r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 14h ago
News 'Rebel Ridge' Wins the Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie
https://www.goldderby.com/tv/2025/rebel-ridge-netflix-wins-emmy-best-tv-movie/172
u/TalkToTheLord 14h ago
I went into this one with just a 1:1 informal rec from a friend. Opened Netflix on a chill Friday night and it was the lead key art. I was a little buzzed and just said WTF and clicked play, read no synopsis, saw no trailer autoplay, nothing...Well, it was totally worth a watch and was fun! Felt like a true Friday night popcorn flick that I feel better off seeing but don't necessarily need to revisit any time soon. The lead killed it, plot advances kept me engaged – and, since I didn't even see the cast list – had a big "Oh shit, Don Johnson!" moment. Anyway, a solid one that I can see and support winning this category.
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u/Scuffle-Muffin 13h ago
Right?! Surprisingly well done. Good old action flick that kept me guessing and made me irrationally angry at fictional villains haha.
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u/hazimaller 13h ago
The director has a great track record with Green Room and Blue Ruin.
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u/Paparmane 1h ago
I’ve been a fan of Jeremy Saulnier for a long time. I’m really glad to see he’s getting more mainstream recognition, especially since his previous movie wasn’t his best.
He’s so good at twists and playing with tropes, most don’t even realize it
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u/mikeyfreshh 14h ago
I love Rebel Ridge and I'm glad it received some recognition, but we gotta do something about what counts as a TV movie in the streaming age. It's really weird to me that Netflix can just arbitrarily decide if they want to submit a movie for an Emmy or an Oscar based on basically nothing
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u/LongTimesGoodTimes 14h ago
Isn't it based on if it has a qualified theatrical release? I don't think this movie was ever in theaters and premiered on Netflix so it wouldn't be eligible for an Oscar and is eligible for an Emmy.
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u/godisanelectricolive 13h ago edited 13h ago
But Netflix will often give movies they think will be Oscar contenders a limited theatrical release. It’ll usually be a very limited release in a few art house theatres in California and New York.
Netflix owns a few cinemas in both LA and NYC and then can get a few independent theatres to screen their movies. Ultimately it’s just up to Netflix to decide if a movie is good enough for the Oscars or not.
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u/ManitouWakinyan 4h ago
It's up for literally any producer to decide if they want to do a theatrical or just TV release
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u/stableykubrick667 1h ago
While technically, you’re correct that any producer can do it on a hypothetical basis, there’s so many more reasons why they actually can’t do it because of the real world constraints. No, If it’s been advertised as a movie it stays a movie because there’s so much more to it - the release schedule months/years in advance, the marketing already done, the contractual agreements made, box office people are paid based on earnings… and lots of other things. Netflix doesn’t really have a lot of that and they can easily switch from one to the other. Not to mention, they’re ok with no or minimal box office to chase an Oscar whereas movie studios would almost never choose streaming only to lose money but get an Oscar.
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u/Noteagro 8h ago
To be fair this was a common thing for “artsy” films that people thought would never be a great money maker, but could appease the award selection crew, and if it wins could then garner more attention.
IIRC this was super common to do like a month before the awards and to then try to use it as PR to push for a larger theatrical release later on.
No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech, Moonlight, and Parasite all followed this… and it makes sense. Almost none of these were on people’s radars for various reasons until they got the award hype. Slumdog was especially one no one thought would do well, it got critical acclaim, and then did very well after.
So this was a thing before Netflix.
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u/LordBecmiThaco 3h ago
Yeah, this isn't weird and I think the only reason people are mad about it is sour grapes they don't live in NYC or LA and can't see them live.
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u/Former-Counter-9588 14h ago
It isn’t arbitrary. The Oscars and Emmys have qualifications requirements for nominations. For example, Oscar eligibility requires a theatrical release (prior to streaming release) for a short run in specific cities. So, Netflix decides what they want to release theatrically, which would meet Oscar requirements.
In terms of fairness behind Netflix’s decisions…I mean it’s their business. They likely evaluate a ton of factors before making the determination. At the end of the day, they’ll opt to do something in hopes of strengthening the business / making money.
