It’s time to dive, dive in deep…well, at least as deep as you can in May. As I attempted to unveil the newest set of Oscar Predictions, I realized how many promising films are left to be seen in the remaining seven months. As of now, the only real Best Picture contender that has the legs to make it until the end of the year would be Sarah Polley’sStories We Tell, and that’s a longshot at best given its genre. You can make arguments for films like The Place Beyond the Pines by Derek Cianfrance and even Mud by Jeff Nichols but those will need a well-placed DVD release with a focused campaign, something I’m not sure the studios are willing to bet on. Cianfrance’s film also has an outside shot for Screenplay and a Supporting Actor mention for Ryan Gosling. If anything, this helps him for Nicolas Winding Refn’sOnly God Forgives, if they’re feeling like recognizing him a second time. It feels like eons ago when Gosling was nominated for Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson (2006) and then later missed other opportunities for Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Blue Valentine (2010), and Drive (2011). Not sure when it will be before he gets back onto the Oscar radar.
Leave it to Baz Luhrmann to take a classic American novel like The Great Gatsby, ripe with questions about the moral depravity of American society and its fixation on the American dream, and turn it into a superficial spectacle worthy of gracing the glitzy stages of Las Vegas. Stephen Colbert summed it up best: “It’s in 3D! That’s right, it feels like the themes of longing and alienation are in your face! Plus, it’s got a soundtrack that’s by Jay Z, just like F. Scott Fit Z would’ve wanted.” Still without a satisfying screen companion, an adaptation of this literary cornerstone would’ve probably been better suited for the likes of a director like Sam Mendes, who has tackled similar themes as they affect American life. In fact, uh, why DIDN’T Sam Mendes direct this? At least “you can smugly turn to your friend and say: Eh, the book was better.”
Baz Luhrmann sure knows how to bring the bombast to his take on The Great Gatsby, but in the end he’s just the latest filmmaker to fail in his attempt to bring the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald to life. Luhrmann, along with co-writer Craig Pearce, relishes in trying to both bring the period setting to the screen in glorious 3D and giving it a vibrant modern feel. Visually, they’re certainly successful, and much of what you see and hear is suitably garish and loud, but the screenplay just can’t deliver. The plot of the novel is there, but it doesn’t express nearly the same thing. Luhrmann isn’t at all interested in the decline of this particular American period of excess and often seems to be celebrating it instead. Luckily for him, he’s got a real good performance from Leonardo DiCaprio in his back pocket. I’m not as indifferent to this latest adaptation as some will be, but a Best Picture contender, this is not. It’s far too artificial and without an emotional center to be anything more. Read more on The Great Gatsby (**½)…
If nothing else, Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby is going for opulence in extremes and if the movie fails it won’t be because of his lack in trying to entertain and wow the audience. As evidence in the final trailer for the film released today via NewNowNext, it looks like Gatsby will either be a blinding hot mess or a sumptuous thrill. A soundtrack sampler also arrived online today featuring artists like Jay-Z, Fergie (whose song is attached to the new trailer), Florence + The Machine, Gotye, Lana Del Rey and Jack White among others. Check out the extravagance after the jump! Read more on Final Trailer for ‘Great Gatsby’ and Sample Soundtrack…
As the summer blockbuster season gets ready to get underway, studios and their marketing teams are hard at work making sure their films are getting the proper push. On the awards front, Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire. While the film has its vocal doubters out there, there’s no denying the film will likely not be a visual splendor.
Following up from the semi-successful Kick-Ass (2010), Aaron Johnson, Chloe-Grace Moretz, and Jim Carrey are focal points on their posters for upcoming Kick-Ass 2. Christopher Mintz-Plasse also has his new villain name for all to see that contains profanity. (Disclaimer for our younger readers)
Also, down below are new posters for the Tom Cruise film Oblivion, CBS Films’ newest coming-of-age picture, The Kings of Summer with Alison Brie and Nick Offerman from NBC’s “Community.” You’ll also see images for the upcoming indie Sightseers, the supposed finale for The Hangover Part III, the new horror film Mr. Jones, and the teaser poster for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters with the talented Logan Lerman.
It’s March! We get started right away and over the past few weeks after the Oscar ceremony, I took some brief stabs at some categories. Those have been tinkered with and will be reflected on the actual Oscar Prediction pages in the next couple of days. The full listing of predicted nominees is on the sidebar with the list of contenders on the Oscar Prediction pages for Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, and Animated Feature.
Obviously categories like Original Song are merely speculation because we don’t know what film will have an eligible song attached. Disney and Pixar films are good for a song or two so that’s always a good place to start. Read more on Oscar Circuit – 2014 Films and Minority Contenders…
Directed By: Martin Scorsese Written By: Terence Winter (Based on the Jordan Belfort memoir of the same name)
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, Kyle Chandler, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Rob Reiner, Spike Jonze, Margot Robbie, Kenneth Choi, Joanna Lumley, and Ethan Suplee
Synopsis (From IMDB): A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration.
Why It Could Succeed:
Anytime the 21st century’s greatest actor-director duo team up for a motion picture, the world pays attention. At this moment in time, there is no 2013 release that’s as close to the Oscar® podium as The Wolf of Wall Street is. Leo and Marty have a proven track record that’s borderline unstoppable. Three of their four collaborative projects have all gone on to receive an Academy Award nomination for “Best Picture,” and the only film that failed to do so was Shutter Island, whose early release date damaged its awards contention status. The irony? Shutter Island became Martin Scorsese’s highest grossing film of all-time and one of the top earners to come from the dry month of February. The lesson when it comes to Scorsese and DiCaprio: you win some…and then you win bigger. Read more on Awards Profile: The Wolf of Wall Street…
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
After debuting a set of new posters, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. Opening in May 2013, Luhrmann’s film stars potential Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio along with Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, and Isla Fisher.
The film was originally scheduled to come out on Christmas and then was pushed back abruptly by Warner Bros. last summer. Could this be a potential Oscar player for next season?
The stars have aligned for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. They announced their nominations for the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards. For the first time, their nominees don’t seem as blatant for trying to have the biggest stars in Hollywood join together for a dinner party. Of course, there are some glaring omissions from a few categories but many of the films and performances cited were for the most part, respectable.
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln leads the tally with seven nominations including Best Picture and Director. Daniel Day-Lewis nabbed his seventh nomination along co-stars Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. Lincoln remains a definite favorite to win in nearly every category. To some surprise, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained was able to grab five nominations including a double Supporting Actor citation for Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz. Tarantino was also nominated Best Director and Screenplay. Missing in the director’s field, Tom Hooper for the dynamite musical Les Miserables, which did grab four nominations in total. Read more on Analysis of the Golden Globe Nominations…
There’s been no film more divisive or more igniting in terms of strong Oscar speculation then Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. After months of shooting, word of a last minute edit (some believe editing is still going on currently), the film has finally hit cinematic eyes and the “final” product is both bold and misguided. Django Unchained is big and full of Tarantino life and color that we’ve come to love about him. On sheer production value, it’s his finest film endeavor to date. Set designs are simply gorgeous, Robert Richardson captures some beautiful shots, and Sharen Davis proves once again, she’s one of the most awe-inspiring designers working today. Tarantino does go a bit “out there” in his choices of dialogue along with the developing and rising structure of the story. Where Tarantino succeeds is in digging some terrific performances out of his principal cast, even if his film is at times lunky, problematic, and a bit messy. Read more on Django Unchained (***)…
Tomorrow morning, the Critics Choice Awards will bestow their nominees for the world to see. While it might sound biased, I very much respect the organization’s choices more times than not. While their known for predicting the outcome of the Academy Awards, they do reward powerful and eclectic cinema when everyone else seems to be ignoring.
Last year the ten Best Picture nominees were:
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
As we all know, there were nine Best Picture nominees chosen by the Academy last year and ALL nine are represented. The group may be more telling then meets the eye, at least in Best Picture. The acting awards usually have their fair share of Academy picks but as you we see with nominations for Carey Mulligan for Shame, Ryan Gosling for Drive, Michael Fassbender for Shame, and Patton Oswalt for Young Adult, the group often chooses the “more” deserving and not the one’s with the “buzz.”
Below, find my predictions for the organization. The Critics Choice Movie Awards airs LIVE on January 10, 2013. Better yet, the BFCA is introducing several new categories including “Favorite Fan Franchise,” where The Awards Circuit will be one of the voting beacons for all fans to vote. Get ready! Read more on Critics’ Choice Movie Awards Preview…
A representative for the Weinstein Company has just confirmed that Christoph Waltz’s role in Django Unchained will be campaigned as a Supporting role for the rest of the awards season. Waltz, who plays Dr. King Schultz ,will now compete against co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who just won the National Board of Review’s award for Supporting Actor and Academy Award nominee, Samuel L. Jackson. Waltz was named one of the runner-ups in the recent New York Film Critics Circle. just earlier this week.
