2017 Oscars: SPC’s ‘Miles Ahead’ and ‘Maggie’s Plan’ First Screeners of the Season
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Maybe it’s first predictions, maybe it’s the first of the fall festivals but I usually like to think the real kickoff of the Oscar season is the first official screener to hit voters. This year, Sony Pictures Classics has that honor with its spring and summer releases Miles Away and Maggie’s Plan.
Miles Ahead debuted at the 2015 New York Film Festival last year and many thought that it, and director/star Don Cheadle, was going to factor into the 2016 Oscar race. But Sony Pictures Classics decided to hold onto the Miles Davis slice of life biopic for a spring debut, which was met with respectable, if not outstanding, reviews.
Maggie’s Plan, from director Rebecca Miller, stars Greta Gerwig, Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke and Oscar winner Julianne Moore. Moore is a possible Supporting Actress contender and the film could find itself in Golden Globe consideration.
Last year, the first official screener out was I’ll See You in My Dreams, starring Blythe Danner. It didn’t result in any major awards attention. Grandma, starring Lily Tomlin, was SPC’s first screener last year. It landed Tomlin Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominations.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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I had a lot of fun watching Miles Ahead. It wasn’t the masterpiece I had hoped for, but it was still really good. I liked how different it was from the normal biopic. That would be insane if it could find its way into the Oscar nominations.