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Midweek Movie Free Talk
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Venice Film Festival and Telluride are happening at the moment so here's an update on "the Oscar race."
Bugonia gets decent reviews. Not The Favourite of Poor Things levels of acclaim, but could still be a contender particularly since Stone is a favorite of the Academy.
Hamnet earned raves out of Telluride. This is also Focus (who have Bugonia), they can get two Picture nominees in as they have in the past (Phantom Thread and Darkest Hour both got in). I did not expect this to be so acclaimed. I remember liking Nomadland at the time, though my opinion of the film declined as time went on. Zhao followed that film up with Eternals, which scored the MCU's first Rotten score on RT. My assumption was that critics were over her, that people kind of turned on Nomadland being a Malcik rip off. But my assumption was wrong. Spielberg is a producer on this so I think this is locked in Picture, Director, Lead Actor and Actress, and Adapted Screenplay at the very least.
Netflix premiered two big contenders at Venice. The thought process going in was that Jay Kelly, the Noah Baumbach flick, would be their priority this season. Test screening reports were very promising. Reception is weaker than expected and blunted a lot of Oscar buzz. There was buzz that Adam Sandler could even win for Supporting Actor but those talks have gone down a bit.
However, luckily for Netflix, their Kathryn Bigelow film A House of Dynamite received rave reviews. Making it their clear Oscar priority.
Moving on to Amazon-MGM. Their slate was always a little barren this year and their only potential contender was Luca Guadanino's After the Hunt. It received Luca's worst reviews of his career. Screeching to a halt any awards prospects. Amazon-MGM has been consistent with their contenders since 2020 (Sound of Metal, Licorice Pizza, Women Talking, American Fiction, and Nickel Boys were all Best Picture nominees). They might purchase something at one of these fall fests to stay in contention or they might just sit this year out.
Honestly, the fall fests so far point towards Sinners being an EEAAO type of winner
Recently watched the South Indian movie Maareesan (2025). What a great movie! It starts off as a quirky con-drama but then evolves into so much more. The movie starts off a little slow but reaches a tipping point and then things move fast with amazing twists and a beautiful climax. I've watched many movies with Vadivelu, who's a well-known comedic actor, but this is the only movie I've watched with him in a more serious role. I think his acting here is a bit weaker than normal but he still does a fantastic job. Definitely recommend checking it out!
Finally got around to seeing Thunderbolts* now that it's on streaming. I liked it! Felt like a return to Marvel form. Polished, but written coherently. It was a little crowded and the new character was a little underdeveloped as a result, but it was a good time (again, finally). So that's nice!