Both of those are excellent, they just don't bring unneeded attention to themselves. (Cinematography comes close though, see all the shots with the church in the background or the ridiculously unsubtle wide shot with the AOL sign).
Good seeing The Witch with a possible sub-50% weekend drop. It won't overtake Ex Machina among A24 releases, but a $21-23m finish would be a very good result.
They could stop tracking Spectre now and then BOM will quietly update it a month or two later with a new total just over $200m. I've seen them do it with a lot of Universal releases, although those just stop tracking while in 100+ theaters.
Or they could wait until Grimsby and then fudge it just enough.
Casey Affleck - Manchester By The Sea
Christian Bale/Oscar Isaac - The Promise
Andrew Garfield - Silence
Michael Keaton - The Founder
Nate Parker - The Birth of a Nation
some alternates
Warren Beatty - untitled Howard Hughes
Joel Edgerton - Loving
Ryan Gosling - La La Land
Michael Fassbender - The Light Between Oceans
David Oyelowo - A United Kingdom
Brad Pitt - War Machine
Affleck, Parker and Garfield seem like good possibilities, especially the first two since they already got a lot of praise. I think Hanks will miss out as is usual for him these days.
Looks to me like it might easily tip over into contrived/melodramatic territory but I'm hoping that's just the trailer and Cianfrance will find the right balance in the finished film. I really like everyone involved so I'm looking forward to it, anyway.
Prisoners is very well-directed though. Its faults mainly lie in the screenplay. Enemy and Sicario don't have that problem so they're firing on all cylinders.
I was lukewarm on Crimson Peak but its costumes and art direction were a feast for the eyes if I ever saw one. Glad to see it picked up at least one of those.
Actually this would give Sony a good chance to do what MGM did with Bond numbers back in the '90s, have it finish its run with $200,007,007 or something.
Looking at the supporting actor nominees in 2013 and lead actor nominees this year, Fassbender was easily the best among them both times. Can't wait for them to give him his own overdue Oscar in a year where he's like the 3rd or 4th most deserving nominee.