In Contention

Tag: Up

  • December winner predictions, part 2: Yours and mine

    Melanie Laurent in Inglourious BasterdsAs I like to do when Kris boldly throws out a set of winner predictions, I thought I’d follow up with an indication of which way our readers are leaning — as well as an update of my own previous guesses.

    The conclusion: well, what a difference seven weeks makes. Of course, it’s inevitable that things would go topsy-turvy in this of all months, when multiple question marks have been answered — some becoming unexpectedly insistent exclamation marks in the process.

    Still, I’m surprised by how dramatically my own picks have shifted, largely due to my overestimation of “Precious”‘s pop-culture sway, and my misplaced hunch that “Avatar” would disappoint. (Well, it disappointed me, but that’s hardly the deal-breaker I’d like it to be.) Today, I’m not even predicting a nomination for the man I (rather rashly) backed to win Best Director last month … such is the fickle nature of the game.

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  • December winner predictions

    Meryl Streep in Julie & JuliaI gave this an initial stab nearly two months ago.  I thought I might as well re-visit things.  (And hopefully there won’t be anyone getting their panties in a twist over something as harmless as this.  You know who you are.)

    Best Picture: “Avatar”
    Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
    Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
    Best Actress: Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”
    Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
    Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “Up in the Air”
    Best Original Screenplay: “Inglourious Basterds”

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  • If I had a ballot

    Sam Worthington in AvatarEvery year I like to keep track of personal favorites throughout the Academy’s designated categories (plus one of my own addition, Best Ensemble). At the end of the year, my “if I had a ballot” post is the result.

    Of course, for the most part, I follow Academy designations here. If something is ruled ineligible, I play along. It’s not that often that something like that is egregious anyway, though the music branch consistently tests my resolve on the matter.  In years past I’ve tried to make it an AMPAS/critics’ awards hybrid kind of thing, but this makes it easier.

    I know, I know.  “Why don’t you just list what you think should be nominated, the rules be damned?”  Because then I couldn’t call it “If I had a ballot?”  But I guess I’m contradicting myself by adding a category.  I don’t know.  I’m just trying not to be too lamely definitive or authoritative with something like this, I suppose.

    Anyway, I’m also abstaining from offering up a list of foreign language nods. Firstly, I feel it’s been a rather weak year in general there, but I also haven’t made my way fully through the list of submissions either. So I’ll address that another time.  The same goes with he doc features, as I’d rather push through more of the eligible titles first.

    This year the top 10 is the Best Picture field, obviously, and from there, I toss my two cents into a variety of discussions. Here’s what I came up with…

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  • Going out with a bang: the best films of 2009

    Sharlto Copley in District 9I’ve often been asked throughout the latter part of 2009 why I should have the gall to consider it the best year of film product in a decade. It’s such a subjective circumstance that, of course, the only answer is, “I liked a lot of movies.” That’s not enough for most. Hard and fast evidence is necessary. A carefully outlined, persuasive argument is expected.

    I just liked a lot of movies.

    The year began slowly, as they tend to do. The first film I saw that cried for end-of-the-year remembrance was a modest baseball drama I caught at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in February. Then it was all the way into the summer before a blockbuster banged the first four-star gong, followed shortly by a happenstance viewing of an unconventional British biopic at the Los Angeles Film Festival and a catch-up viewing of one of the year’s Sundance hits.

    Sprinkled throughout was top-tier animated product, a Comic-Con screening of one of the best sci-fi outings in years (and a homefront viewing of another first-time filmmaker’s fascinating foray into the genre), not to mention finally catching up with one of two exemplary war dramas that debuted in Toronto last fall.

    Before long, the summer, with all its surprise delights, both substantial and appropriately frothy, began to wind down. The fall awards season picked up steam as Telluride fired the starting gun and, after that, it seemed every trip to a darkened theater brought some form of satisfaction.  Even the entertainments seemed to satisfy completely.

    How can one defend the position any more succinctly? I liked. A lot. Of movies. And I relish the opportunity now to pay tribute to the year’s best, some 30 titles, each of which could have been a top 10 finalist in any other year.

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  • Southeastern Film Critics go for ‘Up in the Air’

    The winners, more after the jump:

    Best Picture
    “Up in the Air”

    Best Director
    Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”

    Best Actor
    George Clooney, “Up in the Air”

    Best Actress
    Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”

    Best Supporting Actor
    Christopher Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

    Best Supporting Actress
    Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

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  • AFI announce Top 10 American films of 2009

    Algenis Perez Soto in SugarJeez, give us some breathing room. Anyway, the American Film Institute has revealed their annual selection of the year’s best U.S. titles, and as usual, it’s a pleasingly diverse, idiosyncratic list.

    My heart sings to see Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s marvelous “Sugar” make the cut, at the expense of heavily-hyped titles like “Invictus” and even “Avatar” — Anne Thompson reports the latter got a special citation for technical achievement, though it’s not in the press release.

    From an awards-watcher’s perspective, however, the most interesting inclusion here might be “The Messenger,” whose higher-than-expected precursor profile suggests some may be underestimating its Oscar potential.

