Christian's Oscars

Since the Oscars are tonight and very few movies are nominated from 2017 that I would have nominated, I figured I'd take it upon myself to create my own Oscars.  Overall, 2017 was a so-so year of film for me.  There were a lot of good movies, but not many great movies and only about three or four I'll probably still be watching ten years from now.  With that said, in a stale year of film there is still always good craftsmanship on display, and 2017 was no different.  As always, I'm not paid to review movies, so I didn't get to see every single movie released, but I did see all of the major fanboy releases from 2017 as well as a few smaller films, making this perhaps the most eclectic year end list you'll read.  So without further ado, on with the show...

****

Best Song - "Evermore" from Beauty and the Beast

I always wondered why the Beast never had a solo in the original movie and thankfully that was rectified with the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast.  Maybe it's because I have a hard time singing along to a lot of musicals these days, but I relished in a song written for a baritone.

Runners-Up:
2.) "Remember Me" from Coco
3.) "Guardians Inferno" from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
4.) "Bellbottoms" from Baby Driver

5.) "Immigrant Song" from Thor: Ragnarok

Best Score - Star Wars: The Last Jedi
This was one of the easier choices I had to make on this list.  I'm a John Williams fanboy and he continued to knock it out the park with another classic Star Wars score.  Enough said.
Runners-Up:
2.) Coco
3.) Wonder Woman
4.) War for the Planet of the Apes
5.) The Shape of Water

Best Make-Up and Hair - Bright
Bright is one of those movies that I feel didn't fully get its due, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to future installments, of course for the purposes here, what really shined in Bright was the make-up and hair work.  From the intricate orc make-up to the elves, the make-up and hair work was top notch and helped sell the story.
Runners-Up:
2.) Star Wars: The Last Jedi

3.) The Shape of Water

4.) Dunkirk
5.) Logan

Best Costumes - Wonder Woman
The costumes in Wonder Woman were a large part of making the movie so immersive.  From the outfits of the Amazons to the World War I-era garb of the world of man, the costumes in Wonder Woman were both historically accurate and beautiful to look at.
Runners-Up:
2.) Beauty and the Beast
3.) Kingsman: The Golden Circle
4.) Murder on the Orient Express
5.) Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Sound - Dunkirk
This category was really the tale of two movies: The Last Jedi and Dunkirk.  I give Dunkirk the slight edge because of how integral the sound is to the movie.  There is very minimal dialogue in Dunkirk, but there are tons of bullets whizzing past and explosions that create the aural reality of war.
Runners-Up:
2.) Star Wars: The Last Jedi
3.) War for the Planet of the Apes
4.) Blade Runner 2049
5.) Baby Driver

Best Special Effects - War for the Planet of the Apes
While Dunkirk's use of models and old-school techniques almost got it the top spot, War for the Planet of the Apes' special effects were just too good to not recognize.  It almost seems like WETA Digital keeps on trying to one up themselves, but they did it again with War for the Planet of the Apes.  The CGI/motion capture apes continue to look more and more life-like with each movie.
Runners-Up:
2.) Dunkirk
3.) The Shape of Water
4.) Star Wars: The Last Jedi
5.) Blade Runner 2049

Best Production Design - Coco
I often feel that the crafts work for animated films don't get their time in the sun, but very often their production design can be as amazing as anything in live action.  The environments of Coco are simply breathtaking, with the Land of the Dead being especially imaginative and engrossing.
Runners-Up:
2.) Wonder Woman
3.) Murder on the Orient Express
4.) The Shape of Water
5.) Beauty and the Beast

Best Editing - Dunkirk
Few movies are better edited than Dunkirk.  As if cut to the ticking clock of Hans Zimmer's musical score, longtime Nolan collaborator, Lee Smith, might have won himself his first ever Oscar with this movie.  Time will tell, but I definitely feel he's worthy.
Runners-Up:
2.) Baby Driver
3.) Logan
4.) Kingsman: The Golden Circle
5.) Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Cinematography - The Shape of Water
Few movies look as beautiful as The Shape of Water does.  Seeing this movie on the big screen simply for the visuals alone is worth it.
Runners-Up:
2.) Dunkirk
3.) Blade Runner 2049
4.) Baby Driver
5.) Logan

