also loved the setting of this film.
Italy in the summer, in the 80s, it's a very pleasant place to spend 2 hours.
Doesn't hurt that the cinematography also shows off that setting beautifully, along
with everything else, it's very well shot.
The music's also spectacular, there's just so much atmosphere in this film.
The thing is, in terms of plot, there isn't a lot of it here.
Like I mean there isn't a ton going on, it's really just like spending two hours
in the summer in Italy watching these two develop a kind of romance.
But because of everything that I mentioned before, it's not boring, it's surprisingly
really engaging.
Because of the setting and the music and just the atmosphere as a whole, but mainly because
you care about these characters, so even when not a lot is really happening, it's interesting.
It's more of an experience than a film, which I know sounds like the most pretentious
thing in the world, but it's the best way I could think to describe this.
As far as what I didn't like, ummm I could've gone without that peach scene.
That's not something I think I ever needed to see, or think about.
Besides that, there's not really anything.
All in all, yeah, I loved Call Me By Your Name.
It's a special kind of film where you just get totally absorbed in the movie's world
and characters and even though not a lot is happening, you care and are invested in it.
It's a great story in a beautifully shot, unique, and well acted film and I'll give
it a 9.8/10.
Darkest Hour Then there's another best picture nominee,
Darkest Hour.
And….yeah it's good.
It's not one of those movies I'm going nuts over, it's just….yeah it's good.
The thing that sets this movie apart is obviously Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill.
He is phenomenal, he's almost definitely gonna win and yeah he deserves it.
I at least couldn't tell at all it was Gary Oldman, partly because of the makeup I suppose,
but also mainly cuz of his acting.
He is what carries this movie, and the fact that this guy very much existed in real life
and acted this way and had a huge impact on the world is just sort of fun to think about,
I almost always enjoy that with biopics.
The rest of the cast from Deborah to Stannis are good.
The cinematography is mostly pretty standard but there are some beautiful and really well
composed shots and some pretty interesting uses of camerawork here, like how the camera
will pan or slowly zoom in.
That just stood out to me cuz I thought this was going to be super average in terms of
how it was shot, just like average biopic, so those little changes pleasantly surprise
me.
The sets, costumes, production design, all of that is flawless.
There are some funny moments, this is a good companion piece to Dunkirk, I just find it
funny how both of these are nominated for best picture, and as many of you know I love
a good rousing speech and the one in this, from real life history, yeah it was really
great.
My problems with this movie aren't really problems, it's sort of just….the lack
of a lot of interesting things.
Like yeah, it's well made and interesting enough, it's just not exceptional.
It's a little forgettable and that's a big thing with films for me, even a terrible
movie I can enjoy and I'll remember it, this was a good movie that I'm not really
gonna remember after a while.
It's a bit slow as well, but it's never really that boring.
It just sort of started and went and ended, and I was like, alright that was a movie.
Didn't really have an impact on me.
So Darkest Hour is pretty good.
It's got an excellent performance at the forefront and the movie around it has some
great moments but sometimes can be just fine.
I don't think you need to rush out to see this is what I'm saying.
It's still a good film though, I would just never watch it again.
I'll give it an 8/10.
The Shape of Water Then there's the latest film from Guillermo
del Toro, The Shape of Water.
This looked like the weirdest movie of all time to me and watching it, sure there it's
pretty weird but it's also quite beautiful.
Everyone in the film is amazing, from Sally Hawkins to Richard Jenkins to Octavia Spencer,
but the standout for me was easily Michael Shannon, who has proven he is insanely good
at playing just the creepiest, grossest, most awful characters in movies.
He is so amazing in this and I think it's kinda crazy he wasn't nominated for his
performance.
Doug Jones in the fish prosthetics is great, and the practical effects here are phenomenal,
there's never a point where the fish man doesn't look real.
And yes, I know there's probably a proper name for it but I'm calling it the fish
man.
The movie has some amazing cinematography as is to be expected from Guillermo, and I
just love the world and production design, again, a staple of Guillermo's movies, but
there's so much detail and it feels like such a dense world.
I also liked the music, although at points it very much reminded me of the music from
Up, and in certain scenes, yeah that was kind of weird to be thinking about.
