It's possible. As I pointed out in another thread, if she pulls it off she will become the first player to be nominated more than once for two performances in the same year.flipp525 wrote:Maps to the Stars is now having an Oscar-qualifying run at the end of the year in NY or LA. Could Julianne pull off another double nomination this year?
http://mapstothestarsfilm.com/
The Post-Festival Look
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Big Magilla
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Re: The Post-Festival Look
Re: The Post-Festival Look
Maps to the Stars is now having an Oscar-qualifying run at the end of the year in NY or LA. Could Julianne pull off another double nomination this year?
http://mapstothestarsfilm.com/
http://mapstothestarsfilm.com/
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Re: The Post-Festival Look
I think Zamperini's recent, timely death is too coincidental for AMPAS to pass up. I could even see him sneaking into the In Memoriam segment over more worthy names.Sabin wrote:and how impossibly retro a WWII story of perseverance seems today.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Re: The Post-Festival Look
We've been spoiled. For two years, we've had something to look to, to wait for, to somewhat bank on. Last year, it was 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, and American Hustle. In 2012, there were countless films. 2014 may not appear as barren as some years, but the contenders on the horizon seem a bit wee.
The biggest question mark for me remains Selma. No other film I can think of coming up is more likely to go one way or the other. It will either dominate or be totally forgotten two weeks later.
If I am a bit dubious about Unbroken, a movie that is doubtlessly getting nominated in everything below the line, it's because of how many writers are attached and how impossibly retro a WWII story of perseverance seems today.
The biggest question mark for me remains Selma. No other film I can think of coming up is more likely to go one way or the other. It will either dominate or be totally forgotten two weeks later.
If I am a bit dubious about Unbroken, a movie that is doubtlessly getting nominated in everything below the line, it's because of how many writers are attached and how impossibly retro a WWII story of perseverance seems today.
"How's the despair?"
Re: The Post-Festival Look
Coltrane's character isn't the type who typically gets nominations for its actor. He's kind of a quiet guy, doesn't "take charge"...mostly reacts to the situations around him. I thought he was fine, but it's also worth mentioning that he didn't get anywhere near the level of personal reviews that Hawke and Arquette did.
Re: The Post-Festival Look
Tee, I noticed that while you mentioned possible nods for Boyhood in all the other categories, you did not mention a possible Best Actor nod for Ellar Coltrane, even though his character is the film's central one. I have not seen Boyhood yet, and thereby have no idea if his character is overshadowed by the supporting ones. So, do the supporting characters overshadow him; or, do you think Coltrane does not have much of a chance based on the combination of such a strong field and his young age, even though Best Actress nominations have gone to performers half his age?
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Big Magilla
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Re: The Post-Festival Look
What was the last year in which no one had any real idea of what the front-runners in the Oscar race would turn out to be this late in the year? 2000? It brings a level of excitement that's been missing in the punditry for a long time, but it also raises the question of whether things are still so up in the air because there isn't anything particularly worthy out there.
Of the films that most of us have had access to so far this year only two are even in the conversation and neither is a sure thing. In the end I suspect The Grand Budapest Hotel will end up out of contention like every other Wes Anderson film while Boyhood struggles to make the cut.
Of the film that have been reviewed but not yet seen by most of us, The Imitation Game; The Theory of Everything; Birdman and Gone Girl all seem like strong contenders but none of them seems like a film that would appeal to a strong majority of voters. Foxcatcher seems like a film that will struggle to be on the list of ten Best Picture nominees. Ditto Wild and Big Eyes, both of which lost steam as soon as Julianne Moore became the bloggers' ipso facto Best Actress to beat for Still Alice. Of the yet-to-be-reviewed, Interstellar could turn out to be this year's Gravity or it could turn out to be another over-hyped but ultimately disappointing Christopher Nolan film. A Most Violent Year sounds promising, but J.C. Chandor's films tend to sound more promising than actually deliver. American Sniper could turn out to be another Million Dollar Baby or Letters from Iwo Jima for Clint Eastwood, but could also turn out to be another on his long list of disappointments. Selma could be a break-out triumph for an exciting new to film director or it could send her back to TV. Brad Pitt's Fury sounds way too dark but Angelina Jolie's Unbroken sounds like a real crowd-pleaser. The question is can it rise Argo-like to triumph over the competition?