    Those looking for correlation with the Academy’s eventual Top 10 should bear in mind that a foreign title like “An Education” isn’t eligible for inclusion here. Even so, I’d say there are plenty of American titles not included here that are more likely to land Best Picture nods than, say, “The Hangover.”

    But that’s the beauty of the list — it’s always a joy to see a set of year-end honors with more on its mind than mere Oscar prognostication. Check out the full Top 10 after the cut.

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  • ‘Hurt Locker’ sweeps Boston critics’ awards

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt LockerAmid the anticipation for the LAFCA awards later this afternoon, you might not have realized that the Boston Society of Film Critics is also announcing its winners today. (I know I hadn’t.)

    Anyway, it’s spectacular news for “The Hurt Locker,” which emerged triumphant in five categories, including Best Picture, Director, Cinematography and Film Editing. In a most welcome surprise, Jeremy Renner took Best Actor for the film — a cheer for the underdog amid a slate of more heavily-buzzed acting winners including Meryl Streep, Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique. Here’s hoping it’s not the last.

    Meanwhile, it fell to the brothers Coen to prevent a clean “Hurt Locker” sweep, taking Best Screenplay honors for “A Serious Man,” while the BSFC’s quirkiest move is the joint selection of “Precious” and “Star Trek” for Best Ensemble. In another gesture towards populist cinema, “District 9” took the debut director award. After some delay, meanwhile, “Summer Hours” took foreign-language honors.

    Still, the only real story here is the loud arrival of Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq actioner on the critics’ award scene. It’ll be interesting to see if the LA Critics continue the love across the country; we’ll know in a few hours. Full list of winners after the cut.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Cartoon network

    Mary and MaxAs the year winds down, and critics and entertainment journalists search for neat blanket tags with which to label the year that was, “the year of animation” is a phrase that is getting increasingly bandied about – some going so far as to declare 2009 the greatest year of all time for animated product. (Certainly, TIME magazine has fed that narrative, by naming a trio of ‘toons the year’s three greatest films.)

    It’s up for debate whether such talk is a result of extraordinary across-the-board quality, or sheer numbers. Make no mistake, this year has turned up more visible animated titles, in a broader range of artistic formats, than any in recent memory.

    Confirmation of this deluge comes in the Academy’s official listing of 20 titles in the hunt for the Best Animated Feature Oscar – the largest number since the category’s inception in 2001, and one that ensures the first five-strong slate of nominees since 2002.

    Of course, 2002, despite the higher-than-usual proportion of contenders, was hardly a banner year for the medium: “Spirited Away” may have taken a well-deserved Oscar, but the amount of filler it had to beat in the process – including such already forgotten snoozes as “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” and “Treasure Planet” – was proof positive that quantity doesn’t equal quality in this particular race.

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  • LA Times shines light on notable 2009 composers

    Fantastic Mr. FoxLA Times music critic Todd Martens has posted a useful series of short interviews with the men behind some of the year’s most distinctive film scores. Indeed, it’s group of five names that isn’t too hard to imagine mirroring the year’s eventual Oscar slate: Alexandre Desplat for “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Michael Giacchino for “Up,” Randy Newman for “The Princess and the Frog,” Marvin Hamlisch for “The Informant!” and Elliot Goldenthal for “Public Enemies.”

    There are nice quotes and musical snippets peppered throughout all the profiles, but I was particularly drawn to read Desplat’s take on his “Fox” score, given how curiously — yet happily — the jangly Americana and English folk notes in the work sit with his more Euro-flavored oeuvre:

    “I just felt that if we found a sound that would belong to these little puppets, it would make them come alive,” Desplat said. “I suggested to Wes that we do a sort of puppet orchestra. I wanted to make everything sound like they were play- ing. I wanted little things — the mandolin, the banjo, the whistle, the recorder and all these little families of instruments. They weren’t toys but kind of toy-ish instruments.”

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  • ‘Up in the Air’ wins with D.C. critics

    Um, okay.  So the list of nominations for the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association were announced this morning.  The group’s official website notes that the winners will be announced tomorrow (so…why bother with day-before nominees?).  And now The Wrap is reporting (sans attribution — so I guess via press release) that the winners are as follows:

    Best Film
    “Up in the Air”

    Best Director
    Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”

    Best Actor
    George Clooney, “Up in the Air”

    Best Actress
    Carey Mulligan, “An Education”

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: NBR winners, Spirit nods and Jeff Bridges

    Jeff Bridges• The National Board of Review offered the season’s first major precursors, with “Up in the Air” sitting pretty.

    • The Independent Spirit Award nominations were topped by “Precious” and, more surprisingly, “The Last Station.”

    • Indie award rivals the Gotham Awards, meanwhile, crowned “The Hurt Locker” as the year’s best.

    • Fresh off his Spirit nomination, we served up an extended interview with the great Jeff Bridges.

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  • Grammy nods for ‘Basterds,’ Giacchino… and Steve Martin

    UpI’m always interested to see what cinematic musical achievements the Grammy Awards single out for recognition each year, largely because their pop sensibilities are so different (and their eligibility criteria so much looser) from those of the Oscars that they may as well exist on different planets.

