Tag: Martha

Oscar Predictions: Martha

Martha Stewart made some headlines this week for badmouthing her own Netflix documentary Martha, which hit the streamer on October 30th. It’s the latest celeb centered effort from R.J. Cutler, who was also behind Belushi, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, and Disney+’s upcoming Elton John: Never Too Late.

The noted and occasionally notorious TV personality and businesswoman disagrees with critics. The RT meter is at 92% with Metacritic at 69. As has been mentioned plenty of times on this blog, this growing subgenre has to break out in a major way to get the Academy’s attention. I wouldn’t expect that occur with this one. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions – Elton John: Never Too Late

Disney hopes that Elton John: Never Too Late is still standing among the five nominees for Documentary Feature come Oscar nomination time. Chronicling the legendary singer’s swan song concert tour, R.J. Cutler and Elton’s husband David Furnish direct. A November 15th limited theatrical release precedes the December 13th Disney+ streaming launch.

Co-director Cutler is no stranger to the celeb doc genre or awards attention. 1993’s The War Room about Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign was a nominee in the race. He also helmed 2021’s Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry and the upcoming Martha Stewart profile Martha (look for that Oscar Prediction post shortly).

Late started its screenings at the Toronto Film Festival. While mostly fresh, many reviews were far from gushing. The Rotten Tomatoes score is 71%. That’s probably not enough to land it a nomination or even to be on the shortlist.

Where this could pop up is in Original Song where the new track “Never Too Late” (a duet between Elton and Brandi Carlile) reportedly plays over the end credits. The movie’s subject is already a two-time Academy winner for his The Lion King and Rocketman ditties. His star power could get him in contention again though I’ve yet to predict it. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…