Oscar Season Movies that deserve all their praise

Oscar-bait season is finally heating up, and two films we caught this week deserve all the buzz they're getting: THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI, and CALL ME BY YOUR NAME.

No-one at BWW needs to be told how amazing an actress Francis McDormand is, but THREE BILLBOARDS reminds us all over again. She does pain and comedy and crazy and real all in one line reading like no one else on screen these days. And she's met beat for beat by Sam Rockwell who will floor you with the range his character goes through. Martin McDonough has always known how to create withering dialogue, but with this film he gets to something hysterical and radiant and heartbreaking all at once. These people will stay with you for days and days.

So will the main characters in CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. How on earth does 89-year-old James Ivory write the truest screenplay ever on what a 17-year-old boy feels like to be in love for the first time? The setup sounds like soft-core porn (Army Hammer as a 24-year-old grad student -- yeah, right--moves in to the adjoining bedroom of 17-year-old Elio on the cusp of awakening to his budding gayness), and in a way the movie is a total fantasy fulfilled. The light is dazzling, the boys are both unbelievably good looking, the parents are paragons of understanding, and the peaches are very very ripe. (The peach scene will be a meme in no time.) But the pain depicted is also heartbreakingly real-- every first love is bound to end in goodbyes, right? There is no gay man on earth who won't identify with one or both of those boys. Probably add to that nearly every woman and straight man as well. That's the miracle of this movie.

Did these work on you the same way? What other must-sees live up to their hype so far?

Updated On: 11/29/17 at 02:59 PM

I liked Three Billboards a lot, though it took me a while to get into it. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like I'm going to dislike Call Me by Your Name. It seems like it's this year's Brokeback Mountain/Moonlight (i.e. wildly overrated gay movie). Or was that God's Own Country? Except I liked God's Own Country (it's still a bit overrated, though)

TotallyEffed said: "The best gay film of the last ten years is Weekend."

"Weekend" is a fantastic movie! Love it.

"3 Billboards" and "Call Me By Your Name" are the only two movies I feel like I have to see at this point (I don't know what else is coming down the pike yet...). I like to binge watch movies in January, at home, so I've nothing to contribute yet - but I'll be watching this thread with interest!

Call_me_jorge said: "I hope Get Out isn’t forgotten by the time the nominations are out."

I really want to see Get Out, and I've been patiently waiting for it to appear on Amazon Prime. Now that it's there, it turns out it's under HBO's umbrella.

Three Billboards was fantastic. Razor-sharp screenplay with a career-best McDormand and Rockwell, not to mention an excellent cast overall. It didn't go anywhere I was expecting, and I'm so grateful for that.

Can't wait to see Call Me By Your Name.

Someone in a Tree2 said: "I agree GET OUT is a movie that should be remembered at Oscar time (most likely for original screenplay), but I'd be very surprised if such a pulpy genre movie (horror/ comedy/social satire) would make it to a best picture nomination. I do think Jordan Peele is a genius though, and can't wait to see what he does next."

I agree about screenplay for Get Out (even though I haven't seen the movie yet). I think Peele's original perspective on the genre (pulpy as the genre might be) deserves recognition with at least a nomination.

I still can't come to terms with why Moonlight got best picture, but if that can happen, I think Peele should certainly get a nomination because I think he's demonstrated more talent in his career than Jenkins (IMO).

^ Good idea-- I changed my original post subject, but don't know how to change the heading for all other posts here.

Adored Lady Bird, didn't see the others yet.

It's gotten very little buzz, but has anyone else seen THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS? It's not strictly oscar-worthy but I had a really great time at it. The basic story of Dickens struggling against his mounting debts to bring his most famous book to life is pretty damn thrilling-- and the blending of reality and fantasy (characters from the novel materialize and disappear at will) is absolutely magical in the most honest way. It's the kind of movie that would be dazzling as a stage piece. Speaking of Christopher Plummer, he steals every scene he's in as the embodiment of Ebeneezer Scrooge (perfect casting). In a less crowded year he would no doubt get a supporting nod for this lovely performance. Try to find it before it's gone from the theaters!

Updated On: 11/30/17 at 10:05 PM