I have been a little out of the loop movie-wise but I can always count on the Oscars to help steer me toward wonderful films. Let’s take a look at the nominees in the big categories.
Best Picture
Arrival (loved it)
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land (liked it, but had some problem spots)
Lion
Manchester by the Sea (tore me apart but what a great movie)
Moonlight
Opinion – the three I’ve seen are all worthy.
Best Actress
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Emma Stone ( La La Land) (she really carried the movie)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Opinion – I’ve only seen one performance and she was fantastic
Best Actor
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) (incredible performance)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land) (good lead)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) (he kills it every time and this was no different)
Denzel Washington (Fences)
Opinion – Personally I’d choose Casey or Viggo but I know La La is getting all the love)
So, tell me what you think about the ones that you’ve seen and maybe I can get to them before the Oscars!
Stacy's Books 
I’ve seen 2 of the Best Picture nominees and have plans to see Hidden Figures this week.
I mean next week! lol
Stacy, you MUST see Hidden Figures and Lion. HF is not only one of the best movies of the year. It’s also one of the best movies I have ever seen. And Lion is right behind it. The 3rd movie in this triumvirate is The Founder. I’m disappointed that it isn’t a Best Picture nomination, but it’s still a great movie. I’ve seen all of the others, except for Hacksaw Ridge, and they don’t hold a candle to the 2 (or 3) above. But La La Land is the darling of the Academy this year. I enjoyed it, but it doesn’t belong with these others.
P.S. Viggo, and the movie, were both great. And Manchester by the Sea is another very good movie, with Casey Affleck doing an excellent job.
For some reason Hidden Figures hasn’t been at our local theater for the past month so I need to make time to get to another theater to see it. My book group this week was raving about it too 🙂 And Lion isn’t showing either 😦 but that’s the one I really want to see most. Our next two weekends are full of travel so we’ll see what I can fit in. I agree about La La Land.
Moonlight was incredible. I’m still planning on seeing la la land and hidden figures before the big day. I liked arrival but had some problems with it as a linguist myself. Captain fantastic was amazing and that should’ve been nominated for best picture in my humble opinion.
Jason was pushing for Moonlight last weekend but we saw La La instead 🙂 Captain was Fantastic – I just love Viggo.
Sadly, I have only seen Arrival, but I agree…it was incredible. I’m listening to the short story it’s based on, Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang. I’m skeptical about La La Land. An author friend, who is also an actress, said it was highly overrated. Of course, I will form my own opinion when I’ve seen it. I’m a huge fan of Casey Affleck and Viggo so will be rooting for either of them. Hoping to see a few more before the big day, but it may not be possible.
I know that Ryan will probably win because La La is the media darling but I would be so happy if Casey or Viggo won!
I have only seen Hidden Figures – loved it. Would really like to see Arrival if I can (but we never go to the movies. I bought my husband a gift card to a local theatre for 2014 Christmas HOPING it would get us out! but we still haven’t used it.)
I loved Hidden Figures. I haven’t seen any of the other contenders, I’m afraid.