The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 25 Golden Reel Awards Edition)

 

For the upcoming 25th Golden Reel Awards, the nominations are fairly spread out with the three "MUST SEE" films of the season leading the tallies, but things do seem pretty wide open. For this awards-centric edition of The Roundup, I will go through each category and tell you who I think should win the award, who I think actually will win the award, and who I think has no chance to win - followed by a brief thought on the category this season. 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Who Should Win: Scarlet
Who Will Win: Tinseltown
No Chance: The Last of the Mohicans

Thought(s): Really, this one could go almost any way, but the one film I cannot picture winning is The Last of the Mohicans.

BEST SOUNDTRACK
Who Should Win: The Punisher: Last Exit
Who Will Win: The Punisher: Last Exit
No Chance: The Driftwood Populace

Thought(s): Dwight Gallo's first Punisher film took this award back in Season 19 and I would put my money on the sequel doing the same here.

MOST WANTED SEQUEL
Who Should Win: The Punisher: Last Exit
Who Will Win: Carte Blanche
No Chance: The Fall Guy: Trouble in Tahiti / The Hammer of Thor

Thought(s): This category feels like a duel between The Punisher: Last Exit and Carte Blanche. Ultimately I would rather see a third Punisher film, but Carte Blanche was such a juggernaut that I think it will win.

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
Who Should Win: The Long Way Home
Who Will Win: Tinseltown
No Chance: The Driftwood Populace

Thought(s): I think Tinseltown will win because of its flashy characters (even if there is some iffy casting), but The Long Way Home should win because it nailed every role cast-wise. The Driftwood Populace may have a big, famous ensemble cast, but not a ton of memorable characters to me.

BEST STARRING COUPLE
Who Should Win: Kyle Chandler & Tom Hanks - Revival
Who Will Win: Kyle Chandler & Tom Hanks - Revival
No Chance: Katherine Langford & Evan Peters - Skin

Thought(s): Chandler and Hanks are both not locks in their individual categories, so I think they have a good chance together.

BEST VILLAIN
Who Should Win: Toby Wallace - Batgirl
Who Will Win: Toby Wallace - Batgirl
No Chance: Toby Kebbell - We Know Where You Live

Thought(s): Recent DC Comics Universe films have struggled a bit in the villain department, but Wallace is one of the universe's most memorable villains so I think he is the favorite even up against big names like Del Toro.

BEST ADAPTATION
Who Should Win: Revival
Who Will Win: Revival
No Chance: Batgirl

Thought(s):  Revival is not an easy book to adapt, so I think the fact that Chad Taylor managed to make a really good - and coherent - film out of it means that he should win here.

BEST ORIGINAL STORY
Who Should Win: Believe It or Not!
Who Will Win: Believe It or Not!
No Chance: Collapse / Tinseltown

Thought(s): Believe It or Not! should, and probably will, win. It's only real competition in my mind is The Long Way Home. Collapse and Tinseltown are both decent films, but I can't see either competing with the two better (and better reviewed) films here.
 
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Who Should Win: Sally Field - Collapse
Who Will Win: Helen Mirren - The Driftwood Populace
No Chance: N/A

Thought(s): This one could go any way with no real favorite. Mirren's the biggest name, which is way I think she'll win.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Who Should Win: Tom Hanks - Revival
Who Will Win: Tom Hanks - Revival
No Chance: Jonny Lee Miller - The Sandman: Season of Mists

Thought(s): Hanks gave one of his best performances in Revival, so I think he will win pretty handily, but it's not a lock as I could see Abdul-Mateen II being competitive here.

BEST ACTRESS
Who Should Win: Emma Stone - The Long Way Home
Who Will Win: Emma Stone - The Long Way Home
No Chance: N/A

Thought(s): Similar to the Best Supporting Actress category, I don't think there is anything close to a favorite here. Stone is a big name and gave a good performance in a late season film so I think she might have a slight edge over the others, but it isn't much.

BEST ACTOR
Who Should Win: Mel Gibson - The Punisher: Last Exit
Who Will Win: Kyle Chandler - Revival
No Chance: Ryan Gosling - Collapse

Thought(s): I was surprised that Ryan Gosling beat out Dan Stevens and Andrew Garfield for a nomination here, so I don't think he's going to win. If I had to put money on it, I think Kyle Chandler will win, but I'd rather the trophy go to Mel Gibson or even Seth MacFarlane.

BEST DIRECTOR
Who Should Win: Frank Darabont - Revival
Who Will Win: Denis Villeneuve - Carte Blanche
No Chance: Sam Mendes - Tinseltown

Thought(s): Villenueve is the most talented director of the bunch, so I think that could put him over the top and secure a win. I'd rather Darabont get some love. The only nominee I can't see winning here is Sam Mendes because Tinseltown simply isn't as good as the other films represented here.

BEST PICTURE
Who Should Win: Carte Blanche
Who Will Win: Revival
No Chance: Believe It or Not!

