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I don't get to nearly as many movies as I used to, so the smaller independent movies - particularly those that look like a downer - get bumped off the see list.  With the multiple Golden Globe wins, my wife and I decided to check this out and I felt that this was a better contender for best picture than others in recent years (I'm looking at you La La Land).  

It was a dark, angry film.  But it also had moments when I was laughing out loud in the theatre.  Several articles have recently been written about this style of film - you often see this in Coen brothers movies, and this did remind me somewhat of Fargo - an easy comparison to make with Francis McDormand starring.  But I did feel that the levity in this film was more of a release valve on the darkness and helped carry the story to the end, whereas I lost interest in Manchester by the Sea last year for, frankly, being too depressing.

McDormand and Rockwell have both played similar characters before, but both turned in fantastic performances.  And three cheers for any Best Pic nominee/winner that clocks in at 2 hours or less (1:55 in this case).

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On 1/16/2018 at 12:11 PM, genericeric said:

I don't get to nearly as many movies as I used to, so the smaller independent movies - particularly those that look like a downer - get bumped off the see list.  With the multiple Golden Globe wins, my wife and I decided to check this out and I felt that this was a better contender for best picture than others in recent years (I'm looking at you La La Land).  

I saw this also, and am in complete agreement with you vis-a-vis "La La Land," which is Hollywood Schlock at its tawdriest ("La La Land" was amazing in parts, but mostly due to computer graphics and enhancements; they made such a big deal of Ryan Gosling *actually playing the piano* - he didn't play it very well, nor was Emma Stone a good singer).

"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" was a very good film, perhaps even a great film, but in my opinion, it was the acting itself more than the actual movie - I just cannot see this winning, or even being nominated for, "Best Picture," although it may have been a lean year. "Get Out" is a better and more important movie, even though many people think it went downhill towards the ending (I actually liked the ending, and it had to end ... somehow :)). Honestly, I enjoyed "Gerald's Game" more than "Three Billboards" as well, but that's a closer call, and while it's probably not Best Picture material, I think Carla Gugino deserves some type of award for acting. Of note: All three of these movies, ultimately, deal with empowerment - interestingly, all three are also sort-of "out there," by themselves, on a tangent: I've never seen anything quite like these three films before.

Don't get me wrong - "Three Billboards" is probably in my top-three favorite films that I've seen which were made in 2017 (at least, that I can think of), but I've only seen a few so far. I'm not surprised at all that you mentioned the Coen Brothers - we walked out of the theater agreeing this was "Coen Brothers, Light."

I do think that if this wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, it will be something akin to "Crash" winning. "Crash" is a fine movie, but it's very contrived, and even somewhat maudlin.

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