It’s never too early for Oscar talk because — God willing, anyway — quality work is there to be discussed year-round. So while the 88th Academy Awards may still be fresh in our minds, and 2016 itself barely more than two months old, there’s already a performance hitting screens that deserves earmarking for year-end kudos.
But first, a question…
How has an Oscar nomination eluded John Goodman for this long? Arguments could have been made for any number of Coen brothers films over the years (“Barton Fink,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Inside Llewyn Davis”), and he’s been in the mix with other players like “Argo” and “Flight” as of late. The 63-year-old Emmy and Golden Globe winner was a highlight of the Screen Actors Guild-nominated “Trumbo” cast last year as well.
Basically, the “it’s time” narrative is there for the taking. But that kind of thing generally conforms to traditional awards movie territory; just look at the circuit Leonardo DiCaprio recently completed. All the sweeter it would be, then, for Goodman to finally net Oscar recognition for a little genre film completely outside the Academy’s wheelhouse. Because that’s what his performance in Dan Trachtenberg’s “10 Cloverfield Lane” is. It’s Oscar-worthy.
I hesitate to say too much about Goodman’s character or, certainly, the film’s plot — the mystery box is working overtime here — but his performance is impressive for its complexity. Working from a script that ebbs and flows with ease and tension, the actor’s work is like a waltz, gliding on the narrative’s rhythms, commanding acute attention every moment he’s on screen. It’s a clinic, really, a performance as compelling in its quieter moments as it is in its explosive ones. I wouldn’t flinch if someone called it Goodman’s best work.
(By the way, the film features tight ensemble work, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. contributing plenty to the mixture. But Goodman really just owns this movie.)
Just like Jeff Nichols’ “Midnight Special” and Jeremy Saulnier’s “Green Room,” “10 Cloverfield Lane” (opening March 11) is an economic thriller grounded by real-world specificity. It’s that approach that makes performances like Goodman’s — and Michael Shannon’s, and Anton Yelchin’s — really sing. They deserve a seat at the Oscar table along with the biopics and the festival darlings and the “prestige” players.
So cringe at stirring the awards pot a year in advance if you must, but it’s good to plant an early flag. These movies depend on the drumbeat, and sometimes — as we saw with “Ex Machina” last year — it can carry them through. After all, the year is just going to push on, and eventually we’ll enter the awards season, where films from Ang Lee, Martin Scorsese, Nate Parker, Clint Eastwood and more will predictably dominate the discussion. Tom Hanks, Amy Adams, Michael Keaton, Matthew McConaughey and Judi Dench will no doubt dot the prognostication landscape.
But I’ll still be talking about John Goodman.
Saw the movie a few hours ago. I sat there dumbfounded watching Goodmans performance. Walking out of the theater, my first thought was : He’d better get a nomination for this one’!
The tea leaves are certainly there for him to go all the way.
He’s overdue and it sounds like he has a showy presence
The film is certainly doing nicely with a current 91 RT/ 78 MC score from critics. That’s nearly on par with Ex Machina.
Box office tracking is looking good and it seems like it will play well to general audiences.
The first performance to catch buzz early on in the season has often taken Oscar gold. Look at JK Simmons or Christopher Plummer.
Sight unseen, I’m interested to see if this can carry itself to smaller categories such as screenplay or editing. There seems to be some high marks for Winstead so maybe that’s a possibility?
Year in and year out,
glad to hear he’s good in this one. john goodman is a mixed bag. sometimes you get the big lebowski, sometimes you get the flintstones…
Argo, Flight, Inside Lewyn Davis, the Gambler. Goodman is on a tear.
The Flintstones sort of calls for The Flintstones though, no?
As well you should. He’s been overlooked far too often for far too long. If I could afford him, I’d put him in every picture I’d make.
Alden Ehrenreich gave the first truly Oscar-worthy performance of 2016.
He was great. But he wasn’t John Goodman in “10 Cloverfield Lane.”
I hear ya. Haven’t seen 10CL yet, but doesn’t change the fact that Ehrenreich should absolutely be in the conversation… if there is one already.
Bravo Kris! Thank you for banging the drum this early. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I have always felt that performances in genre films, esp. an earlier in the year release date, don’t get the recognition they deserve. Every review I’ve read singles out Goodman’s performance, and you’re right… he’s way overdue.
I agree… It seems like movies that are released early in the year are, forgotten about. Why is that?
Wait, what?
Kris, JG is another white guy! Jeez… He’s even an old white guy!
Sure he’s a great actor but…you know…
So you’re gonna withhold an award cause he’s white? Don’t get me wrong, we need diversity, but if his performance is good, give him the nod, as any other person of any other diversity should. Do not withhold because he’s white, because if that’s a subtle nod at the racism in Hollywood, of which there is plenty, here is a less subtle nod, you’re being racist.
It’s amazing that all those deluded little fangirls on social media thought Di Caprio was overdue. John Goodman and Samuel L. Jackson are the most overdue actors since Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton.
Seems to me the great John Goodman has been taken for granted for decades. I have been binge watching his creepy performance lately in the wonderful British series, Dancing on the Edge. Can’t wait to see him in Cloverfield Lane.