There are pretty much two kinds of movies: awards movies and blockbusters.
Awards movies, also known as “Oscar bait” or “good movies” are, well, the kinds movies that win awards, specifically Oscars—artful, well-made films that speak to the soul by revealing something about the human condition or shine a light on a historical moment. In this category, you’ve got fare like Call Me By Your Name, or Dunkirk.
And then there are the blockbuster movies—films made purely to delight, entertain, and thrill as many people as possible. (Along the way, they also tend to earn hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.) They’re broad, they’re flashy, and they’re full of special effects—we’re talking Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle andThor: Ragnorak.
Sure, there’s overlap—the first Star Wars was nominated for Best Picture, for example. But usually, when these big populist films get Oscar nominations, they’re for the technical categories, like Best Sound Effects Editing, or Best Visual Effects. This year’s worthy nominees are Blade Runner: 2049, Dunkirk (overlap!), The Shape of Water, War for the Planet of the Apes, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Which one will go down in film history as an Oscar-winner on par with Jurassic Park, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and 2001: A Space Odyssey? And also have to be added to this supercut?