Oscar Marathon 2018: Here we go

By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer

Nominations for the 90th annual Academy Awards were announced this morning, with The Shape of Water leading the pack with 13 nods.

Here's a full list, courtesy Oscar.com.

I chatted this morning will fellow Amarillo movie buffs Jonathan Aaron Baker, Jason Crespin and Hillary Netardus. Check it out here.

Overall, there weren't too many surprises, though a few stood out:

• Martin McDonagh was passed over for best director, though his film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri picked up seven nominations today and has emerged lately as a frontrunner. (Not my favorite film of the year, by any means.)
• James Franco, who had been widely tapped for a best actor nomination, was skipped in the wake of recent sexual harrassment allegations that emerged during the nomination period; the film only got one nomination today, for best adapted screenplay.
• Holly Hunter didn't score a nomination for best supporting actress for her phenomenal work in The Big Sick, which only got one nod — best original screenplay. (Here's my original review.)
• The Florida Project, which I absolutely adored, didn't score a best picture nomination, as had been widely predicted for a while. Willem Dafoe did score a best supporting actor nomination, though.

On the positive side, though:

• Lady Bird picked up five nominations, including one for director Greta Gerwig, only the fifth woman to be nominated in that category. (Here's my review.)
• Get Out scored four nominations, and director Jordan Peele is the first African-American to be nominated best picture, director and original screenplay, a feat previously only accomplished by Warren Beatty for Heaven Can Wait and James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment for a directorial debut. (My original review is here.)
• Kobe Bryant added to his NBA championships with an Oscar nomination for the animated short Dear Basketball, based on a poem he wrote at the end of his career. He narrated the film and got iconic animator Glen Keane to turn it into a film, which also boasts a score by Oscar darling John Williams, who added to his total number of nominations this year, netting his 51st for scoring Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

For a fifth year running, I'm going to attempt to see all of the films nominated for an Oscar. (I finally accomplished it last year.)

So far, I lack 29 of the 59 films nominated — which, all things considered, isn't a bad place to start at all. Not including 14 of the 15 shorts (Lou screened before Cars 3, so I saw it in theaters), I still need to catch Phantom Thread, Marshall, The Boss Baby, The Breadwinner, Loving Vincent, A Fantastic Woman, The Insult, Loveless, On Body and Soul, The Square, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Faces Places, Icarus, Last Men in Aleppo and Strong Island. This is eminently do-able.

And you can do it too, folks. I'm challenging you to make the attempt as well, and let me know in the comments on our Facebook page how you're doing!

By my count, 16 Oscar-nominated feature films have yet to screen in Amarillo, but several of them still are on screens here: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Darkest Hour, Call Me By Your Name, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Coco, Blade Runner 2049 (through Thursday), The Post, The Greatest Showman and Molly's Game.

Several others that have left our screens are available to watch digitally or on disc, including Beauty and the Beast, The Big Sick, The Boss Baby, Get Out, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Kong: Skull Island.

Three of the films yet to make it to Amarillo — The Shape of Water, Phantom Thread and I, Tonya — are still in theaters nationally, and The Shape of Water and I, Tonya will open here Friday (Shape at both the United Artists Amarillo Star 14, 8275 W. Amarillo Blvd., and Cinemark Hollywood 16, 9100 Canyon Drive, and Tonya at the Hollywood 16).

Phantom Thread, in addition to screening in the Cinemark Oscar Week marathon, will screen at least four times at the Amarillo Star 14 beginning Feb. 25. It appears that Dunkirk will get a few encore screenings beginning Feb. 24, as well.

One documentary feature — Abacus: Small Enough to Jail — aired on PBS's Frontline and can be seen online and on our app. (Update 2/14/17: Last Men in Aleppo aired in July on PBS's POV and can be seen on Netflix.)