Defiant1

The only movies that can seriously challenge Three Billboards' frontrunner status for Best Picture now are Lady Bird and The Shape of Water, and I don't see either movie having enough oomph to actually win the top prize. The former seems too light and the latter too out there.

McDormand and Rockwell are virtual locks to win their categories, and McDonagh is a very solid contender for the Director and Original Screenplay awards.

inri222

I hope so too, not a fan of this film. After watching it, the first thing I thought of was wannabe Coen Brothers meets Paul Haggis' Crash.
I don't mind if Frances McDormand wins, but I hope something else wins best picture/screenplay/director.
Sam Rockwell was pretty good, but I would love it if Willem Dafoe gets nominated and wins.

RichC2

I liked the movie a good deal but also don't think it deserves Best Director or Best Writing, as the movie had a certain clunkiness to it.

McDormand and Rockwell were both great though. I think GDT has a shot at Director.

faust69

After SAG and the PGA, it looks like Shape of Water and Three Billboards are the definite front runners for the big prizes at the Oscars. Imho, TBOEM will get the acting awards and SOW will get the BP and BD awards. All the rest should be glad to simply be nominated.

[email protected]

Respectfully disagree. While McDormand was strong (as she almost always is), I'd absolutely choose Sally Hawkin's performance in 'Shape of Water' for Best Actress.

Decker

I didn't realize that they gave out the PGA awards already. Seems awful early.

Like I said, there are front-runners but there's a whole campaign yet to play out. Many think-pieces about this movie and race yet to be written. We may not have Harvey Weinstein and his bag of dirty tricks anymore but there is still a lot of campaigning and hand-wringing before all is said and done.

Wasn't that many years ago when Brokeback Mountain was a LOCK for Best Picture and best Director and seemed a likely winner for Best Actor (it won the PGA, the DGA, The BAFTA for Picture and Director, the Golden Globe for Picture and Director and a slew of critic's awards) and it didn't win any of those Oscars. Did anyone really think Moonlight was going to win Best Picture? Hell, we didn't even think that after the winner was announced on the stage. All I'm saying is that nothing (except Francis McDormand winning) is set in stone yet.

Spiderbite

Thank goodness I am not the only one.

The film lost me when retarded cop busts through the door, beats the shit and then throws the guy out the window. I love Sam Rockwell but hated this character. I know there are probably some dumb cops out there but Benny from L.A. Law was smarter than this guy.

There are plenty of other problems that have already been mentioned but the retard cop was the worst part about this movie.

johnnysd

Hawkins was magical in that role. McDormand just was angry. I liked this movie but did not think it was anything exceptional.

Trevor

Saw it last night. Enjoyed it, but agree that many of the performances/characterizations were way too over the top.

OldBoy

saw it again tonight. loved it just as much, if not a little more. caught some things didn't on first viewing. so good and so powerful. this was a great movie...

tasha99

I just saw this today and thought it was really good. My thought on the ending was

I only saw a few new movies in 2017, but this was my favorite of a very small sample.

Decker

[X] What are you high?

Seriously, I don't know what to say to that. It's an okay movie, extremely well-acted and apparently written by someone with zero concept of how human beings behave or interact with each other. There are eye-rolling caricatures, credulity-stretching coincidences and baffling,out-of character choices made. I have no problem with a little ambiguity at the end -- in fact I'm a fan of it, but not so wild about the dozens of weird turns that came before. From law-enforcement treating the crime of fire-bombing their police station with all the care and concern one would normally expect from a jaywalking violation, to the instant chummy reconciliation between a dim-witted racist cop and the woman he knows just burned him alive and permanently disfigured him.

Help me out here : What is so "powerful"? What is so profound? I have no idea what this movie is trying to say about the human condition besides the fact that mothers don't like it when their daughters get raped and murdered and their killers don't get caught. That doesn't seem like a next-level, jaw-dropping revelation to me.

I can't help but compare this film to Lady Bird (because they're both about strong, independent women, are dark comedies and are competing in several of the same categories) and even accounting for personal taste, I have NO IDEA why someone would prefer Three Billboards to that one which, if small and modest in scope, at least feels intensely personal and profound, has a unique perspective and displays some general knowledge of actual human behavior and interaction.

Trevor

Pretty much this. I enjoyed Three Billboards, but there is nothing powerful or amazing about the performances. I’ll watch it again, but it doesn’t deserve any Oscar noms besides maybe screenplay. A more realistic take on the story and less over-the-top characters could make it a better film.

Saw Lady Bird last night and loved it.

OldBoy

i didn't say profound, but it is powerful and mesmerizing in it's performances. McDonagh is known for his quirky characterizations (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, two films which i loved as well, especially In Bruges). this isn't a movie where characters are necessarily real in real life or speak like they would in real life, but the actors who portrayed each role (especially McDormand, who you see emotion pouring out in various scenes on a dime and while I would like Hawkins to win, no denying McDormand has a great shot at another) were amazing and the emotion felt was powerful (to me) and that is why i give it such high praise and why it was easy to sit through it again, with someone, and enjoy it that much more. the slight bits of humor, the raw, small-town feel, all so very well done and portrayed...

inri222

If this wins a bunch of awards, it will be the new Crash (2004).

OldBoy

you guys are missing the subtlety and magic of this movie i think...

Trevor

The problem is there is no subtlety. It’s over-acted and heavy handed to the extreme, yet still manages to keep the racism issues largely unresolved.

inri222

Subtle as a sledgehammer to the cranium. I wouldn't call it magical, I'd call it heavy handed and manipulative.

dex14

I liked the movie a lot... but subtle? Come on...

RichC2

*shrug* it was a darkly funny and entertaining movie, and that's about where it starts and ends for me.

OldBoy

subtle in emotion, comedy, they were there, but very hidden, sometimes. you have to find it, immerse in the movie and enjoy it...

tasha99

It wasn't subtle, or even all that realistic. My husband is from KC Missouri originally, and he was thrown by how much adults cussed in front of children in the film, as it's not the normal culture there to talk like that.

Also, But . . . It was still an engaging and entertaining movie to me despite those flaws, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Throwing Copper

Yep. My thoughts as well. I'll be glad to see it take home several awards on Oscar night.

OldBoy

I don’t think that’s what he’s saying at all...

RichC2

I have no problem with it taking awards for acting or a few other categories, but it correctly wasn't nominated for director.