Compiled by Mattie Alexander (except The Post by Megan Ladner), StreetWise
***THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS***
The Judging Panel:
Allen, Bob, Bobby, Don, John, Keith, Lee, Steven, Robert, Tony, Betty, Pierre, Paul, Steve, Eric, Mark
The Shape of Water
13 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Best Actress – Sally Hawkins
Best Supporting Actor – Richard Jenkins
Best Supporting Actress – Octavia Spencer
Best Director – Guillermo del Toro
Best Original Music Score
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Costume Design
Best Sound Mixing
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Bob
I have to admit, one of the descriptions I heard is actually accurate. It was that the creature in the movie looks a lot like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, which I was able to see in the original 3-D version. I thought the movie was interesting. It combined sci-fi and fantasy and added in the Cold War factor. Overall I really liked it. On a four-star scale, I would probably give it a solid 3. I would definitely recommend it, but it would definitely take a rather mature mind. If a person is not comfortable with the topic of cross species, I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. I would have to keep their taste in mind. As far as my own demographic goes, I would definitely recommend it. I didn’t realize this was nominated for best picture. That’s cool because the only other time I can think where anything in the sci-fi/ fantasy genre was nominated for best picture was back in the ’70s and that was Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This would definitely be my pick for best picture.
Pierre
It was suspenseful but also a love story. It was a different concept with how she fell in love with an alien. It was different and something I had never seen before. Overall, it was a good movie. I think it will become a classic movie. It reminded me of all the old, classic silver screen movies.
Steven
The movie was interesting to me, especially the poem at the end. Honestly, it kind of reminded me of God. The creature in the movie was called a god by the tribes who lived in the Amazon, and some of the characteristics of the creature and his relationship with the girl reminded me of the characteristics of God, such as love and what was said in the poem, “I can feel His presence everywhere.’
Bobby
It was weird. I think I would want to see it again because I didn’t really understand this movie, so if I watched it again, maybe I would be able to understand it a little more.
. . .
Dunkirk
8 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Best Director – Christopher Nolan
Best Original Music Score
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Bobby
I like army movies. I thought it was real nice and very interesting. It was kind of sad when his friend got pushed down the stairs and he busted his head. Then his friend came upstairs and when he came back downstairs he found out he was dead, so that was really sad. I would have to see it again to really understand everything. It was the same thing you would expect from a war movie. I mean… it is war. And it was just sad how all the people had to die like that. I would recommend this to a friend and I would see it again.
Betty
I liked it, but I would like to see the whole movie. It’s about war and the young men and how they deal with it. It’s about those who made it out alive and those who didn’t. It’s a very interesting movie and definitely something I want to see again in full.
Lee
It was a great movie. I’m really not into war movies, but I thought it was interesting how one character was actually the defector. He was trying to get away from his people, who I think were the Germans, and join with the [British] side. I would want to see it again. In my mind, I had another name for this movie. I called it “Rescue 911” because you’ve got one person in the air shooting down all the planes, and you have this man who just takes off on his boat. At first, I didn’t understand why he did that, but then it seemed he was going around and picking those who were stranded out of the water.
. . .
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
7 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Best Actress – Frances McDormand
Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell
Best Supporting Actor – Woody Harrelson
Best Original Score
Best Original Screenplay
Best Film Editing
Keith
The movie showed how one person’s hatred can turn into love, compassion and kindness. The deputy was filled with so much hate, but when he read the letter from the sheriff, he found that he needed love in his life instead of hatred. In one scene, he got into a fight with the man he suspected killed the girl and in order to retrieve his DNA, he was smart enough to scratch his face. This showed that he was better at being a detective than being a cop. He listened to the sheriff and was able to pursue the passion he was looking for. My hope is that he went after that guy, even though his DNA didn’t match. He was the suspect, I just think he found a way to get away with it since he was in the military and might know how to get around things like that. The story of the rape the suspect was bragging about matched how the daughter was raped and murdered.
Tony
I thought it was a good movie because it shows how a mother loves her daughter. She wasn’t going to give up. She wanted to find her daughter and put the billboard up to pressure police to find her. She didn’t just give up and accept the fact that her daughter was gone. She kept fighting. I think it was because she felt guilty and might be thinking she is the reason her daughter is dead.
Steve
What I liked most about the movie was the mom. She was my kind of woman because she had a lot of heart. She was going to fight to the end and I like people like that.
. . .
Darkest Hour
6 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Best Actor – Gary Oldman
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Production Design
Best Makeup
Eric
In those times, peace was not always peace. Hitler was a force to be reckoned with, and what was admirable about Winston Churchill was that he wanted to know what the people wanted to do about the war, not just parliament. When he took the subway car, he was able to understand what they wanted to do and make a decision based on that.
