2019 Nominee Watch – May 10th

With Avengers: Endgame still dominating the box office for a few more weeks, the studios are dropping some simpler fair. Look for some laughs this weekend and an interesting batch of foreign films in the limited releases.

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The Hustle
I haven't seen much about this film until now but I'm genuinely intrigued by the potential it has, mainly to make me laugh. Wilson has proven herself to be a rising star in comedic roles after bursting on the scene in the Pitch Perfect films and Hathaway is an established star who has shown the ability to excel in comedy and drama.

The combination of these two women as con artists in The Hustle gives me hope for the genre of comedy moving forward. I hope this film gives us what is promised in the trailer, two women who are getting the better of the men they run into by proving they are smarter and better prepared. My only worry is that it ultimately devolves into one of the two leads falling for their "mark" and taking a turn down romantic comedy lane.

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In terms of potential for award nominations, I don't see the Oscars coming to call on this one. It's meant for laughs and entertainment and pretty much stops there.

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu
We've arrived in a new era of Pokémon films with Detective Pikachu. Gone are the choppy, anime style animations that made this character famous around the world, and he's now voiced by Ryan Reynolds and animated in fully integrated CGI.

The story here is that Pikachu meets up with detective Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) to help Goodman find his father. The twist is that Goodman can understand Pikachu, where anyone else hears him saying nothing but "pika pika."

From the outside, this film looks like it took some visual cues from the original Blade Runner film in terms of styling the cityscapes. I didn't see any trace of the bright colors from the card game and cartoons, aside from some of favorite Pokémon that appear in the trailer.

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This film hits at a perfect time for fans of these creatures. The kids who grew up at the time Pokémon was becoming a hit are now in their 20s and 30s and probably ready for a more "adult" Pikachu. The fact that he has the same voice as Deadpool just adds to the hilarity.

Oh the surface, I would say there isn't much opportunity for Academy Award buzz here, but there may be an outside chance for Visual Effects.

Poms
What happens when you set Bring It On in a retirement community? YOu get Poms.

Diane Keaton stars in this film as Martha, a women who has moved into a retirement community with no intentions of participating in the hundreds of clubs and activities they have available. That is until her new friend Sheryl (Jacki Weaver) discovers that Martha was once a cheerleader. The pair start up a cheer club and eventually enter a cheer competition only to discover they are no match for the teenage girls they are competing against.

Enlisting the help of a young cheer coach (Alisha Boe), they begin to discover their true abilities and put away any fear they might have had about their passions.

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It's destined to be a fun film that probably ends up in regular rotation on Lifetime network in a few years, but for now, it's a fun film that is sure to have plenty of laughs. Take your mom and/or grandma to see it this Mother's Day weekend.

Just don't look for this film to get any sort of Oscar buzz.

Tolkien
This film was only supposed to be a limited release this weekend, but fortunately it has been expanded to a wide release, estimated to be hitting around 1300 screens this weekend. I'm so happy to hear that and was immediately interested in this film when I first heard about it some months back.

I make it no secret that I'm a Lord of the Rings nut. I loved the books and think Peter Jackson did an incredible job bringing them to life on the screen. That said, Peter Jackson is not directing here, but there are still hints of what he put in the films in the trailer for this film.

Exploring the early years of J. R. R. Tolkien and how they shaped his writing, Tolkien looks at his time in the army during WWI, young love, and the Inklings, a group of fellow writers that included Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.

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I wish I could say this would receive any buzz for an Oscar because it looks like a wonderful film. Alas, there won't be the same fantasy flavor from the actual LOTR films so I fear there won't be as much strong story here to back up the on screen images.

Limited Releases

• All Creatures Here Below – Karen Gillan and David Dastmalchian star as a young couple trying to raise a baby with the shadow of prison time looming over their heads at all times.
• All is True – Kenneth Branagh directs and stars as The Bard himself, William Shakespeare in an exploration of the waning years of his life and his relationship with his family.
• Asako I & II – Japanese film about Asako, a woman who falls in love with two men that look strikingly the same, but seem to be two very different people.
• The Biggest Little Farm – Expansive documentary that follows the quest of Molly and John, a young couple who, with their dog, attempt to build a farm in Southern California that lives in harmony with nature.
• Daughter of the Wolf – Former MMA fighter Gina Carano stars as a military specialist who has to track down the man who kidnapped her son.
• General Magic – Documentary film about the company General Magic, and their quest to create the worlds first smart phone in the 1980s
• My Son – French film about the lengths to which someone will go to find their kidnapped child.
• Our Evil – Brazilian film about a many fighting demonic forces to save his daughter.
• Pasolini – Willem Dafoe plays Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini in his final days in 1975.
• The Professor and the Madman – A look at the quest to create the first OED (Oxford English Dictionary) and the man from an asylum who submitted over 10,000 words for consideration. Starring Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, and Natalie Dormer.
• The Serengeti Rules – Documentary look at some of the scientists and explorers seeking out the most remote and spectacular places in the world.
• Student of the Year 2 – Bollywood returns to high school in this follow up to the 2012 original.
• American Exit – Funnyman Dane Cook takes a turn in a dramatic role in this film about a criminal who tries to reconnect with his son, only to put him in grave danger. (May 14th)
• Shaun of the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – The 2015 claymation characters return to the big screen, this time trying to help an alien being that crash lands near their farm find her way home. (May 15th)
• The Third Wife – A young girl in 19th century Vietnam is forced to make difficult decisions when she is chosen to become the third wife of a wealthy landowner. (May 15th)