    Last year, for example, they selected “The Dark Knight” as the year’s best score, though it didn’t manage a nomination from the Academy. A similar shaming shows up this year, as the Grammys show the respect for Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” theme that the Academy’s music branch did not.

    An earlier cut-off date means a few late-2008 titles show up here, including “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Milk,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Cadillac Records” — a song from the latter counting for one of Beyonce’s field-leading 10 nominations, incidentally. (I won’t even say anything about the non film-related categories.)

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  • Sight & Sound names ‘A Prophet’ best of 2009

    (left to right) Adel Bencherif and Tahar Rahim in A ProphetNo annual Top 10 list carries more weight with me than that compiled by Sight & Sound, the UK’s premier film magazine. One of the most thorough and prestigious collectives out there, it’s collated from the individual lists of over 60 international critics, including the likes of Kenneth Turan, Mark Kermode, Amy Taubin, Armond White and IC friend Tim Robey.

    The S&S list usually chimes in quite neatly with my own personal taste: last year’s edition (topped by Steve McQueen’s “Hunger”) featured six titles that ultimately landed on my own end-of-year rundown. This year’s is no different: regular readers will recognize a number of titles that I’ve been banging on about all year, including a most gratifying double-dip for the great Claire Denis. (Where was all this support for “White Material” when I needed it in Venice?)

    All in all, it’s a pretty impeccable selection of films, one that gives the lie to those saying 2009 is a weak year. I’d like to see the Academy even try to put together a Top Ten as strong as this…

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  • ‘Coraline’ leads the field of Annie nominees

    Coraline“Coraline” and “Up” both received nominations in eight categories.  “The Princess and the Frog” showed up in five while “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” showed up in four.

    “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (3),  “Monsters vs. Aliens” (3), “9” (2), “Astro Boy” (2) and “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” (2) brought up the rear with mentions in three and two categories respectively.  “Ponyo” also only landed two nods, for music and direction, so that’s probably worth noting.

    I’m listing per category, by the way, because it’s weird to me to have two separate “nominations” in fields like character design and production design, one per person.  Why not just one for the film with the artists listed as nominees?  It makes sense for vocal performance nods, but not really otherwise.  Anyway, to be fair, I guess “Coraline” leads the whole field with 10 total nominations, while “Up” has nine.  “The Princess and the Frog” has eight, with that in mind.

    Anyway, check out the full list of feature nominees after the jump (and the full list of all nominees at the Annie website).

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  • 12/1 Oscarweb Round-up

    Roy Scheider in Iron Cross• Pete Hammond reports on a last minute surge to get “Iron Cross,” Roy Scheider’s final film, into Oscar contention. [Notes on a Season]

    • Gregory Ellwood takes note of the season’s box office champs so far: “Inglourious Basterds” and “Up.” [Awards Campaign]

    • Geoff Boucher talks to “Avatar” composer James Horner. [Hero Complex]

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Let it all bleed out

    Saoirse Ronan in The Lovely BonesEvery now and then this season, I’ve sat down and taken on the fool’s errand of deciphering what 2009, the year in film, has been “about.”  It’s silly because a given film year is the result of years and years of preparation and development, so to think a collective thematic consciousness settles in is a bit of a stretch.

    This year alone we have a swift production that at this time last year saw the filmmaker still in the editing suite for his late-2008 entry, while on the other side of the spectrum, a forward-thinking director will finally see the end of a decades-long journey for an anticipated “game-changer.”  Movies come from a thousand different places and a thousand different perspectives.

    Nevertheless, I’ve always come back to one thought on this year’s slate of films: catharsis.  With expected exceptions here and there, in one way or another, the bulk of what we’ve seen on screens in 2009 has very much been about emotional purging, bleeding out the past and, not to be too on-the-nose with the zeitgeist connotations, change.

    Let me illustrate.  The most and the least compelling examples are the best place to start: Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” and Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus,” respectively.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Popular mechanics

    Chris Pine in Star Trek“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 a Best Actress nod for Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.”

    I remember this year well – I was eight years old, and it was the first Oscar race I followed in detail from burbling Christmas hype to the ceremony itself, digging up and scrapbooking all the press and TV coverage I could find.

    And from what I recall of my fledgling research, the unnamed publicist above wasn’t alone in her discontent. In particular, the “Ghost” nomination attracted levels of critical scorn even higher than those usually reserved for the Oscars – the common line being that the Academy had sold out to commerce rather than art, and that the sky would be falling at any given moment.

    Does this situation sound at all familiar?

    It should do. Though it was a response to an outcome rather than a possibility, the kvetching over the 1990 nods more than slightly resembles the panic that set in among certain pundits and fans alike (including, admittedly, yours truly) when the switch to 10 Best Picture nominees was announced in June.

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  • 11/23 Oscarweb Round-up

    Bill Murray on the set of Fantastic Mr. Fox• Dave Karger cusses with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” star Bill Murray. [Oscar Watch]

    • Owen Gleiberman whines about the snubbing of inferior documentaries, fails to recognize the solid slate of short-listed films we ended up with. [Entertainment Weekly]

    • Nicolas Rapold talks to the principals of “The Last Station.” [New York Times]

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