It is now February 2018 and the last of the Oscar bait movies are out, and there really is nothing new under the sun.
"The Post" is by the numbers, even as a sort of prequel to "All the President's Men". It does give some nice voice to the leads, but the movie is kind of pedestrian and at times so uneven it makes you nod off.
"The Greatest Showman" is a musical nod to musicals, with fine enough acting leads, but it so muddies the story of PT Barnum, and adds people that didn't exist, that like the epic Titanic, which also had two leads that really did not exist, wouldn't be much without them. The romantic interest between the trapeze girl and the backer guy never happened. The rest is a decent actor nod for the former Wolverine.
"The Shape of Water" is a brilliant and quirky story of a woman who falls for a sea creature, and seems utterly insane, but turns out charming. The villain chews so much scenery he even chews of his rotting digits at one point. The fish like merman has a surprise ability. It won't win the Oscar as it is too weird. Still it is one of the best of the year.
"The Darkest Hours" was not seen.
"Lady Bird" was not seen.
"Cloverfield Paradox" technically is a 2018 movie and not remotely worth an Oscar.
So, in the weeks since last posting, no other new movies have really stuck out, so the reviews from last December still stand, and I've added only one standout, "Shape of Water" to the mix.
I really don't have plans to watch the Oscar show this year, as there really isn't much reason to.
