Tag: oscars

Oscar Watch: Southside with You

There’s a movie opening in limited release this weekend being a touted as a breezy and pleasant romance featuring two young professionals on their first date in 1989. It’s called Southside with You and you may have heard of the subjects that the date covers. Their names are Barack and Michelle Obama.

The pic comes from writer/director Richard Tanne and was made for a reportedly tiny $1.5 million. Unknown Parker Sawyers plays young Barack with Tika Sumpter (best known for playing Kevin Hart’s love interest in the Ride Along flicks) as Michelle. Southside premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to positive notices and it currently stands at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

While the reviews are just fine, they’re likely not strong enough to garner serious Oscar attention. Sumpter is being singled out for her work, but it would be pretty surprising to see her vault into the Best Actress conversation. Perhaps Tanne is an outside contender for Original Screenplay, though it’s probably a long shot.

SPOILER ALERT: if you want to avoid knowing what happened with this couple after their first date, it’s my hope you’ve literally been living under a rock for about 12 years.

Oscar Watch: Mr. Church

It’s been nearly five years since comedic legend Eddie Murphy has appeared on the silver screen and the majority of his last few features have been underwhelming family box office duds. Imagine That, anyone? A Thousand Words?

Mr. Murphy goes for a change of pace this fall with the low-budget drama Mr. Church, opening September 16. Set in the 1970s, it stars Britt Robertson as a young girl who meets the title character (Murphy) and he finds ways to positively impact her life. Bruce Beresford, who made 1989’s Best Picture winner Driving Miss Daisy, directs.

You may recall that a decade ago, Murphy received accolades for another serious turn in Dreamgirls. That picture vaulted him as the favorite to win Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, but he came up empty-handed when Alan Arkin took the prize for Little Miss Sunshine.

Church screened at the TriBeca Film Festival this past spring. Early reviews are not encouraging as it stands at just 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. So why am I even bringing this title up for Oscar Watch? Even the negative notices praised the work of its star (effusively in some cases) and there could still be some lingering regret from Academy voters for not recognizing him in 2006. It’s likely that this film will come and go too fast to pick up traction for Murphy to get a Best Actor nod. Yet it’s not outside of the realm of possibility.

Oscar Watch: Hell or High Water

You may not be aware, but one of 2016’s best reviewed pictures came out in limited release  this weekend with Hell or High Water. The modern day Western/heist thriller debuted at the Cannes Film Festival a few months back to positive buzz and further critical reaction has solidified its reputation. Directed by David Mackenzie and starring Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, and Ben Foster, it stands at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Hell’s biggest hurdle could be breaking out with audiences and being widely known enough to garner attention from Oscar voters. It’s probably on the outside looking in, but if its admirers and CBS Films mount a campaign, who knows? I would say its best shot at Academy attention won’t be the film, director, or performers – but screenwriter Taylor Sheridan in Original Screenplay. This is his second acclaimed script in as many years as he penned 2015’s Sicario.

Bottom line: Hell or High Water has an uphill climb for nominations, but it’s got better than a snowball’s chance.

Oscar Watch: The Infiltrator

On July 13, The Infiltrator hits theaters and reviews for the 1980s set true life drug tale began surfacing this week. The pic tells the story of a U.S. customs agent who goes undercover in Pablo Escobar’s massive drug empire. Bryan Cranston plays the title character. Brad Furman (who made The Lincoln Lawyer) directs and costars include Diane Kruger, Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo, and Amy Ryan.

Reviews have been mostly positive – yet it stands little chance at recognition for Best Picture or for any of its supporting players. Where it could infiltrate Oscar voting is in Best Actor and, if so, it would be Cranston’s second nomination in a row. In 2015, the Breaking Bad performer received his first nod for Trumbo, despite some mixed reviews and weak box office.

Critics have been quick to point out that Cranston’s work here is the brightest spot. It also may not hurt that the actor should receive Emmy attention for his role as President Lyndon Johnson in All the Way.

We’ll see how the Actor race plays out into the fall, but Cranston could be one to watch as The Infiltrator is released in a week and a half.

 

Oscar Watch: Finding Dory

When it come to their movies getting nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, Pixar is in a class by itself. This specific category was created in 2001. Of the 15 pictures that have won, 8 have come from Pixar. They include 2004’s The Incredibles, 2007’s Ratatouille, 2008’s Wall-E, 2009’s Up, 2010’s Toy Story 3, 2012’s Brave, and 2015’s Inside Out.

And the first Pixar pic to claim the prize? 2003’s Finding Nemo and its long in the works sequel Finding Dory is out Friday. Will Dory become the 9th studio entry to take home the gold statue? After all, it has a glowing 94% Rotten Tomatoes score and could be the summer’s biggest hit.

Well… Not so fast. It’s also worth noting that in 2013 and 2014, two traditional Disney animated flicks took the Oscar with Frozen and Big Hero 6. While Finding Dory will unquestionably score a nomination, its main competition appears now to be Zootopia. That Disney animated traditional title, released in March, became a box office phenomenon itself (a billion worldwide) and holds an even better 98% RT rating. I would maintain that the animals of Zootopia currently hold the edge, with Dory swimming a bit behind it.