This could end up being a close race between two as yet seen strong contenders or it could continue at the current pace in which nothing is certain. Which would ultimately be more exciting?
Of the films that most of us have had access to so far this year only two are even in the conversation and neither is a sure thing. In the end I suspect The Grand Budapest Hotel will end up out of contention like every other Wes Anderson film while Boyhood struggles to make the cut.
Of the film that have been reviewed but not yet seen by most of us, The Imitation Game; The Theory of Everything; Birdman and Gone Girl all seem like strong contenders but none of them seems like a film that would appeal to a strong majority of voters. Foxcatcher seems like a film that will struggle to be on the list of ten Best Picture nominees. Ditto Wild and Big Eyes, both of which lost steam as soon as Julianne Moore became the bloggers' ipso facto Best Actress to beat for Still Alice. Of the yet-to-be-reviewed, Interstellar could turn out to be this year's Gravity or it could turn out to be another over-hyped but ultimately disappointing Christopher Nolan film. A Most Violent Year sounds promising, but J.C. Chandor's films tend to sound more promising than actually deliver. American Sniper could turn out to be another Million Dollar Baby or Letters from Iwo Jima for Clint Eastwood, but could also turn out to be another on his long list of disappointments. Selma could be a break-out triumph for an exciting new to film director or it could send her back to TV. Brad Pitt's Fury sounds way too dark but Angelina Jolie's Unbroken sounds like a real crowd-pleaser. The question is can it rise Argo-like to triumph over the competition?
This could end up being a close race between two as yet seen strong contenders or it could continue at the current pace in which nothing is certain. Which would ultimately be more exciting?
Re: The Post-Festival Look
Carrie Coon was also probably the strongest performer from the recently-completed first season of The Leftovers on HBO (along with previous on-the-bubble nominee Ann Dowd). She turned in Emmy-worthy work, especially in the episode which centered around her character.Mister Tee wrote:Not so big a name, but a possible candidate: Carrie Coon, who made a splash in the recent Broadway Virginia Woolf revival, and has the plum part of the sister in Gone Girl.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Mister Tee
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The Post-Festival Look
I’d planned on a lay of the land post-Venice/Telluride/Toronto, but I got busy, and then the Gone Girl reviews popped up. At this point, I probably ought to wait for NY to weigh in on Inherent Vice (buzz leans nay, but buzz has been known to be wrong), but let’s see what we can see.
Clearly we have a much fuller landscape after the three festivals, and the great thing is, that landscape is exceedingly murky. Those who feel it their birthright to declare races over in October are grasping for something definitive to say; there’s nothing approaching the certainty that last year surrounded both 12 Years a Slave and Gravity. In fact, it seems as if every definitive opinion has been quickly countered by an equally definitive opinion in another direction (sometimes from the same person) “Birdman is great! No, it’s too esoteric! Foxcatcher is outstanding – but too dark. The Imitation Game is perfect for best picture – though I personally found it cornball. Well, I preferred The Theory of Everything!” (And that’s only the upon-reflection judgments. In real time, people were reacting to random tweets from no-names – who seemed as determined to swoon as teenage girls looking over boy bands. From their reporting, you’d assume more than half of the films that played Toronto were greeted by standing ovations and became instant Oscar favorites) And now, this week, Gone Girl pops in, getting very strong reviews to back up what everyone assumes will be boffo box-office. But is it too airport-book for the Oscars? My god – maybe it’s too early to say.
So, calming down a little…where do we stand? There are several films whose reception suggests that, particularly with a ten-wide field, they have the stuff to be nominated for best picture: Birdman, Gone Girl, The Imitation Game…with Foxcatcher and The Theory of Everything also possibilities (added to Boyhood, an already-on-the-field strong contender, plus, maybe-maybe/ if everything breaks right, Grand Budapest Hotel). It’s considerably harder to figure which of those will strengthen their candidacies by snagging best director nods as well: Innaritu and Linklater seem the sort directors would go for, but if Gone Girl or Imitation Game break through, Fincher or Tyldum could get nods at the more populist end of the spectrum. Bennett Miller is of course a previous nominee, but I’ve heard such conflicting reports about Foxcatcher I have no idea what to expect. We’ll of course have a better idea about all these potential candidates after they’ve gone out into marketplace and attracted (or failed to attract) audiences – 12 Years a Slave was a whole lot stronger contender once it grossed $50 million, Gravity in a whole other realm when it cracked $250 million, and All At Lost a much lesser thing when it stalled in the high single digits. We also, post-release, might have some better idea about Take Five, for me a truly tantalizing prospect. It’s an article of faith among Oscar bloggers that a Chris Rock film couldn’t possibly slip into the race (especially one that’s somewhat raunchy). But multiple reviews calling it Rock’s Annie Hall make one wonder – and if, when it opens in early December, it starts doing serious business, it might make a case for itself.
(And, speaking of movies the bloggers have filed away as “impossible for Oscars”…I have to say Nightcrawler with Jake Gyllenhaal sounds like a movie I really want to see, awards be damned)
There’s of course the potential for a strong second stage to the race. Last year, once we got past New York, only a few titles remained unseen: American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, Saving Mr. Banks, and the ultimately delayed-till-2014 Monuments Men and Foxcatcher. This year we’ll have Inherent Vice at NY mid-point, Fury and Interstellar before Thanksgiving, and then, all saved up for Christmas debuts, A Most Violent Year, Big Eyes, Selma, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Unbroken, Into the Woods and American Sniper. That’s a pretty big bundle of possible game-changers, and it makes anything like firm prediction now seem even more ludicrous than usual. (And if most or all fail – which hasn’t happened recently, but we all remember 2009 – there’s the chance something smaller could parlay acting/writing nods into a lucky best picture bid, a la Winter’s Bone. Think Still Alice or Whiplash, both apparently quite popular with audiences.)
As for the best actor field, the festivals seemed mostly to boost candidates you could spot a mile off: Benedict Cumberbatch playing Alan Turing and Eddie Redmayne taking on Stephen Hawking have just about screamed Oscar Hopeful for months; Michael Keaton in a comeback role also fits the profile, as does Steve Carell’s radical transformation. The fact that all these performances got very strong reaction clearly moves them up a level, but even with more mediocre response they’d probably be in the conversation. Ben Affleck is a different story: nearly all pre-release speculation about Gone Girl centered on breakout lead Rosamund Pike (especially given what seemed a barren best actress field). But Affleck, in all reviews I’ve read, is getting comparably solid reactions; if Gone Girl is the hit it appears, Affleck may get his first acting mention to go alongside his writing and producing wins. After that, there’s Bill Murray, whose Mr. Vincent wasn’t the breakout hoped for, but got him solid notices, and Timothy Spall, who confirmed his Cannes reputation, but may turn out too wan in a bountiful year. Because the remainder of the year is just stuffed with candidates: Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice, Matthew McConnaughey in Interstellar, Brad Pitt in Fury, Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year, Christoph Waltz in Big Eyes, David Oyelowo in Selma, Jack O’Connell in Unbroken, and Bradley Cooper in American Sniper. Remember last year, when everyone was so sure we had the five set in October, and onl three of them made it? People will be luck to do that well this year.
The best actress field, to no one’s surprise, is thinner, but certainly came to life over the past few weeks, with a batch of candidates who seem perfectly plausible as eventual nominees. Prime among them is of course Julianne Moore, apparently set for her strongest Academy run since 2002. You have to figure critics were delightedly surprised to see Still Alice unfold – given the utter lack of advance buzz, they no doubt anticipated another fine-but-not-great Moore performance in a half-hearted indie (a field in which she’s specialized over the past decade). Instead, they found a performance most seem to rank among her best, in a film that has engaging virtues beyond the actressing. I’m not ready, like so many, to concede the prize to Moore – I did that early on with Far from Heaven, and got burnt – but she surely ranks among the very likeliest winners this year. Her strongest competition as of now comes from Rosamund Pike – an actress plenty of us have admired for some time, who gets the breakout role in a likely hit, to launch her to another level – and from Reese Witherspoon, who apparently dominates Wild in a virtual-one-woman show way, and seems a sure nominee (though a second Oscar wouldn’t be the way to bet right this moment). There was some debate at first whether Felicity Jones would be lead or supporting in The Theory of Everything, but that appears to have been resolved in favor of lead, which gives us close to a solid slate already. This makes it unlikely that another fan-boosted actress from the Toronto schedule – Jennifer Aniston in Cake – can cash in her more-respectable-than-usual reviews for a serious run. The remainder of the year doesn’t offer as many obvious candidates as it does for lead actors, but with brand names like Adams in Big Eyes, Streep (or Blunt, whose role actually won the lead actress Tony) in Into the Woods, and Chastain in A Most Violent Year, there’s the potential for a solid slate.
Supporting awards almost always seems muddled at this point in the year – who foresaw nominees like Barkhad Abdi or Jonah Hill (the first time) until they were right upon us? The one who came out of Toronto seeming strongest was the one who went in that way: J.K. Simmons, whose role in Whiplash seems the most praised so far. Edward Norton is also getting a solid response for what would have to be considered a comeback in Birdman, and, though there’s much murmuring about who’s lead/who’s supporting in Foxcatcher, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum are both getting good response, and could be popular choices. Should the field remain thin, it’s possible Ethan Hawke’s on-the-bubble Boyhood role could get him his second nomination. But with all those unscreened films, there’s always the possibility of a surprise contender emerging. I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to who that might be.
Supporting actress has a slew of biggish names in films already seen. Keira Knightley appears to be getting her best reviews in some time, and could be carried along by general Imitation Game momentum. Emma Stone is a rising star with, by most accounts, a strong monologue in Birdman (a nomination for her would thrill the producers). Laura Dern seems to dominate whatever Reese doesn’t in Wild, and she could be carried along by the best actress nod (as Sally Hawkins was, last year). Even Kristen Stewart, god help us, is getting high praise for Still Alice, and would replace Jonah Hill as most-unlikely-nominee of recent vintage. Not so big a name, but a possible candidate: Carrie Coon, who made a splash in the recent Broadway Virginia Woolf revival, and has the plum part of the sister in Gone Girl. Add all this to Patricia Arquette – who, unlike Hawke, has seemed more than likely to cash in for a nomination since Boyhood’s release – and you have an interesting field. Still to come? There’s persistent buzz about Katherine Waterston’s performance in Inherent Vice – even if the film crashes, Anderson films have a way of getting acting nods. And whoever’s deemed support in Into the Woods might show up – Blunt and Anna Kendrick most likely. After that, it’s wait and see.
Screenplays are of course likely to be dominated by the best picture contenders – with even the ones people fret are too dark or arty (Birdman, Foxcatcher, Boyhood) having solid shots. There are also films that might fall short of the top category, but make it here regardless: Still Alice, Whiplash, A Most Violent Year, Top Five. And there’s always the chance something offbeat makes it – I have my eye on Dear White People, which has been touted for months and looks quite funny.
Below the line, you have to figure Interstellar could follow in the lengthening line of visual effects movies taking cinematography, but maybe something more traditional will take over – long-time loser Roger Deakins, attached to Unbroken, could finally snatch a victory. In the décor categories, films like Grand Budapest Hotel and Into the Woods would likely be candidates, and by all reports Mr. Turner is a visual stunner, as well. For visual effects, if Interstellar, turns into a potential best film contender, recent history would make it the favorite – but that remains to be seen, and meantime films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and presumably other summer movies I haven’t bothered to see, could all be in contention. The make-up branch, as we know, can do crazy things, but I have to figure they won’t be passing up Into the Woods or Guardians of the Galaxy. And for animated feature, The LEGO Movie’s combo of strong reviews and huge grosses make it the favorite, but Song of the Sea appears to be a critical favorite, and might be the go-to vote for those queasy about voting for such a blatant case of product placement.
I really like getting this deep into the year and knowing so little for sure. Hope it continues a while longer.
Clearly we have a much fuller landscape after the three festivals, and the great thing is, that landscape is exceedingly murky. Those who feel it their birthright to declare races over in October are grasping for something definitive to say; there’s nothing approaching the certainty that last year surrounded both 12 Years a Slave and Gravity. In fact, it seems as if every definitive opinion has been quickly countered by an equally definitive opinion in another direction (sometimes from the same person) “Birdman is great! No, it’s too esoteric! Foxcatcher is outstanding – but too dark. The Imitation Game is perfect for best picture – though I personally found it cornball. Well, I preferred The Theory of Everything!” (And that’s only the upon-reflection judgments. In real time, people were reacting to random tweets from no-names – who seemed as determined to swoon as teenage girls looking over boy bands. From their reporting, you’d assume more than half of the films that played Toronto were greeted by standing ovations and became instant Oscar favorites) And now, this week, Gone Girl pops in, getting very strong reviews to back up what everyone assumes will be boffo box-office. But is it too airport-book for the Oscars? My god – maybe it’s too early to say.
