What to Expect (and Not Expect) at the Oscars

Mo'Nique already won the supporting actress Oscar for an over-the-top portrayal of abusive motherhood in 'Precious'. That said, I'm hoping that Academy members honor Laurie Metcalfe over Allison Janney for her conflicted-yet-loving-and-supportive, and more-based-in-collective-reality mother role in 'Ladybird.'

Why in the world does anyone care about these silly awards? George C. Scott was right; it's a meat parade and a travesty, especially the artificially created "suspense" over announcing who the winners are. It's like little kids sitting and waiting for their awards. And the Oscars has such a lousy record of ignoring great films and performances while awarding total duds that it is more of a laugher than a serious record of film achievement. Pass.

It seems that there needs to be a special category for biopics as the Oscar awards seem so prejudiced towards them, albeit not in the year of Rocky, 1977. That said, owing to being a parent with a pre-school child, I've only been able to see a few Oscar-worthy films this year. I fell asleep twice watching The Post, but presumed Meryl Streep would be nominated as she was remarkable. The other Oscar film I did see, "Get Out," was a bit of a disappointment, perhaps because I had read and heard so much about it before viewing. Not that I knew the whole plot and ending; I didn't. It disappointed because it was simply a good, at times a very clever film with fine acting, a good script and some interesting (albeit not very subtle!) racial commentary. It concerns me, though, that so many awards are being offered to a film and filmmaker for a work that seems simply good. It's biased, of course, to refuse to watch a film because one has prejudged it as "not Oscar worthy." But it's no less biased that that same film is so valorized, perhaps because it has a black star, co-star, with Jordan Peele at the helm as writer, director, and producer. I've been a Peele fan for years. He's brilliant. But this film of his is not brilliant. It is neither "flawless," nor is it #MeToo. But it is very good. I would hate for "Get Out" to be the "Rocky" of 2018.

Saw 5 of the nominated films and my choice is "The Florida Project." Wish it had been nominated.

My guess is that the Russians hacked the Oscar voting apparatus (they’ve hacked just about everything else), and the Best Actor award will go to Donald Trump for his wacky portrayal of an American president.

What I expect is nothing, since that is what the Oscars have so often delivered. They have long been a politicized travesty, an elaborate buddy club, an old-boy-net -- anything but a reflection of artistic excellence. There are countless examples, notably not a single nomination for "The Searchers" and 9 statuettes for the deplorable, unwatchable "Around the World in 80 Days" the same year. And the contrived "suspense"! Laughable. If they want to give our awards, why not just post a list of winners, have a party for them, and go home? Of course, that would eliminate the single biggest night of national free advertising enjoyed by any industry on earth. Here's a smattering of Oscar's long list of failures: http://www.filmsite.org/noawards3.html

Call Me By Your Name was the most beautiful movie of the year... Timothee Chalmalet was absolutely incredible.

I so wish acting Oscars didn't almost automatically go to actors depicting real characters. Creating a character from scratch is no less an accomplishment than mimicry. Oldman is a first-rate actor, but this is hardlly his best role. Similarly, Streep's turn as Thatcher may have been impressive, but not as impressive as her creation of Miranda Priestly.

It's called Instant Runoff Voting, as opposed to First Past the Post, or plurality voting. Had it been in place before 2010, some past Best Picture winners would have been different. The question is, why is demonstrably inferior multi-candidate FPTP still used for the other categories. Or for public office.

Armie Hammer not being nominated for Best Supporting Actor is a total sin in my book -- his performance made Timothee Chalamet's brilliance all the more poignant.

Having two brilliant and utterly different works of art such as Dunkirk and Phantom Thread both up for Best Picture proves how pointless it is to select a so-called winner. If you're nominated, you've won!

I do not know what it is, but I cannot make myself watch most of the films nominated for best picture. I have all of them except for The Post, I am a SAG member and shame on me. I did watch Lady Bird and thought it was good and the acting was great, and I like every thing I read about the Director/writer. But I just did not care very much. I watched Three Billboards till it looked as if Woody was going to kill his character's horses and promised I would come back when I would not be so upset. I think Sam Rockwell is a genius actor Hope the sexual allegations are not true. Everyone raves about Call Me By Your Name. But I cannot watch these films, It feels almost the same as after 9/11. The grieving portion.I am afraid to get side tracked because of the life threatening chaos unleased on this country by the white house. I am scared in some childish way that if I do not keep on the watch and follow every nuance we will all be destroyed in some horrible fashion. You know like when you are on a plane and you hit turbulence and you feel in your mind you you are flying the plane with your concentration And if you lose it, the plane will go down. And yet here in NYC, I walk and shop happily talking with people of all races, creeds and sexual orientation, Amazed that people are just going about their lives seeming fine and no assault weapons or Nazis in sight. I gotta calm down and watch some movies

Timothée Chalamet gave an acting clinic over the credits of “Call Me by Your Name” but, with the exception of James Ivory's anticipated best adapted screenplay win, the film will no doubt suffer the Brokeback Mountain fate with "Three Billboards ..." being this year's "Crash." There are a lot of excellent films this year, buy gay does not play well in Hollywood especially in the #MeToo and Too White eras. "Call Me by Your Name” only earned $29 million, but many who saw it wept, as will I when it gets passed over for a fish fairy and others that will only be seen/watched once.

