I do believe it’s time to put “Rocketman” on the very short list of Oscar contenders that have been screened so far this year. I mean, there aren’t many, not even if you count all the big festivals that have already happened. It does seem that Dexter Fletcher’s Elton John biopic may be destined for the same awards love as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which won four Academy Awards in February.
Supposedly, there were no empty seats at Saturday’s first Academy screening of the film, with sources saying that the musical biopic and its star Taron Egerton, who was in attendance for a post-screening Q&A, earned a standing ovation.
This bodes well for Egerton and the film itself, especially since this year has yet to give us much Oscar-bait. I believe A24’s Sundance hit “The Farewell” could strike a major chord with Oscar voters, also, if the academy is in an adventurous mood then maybe, just maybe, genre fare like Jordan Peele’s “Us” and Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” could sneak into the Best Picture race. It’s way too early to tell, but that’s basically the “State of the Race” as we speak with almost six months of the movie year behind us.