• As robust box-office returns for “The Social Network” amplified its Oscar buzz, this week’s Off the Carpet column warned that the awards race is “a marathon, not a sprint.”
• Keeping the conversation on David Fincher, we counted down the greatest technical achievements in his filmmography…
• …and invited you to name your favorite Fincher film in our new poll.
• Oscar-watchers got a new title to play with this week, as it was revealed that Peter Weir’s “The Way Back” will qualify for the 2010 awards after all.
• In this week’s Long Shot column, a casual Oscar tip on Mila Kunis was the starting point for a discussion of the power of wishful thinking in awards season.
• Tech Support returned with a revised look at the top contenders in the Best Art Direction category.
• We were underwhelmed by two of this week’s releases: “Secretariat” and “It’s Kind of a Funny Story.”
• A busy week for trailers, as we got new glimpses of “The Way Back,” “True Grit,” “127 Hours,” “The Tempest” and “Blue Valentine.”
• “Blue Valentine,” you say? Days after Kris enthused about the film, it made waves when the MPAA slapped it with a puzzling NC-17 rating.
• Our new weekend Cinejabber feature continued, with “Let Me In” and the “Spider-Man” reboot on the discussion menu.
• Speaking of superhero movie reboots, the next “Superman” film has a director, and his name is Zack Snyder.
• With the deadline for submissions passed, we updated our list of Best Foreign Language Film Oscar contenders and speculated on the frontrunners.
• Chad’s Life Without Oscar column continued its journey off the beaten track into the early 1980s.
• And hey, we’re still not done with “The Social Network,” as we considered whether people might be overanalyzing its warm critical reception.
• Looking ahead to 2011, following word of a February release date in Europe, we wondered if the Berlin Film Festival may get to unveil Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.”
• Finally, “Secretariat,” “The Way Back” and “Hereafter” are just three of the big talking points in this week’s episode of Oscar Talk.
[Photo: Columbia Pictures]
Comments
7 responses to “WEEKLY WRAP: Fincher reflection, ‘Way Back’ in, ‘Valentine’ blues”
As my own weekly wrap, It’s Kind of a Funny Story is the first movie I have walked out on in years. I can’t believe how horrible it was.
I can’t say I ever felt sufficiently inclined to walk out, but yeah — a crushing disappointment from those two.
I was a big fan of “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” actually. Spoke honestly and clearly to the audience in a way I felt was unforced.
But then, I never saw either of Boden/Fleck’s first two films, so what do I know? Can’t see everything.
The funniest thing about Ron Howard’s terrible looking new “Dillema” trailer, isn’t how unimaginatively and awkwardly it’s directed/put together, or that it drags on and on and on for three minutes, but that they name check the “Academy Award winner Bryan Glazer” half-way through.
Talk about blind egoes.
Man, that doesn’t just confirm what I always thought about Howard being the biggest (overrated) hack in Hollywood – it cements it.
And before I am occused of being a hater – just watch the trailer first.
P.S. I’m sure Jeff Wells, being the tasteless grouch he is will absolutely love it.
By the way, it wasn’t the fact that they name-checked Glazer, that left such a bad impression on me – it was the quality of the trailer itself.
Pete, I actually like Ron Howard a lot. Maybe I’m helped by not having seen some of his commercially successful but most poorly reviewed films like the Grinch and The Da Vinci Code, but I feel Apollo 13, Cinderella Man, and Frost/Nixon are all terrific pictures. I agree the trailer is pretty awful, but I also always take trailers with a grain of salt since I’ve seen bad trailers for good movies and vice versa.
While I agree with some of Guy’s complaints, I enjoyed It’s Kind of Funny Story more than him. I like the NY Times assessment that “it’s kind of a good movie.” If you want worst of the year type bad, I saw My Soul to Take (which I wasn’t expecting much from but saw because of Wes Craven) and an early screening for a 2011 film (which I can’t detail since I signed that I wouldn’t, but has a fairly respectable cast and director) that at times made me wonder “WTH is this.”
Ben, my feelings toward Ron’s directorial abilities are based upon years of movie watching. Time and again I walk away with the same conclusion – here is a guy who’s reputation is totally unearned. I don’t claim anything I say about his directorial abilities to be nothing other than a personal opinion.
He is one of the highest grossing directors in America. He has an Oscar for directing. He has two DGA awards (!!!). Two! He is considered a reliable industry veteran despite the fact that he has one of the worst ratios (in terms of quality) of any name director out there. Granted, rarely is he talked of as a directioral force but he nearly always gets respect, the source of which continues to puzzle me. Yes, there was Apollo 13, likely the best film he ever made. I will say however, that Cinderella Man and Frost/Nixon, apart from being thoroughly middlebrow fare could have been directred by just about anyone. I find his style, bland, boring, and predictable. I didn’t actually mean that he is a the worst hack in Hollywood. Not literally. It’s just that I cannot think of anyone else who is that overrated despite being so mediocre.
When he was announced as the director for Dark Tower series there was no major media freakout (the likes of which follow a much better director’s association with beloved properties), despite the fact that he is probably the worst possible candidate for the job. In my personal opinion of course.
I actually don’t have anything against Ron as a person. He seems like a decent enough guy and, like many, I appreciate his participation and great voice over work on Arrested Development. He is a good guy and he’s not without certain talents.