Kidman landed a nod from her peeps at the Golden Globes, but not the SAG Awards. It’s hard to imagine anyone delivering a better performance than Kidman (as both the younger and older versions of the character), or anyone other than a woman director reaching for the mother-daughter dimension of this drama, which makes it sing.Īccolades: Critics groups and the Academy tend to overlook genre films, much less those directed by women. She is driven to revisit the sins of her past, which could impact her ex-husband (Scoot McNairy) and angry teenage daughter (Jade Pettyjohn). She has earned raves for her layered lead role as a veteran LA cop - athletic, tough, vulnerable, damaged. Strengths: This taut thriller from Karyn Kusama is a hardboiled noir (written by Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi) designed to showcase the range of movie star Nicole Kidman. While Marshall would love to land another Best Director nod to follow his Best Picture-winner, “Chicago,” another musical, he’s a long-shot.Īnnapurna Pictures “Destroyer” (Annapurna, December 25) The craft side of the Academy, especially, is impressed. This handsomely mounted escapist musical is visually inventive and charming even if the music can’t match the Sherman Brothers’ catchy songs.
“Into the Woods” musical star Emily Blunt in the title role and Lin-Manuel Miranda of “Hamilton” as an upbeat Cockney lamplighter carry the film, compensating for sad-sack grown-up siblings Jane (Emily Mortimer) and Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), who are desperately trying to save the ramshackle family house on Cherry Tree Lane. Strengths: Set 25 years after the 1964 Disney classic, Rob Marshall’s heartfelt depression-era sequel hews close to the original. “ Mary Poppins Returns” (Disney, December 19)
Herewith, a ranking of the Christmas Oscar hopefuls in order of their likely prospects. Some December openings launched at prestige fall film festivals (“ Destroyer,” “ On the Basis of Sex,” “Stan & Ollie”) others are bonafide awards contenders (Adam McKay’s “ Vice” and Rob Marshall’s “ Mary Poppins Returns”) and some, like Robert Zemeckis’s “Welcome to Marwen” (Universal, December 21) will skid into bad reviews, audience reaction, or both. And then there’s the more challenging year-end fare intended mainly to impress critics, arthouse patrons, and Academy voters. Most Christmas movies are designed for audience-friendly, peak-holiday family appeal.
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