So, calming down a little…where do we stand? There are several films whose reception suggests that, particularly with a ten-wide field, they have the stuff to be nominated for best picture: Birdman, Gone Girl, The Imitation Game…with Foxcatcher and The Theory of Everything also possibilities (added to Boyhood, an already-on-the-field strong contender, plus, maybe-maybe/ if everything breaks right, Grand Budapest Hotel). It’s considerably harder to figure which of those will strengthen their candidacies by snagging best director nods as well: Innaritu and Linklater seem the sort directors would go for, but if Gone Girl or Imitation Game break through, Fincher or Tyldum could get nods at the more populist end of the spectrum. Bennett Miller is of course a previous nominee, but I’ve heard such conflicting reports about Foxcatcher I have no idea what to expect. We’ll of course have a better idea about all these potential candidates after they’ve gone out into marketplace and attracted (or failed to attract) audiences – 12 Years a Slave was a whole lot stronger contender once it grossed $50 million, Gravity in a whole other realm when it cracked $250 million, and All At Lost a much lesser thing when it stalled in the high single digits. We also, post-release, might have some better idea about Take Five, for me a truly tantalizing prospect. It’s an article of faith among Oscar bloggers that a Chris Rock film couldn’t possibly slip into the race (especially one that’s somewhat raunchy). But multiple reviews calling it Rock’s Annie Hall make one wonder – and if, when it opens in early December, it starts doing serious business, it might make a case for itself.
(And, speaking of movies the bloggers have filed away as “impossible for Oscars”…I have to say Nightcrawler with Jake Gyllenhaal sounds like a movie I really want to see, awards be damned)
There’s of course the potential for a strong second stage to the race. Last year, once we got past New York, only a few titles remained unseen: American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, Saving Mr. Banks, and the ultimately delayed-till-2014 Monuments Men and Foxcatcher. This year we’ll have Inherent Vice at NY mid-point, Fury and Interstellar before Thanksgiving, and then, all saved up for Christmas debuts, A Most Violent Year, Big Eyes, Selma, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Unbroken, Into the Woods and American Sniper. That’s a pretty big bundle of possible game-changers, and it makes anything like firm prediction now seem even more ludicrous than usual. (And if most or all fail – which hasn’t happened recently, but we all remember 2009 – there’s the chance something smaller could parlay acting/writing nods into a lucky best picture bid, a la Winter’s Bone. Think Still Alice or Whiplash, both apparently quite popular with audiences.)
As for the best actor field, the festivals seemed mostly to boost candidates you could spot a mile off: Benedict Cumberbatch playing Alan Turing and Eddie Redmayne taking on Stephen Hawking have just about screamed Oscar Hopeful for months; Michael Keaton in a comeback role also fits the profile, as does Steve Carell’s radical transformation. The fact that all these performances got very strong reaction clearly moves them up a level, but even with more mediocre response they’d probably be in the conversation. Ben Affleck is a different story: nearly all pre-release speculation about Gone Girl centered on breakout lead Rosamund Pike (especially given what seemed a barren best actress field). But Affleck, in all reviews I’ve read, is getting comparably solid reactions; if Gone Girl is the hit it appears, Affleck may get his first acting mention to go alongside his writing and producing wins. After that, there’s Bill Murray, whose Mr. Vincent wasn’t the breakout hoped for, but got him solid notices, and Timothy Spall, who confirmed his Cannes reputation, but may turn out too wan in a bountiful year. Because the remainder of the year is just stuffed with candidates: Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice, Matthew McConnaughey in Interstellar, Brad Pitt in Fury, Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year, Christoph Waltz in Big Eyes, David Oyelowo in Selma, Jack O’Connell in Unbroken, and Bradley Cooper in American Sniper. Remember last year, when everyone was so sure we had the five set in October, and onl three of them made it? People will be luck to do that well this year.
