Chance's Corner: Oscars Season 2017

2017's Oscar nominations dropped last week, and some, particularly actor James Franco, were left scratching their heads. Admittedly, I was also pretty shocked when Franco got snubbed for The Disaster Artist, seeing as I thought he was the man to beat, but I have since regrouped, and now I have my Oscar predictions ready to go!

Here are my predictions:

Best Picture:

The Best Picture category is stuffed with strong contenders this year, but I've managed to narrow my prediction down to just two films: Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Each one of them took home a Golden Globe, Lady Bird for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri for Best Picture - Drama, but if my Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor predictions prove to be right, I think Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri will be the overall winner.

Winner Prediction: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Actor:

James Franco was an easy pick for this category, but since he's out, my pick got even easier! Gary Oldman swept up a Golden Globe (Best Actor - Drama) and a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award for his transformative portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, and unless something goes
haywire, he's sure to get an Oscar, too.

Winner Prediction: Gary Oldman

Best Actress:

There's really no surprise here. Francis McDormand has snatched the Golden Globe (Best Actress - Drama) and SAG award away from her contenders with ease, and even though Meryl Streep is still clinging on to hope, there really is no contest.

Winner Prediction: Francis McDormand

Best Supporting Actor:

No surprises here, either. Sam Rockwell is the man to beat, and thanks to his Golden Globe and SAG award win, he seems pretty unbeatable.

Winner Prediction: Sam Rockwell

Best Supporting Actress:

Surprise! Oh wait, there's no surprise here, either. Allison Janney's comedic take on Tonya Harding's allegedly abusive mother in I, Tonya has already secured her a Golden Globe and a SAG award, and it will soon garner her an Oscar. I'm rooting for Laurie Metcalf, though, for Lady Bird.

Winner Prediction: Allison Janney

Best Director:

Now this is where things get a little complicated. Unlike the Golden Globes, the Academy nominated Greta Gerwig for her directorial debut, Lady Bird, which has been universally praised, and has been touted as the best-rated film in history on the aggregate film review site Rotten Tomatoes. At the Golden Globes, Guillermo del Toro waltzed away with the award with ease for The Shape of Water, but now that Gerwig is officially in the running, I think his chances of winning have narrowed. However, in the end, I think del Toro will end up walking away with the award.

Winner Prediction: Guillermo del Toro

Best Animated Film:

Disney/Pixar's Coco seems like a winner (it won a Golden Globe), but the totally unique Loving Vincent might just overtake it. Might.

Winner Prediction: Coco


So, will I be right? Or will I be totally wrong? We won't know until March 4th!

What's Popular at Franklin County Library?

What are your fellow Franklin County Library patrons enjoying right now?  Following are
the five most popular items in their category for the last two months.

Best Sellers:

Year One, by Nora Roberts
Typhoon Fury, by Clive Cussler
The People vs. Alex Cross, by James Patterson
The Story of Arthur Truluv, by Elizabeth Berg
The Rooster Bar, by John Grisham

The Vault:

Prodigy, by Marie Lu
The Knowing, by Sharon Cameron
The Heir, by Kiera Cass
Ghosts of Greenglass House, by Kate Milford
An Enchantment of Ravens, by Margaret Rogerson

Movies:

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
The Secret Scripture
Despicable Me 3
The Mummy
Jungle

Nonfiction:

Tasty Latest and Greatest, by Tasty
Stories of Saltillo, by Thomas J. Minter
The Pioneer Woman Cooks:  Come and Get It!, by Ree Drummond
The Pioneer Woman Cooks:  Recipes from an Accidental Ranch Wife, by Ree Drummond
Lost to Time: Unforgettable Stories that History Forgot, by Martin Sandler

Inspirational Fiction:

The Wedding Shop, by Rachel Hauck
Waves of Mercy, by Lynn Austin
War Room, by Chris Fabry
Second Touch, by Bodie and Brock Thoene
A Reluctant Bride, by Kathleen Fuller

Paperback Fiction:

The Lost Husband, by Katherine Center
Savage Run, by C.J. Box
Wyoming Brave, by Diana Palmer
The Woods, by Harlan Coben
Whiter Than Snow, by Sandra Dallas

Julie's Journal : The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

The Immortalists has been generating a lot of buzz in the literary world.  It was featured on the front cover of this month's BookPage and reviews call it "wise" and "luminous" and a "sweeping family saga."  The premise is intriguing.  The scene is New York City, 1969.  Four siblings, ages 13 and under, visit a psychic who claims to be able to see the dates of death of her visitors.  The book promises to examine how the knowledge of their death date affects the lives of all the children.

