Over the weekend, the dramedy Blindspotting opened in limited fashion to solid results and will expand this coming weekend. The pic debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to acclaim and it stands at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Blindspotting has received attention due its subject matter of racial issues and police brutality. Daveed Diggs (best known for Broadway’s Hamilton and a supporting role in last year’s hit Wonder) costars and co-wrote the screenplay with fellow star Rafael Casal. Carlos Lopez Estrada, who’s made numerous music videos, makes his directorial debut.
Blindspotting debuts in the middle of two other titles with similar themes and Oscar hopes. Sorry to Bother You is another candidate for attention with Spike Lee’s upcoming August release BlacKkKlansman on the horizon.
The best hope for Blindspotting, like Bother You, is in Original Screenplay but it could see itself having trouble breaking through.
It’s been a summer full of documentaries that could receive attention come Oscar time and we can add another one in the mix with McQueen. The picture focuses on the life of the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who took his own life in 2010.
Reviews have been quite strong and it stands at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. That said, it stands behind at least two other docs from this season when it comes to a nomination possibility. Those would be Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and RBG and we also have Three Identical Strangers and Whitney out there. I’d say McQueen is probably above Whitney, but let’s not forget we’ve got an entire autumn full of possibilities waiting as well.
Bottom line: McQueen is in the mix for consideration, but competition is steep.
The coming-of-age dramedy Eighth Grade checked into theaters this weekend in limited fashion and scored a sizzling per screen average. The film marks the directorial debut of comedian Bo Burnham, who debuted it at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Grade achieved raves and its Rotten Tomatoes rating stands at 99%.
Could Academy voters be ready to turn to this genre so soon after Lady Bird received multiple nods last year? Or will this play out like 2016’s acclaimed The Edge of Seventeen, which ended up with zero nods? My gut says the latter – unless this really manages to pick up steam as the months roll along. The film’s 15-year-old star Elsie Fisher is being noticed, but competition is likely to be steep.
The pic’s best chance could be in Original Screenplay category for Burnham, though it remains to be seen how crowded that race turns out to be.
For 22 years now, the Mission: Impossible franchise has been a sturdy and profitable one for its star Tom Cruise. Two weeks from now, the sixth picture in the series Mission: Impossible – Fallout hits theaters stateside. Early reviews have been quite impressive with some critics hailing it as the best movie of the bunch so far. One prominent critic went as far to say it’s the best action flick since Mad Max: Fury Road. The Rotten Tomatoes score stands at 96%.
In case you forgot, Fury Road got itself a Best Picture nomination. That seems highly unlikely for Fallout, but it’s fair to speculate whether voters will choose to honor it in any way. If they do, it would probably be in a technical category or two with Sound Editing and Sound Mixing being the most obvious. Fallout is being hailed for its amazing action sequences (if there was an Oscar category for Best Stunts, that race could be a wrap).
Of the five Mission‘s that have preceded this, they have a collective Oscar nod count of zero. Just that fact makes it a long shot that part 6 receives any attention. However, if some of the tech category voters want to throw it a bone, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Amidst the comic book and animated sequels of the summer, this season has seen a rather surprising share of documentaries bringing in box office bucks. Over the weekend, ThreeIdenticalStrangers performed well in limited fashion. The doc tells the tale of three twins separated at birth and there’s apparently a host of twists and turns that go along with that. It stands at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Like other solid performing docs premiering in the past month or so, Strangers debuted at a film festival and garnered critical acclaim months before its release. Both Won’tYouBeMyNeighbor? and RBG opened at Sundance and so did this.
At this juncture, I’d say Neighbor and RBG stand stronger chances at recognition come Oscar nomination time for Best Documentary Feature. Yet I wouldn’t discount this at all. We may look back at the five nominees a few months from now and recognize that the summer was the hot season for them.
There’s been some high-profile documentaries as of late focused on high-profile people. This Friday, that trend continues with the release of Whitney. It covers the life of the late Whitney Houston and is directed by Kevin Macdonald. He’s known for making fictional efforts such as TheLastKingofScotland and StateofPlay, as well as critically heralded docs TouchingtheVoid and Marley (which covered another legendary musician).
Whitney screened in May at the Cannes Film Festival to positive notices (the Rotten Tomatoes score is at 90% right now). In order for it to be noticed by Oscar voters, it would need to get on equal footing with other recent acclaimed docs like RBG and Won’tYouBeMyNeighbor?
This could be a challenge. My feeling is that Whitney may have trouble making the short list come nomination time as voters may save their love for other entries.
