In Contention

Tag: Coraline

  • AMPAS does the 3D thang

    Don’t panic, they’re not instituting a new Oscar category for Best Achievement In Three Dimensions. (Yet.) But they are acknowledging the ubiquitous trend with a three-part showcase titled “Getting Perspective III: Exploring the Craft of 3D Movie Technology.” Taking place every Tuesday evening between June 22 and July 6, the showcase will comprise panel discussions, demonstrations and screenings devoted to the technology.

    The first part, “Virtual 3D,” will be dedicated to digitally-created 3D, covering key-frame animation and performance capture, amongst other things. The director and effects magician of “G-Force” — no less — will be on hand to further the discussion, so miss it at your peril.

    Part two, “Photographed 3D,” will cover the technology in a live-action context, touching on documentary, stop-motion animation and post-production, with guests including “Coraline” DP Pete Kozachik. The showcase will close simply with a screening of the landmark, self-explanatory 2008 concert doc “U2 3D” — well worth a look from a technical standpoint, whether you’re a fan of the band or not — with an accompanying discussion with the film’s director, DP and editor.

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  • Ranking the categories

    The Hurt LockerAh, Oscar lists — the gift that keeps giving. I’m not going to ape Kris’s impressive ranking of all the nominated features: we’d have the same #1, for starters, and we’re agreeing on far too many things these days. So here’s something else to play with.

    I’ve had a number of emails asking me how I would rank the 10 Best Picture nominees, were I filling out the preferential ballot. I was happy to oblige, but then went a little crazy and applied the same process to all the other races. Hey, Oscar day comes but once a year: get your geek on. With that, my personal Oscar ballot, in full preferential order:

    Best Picture
    1. “The Hurt Locker”
    2. “A Serious Man”
    3. “An Education”
    4. “District 9”
    5. “Inglourious Basterds”
    6. “Up in the Air”
    7. “The Blind Side”
    8. “Up”
    9. “Avatar”
    10. “Precious”

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Top shots, Berlin coverage and more

    Paranormal Activity• You asked for it, you eventually got it: our annual list of the Top 10 shots of the year, part one and part two.

    • In our ongoing Oscar Guide series, we dug into the supporting actor, foreign language film, art direction, makeup and sound editing races.

    • Guy’s Berlinale coverage continued, with “The Illusionist,” “The Kids Are All Right” and “Winter’s Bone” among the highlights.

    • We interviewed “The Cove” director Louie Psihoyos, as well as the creative minds behind “Coraline,” Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick.

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  • INTERVIEW: Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick

    (from left) Henry Selick and Neil GaimanIntrepid publicists worked diligently last month to float the idea that Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” due to it’s healthy critics awards take, was in a position to upset the presumed frontrunner in the animated feature category: “Up.” Of course, at the time, no one in the media helping that story along bothered to point out that, well, the opinions of the critics don’t matter a whole lot when it comes to how the Academy votes at large.

    Left in the cold a bit during that discussion was “Coraline,” which opened way back in February — a full year ago — and maintained a steady course through the spring, summer and, eventually, the awards season.  In fact, given the evidence presented by the Annie Awards, it’s possible that Henry Selick’s film would have a leg up on “Fantastic Mr. Fox” as the true competition in a field many have already chalked up to the Pixar contender.

    I spoke to Selick earlier in the season and Gaiman quite recently about their work on the project.  Gaiman had Selick in mind from the beginning, dating back to his first viewing of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” 16 years ago, while Selick put a lot of trademark care into fleshing out a tangible world from Gaiman’s words.  The result is one of the finest animated films in a banner year for the medium.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Animated Feature Film

    The Secret of KellsThis year’s Best Animated Feature Film race featured five nominees for just the second time in the category’s existence.  It was the result of a robust slate of qualifying contenders that reached the magic number of 16, and yet there was still quality work left lying in the also-rans pile.

    There was a wide open fifth slot throughout most of the season as a generally agreed-upon four slowly coagulated.  Come nomination morning, the field therefore offered one of the many exciting surprises as a foreign independent project from a first-time filmmaker one-upped films both critically (“Ponyo”) and commercially (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”) successful.

