More Toronto Film Festival action as Rob Reiner’s LBJ has screened. The biopic of our 36th President casts Woody Harrelson in the title role with Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lady Bird. Other cast members include Richard Jenkins, Bill Pullman, and Jeffrey Donovan as JFK. The pic has yet to secure to a fall 2016 release date, but it will likely get some sort of qualifying awards run before year’s end. It will probably come up fruitless.
LBJ has received decent reviews, but they don’t suggest it will be any sort of player in Picture or Director. Any Oscar chatter for this political drama was more geared toward the performances. Early reviews have suggested Harrelson does a commendable job in the role, even if more than one critic has pointed out a total lack of physical resemblance. Leigh was nominated last year for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and a consecutive nod seems doubtful.
Where LBJ could suffer most in the minds of voters is that it could be looked at as the second best film this year about the man. HBO’s All the Way with Bryan Cranston earned plenty of Emmy nominations. The big screen version of LBJ faces an improbable road to do the same.
It won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Critical raves for it have continued as it’s screened in Toronto. So the time has come to bring up I, Daniel Blake in the Oscar Watch posts.
The pic comes from acclaimed 80 year-old British director Ken Loach and focuses on an Englishman (stand-up comedian Dave Johns) battling the health care system. Blake is said to be the quite the emotional experience with a powerful performance from its lead.
If some of the later fall release don’t pan out, I could see Oscar voters turning their attention to this for consideration. A Best Actor nod for Johns is probably a long shot (even though this particular category isn’t ultra competitive yet like Actress is). However, keep this in mind as a dark horse for Picture and Director.
Twelve years ago, director Terry George’s Hotel Rwanda earned several Oscar nominations, including Actor (Don Cheadle), Supporting Actress (Sophie Okonedo), and Adapted Screenplay. George’s follow-up, 2007’s Reservation Road with Joaquin Phoenix, was a hoped for awards contender that faded away.
His latest effort is The Promise, which focuses on the Armenian genocide and stars Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale. Due to the pedigree involved, it was eyed as potential Academy bait for this season.
The Promise has screened at the Toronto Film Festival to a host of middling reviews and it appears to be a casualty of so-so buzz. The festival season always anoints some big contenders and dilutes others to non-factor status. This appears to be the case here and for Oscar followers, I wouldn’t look for The Promise to grant you any potential nominations in the future.
My Oscar Watch posts will continue as further hopefuls screen up north and elsewhere…
In just over two weeks, Peter Berg’s action packed retelling of the BP drilling rig explosion Deepwater Horizon hits theaters. Festival audiences in Toronto got their sneak peek at it yesterday and early reviews suggest it’s an audience pleaser that is likely to be a big hit.
Horizon teams director Berg with his Lone Survivor star Mark Wahlberg. The supporting cast includes Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, and Dylan O’Brien. Even with its positive critical notices, Horizon is not expected to be any sort of player in the major categories. Mr. Russell was singled out by a couple of writers, but a Supporting Actor nod would be a major surprise.
Where the pic could make an impact is in the two Sound races (Editing and Mixing), just like Lone Survivor did with its nominations. Visual effects is a possibility, but it’ll have a lot more competition in that particular category. The film’s large $156 million budget is said to contribute to it sounding and looking pretty amazing and voters could reward it in these technical competitions.
Much attention has been paid on this blog to the Best Actress race at the 2016 Oscars and deservedly so as it figures to be the most competitive it’s been in some time. Yet there’s another category that’ll be fun to watch. This year has been a banner one for animated features. In some years, it’s a bit of a challenge to think of five worthy of inclusion. In 2016, it’ll be fascinating to see what’s left out.
Two contenders have an odd thing in common: Matthew McConaughey. The 2013 Best Actor winner for DallasBuyersClub has his voice featured in both KuboandtheTwoStrings and Sing, which has screened in Toronto and will be out statewide in time for Christmas. Animated McConaughey has, in fact, had a much stronger year than the Lincoln Lawyer in human form. His summer Civil War drama FreeStateofJones was a critical and commercial flop. Late last month, he starred in Gus Van Sant’s drama TheSeaofTrees. It also received scorn from reviewers and has grossed a truly embarrassing $20,000 in its limited release. Perhaps this December’s Gold will turn things around for him.
Back to his cartoon version. Kubo opened last month to decent box office numbers (it’s made $40 million domestically thus far). Critics went wild for it though and its RT score stands at 97%. Though there’s other animated material that will gross far more than it, its inclusion for a nomination looks solid.
One of those movies that’ll probably far outgross it is Sing. The 3D computer animated musical comes from the company behind the DespicableMe franchise. In addition to McConaughey, it feature the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Seth MacFarlane, and John C. Reilly. Early reaction from Toronto is positive and suggests it’ll be a major holiday hit.
Yet its chances at an Animated Feature nod appear murkier due to the aforementioned heavy competition. Let’s briefly run the rest of the contenders down. There’s Disney’s spring juggernaut Zootopia. It’s in. There’s Disney’s Moana, their November offering from the team behind TheLittleMermaid and Aladdin. Most prognosticators, including myself, are reserving a slot for it. The foreign title TheRedTurtle opened to raves at Cannes. Japanese entry MissHokusai looks to be a factor. And there’s mega-hits like FindingDory and TheSecretLifeofPets to think about. Finally, how about SausageParty?
All in all, this is one of the most exciting races to follow in 2016 and who knew the stoner guy from DazedandConfused would be right in the thick of it?
