2017 movies

Batman vs Two-Face Review

| Rachel's Reviews

Last year Batman appeared in 4 films, only 1 of which I liked. It was a throwback to the old 1966 Batman TV show called Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders. I liked it because it had a sense of joy about it. I felt happy watching it and wasn’t put off like I was the other 3 films. This year so far I’ve seen 2 versions of Batman I really liked- Lego Batman and Justice League Dark. Both were well made and engrossing stories although different in tone. So now, before Justice League comes out, we have a sequel to last year’s best Batman film entitled Batman vs Two Face, and just like the last I enjoyed it very much. In fact, in many ways I think it is an improvement upon its predecessor, which is about all you can ask for in a sequel.

This version of Batman is of course campy and full of big pows and bams when they hit each other. Maybe it is nostalgia talking but I like that style. It’s a lot of fun to watch.

Adam West returns as Batman in his last role, which is neat to hear. It was worth doing this movie just so he could do that one more time! We also get to hear Burt Ward as Robin and Julie Newmar as Catwoman. Some people say that these characters sound old like their voice actors, but I don’t see it that way. They honestly sound like they have always sound to me. I think people have the image of them as old, so that makes the voice sound old but it doesn’t impact me.

But all that said, the real standout is William Shatner voicing Two-Face/Harvey Dent. He is fantastic doing both parts. It’s a shame this wasn’t discovered now because he could have been doing this part for years like Mark Hamill has done with the Joker. He was that good.

The script in Batman vs Two-Face is an improvement upon the original film. It is less episodic and a more of a compelling narrative. They sacrifice some of the jokes, but I was ok with that. They also limit the cameos, which were overflowing in the last film. Here it was really fun to see King Tutt and The Bookworm back with story arcs!

This is not a parody film like Lego Batman or the previous film. This is a Batman movie with a few jokes thrown in. They do a great job showing the two sides of Harvey Dent/Two-Face and the struggle that Batman has over his loyalty to Dent. Is he going to stay true to his friend or will he protect the city from Two-Face? It plays out in a compelling way.

If you like Batman and are open to different interpretations than I think you will really enjoy this film. The animation is good, it clips along nicely, it’s funny and is a great way to say goodbye to Adam West. I recommend it highly.

Content-wise it is fine for kids. There is a little bit of innuendo from Catwoman but nothing too bad.

Watcher in the Woods 2017 Review

| Rachel's Reviews

I’ve always said if you are going to remake a movie pick a flawed movie that has potential. Then you have something to improve upon. The 1980’s Disney film The Watcher in the Woods is a good example. The original is entertaining but it is saddled with bad acting and cheesy dialogue. A new version aired last weekend on Lifetime Channel and it does make some improvements to the original. Unfortunately it also makes odd choices that made it less interesting as a narrative.

Spoilers below

If you want to hear my thoughts on the original film here is my review:

The biggest improvement the new film makes is in the acting. Tallulah Evans is a serious step up as Jan. She is beautiful, expressive and a much better actress than Lynn-Holly Johnson. She also looks like she could be Britt Robertson’s doppleganger.

I honestly thought all the acting was better in this new version. The little girl was better. The boyfriend was better. The parents were better. You get the idea.

Anjelica Huston is about as good a replacement for Bette Davis as you could cast. Unfortunately she’s not in the movie near as much. I wonder if they only had her for a few days of shooting? It feels that way. Still she makes good work of the scenes she is in and elevates the film just as Davis did. You feel for her as this wounded mother and yet those big eyes are terrifying.

The story of Watcher in the Woods focuses on a family that moves into an old house with a weird old woman living in the guest house. Years before the woman’s daughter Karen went missing and ever since the woods nearby are full of creepy goings-on. As the family lives in the house, the mystery of the daughter starts to unfold putting them all at risk.

The problem with the remake is it takes this basic premise and makes it very conventional. Where the original made strange choices, that added mystery in this version you see everything coming a mile away. For example, in the original the teens make a conscious choice to hold a seance and experiment with the occult. Then Karen is taken by an alien known as the Watcher. Even though the acting is hokey this is interesting because it was their choice to become involved. It’s hard for Jan and crew to figure out what happened to Karen when it is shrouded in an eclipse with the occult.

