The thing over at Gold Derby is to make predicting a game so why not put your predictions out front before anyone has seen anything and/or Telluride has hit. Premature expectations, though, can mostly guarantee that the movies in question will be obliterated come awards time. That doesn’t mean it will happen that way this year; it just means that whatever movie people put out front early on usually has trouble living up to those expectations.
But…
Buzz on The Revenant is off the charts. We hear – from reliable sources – that this might be unlike anything we’ve ever seen from Alejandro G. Inarritu. It will make Birdman seem like the appetizer. Not that the two movies are in any way comparable, just that it’s supposed to be the masterpiece that Birdman almost was. Don’t believe the rumors about so-called troubles on the set. From what I’ve heard from various sources it was all in the name of serving authenticity.
But …
One has to also assume that Gold Derby users are probably on the youngish side. They are also probably caught up, like so many are, with the ongoing lament: when will Leonardo DiCaprio finally win an Oscar? Will this be that year? Jeff Wells throws it out there that, in fact, maybe.
Funny story: when I was a very young woman I was wooed by a would-be filmmaker who made schlocky horror movies. He spent the whole night telling me how great the sex was going to be and how blown away I’d be. Rather impressed with him in general (I had never spent much time with any filmmakers, schlocky or otherwise), I was willing to go along for the ride. When the deed finally arrived I’m gonna say it was the worst I’ve ever had or close to it. I learned an important lesson that night before finally put the kibosh on the whole thing: high expectations and talking up things before they happen can usually lead to disappointing results. Not to dampen the mood or anything.
It’s important that all expectations on The Revenant be based on seeing just what DiCaprio/Inarritu and Chivo can do when put to the test. It’s one of my most highly anticipated films of the year, along with Spotlight, Joy, Danish Girl, Black Mass…Make of it what you will.
