2017 SAG Awards Nominations

Congratulations to this year's SAG Award nominees!

Best Ensemble

The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
Mudbound
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Male Actor

Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Best Female Actor

Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Best Supporting Male Actor

Steve Carell, Battle of the Sexes
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Female Actor

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Hong Chau, Downsizing
Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Best Stunt Ensemble

Baby Driver
Dunkirk
Logan
War for the Planet of the Apes
Wonder Woman

Review: "The Shape of Water"

At last, a film that simultaneously satisfies my appetites for both 1940s movie musicals and 1950s creature features!

Guillermo del Toro's genre-bending The Shape of Water is both one of the year's finest films and the best and most accessible picture in his filmography - more satisfying, I would argue, that his much-celebrated Pan's Labyrinth. It's a poignant, exciting and fanciful picture that sports one hell of an ensemble cast and, no surprise, also happens to look absolutely gorgeous.

The film opens on Elisa (Sally Hawkins, spellbinding as ever), a mute, timorous woman who in Cold War-era Baltimore works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government research center. Her life isn't much to write home about, that is until an encounter with a mysterious amphibious creature (Doug Jones) who has been brought to the laboratory for a classified experiment by the barbarous, abusive Colonel Strickland (Michael Shannon).

Elisa spends time with the creature, bringing him food and playing records from home, and slowly but surely, a bond blossoms between these two lonely souls. As Strickland becomes more unhinged in the senseless pain he inflicts upon the creature, Elisa mulls a plan to get her new companion out of the lab (and boy does del Toro do a rousing job orchestrating that sequence). Elisa has support from friend and neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins); scientist Dr. Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg); and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) but it won't be easy protecting the creature from the exceedingly deranged Strickland.

The Shape of Water offers a little something for everyone.

Like all del Toro pictures, this is a visually remarkable production, with sublime cinematography by Dan Laustsen and production design by Paul D. Austerberry. Vintage horror fans will no doubt devour the film's affection for Universal's 1950s Creature trilogy and movie musical fans - you'll be in heaven during del Toro's tribute to those pictures, set (in gorgeous black and white) to the Oscar-winning Alice Faye tune "You'll Never Know." The action is exhilarating, the romance is sweet and heart-rending and the film isn't without a sense of humor.

Hawkins, in perhaps her most affecting performance to date, never strikes a false note as Elisa and she's matched by Jenkins, Spencer and Stuhlbarg, stellar as always in their respective supporting turns - it's especially welcome to see Jenkins with such a rich role on the big screen, and I sure hope he earns an Oscar nomination. Shannon perhaps offers the fewest surprises among the cast but still instills plenty of vigor into his role, which rings more like a mad scientist than any of the actual scientists in the picture.

The Shape of Water is a phenomenal effort, sure to resonate on at least some level with even moviegoers not terribly fond of del Toro's past productions.

A+

2017 Golden Globe Nominations

Congratulations to this year's Golden Globe nominees! (Oh, and never again will I underestimate their infatuation with Denzel and Dame Helen.)

Best Motion Picture, Drama

Call Me by Your Name
Dunkirk
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

The Disaster Artist
Get Out
The Greatest Showman
I, Tonya
Lady Bird

Best Director

Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Ridley Scott, All the Money in the World
Steven Spielberg, The Post

Best Actor, Motion Picture, Drama

Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Tom Hanks, The Post
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Best Actress, Motion Picture, Drama

Jessica Chastain, Molly’s Game
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Meryl Streep, The Post
Michelle Williams, All the Money in the World

Best Actor, Motion Picture, Comedy

Steve Carell, Battle of the Sexes
Ansel Elgort, Baby Driver
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Best Actress, Motion Picture, Comedy

Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Emma Stone, Battle of the Sexes
Helen Mirren, The Leisure Seeker

Best Supporting Actor, Motion Picture

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Armie Hammer, Call Me by Your Name
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World

Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Hong Chau, Downsizing
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Best Screenplay

The Shape of Water
Lady Bird
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Post
Molly’s Game

Best Original Score

Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
John Williams, The Post
Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk

Best Original Song

“Home,” Ferdinand
“Mighty River,” Mudbound
“Remember Me,” Coco
“The Star,” The Star
“This Is Me,“ The Greatest Showman

Best Animated Feature

The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

Best Foreign Language Film

A Fantastic Woman
First They Killed My Father
In the Fade
Loveless
The Square

2017 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

Congratulations to this year's Boston Society of Film Critics honorees!

Best Picture
Phantom Thread

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread

Best Actor
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Best Actress
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Best Supporting Actress
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Best Screenplay
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird

Best Cinematography
Hoyte Van Hoytema, Dunkirk

Best Documentary
Dawson City: Frozen in Time

Best Foreign-Language Film
The Square

Best Animated Film
Coco

Best Film Editing
David Lowery, A Ghost Story

Best New Filmmaker
Jordan Peele, Get Out

Best Ensemble
The Meyerowitz Stories

Best Original Score
Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread

2017 SAG Awards Nomination Predictions

Oh hell yes! The Screen Actors Guild Awards are never easy to predict, at least in nominations, which is why I so enjoy them. This is, after all, the guild that recognized the likes of Hank Azaria in The Birdcage, Stockard Channing in Smoke, Cloris Leachman in Spanglish, Gena Rowlands in Unhook the Stars and Gwen Verdon in Marvin's Room, which virtually no other precursor had them on their radar.

Odds are, there will be at least one eyebrow-raising nominee on SAG nominations morning. (Last year, it was Emily Blunt in The Girl on the Train that left awards season junkies giggling.) Could it be living legends Jane Fonda and/or Robert Redford in Our Souls at Night? How about Debra Winger in The Lovers? Or perhaps even a posthumous nod for Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: The Last Jedi or Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky? There are plenty of obscure possibilities here.

With that said, here's what I'm thinking goes down, from most to least likely to be nominated. Feel free, of course, to comment with your own predictions too!

Best Ensemble

1. The Post
2. Lady Bird
3. Call Me By Your Name
4. Mudbound
5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
   ---
6. Get Out
7. The Shape of Water
8. Dunkirk
9. The Florida Project
10. Murder on the Orient Express

Best Lead Actor

1. Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
2. Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
3. Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
4. Tom Hanks, The Post
5. James Franco, The Disaster Artist
   ---
6. Jake Gyllenhaal, Stronger
7. Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
8. Jacob Tremblay, Wonder
9. Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.
10. Harry Dean Stanton, Lucky

Best Lead Actress

1. Meryl Streep, The Post
2. Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
3. Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
4. Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
5. Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul
   ---
6. Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
7. Jessica Chastain, Molly's Game
8. Annette Bening, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
9. Brooklynn Prince, The Florida Project
10. Emma Stone, Battle of the Sexes

Best Supporting Actor

1. Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
2. Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3. Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me By Your Name
4. Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name
5. Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
   ---
6. Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
7. Michael Shannon, The Shape of Water
8. Jason Mitchell, Mudbound
9. Patrick Stewart, Logan
10. Idris Elba, Molly's Game

Best Supporting Actress

1. Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
2. Allison Janney, I, Tonya
3. Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
4. Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water
5. Julia Roberts, Wonder
   ---
6. Tiffany Haddish, Girls Trip
7. Catherine Keener, Get Out
8. Lois Smith, Marjorie Prime
9. Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
10. Carrie Fisher, Star Wars: The Last Jedi