Features
Not to overstate things, but it’s time to talk about Michael Shannon and the fact that it’ll be amazing if there is a better, more refined, more electrifying performance this year than his work in Jeff Nichols’s “Take Shelter.” This is his best work to date and it deserves a huge swell of awards support. […]
Entries from August 2011
Michael Shannon is a beast in the spectacular ‘Take Shelter’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:22 am · August 29th, 2011
Filed in: Daily
OFF THE CARPET: Fall fests look to boost early Oscar hopes
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:00 am · August 29th, 2011
On a warm Saturday afternoon in Telluride last year, I sat in the crowded Chuck Jones Cinema and felt the warmth in the room as Tom Hooper’s “The King’s Speech” screened for its first audience of the year. Six months later, at the end of a road with plenty of twists and turns, the film’s […]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
Almodovar tapped as Guest Director for AFI Fest
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:28 am · August 29th, 2011
The press release, in part: American Film Institute (AFI) announced today that internationally acclaimed filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar will serve as its Guest Artistic Director at AFI FEST 2011 presented by Audi. AFI FEST — celebrating its 25th year in 2011 — will take place November 3 through 10 in Hollywood, California at the historic Chinese […]
Filed in: Daily
8/29 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Help’ detractors racist?, Stoll on Hemingway, ‘Dangerous Method’ buzz
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:20 am · August 29th, 2011
Welcome to the new season… • “‘The Help’ isn’t racist. It’s critics are.” [The New Republic] • Pete Hammond takes note of indies looking to make Oscar plays this year. [Deadline] • Steve Pond talks to “Midnight in Paris” star Corey Stoll. [The Odds]
Filed in: Daily
Gervais invited to repeat at Globes — but what about Oscars?
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:38 am · August 29th, 2011
Obviously it’s too early to be concerned about who’s hosting next year’s Golden Globe ceremony. The day before next year’s Golden Globes ceremony would to be concerned about that. But the pre-weekend news that Ricky Gervais has been invited (if not confirmed) to emcee the show, in his typically irreverent manner, for a third straight […]
Filed in: Daily
BOX OFFICE: ‘The Help’ stays on top
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:16 am · August 28th, 2011
At the end of the day, “The Help” could potentially be the #1 film at the box office for three straight weeks, a feat no film — not even “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” — could manage in 2011. That’s plenty of fuel for the upcoming Best Picture push. And though it […]
Filed in: Box Office
Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:56 pm · August 27th, 2011
Disney held it’s big premiere for “The Lion King 3D” today at The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, fit with live African bongo music, a green carpet (made of fake grass) and a “Hakuna Matata” dress code. Not a bad way to spend an early Saturday afternoon, and I’ve been looking forward to this for […]
OSCAR TALK: Ep. 58 — Wrapping up the summer, fall festival preview, ‘Warrior’ and ‘50/50’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:00 am · August 26th, 2011
Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty […]
Filed in: Oscar Talk
‘The Artist’ trailer
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:47 pm · August 25th, 2011
Guy offered up the new poster for Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” yesterday. Today we get a look at the trailer for the film, which played at Cannes, is set for Toronto and will more than likely pop up in Telluride, too. The first Gurus chart of the year had it very much in contention for […]
Filed in: Daily
Taking questions for Oscar Talk
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:51 am · August 25th, 2011
If you can get them in quickly, we’re going to be recording tomorrow’s podcast in a few. I forgot to put this up earlier in the week, but anyway, maybe there is something pressing you want to run by us. Try to keep it to one question if you can. Rattle them off and we’ll […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Tyrannosaur’ trailer
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:30 am · August 25th, 2011
Paddy Considine’s directorial debut was one of the international success stories at this year’s Sundance fest, nabbing awards for both Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan’s performances, as well as one for Considine’s direction. I saw the film, a bruising, thoughtful portrait of abuse and emotional isolation in suburban England, and found the hype more than […]
Filed in: Daily
“You don’t want the opinion of another writer.”
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:15 pm · August 24th, 2011
One of the biggest delights of the year for me was Corey Stoll’s performance as Ernest Hemingway in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.” I had a giant grin on my face, ear to ear, the whole time he was on screen. So I’m glad David Poland dedicated one of his long-form interviews to the actor.
Filed in: Daily
‘Blackthorn’ trailer
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:49 pm · August 24th, 2011
Things were looking up for the western after “True Grit” pulled in solid bank last year. But after “Cowboys & Aliens” took a massive dump at the box office this summer, well…I’m trying to keep the faith. We have a few projects on the way, others still percolating. One of them is Mateo Gil’s “Blackthorn,” […]
Filed in: Daily
‘The Artist’ poster
Posted by Guy Lodge · 9:54 am · August 24th, 2011
I recall our learned friend Anne Thompson responding with scepticism when I mentioned over a Cannes lunch that I expected Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” to be a major player in this year’s Oscar race. Looks like Anne has come round to the idea over the summer, as she — together with Steve Pond and David […]
Filed in: Daily
Meirelles’s ‘360’ to open London fest
Posted by Guy Lodge · 9:20 am · August 24th, 2011
I’m trying not to think too much about my hometown film festival right now — with the chaos of Venice only a week away, the idea of diving into another five-films-a-day fortnight shortly afterwards seems somewhat deadly. Still, with this week essentially amounting to the calm before the storm, now is as good a time […]
Filed in: Daily
‘The Lady’ poster
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:25 pm · August 23rd, 2011
Luc Besson’s “The Lady” doesn’t have domestic distribution in place yet, but the wheels are already turning as a teaser trailer dropped at Yahoo! Movies today. Meanwhile, a Shepard Fairey-designed poster based on the artist’s own piece celebrating Burmese revolutionary Aung San Suu Kyi has also hit. This film could certainly be an awards play […]
Filed in: Daily
Gurus back on the attack
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:54 pm · August 23rd, 2011
Here’s the pre-Toronto guesses from the group, via Movie City News. Additionally, we were polled on picks for an actor and an actress that could pop up as a “surprise” nominee. People like Michelle Yeoh and Charlize Theron don’t really qualify for me (the former dripping with bait, the latter stretching herself again in a […]
Filed in: Daily
Three more join the foreign Oscar fray
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:50 pm · August 22nd, 2011
With the deadline for submissions not even six weeks away, expect a number of posts in this vein before then; for now, however, the number of formal entries for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar has swelled to a modest five. While the first two in the game, Greece and Poland, were reasonably high-profile contenders […]
Filed in: Daily
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