Tag: oscars

Oscar Watch: Gone Girl

There was never a question as to whether David Fincher’s adaptation of the massive bestselling Gillian Flynn novel Gone Girl would generate tons of publicity. However, it’s definitely been more of an open question whether the film would generate Oscar buzz. That question appears to have been answered as the first reviews have been released ahead of its October 3rd debut.

And Gone Girl looks like a contender. Both Variety and Entertainment Weekly have given it rave reviews. Most importantly, it’s been noted that lovers of the novel (and there are many) will dig this adaptation. That means the picture is likely to be a huge box office performer and that certainly won’t hurt its awards talk.

Director Fincher is one of the finest filmmakers working today. His resume boasts Seven, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Yet only two of his efforts have received Best Picture nominations – 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and 2010’s The Social Network. His latest could be his third and nab him his personal third Directing nod.

As for the actors, I’ve maintained for some time that Rosamund Pike is poised to receive a Best Actress nomination as Amy Dunne and it would be surprising at this juncture if she doesn’t. As for Ben Affleck in the Best Actor race, that’s a little more tricky due to it being an incredibly competitive category. Right now, there appears to be four “shoo-ins” for Best Actor recognition: Steve Carell in Foxcatcher, Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game, Michael Keaton in Birdman, and Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything. That leaves just one slot open and there are plenty of other names that could fill it. I would say Affleck is currently a long shot, even though critics are lauding his work.

In my initial round of Oscar predictions a couple of weeks ago, I included Pike but left off the movie and its director in their categories. That may very well change when round #2 is posted in a couple of weeks.

Oscar Watch: The Theory of Everything

From the Venice to Telluride to Cannes to Toronto Film Festivals – we’ve seen a great number of Oscar hopefuls screen already that could easily be contenders at the end of the year. I’ve written about many of them – Foxcatcher. Boyhood. The Imitation Game. Birdman. This evening, I add James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything to the growing list.

This true story is based on Jane Hawking’s book. She is the now ex-wife of noted physicist Stephen Hawking and the film tells the tale of their romance and marriage. The couple is played by Eddie Redmayne (from Les Miserables) and Felicity Jones. Both performers are receiving considerable Oscar buzz for their roles.

Redmayne enters an already highly competitive and crowded field for Best Actor. Already – Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), and Michael Keaton (Birdman) appear shoo-ins for nominations. Based on reviews and festival reaction, so does Mr. Redmayne. The problem is there’s only five nominees and other contenders haven’t even been screened yet. Nevertheless, pencil his work in for a nod.

It isn’t totally clear whether Jones will be touted by the studio in the Actress or Supporting Actress category. The latter seems more probable. Either way- count on her being nominated.

Audience reaction at the Toronto Film Festival indicates it’s a crowd pleaser and, as of now, a Best Picture nomination seems more likely than not. It’s a bit tougher to gage whether Marsh will be recognized and we’ll have to see how the Director race plays out over time.

As always, I’ll be updating Academy Award possibilities as they come!

 

Oscar History: 2007

Tonight on the blog – we review the Oscars from 2007, continuing with my series of Oscar History posts. 2007 was a year in which the brilliant Coen Brothers finally received some Academy love. Their critically lauded No Country for Old Men won Best Picture and earned the twosome the Best Director prize. It’s hard to argue with the Academy’s choice of this terrific pic for the top prize.

In my view, There Will Be Blood would’ve been another deserving recipient and it was nominated for Best Picture, along with Joe Wright’s Atonement, Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton, and Jason Reitman’s Juno. I likely would’ve left Atonement and Juno off the list and considered David Fincher’s meticulously crafted Zodiac and/or Ridley Scott’s American Gangster.

A running theme of my Oscar posts has been the Academy’s consistent lack of comedy inclusion and, for me, the genre’s 2007 highlight was Superbad, one of the finest raunch-fests in quite some time.

I was also a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s ode to B movies, Grindhouse.

There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson was included in the Best Director race along with Gilroy and Reitman. Atonement director Joe Wright was the lone director left out whose film was nominated and Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a bit of a surprise nominee. As mentioned, they all lost to the Coens. I would have certainly included Fincher’s work in Zodiac.

The Best Actor race was over as soon as Daniel Day-Lewis’s work in There Will Be Blood was seen and it would mark his second win after being honored for My Left Foot eighteen years earlier. Other nominees (who truly can say it was just an honor to be nominated after Day-Lewis’s tour de force): George Clooney in Michael Clayton, Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd, Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah, and Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises.