After the prophecy, we get each sibling's story individually.  Simon, the youngest, has been told a very early death date.  Because of this, he leaves his family at 16 to go to San Francisco and immerse himself in the gay culture of the early 80's.  Klara goes to San Francisco with Simon and becomes the illusionist she always wanted to be.  She becomes more successful when she meets her husband/partner and he begins helping her recreate elaborate illusions her grandmother performed.  However, she can't escape her own demons.  Daniel becomes a military doctor, but becomes obsessed with the fortune teller who foretold their deaths and his pursuit of her leads to tragedy.  Varya, who is told that she will live to be 88, becomes a scientist and researcher.  She uses animals to test theories about longevity.   

I was intrigued by the premise of The Immortalists, but very disappointed in the actual book.  Questions are raised about whether or not the death dates are set in stone or whether the knowledge of the dates leads the children to make decisions that lead them to die on those particular days.  This was the idea that drew me to the book, but it seemed to be an afterthought with the author.  There is no conclusion drawn about if their lives would have been different or better had they not known their death dates.  Also, the siblings' stories are all very dark.  There was nothing hopeful about this book.  None of them lived pleasant, enjoyable lives.  Even towards the end, in Varya's story, we only get a small glimmer of hope, but it is not enough to offset the darkness of the book.  I was turned off by the graphic sexual scenes in this book as well.  I nearly walked away from it during Simon's story due to the unnecessarily graphic scenes.  It gets better after that, but there are still jarring sexual moments in the book that do not serve any purpose.  I wonder why modern writers believe that they have to saturate their books in sexuality to be taken seriously. 

All in all, I did not enjoy The Immortalists, and I cannot recommend it. 

Tom's Two Cents : The Crown

Conceived and written by Peter Morgan Seasons 1 and 2, Netflix Television

For those of you who might not know (who would that be?), the Netflix television production of “The Crown” began its second season on December 8, and the entire season of ten episodes is now available, along with the first season, the two covering roughly the first two decades of the reign of Britain’s monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.  The projected six seasons will present the years of the longest reigning monarch in British history.  The Queen is now in her nineties, and Prince Phillip is 97.  This season concentrates heavily on their complicated and at times unraveling relationship, as it almost falls apart in Episode One and somehow reassembles itself with the birth of their youngest child, Edward, in 1964, in Episode Ten.

How do the two seasons compare?  In my opinion, Season One was almost flawless in its conception, writing, acting, directing and production values.  If Season Two is less so, there are explanations for it.  The main problem, it seems to me, is trying to fill the huge gap left by the death of Prime Minister Churchill, a historical figure certainly bigger than life, and as portrayed by actor John Lithgow, enormously bigger.  If Churchill and the aftermath of World War II do not dominate the first season, they deeply enrich it, as does the dynamic between the Prime Minister and his young and not fully mature Queen.  The prime ministers of Season Two, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan, though well played, are insipid, spineless characters, compared to Churchill.  Perhaps because of this, we do see Elizabeth growing in security and strength during Season Two, as she wrestles with her role in international politics, despite her limited authority.

This Season focuses heavily on marital relations and the very sticky subject of adultery: in a sort of brilliant present/forward/backward display of the long term disastrous effects of infidelity and divorce upon the marital relationship, the Season treats not only Elizabeth and Phillip’s problems, but his Secretary’s, Princess Margaret’s forthcoming ones with the fast- living photographer, Antony Armstrong-Jones, and a backward look at the long-term ramifications of the Duke of Windsor’s marriage to a divorced woman.  Even the Jack/Jackie Kennedy relationship absorbs one episode, though, in my opinion, not very successfully.

The acting of the first two seasons, especially that of Clare Foy as Elizabeth, Matt Smith as Phillip, Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret, and the aforementioned John Lithgow in Season One, has been uniformly superb, and we look forward with some trepidation to an entire change of cast next season.  Why the creator, Peter Morgan, chose to go with different actors and actresses instead of using makeup to age them, especially in this genius age of makeup, remains, at this point, a mystery.