For Your Consideration with Reuben Schwartz (Season 30)

 

Welcome back to For Your Consideration with Reuben Schwartz! In this post, I will recap the nominations for the latest Golden Reel Awards, the various storylines going into the ceremony and look back to locate its place within LRF's history.

The Storylines:

900 films. 30 seasons. 7 years.

What a run it has been. LRF’s thirtieth season has just finished and this certainly feels like a newsworthy awards season to wrap things up. A quick look at this season’s bath of nominees will tell you that this Golden Reel Awards feels…different.

The serious dramas are few and far between. In their place are a collection of populist films meant for mass audiences. Let’s consider the Best Picture field:

-An all-star reunion of some of the studio’s biggest superheroes and stars.

-The third installment in LRF’s James Bond series.

-An animated film meant for all ages about animals in a traveling circus.

-A horror remake about a ventriloquist and his dummy.

Seriously, what an eclectic pool of nominees. There’s a few notable things to note from that bunch. The Big Top marks the first time an animated film has been nominated for Best Picture. Magic is the first Writing Assignment Package script to nab a Best Picture nom. Meanwhile, Bond is competing to be only the second franchise after Caesar to win the award three times.

In some ways, Shatterhand feels like the de facto front-runner given the franchise’s esteemed history at this point. But in other ways, this feels like it could be a wide open race. Consider that the film tied for most nominations (7) - American Gigolo - somehow missed out on the top category completely. Roy Horne and crew surely have to be scratching their heads on that one. I suppose it a sign of just how much this season relied on parity rather than being top-heavy.

There has been talk of a weaker acting field and that’s certainly true in parts. The Best Supporting Actress field in particular feels all over the place. But as I’ll discuss later on, this opens the door for a lot of new faces to make their way up to the stage this season. Alternatively, there are quite a few long-time LRF performers looking to collect their first golden statuettes.

Lastly, there is the question of who will win the Golden Reel of Achievement Award. In the past the award has went to actors (Tom Cruise, Christina Hendricks) and writers (Mo Buck, John Malone, Chad Taylor, APJ). Will we see something similar this season or could we see something new, like a director? Only time will tell.

The Surprises & Snubs:

Here’s a surprise for you: the Surprises & Snubs section is momentarily suspended this season. The nominations are all over the place and there are hints of surprise to a lot of it. Embrace the chaos!

Previous Winners:

Elisabeth Moss - The Ninth Hour nominee holds a distinction of being one of the first four recipients of an acting GRA (for Invisible Monsters). The other winners that season? Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, and Brie Larson. All three of them would eventually win a second GRA - a sign of things to come for Moss?

Dan Stevens - This marks the second time that Stevens has been nominated for his portrayal of 007, the last time for his debut in Season 20’s Risico. His Golden Reel comes in the supporting category for Klondike in the season before.

Woody Harrelson - Woody has long been a popular actor at LRF, starring in 14 films since Season 2. He’s also becoming a regular at the GRAs, this now being his third Best Supporting Actor nomination after Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Everything Will Be Alright. He won for the latter.

Previous Nominees:

Michael Bay - The acclaimed action director has now directed all three big Justice League ensemble films in Seasons 10, 20, and 30. This will mark his first time being recognized for his DC work. His first Best Director nomination came for Cocaine Cowboys in Season 18.

Joe Wright - Wright was a steady presence throughout LRF’s beginnings, directing five films over the course of twenty seasons. His only previous Best Director nomination came for his last film before Shatterhand, Season 20’s Wish You Were Here.

Jacob Elordi - This rising star continues to establish a name for himself with LRF with back-to-back Best Actor nominations. He was nominated for his titular role in Starkweather last season.

Sarah Gadon - Quietly one of LRF’s most prolific actors, Gadon has now starred in sixteen films for the studio. She has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress twice (Blind Faith, Walker) but this will be first attempt at Best Actress.

The Newcomers:

Jack Brown - We have a first-time nominee in the Best Picture realm with Magic’s nod. Brown has now been nominated for Best Picture with his 7th film for the studio.

Zack Snyder and Chris Pratt - The director-star duo for Kill Zone debut at the GRAs in eerily similar fashion. Both started at LRF early one (seasons 2 and 3, respectively), made five films in between, and are now being nominated for their sixth film each.

Riley Stearns and David Dastmalchian - Meanwhile, the director-star duo for Magic had a much different path to nominations. Stearns earned a nod in his first film for the studio. Meanwhile, Dastmalchian has been a supporting player in well-regarded films throughout his LRF career. After starting with the acclaimed Perfect Blue, he went on to support in both Plastic Man movies while every other film he took part in would earn a Best Ensemble nomination.

Acting Nominees - I haven’t done all the math but this season has surely one of the highest number of first-time acting nominees. Including Pratt and Dastmalchian, 11 of the 16 nominees are first-timers - a staggering achievement this deep into LRF’s run.