Tag: Toronto Film Festival

Oscar Watch: American Pastoral

The Toronto Film Festival, arriving just days after Venice and Telluride, will continue to shape this year’s Oscar race. Entries of past years have gone onto see numerous nominations. Just last year, half of the eventual Best Picture nominees played up north including the winner Spotlight. And there were a number of films that featured acting nominees.

My Oscar Watch coverage of Toronto begins with American Pastoral, Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut based on Philip Roth’s crime drama novel. It’s been on the radar screen of awards prognosticators for some time. McGregor also stars alongside previous winner Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning.

In my first edition of weekly Academy predictions on Thursday, I listed Pastoral at #9 in the Picture race. The buzz coming from Toronto based on its screenings has changed that dynamic and not for the better. The pic received a number of mediocre reviews and it looks now as if Pastoral will be on the outside looking in for Oscar recognition. Its actors, too, are unlikely to find themselves in contention.

I’ll have the Oscar Watch posts continuing throughout the day… And throughout the festival.

Oscar Watch: Truth

One of the more eagerly anticipated titles to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival was James Vanderbilt’s Truth. The pic focuses on the controversy that enveloped CBS newsman Dan Rather and his reporting of President George W. Bush’s National Guard service during the 2004 election. Robert Redford plays Rather with Cate Blanchett playing his producer. Costars include Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Elisabeth Moss.

After its festival debut, reviews were mostly positive and it currently sits at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. Having said that, Truth probably didn’t break out enough to gain major awards traction. Redford is a long shot to be in the mix for Best Actor and while Blanchett earned strong notices, she’ll most likely be a player in the lead actress category for Carol and not this.

So while Truth didn’t crash and burn like some other titles did at Toronto, it’s chances of real Oscar attention appears limited at best. It comes out October 16.

Oscar Watch: Our Brand Is Crisis

On the last two occasions that Sandra Bullock has headlined a picture with dramatic elements, it’s resulted in a 2009 Oscar win for The Blind Side and a 2013 nomination for Gravity. Therefore, it is no surprise that her upcoming comedic drama Our Brand Is Crisis (out October 30) was garnering talk of a third nomination.

However, its screening at the Toronto Film Festival has mostly muted that chatter. The film, in which Bullock plays a political operative assigned to help a struggling Bolivian president win reelection, was met with mixed word of mouth at the festival. Its Rotten Tomatoes score stands at just 44% currently. While her performance has been received well, readers of this blog may be familiar with the recent theme of Best Actress being very crowded this year. That will likely leave Bullock on the outside looking in. In fact, one of the category front runners is Cate Blanchett for Carol, whose winning role in Blue Jasmine probably kept Bullock from a second gold statue. Costars including Billy Bob Thornton and Ann Dowd also shouldn’t be a factor and the picture itself has virtually zero hope in the big race.

Once again, that important festival in Canada has eliminated another Oscar hopeful from the mix. Look for more Oscar Watch posts following the same theme on the blog.

 

Black Or White Box Office Prediction

Kevin Costner is certainly pumping out the movies and this Friday comes Black or White, an interracial drama that finds the actor trying to maintain custody of his granddaughter. Octavia Spencer and Anthony Mackie costar. The small budget pic premiered last fall at the Toronto Film Festival to mixed reviews. It was released in limited fashion in December for an Oscar qualifying run which didn’t pan out whatsoever.

The film stands at a meager 38% on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s hard to imagine this gathering much buzz. Additionally it’s being released on a relatively low 1500 estimated screens. It has been quite some time since Costner had drawing power at the box office and Black or White should be in line for a minor debut.

Black or White opening weekend prediction: $5.6 million

For my Project Almanac prediction, click here:

Project Almanac Box Office Prediction

For my prediction on The Loft, click here:

The Loft Box Office Prediction