The Panda

Oddly enough, I agree with nearly all of your predicts to a tee, and the ones I disagree with would be my alternates to get in.

Unless The Post really hits home with the Academy, I kind of think Three Billboards is going to take home the prize (although I'm torn between it and Get Out). It's just too relevant to everything going on in Hollywood and politics. Plus, Spotlight won two years ago, so there's already been a recent "power of the press" winner.

I think partially that was the point, but the other half was definitely about the sexual abuse and rape cases (obviously the film was prior to Weinstein) where the abuser gets away (or off easy) with their crime.

I'd personally say Inside Out and Up were more tear inducing (especially since I don't think I actually cried in Coco, but on a different day, I may have).

The complaints make sense, but I do think your complaints were the points McDonagh was trying to get across. That there's no justice in society and there's no accountability in society. I can definitely see how it's themes will resonate this awards season, it screams everything going on in American society right now.

I kind of want to go see this film in Spanish now, it seems like it'd play even better in the native language of the culture it's portraying. (Plus the Spanish recordings of the songs are better)

I think that's literally the point and the venting frustration of the whole movie. It's not endorsing the violence, but it's showcasing it, as a mirror to our own society. Some of the actions taken in the film seem absolutely ridiculous, yet it's a reflection of the state (American) society is in right now. There's violence with no repercussions (hell Dixon got it worse than 95% of officers that commit crimes, he at least lost his job), that you can have a video tape of a crime and of a person like Trump admit to their sexual assault and the abuser still gets to walk away free, there's rampant sexual abuse by older men in power that everybody turns a blind eye too, and the psycopathic murderers and rapists are allowed to walk from our justice system (meanwhile we keep making arrests of minorities in possession of weed). The film is saying you can place three large billboards to protest a problem, and people will simply cry that the billboards are a mean form of protesting and ignore the actual problem the billboards are trying to address. I personally saw a lot of truth in the ridiculousness of some of the scenes, especially when you stop and reflect that they may not be that ridiculous after all.

Another side note I wanted to make about the movie: I loved the theme of yearning for escape that's present in the film, and how each event in Christine's life almost feels like it's stockpiling, until she finally escapes (or literally 'flies away' in a plane) and realizing how much of the youthful entrapment was built up inside her own mind. It's one of the more honest coming of age films I've seen, and you can tell a lot of that is Gerwig's heart and memory toward her own youth. With its setting in 2002-2003, and the fact Gerwig grew up in Sacramento, you can tell it's a fictional telling of her own story (which is what makes it so great). It's interesting to look at the parallels between Gerwig's story in Lady Bird and Nanjiani's story in the Big Sick (or even Ansari's Master of None). Some of the best stories told this year aren't really all that fanciful, they're more quiet, truthful ones.

It's easily the best animation this year (not like there's much competition), and stands on the same level as other Pixar works like Ratatouille and Monsters Inc. I loved the cultural aspect of the film, it really set it apart from many of Pixar's other movies, and I thought the thematic arcs were well done and weren't sobered down. I'm glad they went to a few levels they did, in approaching the themes of death and remembering those who came before you. The overall plot is rather predictable, and most of the narrative surprises are foreshadowed so far in advance that they lack any sort of surprise, but it doesn't take away from the emotional core and execution from many of the scenes. Beyond that, the animation is vibrant and full of life, it really pulls you into this world of the dead. It's a blast to watch, with a bit of humor, some fun music (Un Poco Loco and Remember Me), and it's rather frenetic in its energy and pace. It sometimes feels a little too fast moving, but it is an animation, and an already fairly lengthy one at that. It also may just be me, but it felt like the whole "Salud" plot point felt like it was stolen straight from Breaking Bad (just obviously watered down on the gruesomeness of the murder), however it was still an effective plot point (plus it's one of the few outright murders in an animation). I really enjoyed it, and the ending did make me feel a little. It's not a masterpiece like Inside Out, but it's still the second best Pixar film of the decade, right behind it. A-

Coco is really good. The Frozen 'short'? Not so much. Definitely just show up to your showing 40 minutes after the start time, it's a chore to sit through.

They want to see it so much they're flocking to JL in record numbers!

True Grit is excellent, much better than the original.

I'd start with Gravity, it's not the same on a small-screen versus a big screen but it's still an excellent and accessible movie. I think in general the most GA friendly of the movies are in this order (of the ones you haven't seen and more GA friendly for your demo) Inception Gravity True Grit La La Land Django Unchained American Sniper The Help Hidden Figures The Big Short The Social Network Bridge of Spies Hell or High Water Whiplash The Revenant The Imitation Game The Wolf of Wall Street American Hustle Lincoln Granted, if you look at the films BO that's probably a better indicator of whats GA friendly.

I'd recommend you watch everything under the spoiler cut so you can see a variety of film.

Not as bad of a take as the actual movie.

Watch, its one rotten will be the 163rd review.

American Hustle is a bad movie. A solid C.

Ranking the BP noms of the decade (only 20% of them aren't great). The only year with a bad batch of nominees is 2011 imo, and that's because 2011 didn't have that many good movies. Gravity Life of Pi Boyhood The Social Network Her La La Land Django Unchained Mad Max: Fury Road Whiplash Beasts of the Southern Wild True Grit Moonlight The Revenant The Big Short The Wolf of Wall Street Arrival The Grand Budapest Hotel Hell or High Water 12 Years a Slave Bridge of Spies Manchester by the Sea Silver Linings Playbook Spotlight Zero Dark Thirty Winter's Bone Lincoln Room Black Swan The Tree of Life Birdman Amour Toy Story 3 Moneyball Nebraska Selma The Fighter Hacksaw Ridge Fences Captain Phillips Hidden Figures The Kids Are All Right Philomena The Help The Descendants 127 Hours Inception The Artist Argo Dallas Buyers Club The King's Speech The Theory of Everything The Imitation Game Midnight in Paris Brooklyn Lion Hugo War Horse The Martian Les Miserables American Hustle American Sniper Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Bolding the great ones Italics for the very good ones Nothing for the Decent to Eh ones Strike for the bad ones

Lol at Boyhood being Oscar bait. Linklater's never been an Oscar bait director.

I think the real discussion that needs to take place is this. Is Gravity a scif-fi?

FTFY

"No boom, bang, hulk smash. No JonathanLB like."

Don't forget the skybeams. All tour de force movies have skybeams.

The secret is actually having a good taste in film.

The only locked nom is CMBYN, the rest is pretty open to whatever's hot in two months out of the contenders