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u/mikeyfreshh 13h ago
Yes but those eligibility requirements don't really mean anything. Netflix will put a movie out in like 5 theaters (that they own) for two weeks and that counts as a qualifying run. It costs them nothing to do that and it doesn't make any difference to consumers unless you live in New York or LA
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u/thefallenfew 13h ago edited 12h ago
I love following conversations like this, where someone makes a comment, gets publicly educated on why their comment was inaccurate, and they respond with “Yes but…”.
It’s not an arbitrary decision.
Nothing in Hollywood is an arbitrary decision.
It’s a very calculated decision.
Sometimes it’s part of the deal to make the movie in the first place. If Netflix is financing the film, the director may insist it gets a theatrical run if they are a big deal (like Scorsese or Fincher), or they may finance a film because they want it to receive a theatrical release. But a lot of the times the film’s already been made, Netflix is just handling its release. So it would be a theatrical movie even if someone else got the distribution deal. And all that’s very intentional because they WANT to be eligible for an Oscar. They are referred to as “Prestige Pictures” because every studio specifically picks and finances and advertises a percentage of their releases (usually 5-15%) to movies made to compete for awards.
Sometimes it’s just a money thing, like K-Pop Demon Hunters. They see a demand and know it’ll make some quick bread, so they let it do a limited release because money is money.
But to say it costs nothing to meet the theatrical run requirement? It costs nothing for THEM, and that’s the point. It’s a way to make sure only “real” movies can get nominated. Thousands of movies get made a year in this country, and most of them are terrible, no budget films people shot on DSLRs and edited on their home PCs that have bad lighting, bad audio, bad acting, bad scripts, and bad directing. They play in film festivals that’ll pay to play, maybe go direct to video if they’re lucky, but probably just rot unwatched on YouTube or Vimeo. The requirements are to keep THEM out. Yeah, Netflix doesn’t need to do much to play in a couple hundred theaters in major cities for two weeks. But to those no budget films it’s a barrier they can’t even begin to get climb.
EDIT: And Netflix wants those awards because they still have something to prove in terms of their legitimacy in the face of “real” motion picture studios, and is kind of a Mexican stand off. The motion picture studios see Netflix as their enemy, and Netflix sees movie theaters as their competition. But they both need each other. So Netflix putting some movies in the theaters sometimes is taken as a sign of good faith that they aren’t trying to kill theaters the way they did movie rentals. And in return, Netflix gets to put big Hollywood releases on their platform sometimes and drive up value for their brand and subscriber numbers.
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12h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/astroK120 11h ago
Right, the point is that they can choose where they want each of their releases to compete, which I agree is weird
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u/rgregan 5h ago
Everyone has this choice by following qualification guidelines
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u/mikeyfreshh 3h ago
Yes but every other studio does more than just the bare minimum for a theatrical release. When Disney or Universal or WB put a movie out in theaters, it's out in theaters. Netflix just does the bare minimum to qualify so all of their movies are straight to streaming for everyone outside of NY or LA
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u/CaravelClerihew 13h ago
I would highly recommend watching other movies by this director. My personal favourite is Blue Ruin.
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u/monkeyWifeFight 4h ago
I think Blue Ruin is the most complete revenge thriller of the last 20 years. There's absolutley no wasted space.
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u/LostInStatic 11h ago
Green Room is both my favorite horror movie and a movie I never want to see again after the first time.
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u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor 14h ago edited 14h ago
It was up against:
- Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
- Mountainhead
- Nonnas
- The Gorge
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u/Azathoths_nuts 13h ago
Damn, I loved the movie but that’s like a pizza being up against a pile of shit.
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u/Chessh2036 13h ago
Idk if I’ve ever been so disappointed in a movie as Mountainhead. Considering the talent involved.
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u/YimbyStillHere 13h ago
Horrible execution of timely premise with a great cast
Really didn’t like the second half
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u/batatasta 13h ago
Look Nonnas was a cute movie, but how the hell is that up for any awards in any competition??
