Battle of the Oscars: The Shape of Water v Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Oscars, for me a normally highly stuffy affair full of self-congratulatory nominations for dry as poorly made porridge films about Hollywood, or the golden age of cinema, or an autobiographical film about some war hero, has suddenly had a bit of a shot in the arm this year. On a normal year, I would count myself very lucky to have watched one film nominated in the best picture category but here I am having seen the horror-comedy Get Out, realist-fantasy The Shape of Water, the war movie by way of Mad Max film, Dunkirk, and the bleak dark comedy drama, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (henceforth Three Billboards) [it's a shame what I think would've been my favourite movie of 2017, Blade Runner 2049 didn't get best picture nomination]. Get Out is probably the biggest surprise nomination out of the bunch as I thought it was a perfectly good film, great even, but in terms of really knocking it out of the park with directorial flare it isn't super. Howeve...