Tag Archives: The Shape of Water

POLL RESULTS: The KT Community Best Film of 2017 is….

Dunkirk

While it was challenged, Dunkirk lead the way in the voting for the 6th Annual Killing Time Community’s Best Picture, and managed to hold off an early charge by Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and a surprising late onslaught by Wind River to give Christopher Nolan his second win in six years.  The story of this year’s poll may well be just how divided people were over what the best film of last year was.  Out of 15 nominees, 13 received votes, and though Dunkirk won, it did so with only 21.43% of the vote, the lowest winning percentage of any champion in the six years of the poll.  Finishing a surprising second was Wind River with 17.86%.  Wind River, while fantastic, hasn’t really figured in to any awards talk, and didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination.  Star Wars: The Last Jedi broke the Star Wars winning streak and finished third with 10.71%.  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, finished fourth with 8.93%, and Get Out and Wonder Woman tied for fifth place with 7.14%.

Jeremy Renner in Wind River

Dunkirk joins the Killing Time Hall of Fame alongside past poll winners, becoming the sixth KT Community Best Picture of the Year.  Tomorrow, I’ll reveal my picks before Oscar weekend with Killing Time’s version of the Oscars: The Renaissance Film Awards.


2012: The Dark Knight Rises 
2013: Gravity
2014: Guardians of the Galaxy 
2015: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
2016: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
2017: Dunkirk

Dunkirk

 

POLL UPDATE: BEST FILM OF 2017 HALFWAY POINT!!!

Dunkirk

Halfway through the voting for 2017’s Killing Time Community film of the year, and two trends have made themselves clear.  One, this is an unparalleled year for parity with 12 of the 15 nominees receiving votes already as Best Picture.  Two, this seems like a two-horse race for the top spot between Dunkirk and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  The Christopher Nolan-directed WWII  film is leading voting with 29.17% and the only film anywhere near it is the controversial Episode VIII with 20.83%.  Star Wars films have won the last two years.  Will the back half of voting see anyone else rally from the pack, or will it be Dunkirk vs. The Last Jedi to the finish line.  VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!! Continue reading POLL UPDATE: BEST FILM OF 2017 HALFWAY POINT!!!

Movie Review: The Shape of Water (2017) *Del Toro Returns to Fairy Tales*

Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in The Shape of Water
Most people think fairy tales are for children, and maybe they are in modern times but that was never their intent.  Fairy tales, the Grimm kind, were morality plays full of fear, violence, and horror.  Guillermo del Toro started his career making these kinds of fairy tales with his early films like Chronos, The Devil’s Backbone, and his masterpiece: Pan’s Labyrinth (even the Hellboy films have elements of fairy tale storytelling to them).  The Shape of Water is del Toro’s return to this style of storytelling after a decade, and he’s been showered with critical acclaim.  However, despite being a technically perfectly made motion picture, The Shape of Water is no Pan, and lacks the storytelling magic del Toro usually brings to a film. Continue reading Movie Review: The Shape of Water (2017) *Del Toro Returns to Fairy Tales*

Octavia Spencer’s 10 Best Movies

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer was primarily a career TV guest star for the first 20 years of her career.  There aren’t many dramas or comedies from the late 1990s to early 2000s that don’t have a guest appearance from Spencer.  She picked up the odd role in films, but it wasn’t until her Oscar-winning turn in The Help that he exploded into one of the best character actresses in Hollywood.  Spencer is almost never the star, but any film is immediately elevated by her presence, versatility, and strength as an actress.  Equally comfortable with drama or comedy, Spencer has a deceptive intensity.  When she fixes her gaze on the target of her character’s focus, she commands not only their attention, but transfixes the audience as well.  With multiple Oscar nominations since breaking out in The Help, Spencer has become one of the most sought after additions to any ensemble cast. Continue reading Octavia Spencer’s 10 Best Movies

POLL: BEST FILM OF 2017 (6th Annual KT Reader’s Awards)

Dunkirk

2017 wasn’t anywhere near the quality year we were spoiled with in 2016 at the movies, but it did have a number of gems.  So now it falls to the Killing Time Community to do their yearly duty and anoint one movie as the BEST FILM OF 2017.  I do my own yearly awards (The Renaissance Film Awards) just before the Oscars, so this is the readers’ pick; YOUR pick.  Will you follow the critics toward The Shape of Water, Dunkirk, or Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri?  Will a Star Wars film win for the third year in a row with the divisive yet financially successful The Last Jedi?  Or will you recognize a film the Academy denied like Beauty and the Beast, Blade Runner 2049, or Wonder Woman?

Sally Hawkins and Doug Jones in The Shape of Water

Here are how the 15 finalists for the award were chosen: I took the nine films the Academy nominated for Best Picture, added the next four highest ranked by my personal list, and then added the top two box office earners not covered by either previous category.  All year you tolerate (mostly politely) my opinions, but this is your award.  This is our most important poll of the year, so VOTE!  The winner will be announced on March 2, 2018 (Friday before Oscar), and will join the hallowed ranks of these past winners:
2012: The Dark Knight Rises 
2013: Gravity
2014: Guardians of the Galaxy 
2015: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
2016: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
2017: ?????????????????????????

PS – Forward this around or direct your fellow movie lovers to the Killing Time homepage (https://justkillingti.me) to cast their votes.  We want to get as many as possible for the biggest KT Community event of the year!
Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi