Click here to read my review of The Accountant.

Of the few cinematic portrayals of autism I have seen, I have never seen one quite like this one.
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He’s an accountant, but he’s also a thief, and a murderer. Specifically, his autism is what contributes to his abilities to avoid capture by the law. It’s very different from the hopeless dependent depictions (Rain Man) or the inspirational redemptive depictions (Temple Grandin), but at the same time, this is a darker side to autism that we might as well consider, as people with autism despised by the law is a definite possibility.

I realize that it is not something we like to think about, but anyone on the autism spectrum who grew up with a traumatic childhood could easily lose insight on what’s right and wrong, using his abnormal abilities for his selfish purposes. If you ask me, this falls completely underneath the responsibility of the parents.

In this movie, the character played by Ben Affleck grew up under a broken household: his father spent more time in the Army than with his family, and had completely irrational ideas to prepare his son for the real world. He taught him that he should stand up to bullies by physical means, and literally torture himself in order to face reality in a “normal” way.

Click here to read my review of Cinderella.

We all grew up with Disney and fairy tales, so we know how they choose to favor love and marriage. They like to teach us how the purpose of marriage is to go from “rags to riches” after a first meeting with some charming prince. No care is put to personality or reason, love is celebrated around the concept of earning some self-seeking reward.

But the good news is, Disney has learned from that over the years. Their newest adaptation to Cinderella tells the same traditional tale, but with greater emphasis put on developing the romance between Ella and the prince. Now they actually have time to talk and get to know each other, affirming how their love for one another is genuine, and not just falling in love with the concept of being in love.

The key to developing their relationship is the simple philosophy that Ella’s mother gives her as a child: “Have courage, and be kind.” These words prove to carry extraordinary value as she’s put through the difficulty of living with her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. She never returns hatred with hatred, and even vows to stay at the house in memory of her parents.

Well, that's it. it's all over. All 24 awards last night were given out, and the controversies can be settled. Based off my predictions, in total I got 17 out of 24 correct, which was one more than I got last year. Thankfully, there was no envelope mix up this year, and PricewaterhouseCoopers even made sure we knew that by labeling the category onto the envelope in HUGE letters! Whew! And how nice: Warren and Faye got to redeem themselves from the disaster they bestowed upon us last year! And let me tell you: I am so, so, SO happy that The Shape of Water won the big prize! It is such a beautiful testament to the discriminated that gives us greater insight into ourselves, and truly was the best of the nominees! But of course, there were several winners that I was not necessarily happy with, and plenty of other words I have to say in response to the ceremony as a whole. But first, here are the winners:

I now want to introduce something that is new for both of us: a full complete list of what I believe is the best of the year. Now, I haven't seen everything this year, and that includes several of the films that the Oscars nominated, so based on all 53 releases this year I assessed and graded, here's what I genuinely believe deserves the honors.

But first, a few notes on some of these categories:

I considered the animated films for all the categories except for makeup and costume design, since there are technicians behind the editing, cinematography, and set design that deserve every bit as much recognition as those who work on live action films. So it's virtually free for all in everything.

I also consider all films that feature visual effects shots a chance in Best Visual Effects. I say that it should be the goal of any vfx artists to  make the effects invisible, so that's what I've been judging this year.

I'm not following the same judgment as the Oscars, who like to judge based on technical achievement. While that's important to acknowledge to make sure the artistry of filmmaking continues to grow with its discoveries, my focus is on how the practical elements contribute to the film's unique needs, so you may find nominees in some of these categories you'd never expect to find in any other awards show lineup. I'm not saying I'm better than any of them, but rather this is my two cents on what's important in filmmaking.

So now without further ado, here's my nominees, starting with...

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Click here to read my review of Lion.

Garth Davis’s movie works hard to raise awareness about the crisis of children losing their families. It always happens for different reasons, including separation in a crowd, wandering, or even kidnapping. Every parent wants to ensure their kids know as much as possible about what to do in a given circumstance they are separated from their family, but what differences should be considered when the child falls upon the autism spectrum?

First, some common causes of children with autism losing their families in busy public places:

• A fascination with something out of the ordinary
• The need to run to someplace quiet
• Something scares them
• They are running from a friend or relative who wants to give them a hug
• The increased likability of believing lies leads makes them susceptible to kidnappers
• …and these are only a handful of the triggers that could lead to a child on the spectrum getting lost.

Six-Word Lessons on Growing Up Autistic, Lesson #10: New Places Often Make Them Cry.
Six-Word Lessons for Dads with Autistic Kids, Lesson #22: Their Senses are Much More Sensitive.

Click here to read my review of Me Before You.

Coming from my own experiences, my autism has been an enormous stumbling block, just like Will with Quadriplegia.  But what I learned over time, is that what I thought was holding me back was actually setting me up for something better, such as my book on growing up autistic that currently has a 4.5-star rating on Amazon. But it doesn’t end there. Do you think Stephen Hawking would have inspired others had he decided to end his life after losing his muscular capabilities? Do you think that Roger Ebert would still be remembered as a well-respected movie critic if he killed himself after losing his jaw? What about Abraham Lincoln? Would our nation still be a slave-free country if he chose to end it after meeting a failure on the job? The devastating thing is, this movie proves that people don’t quite understand the value of a disability.
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Maybe Me Before You isn’t promoting the best solution on how to deal with physical and mental impairments, but there is one thing that it gets right: the portrayal of what it does to a person.

Click here to read my review of The Imitation Game.

We are all familiar with the societal fight to shine a stronger, more inspirational light on the LGBTQ community, as The Imitation Game reflects, but this movie also depicts a more subliminal, and more important concept about the historical figure Alan Turing, autism’s influence on history.

Although it’s never said in the movie, as autism was a newly coined disorder at the time, Alan Turing displays many symptoms of autism and Asperger’s syndrome. He rarely associates with others, he gets obsessive over his interests, he can’t understand a joke, he trembles in his speech, and he freaks out when the peas on his plate are touching the carrots. These are all common traits of ASD, and in my belief were intentionally placed by the director and screenwriter to suggest how Alan Turing was not only gay, but autistic as well.

It’s not every day you hear of somebody on the autism spectrum following an ambition to change the course of history under the secrecy of the government, but these types of stories are happening all around us, and where we never knew to look.

Click here to read my review of The Shape of Water.

What really stood out to me about this movie is the parallel that the creature has to anyone who seems to be a misfit to society. Sure enough, throughout the film, those ties are made, as several of the story’s heroes are misfits to 1960’s Baltimore: one is mute, one is a Black woman, one is a closet homosexual, and they’re the ones who connect the most with the creature’s condition. In fact, with the main character, Elisa, she shares quite a few similarities to people on the autism spectrum.
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The most noticeable trait from when we first meet her is that she keeps a specific morning routine that we see her repeat to the dime. First, she prepares a bunch of eggs in boiling water, and as she waits for them to finish, she takes a bath, specifically because it sexually arouses her. After her hardboiled eggs are done, she speaks to one of her only real friends, the struggling artist from next door who is a closet homosexual. Then she takes the bus to work, using her cap as a pillow to rest against the window. Then once she arrives at work, she cuts in line to punch her time card in. Outside of work, her neighbor likes to take her out to a key lime pie, which she keeps having to remind him that she hates the taste of. Although she can’t speak, the two find a way to bond by watching TV.