The Bamboo Awards: BORN IN CHINA WINS IT ALL!

[The Panda]

Best Supporting Actress

 

Honorable Mention #4

Dafne Keen, Logan

 

Honorable Mention #3

Sophia Lillis, IT

 

Honorable Mention #2

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

 

Honorable Mention #1

Holly Hunter, The Big Sick

 

Co-Runner Up

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound

 

Runner Up

Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

 

Winner

Carrie Fisher, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

I actually agree with your top two Supporting Actor picks right now  

[That One Girl]

I want a user opinion from me in here  

[aabattery]

Just now, That One Guy said:

I want a user opinion from me in here  

 

That would entail you actually having had a good opinion.

[That One Girl]

2 minutes ago, ReyReyBattery said:

 

That would entail you actually having had a good opinion.

 

if he puts Bright on here, he can use this quote

 

3 hours ago, That One Guy said:

Can I give a lower grade than an F?

 

[Porthos]

I'm going ahead and liking every damn award post in this thread, not because I agree (sometimes I vociferous disagree) but because I want to Support Our Local Sheriff support our local rankers.  

Edited December 30, 2017 by Porthos

[The Panda]

Last one for today, since I had an unplanned break and it's getting late, so I'll finish up the latter 40% tomorrow (and I'll start off with Best Screenplay tomorrow)

 

Number 13

IT

 

"They're gazebos! They're bullshit!"

 

My Grade: A-

Most Valuable Player: Stephen King for the Source Material

Box Office: 327.5m

Tomatometer: 85%

Synopsis: "A group of bullied kids band together when a shapeshifting monster, taking the appearance of a clown, begins hunting children."

Critic Opinion: "There is an intangible quality that separates the truly great movies from the merely good ones. It can be deconstructed and quantified to a degree, but in the end there is a gravity that elevates the future classics above their counterparts. As I noticed in the reactions of the audience members around me, as well as from my own heart, "It" possesses that last quality in spades." - Matthew Rozsa, Salon

User Opinion: "It's very good. Felt like a really good 'old school' Nightmare on Elm Street film." - @chasmmi

Reasoning: IT was a movie that I was very much anticipating this year, as were many others obviously, and the anticipation paid off in spades.  While it's not a perfect blockbuster, it was the one I probably had the most fun in when watching in theaters this year, and that's a big deal.  But beyond just being a fun movie, it's one of those rare movies that should be targeted at a niche demographic that manages to be something of a cultural zeitgeist.  The film plays out like a cinematic classic, all of the kids in the cast are phenomenal, and there's some really funny scares and lines throughout the movie.  I don't know how well this will end up holding up when re-watching it by myself at home, but with a crowd the movie's a rave.  Just a fantastic blockbuster.

 

 

 

[The Panda]

20 minutes ago, WrathOfHan said:

I actually agree with your top two Supporting Actor picks right now  

That means you don’t agree with “Blow that piece of junk... OUT OF THE SKY!” 

[Ethan Hunt]

It? 

[That One Girl]

7 minutes ago, Ethan Hunt said:

It? 

 

Very good movie

[Ethan Hunt]

16 minutes ago, That One Guy said:

 

Very good movie

It's fine. Mostly forgettable. 

[That One Girl]

9 minutes ago, Ethan Hunt said:

It's fine. Mostly forgettable. 

 

you’re fine.  Mostly forgettable.

[Brainbug]

IT was one of the rare occasions where i felt like watching a future classic in the cinema.

[The Panda]

Best Screenplay

 

Honorable Mention #4

Logan

Spoiler

INT. GUEST BEDROOM -- SAME
Inside the guest room, Logan tucks Charles in. Charles looks
out the window beside the bed. The moon over the silos.

LOGAN
There’s a TV in here.

CHARLES
(smiles gently)
I’m fine.

LOGAN
Okay... Get some rest.
As Logan turns away, Charles reaches for him.

CHARLES
You know, Logan. This is what life
looks like. A house, people who
love each other. A safe place. Take
a moment and feel it.
(beat)
You still have time. 

 

Honorable Mention #3

Wind River

Spoiler

EXT. HANSON HOME -- WIND RIVER, WYOMING -- LATER.

Cory and Martin sit on the porch, looking out over the snow-
covered sagebrush.

 

CORY

I’d like to tell you it gets
easier, but it doesn’t. If there’s
a comfort -- you get used to the
pain if you let yourself ... I went
to a grief seminar in Casper. Don’t
know why, just ... It hurt so much,
I was searching for anything that
could make it go away ...

That’s what I wanted this seminar
to do -- make it go away. The
instructor come up to me after the
seminar was over, sat beside me and
said, “I got good news and bad
news. Bad news is you’ll never be
the same. You’ll never be whole.
Ever. What was taken from you can’t
be replaced. You’re daughter’s
gone. ... Now the good news -- as
soon as you accept that, as soon as
you let yourself suffer, allow
yourself to grieve ... You’ll be
able to visit her in your mind, and
remember all the joy she gave you.
All the love she knew. Right now,
you don’t even have that, do you?”

 

Martin finds himself shaking his head ‘no’, even though the
question wasn’t directed at him.

CORY (CONT’D)

He said, “that’s what not accepting
this will rob from you”.

 

Cory looks at Martin.

 

CORY (CONT’D)

If you shy from the pain of it,
then you rob yourself of every
memory of her, my friend. Every
one. From her first step to her
last smile. You’ll kill ‘em all.

 

Cory puts his hand on Martin’s neck, guides his eyes up to
him.

 

 

Honorable Mention #2

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Spoiler

KYLO REN

Blow that piece of junk ... OUT OF THE SKY!

 

(Sorry TLJ's screenplay isn't available online!)

 

Honorable Mention #1

The Big Sick

Spoiler

INT. HOSPITAL CAFETERIA- LATER

Kumail carries his tray, spots Terry and Beth together
having a hushed conversation. He sits at a different
table. Terry waves at him. Kumail heads over to them.

TERRY
No reason you should eat there by
yourself. Right, hon? 

 

BETH
(barely looks up)
It’s a free country.
Kumail nods. Sits down. They eat. It’s awkward.

KUMAIL
How’s your sandwich?

BETH
Best fuckin' sandwich I’ve ever had.

TERRY
Mine's good. Tuna's always a gamble. You
know, we're not by the water. Well, we
are by the water, but it's a lake.
There's no tuna in the lake. Whatever. I
threw the dice. I got the 7's, I guess.
Whatever the good dice number is.

More silence.

TERRY (CONT’D)
So, uh, 9/11?

Blank looks from Kumail and Beth.

TERRY (CONT'D)
No, I mean, I've always wanted to have a
conversation about it with...people.

KUMAIL
You've never talked to people about 9/11?

TERRY
No, uh, what's your stance?

KUMAIL
What's my stance on 9/11? Oh, ummmm...
Anti. It was a tragedy.
(a beat)
I mean we lost 19 of our best guys.

 

Co-Runner Up

Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri

Spoiler

FATHER MONTGOMERY
I know it’s been hard for you, Mildred,
this past year. We all do. The whole
town does. And whatever it is you need,
we’ll be there for you. Always. But the
town also knows what kind of a man
William Willoughby is. And the town is
dead set against these billboards of
yours.

MILDRED
Took a poll, did ya, Father?

FATHER MONTGOMERY
If you hadn’t stopped coming to church,
Mildred, you’d be aware of the depth of
people’s feelings. I had a dozen people
come up to me on Sunday. So, yes, I
took a poll. Everybody is on your side
about Angela. No-one’s on your side
about this.

MILDRED
Y’know what I was thinking about,
earlier today? I was thinking ‘bout
those streetgangs they got in Los
Angeles, the Crips and the Bloods? I
was thinking about that buncha new laws
they came up with, in the 80’s I think
it was, to combat those street-gangs,
those Crips and those Bloods. 

