10 Biggest Oscar Snubs of 2017

There are only so many spots in each category on the Oscar ballot: 10 possibilities for Best Picture, 3 for Makeup and Hair, and 5 for the rest. Oscars are voted on by an Academy of about ~6000 showbiz professionals, and typically celebrate the "best" in movies each year voted on by the people that actually make them - but every year certain movies or performances get swept under the rug. Here, I present what I consider the top ten "rug swept" Oscar snubs of 2017!

10. Supporting Actor Snub: John Goodman for 10 Cloverfield Lane

Dev Patel is nominated for Supporting Actor for Lion, which is ridiculous because he plays the lead character in the film. If that fifth slot opened up, I'd like to believe that John Goodman would've had a shot at being nominated for his fantastic and terrifying performance in 10 Cloverfield Lane. He's never been nominated for an Oscar, and I was crossing my fingers he'd slip in there. Unfortunately the Academy only makes rare exceptions for genre flicks like this!

Patriots Day, Silence, A Monster Calls, Hidden Figures Reviews

Patriots Day
Dir. Peter Berg
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Peter Berg has carved a niche for himself in the movie world dramatizing our tragedies. Earlier this year, Berg's Deepwater Horizon gave us an action-drama celebrating the working man heroes on board the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Patriots Day, also starring Mark Wahlberg, similarly takes a tragedy and puts it within the confines of a manhunt thriller. Although I found the results in Deepwater Horizon to be mixed, perhaps straying too far into the land of exploitation, Patriots Day doesn't feel that way at all. It feels completely authentic to the intensity, chaos, confusion, heroism, psychology, and controversy on display during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and its following investigation, employing an almost documentary-level of realism to an event most of us remember so vividly, glued to the Internet or TV to check for updates. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and Berg perfectly walks the ethical line with a subject matter that will still feel very raw to many viewers.

Assassin's Creed, Passengers, Fences, Lion Reviews

Assassin's Creed
Dir. Justin Kurzel
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If there was finally going to be a movie that proved a good video game adaptation is possible, it was going to be Assassin's Creed. Although it's not the first with a giant budget or big names behind it, it was the first that seemed to be recruiting Oscar-caliber talent - with a cast including Academy Award-winning/nominated actors like Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons and a director whose adaptation of Macbeth last year, while not a great film, looked absolutely spectacular. After watching the film, however, why all that talent was attracted to this project in the first place is totally baffling. Assassin's Creed is largely nonsensical, dizzyingly complicated, and mostly uninteresting for its 2.5 hour run time, and proves yet again that playing video games are more fun than watching them.

Top Ten Most Anticipated Movies of 2017

I've toyed with the idea of doing a "most anticipated" list for years, but I've always stopped myself, knowing the sad fact that at least one of them was bound to end up a massive disappointment. I didn't want to over-hype myself. But... sometimes the hype can be fun, so what the hell.

10. Coco
Dir. Lee Unkrich
Release Date: November 22

FINALLY Pixar will have another non-sequel coming out after the brilliant Inside Out, though it's unfortunately surrounded by sequels on all sides (Cars 3, Toy Story 4, and The Incredibles 2). Coco is sure to be a beautiful tribute to Mexico's Day of the Dead tradition, following a young boy who develops a secret passion for music in a family that's banned it - kind of sounds to me like a Mariachi-themed Footloose. With Toy Story 3's Lee Unkrich acting as director, sounds like it will be a fun, emotional ride.

Top Ten of 2016!

I don't know what the hell 2017 is going to look like for our country with a reality TV star at its helm, but if the year's movies are half as good as they were this year, I'll welcome it with open arms. 2016, by far, has been the most difficult year I've ever had cultivating a "Top Ten" list since I've started making them. I've left off certain movies that in any other year would've easily made the list, but 2016 was just brimming with an amazing froth of films. It's movie musical chairs, and there's only ten seats available. So let's start the music and see what flicks secured a seat on my list!

The "Talkies": 2016 Superlatives!

The Oscars are fun and everything, but I know that all you really care about are which lucky movies earn the gold on my annual superlatives list! Wrapping up the movie year of 2016 was not easy, as there was so much greatness on display - making these picks was a real Sophie's choice at times. So, without further delay... here are the "Talkies!"

BEST ACTOR - Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

One of my favorite eras of film history that I explored in film school was the Italian Neorealist movement of the post-WWII period. In contrast to their Hollywood counterparts, often "real," non-professional actors were cast in the lead and supporting roles, lending these films an unprecedented level of truth to the story, melting away at the artificiality of movie-making. A similar feeling of human authenticity washed over me while watching Manchester by the Sea, but somehow director Kenneth Lonergan was able to capture that same level of realism with Hollywood actors like Casey Affleck. In the most devastating performance of the year, Affleck doesn't play Lee, an emotionally complicated Boston handyman, he just is Lee. I might be at risk of sounding hyperbolic in my praise, but I was reminded of Brando's performance in On the Waterfront - it's seriously that good, and it would be a travesty if he lost the Oscar this year!

Rogue One, La La Land, Miss Sloane, The Brand New Testament Reviews

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Dir. Gareth Edwards
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Among my biggest problems with The Force Awakens were its over-use of winking nostalgia and its slavish relationship to the original trilogy. In fact, the entire film pretty much exactly mirrors A New Hope in its characters, locations, and plot structure. But I feel for J.J. - he had a ridiculous amount of elements to juggle in bringing back the Star Wars franchise, and he accomplished what he set out to do: setting the stage for future adventures that can live and breathe on their own. Rogue One, the first live action Star Wars movie not set in the "main" Skywalker timeline, had the opportunity to be something completely new and fresh for a change. Unfortunately, this film not only pulls the same veil of throat-cramming nostalgia over our eyes, but it does so with dull characters and the drabness of an actual war film.