• Calmed by the holiday spirit, this week’s Off the Carpet column took stock of the season, and gave thanks where appropriate.
• The Long Shot looked at the number of one-time rebel auteurs in this year’s Oscar race, and wondered if awards glory comes at the expense of creative edge.
• Life Without Oscar highlighted a pair of mid-90s majors, one from a filmmaker who wouldn’t go unacknowledged by the Academy for long.
• We interviewed Jeremy Renner, still basking in the glow of his first Oscar nod, and shooting for a second with “The Town.”
• Also on the interview docket: someone who’s probably lost track of his own nomination count, “Tangled” composer Alan Menken.
• Tech Support took a fresh look (or listen, if you prefer) at the Best Sound Mixing race.
• We got psyched all over again for “Avatar,” following the release of the new, extended Blu-Ray.
• In a shocking turn of events, the latest chapter in the “Harry Potter” saga made rather a lot of money.
• The unlikely figure of Stephen King kicked off list season with his 2010 Top 10, with “Let Me In” in pole position.
• As always, Oscar Talk put a bow on the slightly slower week that was.
Comments
13 responses to “WEEKLY WRAP: Holiday cheer and seasonal grousing”
There’s another poster for the Toy Story 3 campaign: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/toy-story-3-not-since-lord-of-the-rings-the-return-of-the-king
Something about this campaign really rubs me the wrong way. It really does. And I completely don’t understand what all the brouhaha over Renner is. I cannout believe that any executive in his or her right mind really think he can take over anything from Cruise.
Maxim: which campaign? The Town? Because if you’re talking about Toy Story 3, I would agree. (Although marketing was never Pixar’s strong suit anyway, if you ask me.)
I’m actually starting to wonder about Toy Story 3. I think we might see a shocking turn of events and see How To Train Your Dragon nominated instead, given the sequel bias, among other things. And yes, something about this campaign is kind of… off.
People are really starting to become sour about Toy Story 3’s award prospects. If I remember correctly, Up only ever had strong support for a Best Picture nod.
I find it interesting because at this point I think there will be a lot of backlash with a BP nod and without a BP nod…
Chris: don’t worry, I was sour about its award prospects after I saw it on opening weekend. But full disclosure: it’s really because I consider “Wall-E” to be an all-time classic, and “Toy Story 3” (and “Up”, for that matter) are not. Maybe I’m a bit like Lotso: if my favorite can’t have it, nobody can!
I wonder if some “Dark Knight” or “Memento” fans feel the same way. (Nolan’s gonna make it in for this?? What??)
I mean, I love The Dark Knight and Memento and Inception, and Inception is a great film for him to make it in for, since it’s mostly a huge director’s achievement anyways. But he still should have been in two years ago, even with just five slots for Picture, most would agree with that. 2008 was a strange year. In a year where they went with the safest choices possible and nominated
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
They instead could have been really ballsy like they should have been and gone with
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
The Wrestler
I think that lineup would have made a LOT more people happy. But yeah, I do kind of feel a little sour about Toy Story 3 having a shot at winning, when WALL-E, a film in my opinion a masterpiece and one of the greatest films ever made, couldn’t even get nominated. But if anything, the energy around the campaigns for The Dark Knight and WALL-E tell us that oscar voters don’t like being told who to nominate. That’s why I worry about Toy Story 3, it feels like Pixar might be trying too hard, and if history tells us anything, the AMPAS doesn’t like to feel pressured about ANYTHING.
No, that lineup would depress me even more Kevin. No “Milk?” No good.
Here’s a better lineup for 2008.
Rachel Getting Married
Gran Torino
Milk
In Bruges
WALL-E
FUCK YES.
Also, to address a different conversation, people started to have doubts about Up around this time last year, and by mid-December, a number of otherwise savvy predictors took it off their charts. AND THEN LOOK WHAT HAPPENED.
The difference between Up and Toy Story 3 is numerous. For starters, Up is an original, Toy Story 3 is a threequel, and to be honest, I think Up is a much better film than Toy Story 3. It’s one thing for The Return of the King to win, which was half because it was the best of the trilogy, and half to reward the entire trilogy. But The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were both also nominated for Best Picture, and dozens of other oscars. Toy Story 3 is an animated film, a threequel where none of the previous films were nominated for anything other than screenplay for the first film (granted, Best Animated Feature had not been created yet). But also, the campaign, like I said before, strikes of cockiness. I know they are trying to make a point that it’s time for an animated film to win, but they way they are going about saying that is problematic. Up never once had a campaign that essentially said “Well duh, why WOULDN’T you give it to us?” That’s the vibe I get from this campaign. And that’s not going to sit well with a group largely biased against animation if they feel pressured to pick it. Again, I remind everyone of the WALL-E and TDK pushes. There was a lot of positive energy surrounding both campaigns, but I feel like the AMPAS buck against what everyone else wants when they feel like it’s being forced down their throats. That’s the sense I get, but it could just be me.
***… a threequel where none of the previous films were nominated for anything other than screenplay for the first film (granted, Best Animated Feature had not been created yet).***
Best Original Song (x2) and Best Original Score.
“Maxim: which campaign? The Town? Because if you’re talking about Toy Story 3, I would agree.”
Sorry for the late repsonse but yes, I was talking about Toy Story 3.