2018 Nominee Watch – November 16th

As if things couldn't get any busier this November, we head into this weekend with at least two films sure to secure Oscar nominations getting wide release.

Along with the wide releases, the list of limited release films grows each week I update my listings as many other films seek to get an official release in Los Angeles in order to become eligible for Academy Awards.

If you're trying to keep up with all these new films, it's going to get increasingly difficult over the next month and a half so strap in and get ready!

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A Private War
This is a film expanding into wide release after debuting last week in limited release sees Rosamund Pike playing the role of Marie Colvin, a foreign news correspondent who travels to some of the most dangerous places on the planet to report on atrocities carried out by governments around the world.

This is one of those films that urges viewers to look beyond their own comfortable place in the world and I'm happy something like this is getting a wider release. It won't make a huge dent at the box office, especially with big budget films like Fantastic Beasts (write-up below) and The Grinch in theaters and many more on their way in coming weeks, but it's important to give films like this a proper showing.

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I haven't heard any talk about Pike being nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal in this film, but from what I've seen, there is a slight possibility. The Academy often likes the actors who take on broken personalities and Colvin is certainly that, outside and in.

Being in part a war movie, there is also an outside possibility for some nomination in the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories as well as Best Cinematography.

​Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
In the anticipated follow-up to 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Eddie Redmayne returns as Newt Scamander and brings a crew of your favorite characters from the Harry Potter universe along with him.

**Spoiler Alert**
If you've seen the first film featuring Newt Scamander, you know that Grindewald showed up at the very end of that film after it was revealed that Graves was actually Grindewald in disguise. Freed from his impersonation, we now get the delight of seeing Johnny Depp take on the role of Gallert Grindelwald, considered the second most dangerous wizard of all time, deferring only to Lord Voldemort himself.

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Fans of the Harry Potter series will instantly recognize a number of elements in the trailer that appeared in the original eight films including the giant snake Nagini, the famous Elder Wand,  and of course the man who will become headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore himself. A quick review of the character names also brings us to Leta Lestrange, a name that should conjure memories of the final few Harry Potter films as well.

This film will undoubtedly be tremendous fun and a must see for even the casual Harry Potter fan. As a fantasy action film, there will be strong consideration for a Best Visual Effects nomination as well as potential for Production Design, Cinematography, and of course Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Look for the Harry Potter crew to show up once again at the Oscars in February.

Instant Family
Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne play a couple who just finished building a big house, but lack the children to fill up their big house so they look at adopting a child from foster care. Little to they know the teen girl the want to adopt also has two younger siblings that must be adopted as well, so they end up with an "instant family."

I had to double check to see if Byrne was the wife in Wahlberg's two Daddy's Home films, but realized that was Linda Cardillini (who I had always misread her name as Cardinelli, but that's a story for another day). Needless to say, I was instantly reminded of the Daddy's Home films when I saw this trailer and struggle to get that out of my head.

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This one looks like a very cute film and it's interesting to see Wahlberg alternate between family films and the action films he was more known for earlier in his career. I like his as the father figure, especially because he still manages to have that "cool dad" vibe that I think all dads secretly want to have.

While this may be a fun family film, I doubt very much there will be any Oscar nominations from it. 

​Widows
This film is being billed as the next generation of heist thriller and it brings several heavy hitters together on screen. With names like Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson, Robert Duvall, and director Steve McQueen, this film promises to be a non stop drama while at the same time likely dealing with more issues than just the heist at the center of the plot.

The premise here seems simple enough. A group of four women owing debts after the deaths of their husbands plan to carry out the "last job" their husbands had planned in order to pay off the debts. We don't know yet who the debt is to, but the women must forge a bond and work together when the only thing that they have in common is the debt itself, and the loss of their spouses.

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There has been Oscar talk surrounding this film for some time and for good reason. Many of the cast members have previous been nominated and even won Academy Awards and McQueen himself received an award for 12 Years a Slave in 2013.

I would be incredibly surprised to see any less than 4 nominations for this film including Best Actress (Davis), Best Director (McQueen), Best Picture, and potentially categories including Best Cinematography and even Sound Editing and Mixing.

Limited Releases

• 12 Round Gun – A man fights to save his boxer son by stepping back into the ring himself.
• Anchor and Hope – A lesbian couple contemplates parenthood and family issues.
• At Eternity's Gate – Willem Dafoe stars as Vincent van Gogh in a story based on letters from the painter himself.
• The Clovehitch Killer – A young boy scout begins to suspect that his father may be a serial killer still at large.
• A Cool Fish – Chinese action comedy about a bank guard chasing a pair of thieves.
• Family in Transition – Documentary look at a family in Nahariya, Israel who struggle to deal with the announcement that their father is transitioning to become a woman.
• The Gilligan Manifesto – A documentary look at the early production of Gilligan's Island and the impact of the Cold War on the famous sitcom.
• Girl – a 15-year-old girl, born as a boy, dreams of being a ballerina.
• Green Book – Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) stars as Don Shirley, a pianist scheduled to appear in a concert tour across the deep South, who hires Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) to be his driver on the trip and the develop an unlikely bond. 
• Heart, Baby – A champion prison boxer receives an offer of freedom to be able to fight in the Olympics.​

• Jonathan – Not a film about me, but one where a man struggles to deal with being two people.
• The Last Race – Documentary look at the lives and personalities of small-town stock car racers.
• Madness, Farewell – A young woman intent on dying hires a "hit man" company to help kill her when she can't pull the trigger herself.
• Mobile Homes – A woman and her young son move from place to place struggling with drugs.
• Speed Kills – John Travolta stars as Ben Aranoff, a speedboat racer who moves drugs across the ocean through his races.
• Team Khan – Documentary about Amir Khan, as he trains to be able to fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
• Texas Cotton – A Texas lawman fights to prove that a man arrested in his town is innocent.
• Under the Wire – The documentary side of the story of Marie Colvin, subject of A Private War discussed above.
• Welcome Home – A young couple on vacation in a rental home deal with the unconventional homeowner.
• The World Before Your Feet – Documentarian Matt Green goes on a mission to explore all 8,000 miles of sidewalks, paths, and roads in the five boroughs of New York City.
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – An anthology of stories written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen depicting life in the Old West. (Oscar Qualifying Run) (Netflix)