This Friday, the satire SorrytoBotherYou debuts in limited release after receiving many raves at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The pic is written and directed by hip hop musician Boots Riley with a cast led by Lakeith Stanfield (best known for TV’s “Atlanta” and last year’s GetOut), Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Danny Glover, and Armie Hammer.
Bother has the potential to be a sleeper this summer. As mentioned, reviews are strong and it stands at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Could Oscar voters notice it? It could be a long shot but Stanfield and Hammer in particular were acknowledged by critics. Many feel the latter was slighted last year for his supporting work in CallMebyYourName.
Where the film could stand a legitimate chance for a nod could be in Original Screenplay- an award Jordan Peele won months ago for GetOut.
Eight years ago, director Debra Granik had a breakout success with Winter’sBone. The drama set in the Ozarks was a critical darling that earned four Oscar nominations: Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor for John Hawkes, and Actress for an unknown at the time by the name of Jennifer Lawrence.
There’s been a lengthy break between projects for Granik and her latest just hit theaters in limited fashion over the weekend. LeaveNoTrace tells the tale of a veteran (Ben Foster) with PTSD raising a teenage daughter (Thomasin McKenzie). It premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival to similar acclaim that Bone received. With over 90 reviews on record, the Rotten Tomatoes score is 100%.
Could the Academy take notice of Trace? It could be a long shot, but I wouldn’t discount the possibility. Critics have particularly praised McKenzie here and if Bleecker Street mounts a campaign for Actress or (more likely) Supporting Actress, she could be another relative unknown whose work is acknowledged under Granik’s direction.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom isn’t the only high-profile sequel to a 2015 release coming to a theater near you this month. Sicario: Day of the Soldado follows up on the critically acclaimed Denis Villeneuve crime drama that garnered three Oscar nominations in that year. Soldado debuts a week from tomorrow and reviews are already out.
The verdict? Somewhat mixed as it stands at 65% on Rotten Tomatoes at press time. That’s a pretty far cry from the 93% that its predecessor earned. Interestingly, I’ve seen at least two critical reactions that compare it to Rambo: First Blood Part II. Go figure. Even with its great buzz from reviewers, 2015’s Sicario missed out on the big nominations, including Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Benicio del Toro for Supporting Actor. The pic did receive nods for the Cinematography of Roger Deakins, the late Johann Johannsson’s Score, and Sound Editing. Deakins does not return here and he finally won a long deserved statue for last year’s Blade Runner 2049. Villeneuve was busy with 2049 as well and Stefano Sollima takes over directorial duties here.
Bottom line: the Soldado reaction leaves it as an extreme long-shot for any recognition, while part 1 found itself more in the mix.
This should come as no surprise, but reviews out today for Incredibles 2 (out Friday) are pretty encouraging. The sequel from Pixar/Disney arrives 14 years after the original, which stands as one of the vaunted studio’s high marks. The current Rotten Tomatoes score for part 2 stands at 97%.
As I would with any Pixar offering, we turn to its Oscar viability and that takes us on a trip down memory lane. The Best Animated Feature category at the Academy Awards has been around since 2001. That means the first three Pixar tales (Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2) existed in a time when the category did not. I would say all three would have been nominated had the race been around (and the Toy stories likely both would have been victorious).
Since 2001, Pixar pics have won 9 times and they are as follows:
2003: Finding Nemo
2004: The Incredibles
2007: Ratatouille
2008: Wall-E
2009: Up
2010: Toy Story 3
2012: Brave
2015: Inside Out
2017: Coco
There have been two occasions where a Pixar movie was nominated and lost. In 2001, Monsters Inc. couldn’t get over Shrek. In 2006, Happy Feet took the prize over Cars.
Five Pixar features have failed to garner a nomination. Four were sequels. The only outlier is 2015’s The Good Dinosaur. The others:
2011: Cars 2
2013: Monsters University
2016: Finding Dory
2017: Cars 3
Which brings us back to Incredibles 2. So where does this stand? Note that this sequel is the only one to a predecessor that won before. And seeing that early reviews are overwhelmingly glowing (even though some say it doesn’t match #1), I’ll predict this Pixar sequels makes the final five come next year. The director, Brad Bird, is also responsible for two of the Pixar statues (The Incredibles and Ratatouille). There will certainly be competition (Isle of Dogs was already released and seems assured a spot) and its possibility to win is still a giant question mark. Yet these superheroes seem primed for a return engagement down the red carpet.