 

Oscar Watch: Love & Friendship

In 1990, writer/director Whit Stillman had a major critical success with Metropolitan that led to a Best Original Screenplay for him at the Oscars. Over a quarter century later, Mr. Stillman could find himself on the Academy’s radar screen again with Love & Friendship. The romantic comedy is based on the book Lady Susan by Jane Austen. Starring Kate Beckinsale, Chloe Sevigny and Stephen Fry, the film holds a 99% Rotten Tomatoes rating and has grossed over $4 million domestically on less than 500 screens.

If its box office grosses continue to hold well over the next few weeks, Oscar voters may take notice. None of the actors are likely to be factors for nods. Truth be told, this is probably a long shot for attention. Still – 2016 has yet to produce many awards contenders and Love & Friendship is at least worthy of mention.

Oscar Watch: Hands of Stone

Having premiered at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday, the boxing biopic Hands of Stone hopes to be the next film in that genre to garner Oscar attention, much like Rocky, Raging Bull, and The Fighter before it.

The pic focuses on the legendary Roberto Duran, played here by Edgar Ramirez and casts Robert De Niro as his trainer Ray Arcel. Of course, Mr. De Niro won his only lead Actor gold statue for his lauded role as Jake La Motta in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull in 1980 and he would competing here for Supporting Actor.

Hmmm. A legendary actor with an acclaimed pugilist picture to his credit maybe making a return to the Red Carpet? Sounds a bit like last year when Sylvester Stallone was nominated for Supporting Actor for Creed and surprisingly lost to Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies. In order for Hands of Stone to receive serious Academy attention for the big race (Picture), it would’ve needed even better reviews than Creed. While early reviews are fairly solid, that didn’t happen and you can pretty much count out that possibility. Same goes for Ramirez in Actor.

As for De Niro, the Weinstein Company (who are no slouches at awards campaigning) may pull out all the stops for their actor being recognized. It’s unlikely to occur, however. The great story with Stallone was the near 40 year lay-off between nominations and the connection with him playing the same role being recognized so many decades apart. De Niro, on the other hand, was just nominated four years ago for his work in Silver Linings Playbook. 

While Hands of Stone (being released domestically on August 26) could be a mid-size hit come late summer, Cannes has shown it’s improbable that it’ll be on the minds of Academy voters.

 

Oscar Watch: Loving

loving

Earlier this year, I wrote an Oscar Watch post for the Jeff Nichols sci-fi drama Midnight Special, which premiered to mostly positive feedback at the Berlin Film Festival. Yet since then – it was released to soft box office numbers and its awards prospects have considerably dimmed.

Nichols, director of acclaimed pics such as Take Shelter and Mud, may have another Oscar ace up his sleeve though as Special is not his only 2016 feature. His 1950s set interracial romance Loving has just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and early word is encouraging. Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga star as a Virginia couple whose marital union was illegal at the time. Both performances are garnering strong notices and it’s possible that both could find themselves factors in the Actor and Actress categories. Frequent Nichols collaborator Michael Shannon has a supporting role that’s said to be too small for any legit chance in Supporting Actor.

Helping even further, Focus Features has set a U.S. release date of November 4, right in the heart of Oscar season. If Loving is able to break through with audiences in the way it’s currently doing with the festival crowd overseas, it could find itself receiving Academy love in the Picture and Director races, too. Time will tell.

Oscar Watch: Florence Foster Jenkins

When Meryl Streep is starring in any movie, it’s automatic for Oscar prognosticators to take notice. Such is the case with Florence Foster Jenkins, the comedic drama biopic of an opera singer known for her awful voice. Streep is the title character.

The pic, directed by The Queen’s Stephen Frears and co-starring Hugh Grant, will be released in the United Kingdom in early May but won’t get its domestic release until late August. So while American audiences will have to wait awhile, critics have not. Early word is quite positive and Streep has once again been singled out for her work. It’s also said the be quite a crowd pleaser and that could only increase the likelihood that its star receives her 20th — yes, 20th — Oscar nod.

Oscar Watch: The Jungle Book

Disney has been on a binge remaking their animated classics as of late with 2014’s Maleficent and 2015’s Cinderella. Both were huge hits. This looks to extend to 2016 when Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book opens Friday.

That this remake of the 1967 animated tale and Rudyard Kipling’s written works is headed for box office domination isn’t so surprising. What is a bit surprising is the rapturous critical reaction Jungle has garnered. It sits at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes at press time.

This begs the question: could The Jungle Book swing its way into the hearts of Oscar voters? It’s only April, but the overall gushing reaction can’t hurt. Obviously we’re early in the Academy season to say the least. And truth be told, Book probably won’t find itself among the five to ten pics recognized.

Where might it get more attention for a gold statue nod? Well, critics have been over the moon on its visual effects. While plenty more summer blockbusters and some fall releases will be strong contenders in that race, early Jungle notices could make it hard to ignore.