Oscars Best Picture: What You Need to Know Without Seeing The Movies

The 2017 Oscars (or 89th Academy Awards) airs tonight (at the time of writing this), and it’s at this eleventh hour that most of the people planning to watch it actually seek out some kind of explanation of what the films are (since they never watch them beforehand), and the respective stories behind each film (who is the director, the stars, how did the film come about, etc…).

This year, we thought we’d give The Oscar’s more casual viewer a quick primer on what’s happening with this year’s awards, with the caveat of knowing they’ll maybe never see the actual movies being nominated. If you fall into that category of person, then you’ll appreciate our Oscars 2017 Primer: What You Need to Know Without Seeing the Movies.

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It’s A Dichotomous Year

People usually try to frame the Oscars under some kind of general headline, but that has been something of a challenge this year, as The Oscars’ biggest films are split down the line of between high-quality escapist entertainment, and films that echo something that’s more real, and/or relevant to our times.

For some heavy realities, there’s the true life stories of Hidden Figures, Lion, or Hackshaw Ridge; if you want something a little less real (but no less powerful), there are fictional films that invoke very real subjects, such as Manchster by the Sea, Moonlight, and Fences. Meanwhile, La La Land and Arrival offer viewers more fantastical Oscar selections, and rounding things out is Hell or High Water, which adds a dark horse genre film to the mix.

Taken altogether, this eclectic blend of Best Picture nominees (representing the big films of the entire Awards ceremony) sort of indicates a push-pull happening in Hollywood, wherein true ‘hidden figures’ of the industry are now making their voices heard, and changing the landscape of “acclaimed films” are.

Expected Big Winner: La La Land

If you’ve been hearing a lot about Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s modern Hollywood musical by Whiplash director Damien Chazelle, sorry to inform you: the chatter is likely only to get louder after tonight’s Oscars.

La La Land swept some big awards categories at the 2017 Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy); Best Actor (Musical or Comedy); Best Actress (Musical or Comedy); Best Director, Screenplay, etc. Gosling and Stone both nabbed big SAG wins, while Chazelle clinched the DGA award.

There could be an upset for the Oscars Best Picture winner (Moonlight? Arrival?), but experience tells us that The Academy is unapologetically narcissistic, so a movie about LA actors trying to make it in Hollywood would be easy for them to crown king.

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What to see After the Show

The Oscars are funny in that the movies that populate the awards ceremony aren’t seen by very many people – at least until the films have been spotlighted by the Oscars. So, what to see this year after the show?

The Mainstream Picks: For your average, casual, movie fans, inspirational films like Hidden Figures and Hackshaw Ridge are must-see – not just on our say so, but because a lot of people have already seen them! Hidden Figures has earned $182 million, and Hacksaw has earned $175 million, respectively. So if you haven’t seen them yet, you’re really missing out.

The Film Snob Picks: For those who like to go talk up all the acclaimed films they’ve seen before/actor the Oscars, Moonlight (many critics’ groups top choice this year) needs to be your first stop. After that, Manchester by the Sea needs to be seen, followed by Lion and finished out with Fences. If don’t have those four films pass by your eyeballs, you need to hand in your boujee film snob card…

Genre Picks: For people who tend to gravitate to specific genres of films: sci-fi fans, it’s a must you give Arrival a watch; if you prefer crime thrillers, then don’t miss Hell or High Water.