The Detroit Film Critics Society announced their nominees for the best of 2018 today and what can I say other than I absolutely love them?
Seriously, Josh Hamilton and Jesse Plemons for Best Supporting Actor? How can you not love that? That said, the DFCS is not one of the more influential critical groups so I wouldn’t put down any money on either Plemons or Hamilton picking up an Oscar nomination just yet. Still, both of them deserve the consideration and I love the fact that the DFCS is willing to go against the conventional wisdom when it comes to who they nominate. I mean, really, this is what the critics need to be doing during awards season. I mean, we all know that A Star is Born and Green Book are going to pick up nominations regardless. We need the critics to remind the Academy that “hey, some of these guys were pretty good too!”
In fact, if there is a theme that can be found this early in the precursor season, it appears to be that the critics would like to make sure that the Academy doesn’t forget about First Reformed and Eighth Grade.
Here are the DFCS nominees. Winners will be announced on Monday!
Awards season has just begun, which means that it’s time for the International Press Academy to announce their nominees for the 23rd Satellite Awards. If you’ve never heard of the Satellite Awards, they’re like the Golden Globes, just with even less credibility. For instance, the Satellite people are the one who nominated The Wolf of Wall Street for best picture, despite having not seen the film.
That said, the Satellite nominations are good way to gauge which films are currently getting awards buzz. Let’s put it like this: getting a Satellite nomination is not going to automatically translate into Oscar recognition. But it doesn’t hurt.
Below are the film nominations. (In the interest of space, I’m only posting the film nominations. If you want to see which tv shows picked up nominations, click here.)
Film
Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama Major, Independent or International
Yalitza Aparicio, “Roma”
Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Viola Davis, “Widows”
Nicole Kidman, “Destroyer”
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Rosamund Pike, “Private War”
Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama Major, Independent or International
It would be twenty years before those space-faring hunters, the Predators, would return to the big screen. Sure, they appeared in the two Aliens vs. Predator films of the early 2000s, but I don’t count those as part of the Predator franchise—mostly because they weren’t the headliners. Plus, those two mash-up films were all kinds of awful.
2010’s Predators, directed by Nimród Antal and produced by Robert Rodriguez, set out to breathe new life into the sci-fi action franchise that the two AvP entries had drained of excitement. From the early 1990s until this film’s release, the Predator mythology had steadily expanded through novels, comics, and games, creating a world as rich as any in science fiction. Longtime fans came to understand the Predators’ culture, mindset, and technology.
For some, that world-building stripped away the mystery that made the Predator such an iconic monster. Others felt it helped establish consistent rules, allowing future stories to build on a solid foundation instead of endlessly one-upping what came before.
Predators embraced this expanded lore while adding a new wrinkle: the introduction of the so-called “Super Predators,” bigger, faster, and meaner than the classic hunters we’d seen over the decades. Another new element placed the story on an unnamed planet serving as an extraterrestrial game preserve, where Predators could hunt their chosen prey on familiar ground.
This setup lent a new dimension to the narrative. The humans being hunted had nowhere to run, and whatever advantage they might have enjoyed on Earth vanished instantly. They were now being hunted on Predator turf—a cruel inversion of game hunting, like a safari where the prey has no chance against its well-equipped pursuers.
Despite these new additions to the lore, the film mostly works as an action-thriller. We get the requisite band of misfits, murderers, and killers—the worst humanity has to offer, but the best at what they do. They range from black-ops mercenaries and elite snipers to cartel enforcers and even a serial killer.
Leading this reluctant ensemble is the enigmatic Royce, played by Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, who surprisingly pulls off the wiry, cold-hearted black-ops soldier. The film hinges on his performance. He’s not a team player, nor is he likable—he fits the antihero mold perfectly, willing to sacrifice anyone if it means surviving another hour. Yet he understands that his best chance lies in keeping others alive, if only as tools for his own survival. He’s the audience surrogate, the one who rolls his eyes as everyone else makes one bad decision after another.
Antal’s action direction recalls the McTiernan era. He favors long, sweeping takes that clearly define the geography of each battle—a quality too rare in modern action cinema, where quick cuts and shaky edits often stand in for real dynamism. Where the film falters is in its reliance on exposition-heavy dialogue. After nearly every action set piece, the momentum stalls as characters explain what’s happening. Laurence Fishburne even appears in a role that exists purely to deliver exposition.
