Oscar Nominations 2018

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Since we got 18 hours’ worth of snow and freezing rain between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, Jay and I both got to stay home and watch Andy Serkis and Tiffany Haddish announce the 2018 Oscar Nominees.

Our instant reaction after the presentation finished?  Quite positive, I’d say.  The Academy seems to have included everyone who ought to be a contender for these awards, save for James Franco but there’s an understandable reason for that (#metoo).  The only real disappointment was that Wonder Woman didn’t get any nominations at all, which seems like a significant omission for a movie that is fifth on Rotten Tomatoes’ best of 2017 list, particularly when the terrible Suicide Squad got nominated for (and won!) an Oscar in 2017.

Even though Wonder Woman didn’t get any nominations, it was both satisfying and encouraging to see Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird get the recognition they both deserve.  Hopefully, their success will lead to other quality passion projects like those getting a green light and finding their audiences too.

Here’s the full list of nominations along with links to the ones we’ve reviewed (we got most of them and will be working on the rest between now and March 4th).

Did you spot any glaring omissions by the Academy?  If so, let us know in the comments!

BEST PICTURE:

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

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

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

 

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT):

Edith + Eddie — Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright

Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405 — Frank Stiefel

Heroin(e) — Elaine McMilion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon

Knife Skills — Thomas Lennon

Traffic Stop — Kate Davis, David Heilbroner

 

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:

DeKalb Elementary — Reed Van Dyk

The Eleven O’Clock — Derin Seale, Josh Lawson

My Nephew Emmett — Kevin Wilson Jr.

The Silent Child — Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton

Watu Wote / All of Us — Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen

 

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

 

ANIMATED SHORT FILM:

Dear Basketball — Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant

Garden Party — Victor Claire, Gabriel Grapperon

Lou — Dave Mullins, Dana Murray

Negative Space — Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata

Revolting Rhymes — Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer

 

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

24 thoughts on “Oscar Nominations 2018”

  1. bookbeachbunny

    I was really hoping for more for Logan but I suppose that was a long shot. 😦 On the other hand I’ve been a fan of Allison Janney since The West Wing and Sam Rockwell since Galaxy Quest so the fact that they’re seemingly front runners has me totally excited!!!

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    1. Sean Post author

      Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell turned in such great performances, elevating I, Tonya and Three Billboards to two of the best films of the year.

      The supporting categories are both very tough though, so it will not be easy for them to win. I will be particularly interested to see if Rockwell can pull through since Woody Harrelson got nominated (and deservedly so) for Three Billboards – will that split the votes?

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      1. Jay

        I don’t think it will. Woody’s really really good but the story almost belongs to Rockwell, which is interesting because he clearly is supporting. The script really pulls some great switches.

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  2. badblokebob

    I’d like to have seen Blade Runner 2049 in the big categories, and maybe Patrick Stewart in Supporting Actor, but I’m not exactly surprised either missed out — what is there seems a pretty darn solid selection.

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    1. Sean Post author

      Blade Runner could have been a best picture nominee but personally I would rather have seen Baby Driver or Wonder Woman in that 10th spot. I would swap in Denis Villeneuve instead of PTA but realistically Villeneuve would have taken either Gerwig or Peele’s spot and I think both of them deserve/need the recognition more than Villeneuve since Villeneuve was nominated last year.

      Patrick Stewart could well have gotten a supporting nod for Logan without any complaint from me. But I don’t think I would have picked Stewart over Dafoe, Harrelson, or Jenkins so that only leaves Plummer to bump and while I haven’t seen that film yet, the Plummer pick makes sense since Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in that role due to Spacey’s conduct so I don’t think Stewart would really have taken Plummer’s spot, he would have taken someone else’s and I wouldn’t have liked that.

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    1. Sean Post author

      The Big Sick was one of my favourites too! I was very glad to see it get a nomination for screenplay, and as I reviewed the links for this post I noticed that Jay’s review of the Big Sick called it “show-offily well-written”, which is 100% true. That original screenplay category, though, has to be one of the toughest in the field, as I think you could attach that same description to all five nominees.

