Oscar Update: 'Green Zone' Out. Streep In Again? And NBR Announces Awards Date
Are you keeping up with me?
For those of you that still haven't been conditioned to periodically keep an eye on "The Contenders" section of the site as I keep tabs on any and all information pertaining to the Oscar race I am here to update you on some of the goings ons since my last update.
First off, it was recently announced the National Board of Review will announce its list of winners on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009, marking the beginning of the awards season along with the Gotham Independent Film Awards which will be held two days earlier on Tuesday, December 1st. One is definitely looked at with more attention than the other, but both should give us some quality early indicators, even though the NBR is traditionally a bit… well… odd with their choices.
A little side note tells us Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox will have its debut at the 53rd London Film Festival which runs Oct. 14-29. The film opens in Britain on Oct. 23 and in the U.S. on Nov. 13. Will it be a contender for Best Animated Film?
I am also keeping an eye on Richard Curtis's new film, which In Contention is reporting is now titled Pirate Radio as opposed to The Boat That Rocked. The film didn't fare well in the UK due to the most common complaint being its length, but Universal shifted it to Focus and the film is now being recut for a November 2009 release.
Next comes the news of the release date shuffle over at Universal Pictures as a few films of note have moved out of contention, but another may have just moved in. I know Nat over at The Film Experience has been championing Benicio Del Toro as a possible Oscar contender with The Wolfman, but he can forget that dream as Universal has sent the hairy beast to February 12, 2010.
Then comes the Paul Greengrass/Matt Damon feature, Green Zone, a title I had in my Best Picture contenders list as well as had Greengrass in my list of contenders for Director and it was a toss-up between Damon for The Informant or Green Zone for Best Actor. However, that concern is out the window now as Uni has moved Green Zone to March 12, 2010.
However, all of this shuffling has left us with a new title to consider, and it's a title that includes the acting prowess of one Meryl Streep as the previously untitled Nancy Meyers comedy now has a title and a December 25 release date. It's Complicated starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, Zoe Kazan, Lake Bell, John Krasinski and Rita Wilson is now in awards contention and adds another chance for Streep to get that 16th Oscar nomination along with Julie & Julia, which I get to see tomorrow night. After all, remember Nancy Meyers' Something's Gotta Give earned Diane Keaton an Oscar nom in 2004. Lightning could strike again.
Finally, speaking of all the release date changes I had to go and bump Green Zone out of "The Contenders" and therefore also shuffled a few things around including new rankings for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. The moves in Best Director are subtle as I just removed Greengrass and moved a couple people up and in Best Actor I moved Sam Rockwell's performance in Moon into the top ten sending Johnny Depp's work in Public Enemies to the bench. I also just saw Funny People last night and it isn't "DOA" as David Edelstein proclaimed at New York Magazine, but I also won't be rushing to put it in the list of the current ten contenders for Best Picture, but it just may be in the discussion at the end of the year.
As for Best Picture, I also removed Green Zone leaving the 15th slot open for now while shuffling the likes of Avatar, The Hurt Locker, An Education and a few others. You can click on any of the categories to begin checking out the full list of rankings and remember to bookmark The Contenders or subscribe to the RSS Feed for continuous updates.
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All these delays to Wolfman are quite concerning. I am almost convinced now that this movie is gonna be a disaster.
Another Oscar for Meryl! The Master of all roles!
Sucks about Green Zone. It was my most anticipated film of the year, bar none.
I really hope The Hurt Locker gets a nomination. I wonder if Jeremy Renner will get a nomination also.
The Boat That Rocked is a damn perfect title, why the hell they decided to change it…
Again, tell me how "The Hurt Looker" is eligible this year after getting nominations from the 'Independent Spirit Awards" (which I consider a major award) in 2008?
I've been waiting forever for Green Zone, can't believe it is being pushed into 2010.
Anyone who's seen "The Boat That Rocked" willl tell you that this will NOT get Oscar noms. It was just a light, nostalgic British comedy, but pretty average really.
Okay, but you're still forgetting the most obvious nomination on that best picture list: Shutter Island. I'm not sure why it's not on there since many other websites have touted it the best picture winner.
Avatar? Shutter Island? Star Trek?
Go Meryl!!!!!
Give her a third oscar already! ;D
@Colin: What about them? Do you have something to add or are you just listing movie titles you know? Did something happen to those titles in the past week that should cause me to mention them?
@Alex: It's not on there because I don't think it's going to be a Best Picture winner or contender. Maybe I'll be wrong and have to eat my words at that time, but it's one film I won't make my mind up on until I have seen the entire thing. I have read the book and have no faith in the content despite the talent involved.
Also, who is saying it is going to win? I have not seen a single person saying that.
Avatar is getting alot of buzz for the effects and the footage at comic-con, and It's Cameron whose had a pretty good track record with awards. Shutter Island has got Scorsese and Dicaprio teaming up again, there last three projects were all best picture nominated. Star Trek has gotten some of the best reviews so far this year. With ten slots and things like Green Zone now out of competition, I think there might be room for these films.
@Colin: That's better, that's what I like to see… Conversation starters.
As for Avatar out of Comic Con, I covered it and while the effects impressed me the story and film still have a lot to prove. It's listed in my Best Pic contenders, but I dropped it a notch after its Comic Con showing.
Shutter Island I have covered in other Oscar updates and actually mentioned it just above your last comment so I will leave it there.
With Star Trek, I don't see it coming close to Best Picture, but its effects and definitely its sound work will be up among the top contenders.
Thanks for the response. Sorry for being so vauge before. I didn't get to see the footage like so many other lucky people did, but I've still got my fingers crossed on it. I also think it's hard to judge if a film is revolutionary based on only 25 minutes of footage. As for Star Trek, I would love to see something of it's kind get nominated. There aren't many films in the fantasy genre that get recognized for the more top tier awards, prehaps why I mentioned Avatar. The only ones I can think of would be Star Wars E.T. and LOR's. I think there could be more.
Talking Oscar nods on movies no one has seen seems odd to me. This time last year, I bet "Revolutionary Road" was probably on everyone list, then people saw it, a many, not all, where disappointed.
@Steve: And you just nailed what makes it so much fun! Shutter Island for instance, I may be completely wrong in keeping it off and others may be completely right that it should be on there… it's a back-and-forth discussion about movies keeping up awareness and looking forward to the future… not sure what it is odd about that.
Meryl Deserves her oscar right now!! Look how versatile she is!!Im so impressed.. Portraying julia Child is so hard and making Comedy films is so hard!!
Sorry that this is totally unrelated to the discussion above but how come there is just one Oscar contender for Best Foreign Film yet?
I am not complaining but am eagerly looking forward for the list to expand. Last year's helped me catch some great films I wouldn't have heard of otherwise.