Now, about those Super Predators: they’re an intriguing trio who expand the series’ creature variety, though at the cost of making the classic Predator seem almost obsolete. There’s the Tracker, who uses alien hunting dogs to flush out prey; the Falconer, who employs a cybernetic drone that feels straight out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and the Berserker, the biggest and most brutal of the three, relying on raw power rather than skill or strategy.
They look fantastic but slightly diminish the menace of the original Predator design. Against this new breed, the traditional hunters seem almost helpless.
Still, Predators stands several notches above what audiences got from the two AvP movies. Despite an exposition-heavy script and a bold but polarizing decision to downplay the classic Predator’s threat, Antal’s entry injects enough adrenaline and fresh lore to reenergize the series. It’s unfortunate that the AvP films’ lingering stench colored its reception, but over time, more fans have come to appreciate Predators for what it is: a fun, muscular, and engaging slice of sci-fi action.
It’s time for my somewhat random Oscar predictions!
Judging from the reactions at Venice Film Festival, Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born would appear to be the current Oscar front runner. At the very least, it seems destined to be nominated. Personally, I still wonder if a remake of A Star is Born is going to have enough political cachet in a year that, so far, has been dominated by Hollywood virtue signaling.
Anyway, it’s a bit of a cliché to say the Oscar race is wide open but, despite all of the buzz around A Star is Born, it still feels as if it is. That said, it’s also becoming a bit more clear. Former front runners like Mary, Queen of Scots have fallen off the radar. It seems likely the Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman will not be released until next year. There are rumors that Clint Eastwood’s The Mule might get a December qualifying run but, for now, those are just rumors.
Below are my predictions for this month. The usual caveats about wishful thinking and wild guesses apply. To be honest, we won’t know anything for sure until the critics and the guilds make their voices heard in December and January.
It’s time once again for my monthly attempt to predict next year’s Oscar nominations!
As always, these predictions should be taken with a grain of salt. BlackKklansman has emerged as a contender and there’s a few impressive trailers out there. If the Academy goes through with this stupid Best Popular Film Oscar, I’m going to assume that’ll knock Black Panther out of contention for Best Picture. For now, I’m going to hope that the backlash will cause the Academy to abandon the idea.
(For the record, it now appears that the whole Best Popular Film fiasco was due more to pressure from ABC than from actual members of the Academy. And, let’s just be honest — Best Popular Film sounds just stupid enough to be the idea of a television executive.)
So, as usual, these nominations are a combination of wishful thinking, wild guesses, and sincere intuition. If nothing else, they should be amusing to look back upon when the actual nominations are announced.
In 2014, Alfonso Cuaron made history win he became the first Mexican filmmaker to win the Academy Award for Best Director, for his work on Gravity. This year, Cuaron is back with Roma, a 135-minute film about a middle class family living in Mexico City in the 1970s. Roma will be released on December 14th and its trailer leads off this week’s trailer round-up.
Directed by Peter Farrelly, Green Book, is based on the true story of Jamaican pianist Don Shirley’s tour of the deep south. Serving as his chauffeur and bodyguard was a New York bouncer named Tony Lip. Shirley is played by Mahershala Ali while Viggo Mortensen play the role of Lip. (The real Tony Lip later became an actor and played Carmine Lupertazzi in The Sopranos). Green Book will be released on November 21st.
Judging from the trailer, An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn appears to be a typical heist comedy, enlivened by the presence of Aubrey Plaza. Prepare to spend an evening with Beverly when this film is released on October 19th.
Based on a BBC miniseries and featuring a killer cast, Steve McQueen’s Widows is one of the most anticipated movies of the fall. Widows will be in theaters on November 16th.
Finally, Killer Kate will be released on October 26th, just in time for Halloween.
To be honest, the only prediction that I’m 100% comfortable making is that this year’s Oscar ceremony is probably going to be the most political one in history. Some people will love that. Some people will be outraged. Me, I just care about movies.
The Oscar air tomorrow on ABC, at 4 eastern and 7 pacific. I will be live tweeting the awards and, of course, we’ll be posting Oscar-related stuff here on the Shattered Lens all through Sunday!
Even Charles Foster Kane is excited!
And by the way, if you want get a head start on next year’s Oscars, why not check out my way too early predictions for January and February?
The Detroit Film Critics Society announced their nominees for the best of 2018 today and what can I say other than I absolutely love them?
Through the Shattered Lens 