With two (really one) contender left to be unveiled, this is the most exciting awards race I’ve covered in all my years of Oscar prognosticating. Every category is competitive and with races like this, anything can happen. Along with updating the official Oscar Predictions, I’ve updated the major precursors such as the Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
As New York gets ready to lift on Monday, which I’ve attempted to take a stab at, the National Board of Review and Los Angeles Film Critics will start the chain reaction of the awards season. Before anyone knows the winners, I’m seeing this as a three-horse race between Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, and Ben Affleck’s Argo, more particularly the first two films. Currently I’m foreseeing Hooper’s film to lead the way on Oscar nomination morning with 13 nominations, assuming lead Hugh Jackman and standout Eddie Redmayne can plow through some of the veterans in their categories. Read more on Oscar Circuit – Music vs. History…
As the awards season is underway, multiple scenarios are playing out in my mind suggesting what can occur for the remainder of the year. Films like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Zero Dark Thirty are still sight unseen with Django Unchained and Promised Land about to get their first set of eyes. Last week Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables debuted a full-length trailer featuring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne, and Amanda Seyfried all showing some singing skills. Supporting Actress frontrunner Anne Hathaway was shown singing “I Dreamed a Dream” for the third time in the Universal Pictures marketing, which leads me to my point of the Oscar Circuit.
The trailer for Les Miserables didn’t do the film any favors. The clunky production design, unnecessary wide-angles, and even the live singing on set didn’t seem as great as I’d thought it’d be. In this latest round of Oscar Predictions, I’ve decided to back from Tom Hooper’s film a little bit. Where momentum and prestige is on the side of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and Ben Affleck’s Argo, big stage musicals transferred to film aren’t always safe bets. What makes this notion of the film failing to impress even more compelling is Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master. If Anne Hathaway were to fall out of the Supporting Actress race, who could win the award in her absence? There are arguably three slots taken in Supporting Actress with Amy Adams (The Master), Sally Field (Lincoln), and Helen Hunt (The Sessions). If it’s between those three for the win, Adams will be on her fourth nomination with the other two ladies having Oscars already. Field herself would be 3 for 3 for Oscar nominations, something hard to envision happening. Hunt has had a hard time post-Oscar win and isn’t as beloved as her competitors. This could all work out for the young Amy Adams. Read more on Oscar Circuit – “Master” of Networking?…
Usually I’ve focus on more “talky” types of screenplays, from ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ and ‘Margot at the Wedding’ years back, to ‘Funny People’, ‘The Social Network’, and ‘The Beaver’ more recently, not to mention of course last week’s piece on ‘This is 40′. Well, this time around I’m tackling a horse of a different color in Quentin Tarantino’s hybrid action film ‘Django Unchained‘. His script is very cinematic, down to him actually writing how he wants the scenes to play out, including the references you’re supposed to get, including one he expects you only to get on a second viewing. I think it’s actually better than what people were expecting, though certain aspects of it (hint, Leonardo DiCaprio, hint) aren’t quite what they may seem. This is pretty vintage Tarantino, if potentially a little more old-fashioned than usual for him. Certain similarities to ‘Inglourious Basterds’ will be noticed, but overall QT is doing less revisionist history and more just a bloody good revenge thriller set in the American South during the time of slavery.
This week saw the official Oscar Predictions getting an update. Looking at the Best Actor race and trying to sort nearly twenty contenders into five slots is going to upset a lot of people. Touch on much of this in this week’s Oscar Circuit but given the strong case for many leading men who have never been nominated (Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Bradley Cooper, Jack Black), it looks like someone’s going to get left off in a field that’s tighter than ever.
The Awards Circuit Staff Writers have updated their own predictions, which is now located under the “Oscar Predictions” tab in the menu. Check out what they’re thinking about the current state of the race. Did Joaquin Phoenix’s recent rant cost him the Oscar for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master? Is Jennifer Lawrence the real favorite to win Best Actress? Is Leonardo DiCaprio getting his long overdue Academy Award in a Quentin Tarantino film? Is there any competition for Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables?
The Oscar race is beginning to formulate itself. As it stands the Academy Awards have positioned themselves to be the wildest of wild cards of the Oscar season. Since Oscar ballots are due January 3rd, the nominations will be one of many awards ceremonies coming down like wildfire.
The Screen Actors Guild Awards announce their nominee choices first beginning on December 10th. The Broadcast Film Critics Association will name their best of the year with the Critics Choice Movie Awards being announced the next day on December 11th. The Hollywood Foreign Press will follow-suit with their Golden Globe nominations on December 13th. Mark my words; those four days will likely be the most important and telling aspects of the awards season. If you start hearing the usual suspects, back-to-back and over and over, Oscar will be referring to these groups for citations for their own nominees when they’re announced on January 10th. Read more on Oscar Circuit: “10 Weeks to Go”…
I don’t think anyone doubted that the new Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio wouldn’t come out during the thick of the Oscar season next year, but we’ve got a bit more of a solid confirmation now with the announcement that Paramount will be distributing ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ in 2013. What little we’ve got on it doesn’t necessary suggest that it’ll be a clear and easy sell for the Academy, but its folly to bet against this pairing now. After the jump you can get a quick refresher on what the flick is about, but stay tuned for lots more on this one, as it’s got over a year to prep us for its release. Read on below for a bit more on Marty’s latest collaboration with Leo…
I still have no idea what to make of ‘Django Unchained’ in terms of its awards potential, but one things for sure…every look I get of Quentin Tarantino’s new film makes me like it more and more. This latest Trailer features more of the cast, gives everyone more moments to shine, and suggests that this could wind up being one of the most purely enjoyable movies of 2012. Whether it can be an Oscar player remains to be seen, but this is looking like a real Christmas/Hanukkah gift to film fans. You can see the Trailer after the jump, but this flick has got me sold. Behold it below…
And it’s back…bringing you daily questions for you to weigh in on. Some will refer directly back to an Academy Award/Oscar Race and some will be simply about film and actors in general.