And yeah, to address the fish man in the room, there is some pretty….strange stuff in this
movie, but in the context of the actual film it totally works, which is very impressive
considering how weird some of this stuff is.
The story is very well told and never feels rushed or drawn out, it's pretty perfectly
paced.
You have enough time to get invested in all of this and understand what's happening
but it's not drawn out longer than it needs to be, and it's a pretty fascinating story.
There were some things I didn't love.
There was one scene towards the end-ish which I totally get and they set it up in some ways,
but it was so out of left field and just didn't really fit to me, I wasn't sure if it was
supposed to be funny or emotional or what.
And then the ending of the film, now if you've seen it, I'm not talking about the very
very end, even though that was kind of surprising I didn't have a problem with it.
I mean like the climax of the film, I wasn't a big fan of.
It was also kind of predictable what was gonna happen there, which was disappointing for
a movie that otherwise was quite unpredictable.
Overall, the Shape of Water is a very strange and very memorable film.
It's got great performances, a great world with great effects and a great story about
love and acceptance and all that, overall it's great.
I'll give the Shape of Water a 9.3/10.
Ladybird Alright, now we're gonna get to the part
of the video where I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get some dislikes.
But hey, contrary to what some people actually believe, I'm not gonna change my opinion
based on what other people say.
I watched Ladybird, and I thought it was really good.
I didn't love it as much as apparently everyone else did though.
In terms of the great stuff, all the performances are good, especially the main girl who's name
I don't wanna butcher, she's fantastic.
Also David Wallace shows up at some point.
I thought it was well paced, I liked the characters and the main characters story, it had some
pretty funny moments, it's well directed, it's well shot, it's mostly well written
besides some points that I'll talk about in a second.
And it's a nice coming of age story and I usually just enjoy those in general.
The thing is, everything is good, there were just a lot of moments and plot lines that
reminded me of other films or felt cliched and I really wasn't expecting that from
this film.
The friends falling out because theys tart hanging out with someone else, going for a
guy who's clearly a douchebag and not right for you, it's like I've seen this a lot
before.
A lot of this movie actually reminded me of the Edge of 17, one of my favorite films of
2016, and to be honest I enjoyed that movie a lot more.
That's really my main issue with it, it's all pretty good, but it wasn't as revolutionary
or amazing as I was expecting or I guess had been told it was, some part (not all, but
some) kinda felt a little stale.
So yeah, I know everyone's loving this movie and it's the best reviewed movie on Rotten
Tomatoes or something, or it was.
And I think it's a pretty great film, I don't think it's exceptional though.
I'll give Ladybird an 8.5/10.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri The last best picture nominee I saw was Three
Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri, and I thought it was pretty perfect.
This is definitely in my top 5 movies of last year.
I'm not going to spoil anything here, but I would say your experience with this film
would be better the less you know about it, so I'd recommend watching the movie first
and then watching this.
Won't spoil anything, but if you wanna know nothing you should skip ahead to the next
movie.
Of course the cast is great in this, I don't really think there's a lot to say except
everyone is brilliant, and all 3 of these leads have earned that Oscar nomination.
Especially Sam Rockwell, I've loved his work for a long time and this is probably
his best performance to date.
This is a black comedy, which means it is a super dark comedy.
This is an incredibly dark movie, but it's also laugh out loud funny at points.
It flows perfectly and never feels tonally inconsistent.
The humor often comes from the very dark themes.
Also, umm...this is not for kids.
And I say that cuz there were like 4 kids in the cinema when I saw this, so like, what
the hell parents?
Don't take your kids to see this.
The movie is exceptionally well written and directed.
The writing for the characters especially is so great, the main three especially are
so layered and nuanced and it's so masterfully executed.
They're complex and mostly morally in at best a grey area.
It's also a very unpredictable movie, like a scene will start and I'm thinking alright
it's going this way and then it takes a completely different turn.
It constantly keeps you on your toes and I loved that.
It's very well paced, well shot, there are some long takes that are very impressive,
and it's very entertaining.
I was never bored watching it and when it ended somewhat abruptly I was a little surprised
cuz I was so engaged in it.