In this new version the Watcher is a puritan doctor who was killed by townspeople because they feared he had the plague. Now he stalks the forest waiting for the townspeople to recognize him and the work he did. This is less interesting because it is a monster movie. There is no sense of mystery at why the students had the seance and what Karen was all about. She’s just an innocent girl who was taken by a monster.

There were other little things that were less interesting. Like when the glass shatters it is a cross instead of a triangle. This is probably a nitpick but to me a triangle is more unusual. What does a triangle mean? Where it is obvious what a cross means. Another example is the ‘Nerak’ scenes aren’t as interesting. In the original the little girl randomly writes Nerak backwards before anyone knows about Karen and names her dog Nerak. This is more interesting than writing it on the window 30 minutes in and then waking up and screaming the the name once the investigation has started. It doesn’t leave you as the viewer asking questions which is part of what makes the original scary. This new version has family friendly scares but it’s not as thoughtful a narrative as the original. Oh well.

All that said, if you are looking for a family friendly horror movie you could do worse than the new Watcher in the Woods. It’s a pretty bland movie but it does have good performances and some scary sequences. It’s a little frustrating because with just a few changes it could have been special but it’s an okay watch.

Just barely smile worthy.

My friend AJ did a podcast comparing the 2 films

Loving Vincent Review

| Rachel's Reviews

2017 has been a banner year for independent animated films. I wouldn’t be surprised if my top animated films ranking at the end of the year has 7 or more indies in the top 10. They have just been that good. All that said, now we get to one of my most anticipated indies of the year, Loving Vincent, and I must own to being a little disappointed. What the animators have accomplished is a great achievement but unfortunately it is not a great movie.

Let’s talk about the great accomplishment first. Loving Vincent is the first animated film to be made entirely with oil paintings. The creators gathered 115 different artists and made oil paintings for all 65,000 frames of the movie! It is a bold, audacious project and visually it pays off. This movie looks gorgeous and the movement of the animation really captures the feel of a Van Gogh painting. You can see in this trailer how amazing the animation is:

They also got a strong vocal cast for Loving Vincent including Chris O’Dowd and Saoirse Ronan.

The problem lies with the story. I’m fine with artistic movies with little plot like A Ghost Story or Knight of Cups; however, Loving Vincent isn’t that kind of art film. No, it has a plot. It’s just not a very good one.

Basically it is about a man named Armand who is assigned the task to deliver a letter to the estate of Vincent Van Gogh. The artist has died via suicide along with his brother Theo. As Armand tries to deliver his letter he begins to suspect maybe it wasn’t a suicide after all…

The problem is it doesn’t have much to say about life, death, suicide, art or anything else. It’s just Armand interviewing a bunch of people and them reciting back facts. If this was a live action film it would never see the light of day. There just isn’t enough meat on the bones here to enjoy the story.

The characters are also not very compelling. Armand is very bland and most of the other characters are kind of cold and cruel. Van Gogh isn’t even compelling because we get so little of him and it is mostly through cliches. This is a man who cut off his own ear and mailed it to someone. Certainly his story must have been more interesting than this?

Loving Vincent is certainly not a bad film and I recommend seeing it if only for the visuals. It’s just disappointing because it could have been great and it isn’t. But hey at least we got something fresh, new and beautiful to look at. I’ll take that deal any day.

Overall Grade- C

Ranking 2017 Animated Trailers

| Rachel's Reviews

Hey guys! I just wanted to share with you a fun video I did over on my channel. In this one I rank the animated trailers of 2017. I didn’t include some indies or smaller films but still ended up with 22 trailers. This ranking is not indicative of my feelings on the final film, just the trailer. In fact, some of them haven’t even come out yet. It’s a longer video but I think you will enjoy it!

How would you rank the animated trailers this year? I would love to hear your list.

My Ranking of 2017 Animated Trailers 

(watch video to hear explanation!)

  1. Cars 3
  2. The Breadwinner
  3. Isle of Dogs
  4. Rock Dog
  5. Early Man
  6. Lego Batman
  7. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure
  8. Lego Ninjago
  9. Smurf’s: The Lost Village
  10. Animal Crackers
  11. Despicable Me 3
  12. Leap
  13. Coco
  14. Captain Underpants
  15. My Little Pony
  16. Nut Job 2
  17. Ferdinand
  18. Emoji Movie
  19. Boss Baby
  20. Duck Duck Goose
  21. Peter Rabbit
  22. The Star

 

The Stray Review

| Rachel's Reviews

I always like supporting local films of quality when I get the chance and the recent film The Stray is such a film. It’s a little hard to talk about without spoilers but it follows the longstanding cinematic tradition of heartfelt stories about a boy and his dog except in this case it is an entire family and their dog.

