The most satisfying scenes in the film involve Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin (Ashkenazi) and Defence Minister Shimon Peres (Marsan) discussing their options, driven largely by political one-upmanship.

In one of the warmest affirmations of love, family and friendships on screen, Greta Gerwig tells the story of a 17-year-old’s one year from high school to college, as she rediscovers who and what she is.

…there is no doubt that in putting a greying, foul-mouthed woman, in shapeless overalls and bandanas, in frazzled hair and cutting no slack, at the heart of this story of sort-of revenge, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, has given McDormand the definitive words of this gone year: “This time, the chick ain’t losing.”

That The Shape of Water has 13 Oscar nominations indicates that the love story largely floats above the problems with the film — buoyed to a large extent by a timorous, luminous, powerful Sally Hawkins.

This Daniel Day-Lewis starrer is visually delightful…With Daniel Day-Lewis declaring Phantom Thread to be his last film, it adds a secondary layer of sadness to this story about an artiste learning to “take it easy”.

Darkest Hour can’t avoid comparisons with The Crown, where John Lithgow’s Churchill reluctantly confronts mortality, and faces questions regarding own leadership. Several actors from the Netflix series pop up here in crucial/similar roles.

Tom Hanks turns in another impressive performance, more impressive for often being just one of the many men in smoke-filled newsrooms. But it is Meryl Streep who just steals the show from right under their noses.

Ben Whishaw’s Paddington is a creature of just the right amount of vulnerability and grit. But it is Hugh Grant who is a find here, mocking himself, showing his age, and rocking a neat number in a pink outfit.

John Cena is a good choice to play Ferdinand. He steers nimbly around the jokes about a bull’s weight, size, and most hilariously, that one, about being a bull in a china shop.

Don’t miss this Julia Roberts and Jacob Tremblay starrer…In any lesser hands, the film could easily have become either too exploitative or too maudlin. Instead, Chbosky, the co-screenwriter of Wonder, just gets what the book is about.