Oscar Chart Updates: Visuals, Sound, Animation & Documentary

Mos of the Oscar charts are now updated but for foreign film and the acting categories. We'll get to them soon enough but otherwise we've finished the July shifts. 

Things to wonder about right at this moment... (discuss in the comments, plz)

• If The Legend of Tarzan can make any headway towards a Costume Design consideration for Ruth Myers since there's so few "showy" period or fantasy costume films this year outside of the many competing works of Colleen Atwood?
• When we will get our first look at images or footage from the WW II drama Allied (with Brad Pitt) or the sci-fi drama Arrival (with Amy Adams)?
• If Florence Foster Jenkins has any strength in it beyond Meryl? (Costumes? Hair and Makeup? Score?)
• If Marvel Studios will finally break through in tech categories (like Batman films sometimes do) or if they'll continue to snag just one or MAX two nominations for their most popular films like Civil War?
• If Fences, The Founder, and Loving, which all take place across roughly the same time period will be too "muted" in terms of visuals to snag craft nominations or if Oscar will love their possibly modest naturalism?
• Why we've heard so little about How to Talk to Girls at Parties release strategy? Is it going to be pushed back?
• Will Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton goodwill get him an Oscar for Moana despite what sounds like strong competition in the song category? 
• If Finding Dory's massive box office haul we'll be enough to edge smaller originals out of the animation race even though they're sometimes stingy with sequels?

NEW CHARTS
INDEX | PICTURE | DIRECTOR | SCREENPLAYS |
VISUALS | AURALS | ANIMATION & DOCUMENTARY 

Who did Hugh Grant make cry & Meryl's most dubious

Murtada here. Graham Norton always manages to coax stories out of his visiting guests that somehow they never divulge on this side of the Atlantic.This week his guests included Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, selling Florence Foster Jenkins. Norton brings up a recent interview in which Grant claimed all his co-stars hated him. Julianne Moore, Rachel Weisz, Emma Thompson, Sandra Bullock and Drew Barrymore are name checked. Clearly the Music and Lyrics (2007) set was not a happy one as this is what Grant said about Barrymore:

She made the mistake of giving me notes. How would you take that?

Meryl's response is perfect and gets the biggest laugh. Deservedly. She knows how to land a line!

Meryl divulges the one movie in her oeuvre she isn’t happy with. I thought it would be Still of the Night (1982) which she has spoken about before. But it’s actually The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981).

It's a fun talk show moment. And wouldn't we all love to get a glimpse of Renee Zellweger's 48 pages long emails. Do it Hugh, put them on twitter! Is The French Lieutenant's Woman really Meryl's most dubious moment on screen?

YNMS: Florence Foster Jenkins

Murtada here. Stephen Frears recent output has been uneven. This month, his Lance Armstrong biopic The Program was met with lukewarm reviews and a VOD purgatory release, while Lay the Favorite (2012) and Tamara Drewe (2010) were both immediately forgotten. However he does well when teamed with grand actresses in intimate dramas (The Queen, Philomena). So we are cautiously optimistic about his collaboration with Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins. The story, of an amateur opera singer, known and ridiculed for her very bad singing and her complete delusion about her abilities, is intriguing.

Let's break down the newly released trailer..... after the jump.

Click to read more ...

It's May for Meryl

As Meryl Streep starts her jury duties at the Berlinale, Murtada has news about her next film.

Streep at the Berlinale Jury Press Conference

Gird your loins! There must be a rupture in the movie universe because we might not get the new Meryl Streep movie when we usually do. Since 2008's Mamma Mia, movies led by Streep have had only 2 release dates. The December prestige slot (Doubt, The Iron Lady, August Osage County, Into the Woods). Or late summer blockbuster comedy counter programming (Julie and Julia, Hope Springs, Ricki and the Flash). Plus one anomaly with the comedy It's Complicated inexplicably slotted into the December prestige date. Yes comedies get released year round, but not Meryl comedies!

2016 is changing all that. Pathe have announced a May 6 UK release of Streep's latest, Florence Foster Jenkins. Directed by Stephen Frears and also starring Hugh Grant and Rebecca Ferguson, the film is based on the true life story of the titular character, who was an amateur opera singer, known and ridiculed for her very bad singing and her complete delusion about her abilities. A US release date is expected soon and will probably be around the same time. Ater Ricki fizzled at the box office, it looks like Spring is now the best time for adult oriented female driven counter programming. Specially with the success last year of Woman in Gold and Far From the Madding Crowd.

Delighted to announce FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS will be released on 6 May starring #MerylStreep @HackedOffHugh pic.twitter.com/rGnI10B3UD

— Pathé UK (@patheuk) February 9, 2016

Meanwhile in Berlin, Streep started her jury duties with a bit of a controversy. At a press conference on Thursday, she began her remarks well talking about how she would give each film careful consideration because she's been on the other side, “a compassionate heart is important as an actress”. When she was asked about diversity, Streep applauded the gender diversity within her jury group.

“This jury is evidence that at least women are included and in fact dominate this jury, and that’s an unusual situation in bodies of people who make decisions. So I think the Berlinale is ahead of the game.”

But then she delved into murkier depths when addressing the lack of racial diversity within the same group:

“There is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture, and after all we’re all from Africa originally. Berliners, we’re all Africans really.”

The quote sounds like a riff on JFK’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech but when taken out of context reads clueless and clumsy. Maybe first acknowledge the omission of people of color before deflecting the question with humor. 

How excited are you for Florence? Do you think the May release date is significant in anyway?

Happy Merylmas !

Last year we celebrated Meryl Streep's birthday with a list of 65 appropriate ways to celebrate... and all of those still apply, so click over there and do them today. To add a 66th item for her 2015 birthday, rewatch the trailers to Ricki & The Flash and Suffragette or just daydream about Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) in which she plays a terrible opera singer

Happy Merylmas. If you're not following our instructions, how are you celebrating?