It’s generally believed that Paul Giamatti was snubbed in a big way for Alexander Payne’s Sideways (2004). The five actors that made the lineup were Don Cheadle for Hotel Rwanda (2004), Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland (2004), Leonardo DiCaprio for The Aviator (2004), Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby (2004), and Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004). If you were going to insert Giamatti into the lineup, which actor would you remove? Read more on Oscar Question of the Day (10/2/2012)…
Attempting to keep a pulse on the season has presented some challenges as of late for the 2013 Oscars and its predictions. It can be argued that we don’t have a front runner in any category despite some films having strong showings at festivals.
Best Picture has presented real challenges. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln finally had its trailer début and all I could think about was War Horse (2011). The film didn’t scream high quality and I still believe Spielberg and the film aren’t rewarded unless it stands next to Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Schindler’s List (1993). The film doesn’t look to be of that caliber. I’ve dropped Spielberg from the Directing predictions for now until some praising reviews come. A “secret” screening in New Jersey suggested that the film is good, not great.
Because this year has looked like a question mark thus far, I’ve been saying to some of my colleagues, we could be in store for something unprecedented. This would be something like Michael Haneke’s Amour winning Best Picture, becoming the first foreign language film ever or Silver Linings Playbook, first dramedy to win the top award since Shakespeare in Love (1998). I’m not ready to go there yet though. I don’t know how the Academy will respond to Amour, a film all too real in this stage of their average 62-year aged life. Perhaps Oscar will listen to the critics for the first time in a while. This could work well for something like Ben Affleck’s Argo or Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, two films that could be critics’ darlings throughout the season. What if our Best Picture winner has already been released? Read more on Oscar Circuit: “If I Had a Magic Lamp…”…
It’s time to dive, dive in deep…well, at least as deep as you can in May. As I attempted to unveil the newest set of Oscar Predictions, I realized how many promising films are left to be seen in the remaining seven months. As of now, the only real Best Picture contender that has the legs to make it until the end of the year would be Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, and that’s a longshot at best given its genre. You can make arguments for films like The Place Beyond the Pines by Derek Cianfrance and even Mud by Jeff Nichols but those will need a well-placed DVD release with a focused campaign, something I’m not sure the studios are willing to bet on. Cianfrance’s film also has an outside shot for Screenplay and a Supporting Actor mention for Ryan Gosling. If anything, this helps him for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, if they’re feeling like recognizing him a second time. It feels like eons ago when Gosling was nominated for Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson (2006) and then later missed other opportunities for Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Blue Valentine (2010), and Drive (2011). Not sure when it will be before he gets back onto the Oscar radar.
Baz Luhrmann sure knows how to bring the bombast to his take on The Great Gatsby, but in the end he’s just the latest filmmaker to fail in his attempt to bring the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald to life. Luhrmann, along with co-writer Craig Pearce, relishes in trying to both bring the period setting to the screen in glorious 3D and giving it a vibrant modern feel. Visually, they’re certainly successful, and much of what you see and hear is suitably garish and loud, but the screenplay just can’t deliver. The plot of the novel is there, but it doesn’t express nearly the same thing. Luhrmann isn’t at all interested in the decline of this particular American period of excess and often seems to be celebrating it instead. Luckily for him, he’s got a real good performance from Leonardo DiCaprio in his back pocket. I’m not as indifferent to this latest adaptation as some will be, but a Best Picture contender, this is not. It’s far too artificial and without an emotional center to be anything more. 
If nothing else, Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby is going for opulence in extremes and if the movie fails it won’t be because of his lack in trying to entertain and wow the audience. As evidence in the final trailer for the film released today via 
The stars have aligned for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. They announced their nominations for the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards. For the first time, their nominees don’t seem as blatant for trying to have the biggest stars in Hollywood join together for a dinner party. Of course, there are some glaring omissions from a few categories but many of the films and performances cited were for the most part, respectable.
