This looks like an atrociously bland year for Hollywood (in terms of Oscar contenders). Tarantino, Scorsese, Soderbergh and then what? Do people seriously think yet another version of "Little Women" (courtesy of Greta Gerwig) will turn out to be an artful surprise? A new film by Kasi Lemmons sounds interesting on paper. Maybe the Safdies can sneak into the race with their Adam Sandler heist picture Uncut Gems,” but they are a little too radical for the Academy’s tastes. Looks like another year where the best movies will be foreign and mostly come from Cannes and Venice (Bong Joon-ho, Almodovar, Dardenne, Larrain, Puiu, Kore-eda, Hansen-Løve). Fine by me. My top ten lists have become more foreign-oriented the last few years, the American studio system is all but dead with Netflix now in charge of mid-budget dramas.
Back to Oscar. These should be the titles to look out for:
Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”
Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood”
Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat”
Ang Lee’s “Gemini Man”
Joe Wright’s “The Woman in the Window”
Kasi Lemmons’ “Harriet”
Noah Hawley’s "Pale Blue Dot”
Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out”
Marielle Heller’s ”A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood”
Jay Roach’s “Fair and Balanced”
Dee Rees’ “The Last Thing He Wanted”
Ira Sachs’ “Frankie”
the Safdies’ “Uncut Gems”
Josh Cooley’s “Toy Story 4”
Jim Jarmusch’s ”The Dead Don’t Die”
Hesitant to include these movies:
Jordan Peele’s “Us”
Benh Zeitlin’s “Wendy”
Terrence Malick’s “Radegund”
James Gray’s “Ad Astra”
Gerwig’s “Little Women”