13 Academy Award nominations for crap

I agree. The sets are amazing and oscar worthy, but the rest is nothing outstanding and nor does the nominated actors demand outstanding praise here either. They were fine and solid, but not exceptionally. The best in this movie was Michael Shannon imo, and yet he got no nod. That being said, I generally like Richard Jenkins, he is always a treat to watch and so I am happy he got the nomination just because of that.

It says a lot about the general production value out there when this flick receives this much praise. I like it, do not get me wrong. And I enjoy Guillermo' visions. They are amazing and usually stand out. But let us keep it real still... When I look at its competition, I do not think we will see the crew on the stage much.

My bet is; Octavia Spencer has a slight chance of beating her competition, but the most likely statue it may take is for "Costume Design" imo. Though, I think it only deserves a nomination on its "Production Design", but I cannot say in good faith that it can beat Blade Runner's. I shouldn't. We shall see... It will take one or two statues. No more and perhaps less.

The thing is, the Oscars are a PR exercise for the industry... They always have been... They are a way for the industry to paint a noble, socially responsible image to the media...

This year's other nominees includes (among others) movies about young gay love, a young woman's coming of age story, a black experience comedy of manners/horror movie, the freedom of the press vis-a-vis the government and a Churchill movie and a strong willed older woman challenging authority movie*... They also include movies by accomplished directors: Dunkirk (Nolan) and Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson). Which shows a range in the scale and artistry in these films... As a whole, they give Hollywood a nice PR image...

It seems from comments The Shape of Water might tick a variety of boxes in a single movie... And it is aparently well made... I haven't seen it yet so I withhold judgement...

It's interesting to discuss, but not worth us insulting one another in the process (This point is not addressed to a specific poster, rather a general comment)... It seems with the choice of movies that Hollywood wants to appear more inclusive of minorities, women and gays and to send a message about freedom of the press.

Personally, I still have a few of these movies to watch, but in terms of film quality the bar is very high if they're going to measure up to Dunkirk, which is somehow one of the more underrated movies in this year's Oscar hype...

* I'm not familiar with Three Billboards... Haven't seen it yet.

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Haha - this film wins the oscar in the 'best picture' category.

Best film of the year! Welcome to the new age of I don't even know - perhaps the oscar creeps figured that this film was an allegory for LGBTS rights movement - hence deserving the top award?

This film is creepy, but the academy is creepier still.