HutchCollegian

Halloween is over and you know what that means! Oscar season has officially begun! If you’ve read my previous articles you’ll know that I’ve said Halloween is my favorite holiday. But if the Oscars were a holiday, it might just beat it. Which is why over the next few months I’ll be dedicating myself to seeing the movies that are getting raves and potentially Oscar gold. It might be too early to have a for sure list, but based on the research and reviews that I have seen, here is who to watch right now.

BEST ACTOR
Frontrunners:
Gary Oldman: Darkest Hour
Daniel Day-Lewis: Phantom Thread
James Franco: The Disaster Artist
Denzel Washington: Roman Israel, Esq
Andrew Garfield: Breathe

Potential:
Hugh Jackman: The Greatest Showman
Tom Hanks: The Post
Kumail Nanjiani: The Big Sick

Analysis:
As it stands, Gary Oldman, though a veteran actor, has never won the Oscar. The Academy has a trend of rewarding actors after they have been snubbed multiple times, which benefits Oldman. That on top of the rave reviews he’s getting for playing Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour has catapulted him to an early lead. However, Daniel Day-Lewis has announced he is retiring after his latest film, Phantom Thread. Day-Lewis is often seen as one of the greatest all time actors, and he has been rewarded Oscar gold three times. One more win, and he would tie Katharine Hepburn for the all-time record. So don’t count him out either. James Franco is perhaps the biggest wildcard here. Franco both starred and directed in the disaster artist, which tells the true story of the behind the scenes filming of the cult movie The Room. His performance has received acclaim and he also has never won the award. Finally, we have Denzel Washington for Roman Israel, Esq and Andrew Garfield for Breathe. The academy is also infamous for awarding nominations and sometimes wins to those who lost the year before. But with Washington and Garfield, who were both nominated last year, their performances last year were seen as stronger than eventual winner, Casey Affleck. The academy could look to rectify the award by giving it to one or the other. Other contenders include Hugh Jackman for musical movie The Greatest Showman, Tom Hanks in The Post and Kumail Nanjiani in The Big Sick.

BEST ACTRESS
Nominees:
Jennifer Lawrence: Mother!
Margot Robbie: I, Tonya
Meryl Streep: The Post
Jessica Chastain: Molly’s Game
Frances McDormand: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Potential:
Emma Stone: Battle of the Sexes
Judi Dench: Victoria & Abdul
Gal Gadot: Wonder Woman

Analysis:
Let me start by saying this: Jennifer Lawrence is the best young actress out there. No contest. She deserves her second Oscar ASAP. The question remains though if she will get it for her work in abstract horror film, Mother! The film split audiences with half claiming it was horrible and the other half claiming it was one of the best films they’ve ever seen. But what they agree on is that Lawrence delivers a spell binding performance. But coming up behind her is recent breakout star, Margot Robbie. Her performance as ice skater Tonya Harding has received acclaim among critics. That, on top of her growing star after successful performances in Suicide Squad and Wolf of Wall Street, could make Robbie into the next Hollywood it girl and propel her to Oscar gold. Speaking of Hollywood it girls, perhaps there will never be an it girl bigger than Meryl Streep. Streep stars in the film The Post the film about Kay Graham as Washington Post executive taking on the federal government. Streep will win a fourth Oscar eventually. I guarantee at some point, she will tie Hepburn for the record of Oscar wins and perhaps even beat her. But since no one has seen the film yet, no one can tell if this will be Streep’s year of reckoning. Perhaps one of the more overdue actresses for an Oscar, is Jessica Chastain. She dazzled audiences in Zero Dark Thirty, The Help, and Miss Sloane but has yet to claim an Oscar victory. Her performance in Molly’s Game has already propelled her to the front of the pack on most prediction lists. Her incredible performance on top of her incredible past performances could lead her to the gold come Oscar night. Finally, Frances McDormand plays a vengeful mother of a murdered child in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Perhaps the most chilling performance this year, McDormand is not one to be counted out. McDormand is also one of the most respected actresses in the business and hasn’t been in the Oscar running in several years, so look to see her in the mix. Other strong contenders include last year’s Best Actress champ, Emma Stone in Battle of the Sexes. As well as Dame Judie Dench portraying Queen Victoria (Her second time doing so) in Victoria & Abdul, as well as Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot.

Since leaves are changing colors, the sky is becoming more colorful, and the weather is the right amount of chilly, fall seems to be the time of year for many high school seniors to take pictures.
My best friend and I tried to take pictures, in which we got some good ones of her and I just wasn’t having a good modeling day, So I got my pictures taken in the spring.
Even though I took mine in the spring of last year, I still had some pretty unfortunate things happen that I’m sure not most seniors have experienced.
First of all, I am very grateful to my sister’s best friend, Rheanna for taking my pictures because they turned out really well despite the interesting occurrences.
I picked out three outfits for my pictures, a nice shirt with jeans and boots, and two dresses. One of my locations to take pictures at was at the Little Arkansas River and I went to some rocks near the water.
I did some fun poses pretending to be Ariel from The Little Mermaid while laying on a big flat rock, and when I put my feet into the freezing water, I felt tiny worms crawling all over. They were moving up my legs and I was pretty disgusted as you could imagine.
After that, I put on a different dress and matched it with some cowboy boots. We went to some old railroad tracks by the grain elevators.
Rheanna found the spot she wanted me to squat at and as I was kneeling for the picture on the tracks, I heard a weird rattling noise. I turned and saw in front of me and off to the side, a snake coiled up getting ready to plunge at me.
So I slowly stood up not to disturb the already upset snake, and made my way back to my sister and Rheanna. They looked at me and I just said, “There’s a snake, we’re leaving.” They looked at where I was previously kneeling and saw a head poking out from one of the track beams.
They started freaking out and my sister said she was going to have nightmares even though I was the one that saw it.
When we got back in town, we walked over to Main street. I was already not in the mood to smile anymore. I was pretty much done with the day, but I still wanted to get enough pictures to choose from.
If you are unfamiliar with Little River or Main Street in Little River, usually it’s a ghost town on Sundays.
Let’s just say that this wasn’t the case because when I was laying down for a certain pose in the middle of the street, several local town-folk and church ladies had to make sure I was okay and not injured.
On the bright side, my pictures turned out great and I was really happy I got them done before graduation because I waited until the last minute to turn them in. It is also a good thing I was in Yearbook because I got to design the page that all of the senior pictures went.