When are the Oscars?

We really enjoyed "Dunkirk", especially the last scene with the airplane. We hope it wins its share of awards. We're really disappointed "The Post" didn't receive more nominations, especially for the times we are living in now. There's many great performances, the scene in Robert McNamara's house where his tension grows until he finally bursts into rage (not at Mrs. Graham) is especially intense. Take any of scenes Richard Nixon is in, change his hair color to orange and it's "deja vu all over again". Mr. Hanks and Ms. Streep give great performances, as usual. In a sixty second scene without a single word, Ms. Streep's Katherine Graham transitions from uncertainty to solid resolve, if that doesn't represent great acting, I don't know what does.

Kudos to NYT's Wesley Morris for his commentary on Three Billboards (please search and link). Morris boldly captures the essence of the film's flaws which render it disjointed and contrived. McDonagh's story trivializes the core elements that would root Billboards as an American story, instead it comes off as a jumble of misunderstood brash and awkward sequences. Many Three Billboards' performances are strong, alas it's the writing and directing that sources the flaws. Dots were connected for me too as I remembered that McDonagh wrote The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which I saw on Broadway in the late 90s. There too his intensely dramatic target is a mother-daughter relationship that derails them both and ultimately everyone in their orbit. In the same vein this film is less a fit for #MeToo than #StopArguing.

I saw '3 Billboards' upon the recommendations of friends, and I have to say that I've never seen a worse movie nominated for Best Picture. I do not understand why it is so highly praised, and I hope the voters have had second thoughts about it. If those who selected the nominees wanted to make some kind of statement about American society, they should have picked 'I Tonya' instead, rather than this bizarre British fantasy about small town U.S.A.

I rarely see a great movie anymore. Of the nominees, I have seen Get Out, Three Billboards, The Shape of Water, and Dunkirk. I disliked Dunkirk so much, I had to force myself to see it through to the end. Get Out was quite entertaining, but not Best Picture material. Three Billboards had its moments, but was disappointing. As for The Shape of Water, I felt it did not compare with Pan's Labyrinth and I even enjoyed Crimson Peak more. As for last year, I could not even watch the entire trailer for LaLa Land and was thrilled that Moonlight won. I have never watched the Oscars, have no intention of ever doing so, and am thoroughly sick of actors, many of whom are not even high school graduates, pushing their socio-political agendas. After subscribing to Netflix and Amazon Prime video, I have a better idea of how many truly awful pictures are made each year, either from poor judgment or for a tax write-off. The public has made it clear they prefer low-brow entertainment like the Fast and Furious franchise. Perhaps the Oscars are outmoded and should go the way of Miss America as phenomena that no one really cares about anymore.

Timothée Chalamet broke my heart in Call Me by Your Name. There is no actor more deserving this year; bits of that film and of his performance still come to me at times. Up against Hollywood lions and a young African American, he has little chance – because Oscar is political. In the same vein, I think Greta Gerwig has a good chance of winning as the only woman nominated in a year that it counts for a lot. It would be undeserving, however.

I'm disappointed that women's movies (by or about women) will likely do poorly. In particular Lady Bird, which sounds like it won't win anything, which is a shame. Or The Florida Project, which got one nomination - for a famous man, and nothing else (the mother in that film was terrific, the daughter also). Past years have been similar - 20th Century Women got nothing last year, although Annette Bening was terrific. maybe it's time to shake up the voting board a little.

I think if Three Billboards wins, I think it will come to be seen as the equivalent of Crash winning. Get Out had more pointed social commentary (even in just its final moments), as did Shape of Water; and both were more believable.

In Oscar season, I am always reminded of George C. Scott turning down collecting his Oscar for PATTON, basically stating his work isn't the activity of competing. I've not yet seen all the nominees in this year's Oscars but do feel, in such a fertile year of excellence, each and all the nominees deserve to win. Imagine that view of the stage of winners!

I think it will be less political inside the theater and the red carpet will be where the majority of soundbites come from. And I know it's already pretty locked that Gary will take home the Oscar, however I'm really hoping for a Timothée upset. I can't remember the last time I've been so moved by a performance.

It will be a political, bash Trump and conservatives, self-congratulating session, with Hollywood again telling us how to behave, and far-too-little attention to the movies. Ugh.