Best Supporting Actress - Shira Haas, The Zookeeper's Wife

This might seem like the most out-of-left-field choice on this whole list, but I found Shira Haas's performance in The Zookeeper's Wife the most effective performance in that whole movie.  A 22-year-old actress from Israel, Haas portrayed a teenage girl who was raped by two Nazi officers in a Jewish ghetto before she was hidden by a Polish zookeeper and his wife.  The way Haas portrays her character's PTSD and the subsequent story of her recovery is what made this such a moving performance for me, and it's why it's stuck with me all this time later.

Runners-Up:
2.) Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
3.) Dafne Keen, Logan
4.) Lucy Davis, Wonder Woman
5.) Carey Mulligan, Mudbound

Best Supporting Actor - Mark Hamill, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
There were really two performances vying for the top spot -- Patrick Stewart in Logan and Mark Hamill in The Last Jedi.  Both actors returned to iconic roles and added new dimensions to them, with Stewart playing an aging mutant with dementia to perfection, while Hamill portrayed a hero who'd given up and was in need of reminding what it meant to fight once more.  Ultimately I went with Mark Hamill, merely because this is the best showcase for his acting talents he's ever had and probably ever will have.  Fans of animation and Hamill's voice acting performances know he's more than just the Luke Skywalker from the original Star Wars trilogy, but his return as Luke in The Last Jedi is a career best for him as an actor and now everyone knows how good he is too.
Runners-Up:
2.) Patrick Stewart, Logan
3.) Ray Romano, The Big Sick
4.) Luke Evans, Beauty and the Beast
5.) Joel Edgerton, Bright

Best Actress - Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman
Let's be honest, Gal Gadot stole 2017.  She was just awesome as Wonder Woman, embodying the DC Comics' character that comic book fans had come to know and love for so many decades now.  Even her turn in Justice League was remarkable.  Gadot just has the compassionate warmth and the fierceness of spirit that fans have come to expect from the character and it's why she was the Best Actress of 2017.
Runners-Up:
2.) Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
3.) Gemma Arterton, Their Finest
4.) Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
5.) Anya Taylor-Joy, Split

Best Actor - Hugh Jackman, Logan
While a large part of me wanted to go with James McAvoy in Split for how deftly he handled the different personalities of his character and the in-scene transitions between them, I have to go with good ol' Hugh here.  Hugh Jackman's final turn as Wolverine in Logan was his best in the role, and that's saying something.  I think no moment works better than when Wolverine is dying while his daughter, X-23, holds his hand.  Hugh Jackman doesn't overact the moment, one could even say he undersells it, but that's why it was the perfect farewell for such an emotionally complex character.
Runners-Up:
2.) James McAvoy, Split
3.) Andy Serkis, War for the Planet of the Apes
4.) David Oyelowo, A United Kingdom
5.) Tom Holland, Spider-Man: Homecoming

Best Ensemble - The Big Sick
From Kumail Nanjiani's likable turn as himself, to Ray Romano's career best role as the father of Kumail's comatose girlfriend, all the way to Holly Hunter, Zoe Kazan, and so many other talented actors that round out the ensemble of this movie, The Big Sick was the best showcase for actors in 2017, allowing them to explore both gut-busting comedy and heart-wrenching drama.
Runners-Up:
2.) Going In Style
3.) The Shape of Water
4.) Mudbound
5.) Wonder Woman

