…when it comes to predicting Best Picture Oscar contenders for ’24 and ’25. Why? Because Davis believes Steve McQueen‘s Blitz, which is obviously an underwhelmer due to Appple’s decision to premiere this WWII drama at the London Film Festival, is the most likely winner. This is insane…totally insane.
Keep in mind that Davis has often favored award-season contenders made or written by or starring POCs, hence his top-ten support of Blitz, Nickel Boys, The Piano Lesson. (If there’s one accomplished filmmaker of color who doesn’t churn ou6 black-identity films, it’s Steve McQueen.) Significantly Davis has the soon-to-open Sing Sing, a mixed-race prison drama directed and written by white guys, in 22nd place on his Best Picture chart. Not much of a fan!
It’s also significant that Clayton has totally blown off Robert Zemeckis‘s Here…an interesting concept…the events of a single room and its inhabitants spanning from the past to well into the future, reverse-aging CG “makeup”, etc. Costars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright are apparently too white to make the cut. Do I have that right, Clayton?
Here are Davis’s Best Picture predictions with cryptic HE comments accompanying each title:
1. “Blitz” (Apple Original Films)…won’t be as major contender…NO WAY…the London Film Festival selection is a death rattle.
2. “Gladiator II” (Paramount Pictures)…sweating homoerotic leather jockstrap sword & sandal drama…I seriously doubt it but who knows? Is Scott losing his mojo?
3. “Nickel Boys” (Amazon MGM/Orion)…sufFering black kids in Florida reform school…don’t bet the farm.
4. “Conclave” (Focus Features)…HE agrees, a major contender.
5. “The Room Next Door” (Sony Pictures Classics — Pedro Almodovar)…yes!
6. “Anora” (Neon)…yes! Possible winner!
7. “Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.)…tech awards…it may be Best Picture nominated but feels like a weak sister.
8. “The Piano Lesson” (Netflix)…MAYBE, NO CLUE.
9. “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix…likely Best Picture contender, albeit unbelievable and underwhelming. Trans theology, trans identity, trans exclamation.
10 “The Wild Robot” (DreamWorks Animation)
11. “A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight Pictures Is James Mangold’s Bob Dylan flick coming out this year? If so, YES!!
12 “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros….YES!!!
13 “Sing Sing” (A24)…qweak sister, but good for Colman Domingo
14 “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (Warner Bros.)
15 “Queer” (No U.S. Distribution….maybe, who knows?)
16 “Maria” (No U.S. Distribution…not a chance…everyone hates Angelina Jolie these daye)
17 “His Three Daughters” (Netflix)….who?
18 “SNL: 1975” (Sony Pictures….not a chance.
19 “We Live in Time” (A24)
20 “Inside Out 2” (Pixar)
21 “Challengers” (Amazon MGM…maybe, who knows?).
22 “A Real Pain” (Searchlight Pictures…YES!!!
23 “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Neon…nope)
24 “Memoirs of a Snail” (IFC Films)…
25 “Wicked” (Universal Pictures…people are hating on this film sight unseen)
26 “Hit Man” (Netflix)…Clayton is fooling around now.
27 “Deadpool & Wolverine” (Marvel Studios)
28 “Piece by Piece” (Focus Features)
29 “In the Summers” (Music Box Films)
30 “The Substance” (Mubi)
Steve McQueen‘s Blitz (Apple Original Films)…London blitzed by German bombs in early 1940s…nope…dead letter in Oscar’s award-season post office.
Edward Berger‘s Conclave (Focus Features)…based on 2016 Robert Harris novel, British-American thriller about finding a successor to a suddenly deceased Pope. Written by Peter Straughan. Costarring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini. Good reviews, probably not happening.
Ridley Scott‘s Gladiator 2 (Paramount, 11.22) gets an automatic demerit (if not a disqualification) because the dreaded Paul Mescal has the principal lead role, and secondly because Pedro Pascal is costarring, These two guys can kill any film of any kind. Sweat-soaked scrotums. A supporting Denzel Washington (playing a former slave-turned-wealthy arms and commodity dealer with a grudge against the emperors”) is the only reason to feel aroused.
Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)…likely Best Picture nomination but won’t win.
George Miller‘s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Warner Bros., 5.24)
Robert Zemeckis‘s Here…interesting concept…”the events of a single room and its inhabitants spanning from the past to well into the future”, etc.
Joshua Oppenheimer‘s The End (Neon)…post-apocalyptic, bad whitey guilt-trip film….”a wealthy family lives in an underground bunker two decades after the end of the world, which they directly contributed to”….forget it. Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Moses Ingram, Michael Shannon.
Chris Sanders‘ The Wild Robot (DreamWorks animated)….forget it…a robot Cast Away…not a chance, get outta town.
Andrea Arnold‘s Bird…an automatic problem due to HE anathema Barry Keoghan (weirdo, bee-stung nose) being the star.
Yorgos Lanthimos‘s Kinds of Kindness (Searchlight)….three-part antholoogy…not this time.
Francis Coppola‘s Megalopolis…ambitious, self-funded, out there…do you honestly believe Coppola will slamdunk this? Caveat emptor.
RaMell Ross‘s The Nickel Boys (Amazon MGM Studios/Orion)…abusive Florida reform school drama…white baddies, moral condemnation, constant audience punishment.
Malcolm Washington‘s The Piano Lesson (Netflix)…reasonable expectation of good reviews, probably not happening as a Best Picture contender.
Mike Leigh‘s Hard Truths…maybe but doubtful. You know Leigh.
Pablo Larrain‘s Maria…I don’t want to watch another Larrain film about a mythic, tragic or headstrong female character ever again.
Jason Reitman‘s SNL: 1975 (Sony Pictures).
Jon Chu‘s Wicked (Universal)….forget it.
