The first hopeful in a very interesting Best Actress competition is up next in my Case Of posts for the 94th Academy Awards and that’s Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
The Case for Jessica Chastain:
Of the five nominees in Actress, only Kristen Stewart (Spencer) and Chastain have yet to win an Oscar. Somewhat surprisingly, she’s only been nominated twice and the last time was nine years ago. There could already be a feeling that she’s overdue and Olivia Colman, Penelope Cruz, and Nicole Kidman have already won. Her embodiment of evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker (with its nominated makeup team) drew raves from critics and she received nods at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Critics Choice Awards.
The Case Against Jessica Chastain:
The film itself did not draw raves with a middling 69% Rotten Tomatoes score. Furthermore, it was a bust at the box office with just over $2 million domestically.
Previous Nominations: 2
The Help (2011 – Supporting Actress); Zero Dark Thirty (2012 – Actress)
The Verdict:
Best Actress is wide open at this juncture. So-so reviews for the picture itself didn’t hurt Renee Zellweger in 2019 with Judy and it may not hurt Chastain. She’s a possibility to win, but then again, so are the others.
My Case of posts will continue with our first Best Actor nominee – Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos…
Now that I’ve completed by Case Of posts for the 10 Best Picture contenders, I’m moving on to the 25 hopefuls for Best Director, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, and Supporting Actor. I’ll alternate alphabetically among the categories between them and that means Paul Thomas Anderson’s behind the camera work for Licorice Pizza is first up!
The Case for Paul Thomas Anderson:
Prior to Pizza being delivered in 2021, PTA as he’s called had already received 8 nominations from the Academy between his producing, directing, and writing. He’s 0 for 8. He has three more at bats with his 70s set coming-of-age tale in Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay. In other words, there could be an overdue factor at play.
The Case Against Paul Thomas Anderson:
Licorice Pizza tied CODA with the fewest amount of nods for the BP nominees. Unlike his previous BP contenders There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread, there were no acting nominations for his ensemble. And there’s simply the fact that Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) is the major frontrunner.
Previous Nominations: 2 (for directing only)
There Will Be Blood (2007); Phantom Thread (2017)
The Verdict:
There’s a decent chance that PTA’s zero wins streak will be broken at the ceremony, but it would come in Original Screenplay (where it appears to be down to Pizza or Belfast). It will not be broken here.
My Case Of posts will continue with Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye…
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake is my final Case Of post for the ten Best Picture nominees at the upcoming Oscars. If you missed the nine previous entries, they’re here:
It would be a pretty cool storyline for Spielberg’s remake to win Best Picture 60 years after the 1961 version was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10 (including BP). The 2021 retelling didn’t match the original with seven nods, but that’s still a decent haul.
The Case Against West Side Story:
Those seven nominations didn’t include some significant ones to nab a BP win – namely Adapted Screenplay and Film Editing. The last BP recipient that missed a writing mention was 1997’s Titanic. The box office for this Story was very disappointing – earning $37 million domestically versus its reported $100 million budget.
The Verdict:
West Side Story is likely to repeat six decades later in one category with Ariana DeBose in Supporting Actress for the same role that Rita Moreno got a statue for. A BP repeat is far more unlikely.
While this concludes my Case Of posts for the BP contenders, we are far from done. I’ll now begin my write-ups for the hopefuls in Director and the four acting races (alternating alphabetically between them). That will start with Paul Thomas Anderson’s direction of Licorice Pizza…
Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog is my ninth Case Of post covering the Best Picture nominees for the 2021 Academy Awards. If you missed the previous entries, you can access them here:
And it’s quite a case to be made. Last week, the Netflix period drama ruled Oscar nominations morning with an even better than expected 12 nods. It even garnered unexpected mentions in Sound and for Jesse Plemons in Supporting Actor (alongside his costars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, and Kodi Smit-McPhee). In doing so, Dog landed placements in all of the down the line races where a BP win is key: directing, performances, adapted screenplay, editing, and so forth. At the Golden Globes (where many were predicting a Belfast victory), it took Best Drama. It’s also been the beneficiary of numerous critics groups awards for Best Pic.
