by Nathaniel R
So far so good for all the expected Oscar favorites. The First Man won (mostly) raves and the next three big premieres also did. Alfonso Cuaron's Spanish language black-and-white family epic Roma, Bradley Cooper's remake of A Star is Born with Lady Gaga, Yorgos Lanthimos' comedy The Favourite with three great actresses... everyone seems to love everything! Are they all suffering from "first!" blurb whore fever or will the next wave of critics (coming soon at Telluride, TIFF, and NYFF) also fall so hard for these same pictures?
I don't personally read reviews before I see a picture (though sometimes I skim them) but if you do, here's what people are saying about these Best Picture hopefuls...
- THE FAVOURITE - The Guardian and Time love it, especially Colman. The Film Stage says it's "endlessly quotable" (which we love hearing!). Variety and IndieWire call it either Yorgos Lanthimos' best movie or his most accessible.
- ROMA - Vulture and Time both love it. And The Hollywood Reporter says there's a "breathtaking single-take sequence" (we live for thos). And The Guardian claims it's Alfonso Cuaron's best film yet (which is crazy high praise considering!)... though I have to say hearing it referred to as 'huge' and 'epic' and 'technically stunning' makes me already worried for it given that it's Netflix that has it and they don't push the big screen experience.
- A STAR IS BORN - Variety and The Guardian love it, but who doesn't? The Hollywood Reporter calls the songs "frequently catchy" (more good news!) Time calls Lady Gaga a "knockout"
I may do better on my early bird Oscar predictions than usual since I saw The Favourite and A Star is Born coming before everyone jumped on board and buzz became deafening. But surely something "expected" is going to crash and burn. So which film yet to screen is going to tank hard when people actually look at it and become a future topic on "This Had Oscar Buzz"? Beautiful Boy? If Beale Street? Widows? Back Seat? Boy Erased? Mary Queen of Scots? Mary Poppins Returns? Widows? Whatsitgonnabe? I'm guessing Boy Erased and Mary Queen of Scots and maybe Back Seat as the three most likely to not live up to expectations. I have to admit I'm a bit worried about If Beale Street, too, because two consecutive smash successes from wonderful Barry Jenkins sounds too good to be true in a season where everything so far is supposedly great... and it's not like there weren't rich pictures from the first 2/3rds of the year to fawn over, too, like Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Eighth Grade, Isle of Dogs, First Reformed, Tully, Disobedience, etcetera.
How are you feeling about the impending fall film season?