The following list and remarks reflect my personal opinions and do/will not in any way impact my projections or analysis on this site, wherein I strive above all else to correctly forecast what will happen, not what I believe should happen.
The first half of last year — i.e. January through June — produced two of the 10 best picture nominees (“Winter’s Bone” and “Toy Story 3”), 1 of the 20 acting nominees (Jennifer Lawrence), and 1 of the 10 screenplay nominees (“Winter’s Bone”). The first half of this year, meanwhile, has produced a lot of very good flicks — among them “The Beaver” (Summit, 5/6, PG-13, trailer), “Hanna” (Focus Features, 4/8, PG-13, trailer), “Jane Eyre” (Focus Features, 3/11, PG-13, trailer), “Limitless” (Relativity, 3/18, PG-13, trailer), “The Lincoln Lawyer” (Lionsgate, 3/18, R, trailer), “Meek’s Cutoff” (Oscilloscope, 4/8, PG, trailer), “Rango” (Paramount, 3/4, PG, trailer), “Source Code” (Summit, 4/1, PG-13, trailer), and “Win Win” (Fox Searchlight, 3/18, R, trailer) — but nothing that seems likely to snag an Oscar nod come next January. This, of course, begs the question: which films will be the first serious Oscar contenders of 2011?
Here’s a look at the eight likeliest pre-Fall candidates…
Based on over 82 years of history, we all know that the Academy takes to biopics like ducks take to water. This probably explains why close to a dozen films about real people are being promoted for awards consideration this year, an even higher number than usual. Here is a rundown of the real people, the actors who play them, and the films in which they are portrayed…
Canadian filmmaker Larysa Kondracki’s “The Whistleblower” (still seeking domestic distribution) had its world premiere this afternoon at the Elgin Theater as part of the Toronto International Film Festival, and was greeted with two standing ovations — one for the film, and one for the woman upon whose story it is based. A political-thriller, it delves into crime and corruption in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, and stars Rachel Weisz, one of the few big-name actresses who is able to instantly convey both the beauty and the intelligence that its central part demands.