Thought(s): Any of the four could realistically win here, which is pretty rare. Though with the lowest Metascore, Believe It or Not! probably has the slimmest chances. It'll probably be a tight race between Revival and Carte Blanche.

For Your Consideration with Reuben Schwartz (Season 25)

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:

If I were to label the 25th edition of Last Resort Films, I’d call it the Season of the Sequel. Seven of the top twelve highest-grossing films at the domestic box office were installments in existing franchises. This is reflected in the batch of GRA nominees as well, Punisher: Last Exit and Carte Blanche being near the top of nomination totals.

Carte Blanche appears to be the one to beat. Its predecessor, Risico, won the trifecta of Adaptation, Director, and Picture. Despite having less nominations than that film, some are saying Carte Blanche is better than the first, so you have to imagine it’s in contention for all of those awards again. You have the additional narrative of the film’s massive box office success, which helped save Season 25 from being an all-time low for the box office.

Punisher: Last Exit, on the other hand, is—appropriately enough—out for revenge. The first film, like Risico, nabbed nine nominations but only won three (Soundtrack, Sequel, Supporting Actress) as it lost out on Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Adaptation. This sequel has come locked and loaded to contend in all four of those categories again, with the addition of a serious contender in Best Actress through breakout star Raffey Cassidy.

Outside of those two, Revival is also a top contender this season. The film certainly has a pedigree behind it with multi-time acting nominees Kyle Chandler and Tom Hanks, writer Chad Taylor, and the director-author combination of Frank Darabont and Stephen King. Like The Punisher, and Carte Blanche to a degree, Revival is a dark film and so you have to wonder how much that will hurt its chances.

Particularly in comparison to the fourth Best Picture nominee: Believe It Or Not!. Seth MacFarlane’s film, on the other hand, had a rather circuitous route to Best Picture. Like Shoe Dog last season, the film’s four nominations rank the lowest among the Best Picture nominees but could have a chance at landing Best Actor and Original Story, which would certainly give it momentum heading into the biggest award of the night.

One element of this awards race I wanted to point out is that season marks one of the strongest Best Adaptation races we’ve ever seen. Three Best Picture nominees come from that category while the fourth, Batgirl, certainly has its fans amongst the crop of comic book films this season. For a category that is usually overshadowed by Original Story, this is certainly the year of the adaptation. Another strong category is Best Villain. Most nominees either were (in the case of del Toro) or could’ve been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category while a handful of snubs could’ve easily made it into the mix (Rhys Wakefield, Gary Oldman, Kate Winslet, etc.).

The Surprises & Snubs:

Surprise: Melanie Lynskey - Admittedly, there are not a lot of surprises in this season’s batch of nominees. One that stood out was Lynskey’s nomination for Nineteen Minutes, a film that had little awards buzz coming into the ceremony. For what it’s worth, this is certainly deserved but a surprise nonetheless.

Snub: Kate Winslet - On the other side of the coin, we have Lynskey’s Heavenly Creatures co-star, who missed out on a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Acting nominations for roles in superhero films are relatively rare but, given Sink’s nomination in Best Actress, it was somewhat surprising to see Winslet miss out here.

Surprise: Jonny Lee Miller - This is a peculiar one. Miller’s celebrated performance as Lucifer in the second Sandman film did not get nominated in the Best Villain category but instead landed a surprise nomination in Best Supporting Actor. Once again, perhaps that speaks to the strength of the villain category this season.

Snub: Seth MacFarlane - I imagine Seth, Lon, and company are quite content with the nominations the film got. Nonetheless, for a Best Picture nominee, you’d have to think Best Director was also a distinct possibility.

Surprise: Katherine Langford & Evan Peters - It’s always nice to see a film grab a surprise nomination and that’s the case with Skin here. While some were critical of the script, the film’s acting was celebrated and that bears fruit in the Best Starring Couple category here (although I imagine they have little chance to win).

Snub: Andrew Garfield - It seems like just about every season we have the case of a Best Actor contender being the odd man out of the nomination field. That’s the case for Garfield here, a nominee last season who some considered to be a possible winner here.

Previous Winners:

Denis Villeneuve - The Best Director category has three multi-time nominated directors but none moreso than Villeneuve, who has now been nominated for his last four films (all but his first for the studio). He won back in Season 14 for Control.

Sam Mendes - Mendes is a two-time nominee, having won it back in Season 17 for The Glass Menagerie—although some argued he was snubbed for his two most recent outings, Klondike and The House of Romanov.

Emma Stone - Stone also has a fairly strong track record in terms of getting nominated when she shows up at LRF. With a total of six films, she’s now been nominated for Best Supporting Actress once and Best Actress twice, having won for Under Pressure.

Tom Hanks - Despite being the lead star in most of his films, Hanks now finds himself back in the Best Supporting Actor category, an award he won back in Season 17 for The King of Hearts.

Kyle Chandler - As previously discussed, Hanks’ co-star is one of the most celebrated actors in LRF’s history and his two Best Supporting Actor trophies (Ghost Town and Death Dream) are considered to be some of the best performances the studio has seen. But Best Actor remains elusive, after arguably being snubbed for his performance in Walker and losing out to Chris Pine after his appearance in Poison Ivy.

