Welcome to the seventh installment of Oscar Talk, a weekly kudocast between yours truly and Anne Thompson of indieWIRE’s Thompson on Hollywood. Anne is calling from London today, where she’s gearing up for a weekend of London film fest screenings and events.
Topics on today’s agenda:
• Today’s big release, “Amelia,” finally crossed the bow of most critics this week and, with it quickly becoming obvious WHY it only crossed their bows this week, Anne and I discuss what went wrong with the movie.
• In the wake of Anne’s recent hit piece on the Hollywood Film Festival and its leadership, we talk about the fluff of this event amid the award season chatter.
• Speaking of awards, we get into the Gotham Award nominations, which caused a stir in some quarters due to the absence of “Precious.” Neither Anne nor I think there’s a backlash afoot.
• Last week we talked about screeners that quickly end up at the bottom of voters’ piles this time of year. We discuss a few titles that could unfortunately hit that low rung of priority, “That Evening Sun,” “The Messenger,” “Trucker,” etc. Sony Pictures Classics seems to have a number of these titles.
• Anne briefly previews some titles she hopes to catch at the London fest.
We went a little long today, roughly 30 minutes. Have a listen below, subscribe to Oscar Talk at iTunes here, and we’ll see you next week.
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12 responses to “OSCAR TALK: Ep. 7 — ‘Amelia,’ Hollywood film fest, Gothams, supposed ‘Precious’ backlash and more”
Good podcast.
The comparison of Precious to Marty was pretty damn funny.
I wouldn’t downplay the Oprah Ick factor quite yet. I’ve actually seen people have negative reactions to the floating talking head television adverts for Precious.
I interviewed Ondi Timoner earlier this week. Anne should definitely checking out We Live in Public (its playing the BFI Sunday and Monday). Fascinating and timely documentary, could give The Cove a run for its money.
The people complaining about those Oprah ads are not AMPAS members. Jus sayin’
And the people that are complaining are still gonna see it. :p
Do see The Damned United, Kris. It’s a fun and energetic film that manages to linger surprisingly long on your mind with its darker themes of loss and bitterness. And Sheen is sensational, deserving of a serious push by the studio. Like Anne said though, it sadly won’t happen.
Not necessarily correct in either instance Jilda.
True. But the people complaining are not making THAT big of a deal about it.
I think in most cases (and I’ve had conversations to this effect), it is merely that the interjection of Winfrey and Perry in the new trailer is seen as a bit tacky, and distracting from the fact that viewers want to see the trailer. The film will speak for itself and I think the notion that some anti-Oprah thing could be in the works merely because of a silly marketing decision will prove unfounded.
That trailer was just an Apple exclusive anyway. It’s not even running in theatres.
It’s not internet exclusive, I’ve seen it on television.
I still think Precious should stand on its own, I don’t think it needs Oprah (who appeals to middle class white women) and Perry (who appeals to lower to middle class black women) to hawk the film.
Precious is well on its way to becoming a player in the race, I wouldn’t use divisive people in adverts who played no role in the making of the film.
Oh….well Apple lied to me. lol
I thought the intrusion of Oprah and Tyler Perry in the Precious trailer was indeed tacky. But hardly think Oprah could cause a backlash against the movie. Nor do I think that Up In The Air will have a backlash. Both films stand up to scrutiny though I do have to say that Precious is a tough movie to get through and to Lionsgates’ credit they haven’t shyed away from that fact but still, getting people to want to go see it might be a challenge.
I hated ‘Ali’.
Just felt the need to say it.
‘Kinsey’ on the other hand, is a excellent biopic.
I dont think any film should win Best Picture that can only be watched/tolerated once.