Features
• The significance of “Nine” for Anthony Minghella’s legacy. [The Guardian] • Steven Zeitchik catches on to the year’s thin original screenplay race and bangs the drum for “Sugar.” [Risky Business] • Lauren Shucker talks “Up in the Air” with director Jason Reitman. [Wall Street Journal]
Entries from November 2009
11/27 Osarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:35 am · November 27th, 2009
Filed in: Daily
Reel Geezers on ‘Precious’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:35 am · November 27th, 2009
I’m featuring this review for one reason: if anybody had concerns that the older white majority of the Academy would be resistant to “Precious” … well, worry no more. (The Geezers are on indieWIRE these days, by the way.)
Filed in: Daily
Friendly competition
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:34 pm · November 26th, 2009
I would put it on the Lennon-McCartney level. Look how healthy that competition was even when it was unhealthy. Look at the results of it. Different approaches and personalities and each makes the other better. There’s this dialogue right now and I would throw Spielberg into it too. There’s a dialogue among a generation of […]
Filed in: Daily
French masters vie for Louis Delluc Prize
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:43 pm · November 26th, 2009
While I was away in Paris earlier this week, I was reminded there of the nominations for the Louis Delluc Prize. Awarded to a single title, it is arguably the most prestigious award in French cinema, having been won by such titans as Truffaut, Renoir, Chabrol, Malle, Bresson, Cocteau, Tati … well, you get the […]
Filed in: Daily
Ansen gets first word on ‘Invictus’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 11:08 am · November 26th, 2009
Apparently unfazed by embargos, Newsweek’s David Ansen has posted a short, mixed-to-positive review of “Invictus,” the meat of which is here: Invictus is not a biopic; nor does it take us deep inside any of its characters—Eastwood views Mandela from a respectful middle distance. It’s about strategic inspiration. We witness a politician at the top […]
Filed in: Daily
Happy Thanksgiving
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:04 am · November 26th, 2009
It’s that time of year. I’ve got about a dozen heads coming over for a Thanksgiving feast. Parade. Football. Screeners (a LOT of ’em). A full day of cheer. But I’d like to, of course, take a moment to hand out my thank yous. At the top of that list are my fellow contributors here […]
Filed in: Et Cetera
THE LONG SHOT: Popular mechanics
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:19 pm · November 25th, 2009
“My God, they’ve thrown in everything but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Quoted by writer Anthony Holden in his gossipy history “The Oscars,” this was one publicist’s dismayed response to the 1990 Academy Award nominations, which included such unusual concessions to popular (as opposed to critical) opinion as a Best Picture nomination for “Ghost” and […]
Filed in: The Long Shot
TECH SUPPORT: Best Makeup — Volume II
Posted by gerardkennedy · 4:58 pm · November 25th, 2009
Without any doubt, one of the most difficult Oscar categories to predict is Best Makeup. Like Best Visual Effects, the final three nominees are chosen from a previously announced shortlist of seven. Very frequently, films that would seem to be sure things fail to even make the bake-off. Even so, it is possible to gauge […]
Filed in: Tech Support
BFCA adds categories
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 4:25 pm · November 25th, 2009
Hot off the presses: The Board of Directors of the Broadcast Film Critics Association has voted unanimously to expand the categories we will be voting on for this year’s 15th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. More fun for everybody! We believe it is appropriate and wise for the BFCA to model its categories more closely […]
Filed in: Daily
Listen to Marion Cotillard’s ‘Take It All’ from ‘Nine’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:41 am · November 25th, 2009
This year’s big, bombastic musical “Nine” features two original song compositions from Maury Yeston. We’re happy today to feature one of them: “Take It All,” performed in the film by actress Marion Cotillard. Of all the tracks in the film, both original and pre-existing, this one has the most impact if only because it comes […]
Filed in: Daily
Bueller?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:30 am · November 25th, 2009
The town has all but shuttered entirely since Monday. Screeners are showing up constantly (the FedEx and UPS folks are getting their annual workout). The bird is thawing. There’s just not much going on. Anne and I will be doing a podcast Friday rather than taking the week off, but look for it later in […]
Filed in: Daily
Jason Reitman’s first kiss…in ‘Kindergarten Cop’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:42 am · November 25th, 2009
Jason Reitman has obviously come into his own as a filmmaker ever since his 2006 debut “Thank You for Smoking.” But once upon a time, he was a star of a different sort: the busted middle-schooler caught smooching in Ivan Reitman’s 1990 comedy “Kindergarten Cop.” You remember the scene. The Governator is stalking the hallways […]
Filed in: Daily
‘The Last Station’ trailer
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:35 am · November 25th, 2009
Filed in: Daily
11/25 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:43 am · November 25th, 2009
• “The Road” takes desolate journey from page to screen. [Wired] • Andrew O’Hehir talks “Bad Lieutenant” with Werner Herzog. [Beyond the Multiplex] • Anne Thompson says “Avatar” could debut at AICN’s Butt-Numb-A-Thon, of all places. [Thompson on Hollywood]
Filed in: Daily
‘District 9’ an adapted screenplay after all
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:56 pm · November 24th, 2009
When I surveyed the rather weak field of original screenplay contenders two weeks ago, one of the contenders I mentioned was Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell’s “District 9,” my assumption being that the vast departures from the original short film “Alive in Joburg” would be enough to warrant such a classification. I guess I was […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Lovely Bones’ reviews begin to trickle in
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:17 pm · November 24th, 2009
Speaking of Peter Jackson’s latest, the film screened for the Royals tonight across the pond. The Guardian has doused it: The screen version, by contrast, is so infuriatingly coy, and so desperate to preserve the modesty of its soulful victim that it amounts to an ongoing clean-up operation…Jackson turns up with his eyes averted, spraying […]
Filed in: Daily
New ‘Lovely Bones’ poster
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:06 pm · November 24th, 2009
Why is everything being dumped out there this week? Jeez, space yourself out, folks: (Courtesy: MySpace)
Filed in: Daily
EW’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ roundtable
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:42 pm · November 24th, 2009
Guy’s coverage from London here, but from Dave Karger’s Oscar Watch:
Filed in: Daily
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