Don
I liked what one of the little girls he was talking to said. She said that she didn’t care what was going on in the war, she would die before she surrendered. That was pretty cool. I believe Winston Churchill is the one who saved the West. It’s a shame that it took Pearl Harbor for us to get into the war.
Mark
I thought the movie was good, but one thing I would suggest for people who want to know more about World War II, is to do your research on what happened. This was a very good story, but there is a whole lot more to it than just the Winston Churchill story. I thought this was a very accurate description of Winston.
. . .
Lady Bird
5 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Best Actress – Saoirse Ronan
Best Supporting Actress – Laurie Metcalf
Best Director – Greta Gerwig
Best Original Screenplay
John
The movie was good. It was appropriate for teenagers. It was a lively movie. It was a real experience. I have daughters so there were obviously parts of the story that I didn’t like. The sex parts made me think about my daughters so I just hope that the same thing isn’t happening with them. I thought the theatre part was terrible. I went to a school that was very good in drama. The instructors in the movie didn’t push enough with real time. It was funny how they had to bring in the JV football coach, though. I didn’t understand the priest character. I didn’t know if he was confessing he was gay or if he was struggling with depression or having trouble with his son. It was a big surprise when she found out her boyfriend was gay when she caught him making out with another dude. I did not see that part coming. It was a defining moment when she decided she wanted to go to the prom with her friend instead of going with the guy that just honked the car horn for her when he picked her up. He just wanted her for the sex. This is not the kind of movie I would normally see. I am more about explosions and action and things happening. It was still a very good movie, though. It is a good experience for guys too, so they know what they are getting into with daughters.
Bobby
I think the mother and the daughter were probably suffering from mental illness because the way they were acting isn’t normal behavior. They just couldn’t get along. I identified that with my father and my baby sister. They also didn’t get along just like that. One part of the movie I really did like was the theatre scenes in the school. I thought those were very funny and good.
. . .
Get Out
4 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Best Actor – Daniel Kaluuya
Best Director – Jordan Peele
Best Original Screenplay
Robert
When the main character gets to the house, you know there is something not right with the picture. The viewers know that there is something wrong and you think that the issue is race, but really the issue is something a lot bigger than that. It is a good movie, but you definitely have to be paying attention.
Tony
He trusted the girl at first thinking that she really loved him, but the whole time she was just trying to get him to the house so her family could hurt him. I also thought that she was a nice girl, but I guess it just goes to show you need to be really careful and realize who you are dealing with. It was a family work. The mom, dad, sister and brother were all in it together.
Don
That was a really good plot. The hypnotic trance was a clever plot device: to use the people how they wanted to use them. The most interesting thing about it was how everything was kept secret and revealed slowly throughout the movie. You never really know who you are messing with. Most pictures like that do have that surprise element, and this one is no different. The surprise was that the family acted like bees, bringing people like honey into their hive. It was a business for these people. It was really an interesting picture.
Allen
I thought it was a wonderful movie. The advertisement is nothing like the movie. The poster makes you think that the guy and girl fall in love, and when the girl takes him to meet her parents, the parents were going to tell him to get out because he is black. Then I thought he would be stuck out in the woods or something and the rest of the movie would be about him trying to find his way back. That’s the preconception. That is the way prejudice is in the United States. It is the preconceived notion that this is the way black people are, and this is the way white people are. Surprisingly enough, in the movie the white people saw good qualities in the black people that they wanted. There is another preconception that blacks have qualities that whites don’t want. “Black is in fashion,” one of the white characters said. They have qualities the white people find desirable such as how fast they can run, the strong physique and even some sexual aspects. The prejudice that exists between the races exists in the mind. That’s what I got out of this movie.
. . .
I, Tonya
3 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Actress – Margot Robbie
Best Supporting Actress – Allison Janney
Best Film Editing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_weoC3HT6Q
Tony
It was a good movie. She never gave up. Her mother didn’t give her any support. Her husband didn’t give her any support. But she stuck in there even when she couldn’t skate anymore. She was willing to go to jail just so she could keep skating. When they wouldn’t let her, she turned to boxing. Altogether, the movie was sad because skating was all Tonya ever wanted to do, but she had a hard life between the abuse from her mom and her husband. The more her mother and husband tried to hurt her, the stronger she got. She didn’t fall down because she didn’t feel loved. She never gave up on skating.
