Tina Fey has established herself as one of the 21st century’s preeminent comedic writers and performers by creating 30 Rock, Mean Girls, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The Second City alum’s storied career took flight with nine years as head writer on Saturday Night Live during a fruitful period.
It was partly her sharp writing that turned Weekend Update into a must-watch experience after a dull couple of seasons with Colin Quinn (a talented performer who never nailed the Update desk). Her six seasons as a cast member was mostly at Update with Jimmy Fallon as her cohost and then Amy Poehler. Both pairings spun comedic gold.
Two years after her departure, she would make one of the most triumphant returns in the program’s history when fate gave her Sarah Palin as the VP candidate in 2008. It resulted in gigantic ratings and an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. There’s simply no doubt that Fey is one of the most important figures in the show’s near half century. She might be on the SNL Mount Rushmore of all contributors when factoring in her behind the scenes contributions. Her on camera work nearly puts her in the top 10 and #11 will be up soon!
Out in limited fashion today, The Return reimagines no less than Homer’s Odyssey with Uberto Pasolini directing. The Bleecker Street release premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and it reunites Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, stars of 1996’s Best Picture winner The English Patient. Charlie Plummer, Tom Rhys Harries, and Marwan Kenzari provide support.
Reviews are respectful with 77% on Rotten Tomatoes and 68 on Metacritic. As expected, praise for the leads are present with some complaints about pacing. Fiennes is in the 2024 Best Actor mix, but not for this. His performance in Conclave is expected to earn him a slot. Don’t expect any noms or buzz to greet The Return at this late stage in the awards calendar. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
The 82nd Golden Globe Awards will come our way in a month on January 5th with Nikki Glaser handling hosting duties. Nominations are out this coming Monday (12/09). Readers of the blog know that I do a whole lotta Oscar speculating. That’s not the case with the GG’s but I’m giving you take on who and what will be nominated.
For the Globes, there are six nominees in each race with the exception of Cinematic and Box Office Achievement where there’s 8. I’ll give my picks along with a runner-up. Some quick notes: the Globes divide their Picture and lead acting derbies into Drama and Musical/Comedy. The designations below are the reported slots where films and performers are contending. Yes, there’s interesting choices with Heretic in comedy. On the flip side, if A Complete Unknown had submitted in Musical/Comedy, Timothée Chalamet might be the easy frontrunner in Best Actor.
Next week I’ll have a recap up with how I did and my early frontrunners for winners!
Best Motion Picture – Drama
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing
ALTERNATE – The Room Next Door
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Anora
Challengers
Emilia Pérez
A Real Pain
The Substance
Wicked
ALTERNATE – A Different Man
Best Director
Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker, Anora
Jon M. Chu, Wicked
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two
ALTERNATE – Edward Berger, Conclave
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
Angelina Jolie, Maria
Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
Saoirse Ronan, The Outrun
Tilda Swinton, The Room Next Door
Kate Winslet, Lee
ALTERNATE – Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Daniel Craig, Queer
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
ALTERNATE – John David Washington, The Piano Lesson
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comed
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
June Squibb, Thelma
Zendaya, Challengers
ALTERNATE – Amy Adams, Nightbitch
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
Hugh Grant, Heretic
Michael Keaton, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Glen Powell, Hit Man
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool & Wolverine
Sebastian Stan, A Different Man
ALTERNATE – Gabriel LaBelle, Saturday Night
Best Supporting Actress
Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Margaret Qualley, The Substance
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
ALTERNATE – Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Stanley Tucci, Conclave
Denzel Washington, Gladiator II
ALTERNATE – Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Best Screenplay
Anora
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Sing Sing
The Substance
ALTERNATE – A Real Pain
Best Animated Feature
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Moana 2
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
ALTERNATE – Piece by Piece
Best Non-English Language Film
All We Imagine as Light
Emilia Pérez
The Girl with the Needle
I’m Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
ALTERNATE – Universal Language
Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Deadpool & Wolverine
Despicable Me 4
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
Inside Out 2
Twisters
Wicked
ALTERNATE – Moana 2
Best Score
The Brutalist
Challengers
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
The Wild Robot
ALTERNATE – The Room Next Door
Best Song
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez
“Harper and Will Go West” from Will & Harper
“Kiss the Sky” from The Wild Robot
“Like a Bird” from Sing Sing
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez
“Piece by Piece” from Piece by Piece
ALTERNATE – “Beautiful That Way” from The Last Showgirl
That means I have these movies generating these numbers of nominations:
10 Nominations
Emilia Pérez
7 Nominations
The Brutalist
6 Nominations
Conclave
5 Nominations
Anora, Sing Sing, The Substance, Wicked
4 Nominations
Dune: Part Two
3 Nominations
Challengers, A Real Pain, The Wild Robot
2 Nominations
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, A Complete Unknown, Deadpool & Wolverine, Gladiator II, Inside Out 2
1 Nomination
All We Imagine as Light, The Apprentice, Babygirl, Despicable Me 4, A Different Man, Flow, The Girl with the Needle, Hard Truths, Heretic, Hit Man, I’m Still Here, Kneecap, Lee, Maria, Memoir of a Snail, Moana 2, Nickel Boys, The Outrun, Piece by Piece, Queer, The Room Next Door, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Thelma, Twisters, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Will & Harper
A beloved fantasy franchise gets the anime and prequel treatment when The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim debuts December 13th. Set nearly 200 years before the events of Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy, Kenji Kamiyama directs the animated adventure with Brian Cox, Gala Wise, Luke Pasqualino, and Miranda Otto providing voiceover work.
Obviously there’s a built-in audience for any adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s creations. That makes this estimate tricky. A small portion of moviegoers may turn up not even knowing that it is anime. Some may stay away for that very reason. There’s also Kraven the Hunter opening the same weekend that could siphon off some action fans.
This certainly has the chance to exceed my number, but I’m projecting high single digits for a lackluster showing.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opening weekend prediction: $8 million
Each year the American Film Institute (AFI) names their ten best films of the year and it’s become a reliable bell weather for 7-8 Best Picture nominees at the Oscars. How about a look at the past 15 years and their track record since the Academy expanded to more than five BP contenders?
2009: 5/10 match
2010: 9/10
2011: 7/9
2012: 8/9
2013: 7/9
2014: 6/8
2015: 6/8
2016: 7/9
2017: 7/9
2018: 5/8
2019: 7/9
2020: 6/8
2021: 8/10
2022: 7/10
2023: 8/10
There’s an important caveat as this is the American Film Institute. Therefore movies considered international do not make the cut. They often get a “special” award and that was the case with Roma, Parasite, and The Banshees of Inisherin.
Today’s AFI announcement was surprising in the sense that there was only one. Emilia Pérez was thought by most to be ineligible for the 10 due to its foreign flavor, but it managed to make the cut. The AFI list is as follows:
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Nickel Boys
A Real Pain
Sing Sing
Wicked
Not a shocker in the group. This seems like a key inclusion for Nickel Boys and A Real Pain in solidifying their status as legit BP players. I suspect that if some prognosticators knew Emilia would be eligible, several of them would’ve gone 10/10.
Let’s analyze, shall we? The AFI has a habit of naming mainstream pics that the Academy ignores. Examples in the last decade include Into the Woods, Inside Out, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Straight Outta Compton, Zootopia, Wonder Woman, Mary Poppins Returns, A Quiet Place, Knives Out, Soul, Nope, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Note the amount of animated features. This is where a nod for The Wild Robot wouldn’t have been unexpected. The fact that it didn’t land here is an indication of its chances in the Academy’s BP derby… none. The same might be said for Gladiator II. It’s been out of my top 10 and I had it placed 13th in Other Possibilities last weekend. Don’t be surprised it drops out of the top 15 in my next update.
Other features that could have benefitted from a spot here include The Substance, September 5, Nosferatu, Blitz, The Room Next Door, and recent Gotham recipient A Different Man.
That said… we don’t expect this to be the Oscar top ten…
Do we?!? It sure could be. Yes, that would be the first time AFI and the Academy match 10/10. Yet the only difference I have right now is The Substance over A Complete Unknown and the latter seems to be picking up some steam. We still have Critics Choice and their top ten en route. They’re another pretty reliable barometer. I’ll say right now, though, that at least 8 of AFI’s picks will be the Academy’s and perhaps more…
Keep an eye on this blog for all Oscar precursor chatter!
