Academy Award for Best Picture

For the past three years, some of my co-workers and I have bought an Oscar pass at our local theater to go to all of the Best Picture nominees. It's both the highlight of my movie watching year, and the lowlight for my back and butt from all of the hours of sitting in the theater.

Here are my thoughts about this year's nominees:


Hidden Figures was a delight. I loved every minute of it and it flew by. I knew nothing about the story and was infatuated with it every step of the way












La La Land was the movie I was most excited about it. I almost went and saw it before Oscar week knowing I'd love it so much that I'd be thrilled to see it again. Except I didn't love it. Ugh. It was good but it wasn't as outstanding as I was hoping and expecting based on all of the hype. It just fell a little flat.










 Fences was tough. It was raw and intense, and hard to watch. There were some great moments of dialogue delivered, but I just felt sick to my stomach the whole time. Bleh.












Hell Or High Water was a movie I was not excited to see. It just didn't seem like it would be my kind of movie. And then, I loved it. And not just because Chris Pine is easy on the eyes. It was one of the movies we saw at 10pm, but I was still into it every moment of the way.










Lion was amazing/outstanding/awesome. I enjoyed it so much. All the feels happy/sad/anxious/etc. I really liked Lion a lot.













Moonlight was good but not quite great. It definitely had moments of sheer greatness, but again it left me wanting a little bit more from the story.












Before Oscar week, I thought that Arrival was about space travel. Um... no. Oops. I absolutely loved this movie. I loved how the story all came together. 










 
Manchester By The Sea was intense. Uff da. It was so good, and utterly heartbreaking and Michelle and Casey blew me away with their performances.











I skipped Hacksaw Ridge because I was hosting an Oscars party and knew that a 10pm showing of a 2.5 hour movie the night before while sick would kill me further.











My top 3:
Hidden Figures
Lion
Arrival

I think La La Land will probably win best picture, but this year was my favorite year so far to see all of these amazing movies in the theater!

We'll see how I stack up against my friends on our ballots! I may edit this post to add that important info (post scheduled prior to the show). :)

ETA: I won! With 19/24 correct, then 18/24 correct. My acceptance speech:

Third year of Oscars competition and my first win. I'd like to thank the academy for not distributing the incorrect envelope announcing my win, the three glasses of champagne enjoyed throughout the show, the rosacea flair up that followed, the sweatpants I wore for the celebration, and my pug's triple chins that make mine look singular by comparison.