The Case Against The Power of the Dog:
Being the frontrunner doesn’t always pan out and we’ve seen it in three of the past five Oscars. Just ask La La Land (which lost to Moonlight in 2016), Roma (which fell to Green Book in 2018), and 1917 (which came up short to Parasite in 2019). Getting the most nominations also doesn’t mean you’re taking the big prize. Just ask Mank from last year. Or Joker two years ago. Or The Favourite or Roma from 2018.
The Verdict:
While the case against is somewhat persuasive, there’s no denying that Dog is unquestionably the favorite to win. Yet there’s compelling evidence that an upset is certainly feasible.
My Case Of posts will continue with West Side Story…
The video game adaptation Uncharted with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg looks to rule the #1 spot over the four-day President’s Day weekend while Channing Tatum’s directorial debut Dog hopes for a solid second place showing. They’re the newbies coming on Friday and you can peruse my detailed prediction posts on both of them here:
While reviews are mixed (50% currently on Rotten Tomatoes) for Uncharted, it should easily take a commanding lead for the POTUS frame. My low to mid 30s take puts it at about two and half times the gross of Dog, which finds Mr. Tatum in his first starring role in nearly half a decade.
As for holdovers, the long weekend should allow for smallish drop-offs. We’ve seen that play out previously during the mid February time period. Death on the Nile, following its mediocre start, might flirt with staying in double digits (I have it just under) with Spider-Man: No Way Home (that other Holland pic), Marry Me, and Jackass Forever filling out the rest of the chart.
Here’s how I envision the top 6 and these are estimates over the Friday to Monday holiday:
1. Uncharted
Predicted Gross: $33.7 million
2. Dog
Predicted Gross: $13.3 million
3. Death on the Nile
Predicted Gross: $9.8 million
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home
Predicted Gross: $7.3 million
5. Marry Me
Predicted Gross: $6 million
6. Jackass Forever
Predicted Gross: $5.7 million
Box Office Results (February 11-13)
As mentioned, Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile (his follow-up to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express) went a bit off the tracks with $12.8 million. That’s shy of my $14.3 million projection and it’s less than half of what Orient accomplished out of the gate.
Jackass Forever dropped to second with $8 million. The 65% drop was the largest of the five picture franchise and under my prediction of $11.3 million. The prankster sequel stands at $37 million after ten days.
Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson couldn’t get audiences to fall for them as Marry Me debuted in third with $7.9 million. That didn’t match my expectation of $11.2 million. Its simultaneous Peacock streaming start might have caused many couples to simply view from home.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was fourth with $7.5 million (I said $7.1 million) for $759 million overall. The MCU smash is just $1 million away from Avatar and becoming the third largest domestic earner of all-time (obviously it will hit that mark this week).
Liam Neeson’s latest revenge thriller Blacklight performed in line with his other COVID genre tales Honest Thief and The Marksman. The fifth place tally was $3.5 million, in range with my $3.8 million estimate.
Finally, Moonfall took a giant step down to #8 and fell 70% with $2.9 million in its sophomore outing (I was a little more generous with $3.5 million). Sing 2 and Scream managed to leap it for the sixth and seventh spots. The putrid gross is just $15 million.
Nightmare Alley is next up in my Case Of posts for the ten 2021 Best Picture nominees. If you didn’t catch the previous entries, they can be accessed right here:
The lat time that Guillermo del Toro made a movie, 2017’s The Shape of Water won 4 Oscars including Picture and Director…
The Case Against Nightmare Alley:
And that’s where the case for ends. Nightmare Alley is generally seen as the tenth picture that made the derby (it’s the only one I didn’t predict making the cut). It did land 4 nods (Picture, Cinematography, Costume Design, Production Design) and could manage to win an Oscar (especially Production Design). However, its challenges are many. While it materialized in BP, there’s no mentions for Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, or any of the actors (only Cate Blanchett in Supporting Actress was considered a possibility). Alley has the second lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of the bunch at 80%. And it was a major box office disappointment domestically at only $11 million.