The premise is a couple with 3 kids are struggling while the husband is working long hours in corporate Hollywood. His dream is to write screenplays but pursuing that dream is risky and the corporate approach seems safer. One ay busy with work he makes a promise to his son that they can have a dog if it is a stray that wanders onto their yard. Well, it just so happens that a dog does that very thing and this dog becomes ‘Pluto the Wonder Dog!’.

The family ends up moving to Colorado to start trying to save their marriage and family. You’ll have to watch the rest to see what happens.

There is no doubt The Stray has its heart in the right place and that gets it far. It’s funny because I’m not that fan of dogs in my real life but on the movies I love them. Everything from Old Yeller, to Sounder, to Where the Red Fern Grows are all emotional films led by dogs! This is also emotional and it is faith-based without being too heavy handed (there are no clergy ever seen mostly just a few prayers).

The emotion can be a bit of a double edged sword because The Stray is definitely a tearjerker. As I was leaving the theater a woman said ‘well, that was too sad for my taste’. I don’t mind sad movies but it definitely made me tear up. I guess go into it with the right expectations and attitude and you will probably enjoy it. It definitely might be too upsetting for very small children but could also lead to needed discussion about life, death and making time matter with those we love.

I really loved Sarah Lancaster and Michael Cassidy in the leads. They had chemistry and Sarah is a Hallmark pro so of course she is good! 😉 The kids are also pretty well cast and aren’t very grating.

It’s a short movie which helps to deal with the emotion. You aren’t dwelling on it too long.

Anyway, The Stray is a sold tearjerker for the entire family that I think is worth a watch.

Overall Grade- B-

Blade Runner 2049 Review

| Rachel's Reviews

I saw the original Blade Runner for the first time last year as part of my Blind Spot series. You can read my initial thoughts here. It’s a very impressive movie and worth watching just for the themes and influence it had on cinema. However, I must own I find it kind of slow and I’ve fallen asleep every time I’ve seen it (which is 5 times now). I saw the new film Blade Runner 2049 in a marathon with the old one and sure enough I fell asleep watching the old one. It’s just too languid in spots.

I did a podcast on the original with my friend Patrick you should check out

With that said, you can imagine my joy that Blade Runner 2049 not only kept me awake but I enjoyed it very much. I think it does the rare thing for a sequel by actually being better than the original film. It looks every bit as good but it is better paced with more engaging characters and action.


Director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins do an amazing job creating a world with layers and that feels old and new at the same time. Whether it is sand, rain or snow the atmosphere never fails to be immersive and mesmerizing.

The story is a bit convoluted but basically without spoilers Ryan Gosling stars as K a young Blade Runner who is given the job of retiring older model replicants. As he does this he explores part of his past, a mysterious body and a new organization that replaced the Tyrell Corporation from the previous film.

Harrison Ford is back as Deckard and he’s not in it quite as much as I thought he would but he’s great. It’s definitely one of his better performances and I wouldn’t complain if he got nominated for the role. He’s not just the surly old man he usually plays these days but a wounded desperate man.

There aren’t many cameos in Blade Runner 2049 and it focuses on telling a new story. I loved all the performances with the exception of Jared Leto who I found a bit grating.Robin Wright, Ana de Armas and Silvia Hoeks are all tremendous in their roles and Ryan Gosling is wonderful as the Blade Runner K.

I am not going to tell you I understood everything in Blade Runner 2049 or that it all makes sense but that is part of the fun of a film like this. It has layers you can talk about and interpret differently. It doesn’t spell things out like exposition heavy movies do (except for the Leto character which can be a bit much).

Most importantly I didn’t fall asleep or get bored like I do with the original Blade Runner. I found it engaging and interesting, which was a relief.

There are some issues with the movie. As I mentioned, I wasn’t high on Leto and the plot can be a bit convoluted. Also, it could have definitely had 15-20 minutes cut out and it would have been a little better.

Still, a big improvement over the original so that is a tremendous accomplishment for all involved. Blade Runner fans and non-fans should definitely check it out and enjoy some striking scifi film noire. It’s still not my favorite genre, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

 

Current Mini Reviews

| Rachel's Reviews

So I have been very behind in reviews for the blog lately. Make sure you are following my letterboxd account where I will at least post my star rating for a film I’ve seen. Also I do a weekly show on my youtube channel where I rank the new films I’ve seen that week and share some thoughts.

