Coming Attractions: Most Anticipated 2018

Happy New Year! And happy week o' lists, as we look back at the year that was in movies...

But first! The year ahead! These are the fifteen titles that I'm most looking forward to in 2018...

15. Halloween

release date: October 19th
dir: David Gordon Green
scr: Green/Danny McBride, based on characters created by John Carpenter & Debra Hill
David Gordon Green - a very solid director - has the direct blessing of John Carpenter himself, and Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode. Apparently this film is ignoring every Halloween film after the original, which is kind of a shame, but I guess there's no other way to bring Laurie back, considering the events of Halloween: Resurrection (I'm not apologizing if that's a spoiler for you - that movie is all about Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks). Yours truly owns every Halloween film on BluRay, so yeah, I'm here for it.

Musicals, dogs, klansmen and more, after the jump...

A Fine Vintage: Best Actress, 1971

One of my favorite categories -- after Supporting Actress, of course, and right ahead of Adapted Screenplay. And I have to commend both 2014 and 1971 for the strength of their lineup. Even if not everybody made it to my personal ballot, I still find the overall list to be well above-average. Both years.

Here's to the ladies who...

...go back and forth between determination and humiliation. They're capable, haunted, and don't want to have to beg and plead to maintain their existence. 

(Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night / Glenda Jackson in Sunday Bloody Sunday)

...doggedly pursue a fresh start, as they sometimes face, sometimes escape their past. Too many strangers have seen them naked; they're getting their self-control, self-worth, and confidence back!

(Reese Witherspoon in Wild / Jane Fonda in Klute)

...live every moment with the threat of disease destroying their family, their household, and their legacy -- and refuse to let it defeat them.

(Julianne Moore in Still Alice / Janet Suzman in Nicholas and Alexandra)

...stick to their guns, even as the world around them gives them every reason and opportunity to abandon their cause. It's not about stubbornness; it's about love.

(Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything / Vanessa Redgrave in Mary, Queen of Scots)

...are in control of every situation, even if the man in their life thinks otherwise.

(Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl / Julie Christie in McCabe & Mrs. Miller)

More thoughts on the 70s gals, after the jump....

Crafty Bugger: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, 1971

In looking at this year's nominees for Best Production Design, one cannot help but be reminded of the nominees for its then-equivalent Best Art Direction-Set Decoration in 1971. Especially if, like me, you're devoting an entire month to forcing those kind of parallels. Hopefully, however, you'll see a pattern emerge...one that makes the word "forcing" seem like a disservice.

Take Interstellar, which showcases the same grounded sci-fi steeliness as The Andromeda Strain.

Or  The Imitation Game, whose attention to period authenticity does for World War II Britain was Mary, Queen of Scots' similar approach does for Elizabethan England.

Take Into the Woods, with its rather ugly, straight-faced take on fantasy, much as Bedknobs and Broomsticks grounds itself in a reality unprepared for the witchcraft on display.

Or Mr. Turner, with lived-in locations that echo the same intimate veracity as Fiddler on the Roof.

And then, of course, there's The Grand Budapest Hotel, grand and big and bold and colorful, as befits a fantastical Wes Anderson flick -- it's amusing, then, that its closest counterpart is the historically-based Nicholas and Alexandra, a film that went to great lengths/expense to capture the ostentatiousness of the Romanovs.

And we'll see just what I mean, after the jump....

Tuning In: Best Original Dramatic Score, 1971

I can't help but think of Best Original Score as a category full of types -- indeed, most Oscar categories are full of types (doubters should look to StinkyLulu for clarity). Of course, what those categories are differ from person to person, but let's see how wildly I can draw parallels between the films of today and those of 1971!