The Oscar Watch posts continue as the Toronto Film Festival does with Denial, a true-life legal drama pitting a historian (Rachel Weisz) against a Holocaust denier (Timothy Spall). Mick Jackson directs and he’s had quite the varied career that includes the 1992 blockbuster The Bodyguard, in addition to flops like 1994’s Dana Carvey comedy Clean Slate and 1997 disaster pic Volcano. He’s found greater success on TV recently, like with 2010’s Temple Grandin.
Early festival reviews are mostly positive, but not to the level where I expect Best Picture or Director attention. In a year where the Best Actress was less competitive (and there’s been those in recent years), previous winner Weisz may stand a chance at recognition. I don’t expect that to be the case in 2016 where several performances already seem to be in contention. They include Emma Stone (La La Land), Amy Adams (Nocturnal Animals or Arrival), Ruth Negga (Loving), and Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins). And we still have Viola Davis (Fences) and Annette Bening (20th Century Women) out there for their pics to screen. In other words, it may be too crowded.
Timothy Spall may be another story if Bleecker Street chooses to mount a Supporting campaign for him. The well-respected British actor has yet to receive an Oscar nomination, even though many thought he should have gotten one two years ago for Mr. Turner. If the Supporting Actor race doesn’t get too crowded, he could be a factor.
Director J.A. Bayona’s name may not be too familiar yet with the moviegoing public. At least not yet. His two previous movies were acclaimed 2007 horror pic TheOrphanage and 2012’s Tsunami drama TheImpossible, which earned Naomi Watts a Best Actress nomination. His name ID will surely increase soon as he’s about to take on the sequel to last summer’s biggest blockbuster, JurassicWorld. Or perhaps even sooner with AMonsterCalls, his fantasy tearjerker which opens December 23rd statewide and screened at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend.
It’s been reported that Monster received a rapturous audience ovation after its premiere. Based on a 2011 bestseller by its author Patrick Ness, the film stars Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, newcomer Lewis MacDougall, and the voice of Liam Neeson as the calling title character. Buzz from Toronto suggests this is a weepie crowd pleaser that deals with serious themes such as parental loss coupled with more fantastical elements.
Not all critics seemed to fall for it with some calling it heavy handed. However, if Monster can break through at the box office, it could find itself with some Oscar talk in Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay. Certain technical category nods seem more likely. And Felicity Jones is said to be a highlight. She’s the It Girl of Fall 2016, appearing in this, Inferno alongside Tom Hanks, and headlining a little something called RogueOne: AStarWarsStory. Her inclusion in Supporting Actress for this one is not out of the question.
As Toronto continues, look for more Oscar Watch posts.
Amma Asante’s interracial romantic drama AUnitedKingdom has screened at the Toronto Film Festival over the weekend. The pic tells the true life story of the relationship between an African prince (David Oyelowo) and a London woman (Rosamund Pike) some seven decades ago.
Initial critical reaction has mostly been positive, but not to the level where Academy attention seems realistic. The lead performers have been on the radar screen of Oscar voters just two years ago when Pike nabbed a nomination for GoneGirl and Oyelowo surprisingly missed out on a nod for Selma.
If Kingdom somehow breaks through at the box office, the dynamic could change. However, that looks doubtful at this juncture. In fact, awards voters are far more likely to turn their attention to Jeff Nichols’ Loving, another mixed race drama that has received more buzz.
My Oscar Watch posts will continue as more Toronto hopefuls screen…
Over the weekend, the Toronto Film Festival screenings have dampened the hopes of some pictures to garner Oscar attention, most notably Ewan McGregor’s AmericanPastoral and Oliver Stone’s Snowden. Yet they can bolster the chances of others and that appears to be the case with Lion.
The pic tells the true life tale of a young Indian boy who is separated from his family in the mid 1980s and uses the resources of Google Earth to relocate them 25 years later. First time director Garth Davis is behind the camera and the film is produced by the Weinstein Company, whose founder Harvey has a knack for Oscar campaigning. Due to the participation of its lead Dev Patel and the geographic location, some early reviews have drawn comparisons to Danny Boyle’s SlumdogMillionaire, which won the big prize eight years ago.
While not all critical notices have been raves, Lion has been singled out as an inspiring crowd pleaser that the Academy could warm to. A Best Picture nod seems in reach and that could extend to Davis and Luke Davies for his Adapted Screenplay. As for the performers, Patel seems most likely to receive recognition. It isn’t 100% certain whether he will be campaigned for in lead Actor or Supporting. If he goes lead, there’s a chance that young Sunny Pawar (playing Patel’s character during the first hour) could get some buzz. Rooney Mara and especially Nicole Kidman could be factors in Supporting Actress.
Oliver Stone has won two Best Director Oscars for 1986’s Platoon and 1989’s BornontheFourthofJuly. He’s received little love from the Academy for the past two decades and his new true life political thriller Snowden hits screen next weekend.
It screened at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend. The verdict? Look for the lack of Oscar attention to continue. Some reviews marked it as a return to form for Mr. Stone, but others weren’t impressed. The tale of CIA analyst Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon Levitt) had originally been scheduled to open late last year before being delayed.
The buzz is muted enough that I don’t expect any nominations for it, including its director, lead, and supporting cast that includes Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Tom Wilkinson, Zachary Quinto, and Nicolas Cage.
As the Toronto Festival rolls along, so will my Oscar Watch posts.
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