And, if I remember rightly, the gist of
what those new laws said was, if you
join one of these gangs, and you’re
running with ‘em, and down the block
from you one night, unbeknownst to you,
your fellow Crips, or your fellow
Bloods, shoot up a place, or stab a
guy, well, even though you didn’t know
nothing about it, even though you
may’ve just been standing on a
streetcorner minding your own business,
those new laws said you are still
culpable. You are still culpable, by
the very act of joining those Crips, or
those Bloods, in the first place. Which
got me thinking, Father, that whole
type of situation is kinda similar to
you Church boys, ain’t it? You’ve got
your colors, you’ve got your clubhouse,
you’re, for want of a better word, a
gang. And if you’re upstairs smoking a
pipe and reading a bible while one of
your fellow gang members is downstairs
fucking an altar boy then, Father, just
like the Crips, and just like the
Bloods, you’re culpable. Cos you joined
the gang, man. And I don’t care if you
never did shit or never saw shit or
never heard shit. You joined the gang.
You’re culpable. And when a person is
culpable to altar-boy-fucking, or anykinda-boy-fucking,
I know you guys
didn’t really narrow it down, then they
kinda forfeit the right to come into my
house and say a word about me, or my
life, or my daughter, or my billboards.
So, why don’t you just finish your tea
there, Father, and get the fuck outta
my kitchen.

She goes off to another room. MONTGOMERY puts down his
teacup.

ROBBIE
But thanks for coming up anyway, Father.

 

Runner Up

Lady Bird

Spoiler

INT. CHURCH. DAY.
Snippets of a sermon, some donation baskets. The choir gets
up to sing “Blessed Assurance.”

Christine listens and then cries, hard, and then starts
laughing and singing along. It turns out that her life is
just beginning.

She ducks into the entry-way of the church. Gets out her
phone, calls her home phone. It rings and rings. She leaves a
message:

CHRISTINE
Hi Mom and Dad, it’s me. Christine.
It’s the name you gave me. It’s a
good one. Dad, this is more for Mom
- Hey Mom: did you feel emotional
the first time that you drove in
Sacramento? I did and I wanted to
tell you, but we weren’t really
talking when it happened. All
those bends I’ve known my whole
life, and stores, and the whole
thing. But I wanted to tell you. I
love you. Thank you, I’m... thank
you.

Hangs up and listens from the back of the church while the
choir continues singing.

 

Winner

Get Out

Spoiler

EXT. GAZEBO. DAY.
During Dean’s speech, Chris wanders away from the group.

JIM
Ignorant shit...
Chris hadn’t seen Jim Hudson, the blind man, who sits in the
gazebo with his seeing eye dog. He is close to Chris, but far
enough away from the group that no one else hears them.

CHRIS
Who?

JIM
All of them. Ignorant assholes.
They have no idea what real people
go through.

CHRIS
I guess people only see what’s in
front of them.
Chris notices his faux pas.
53.
I mean...

JIM
Heh. No, you’re right. And usually
not even that much. That’s people.

Jim holds a glass up. Chris fist bumps the glass.

 

JIM (CONT)
Jim Hudson.

CHRIS
Chris

 

JIM
I know who you are. I’m an admirer
of your work; you have a great
eye...

CHRIS
Wait. Jim Hudson... of Hudson
Galleries?

Jim smiles.

JIM
The irony of being a blind art
dealer isn’t lost on me.

CHRIS
How do you do it?

JIM
I have an assistant describe work
to me. You’ve got something... The
images you capture... so brutally
melancholic. Powerful stuff.

CHRIS
Thank you. Yeah, I just like
finding the beauty in abandoned
things.

JIM
I used to dabble myself.
Wilderness mostly. I submitted to
Nat Geo 14 times before realizing
I didn’t have “the eye” for it;
Began dealing. And then, of
course, my vision went to shit.

CHRIS
Damn.

 

[The Panda]

Number 12

Coco

 

"Remember me."

 

My Grade: A-

Most Valuable Player: Kristin Anderson-Lopez for the Music and Lyrics

Box Office: 172.4m+

Tomatometer: 97%

Synopsis: Despite his family's baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.