The best actress field, to no one’s surprise, is thinner, but certainly came to life over the past few weeks, with a batch of candidates who seem perfectly plausible as eventual nominees. Prime among them is of course Julianne Moore, apparently set for her strongest Academy run since 2002. You have to figure critics were delightedly surprised to see Still Alice unfold – given the utter lack of advance buzz, they no doubt anticipated another fine-but-not-great Moore performance in a half-hearted indie (a field in which she’s specialized over the past decade). Instead, they found a performance most seem to rank among her best, in a film that has engaging virtues beyond the actressing. I’m not ready, like so many, to concede the prize to Moore – I did that early on with Far from Heaven, and got burnt – but she surely ranks among the very likeliest winners this year. Her strongest competition as of now comes from Rosamund Pike – an actress plenty of us have admired for some time, who gets the breakout role in a likely hit, to launch her to another level – and from Reese Witherspoon, who apparently dominates Wild in a virtual-one-woman show way, and seems a sure nominee (though a second Oscar wouldn’t be the way to bet right this moment). There was some debate at first whether Felicity Jones would be lead or supporting in The Theory of Everything, but that appears to have been resolved in favor of lead, which gives us close to a solid slate already. This makes it unlikely that another fan-boosted actress from the Toronto schedule – Jennifer Aniston in Cake – can cash in her more-respectable-than-usual reviews for a serious run. The remainder of the year doesn’t offer as many obvious candidates as it does for lead actors, but with brand names like Adams in Big Eyes, Streep (or Blunt, whose role actually won the lead actress Tony) in Into the Woods, and Chastain in A Most Violent Year, there’s the potential for a solid slate.
Supporting awards almost always seems muddled at this point in the year – who foresaw nominees like Barkhad Abdi or Jonah Hill (the first time) until they were right upon us? The one who came out of Toronto seeming strongest was the one who went in that way: J.K. Simmons, whose role in Whiplash seems the most praised so far. Edward Norton is also getting a solid response for what would have to be considered a comeback in Birdman, and, though there’s much murmuring about who’s lead/who’s supporting in Foxcatcher, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum are both getting good response, and could be popular choices. Should the field remain thin, it’s possible Ethan Hawke’s on-the-bubble Boyhood role could get him his second nomination. But with all those unscreened films, there’s always the possibility of a surprise contender emerging. I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to who that might be.
Supporting actress has a slew of biggish names in films already seen. Keira Knightley appears to be getting her best reviews in some time, and could be carried along by general Imitation Game momentum. Emma Stone is a rising star with, by most accounts, a strong monologue in Birdman (a nomination for her would thrill the producers). Laura Dern seems to dominate whatever Reese doesn’t in Wild, and she could be carried along by the best actress nod (as Sally Hawkins was, last year). Even Kristen Stewart, god help us, is getting high praise for Still Alice, and would replace Jonah Hill as most-unlikely-nominee of recent vintage. Not so big a name, but a possible candidate: Carrie Coon, who made a splash in the recent Broadway Virginia Woolf revival, and has the plum part of the sister in Gone Girl. Add all this to Patricia Arquette – who, unlike Hawke, has seemed more than likely to cash in for a nomination since Boyhood’s release – and you have an interesting field. Still to come? There’s persistent buzz about Katherine Waterston’s performance in Inherent Vice – even if the film crashes, Anderson films have a way of getting acting nods. And whoever’s deemed support in Into the Woods might show up – Blunt and Anna Kendrick most likely. After that, it’s wait and see.
Screenplays are of course likely to be dominated by the best picture contenders – with even the ones people fret are too dark or arty (Birdman, Foxcatcher, Boyhood) having solid shots. There are also films that might fall short of the top category, but make it here regardless: Still Alice, Whiplash, A Most Violent Year, Top Five. And there’s always the chance something offbeat makes it – I have my eye on Dear White People, which has been touted for months and looks quite funny.
Below the line, you have to figure Interstellar could follow in the lengthening line of visual effects movies taking cinematography, but maybe something more traditional will take over – long-time loser Roger Deakins, attached to Unbroken, could finally snatch a victory. In the décor categories, films like Grand Budapest Hotel and Into the Woods would likely be candidates, and by all reports Mr. Turner is a visual stunner, as well. For visual effects, if Interstellar, turns into a potential best film contender, recent history would make it the favorite – but that remains to be seen, and meantime films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and presumably other summer movies I haven’t bothered to see, could all be in contention. The make-up branch, as we know, can do crazy things, but I have to figure they won’t be passing up Into the Woods or Guardians of the Galaxy. And for animated feature, The LEGO Movie’s combo of strong reviews and huge grosses make it the favorite, but Song of the Sea appears to be a critical favorite, and might be the go-to vote for those queasy about voting for such a blatant case of product placement.
I really like getting this deep into the year and knowing so little for sure. Hope it continues a while longer.