Don
I think Tonya Harding was a unique individual. She worked hard all the time. Just learning how to do the triple axel and land on her left foot was a difficult task. The bottom line is, when dealing with competition, you have to learn to accept the outcomes. You might just have to accept defeat. She ended up being a boxer. I liked the movie because it had a lot of good story flow from her relationship with her husband and the incident with Nancy Kerrigan. The true Tonya Harding really came out at the end when she was boxing and spit out blood on the mat. Her actions were saying that she didn’t mind being in the public eye because it was her lifestyle. She accepted the fact that this is what she did. It’s just like me being at StreetWise. I accept what I do, and I just do it. I don’t complain about it. I don’t let my customers know that I am tired of the weather. I just let them know I’m out here and I know they want to see me. I just do it anyway because it is good to make friends. The movie taught me how to keep on going, be consistent and be a fighter. You lose when you give up.
Steven
I just saw a lot of domestic violence in this movie with the mother and the husband. I think it is good that StreetWise shows these kinds of movies because I know there are a lot of vendors who went through domestic violence. Tonya probably could have handled hers in a better way, but she still persevered. It is sad that domestic violence is still out there and there are a lot of victims of it. I would encourage anyone who is suffering from domestic violence to come to StreetWise, and let us help you. A part I could really identify with was when Tonya had to sew her costumes for competitions. My mom also had to sew our clothes. You can look just as good as someone spending thousands of dollars by just being thrifty. She was smart. She knew how to fix cars and take care of herself. I didn’t know all of that. I had just heard about the incident with Nancy Kerrigan. I can understand her frustration with the fact that the judges were looking for a certain image, and she didn’t fit the part. That would have hurt me if I had trained that hard for something.
. . .
The Post
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Best Actress – Meryl Streep
Bob
I thought this movie was pretty incredible. I’d say overall 3.5/4 stars. It was dramatic, but with some humor. From the point of historical accuracy, just about everything was correct. The movie focused on Meryl Streep’s character’s story, how she struggled as a woman during a time that had a very anti-woman sentiment. I remember those times, and that really is the way it was for women. Things were pretty harsh back then. I was fortunate enough to grow up with a strong woman figure as my mom, so I saw this unfair treatment mostly on the sidelines. But I do remember those times, and from the female perspective they were pretty bad, so I appreciated Meryl Streep’s character. The only thing that wasn’t historically accurate was just one minor detail, and it would only be someone like me who would notice. You see, I worked for the Chicago Tribune from 1991-1999, and the actual presses they used in the movie were the same ones I worked on in the 90s – they didn’t exist in the 70s! I’m guessing they were just making do with what they had. Outside of that, historically, it’s incredible. It’s a [Steven] Spielberg movie, so you’re gonna expect a top-of-the-line movie. This would definitely be a recommendation.
Robert
Overall, I liked this movie. I wasn’t even born during the time of the movie, so it was something new to me. I worked at a printing place, but through day labor, so I wasn’t there enough to know the difference between then and now, and if the movie was showing the right stuff. It was a good movie to watch though. I’d like to watch it again, because I was kind of sleeping during the middle. Now that I’ve seen parts of it once and had it explained a little, I know what to look for next time. So I’ll have to watch it again. For me, I have to watch a movie two or three times to get the full effect of it.
. . .
Logan
1 OSCAR NOMINATION
Best Writing Adapted Screenplay
Paul
It’s a very cool movie. It was good and emotional and confident and lovely. I was crying toward the end when the little girl called him daddy. It was just a very good movie.
Bob
I’m a comic book collector. I have been a fan since 1998. I know all the background information. The premise is that the kids are clones. The girl is not his daughter; she is his clone. I thought it was an excellent movie and it stays pretty true to the comics. The only significant difference is that in the comics, Old Man Logan takes place 50 years in the future, whereas in the movie, it takes place 25 years in the future. It is interesting that all the kids are actually clones of the X-Men. As a die-had Marvel comic book fan, I would give it a three. I think it is definitely worth seeing, but if you don’t read the comics you are not going to get it. I haven’t missed a Marvel movie yet. The biggest disappointment to me was actually having Wolverine die in the end, because he can’t die. The only way to kill Wolverine was to decapitate him or blow his head off. Otherwise, he will just regenerate. That just didn’t make sense. Shout out to Graham Crackers Comics in Lakeview for help with the research.
Tony
I think it was a pretty good movie. The only thing I didn’t really understand about it was how all the kids had different powers. I would give it about a three out of four too.
Steve
I would give it one star out of four. It was entirely too long. It was so fictional too. I like movies that are more realistic, but I did enjoy it. I enjoyed it because I had a good nap.