But let me catch you all up with some 2017 films I’ve seen in some Current Mini Reviews!

Beatriz at Dinner-

I thought it was awful. It’s basically a chance for liberals to have a pissing session over Donald Trump. The Lithgow character is a rich, white, racist capitalist who owns hotels and Beatriz throws his phone at him and envisions murdering him. If that is your jam than this movie is for you.
Basically this movie is the liberal equivalent of Christian movies that just tell the viewers what they want to hear and how much better they are than those evil atheists.

Frown Worthy

The Guardian Brothers-

This is a Chinese animated film that is now available to watch on Netflix. I’m not as hard on these Chinese animated films as most. In fact, I enjoyed this year’s Rock Dog when many didn’t like it. However, I did not enjoy The Guardian Brothers. I found it very boring. There is some nice animation but I honestly kept falling asleep because nothing engaged me about the story.

Frown Worthy

Megan Leavey-

I haven’t been a big fan of most of the post-Iraq war movies portraying the life of soldiers. I can’t explain why but most of them don’t really work; however, Megan Leavey is an exception. It’s very heart-felt without being preachy or overbearing. Kate Marra is great in the lead role and I really felt for her and her dog. Some may call it sentimental but I think it was moving and beautiful.

Smile Worthy

Louise By the Shore-

This is a french animated film about an old woman who gets left behind on an resort island and must figure out how to survive on her own. As she lives she is reborn in a way and gets a new energy for life.

I loved this film! The animation is beautiful with a whimsical quality and I loved Louise as a character. It might have too little plot for some people but I really thought it was charming. It’s worth hunting down if you can find it. The music and sound design were perfect also.

Smile Worthy

Wind River

It’s only major flaw is perhaps that it is not as good as Hell or High Water– writer Taylor Sheridan’s previous film. This is his first time directing and he does a great job creating atmosphere and tone. I had a few issues with the way the female characters were portrayed but it was still an engaging mystery.

Smile Worthy

Napping Princess-

2017 has been such a great year for anime that I wanted to love this but I couldn’t get on board. The visuals and world building are impressive and it will entertain small kids but I found it repetitive, exposition heavy and boring.

I reviewed it for Rotoscopers.com here.

Frown Worthy

 Home Again-

I was actually excited for Home Again as I love a good romantic comedy and we get way too few of them these days. Unfortunately Home Again wasn’t a romantic comedy. It wasn’t a romance. It was a sitcom about 3 guys trying to get a screenplay made in LA and an older woman helping them out. I hope we get better romances in the future but until then I will enjoy Hallmark movies and my Hallmark podcast I’ve started which you can find here.

Frown Worthy

Window Horses-

I absolutely loved this indie animated film about a Chinese/Iranian girl who gets invited to a poetry festival in Iran. While there she learns much about her father, family, identity, life and poetry. It was funny, emotional, sweet and very well written. I loved the unique artistic style and music. If you can find it see it!

I reviewed it on rotoscopers.com here

Smile Worthy

Viceroy’s House-

This seems to be the year for lots of films that satisfy the Anglophile in me and all of the British films have been worth a watch. So is the case with Viceroy’s House. It tells the story of the last Viceroy in India and the events that happened to split India and Pakistan. Director Gurinder Chadha has a personal connection to this story and it comes through. The cast is good and it is handsomely produced. There are definitely sentimental and predictable moments but it is enjoyable

Smile Worthy

Person to Person-

I recently became aware of the term ‘mumblecore’. This is an indie film that follows characters around and shows their everyday life and Person to Person is such a film. I don’t require a strong plot for my movies. I love Richard Linklater movies and enjoyed a film like Maggie’s Plan from last year. However, this one didn’t really do it for me. The people didn’t feel real enough and so it felt like following around a bunch of New York caricatures instead of people. There are some nice moments but over all it didn’t work

Frown Worthy

Lego Ninjago-

I have been a big fan of both the previous Lego movies but must own to feeling underwhelmed by Lego Ninjago. My main problem was it felt very derivative. It’s not just derivative of the previous Lego movies but of Kung fu Panda, Star Wars and a myriad of other films. This made it feel very repetitive and boring. The animation isn’t as good as the original Lego Movie (neither was Lego Batman tbh) and the live action elements didn’t have the emotion of the original film. There is some fun action and the scenes with the cat were hilarious but I can’t recommend Lego Ninjago.