This is also original, I'm pretty sure this isn't based on a book or something like
that, and it's such a unique story.
There are twists that I didn't expect, there are even emotional moments that I really didn't
expect.
The film's way of making you end up liking or rooting for incredibly unlikable characters
is so impressive, and it's done so naturally.
While I was watching the movie, initially I was thinking, alright some of this stuff
is a little on the nose or a little too coincidental, but as the movie goes on you sort of realize
that this is set in a slightly elevated reality where yeah there are some unrealistically
conveniently timed moments, and once you settle into that it absolutely works.
So ultimately, I think Three Billboards is fantastic.
I loved it when I first saw it and the more I've thought
about it as time passed I love it even more, and I really wanna watch it again.
100% check this out if you get the chance, it's a great example of why I love movies.
I'll give Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri a 10/10.
All the Money in the World Then I saw All the Money in the World, aaaaaand
I thought it was pretty good.
I mean, this is a film that I don't have a lot to say about, because it's quite good,
there just isn't anything that exceptional about it, so there's not a lot interesting
to say.
Like, Ridley Scott has proven himself to be a good director, most times, and Marky Mark
and Michelle Williams are both really good.
I really liked the music, the movie on the whole is really tense and pretty engaging,
although I did feel it was slightly too long.
Like towards the end of the second act and the start of the third my interest was starting
to slip a little.
But it's a good tense movie with good characters who's changes and arcs are actually quite
believable.
I have to admit, even though this might sound insane to some people watching this, I wasn't
really aware of this story beforehand, like I'd heard the name J.P. Getty before but
watching this movie I thought it was based on a fiction book or something just based
on how comically over the top some stuff seemed to be presented at the start.
So that was just really interesting and surprising afterwards to discover that most of this actually
happened, cuz like it didn't happen that long ago so I found it weird that I didn't
know about it.
The big thing about this movie is Kevin Spacey being replaced by Christopher Plummer at the
last minute, and honestly that was kind of fascinating for me watching it.
I was trying to spot what was off about it, if someone had a bad wig change or something
didn't line up or a CGI'd out mustache, but no, it flows perfectly and Plummer is
fantastic.
He does deserve to be nominated, it's not just a nomaintion because of the whole Spacey
thing I'm pretty sure.
And considering the time they had to do all that, I thought that was pretty impressive.
Overall, All the Money in the World is a really solid movie that if you see it's on TV someday,
yeah sure give it a shot.
Didn't blow my mind, but it's well made and mostly engaging.
I'll give it an 8.5/10.
I, Tonya Then there's I, Tonya, nominated for a couple
of Oscars.
With this film too, I thought it was great.
It gets kinda hard when you're reviewing like 10 good movies in a row, there's not
much to say, they're just really good.
For this one specifically, I've only seen Margot Robbie in two things, one where she
was fantastic and one where she was in Suicide Squad, and this film definitely tipped the
scales in the direction of, yeah she's fantastic.
Allison Janney is also amazing, while playing just the worst human being, she's almost definitely
gonna win.
And this really surprised me cuz I thought he was barely gonna be in it but Sebastian
Stan was outstanding in this.
I've always thought, yeah he's pretty good as Bucky but here I honestly think he
should have gotten a best supporting actor nomination, for sure.
Way more respect for him after seeing this and definitely gonna keep an eye out for what
he does next.
This movie mixes the drama and the comedy quite well, both aspects work absolutely.
The style is kind of Scorsese-esque, and I quite liked that too.
It was an interesting and entertaining way to tell this story.
In terms of the negatives, some of the ice skating looks really fake.
I don't know if they used a green screen or CGI or something, but there are points
in those scenes where it just doesn't look real, which hurts those important pivotal
scenes.
The pacing, while good for most of it, was a little weird at points, like there are parts
where you totally forget about certain characters (which I mean, they do acknowledge, but it's
still werid).
Like it feels slightly unfocused, it goes to one plot and then leaves it for a really
long time and then goes to another, then goes back and you're like oh right, that...that's
a thing.
Like around halfway through this movie is basically becomes I, Jeff, which again, I
love Sebastian Stan in this, and I guess that's supposed to show how mixed and confusing all
this was in real life, but for an actual film, it just felt a little sloppy a few times.
