90th Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor

Oscars 2018: Best Supporting Actor

Another day, another Academy Awards category to look upon here at Black Ribbon, and whilst not as much as a full-on given, it may seem that joining Frances McDormand up on the Oscar winners stage this year will more than likely be fellow Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri star Sam Rockwell, whose performance as the despicable, hate-filled, racist bigot, Officer Dickson is one of awards touting success, even if the fundamentals of Rockwell's character is utter torturous from beginning to end, and whilst Woody Harrelson also shines as the moral cornerstone of McDonagh's movie as Sheriff Bill Willoughby, it seems Rockwell will indeed only continue the gongs that have been heading the Irish directors way. Elsewhere, Willem Dafoe earns his third Oscar nomination for Sean Baker's The Florida Project whilst Christopher Plummer also receives a nod for his rapidly manufactured role as Jean Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World after the much publicised erasure of Kevin Spacey in the same role. Concluding the nomination ticket is of course Richard Jenkins for his beautifully emotive role as Giles in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water after being completely overlooked for his equally impressive role in S. Craig Zahler's little seen Western Bone Tomahawk back in 2016, and even though the likes of Will Poulter and yes, Bill Skarsgård would have seen recognition in my book for Detroit and the brilliant It respectively, the Best Supporting Actor race is once again yet another strong category to pick a winner from. Here are the main points...

Winner - Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Personal Favourite - Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Nomination Snub - Will Poulter (Detroit)

Film Review: The Shape of Water

"He's Happy To See Me. Every Time. Everyday. Now, I Can Either Save Him Or Let Him Die..."

With 2015's Crimson Peak in retrospect coming over as somewhat of a major disappointment, Spanish director, Guillermo del Toro, returns this week with the Academy Award nominated, The Shape of Water, a fantastical romantic drama featuring the likes of Sally Hawkins (Paddington 2), Michael Shannon (12 Strong), and long term del Toro collaborator, Doug Jones (Hellboy) on staggering form and a release which poses as the director's best work since the masterful Pan's Labyrinth back in 2006. Built around a somewhat overly simplistic narrative with heavy influences of B-Movie cinema and underlying themes of Cold War paranoia, The Shape of Water, in fairy-tale like fashion, explores the radiant relationship between the charming mute figure of Sally Hawkins' Elisa Esposito and Doug Jones' remarkable, amphibian human hybrid who is captured by the US Government and kept in solitude at a high-security research facility under the watchful eye of Michael Shannon's vulgar Colonel Richard Strickland. With a blend of romance, fantasy and at times, exploitation violence, The Shape of Water is a stereotypical del Toro release through and through and with flashes of remarkable brilliance and a Sally Hawkins on fine, fine form, the Spanish director's latest is unlike anything you'll see throughout the remainder of this calendar year.

With a loving sense of cinematic tradition and a wild, twisting tornado sensibility which navigates the movie through a wide range of differing genres, The Shape of Water is a beautifully old-fashioned work of film, one with a larger than life digital print clouded with dark colours of emerald green and cold war inspired muskiness, and a film which utilises the widescreen format to staggering degree, resulting in the film, as a work of pure spectacle, simply gorgeous to breathe in and admire for its' detailing and slimy creature feature makeup and effects. Although The Shape of Water may not be as rewarding as del Toro's previous endeavours as an overall body of work, the feature is one which instead arguably boasts his most humanist cinematic venture to date, with the leading relationship between human and inhuman marvellously envisioned thanks to character building set pieces which are as eye-wateringly romantic as they are naturally subversive in nature and with the film's leading character having to rely on the usage of sign language due to her incapability to convey her emotions through speech, Sally Hawkins is truly spectacular, a performance both powerful and understated in equal measure and one which may indeed tip the boat for upcoming Oscar success. Whilst the movie's quest for award supremacy in each of its' respective nominated categories is admirable and actually quite brave considering the fundamental strangeness of the tale at the heart of it, the most obvious case would be for The Shape of Water being the movie which hands del Toro his long-awaited directing Oscar after being wrongly acquitted of it back in 2006, and whilst when up against the likes of Dunkirk and Phantom Thread the film does seem lesser in its' successes in comparison, del Toro's latest is still a wonderful and endlessly romantic drama of monstrous creativity which demands to be admired on the biggest screen possible.  

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Bone Tomahawk

"Say Goodbye To My Wife. I'll Say Hello To Yours..."

Whereas in most cases a film that has casting credits that include Kurt Russell and David Arquette may be mistaken as being one that is heading straight-to-video, unless directed by Quentin Tarantino of course, Bone Tomahawk, written and directed by new guy on the block S. Craig Zahler is a feat of slow-burning exploitation greatness, a film that attempts to ramp up the tension and then swiftly cripple it with swift acts of merciless violence, violence which as well as being extremely graphic and tough to swallow, is among the most horrific examples of such in recent memory. Forget the comic book violence of Deadpool or the B-Movie splatter fest of The Hateful Eight, Bone Tomahawk is a film that wants you to feel the pain in every scalp-scraping moment in which it occurs. Although many could argue the unwanted exposure to recent depths to which the genre of "torture porn" has decided to delve into has desensitised film goers of the current generation into believing gore can no longer be an effective notion within film, director Zahler understands the shock value of less being more, with Bone Tomahawk being a horror film that doesn't dwell on its' resorts to violence and instead wants to use them when they are most effective, and boy, does it work. 

After an attack on the overtly civilised town of Bright Hope leaves one of its' township dead and three missing, Sheriff Franklin Hunt, played in a brilliantly moustache twisting fashion by Kurt Russell, leads the charge to locate the missing townsfolk, one of whom is the wife of Patrick Wilson's Arthur O'Dwyer, the town proclaimed cowboy recently injured yet determined nonetheless to reclaim his lost love, alongside Matthew Fox's narcissistic John Brooder and the elderly deputy, Chicory, played majestically by Richard Jenkins. Although made aware of the troglodyte clan to which such an attack can be blamed upon, the quartet soon realise the cannibalistic dwellings to which their townsfolk have been captured within and begin to wonder whether their return will indeed be a safe one. The recent explosion of the western genre in recent years with films such as Django Unchained, Slow West and this years' The Hateful Eight may indeed have met the prime contender for the best example of the genre in recent times, with Bone Tomahawk being a compelling, well written and gruesomely horrific thrill ride which bends the two genres of western and horror rather well. Although the desire to play the script out as long as possible leads to a film that could possibly lose 20, 30 minutes from its' runtime, not once could I say I was bored, owing much to the films' credit to find tension in the smallest of places as well as getting the quartet of leading actors cast to a sharply fined T, with Russell and Jenkins stealing the show.

Although one scene of complete exploitation greatness may steal the limelight, with YouTube searches rather inevitable in the foreseeable future, Bone Tomahawk is much more than just a set piece and is a film that requires attention in the most sombre of moments in the fear of quick-fuelled blood lust being right around the corner. Never before have I jumped at the sight of an unexpected arrow or been set so aghast at the speed to which one of our leading heroes loses a certain appendage, a testament to the films' desire to create and display an enemy so intense and ruthless the audience will fear their every move. R-Rated greatness is what Bone Tomahawk strives for and blimey does it achieve it with a culty sensibility that will inevitably become a firm favourite within the formidable, if isolated, clan of violence loving exploitation in which I'm glad to say I'm part of. I look forward to your next body of work Mr. Zahler. 

Overall Score: 8/10