Mo Buck - Special mention is deserved for Mo Buck’s return to the Best Original Story category. Buck has been nominated for the award 11 times and has won it three times (Don’t Hang Up, Calamity, and Cape Torment).

Previous Nominees:

Sadie Sink - As if there were any question, Sadie Sink is a bonafide star at LRF. She’s now been nominated for Best Actress for her last three performances, but the award itself remains elusive. Could Scarlet be the breakthrough?

Saoirse Ronan - As for Sink’s fellow Best Actress nominee, Saoirse has had to wait much longer than Season 24 to be nominated in the category again. She was last nominated way back in Season 3 for Amelie (which is also the last time Wes Anderson worked for the studio before this season).

Mel Gibson - This marks only the second time in the Best Actor category that an actor has been nominated twice for the same role. The other person to do it? Leonardo DiCaprio for playing Julius Caesar, the first time beating…Mel Gibson for The Punisher. Perhaps second time’s the charm for Mel.

S. Craig Zahler - Meanwhile, Gibson’s Punisher director has now been nominated for Best Director three times, first for his LRF debut 7 Days and the second time for the first Punisher film.

Ryan Gosling - While it’s been a while since we’ve seen a Mo Buck film before this season, it’s been even longer since Gosling has been at LRF. He was last seen in Season 17 as The Question in Justice League Dark. He’s been nominated for Best Actor once, back in Season 14 for The Killings.

The Newcomers:

Best Supporting Actress - This category is full of all first-time nominees. Screen legends Sally Field and Helen Mirren have both made a handful of LRF films but this is their first to get awards recognition. It’s Newton, however, who is the most tenured at the studio as Tinseltown is her tenth LRF film and first awards nomination.

Best Supporting Actor - Outside of Hanks, this category is also populated with first-time nominees. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will happily take a GRA nomination alongside the starring role in mega-hit Man Made Machine. Benicio del Toro has worked infrequently at the studio over the years but this could mark a big comeback. And Jonny Lee Miller nabs a nomination with his LRF debut.

Raffey Cassidy - While she has had some work with LRF in the past, The Punisher: Last Exit marks an immediate star-making turn for first-time nominee Cassidy. Studio sources tell me that she is already being circled for a supporting part in a major Season 26 release.

Seth MacFarlane - While not his first LRF venture (he’s made multiple films with Jacob Jones), MacFarlane is in good graces with awards voters after his buzzed about performance as Robert Ripley.

Andrew Doster - A few seasons back, long-time LRF writer Doster was nominated for the first time in Best Adaptation for Odysseus - Part One. He can now cross Best Original Story off of his list after a nomination for Tinseltown.

SEASON 25 GOLDEN REEL AWARD VOTING

The highly competitive nomination phase is over and you, the voters, have decided who will be nominated for the Season 25 Golden Reel Awards. You may now vote to see which nominees will come out victorious at this season's upcoming award ceremony....

SEASON 25 GRA NOMINATIONS POLL

  The first step of any awards show is to determine the nominees. The choices will be announced in just over 48 hours, so vote soon. In each category, please select your top FIVE choices. All of the categories are below, so just keep scrolling and vote.

Premiere Magazine #250

 

The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 25 Round 10)

 

This season avoided disaster, but not by much thanks to Carte Blanche. Here's what happened in the final round of Season 25.... Here's The Roundup....

3. We Know Where You Live

While the film had some relatively minor issues, mostly a lack of background and depth for its characters, but I found the film entertaining.

2. Box Office 

Thanks to Carte Blanche, the season won't be at the bottom of the box office standings. It was a close one though.

1. Carte Blanche

Carte Blanche might even be better than Risico, and that's saying something. The first film lacked in the villain department a bit, and obviously John Malone took that criticism and improved in that department drastically. The script also impressed me in how it took a somewhat cheesey villain like Francisco Scaramanga (at least Christopher Lee's version in The Man with the Golden Gun) and make him feel intimidating and threatening.  

3. Tinseltown

Tinseltown had a lot of really good pieces, but its inability to pick which plot thread to focus on really hampered the overall experience. Obviously the most interesting stuff was Mabel Normand and William Desmond Taylor, but the story went away from it too often to force us to sit through Chalamet's relationship problems.

2. Timothee Chalamet

Is it just me or does Chalamet just seem like a parody of himself these days? I didn't hate Tinseltown, but I think it could have been better with a young star that can blend into a role a bit better.

1. Box Office

This was a good round for the box office, but considering that it narrowly avoided being the least profitable season in LRF history, I have to include it as a negative as well.

On Location (Season 25 Round 10)

 

We Know Where You Live

- Gainesville, Georgia, USA

Tinseltown

- Los Angeles, California, USA

Carte Blanche

- London, England, UK

- Gorgona Island, Colombia

- Salzburg, Austria

- Fort-de-France, Martinique