Post-Toronto Update
Not much in the way of a full column to offer this week. The big winners out of Toronto obviously begin with "Eastern Promises" (People's Choice award winner), which has some steam built up for mentions in Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay...Best Picture would take a lot of creativity on Focus's part.
ThinkFilm now has a jewel to sell in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," which could land a notice for Philip Seymour Hoffman's stellar performance. He'll get in his own way with "Charlie Wilson's War" and "The Savages," however.
Lots of love all around for "Juno" is a great sign for Ellen Page and Diablo Cody (I still love that she has a cat named Douchebagger). Perhaps it's enough to go the distance, but Searchlight has a lot to work with on pretty much their entire slate.
A lot of respect came for Sean Penn's "Into the Wild," but being a huge fan of the Jon Krakauer book, I found it extremely lacking - at least as an initial reaction. I hope to see it again before really digging into a review, but it has some troubles in my book. I seem to be pretty much alone in that opinion so far, however.
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" took the biggest hit. But Universal still has what appears to be their biggest hope, "American Gangster," which begins screening in Los Angeles tomorrow night.
And of course, in a season where no one wants to be the frontrunner, "Atonement" still seems to be the one to beat all around.
Nothing much else in the ether for now, so I'll leave it at that.
Main Category Charts
Technical Category Charts
The Contenders (by category)
2007 Films-by-Studio Rundown
Oscar Predictions Archive
Previous Oscar Columns:
09/10/07 - "Notes from the Eye of a Storm"
09/03/07 - "Launching the New Season"
08/03/07 - "August Update"
07/01/07 - "The Silence is Deafening"
02/26/07 - "Forging Ahead: In Contention's Year in Advance Oscar Speculation"
Comments
I don't think you're the only one who has mixed feelings about Into the Wild. The screening I was at had a very lukewarm reception, so I'm pretty sure it'll be completely out of the race within two weeks. I'm surprised that you did not mention Armin Mueller-Stahl though. People are talking about him just as much as Viggo Mortensen, and I think the screenplay is very likely to get a nomination.
Posted by: bblasingame![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| September 17, 2007 01:09 PM
For what it counts, I also could not stand Into the Wild.
Posted by: Scott Feinberg![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| September 17, 2007 08:24 PM
Eastern Promises may be too violent a genre film to be a real Oscar contender, despite the critical praise. Audiences in Toronto were responding enthusiastically to one of their favorite sons. A History of Violence was New Line, this one is Focus. The critics will stick with it through the long awards season. But will Academy members feel the love? A History of Violence was in many ways more accessible than this one. Mortensen, screenplay and director, maybe. I better see this one again.
Posted by: akstanwyck![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| September 18, 2007 12:11 AM