Frown Worthy

Leap

Known in other countries as Ballerina, Leap is a European animated film that will satisfy its target demographic of little girls dreaming of being a ballerina. It’s got decent animation and is a perfectly harmless animated film. However, I did have a major issue with it. The message of the movie is to be a dreamer, which is great. The problem is these dreams come pretty easily to our young heroine. She gets parts in ballets that others have worked for years to get when she is just learning the basic positions because she has the heart! I don’t think this is a great message for girls. Dreaming is wonderful but it must also be accompanied by the requisite hard work.

Frown Worthy (but it is very close. Smile worthy if you are an 8 year old girl who loves to dance)

So there you have it! Let me know if you have seen any of these films and what you thought of them. Thanks tons and happy movie watching!

My Little Pony and Coco Trailer Response

| Rachel's Reviews

We got 2 trailers today for upcoming animated films. They both have their pros and cons so I thought I would talk about them here on the blog and see what your thoughts are.

My Little Pony

The first is for My Little Pony: the Movie. This is of course based on the Friendship is Magic series and is a significant improvement from the first trailer and teaser.

What I like about this trailer is it feels like this film knows what it is and isn’t taking itself too seriously. It has a definite nostalgia vibe to it in the Saturday morning style of the animation, plot, and especially the villain. It’s like everything we love about the show but with a little more sparkles and colors to it. I am sure critics will be tough on it like they were Smurfs: the Lost Village, but I think it looks refreshing and fun. I like that they aren’t going overboard with the girl power and making it something that girls and boys can have fun with.

As far as concerns for the trailer I am a little worried they are focusing on Pinkie Pie too much. She has been a focus of the teaser and both trailers and while I enjoy her she can be a little screechy when over-used. I would much rather them focus on Twilight Sparkle or Rainbow Dash. AppleJack is my favorite of the Mane 6 but she is probably better used for comic relief. I also am not a big fan of the focus on the celebrity voices because this film should really be about the ponies. They are the true celebrity here and I hope that doesn’t get distracting.

I just want this to be a sweet, energetic movie for fans of the show of all types and I feel pretty good about where it is going.  What do you think of this trailer and the potential of the film?

COCO

The second trailer is for Pixar’s new film Coco. I am naturally excited for any Pixar film but I am starting to have some concerns about this one. Here is the latest trailer:

The strengths of this trailer are two-fold: the animation and the lovely message. We sometimes take Pixar’s amazing animation for granted but we really shouldn’t. I love the way afterworld sparkles with color and light and how likable all the character designs are. You just want to hug Miguel and his dog the moment you see him. I also think the message of the film is great. My religion places a lot of importance on connecting with our ancestors and honoring them so this theme is really lovely and important to explore.

Now for my concerns. I am hoping it is just trailers but both the main trailers for Coco have seemed tonally off. The first one had this strange narration that felt like something from the 90s. It didn’t feel part of a Mexican culture or style (no accent to the narrator) and it was frankly weird. Now here in this trailer they have a story that is focused on music and a character who dreams of playing music. This isn’t a background point but a key part of the story.

With that said, why on earth do they have Bittersweet Symphony playing in the background of the trailer? They have original songs for this movie. Why have we not heard any of them? One of them is written by Kristen Lopez of Frozen fame and we heard it at D23. It’s a good song. Why is that not accompanying this trailer? Why have we heard more music from Olaf’s Frozen Adventure than from Coco?

And if you are going to pick different music why on earth wouldn’t you pick something Mexican! Bittersweet Symphony isn’t even about a guitar player at least Kubo and the 2 Strings using My Guitar Gently Weeps makes a little bit more sense. Bittersweet is about a symphony!! There are no guitars in symphonies. It just makes no sense to me for the images of the trailer or the story and it makes the tone feel weird.  Why not use a Ricky Martin song or Shakira or something that felt a little bit relevant to the story!

Why are they hiding the music for Coco? Why aren’t they promoting it more? Make no mistake I think this will be a good film and I’m excited but I feel like Disney is really botching the marketing of this movie. I wish they put a tenth of the marketing in Coco that they put into Beauty and the Beast. There’s no way the music can be worse than that auto-tuned mess. Do kids even know Coco is coming out?