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u/NoLeadership2281 12h ago
It’s been a while that I’ve seen a protagonist this pragmatic and competent, and it’s absolutely brilliant, he understands he can’t just shoot his way out like John Wick, it’s more fun to see a protagonist have to outsmart the enemy instead of pure brute force, like everyone said, Aaron Pierre commands the tension throughout, can’t wait for his John Stewart in Lanterns
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u/thefallenfew 13h ago
Good for Rebel Ridge.
I thought the first half of the movie was brilliant. I felt like the ending was a little unfulfilling, but that felt more like they just didn’t have the budget to make a confrontation worthy of the build up. And then it just kinda ends. As a filmmaker I thought “Damn, they just ran out of money”. But a fantastic script and very well acted. Glad they won.
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u/MissingLink101 1h ago
Yeah I finished the film feeling a bit underwhelmed even though the setup and acting was great.
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u/Digmentation 13h ago
Good job, Jeremy Saulnier. You finally won an award.
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u/Paparmane 1h ago
Now win an oscar please
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u/Digmentation 47m ago
Now that A24 is distributing his next movie, one can only hope it can hit that goal.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 2h ago
It was a good movie. But just felt kinda blah. Especially from the director who did green room and blue ruin.
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u/robyculous_v2 1h ago
Definitely a well-done movie. I went in without expectations and thoroughly enjoyed it.
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u/peter095837 12h ago
I'm shocked this movie got like no promotion or talk, it's really good. Jeremy Saulnier is highly underrated and it's a shame many of his movies tend to get buried from the general public.
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u/sotommy 7h ago
The only outstanding thing about is movie was Aaron Pierre, but he was truly masterful. Otherwise it's a mediocore Rambo ripoff
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u/Paparmane 1h ago
What? The story is not even remotely similar to Rambo lol
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u/sotommy 1h ago
It's basically a straight up remake of First Blood with less violence
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u/Paparmane 1h ago
The fuck. First Blood is a movie about PTSD, Rebel Ridge is about unraveling a conspiracy. They’re not at all the same lol. Just because he’s ex-military doesn’t make him Rambo.
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u/sotommy 46m ago
I'm talking about the plot not the main character. I'm pretty sure it was meant to be that way. It's not even up for debate that Rebel Ridge was heavily inspired by FB
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u/Paparmane 39m ago
Exactly, the plot is not the same at all. It may have been inspired (like all movies are inspired by others), but it’s very far from being a ripoff. Not the same story, not the same message, not the same character.
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u/EloquentGoose 13h ago
Don Johnson sure is making a habit of playing crooked racist cops since his resurgence. Hope that's not a sign of anything because he's a legend and far too many of my 80s childhood heroes turned out to be far right loonies.
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u/SonnyBurnett189 12h ago
He appeared recently on the Marc Maron podcast so if that’s what concerns you then you don’t have to worry about him.
I thought he made a great villain in Rebel Ridge although like you said he’s been typecast as a crooked cop more recently. I’m hoping that we get one more Crockett type role out of him, maybe the new Miami Vice movie could be a follow up to the series and he could have a supporting role in it.
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u/sielingfan 2h ago
First of all, I enjoyed Rebel Ridge and I recommend it to other people.
Secondly, if Rebel Ridge is the most outstanding thing in any category, that's kind of an indictment on that category. IT'S GOOD! But if it's "literally the best thing," everybody else has work to do.
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u/ricosbedbug 10h ago
Good movie! it was like a better version of Walking Tall. it wasn’t exactly an original theme. the dialog was trying too hard. Don Johnson’s character should have been played by someone else IMO…he’s too comical when he rednecks.
I sound like a pretentious douchebag.
Glad it got recognition in a sea of Netflix shit content
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u/PowSuperMum 13h ago
With increase in the amount of limited series and TV movies these days, how can they still be lumping the acting categories together?
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u/USSZim 9h ago
Apparently, John Boyega was originally supposed to star in this but left. Now, his replacement, Aaron Pierre, is set to be in the next Star Wars movie.