Good Thursday to All...
Welcome to the second half of this blog...The Film Awards Clearinghouse. I transition at this point in the year from guessing about Telluride to guessing about the Oscar impact of the films that played at Telluride. It's fun!
FANTASTIC PHOTOS FROM TFF #39
One of the cooler things that happens because this blog has been journalistically accredited for Telluride is that I can access the official photos that were taken during the fest and so I have and am including a good number of them here beginning with the guy that arguably got the biggest boost of anyone last week, Mr. Ben Affleck who was there with his film "Argo". Great reviews, great buzz. Oscarologists are saying it's square in the thick of the race for a number of statues. "Argo" was #2 in both my "People's Telluride" ratings and among the Critics who responded to my request as well.
Ben Affleck in Telluride last week.
Also highlighted pictorially from last week:
Sarah Polley whose documentary "Stories We Tell" was well received. It was #1 on my "People's Telluride" poll and #3 among the Critic's responses. It may now be an Oscar player.
Marion Cotillard who seems to be lining up another Oscar nomination for "Rust and Bone". It was my personal choice for Best of the Fest (closely followed by "Argo"). R+B was #7 with Critics and #16 among the peeps.
"The Sapphires" was well liked by both critic types (#4) and the People (#8) but may not even be a consideration for Oscar or Golden Globe contention depending on what The Weinstein Company elects to do with it. Frankly, I think it could play well for the GG "Musical/Comedy" category and Chris O'Dowd should get a Supporting Actor Oscar push.
"The Sapphires" director Wayne Blair
And finally, maybe a Best Original Screenplay nod is a real possibility for Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig for their delightful "Frances Ha" (# 5 critics and #9 People)
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig
VIDEO FROM TFF #39
If you'd also like to re-visit or visit for the first time video of a number of the tributes, interviews and conversations from last week go here:
Tributes for Marion Cotillard and Mads Mikkelsen are included.
OSCAR SEASON IS HERE
Again, as mentioned above, this space now becomes a collection point for Oscar/Awards news as we move through the fall and holiday seasons into full-fledged sprint that comes in January and February. As I have done for the past few years, I 'll collate the best predictive powers of the finest Oscarologists in the business. People like Scott Feinberg (The Hollywood Reporter), Kris Tapley (Incontention/HitFix), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily) and others.
Additionally, this year, I'm going to do my best to link you to the various media that the Big Time Oscar Seers are using. Tapley and Anne Thompson doing "Oscar Talk", Stone and Jeff Wells doing "Oscar Poker" and starting this week "A Few Minutes with Feinberg" as Scott Feinberg shares his insights on the Awards season.
Here's the link to Scott's first "cast":
Feinberg also filed this story outlining "Argo's" Oscar profile following the Telluride presentation:
Finally, I'll tell you this right now...last year I urged some Oscar consideration for a number of people/scripts/films that I thought likely to be under-appreciated or overlooked...not because I think this tiny little endeavor has any reach at all, but mostly just because I could. I was all about a screenplay nomination for "A Separation"...it happened and a Supporting Actor nomination for Ezra Miller in "We Need to Talk About Kevin" (it didn't happen).
And I won't be any different this year...so..I'm officially announcing that I'm beating the drum for Bryan Cranston in "Argo". I know you can make good cases for Alan Arkin, John Goodman and especially Scoot McNairy (actually, I might move Scoot onto the list with Cranston) but for my money, Cranston deserves it and, maybe more importantly (Hey, anyone at Warner Brothers...listen)..he'd be the strongest candidate. It's a solid performance, he's a very respected actor from the small screen and is red hot right now as a result of the success of "Breaking Bad".
Arkin just won the award 6 years ago. Goodman is probably due, but his roll is not nearly as meaty as Cranston's and McNairy...still all but an unknown. Cranston's the smart play.
POST-TELLURIDE/TORONTO MUSINGS
From Hollywood News, here's a pretty good re-cap of what has happened Oscar-wise as a result of Telluride and now most of the Toronto festival:
More on Monday...
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