Deakins should win for Cinematography. War for Apes should win for VFX. Coco should win for both Animated and Song. 2049 should win at least Production Design. Would be great to see Nolan win. Glad he finally got a nomination.
If they were going to go with mostly crowd-pleasing movies in Best Animated Feature, why the hell was Boss baby nominated over The Lego Batman Movie? Infuriating.
After watching the features on the Blu Ray, 2049 should win for Production Design. It’s incredible just how many practical effects were used, especially the miniatures and sets.
I haven't seen the special features yet but yeah, I was in awe of how many amazing miniatures and other practical effects they used. Denis and his team really wanted to make it as much in the spirit of the original as possible.
As usual, many of the best films are missing. Despite all the talk of diversity, every film nominated is in English and medium to high budget. I have been avoiding The Shape of Water and The Darkest Hour because of everything I have heard about them, but Three Billboards over Whatever is such an awful film that it boggles the mind how many people are content to shower praise on it. There are some bright spots, though, and just like last year they generally did better than they did during the last few years. Phantom Thread, Call Me By Your Name, and Lady Bird are all very good, and I am sure The Post will be too when I see it. The technical awards always reveal a lack of deep thinking about the filmmaking process; even if you liked those films, what was impressive about I, Tonya's Scorsese-copying editing or Three Billboards' very conventional process?
Thought Shape of Water was my favorite film (I’ve seen it 3 times already and adore it), but it’s insane how much I think about Phantom Thread and Call Me By Your Name.