The Verdict
Of the 10 contenders, I would rank Alley 10th as far as it chances to reign supreme.
My Case Of posts will continue with The Power of the Dog…
We’ve reached our seventh movie for my Case Of posts focused on the ten Best Picture hopefuls and it brings us to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza. If you missed my earlier ones, you can find them here:
Between his producing credits, direction, and screenplays – Anderson had already received 8 Oscar nominations without a victory (2007’s There Will Be Blood and 2017’s Phantom Thread were up for BP). He adds three more with Pizza for Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay. The Academy might feel that it’s time to honor one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the past quarter century.
The Case Against Licorice Pizza:
Note that I only mentioned three overall nods and that ties the lowest of the 10 contenders along with CODA. This failed to nab mentions in other key categories – many thought Alana Haim could sneak in for Actress and lots of prognosticators (including myself) had Bradley Cooper getting a Supporting Actor nomination. Furthermore, its exclusion in Editing is notable (historically no BP winners get the big prize without competing in that race).
The Verdict:
The best hope for Pizza to get a piece of the Oscar pie is in Original Screenplay where it appears to be in a fierce competition with Belfast. Don’t expect a BP delivery.
My Case Of posts will continue with Nightmare Alley…
Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard is the next film to be served up in my Case Of posts focused on 2021’s Best Picture nominees. For my takes on the other five entries thus far, you can peruse them here:
The uplifting tale of Richard Williams (Will Smith) and his tutelage of Venus and Serena hit all its expected categories on nomination morning: Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress (Aunjanue Ellis), Original Screenplay, Editing, and Original Song (courtesy of Beyonce). It’s an easy movie to like and if Academy voters are in feel good mode, they could court this one for attention.
The Case Against King Richard:
There’s other feel good choices with Belfast and CODA. Green showing up in Best Director would have been an indicator of strength, but it didn’t materialize. Richard also struggled at the box office (it simultaneously premiered on HBO Max). The best opportunity it has for a win is with Smith, who might make it to the podium in Actor on his third try.
The Verdict
Smith definitely has the strongest chance to feel the Richard love. It’s a long shot for BP.
My Case Of posts will continue with Licorice Pizza…
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune brings us to the halfway point of my ten Case Of posts for the Best Picture contenders. If you missed the first four, you can access them here:
If the Academy’s voters are looking to honor the nominee that garnered the highest box office returns, they can do so here as the sci-fi epic made $107 million domestically while being simultaneously available on HBO Max. Dune stands as the second most nominated film of 2021 with 10 mentions including Adapted Screenplay and a number of tech nods that it’s expected to win.
The Case Against Dune:
Many anticipated that this would garner the most mentions on Oscar nomination morning, but it fell short by two to The Power of the Dog. In doing so, Dune missed a major race when Villeneuve surprisingly failed to make the director cut. Quite simply, it’s hard to imagine this taking the big prize without its filmmaker being acknowledged.
The Verdict:
Dune should have no trouble winning some Oscars next month. Sound and Visual Effects are likely in the bag and Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, and Production Design are all feasible. Picture seems out of reach and voters will have another chance to honor it (and its director) with the forthcoming sequel.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three hour Japanese drama Drive My Car is the next Case Of post covering the 10 Best Picture nominees for this year’s Academy Awards. If you didn’t catch the first three, they’re right here:
Since premiering at the Cannes Film Festival last summer where it won Best Screenplay, Hamaguchi’s import is one of the critical darlings of 2021. It holds the best Rotten Tomatoes score of the bunch at 98%. Car performed better than expected with a total of four nods: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and International Feature Film,.
The Case Against Drive My Car
The film’s inclusion into the BP derby was a question mark going into nomination morning. While it hopes to become the second non-English language pic to win the big prize (two years after Parasite), its real possibility for a victory lies with the international race.
The Verdict
Drive My Car is an easy pick to take International Feature Film and anything else being called would constitute a major upset. However, do not expect the raves to put it in gear for one in Best Picture.
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