All in all, I thought I, Tonya was really great.
Don't think I'd watch it again and it definitely has its flaws, but it's a showcase
of great performances that for like 85% of it was quite entertaining.
Plus it's such a crazy story in real life that I'm glad I now know more about it.
I'll give I, Tonya an 8.8/10.
The Greatest Showman Then there's the Greatest Showman, which
I'm not gonna go into a ton of depth on because it's yes, it's technically an
Oscar film, but this is where we start diverging a little from the Oscar movies.
I was interested in this because I really like La La Land, I really like musicals, and
I really like the cast.
And I saw it, and it was pretty much exactly what I was expecting, which is a pretty fun
kids movie.
I mean, this movie is kind of hard not to at least enjoy.
It's got a cast that's filled with super charismatic actors and actresses, it's got
fun musical numbers with great production design and costumes and pretty catchy songs,
it's pretty feel good and uplifting, it's just a good time and I was entertained by
it.
As a film, I had some problems with it.
For one, I felt like the movie wasn't paced super well.
Like it moves really really fast especially at the start, I know we don't wanna go like
an hour about Hugh Jackman's depressing life as a child and an office worker and what
not, but it just zoomed by so quick that I didn't really feel anything.
Like he goes from this lowly shoe shine boy to having the best circus in the universe
in like 30 minutes or something, and I didn't get emotionally invested at all.
It's also quite cheesy and predictable with both the story and the message, but hey it's
more of a kids movie, so it didn't bother me that much.
I know I'm making it sound like I hated this, I really didn't.
I really enjoyed watching it, the soundtrack while not as good as La La Land in my opinion
I still really liked, I love some of the dance numbers especially the one with Hugh Jackman
and Zac Efron in that bar, it's got some funny moments.
I think I was just expecting a bit more I guess plot or story wise and it ended up being
very simple and not really super memorable to me.
Overall, the Greatest Showman is a fun, entertaining way to kill an hour and 45 minutes.
If you go into it with lowered expectations I think you'll have a great time, and look,
I enjoyed it but didn't love it but everyone I saw it with really loved it, so hey, it
seems to be a crowd pleaser and I'd say it's a good time, especially if you just
aren't expecting like a masterpiece or something.
I'll give it a 7.9/10.
Wonder Then I saw Wonder, and I was really surprised
by how much I enjoyed it.
Little backstory, and I think this might be true for a lot of people, Wonder was one of
the books I read when I was like 12 or 13 with my English class, and because of that
I'm pretty fond of the book and even a little nostalgic for it, and so I was curious to
see how they would adapt it to film.
And the way they did it, I really liked.
Cast wise, Jacob Tremblay is obviously a super talented young actor, and he's perfect for
Auggie.
Also, based on the descriptions in the book I was curious how they would do the makeup
for his face, and it's also really great.
It's not over the top cartoonish and it looks realistic enough that this could be
a real kid.
Owen Wilson is really great as Auggie's dad, I loved him in this, and most of the
rest of the cast is pretty good too.
I also really enjoyed how this movie told the story from different perspectives, which
I only remembered the book did once I was in the cinema.
This isn't just Auggie's story, it's also about the lives of the people around
him and how he affects them, and If sound that especially interesting with his sister.
It's a new way of looking at a story like this that i really appreciated.
And really what I enjoyed the most about this film is how much I cared about these characters
and how emotionally interested I got, which again, I was not expecting from the Wonder
movie.
But from the get go, you feel sorry for this kid and you can relate to some of his struggles
or some of the other character's struggles and you're rooting for them and the emotional
moments actually hit almost all of the time.
On the whole it's a great example of a feel good movie, you just feel pleasant and happy
and uplifted when you leave this film, and I loved that.
I enjoyed how the story progressed and how the characters grew.
This wasn't perfect, there were a few things I didn't love.
For one there are some really cliche moments, and I guess those were in the book (I haven't
read the book in like 3 or 4 years, so I don't remember it exactly).
But kind of like Ladybird even, although in a much simpler way, the best friend falls
out with the best friend over summer cuz she starts hanging out with other people kind
of thing, stuff like that that I felt the movie otherwise did a good job of avoiding.
