It’s not much, but it’s something! We are very close to Golden Globe nominations being announced, and while that particular ceremony isn’t a favorite of tMbU it does signal that we are deep in award season and Guilds and Academies are about to tell us what to watch to prep for Hollywood’s biggest night! Let’s take a quick look at what we’ve seen so far.
Best Picture Race: In a year where we don’t have Spotlight or Dunkirk (an early favorite) the awards so far have been all over the place. A Star is Born is still a favorite even though it’s only Best Picture hardware so far is a top 10 spot on the National Board of Review’s list. Green Book took down Best Feature Film for the NBoR and Roma got the award for the NY Film Critics Circle. The Rider wins at the Gothams, and that might be all they get for the season. I’m going to go ahead and say we can ink in A Star is Born, Green Book, and Roma for Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards.
Underdog: What is going on with First Reformed? The movie had an icon behind the camera and over the script. Paul Schrader (writer for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) made a beautifully shot film with a fantastic script. Ethan Hawke got wins from the Gothams and the NBoR along with a nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards. This along with being named a top 10 film by the NBoR, and more importantly, winning Best Screenplay awards from NBoR, the Gothams, and the NYFCC (and a nomination from the ISAs) makes First Reformed a real threat to steal nominations in multiple categories when the Academy announces.
Regina King: If Beale Street Could Talk is the sophomore effort from Barry Jenkins who started his feature film career about as well as you can, directing Mahershala Ali to a Best Supporting Actor win with Moonlight at the Oscars and defeating La La Land for Best Picture. Regina King has a nom from the ISAs and was named Best Supporting Actress by the NBoR and the NYFCC. She could be running away with the award by Christmas.
Animation: Incredibles 2 seems to be the heavy favorite here, but with Ralph Breaks the Internet cleaning up commercially and critically, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse getting a NYFCC win for animated feature, this race could be more fun that orignially thought.
Documentary: We’ve got a tiny sample size for an already impossible to predict category, but early on we have two things to look at: NBoR and NYFCC. Crime + Punishment took the award from the NBoR, but maybe more interestingly, Minding the Gap (available on Hulu and heavily recommended by tMbU author Brent) wins the NYFCC and earned a top 5 doc spot from the NBoR. It might be an early front runner if it can fend off RBG, Free Solo, and Won’t You Be My Neighbor.
Foreign Language: Another toughie for predictors, The NBoR agrees with tMbU’s Chris and gave The Guilty a top 5 foreign film spot, even though Cold War won the prize. Cold War also wins at the NYFCC making it an early favorite in a category where the favorite often misses out on the Academy Awards all together. This year, it would seem, these films are fighting for second. Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma is set to take down this category with authority.
Check in to themediabyus.com and subscribe to Talkie Talk for more award season updates and predictions as we finish out 2018!
