Thursday, December 28, 2017

Featurette released for "The Post"

Many have already had the pleasure of seeing The Post in theaters, but for those of us not residing in New York, Los Angeles or D.C., we have to wait until January 12.

Earlier today, a brief featurette with some new footage from the film was released.



A few good snippets from Meryl, Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg. I'm annoyed I have to wait two more weeks to see this!


Tuesday, December 26, 2017

"The Post" has strong first weekend in limited release

Over the long holiday weekend, The Post had a strong showing, averaging over $58K in just nine theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.  The film took in a total of $830K between the three cities. 

Evidently this is a very good start, and I hope the trend continues. With the movie going wide in a little over two weeks, we'll get a real sense of how it's going to do long-term. Certainly if Meryl or the film happen to bag any Globes on the 7th, it'll hopefully help further boost interest.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

First trailer for "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" released (officially)

Without further ado:



I've already discussed most of this in my most recent post, but yeah, this looks like mostly prequel. And the current stuff appears to include very little of Meryl, with legitimate speculation that her character has been killed off. 

I'm not really sure what more to say about it. The first film wasn't my favorite, and now that Meryl will evidently barely be in the sequel, my best hope is that it isn't a huge pile of shit.  But if it is, it won't be because of Meryl.  I'll still see it, but looking forward to other things.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

First trailer leaked(?) for "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again"

Last night, I noticed on Awards Watch that someone had linked the first trailer for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. I tried to play it, but it had already been removed by NBC, making me think that it was a leaked version, or at least a video that someone had taken of the trailer with their phone. Regardless, there were still multiple Twitter accounts that posted the trailer so I watched it, and I can understand why fans of Meryl are pissed. There is almost no original footage of her.

In addition, the way the other characters talk about Donna (Streep's role) in the trailer strongly suggests that she has been killed off from the original. Many of us have been speculating in the past couple months about the extent to which Meryl is even in this movie, and now it seems that what role she has may be incredibly small. This is too bad, as most promotional coverage or news articles that have come out tend to lead with the fact that she's participating, suggesting a much larger role than we apparently now know she has. 

I'm not as devastated as most of the Twitter posters I've read so far, as my initial awareness of Meryl signing on for this in May sort or irritated me. But with the incredible box office success of the 2008 original, it seemed reasonable that she'd join, if not just for a cameo. 

It'll be interesting to see when the trailer is officially released and we get more clarity on this topic. But as it stands now, it looks like Meryl will have very little in the works for actual screen time in 2018, expecting her role in Mary Poppins Returns to be quite small as well. 

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

No SAG nom for Meryl

The Post was completely shut out from the Screen Actors Guild award nominations this morning. While it's certainly possible that the voting members just weren't big fans of the film, after its strong showing with the Hollywood Foreign Press two days ago, one has to wonder if the early concerns about the film's late release, and therefore sort of last minute effort to send out screeners, may have played a factor in its lack of recognition from SAG. 

Regardless, this is a blow for Meryl's Oscar chances, as well as Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and the film itself. If Meryl somehow manages to bag the Golden Globe for Actress in a Drama, however, I'll be much more relaxed about her possibilities.  If I'm being as objective as I possibly can, I still think it is extremely unlikely that Streep will be snubbed by the Academy for a film that's getting good reviews and raves for her. Time will tell of course, and it makes this season a really fun and exciting one to watch. 

The five actors nominated in Meryl's category were as follows:

Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul)
Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)
Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

The SAG awards will be held Sunday, January 21. The full list of nominees can be seen here.

Monday, December 11, 2017

Meryl Streep receives record 31st Golden Globe nomination

As expected, Meryl was nominated this morning for a record 31st time (breaking her own record) by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for her performance in The Post. The film also receive noms for Best Picture-Drama, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Actor-Drama (Tom Hanks), Best Screenplay (Liz Hannah and Josh Singer) and Best Score (John Williams).  Only The Shape of Water had more nominations, with seven.

Meryl's co-nominees for Best Actress in a Drama were as follows:

Jessica Chastain (Molly's Game)
Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Michelle Williams (All the Money in the World)

Williams was a surprise, at director Ridley Scott did re-shoots on his film, replacing Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer (who happened to bag a nom in supporting).

Some of the main contenders for Oscar nominations happen to be in the Musical/Comedy category this year, namely Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird and Margot Robbie for I, Tonya. The nominees in that category also included Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul), Emma Stone (Battle of the Sexes). I don't expect to see Helen Mirren (The Leisure Seeker) at future awards shows.

SAG noms announced on Wednesday!

The full list of Golden Globe nominees can be found here.


Friday, December 8, 2017

New clip from "The Post"

A new clip from The Post was released today, showing a brief interaction between Meryl's character Kay Graham and her editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks):



Just the few seconds before they walk into the room shows some wonderful production design. We don't really get a ton from the acting in this scene, but can see Graham's trepidation about what her role may be if the Pentagon Papers become accessible to the Washington Post.

Two days after formal reviews were allowed online, the film stands at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes with 60 reviews counted thus far.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Streep earns Critics' Choice nomination for "The Post"

The Broadcast Film Critics Association released their nominations Wednesday, and The Post came away with eight nominations:

1. Best Picture
2. Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
3. Best Actress (Meryl Streep)
4. Best Actor (Tom Hanks)
5. Best Original Screenplay (Liz Hannah and Josh Singer)
6. Best Editing (Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar)
7. Best Score (John Williams)
8. Best Acting Ensemble

This awards body is historically a bit 'low brow,' but it does its best at being a barometer for what Academy members are likely to go for. Regardless, it's the first televised awards show to announce its nominations, and with both Golden Globe and SAG noms announced next week, it's important for Meryl makes it in here. The Critics' Choice Awards will be held Thursday, January 11.

The full list of nominees can be found here.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Reviews coming in for "The Post"

The embargo has been lifted on official reviews for The Post. They started flowing in fast and furious this morning, but I wanted to wait until evening to blog about it so that we had a better sense of where this might actually end up. As this post is published the film stands at 82% on Rotten Tomatoes with 48 reviews counted, and at a score 82 on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim" with 19 reviews in. Suffice it to say, the film is being very well received by critics. The numbers are going to change a bit, with the Rotten Tomatoes score probably the most likely to see  a bump up or down, as we're likely to get up to 150 additional reviews when all is said and done.

Perhaps more important, however, is that while The Post is generally getting good to great reviews, Meryl, for her lead performance as publisher Kay Graham, is getting raves. Many of the critics are saying it's her best role in years, and considering the somewhat growing impression  from some that Streep has been going too broad for many of her recent high profile roles, this apparently more subdued performance is striking a cord with even the most cynical of reviewers.

It's too early to tell for sure where the film itself will end up, but I'm guessing it'll hover around 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, which will be good for its awards chances. If it somehow managed to sneak up to 85%, we're looking at a scenario of not only the picture receiving 5+ Academy Award nominations, but a real chance for Meryl to actually win her fourth. It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting on my parents' couch, after everyone else was asleep on Christmas Eve, reading the script for The Post and thinking 'this is so up Meryl's alley.' And here we are, only eleven months later(!) and discussing the film's chances for Oscar gold in March.