Also some dream sequences ro daydream sequences I guess If sound a little odd.
And yeah, of course some child acting isn't as good as you know the adult acting, but
that's to be expected and I don't wanna be mean cuz hey they're kids, plus it wasn't
terrible or anything.
Overall, Wonder was a lot better than I expected, and is just such a great feel good movie.
It's a step above what I think it could've been, which is just a generic kids movie about
overcoming the odds and standing strong.
It does fall into a few of those cliches and dumb moments occasionally, but I left this
just feeling so happy, and honestly I'd really recommend watching it.
I'll give Wonder an 8.5/10.
Coco And finally, I saw Coco at long last, and
I thought it was great.
It's another movie that sort of proves to me that still Pixar's original movies are
their best….most of the time.
This movie really reminded me of original Pixar from their earlier days and what they
did so well back then, you take a really interesting concept and then build a rich fascinating
world around it and fill it with fun characters, good humor, emotional moments, great music
and beautiful animation.
That is not an easy combo to pull off, of most things being terrific, and this movie
did it.
Pixar is so excellent at world building, and with this movie's land of the dead it again
does it very impressively.
With this movie's premise as well it was a really interesting look into an aspect of
that culture that I of course am aware of but I didn't really know as much about before
this.
The animation is also incredible, like some shots of the land of the dead are just breathtaking,
with the colors and the attention to detail.
This movie has that signature Pixar emotional hit towards the end, and like most of their
other films, yeah it made me choke up just a bit.
Character-wise, some obviously get a lot more to do than others, like we don't really
spend a lot of time with some members of the main kid's family, but that's fine, cuz
they weren't as important to the story as others were and spending more time with them
I think would've bogged the film down.
A big idea in the film is also music since it's really the main character's motivation,
and the music is pretty fantastic as well.
I also enjoyed the message of the movie quite a lot, and the jokes were overall pretty funny.
As far as the negatives go, there were a few moments that really reminded of me of other
films and, I'm not gonna say were ripped off but it was just like, we've seen this
sort of thing a lot of times before.
Two main examples are Kung Fu Panda and especially Monsters Inc.
And in that sense, yeah, there are parts that are quite predictable.
There are a few big twists in this movie and I'll admit, one or two I didn't see coming,
but one of them was so painfully obvious and one that we've seen in multiple Pixar movies
before that it was sort of just annoying having to watch it play out.
And with it really feeling like one of Pixar's older films, that's pretty great for quality,
but it does also mean it feels slightly formulaic at points.
Besides that, I really really liked Coco.
This is definitely Pixar's best since Inside Out and it felt sort of like a return to from
for Pixar.
It's Pixar's good side in a nutshell basically with the world and characters and music and
animation, and I'll give it an 8.9/10.
Ok, so 3 little things here at the end.
Firstly, now that I've seen more films, my updated top 10 movies of 2017 list.
10) Dunkirk 9) Star Wars: The Last Jedi
8) John Wick Chapter 2 7) Call Me By Your Name
6) Spider-Man: Homecoming 5) Blade Runner 2049
4) Logan 3) Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
2) Get Out 1) Baby Driver
Second, now that I've talked about most of the Oscar films, I put out my Oscar predictions
on Instagram, so here those are now.
And finally, while I actually kinda liked Jimmy Kimmel as the host last year and I imagine
he'll probably do a good job this year, I also wanna put out my predictions for all
the jokes that are gonna be told, cuz let's be real, they can be a bit predictable.
There's gonna be some Trump, obviously, something about Meryl Streep getting another
nomination, something about how everyone in Hollywood is a weird creep, including probably
some Christopher Plummer joke int here, and there are going to be dozens of Moonlight
actually won jokes, mark my words.
Hopefully it'll still be fun to watch though.
So those were my thoughts on the Oscar movies this year.
What did you think of this?
Let me know all of your thoughts down below in the comments.
While you're at it be sure to like this video, check out my Instagram and Twitter
@bhl_hudson, check out this podcast about movies and TV and whatnot I do every other
week with a friend of mine, it's called The Poorly Planned Podcast, and subscribe
for more videos like the one you just watched.
Thanks for watching and I'll see ya next time.
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