Columbia Pictures hopes audiences are craving new superhero action when Kraven the Hunter hits theaters on December 13th. This is the latest entry in the Sony Spider-Man Universe which has found success with the Venom pics and failure with Morbius and Madame Web. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars in the title role spawned from the Marvel Comic with Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe offering support.
This has had a lengthy road to the multiplex. Hunter is on its fourth release date as it was originally slated for nearly two years ago. The first trailer came out in June 2023. In April of 2022, Morbius rolled out to a $39 million showing before cratering in weekend #2. Madame Web had a six-day rollout over President’s Day weekend and took in only $25 million for that time period.
I don’t think Kraven approaches that Morbius figure and it may fall just below Web‘s $15 million Friday to Sunday from a few months back.
Kraven the Hunter opening weekend prediction: $14.8 million
For my The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim prediction, click here:
The National Board of Review often marches to the beat of its own awards drum when it comes to selecting their annual pictures and performers. In 2014, only four of their eleven top movies ended up generating an Academy nomination for Best Picture. In the past decade, there’s been one other year with just four and three years where it was five and two where it was six. There’s three other years where it’s seven and that’s as high as it gets. In most years, NBR names a Best Film with ten other favorite movies listed alphabetically. During that time period, here’s just a sampling of NBR top films that probably never came close to an Oscar BP nod: Fury, The LEGO Movie, Hail, Caesar!, Patriots Day, Baby Driver, Downsizing, Waves, The Forty-Year-Old Version, Red Rocket, and Ferrari.
I give all that context because there were some unexpected selections in their list today… but not really given their history. Jon M. Chu’s Wicked is Best Film. That one is anticipated to generate an Academy BP slot. This particular group often goes with blockbuster material like Wicked for their winner. Recent examples include Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015 (guess we should’ve seen that Furiosa nod coming) and Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.
Some others… not so much. The other ten are as follows: Anora, Babygirl, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Gladiator II, Juror #2, Queer, A Real Pain, and Sing Sing. Only half of those features (Wicked, Anora, Conclave, A Real Pain, Sing Sing) are currently in my Oscar BP ten. Babygirl, Furiosa, Juror #2, and Queer likely stand little chance at the big dance while A Complete Unknown and Gladiator II have better shots.
There are some notable omissions from the list like The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez, and Dune: Part Two. That said, recent BP victors The Shape of Water, Parasite, and CODA were nowhere to be found with NBR.
The Wicked love continued in Director with Jon M. Chu being named. You have to go all the way to Martin Scorsese and 2006’s The Departed for the last NBR/Oscar match.
Nicole Kidman is your Best Actress for Babygirl and Daniel Craig is Best Actor for Queer. Both are considered bubble candidates for Oscar (I currently have Craig in and Kidman out). I will note that 8 of the last 10 NBR Actress winners have achieved an Academy spot. In Actor, it’s also 8.
Kieran Culkin racked up another Supporting Actor prize (right after the New York Film Critics Circle) for A Real Pain and Elle Fanning is Supporting Actress (a bit of an out of nowhere pick) for A Complete Unknown. The previous 10 Supporting Actor victors for NBR received Oscar attention as Culkin is expected to. For Supporting Actress, it’s 8.
In other NBR news for categories that correlate to the Academy Awards, Hard Truths and Sing Sing are your respective Original and Adapted Screenplay recipients. Flow snatched another Animated Feature trophy while The Seed of the Sacred Fig is their #1 International Feature. The Documentary prize went to Sugarcane with Nosferatu triumphant in Cinematography.
Keep an eye on this blog for all precursor Oscar chatter!
With Chevy Chase having clocked in at #14, we move to another SNL original cast member in 13th and that’s Gilda Radner. An Emmy winner for her work on the show, the Second City alum was an early breakout in 1975 with characters like Roseanne Roseannadanna, Emily Litella, Judy Miller, and Lisa Loopner (one half of The Nerds alongside Bill Murray).
She was also known for an impression of Barbara Walters (or Baba Wawa) and made us laugh and smile dancing alongside Steve Martin. With a mix of vulnerability and plain hilarity, she would influence many a Not Ready for Prime Time Player to follow. #12 will be up soon!
