2019 Nominee Watch – October 25th

After a couple big sequels hitting theaters last week, we get some off beat films this week including a police/race story, several horror flicks and a film look into the world of electricity around the time it was becoming widespread around the world.

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Black and Blue
Academy Award nominee Naomie Harris (Moonlight, Skyfall) stars as Alicia West, a rookie police officer who must balance her identity as a black woman with that of being a cop. Everything comes to a head when she witnesses several police officers commit a murder and then try to kill her as well.

On the run, Alicia seeks help from anyone who will listen to her, but quickly realizes that she cannot trust the police who are looking to cover up the murder. She turns to her friend Milo (Tyrese Gibson) for help and must fight for her life to get her bodycam footage released to the world.

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With racial violence and police brutality being a centerpiece of the national conversation right now, this film looks to situate itself neatly in the middle of that divide. But, by trying to straddle the line, it may end up alienating both sides rather than bringing them together.

Harris has been nominated before for her acting (for Moonlight) and as the central character here, may be a long shot for another nomination.

Countdown
What if an app could tell you how long you had until you die? This is a terrible play on the old Apple commercials that boldly claimed "there's an app for that" about anything you could possibly imagine.

Just in time for Halloween, we get one more horror film added to the slate for the season. This one looks like it has some potential and plays to the addiction we all seem to have to our phones, but will it draw in any audiences?

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I'm making a bold prediction here that this film will be dead on arrival in terms of Oscar potential. Get Out it is not.

The Current War
Perhaps you thought they couldn't make a film about the battle over what type of electricity should light the way into the 20th century. Apparently you'd be wrong.

The Current War tells the story of Thomas Edison  (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) as they battled for which electrical system would power the world. Bring in names like J. P. Morgan (Matthew Macfadyen) and Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult) and you've got a film with a who's who of big names from a century ago.

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While this film serves to give a little history lesson disguised as entertainment, there is no doubt that the acting here is strong. Cumberbatch has made a name for himself over the last decade and Shannon has been nominated for Academy Awards several times. I wouldn't be shocked to see someone here grab an acting nomination, though I doubt they would end up winning.

Limited Releases

• Burning Cane – A mother struggles with her religion and the love of her son.
• The Cat and the Moon – A young man named Nick moves to New York City to stay with a friend of his late father and has to learn to fit in to the world.
• Fire and Rain – Vivica A. Fox stars in this film about a woman trying to help a man reclaim his life.
• Frankie – A woman brings several generations together in a European villa and they struggle to deal with the surprises of each other.
• Full Count – A young man destined to be a baseball star deals with the death of his father, an accident that dashes his hopes of the big leagues, and the risk of losing his family farm.
• The Gallows Act II – A group of teenagers fights to deal with an evil spirit as part of an online challenge.
• Girl on the Third Floor – A haunted house film where the house is the main star.
• The Great Alaskan Race – A retelling of the story of brave mushers racing to save the children of Nome, Alaska from a deadly disease.
• Hoax – A group of campers in the woods run into some sort of creature that leads to an investigation.
• Housefull 4 – Indian action comedy film featuring a group of three couples from the 15th century reincarnated in modern times.
• Jesus is King – Documentary film look at Kanye West's Sunday Service filmed in the Roden Crater.
• The Kill Team – War film about a young soldier in Afghanistan confronting the realities of war and a commander that may have taken things too far.
• Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound – A documentary look at the way sound can impact the way we watch films. Features interviews with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Barbara Streisand, David Lynch, Ang Lee, Sofia Coppola, Robert Redford, and Ryan Coogler.
• No Safe Spaces – A Documentary look at the suppression of free speech in America today that is threatening to divide the nation.
• Paradise Hills – A young woman wakes up in a paradise-like location where she can learn her place in the world while she is shaped into a "perfect" image.
• Portals – After blackouts affect the entire world, people start reporting mysterious portals that have appeared out of nowhere.
• Prescience – A man who just lost his job tries to figure out where he belongs in the world.
• Saand Ki Aankh – Indian biographical drama about Prakashi and Chandro Tomar who are both crack shots with a gun.
• Synonyms – French film about a man who escapes to Paris with nothing but a French dictionary to help him.
• Western Stars – Documentary/live concert performance of music superstar Bruce Springsteen singing songs from his album Western Stars.
• Love and Mercy – A woman arrives at a convent with claims that she was spoken to by Jesus. (October 28th Special Engagement)
• The Rise of Jordan Peterson – Documentary look into the life and mind of the psychology professor with new views on political correctness. (October 29th)
• Redoubt – In a snowy wilderness, a group of hunters track down a pack of wolves. (October 30th)