Elizabeth Both
A&E Editor
It may be holiday time, filled with tacky sweaters and cookies up the wazoo, but it's also that dreadful yet exciting time for Oscar movies. The buzz always starts up at the Sundance film festival and extends to the Tribeca festival, the Toronto Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival. “The Birth of a Nation” was an extremely early frontrunner when it first was shown at Sundance earlier this year. Considering it premiered near the time 2016’s Oscar nomination were announced (all of them being white for the second consecutive year), it was praised highly at the film festival. That’s only one film, and there's plenty of others to watch out for.
First premiering at the Cannes film festival back in the spring, then making its trek to the fall fest circuit, “Loving” directed by Jeff Nichols opens up America’s issue with race.
“La La Land” has to be the one getting the most buzz. Directed by Damien Chazelle--director of 2014’s sleeper hit “Whiplash”-”La La Land” stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling bursting out into song. If that doesn’t sell you on the film, I truly don’t know what will.
Natalie Portman stars as Jacqueline Kennedy in (you guessed it) “Jackie” which portrays her husband’s assassination from her point of view. “Passengers” (starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence) could sneak into the race but it might be a tad too mainstream for the Academy voters. Another Sundance hit that is expected to make waves in the awards season is “Manchester by the Sea,” one of the most popular and reviewed movies of the year.
The Academy Awards, which will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will air on February 26, 2017. Here’s a little heads up on what to watch out for that night when you hear: “I never heard of that movie!” or “What are they talking about?”. Sadly, no movie of Leonardo DiCaprio eating a bison liver will be premiering this holiday season.