I just don’t get it! Am I nuts on this? What do you think of this trailer and the marketing for Coco?

Here’s a video I did on Coco trailer

If I Gave Out Oscars Now

| Rachel's Reviews

Hey guys! We have now finished the summer movie season and are beginning the Fall schedule of Oscar and holiday films. I thought it might be fun to share with you what I would pick for Oscar nominations based solely on the films I’ve seen so far. I tried to keep these as realistic picks and not just my favorites. I would love to hear what you would pick and what you think of my selections! (I also haven’t seen every 2017 release though I have seen close to 90)

Best Picture- Personal Shopper, Get Out, Ingrid Goes West, Dunkirk, Detroit, The Big Sick, Logan Lucky, Their Finest, Wonder Woman

Winner- Personal Shopper

Best Director- Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper), Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Kathryn Bigelow (Detroit), Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes)

Winner- Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Best Actor- Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Kyle Mooney (Brigsby Bear), David Oyelowo (A United Kingdom), Woody Harrelson (Wilson), Sam Elliott(The Hero)

Winner- David Oyelowo (A United Kingdom)

Best Actress- Rachel Weisz (My Cousin Rachel), Sally Hawkins (Maudie),  Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid Goes West), Kristen Stewart (Personal Shopper), Anne Hathaway (Colossal)

Winner- Kristen Stewart (Personal Shopper)

Best Supporting Actor- Ray Romano (The Big Sick), Bill Nighy (Their Finest), Kevin Spacey (Baby Driver), Will Poulter (Detroit), Bradley Whitford (Get Out)

Winner- Bill Nighy (Their Finest)

Best Supporting Actress-  Kirsten Dunst (The Beguiled), Holly Hunter (The Big Sick), Edie Falco (Landline), Bridget Everett (Patti Cake$), Elizabeth Olsen (Ingrid Goes West)

Winner- Holly Hunter (The Big Sick)

Best Original Screenplay- Get Out, Ingrid Goes West, Brigsby Bear, The Big Sick, Logan Lucky

Winner- The Big Sick

Best Adapted Screenplay- Wonder Woman, Everything Everything, Lego Batman Movie, Spider-Man Homecoming, A Silent Voice (made me realize not many good adaptations this year so far)

Winner- Wonder Woman

Best Animated Film- A Silent Voice, The Girl Without Hands, My Entire High School is Sinking into the Sea, Captain Underpants, Cars 3

Winner- A Silent Voice

Best Foreign Language Film- Baahubali 2: the Conclusion, A Silent Voice, The Girl Without Hands, In This Corner of the World, Mune

Winner- Baahubali 2: the Conclusion

Best Documentary- STEP, The Good Postman, Kedi, Alive and Kicking, Becoming Cary Grant

Winner- STEP

Best Score- A Silent Voice, Wonder Woman, War for the Planet of the Apes, The Girl Without Hands, Dunkirk

Winner- Wonder Woman

Best Original Song- Jump (STEP), To Be Human (Wonder Woman), PBNJ (Patti Cake$), Stay (Everything Everything), Days in the Sun (Beauty and the Beast)

Winner- To Be Human (Wonder Woman)

Best Sound Editing- Baby Driver, War for the Planet of the Apes, Dunkirk, Personal Shopper, Detroit

Winner- Baby Driver

Best Sound Mixing- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Power Rangers, Wonder Woman, Dunkirk, Kong Skull Island

Winner- Dunkirk

Production Design- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Ghost in the Shell, Dunkirk, Detroit, The Beguiled

Winner- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Best Cinematography- Dunkirk, War for the Planet of the Apes, A United Kingdom, A Ghost Story, My Cousin Rachel

Winner- War for the Planet of the Apes

Make Up- Pirates: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Wonder Woman

Winner- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Costume Design- Wonder Woman, The Beguiled, My Cousin Rachel, Beauty and the Beast, Their Finest

Winner- The Beguiled

Best Film Editing- Baby Driver, Personal Shopper, Detroit, Get Out, Dunkirk

Winner- Baby Driver

Visual Effects- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, War for the Planet of the Apes, Spider-Man Homecoming, Ghost in the Shell, Kong Skull Island

Winner- War for the Planet of the Apes

So there you have it! What do you think of my picks? Some of them I had lots to chose from and some were slim pickings. What would you pick?