Nobody plays a calculating bad guy better than Denzel Washington and I probably would have found room for him with his turn in American Gangster.

In the Best Actress race, Marion Cotillard would win for La Vie En Rose – beating out Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Laura Linney (The Savages), and Ellen Page (Juno).

Leaving out Keira Knightley’s work in Atonement was a surprise. For my dark horse contender, Christina Ricci’s fearless work in Black Snake Moan might’ve made my cut.

Like the Best Actor category, the Supporting Actor race was over when audiences and critics saw Javier Bardem’s amazing performance in No Country for Old Men. Other nominees: Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War, Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild, and Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton.

Paul Dano’s performance in There Will Be Blood certainly should’ve been acknowledged here. Two others to consider: Robert Downey Jr.’s work as a boozy reporter in Zodiac and Kurt Russell’s hilarious and sadistic role in Grindhouse.

The Supporting Actress race belonged to Tilda Swinton as a ruthless attorney in Michael Clayton. She would win over double nominee Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There, Ruby Dee for American Gangster, Saoirse Ronan in Atonement, and Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone.

I would’ve included Kelly MacDonald as Josh Brolin’s wife in No Country for Old Men.

And there’s my take on the ’07 Oscars, my friends! I’ll have 2008 posted soon.

Oscar Watch: Bill Murray in St. Vincent

The Toronto Film Festival kicked off two days ago and you can expect the Oscar picture will become a bit clearer once some of the heavyweights are screened over the next few days.

One such picture is St. Vincent, which debuted last night as part of Bill Murray Day at the festival. For movie lovers, though, isn’t everyday Bill Murray Day??

Reaction to the pic has been quite positive, though its reviews suggest it could have an uphill battle to be recognized in the Best Picture race. On the other hand, Mr. Murray could be in position to receive his second Best Actor nomination, eleven years after his first for Lost in Translation. There’s already stiff competition – as Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Michael Keaton (Birdman), and Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) also seem to be likely nominees with several other actors films having not yet screened.

Still, Murray is a living legend and if St. Vincent connects with audiences, he could certainly be in the running. St. Vincent opens domestically on October 24.

Todd’s Early Oscar Predictions: Best Picture

We’ve reached the last day for my first round of Oscar predictions and that means we’ve arrived at the biggest category of them all – Best Picture! If you missed my other five posts covering Director and all four acting races, you can find them here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/09/02/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-director/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/09/01/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-actor/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/31/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-actress/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/30/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-supporting-actor/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/29/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-supporting-actress/

Since 2011, the Best Picture race is the only category where there can be more than five nominees and it can range anywhere between 5-10. In each of the three years since the system was put in place, there have been nine nominated films. I’m going against the trend (call it a gut feeling, subject change) and predicting the magic number will be eight in 2014. And with that, my first predictions for Best Picture, with other possible nominees listed after:

Todd’s Early Predictions for Best Picture

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Imitation Game

Interstellar

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Unbroken

 

Other Possibilities:

American Sniper

Big Eyes

Fury

Gone Girl

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Inherent Vice

Into the Woods

Men, Women, and Children

A Most Violent Year

Mr. Turner

Wild

Todd’s Early Oscar Predictions: Best Actor

Day 4 is here with my initial round of Oscar predictions and we’re at Best Actor. Interestingly, the seventeen actors I have listed as possibilities have never won the award previously. As with the other categories, I am listing my five predicted nominees along with others who could find themselves in the mix. To peruse my other posts covering the Supporting races and Actress, you can find them here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/31/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-actress/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/30/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-supporting-actor/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/29/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-supporting-actress/

When I did my first estimates for 2013, it yielded only two of the five eventual nominees including winner Matthew McConaughey. Let’s get to it:

Todd’s Early Predictions for Best Actor

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher

Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game

Michael Keaton, Birdman

Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice

Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

 

Other Possibilities:

Ben Affleck, Gone Girl

Chadwick Boseman, Get On Up

Bradley Cooper, American Sniper

Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Jake Gyllenhall, Nightcrawler

Oscar Isaac, A Most Violent Year

Bill Murray, St. Vincent

Jack O’Connell, Unbroken

David Oyelowo, Selma

Brad Pitt, Fury

Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner

Channing Tatum, Foxcatcher

We’ll get to Best Director tomorrow and Picture on Wednesday!

