Oscar Predictions 2025: Good As Gold’s Pre-Telluride August Recap

Predictions Updates and Film Reviews for Sing Sing, Alien: Romulus, Daughters, and Trap

August 21, 2024

The Venice and Telluride film festivals will be underway next week. This season is quickly starting to unveil itself, so buckle up, baby.

Soon, we’ll be seeing the first reactions to films like Conclave, Nickel Boys, Joker: Folie à Deux, The Piano Lesson, and many more.

As the festival season approaches, Greg Kwedar’s Sing Sing has emerged as a top contender for Best Picture among films that have already been seen. Set in the titular maximum-security prison in New York, the film stars Colman Domingo as John “Divine G” Whitfield, an inmate running the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) theater program. While Sing Sing shares the weighty atmosphere common to prison movies, it excels in portraying its characters as real people finding redemption and growth. Through the RTA’s efforts, the film highlights the rehabilitation of these men by fostering community and offering a glimpse of escapism, restoring their sense of self.

Headlined by Domingo, Sing Sing features an extraordinary ensemble largely composed of former RTA members playing themselves. Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin stands out as a violent inmate struggling to believe in the RTA program while still behind bars. His performance is a remarkable debut, ranking among the greatest in recent memory.

Yet, the true marvel is Colman Domingo. His evolution into one of today’s finest actors is undeniable. As Divine G, Domingo captures the essence of a man who dedicates himself to others. He listens intently, cares earnestly, and guides the troubled men around him with compassion. There is a soft beauty in his art, despite the deep pains that surface through his expressive eyes. That is why it is so devastatingly powerful when he eventually hits his breaking point, reminding us that even the hand that supports also needs to be held.

Kwedar’s patient storytelling and character development create a profound connection with the audience. Sing Sing gradually works its way under your skin and into your heart, becoming one of the year’s most touching and reaffirming films.

In a similar vein, Sing Sing pairs well with Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s Ghostlight, a quietly effective film about art and community, and Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s documentary Daughters, now streaming on Netflix.

The Date With Dad program – launched 12 years ago in Richmond, Virginia, and now expanded to Washington, D.C. – reunites girls with their incarcerated dads for a special father-daughter dance, offering a rare opportunity to reconnect and rebuild their relationships in person.

Daughters provides a moving look at the 10-week coaching program that fathers must complete before attending the dance and the profound impact of this event. Although the film occasionally glosses over the serious reasons for these men’s incarceration, it powerfully highlights the effects of growing up without a father. It’s heartening that such a program exists, yet I couldn’t help but wonder about the fathers with sons – how they feel about missing out on this opportunity and whether there are similar programs available to them. More importantly, how could sons benefit from such initiatives in the hopes of breaking the cycle and avoiding the sins of their fathers?

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 93% of the prison population is male, and the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy reports that children of incarcerated parents are six to seven times more likely to end up in prison than their peers. I hope that something as impactful as The Date With Dad program highlighted in this touching documentary can be extended to young boys, offering them the same chance to rebuild relationships and perhaps change their future.

My most anticipated film of the year was Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus. The Alien franchise holds a very special place in my heart. Despite its ups and downs, I remain captivated by the genius of H. R. Giger’s Xenomorph design, a creature as endlessly fascinating as anything ever imagined. From the ominous egg to the face-hugger, chest-burster and Queen, each terrifying feature, from its acidic blood to its second mouth, makes the Xenomorph a perfect antagonist.

When I heard Romulus would be set between the cinematic masterpieces Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), my mind immediately went to Hadley’s Hope, the doomed colony on

Instead, Alvarez took a different route, crafting an original story centered on a new cast of off-world colonists working for Weyland-Yutani Corp, the shadowy company that has haunted our heroes throughout the franchise. Romulus preserves Weyland-Yutani’s obsession with the Xenomorph – whether for profit, military supremacy, or a quest for immortality, the corporation remains as morally bankrupt as ever in its pursuit of the creature.

Cailee Spaeny stars as Rain Carradine, a young woman trapped in a sunless mining colony who dreams of escape. Alongside a group of fellow fugitives, she plans to hijack a decommissioned ship’s cryopod equipment and embark on a nine-year journey to Yvaga III. But that ship is more than it seems, and we all know what happens next.

Alien: Romulus leans heavily on nostalgia, tipping its hat to its six predecessors throughout. While it doesn’t explore the narrative territory I had hoped, it adds a compelling chapter to the saga with Spaeny’s Rain emerging as a new badass, alongside the standout character Andy, played by David Jonsson. Spaeny, who made waves last year with Priscilla and starred in Alex Garland’s Civil War earlier this year, continues her rise as a breakthrough performer. Jonsson, known to fans of HBO’s Industry and Rye Lane, delivers a fresh and dynamic performance, making him the film’s major discovery.

Galo Olivares cinematography is stunning, using light and shadow to create moments of eerie beauty. Combined with Naaman Marshall’s meticulously crafted set pieces, Alvarez and his team masterfully recapture the mood and atmosphere of the original classic.

Romulus is packed with suspense and fear that will send goosebumps up your arms and chills down your spine. The film honors the franchise’s legacy with its use of practical effects for the creatures, which are, as always, beautifully terrifying. While it doesn’t quite reach the scale and urgency of the first two films, it remains an entertaining addition, delivering both scares and nostalgia in equal measure.

And then there is M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, starring Josh Hartnett as a father who takes his daughter to a concert, only to discover that the event is being used by the FBI to capture a serial killer. The trailer suggested a fun cat-and-mouse thriller, but Trap ultimately depends on how far you’re willing to stretch your suspension of disbelief.

What some may find entertaining about Trap, I found flippant and ineffective. The script is a mess. It leans on typical tropes, presenting characters who make predictable decisions and spout cliché dialogue, all done with a wink-wink attitude as if we’re supposed to sit back and go with the nonsense.

Another problematic aspect of the film is the excessive time spent on concert scenes featuring M. Night’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan. One or two songs would have sufficed, but it felt like we were subjected to her entire discography. I’d be curious to know the total runtime of the concert footage, but that’s a task for someone brave enough to endure this film again.

I keep hearing supporters of Trap praise it’s tongue-in-cheek humor, claiming that’s what makes it work. But as my mom used to remind me of the proverbial lesson: two wrongs don’t make a right, similarly, an intentionally bad movie is still just a bad movie.

New Trailers

The Room Next Door – Pedro Almodóvar’s latest has a teaser, and it is the most Almodóvarian thing you’ve ever seen. I’m totally here for it. I expect Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton to be in the mix all season.

Saturday Night – Jason Reitman’s film details the 90-minutes leading up to the 1975 premiere of Saturday Night Live. A terrific cast headlines a story that I’m surprised hasn’t been told by now. Looks like a return to form for Reitman.