Critic Opinion: "Coco never shies away from tackling the topic of death head-on. At times it's treated lightly (the way in which De la Cruz died is played for laughs), other times the tone is serious and even dark, but the subject is always presented as a fact of life that even younger kids (including members of its audience) should be able to handle. Loved ones die -- some before they're old -- but they shouldn't be forgotten." - Britton Peele, Dallas Morning News

User Opinion: "The pacing of the movie felt perfect to me, the run time spot on. It just felt like a perfect movie, one that definitely hits you with emotions and plenty of laughs. This is a movie for everyone, one of my favs of the year!" - @K1stpierre

Reasoning: This is a rare movie where the dubbed version is actually the superior one, as in the Spanish version is a good bit better than the English one, especially concerning the soundtrack.  Coco is a demonstration that Pixar still has their emotional touch and still have the capabilities to make Golden Age quality originals like they did 10 years ago.  The animation is absolutely gorgeous, and I loved the fact that we finally got a mainstream movie about Hispanic culture (and told in a way where it's respectful and not satirical).  The movie may play out beat by beat how you'd expect it too, but it still manages to make you feel the emotion that it sets out on attempting to make its audience feel, and so it makes the straightforward plot line easily forgivable.  In a year of weak animation, it doesn't say much to say Coco is the best animation of the year, but I reckon it'd stay that way in even a competitive year.

 

 

 

 

[SLAM!]

11 hours ago, The Last Panda said:

Honorable Mention #4

Gil Birmingham, Wind River

 

This is a good choice for an honorable mention to me. Gil Birmingham really shone here. It's a shame he didn't have as much screen time as I thought he would.

[The Panda]

I keep flip-flopping numbers 10 and 11, as I want both of them in my top 10, but I can't be one of those guys who puts 11 movies in a top 10 list.  So I'll just go with my initial ranking, prior to the retroactive thinking.  Just know numbers 10 and 11 are probably my most interchangeable on the list.

 

Number 11

A Ghost Story

 

"A writer writes a novel, a songwriter writes a song, we do what we can to endure."

 

My Grade: A-

Most Valuable Player: David Lowrey for Editing, as well as Directing and Writing

Box Office: 1.6m

Tomatometer: 90%

Synopsis: In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.

Critic Opinion: "I should mention that the film is virtually without plot, so it requires some patience. Major stars and that title notwithstanding, A Ghost Story is not a Saturday-night date movie. More a provocative art film in the European sense. Though barely 87 minutes, it unfolds in long, static shots, most of them without faces to hang onto. It's almost a film without genre, and by the end it's become a story untethered from time itself.  Still, it manages to be achingly intimate, and somehow optimistic. A meditation on loss but also on legacy — on our enduring need to endure."

User Opinion: "Definitely the most unique film I've seen so far this year, intimate yet epic, gorgeous visually, Ghostfleck is absolutely captivating... Such a simple and probably goofy on paper concept executed so brilliantly." - @antovolk

Reasoning: Probably one of, if not the, most unique films that I have seen this year.  The movie follows no rules of genre, and while it's constructed based off of a haunting story, it bends that narrative into a story focusing on the ghost observing the house he is trapped in.  It ends up becoming a nice contemplation on legacy and what loss would be like to the person actually dying.  The score is hauntingly beautiful, and David Lowrey's direction is compelling.  The film is edited together brilliantly, and flows rather seemlessly.  Now, for a movie that's only 87 minutes long, it does at times feel rather lengthy, mostly because of the long stretches of time the film spends on particular moments (such as a 9 minute pie eating scene).  While all of this may seem as if it'd come off as pretentious, it ultimately feels rather authentic and sincere in its approach.  It's a lovely movie, quirks and all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[robertman2]

I'm shocked I got used for Thor tbh

 

Also great list so far

[The Panda]

Best Ensemble

 

Honorable Mention #4

The Shape of Water

 

Honorable Mention #3

Get Out

 

Honorable Mention #2

Mudbound

 

Honorable Mention #1

The Big Sick

 

Co-Runner Up

Lady Bird

 

Runner Up

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

 

Winner

Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri

[The Panda]

So before I get into the top 10 list portion (and Actor, Actress and Director), here are a few fun tidbits

 

My 5 Least Favorite Movies of 2017

1. All Eyez on Me

2. The Emoji Movie

3. Transformers: The Last Knight

4. The Dark Tower

5. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

 

And

 

My top 5 most anticipated movies of 2018

 

Alfonso Cuaron's Roma

 

First Man

 

Deadpool 2

 

Mary Poppins Returns

 

Solo: A Star Wars Story