Oscar Watch: The Imitation Game

Another day, another potential Oscar contender to discuss on the blog. This time it’s The Imitation Game from the Weinstein Company, which had its world premiere this weekend at the Telluride Film Festival and opens domestically November 21. The film is a biopic of Alan Turing, known for cracking Nazi codes during World War II and, based on early buzz, the man playing Turing is receiving the most awards talk.

That would be Benedict Cumberbatch, best known to viewers as TV’s “Sherlock” and pictures including Star Trek Into Darkness and 12 Years a Slave. He has yet to receive an Oscar nomination, though it could certainly change based on initial reviews of his work here. Cumberbatch joins a Best Actor race that already seems ultra competitive (just like last year) and I’ll have my first predictions in that race on the blog tomorrow.

The Imitation Game could potentially be a player in the Picture, Director (Morten Tyldum), and Supporting Actress (Keira Knightley) categories. The Weinstein studio is better than any other at generating Oscar buzz for their works. Yet Telluride gave the biggest boost to Cumberbatch and he’s a likely name to be seen when nominations are announced early next year.

Todd’s Early Oscar Predictions: Best Actress

Today we’ve arrived at day 3 of my first round of Oscar predictions and that means Best Actress is on deck. If you missed my early calls for the Supporting categories, you can read them here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/30/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-supporting-actor/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/29/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-supporting-actress/

We’ll get to Actor, Director, and Picture soon enough – but for now, here’s my list of my current Actress predictions with other possibilities also listed. In my original Actress predictions in 2013, I yielded four of the five eventual nominees, so we’ll see if that holds true here, too!

Let’s get to it!

Todd’s Early Predictions for Best Actress

Amy Adams, Big Eyes

Jessica Chastain, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby

Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Reese Witherspoon, Wild

 

Other Possibilities:

Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year

Julianne Moore, Map to the Stars

Hilary Swank, The Homesman

Mia Wasikowska, Tracks

Shailene Woodley, The Fault In Our Stars

Best Actor will be up tomorrow!

Oscar Watch: Wild

Last year, Jean-Marc Vallee directed two actors to Oscar wins – Matthew McConaughey for Actor and Jared Leto for Supporting Actor in Dallas Buyer’s Club. In 2014, history could repeat itself with the difference being Vallee potentially helming two actresses to Academy glory. The film is Wild and the actresses are Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. Wild tells the true story of a woman who hikes the over thousand mile Pacific Coast Trail by herself.

The picture recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and it opens domestically December 5. Early reviews are very positive, especially for Witherspoon. As you may recall, she won Best Actress some nine years ago in Walk the Line. Since then, decent roles for Reese have been few and far between and Wild is likely to be considered a comeback movie (something Hollywood loves).

Based on early buzz, it’s hard to imagine Witherspoon not being nominated in the Actress category. Whether or not Wild gets recognized for Picture, Director, or Dern’s lauded work in the Supporting Actress race remains to be seen. Yet the pic’s festival debut has definitely given us our first nearly surefire name for Best Actress.

Todd’s Early Oscar Predictions: Best Supporting Actor

We’ve arrived at Day #2 of my first Oscar predictions covering the films of 2014. If you missed my post yesterday on Best Supporting Actress, you may find it here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/08/29/todds-early-oscar-predictions-best-supporting-actress/

For round 1 of my predictions, I’m just listing my current five predictions, along with other possibilities in races that are just beginning to take shape. Let’s get to Best Supporting Actor, shall we? I will note that my inaugural 2013 picks done around the same time last year correctly yielded 2 of the 5 eventual nominees.

Todd’s Early Predictions for Best Supporting Actor

Domhall Gleeson, Unbroken

Logan Lerman, Fury

Edward Norton, Birdman

Tim Roth, Selma

Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher

 

Other Possibilities:

Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice

Albert Brooks, A Most Violent Year

Benicio del Toro, Inherent Vice

Johnny Depp, Into the Woods

Robert Duvall, The Judge

Matthew Goode, Men, Women, and Children

Neil Patrick Harris, Gone Girl

Ethan Hawke, Boyhood

John Lithgow, Love is Strange

Adam Sandler, Men, Women, and Children

J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes

Tom Wilkinson, Selma

We’ll get to Best Actress tomorrow!