2019 Nominee Watch – September 13th

There are only two wide releases this weekend. You either get a look into the lives of strippers who try to take advantage of their wealthy clients, or a mystery centered around a boy who survives a bombing at an art museum.

I'm working on getting back in the flow with these posts, so look for them to come more regularly going forward into the major swing of awards season.

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The Goldfinch
​I honestly had not heard much about this film until setting up the post for this week, but it looks very intriguing. Ansel Elgort stars as Theo Decker, a man who experienced tragedy when his mother was killed in a bombing at an art museum when he was young. He explores various connections that resulted from the bombing including a girl that was at the museum the same day and an art dealer who was also there.

The trailer is mysterious, and I'm sure purposely so. The interesting part is the number of fairly big stars in the film. Elgort himself is still a rising star after appearances in the Divergent series and recent Oscar nominee Baby Driver. Other names include Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge!, The Hours), Sarah Paulson (12 Years a Slave, Glass), Luke Wilson (Old School, The Royal Tenenbaums), and Jeffrey Wright (Shaft, The Hunger Games).

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With a story like this, I can see a decent possibility for a couple of Oscar nominations. The film is based on a book so a Best Adapted Screenplay nod is in the cards. There may be some strong performances in the film as well, leading to at least one or two nominations for acting.

This kind of came up on me out of the blue, but I definitely intend to check this one out.

Hustlers
It's time for a group of down and out strip clubs employees to take things into their own hands and get some payback on their wealthy clientele made up of Wall Street brokers. Led by stars Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu, the girls hatch a plan to embezzle thousands of dollars by drugging their clients while a journalist explores their plot and ultimately exposes them.

It's based on a true story which was actually reported on in New York Magazine back in 2015 in a story called "The Hustlers at Scores," by Jessica Pressler. I'm not sure this would be a good date night movie, and is surely isn't a family movie, the story seems interesting enough. The true test of a film like this will be if you are able to sympathize with the women perpetrating the theft and somehow also align with their victims.

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When looking at this film, I see a few standard beats like the unconscious/dead man being rushed to the hospital, the police interrogation, and of course plenty of scantily clad women. I'm reminded a bit of the 2017 films Rough Night and Girls Trip as spiritual prequels to this one.

​While it may be an interesting look into the world of high end strip clubs, I don't really see any chance that this film gets any Oscar nominations.

Limited Releases

• Another Day of Life –
• Can You Keep a Secret? –
• Chasing Einstein –
• Cracked Up –
• Depraved –
• Desolation Center –
• Empathy, Inc. –
• Fagara –
• Freaks –
• The Harvesters –
• Haunt –
• Imprisoned –
• Liam Gallagher: As It Was –
• Monos –
• Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements –
• Neither Wolf Nor Dog –
• One Cut of the Dead –
• Out of Liberty –
• Riot Girls –
• Section 375 –
• Seeds –
• Sivappu Manjal Pachai –
• The Sound of Silence –
• Super Size Me 2 –
• The Weekend –
• El Norte – (September 15th Special Engagement)
• Tokyo Ghoul S – (September 16th)
• 3 From Hell – (September 16th)
• Promare – (September 17th Special Engagement)
• Midnight Traveler – (September 18th)
• Malibu Road – (September 19th)