by Nathaniel R
Click for the full illustrated new poster
The prolongued 2020 Oscar season is going to make 2021 weird, isn't it. Take Nomadland, for instance, which is just a smidge over HALFWAY through its long trek to Oscar night after its September bow). Hopefully the Biden Administration can figure out a way to speed up vaccine distribution and we can all get back to our favourite pasttime -- MOVIEGOING -- by summer 2021 when the new stuff starts arriving. Alas, that's too late to enjoy Nomadland on IMAX screens, beginning January 29th, which frankly sounds like heaven to us after watching it on a bad streaming link with a watermark across it.
Though Nomadland is not my #1 film of the year -- top ten list coming in a few days! -- there isn't a single film from 2020 that I'd rather see on the most gigantic screen possible. Joshua James Richards' cinematography and the beautifully aged resilient face of Frances McDormand deserve it.
After Nomadland's Oscar run, whether or not it wins the biggest prize in Hollywood, here's what Searchlight (now owned by Disney) will be releasing in 2021...
We hope it goes well because it will be doubly sad if Disney shutters erases Searchlight in the way they seem to be intent on disappearing 20th Century Fox (except for the IP they really wanted in the first place like the franchises and The Sound of Music).
JULY 16th
The Night House
Rebecca Hall plays a widow uncovering secrets about her husband. This was a horror hit at Sundance a full year ago and Searchlight bought it for a hefty $12 million.
SEPTEMBER 24th
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Andrew Garfield and Jessica Chastain play the famous televangelist couple Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker in this true story from Michael Showalter (The Big Sick). It shot in the fall of 2019 as you can see in the report from North Carolina above (with a couple of glimpses of Jessica and Andrew... who look like thy're filming scenes prior to the couple's massive fame since Jessica isn't it recognizable Tammy Faye drag)
OCTOBER 29TH
Antlers
Scott Cooper is back with a creature feature thriller starring Kerri Russell, Jesse Plemons, and Jeremy T Thomas. (For as long as we've been alive we've never understood scary movies opening just a couple of days before Halloween or worse, ON Halloween itself. Wouldn't you want more time to earn money during the brief window when people are thinking about scary movies constantly and going to haunted houses and being festive and such?)
DECEMBER 3RD
Nightmare Alley
Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, and Rooney Mara star in Guillermo del Toro's remake of the terrific 1947 noir starring Tyrone Power, Helen Walker, and Joan Blondell. Those are sensational roles for some very good actors so we cross our fingers that del Toro makes it work.
Are you excited for these pictures? Do you have high Oscar hopes for Tammy Faye or Nightmare Alley?