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  4. raistlin0903

    I really agree with the comment above. I absolutely loved Bladerunner 2049, it was my absolute favorite movie from last year. I loved the visual aspects of it, but also the story that had so many layers to it. I also would have liked to see Wind River in the category of Best Picture…..it got completely overlooked. Which I think is a big shame. Other than that. There are certainly a lot of good films in the selection. It will be interesting to see what’s going to win. 😊

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    1. Sean Post author

      Wind River’s on our watch list so I can’t weigh in on it yet. Blade Runner was really good, no question about it. I thought the technical aspects shone brightest but story-wise it was impressive as well, as it really felt like a loving sequel and tribute as opposed to an attempt to build a franchise or reboot an old IP.

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  5. Lorna Cunningham-Rushton

    You guys are the best movie reviewers in the world, so I can proudly say I support all your past and future takes on the Oscars.

    On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 1:24 PM, ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES wrote:

    > Sean posted: “Since we got 18 hours’ worth of snow and freezing rain > between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, Jay and I both got to stay > home and watch Andy Serkis and Tiffany Hadish announce the 2018 Oscar > Nominees. Our instant reaction after the presentation fi” >

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. Liz A.

    You got to watch the announcement live? I’ve never seen it live. Of course, they do it so bloody early…like 5 AM… I’ll never get up that early just to watch that. There’s a reason why Hollywood folks seem to always be awakened to the news.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Jay

      The announcement was at 5:22am, for some reason, which is 8:22am here, so not quite so horrid. I’d get it if the announcement was coming from NYC but since it comes from LA, why the heck are they grabbing people out of bed for it? Be decent!

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  10. Birgit

    I still have to see so many of these movies. I need to see Wonder Woman and heard this is a big snub especially with the Me Too protest..if I can call it that. Sorry I can’t think of the right name. I don’t know enough about the accusations on James Franco but I think it is pretty sad that he was not nominated when Woody Allen, who married his step daughter and his daughter has stated for years that he molested her, was up for many awards since his daughter made the first claim. Even with those claims, many actors and actresses couldn’t wait to work with him. There is a lot of hypocrisy but nothing new. I did watch Dunkirk and I watched the original Dunkirk and I like the original much better. The biggest issue my hubby and I both had was the score. I love Hans Zimmer but this score was so irritating that it took away from the movie. I thought monkeys would do better playing instruments..hated that score plus the brand new buildings in the background made both of us laugh and wonder why they kept the glass buildings and condos in. It was so out of touch with what Dunkirk really looked like that, again, it took away from the movie.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Sean Post author

      Wonder Woman should have been recognized somehow. It was great and I think it would have also been a nice touch to reward a blockbuster movie that features a female lead and a female director, because that’s a much too rare thing.

      There is definitely a double standard at play right now because things have gone ignored for too long. I think that is our best option right now, though, and we can still shun Woody Allen from now on as well, because he has been accused of some terrible things and that really didn’t affect him as it should have.

      I haven’t seen the original Dunkirk but I was taken in by Chris Nolan’s version. I am particularly glad he got nominated for his first Oscar as a director, which I was very surprised to learn as I was writing this post.

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  12. fragglerocking

    Thought Dunkirk was cack to be honest, could happily replace it with Wonder Woman or The Florida project. And really take out that Boss Baby and replace it with the far superior Lego Batman movie.

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    1. Sean Post author

      I had forgotten about Lego Batman! That is a big omission and it definitely should have gotten nominated instead of the Boss Baby.

      I liked Dunkirk a lot but would not have argued with either of Wonder Woman or the Florida Project being nominated for Best Picture in its place. Or, even better, just have the Academy use the 10th spot for once (which hasn’t happened since 2011 as that was the last year (of 2) that having 10 nominees was mandatory)!

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