Seventeen out of the past 20 New York Film Critics Circle recipients for Best Film have achieved a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars including winners No Country for Old Men, The Hurt Locker, and The Artist. Will Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist join that list? It’s almost a certainty. The epic historical drama won the NYFCC top prize in addition to Adrien Brody’s performance for Best Actor. These are the first major precursor honors for the pic I currently have ranked #1 in my BP derby (same goes Brody). It’s highly unlikely to be the last.
Corbet, however, did not take Director. That honor went to RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys and his film also took the Cinematography prize. I currently don’t have Ross in my director lineup though I do have it scoring a BP nod. 11 out of the previous 15 behind the camera winners did end up with an Oscar nomination.
In Best Actress, it was Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths. Half of the previous ten NYFCC leading women received Academy recognition. That seems appropriate as Jean-Baptiste’s odds are around 50/50 in my view.
That’s not the case in Supporting Actor where Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) took that Big Apple competition. He’s widely expected to be one of the final five and perhaps even make a podium walk.
The NYFCC did manage to provide a shocker with Carol Kane taking Supporting Actress for the little-seen Between the Temples. The veteran performer is not expected to contend at the Oscars.
Finally, All We Imagine as Light (which India did not submit as their horse in International Feature Film) is the Best Foreign Language Film. No Other Land, which could be a player in the Academy’s Documentary Feature race, was NYFCC’s Best Non-Fiction Film. Both of those pics won their respective categories at the Gotham Awards yesterday as well. Latvian tale Flow is the Best Animated Feature and it should follow suit with Oscar.
Keep an eye on this blog for all Oscar precursor coverage!
Tonight’s Gotham Awards were not expected to provide any major clues as to how the awards season will play out. That might hold true, but I do think the winner of Best Feature could be a preview for one picture in particular.
Adam Schimberg’s A Different Man was the surprise winner in the big race over the heavily favored Anora from Sean Baker. For those that didn’t believe Anora would away with the top prize from the New York group that honors indie movies, the runner-up pick would’ve been RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys. Both of them are anticipated to nab BP nods (especially Anora). And while that still is the case, it does make me question all the prognosticators who have Anora ranked #1 (a lot do). I haven’t yet and have always slotted it 2nd or 3rd behind (lately) The Brutalist or Conclave. By the way, Challengers and Babygirl were the other contenders.
So… should we be thinking about A Different Man in Best Picture? I wouldn’t make that leap. However, it’s worth noting that four of the past five Gotham Feature victors managed a BP slot: 2019’s Marriage Story, 2020’s Nomadland (which won), 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once (another winner), and last year’s Past Lives. The exception is The Lost Daughter from 2021. Don’t expect Different to all of a sudden pop into my top 10 in BP, but you might see it between 11-15 in other possibilities when I update.
The no-show in victories for Anora continued in Director as RaMell Ross was honored for Nickel Boys. Strangely enough, this was the first year where the Gothams bestowed an individual behind the camera prize so comparisons cannot be made. That said, Ross is certainly a possibility at the Oscars though I currently don’t have him in my quintet.
The Gothams do not separate gender in their lead and supporting races as of 2021. Voters clearly were taken with Sing Sing as Colman Domingo was Outstanding Lead Performer and Clarence Maclin was Outstanding Supporting Performer.
For Domingo, he beat out his anticipated competitor in Best Actor Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) as well as plenty of Actress possibilities like Mikey Madison (Anora), Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun), Demi Moore (The Substance), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Nicole Kidman (Babygirl), and Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl). Since 2021, only Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter) received an Oscar nod after winning this category.
Maclin was selected over other potential Supporting Actor rivals including Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain), Guy Pearce (The Brutalist), Yura Borisov (Anora), and A Different Man‘s Adam Pearson. Supporting Actress hopefuls Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson) and Natasha Lyonne (His Three Daughters) were also in the mix. The winners of supporting here in 2021 (Troy Kotsur for CODA) and 2022 (Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere) went onto take the Supporting Actor Oscar. Last year’s recipient Charles Melton (May December) didn’t make the Academy’s cut. Both Domingo and Maclin are expected to receive Oscar nominations.
Speaking of His Three Daughters, it won Screenplay. Yet you can’t read much into that because none of the other nominees (Between the Temples, Evil Does Not Exist, Femme, Janet Planet) are expected to contend at the Academy Awards.
The precursors for Oscars are begin to roll out and keep an eye on this blog for all the coverage!
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