Republic Pictures has opened Shell a year plus after it premiered at 2024’s Toronto Film Festival. From Max Minghella (making his second directorial feature after being known more for acting), the satire with sci-fi and horror elements stars Elisabeth Moss and Kate Hudson with Kaia Gerber and Elizabeth Berkley providing support.
When Shell received the festival treatment, it did so at the same time as Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance. Many reviews have compared the films to each other thematically. The big difference? Critical reaction to Shell isn’t nearly as strong with 56% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 64 Metacritic.
Fargeat’s movie garnered five Academy noms including Best Picture and was an unexpected box office success. Shell is receiving a limited theatrical release but it’s basically straight to VOD. It will not generate the awards chatter that greeted The Substance. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
Jason Reitman had a one-two punch of consecutive Best Picture nominees with Juno and Up in the Air in 2007 and 2009. Some follow-ups generated solid reviews (Young Adult, Tully) while others (Labor Day, The Front Runner) drew more mixed reactions. None have received significant awards buzz in the past decade and a half. Will that change with Saturday Night?
The Sony Pictures dramedy is slated for release on October 11th which is the 49th anniversary of the iconic sketch show it celebrates. This recounts the chaotic moments leading up to the premiere of Saturday Night Live. Gabriel LaBelle (who essentially played young Steven Spielberg in 2022’s The Fabelmans) is 30-year-old Lorne Michaels. The extensive supporting cast (some playing 1975 legends with others as future legends) includes Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun (as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson), Andrew Barth Feldman, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, J.K. Simmons, and Jon Batiste.
Having just played Telluride and hitting Toronto shortly, early word-of-mouth is primarily on the fresh side. There are some high profile reviews of the thumbs down variety. I would say Saturday Night stands a shot at a Best Picture nomination, but it is a coin flip at the moment as we await how competitors pan out. Down ballot categories like Costume Design and (especially) Film Editing could occur especially if it sneaks into BP.
As for the cast, LaBelle is getting quality ink. Yet some of the strongest notices are going to Sennott as writer Rosie Schuster and Smith as Chevy Chase. I’m skeptical any of the performers break into their respective categories though the SAG Awards could certainly nominate the cast in their Ensemble race. Speaking of other shows, the Golden Globes could put it up for Musical/Comedy assuming Sony campaigns for it there and LaBelle could make the Actor (Musical/Comedy) quintet.
At the Academy Awards, there is almost always a picture or two that is up solely for its screenplay. This is a distinct possibility with Saturday Night and its original screenplay from Reitman and Gil Kenan. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
After receiving kudos when it screened at South by Southwest in the spring, Emma Seligman’s Bottom raucous teen comedy Bottoms is up in limited release this weekend. It marks the director’s second feature after her acclaimed 2020 debut Shiva Baby, which made its way to a few critical best of lists. Rachel Sennott, who starred in Baby, headlines here. The supporting cast includes Ayo Edebiri, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, Dagmara Domińczyk, and former NFL star Marshawn Lynch.
As summer 2023 closes out at the box office, this is currently an unlikely winner for best Rotten Tomatoes score of the season at 99%. A number of reviews are calling it an instant classic of its genre.
For awards prospects, a best case scenario could be an Original Screenplay nod or some love in the Musical/Comedy Film competition at the Globes. Like other classics of its genre, a more likely scenario is no attention from voters of those branches as it seeks to achieve cult status. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
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