Will "Wind River" Find a Second Life?

by Nathaniel R

Last night word spread round that this summer's sleeper success Wind River, about a rape/murder investigation on an reservation, had possibly found a new lease on life. It was a Weinstein Company release this summer -- their only "hit" this year actually -- and that connection was thought to have obviously doomed its chances this awards season following Harvey Weinstein's banishment from Hollywood after the numerous sexual harrassment and rape allegations. 

If you remove that associative stain, though, the film is, in essence, a non-genre sleeper hit aimed squarely at adults and thus theoretically Oscar compatible...

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YNMS: "Hostiles"

Chris here. The dry desert of the arid Best Actor race is about to get a bit of a transplant into the actual desert. Scott Cooper's Hostiles had one of the quieter debuts on the festival season, landing quiet praise and a tribute for Christian Bale when it went to Telluride. It got even quieter as it waited for a distributor while majors were already fully booked - but now it will be a last-minute arrival from a new mini-distrib with hopes for recognition for Bale. The film will open in limited release on December 22.

The director hasn't had Oscar success since winning Jeff Bridges a long-awaiting prize for Crazy Heart, but the film might just benefit from starring a beloved player in a less competitive year. Does it also help that the film will stand out from the pack by genre alone? Hold onto your spurs, we've got a western in the Oscar race! Take a look at the trailer before we break down the Yes No Maybe So...

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Calling "The Disaster Artist"

Chris here. We don't spend much time celebrating movie turkeys here at The Film Experience, but the upcoming release of The Disaster Artist provides a unique opportunity of sorts. The film (which I reviewed at TIFF) recounts the making of "worst movie of all time" The Room with James Franco directing and starring as the film's eccentric creator Tommy Wiseau. And it's looking like the film is drumming up an equally idiosyncratic Oscar campaign before its early December release.

What looks like an homage billboard has something a little more special. Take note of Artist's posted phone number - because James Franco has been taking calls.

Two Billboards Outside Hollywood and Highland pic.twitter.com/KNB2w0diL6

— A24 (@A24) October 25, 2017

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C O N S I D E R - Favorite Actors of 2017, 3rd Qtr

With only three months of the year to go - eep! -- it's time to look back on the past three months for movies we saw from July through September (excluding films with firm release dates in the next three months). Herewith Nathaniel's 17 favorite male performances from the year's third quarter (plus first week of October to keep us up-to-date), divvied up into three categories.  (Movies with asterisks have not yet been released.)

Did these men speak to you with their turns? 

7 LEADING ACTORS

Daniel Gimenez Cacho as "Don Diego de Zama" in Zama*
One of my favorite Mexican actors. Though I found the film impenetrable, he's always strong.

Harris Dickinson as "Frankie" in Beach Rats
Here's to debuts that reveal both fully-formed star charisma and film-carrying craft

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Denzel Back in the Oscar Race?

Chris here.

After it was such a surprise late addition to the TIFF lineup, it wasn't much of a shock that Roman J Israel, Esq. got one of the more muted responses of the festival's big premieres. But the film is coming right around the corner and we can expect a much more attentive response for its release now that we have more time to actually get excited for it. And from the looks of the new trailer, it looks like we'll be getting more of peak Denzel Washington after a near miss with Oscar in Fences.

So can this film build on the momentum that Washington had last year? The Best Actor race is on the thin side, aside from incoming behemoth Gary Oldman, so some movie star goodwill can't hurt. Writer/director Dan Gilroy certainly gave us a complex sociopolitical male vehicle with Nightcrawler and this looks like another layered morality tale, even with significantly less scabrousness than that debut. But if there's any actor today who can mine the full depth of a character's compromise and regret, it's Washington.

As for the film itself, it will have to overcome some already tepid reviews to register beyond the megastar. There is certainly some promise here in the trailer, even if I'm bracing myself to be enraged by yet another film sidelining the fabulous Carmen Ejogo and giving us Colin Farrell sans beard. Roman J Israel, Esq. opens on November 3.