Best Movie Moment - Crossing No Man's Land in Wonder Woman
This really came down between two moments for me -- SPOILER ALERT -- when Kylo Ren kills Supreme Leader Snoke and teams up with Rey to fight Snoke's guard in The Last Jedi, and when Wonder Woman crosses No Man's Land in Wonder Woman.  Both were spine-tinglingly awesome fanboy moments, but I have to give the edge to Wonder Woman.  It is the iconic moment from that movie that will always be remembered and is truly the moment that Wonder Woman becomes a superhero in the eyes of the audience, which is why it's so impactful.
Runners-Up:
2.) Rey & Kylo Ren Team Up in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
3.) Miguel Sings "Remember Me" to Coco in Coco
4.) The Death of Logan in Logan
5.) Kumail Bombs His Audition in The Big Sick

The Most Underrated Movie of the Year - Justice League
This is a new category I'm trying out this year, mainly because I see movies all the time that either no one has ever heard of them, or they were box office or critical flops but were actually good movies.  Either which way, that is what qualifies a movie for the Most Underrated Movie of the Year category and the movie I feel got the least fair shake was Justice League.  While Justice League is not The Avengers' killer that Warner Bros. was hoping it would be, it's still a fun movie that is highly entertaining and full of great fan service moments.  Sure, Justice League won't be a movie that comic books fans will probably still be watching even two years from now, but that's belittling everything the movie does right.  It finally nails the character of Superman, it continues to highlight the awesomeness of Wonder Woman, and it introduces audiences to Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg, with Flash and Aquaman both stealing the show.  Do yourself a service and at least see Justice League for those reasons alone.
Runners-Up:
2.) Their Finest
3.) Bright
4.) The Zookeeper's Wife
5.) A United Kingdom

Best Screenplay - The Big Sick
2017 was a unique year in that there actually were a fair few original screenplays produced, with both The Shape of Water and Split being true highlights, but there was no highlight brighter in the world of original screenplays than Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon's autobiographical script for The Big Sick.  While the movie falls into the normal trap of using the f-bomb way more than necessary, it's a heartfelt script that loosely tells the true life story of Kumail and Emily's courtship and Emily's mysterious illness that lands her in a coma, and it's both a drama and a comedy.  It's that balance between drama and comedy that makes The Big Sick so engaging.
Runners-Up:
2.) Split
3.) Logan
4.) Coco
5.) The Shape of Water

Best Director - Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
This was the most difficult category to pick for me.  Guillermo del Toro was very nearly my choice, while Patty Jenkins, Matt Reeves, and M. Night Shyamalan all made strong cases as well, but Christopher Nolan is the director I ultimately felt wowed the most in 2017.  Nolan's Dunkirk really feels like a lost World War 2 epic from the Golden Age of cinema, only if Hitchcock and John Ford combined their efforts and co-directed a tense, but stirring war epic.
Runners-Up:
2.) Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
3.) Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman
4.) Lee Unkrich, Coco
5.) M. Night Shyamalan, Split

Best Picture - Coco
The best movie of the year was a little tricky to settle on.  It really pains me to not give it to Star Wars: The Last Jedi due to my immense love of all things Star Wars, but there were a few better movies than the latest Star Wars installment and the best of those movies was Coco.  Pixar has made another masterpiece with Coco, telling a story about a young boy in Mexico named Miguel who wants nothing more than to be a musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz, the only problem is his family forbids music.  On the evening of the Day of the Dead, Miguel somehow finds himself transported to the Land of the Dead where he embarks on an adventure that highlights the importance of family and the passing down of stories.  Like all Pixar movies, there are some heavier themes at play here than in your average kids movie, but Coco more than delivers with the laughs with Miguel's dog sidekick, Dante, garnering the vast majority.  All in all, I loved every last minute of Coco and found it a very engaging movie that was thoughtful, funny, and an imaginative blast from start to finish.
Runners-Up:
2.) Logan
3.) Star Wars: The Last Jedi
4) The Big Sick
5.) Wonder Woman
6.) War for the Planet of the Apes
7.) Spider-Man: Homecoming
8.) Split
9.) Going In Style
10.) The LEGO Batman Movie