Fall Movie Preview: The Oscar Contenders
Fall Movie Preview: The Oscar Contenders

Fall Movie Preview: The Oscar Contenders

Here’s a glimpse of the prestige fall movies, for those cinephiles and culture aficionados:

Birth of a Nation

BIRTH OF A NATION

The Good: Nate Turner’s passion project about a slave rebellion pre-Civil War, a welcome return of minority voices to the Oscar discussion.

The Bad: The movie reeks of importance to the point that it might get overpraised.

Prediction:

A strong contender for the best movie you’ll see this year.

 The Girl on a Train

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

The Good: Adaptation of a stellar book, with a very strong lead in Emily Blunt.

The Bad: Tate Taylor isn’t the best director, and this could end up being a light Gone Girl.

Prediction:

Blunt almost always delivers, and the trailers promise fascinating twisty perspective changes.

Desierto

DESIERTO

The Good: A strong thriller with a pointed political spin directed by the underappreciated Cuaron family.

The Bad: The trailer really doesn’t sell the movie very well, and the buzz is pretty bad.

Prediction:

I have high hopes for this one, the cast is excellent and the Cuaron’s usually put interesting spins on tired material.

Moonlight

MOONLIGHT

The Good: Ambitious tale that Hollywood normally doesn’t decide to tackle very often.

The Bad: Did the untested director bite off more than he could chew.

Prediction:

The movie will be a welcome story, but I worry there’s not enough time to cover the story’s ambition.

american-pastoral

AMERICAN PASTORAL

The Good: Strong cast with a decent writer, based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

The Bad: Some of the worst buzz I have ever heard, and Ewan McGregor has never directed and isn’t believable as a star athlete.

Prediction:

A wasteful adaptation of a very good Philip Roth novel.

Loving

LOVING

The Good: Relevant story with a strong cast and director, plus great word of mouth.

The Bad: Will this devolve into an after school special?

Prediction:

Jeff Nichols is an interesting director, and Ruth Negga is a star waiting to happen.

arrival

ARRIVAL

The Good: Strong director and yet further hope that Amy Adams will win an Oscar soon.

The Bad: A mostly horror director.

Prediction:

Denis Villeneuve has been consistently engaging, and the story is an interesting spin on Alien invasions. High hopes here hinging on Amy Adams? Sounds like a solid place to be.

Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk

BILLY LYNN’S LONG  HALFTIME WALK

The Good: Anytime Ang Lee directs something, it’s going to be a splendor to look at at least.

The Bad: The cast is not dramatically tested.

Prediction:

I have high hopes for this one, with a strong story comparison to Slumdog Millionaire.

Hacksaw Ridge

HACKSAW RIDGE

The Good: A fresh spin on the war movie.

The Bad: Can Mel Gibson return to directing without getting overtly preachy?

Prediction:

The early buzz is very promising, and the concept is strong enough to be at worst intriguing.

The Edge of Seventeen

THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN

The Good: There hasn’t been a great coming of age movie in a while, and the leads are well cast.

The Bad: Is there enough time between coming of age stories to make this one different?

Prediction:

These movies are hard to get right, and the trailer makes this movie look like retread material.

Manchester by the Sea

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

The Good: Strong word of mouth coupled with a distinct sense of place.

The Bad: I rolled my eyes at how often I’ve seen movies like this one: troubled adult raises innocent child to both their benefit.

Prediction:

Strong acting and setting should carry this over its obvious cliches.

Allied

ALLIED

The Good: Strong leads, a cool story, and a stellar writer.

The Bad: Robert Zemeckis’s record as of late has been real sketchy.

Prediction:

Spy thriller set at WWII? Sounds like a can’t miss.

Lion

LION

The Good: Dev Patel gets a chance to not play a stereotype.

The Bad: The Weinstein Company hammers its Oscarness too heavily, and a relatively untested director.

Prediction:

This movie will be trying too hard.

Tower

TOWER

The Good: Animated documentary? Those don’t happen often, and the subject is certainly interesting.

The Bad: Documentaries are at their best when correcting a social ill, so the peak for this one is limited.

Prediction:

The material will be compelling and it will be well directed. Could usher in more animated docs.

La La Land

LA LA LAND

The Good: Fantasical love story with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and the director of Whiplash? The pieces couldn’t fit better.

The Bad: This could become Sparksian, all the warning signs are there.

Prediction:

My hopes are sky high with this one. It sounds superbly adorable.

Salesman

THE SALESMAN

The Good: One of the five best working writer/directors today, Asghar Farhadi, wrote and directed the screenplay.

The Bad: Farhadi doesn’t usually adapt works from other people, so that maybe?

Prediction:

Like Richard Linklater, I will see anything Farhadi puts on the screen.

Collateral Beauty

COLLATERAL BEAUTY

The Good: Will Smith getting a chance to stretch his acting chops.

The Bad: The Devil Wears Prada wasn’t famous for its director, and the writer of this film has lots of Adam Sandler/Kevin James films on his resume.

Prediction:

I smell manipulative garbage on this one.

the-founder

THE FOUNDER

The Good: A ubiquitous fast food chain, Michael Keaton, and deceptive business practice all should work nicely.

The Bad: Pairing a feel good Disney director with a dark writer might not work so well.

Prediction:

Michael Keaton will be great, and the McDonald brothers are also well cast, but the story feels mostly generic were it not for the Big Mac creator’s creation.

Passengers

PASSENGERS

The Good: J-Law and Chris Pratt, the two most beloved actors on the planet now, starring in a movie together.

The Bad: Untested writer and bland director.

Prediction:

My gut says this is great only on paper.

Patriots Day

PATRIOT’S DAY

The Good: A rousing jingoistic film to make you believe in America.

The Bad: 5 writers and a wishy washy director? Yeesh.

Prediction:

Will feel good to watch, but not say anything special.

Gold

GOLD

The Good: Another stellar McConaughey performance feels like it’s coming.

The Bad: Lots of TV writers/directors that may not translate to a cineplex.

Prediction:

McConaughey will get a “For Your Consideration” but the story looks ok.

MUST SEE: Like 12 Years a Slave a few years ago, The Birth of a Nation will be one of the most powerful pieces of filmmaking this year.

MUST SKIPIt’s never good when a movie comes out of the festivals with lengthy diatribes against it. Sorry American Pastoral.

MOST INTRIGUING: As cute as J-Pratt will be, La La Land has me downright giddy that something special might happen.

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