By Rick Davis
The big new release this weekend is the long-awaited release of Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the third and final installment in the series of movies based upon the young adult books. I say long-awaited because it was originally set for release on Feb. 17, 2017 but was delayed because of an injury sustained by star Dylan O’Brien on the Vancouver set.
The movies are set in a dystopian future with the first movie about a group of young men called Gladers who are trapped in a maze with no memory of the outside world other than dreams about an organization called W.C.K.D. The Gladers find a way out of the maze and into the second movie where they are looking for more clues about the mysterious organization in a desolate landscape called The Scorch. The third movie sees the Gladers having to break into the legendary Last City, a labyrinth controlled by W.C.K.D. and if they survive, will get the answers to the questions that they have been asking ever since they arrived in the first maze.
Call Me By You Name is a critically acclaimed drama starring Armie Hammer (The Social Network) and Timothée Chalamet set in the summer of 1983 in the north of Italy. It chronicles the relationship between Elio Pearlman (Chalamet) and his father’s American assistant Oliver (Hammer). It is from Italian director Luca Guadagnino and is the third in his thematic “Desire Trilogy” which started with 2009’s I Am Love and 2015’a A Bigger Splash. Opening at the Grand 10, it has been nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor (Chlalamet).
The Shape of Water was the big winner when the Oscar contenders were announced on Tuesday with 13 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for Guillermo del Toro, Best Actress for Sally Hawkins, Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer and Best Supporting Actor for Richard Jenkins. It is now showing at the Grand 10 and is opening this weekend at Xtreme.
There are also many other nominees playing around town including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri with seven nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Supporting Actor nods for Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson.
Phantom Thread received six nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis and Best Supporting Actress for Lesley Manville.
Darkest Hour also received six nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Gary Oldman.
Other notable nominees include I, Tonya which received nominations for both Margot Robbie and Allison Janney in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories, respectively. The Post was nominated for Best Picture as well as Best Actress for Meryl Streep but both director Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are noticeably absent from the list.
Other high-profile nominees that have already played are Dunkirk with eight, Get Out with four and Lady Bird, which received five, most notably for director Greta Gerwig, whose name was obviously missing from the list of nominated directors at the Golden Globe awards.