It’s been a blast the last six or seven months. Before long we’ll all be in the thick of the Oscar mess once again, but before we close this chapter, I really should take a moment to thank our contributors for assisting in keeping the big machine running.
Thanks to Gerard for the consistently comprehensive coverage of the technical categories, something of a commodity to us here at In Contention and still poorly represented across the Oscarweb. Thanks to John for the informative and controversial stances he takes, which give the readership an opportunity to really cut loose with opinions and make this a fully realized community.
Thanks to Brian and Blake for their help filling in the cracks, and a big wet kiss to Guy for hitting the pavement with me day in and day out. It’s a tough gig, believe it or not. Guy’s a believer now.
We’ll be making some changes to our coverage in the upcoming year. I’ll get into specifics at a later date, but for now, expect the following:
Daily coverage continues
When we debuted the new look of In Contention last May we shifted slightly away from awards-only seasonal coverage to day-to-day commentary. We’ll keep that going in the off-season as Guy and I will continue to contribute regularly. The summer months offer lots of enticing options at the multiplex, but before we know it, it’ll be September and a whole new season will be breathing down our necks.
“Page to Screen” goes back to the source
I’m doing away with the somewhat recent evolution of our “Page to Screen” column as a screenplay review column. Instead, I’m going back to the roots of the idea — roots set way back in 2002 — and reverting back to reviews of source material. The idea has already been lifted in other quarters (name and all), but we’ll be looking at novels like “The Lovely Bones” and “Cheri,” as well as films set to be remade, such as “Bad Lieutenant.” We may even have a bit of fun with it — “G.I. Joe” anyone?
More festival coverage
I’m warming up to the festival circuit finally, after years of resistance. I had a good time this year at the AFI and Santa Barbara fests, but I plan on making the Telluride and Toronto treks this year if credentials come through. Guy will certainly be back on board for the London Fest and, as always, John will be filing from Toronto. I was going to try my hand at Cannes but time is slipping away from me. Maybe.
That’s a taste of what you can expect. We’ll address all of these in full, plus a few other changes, in due time, but for now, sit back, relax and enjoy the Oscar silence. One final note, however: we’ll be changing servers over the weekend so things will be quiet post-wise. If any technical glitches show up, bear with us until we come through the other end.
Comments
11 responses to “Bidding the 2008-2009 season farewell”
Kris (and the gang): Thanks for the coverage this season, and for whatever you have in store for us. There’s just not enough time in the day for me to be an Oscarweb junkie — so I’m going to continue just being an IC junkie…if that’s alright with you. Glad to have a spot on the web to have intelligent, thoughtful film conversation. Take a break (it’s on us), and we’ll see you, I’m sure, after Watchmen.
I’ve been an adamant Oscatwatcher for a few years now – my focus has mainly been the history of the Academy Awards – and I truly enjoy what you’ve all done at IC. I’ve even started my own blog so I can keep the Oscar spirit all year long! I have a few ideas for article series so stop by there some time. It’s nothing like here at IC, but I’ll try to make it worth it.
Great job, as always, to the IC crew this year. Keep up the good work and have a great 2009!
I’ll be reading — your coverage is great, the best for awards season — keep it all coming! And thanks for everything!
Just a thought re: page-to-screen: apologies if other people have already mentioned this, but I’ve noticed that seven of the nine most recent Best Picture winners and all nine of the last nine Best Director winners were films adapted from other sources. Not only that, but eight of the past nine films to take Best Director also took Best Adapted Screenplay. I know that the film industry has always had a great keenness for adaptations (especially from novels) and that a great many Oscar-winning films over the years were adaptations, but it seems that, in the past decade, this tendency has risen to the point where films from original screenplays are more and more the bridesmaids… I wonder if it’s just coincidence or if this reflects a present squeamishness – more than usual, perhaps – to make films (esp. Hollywood films) out of original screenplays. As I say, just a thought.
Thanks for all your coverage this year – I really enjoyed it – and hope you all have a great year ahead too.
Thanks to everyone for doing such a great job!!!!
Sometimes I knock your crazy choices, but thanks for the coverage. This has really become my one stop place for awards coverage.
Thanks for being such a great read!
I want to say that I can thank Gerard enough for the technical categories coverage. This is actually my favorite part of In Contention because as you say, there is so little coverage of these categories elsewhere. I love thinking about the screenplays, the cinematography, the art direction, the editing, and the costumes of various films but there isn’t much said about these subjects on the web. So bravo to In Contention for covering these neglected subjects.
http://movies.msn.com/galleryfeature/public-enemies/?photoidx=1&affid=fb
Wow. Thanks a lot JAB. One of the best teaser posters I’ve ever seen. This looks like it could be classic. Possibly Mann’s best.
I’ll be glad when we can move on to films that SHOULD be anticipated (just a few more days).
“One of the best teaser posters I’ve ever seen.”
Really, Scott? Looks rather standard-issue to me, apart from the distracting matter of the type being centred around Depp’s crotch.