    The nominees are:

    “Coraline” (Henry Selick)
    “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (Wes Anderson)
    “The Princess and the Frog” (John Musker and Ron Clements)
    “The Secret of Kells” (Tomm Moore)
    “Up” (Pete Docter)

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  • ‘Up’ triumphs at Annie Awards

    UpLast year, the industry-voted Annie Awards appeared to have entered a peculiar grudge match with Pixar Studios, as eventual Oscar-winner “WALL-E” came away empty-handed, while “Kung Fu Panda” swept the board.

    Whether that curious outcome was the result of peer envy or professional preference, the Annies appear to be back on board with Pixar, as “Up” took Best Feature and Best Director honors at last night’s ceremony. (Ironic, given that in this banner year for animation, a deviation from the expected would have been arguably better-received than last year’s shocker.)

    Still, the Annie voters spread the wealth, with “Coraline” and “The Princess and the Frog” dominating the technical categories. Interestingly, “Coraline” composer Bruno Coulais beat out Oscar frontrunner Michael Giacchino — nice to see that undervalued score getting a moment in the sun.

    Finally, the many devotees of “Fantastic Mr. Fox” will be comforted that it took writing honors for Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. Full list of feature winners after the cut.

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  • ACE nominees

    Sharlto Copley in District 9For me, “District 9” is the biggest and most pleasant surprise for me in this morning’s American Cinema Editors announcement.  If ever the film looked like a lock for a Best Picture nomination, now is that time, I have to say.  Getting in over presumed Oscar frontrunners “Precious” and, most especially, “Inglourious Basterds,” that’s a pretty big feather in its cap if you ask me.

    “Star Trek” also makes another fairly strong case this morning for getting into the Academy’s 10 over something like “Invictus,” which keeps missing with guild after guild and should, perhaps, finally be called a spade.  The drama field is then rounded out by what has become the rather definitive frontrunner trilogy of films.

    In the comedy field, we get veterans in Joe Hutshing and Richard Marks perhaps predictably recognized for “Its Complicated” and “Julie & Julia” respectively, while the Coen brothers get their third nomination from the guild to date.  The other two: Best Picture nominees “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men.” Round it out with two comedies that are tricking people into thinking they’ll be Best Picture nominees (with no mention of the dead and dying “Nine”) and voila, the ACE Eddie nominees.

    Check out the full list after the jump.

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  • Buried treasures: Chad’s best of 2009 (list and ballot)

    Robin Williams in World's Greatest DadUnlike Kris, I can’t quite come to the conclusion that 2009 was the best year of the decade. Nor can I call it the “year of the woman,” the “best year for animation” or “the year James Cameron brought a sense of wonder back to the cinema.” The only thing I can personally label 2009 is “The Year I Put in the Work.”

    In other words, as my taste drifts further and further away from the mainstream options, it becomes harder and harder to see the films that excite me. We’re talking about a list where the top 9 films earned a combined $2.3 mil at the box office, which “Avatar” will make in the time it takes you to read this article.

    Now, I am well prepared to field some comments on this thread labeling me a “snob” or an “elitist.” I am also willing to bet that these comments will come from people who have not seen many of the films I will single out.

    And who can blame them? Many of them played for exactly one week in a small, L.A. theater and then vanished into ancillary market oblivion. If I wasn’t diligent about seeing them that week then it was tough luck, and it took serious motivation to keep that going 52 weeks a year. But, my goodness, the rewards!

    In the end, I didn’t see everything I wanted to. “Lorna’s Silence,” “The Beaches of Agnes,” “Beeswax,” “Collapse,” “Tony Manero” and “The White Ribbon” all passed me by and could easily be included on this list in the future. On the flipside, interesting films I did see like “Wah Do Dem,” “Modern Love is Automatic” and “Alexander the Last” will never see the light of day in theaters and had to be disqualified from this list.

    I know Guy and Kris went with honorable mentions and a top 10, but I’m pushing forward with a straight top 20. Check back tomorrow for my dream ballot.

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  • 12/28 Oscarweb Round-up

    Michael Jackson in Michael Jackson's This Is It• Pete Hammond can’t let go of this notion that “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” is a Best Picture contender.  A bunch of number 10 slots aren’t going to cut it, Pete.  [Notes on a Season]

    • Adam B. Vary notes the curious absence of Gene Hackman from the silver screen since the 2004 bomb “Welcome to Mooseport.” [Pop Watch]

    • Criminally underrated composer Clint Mansell spills a little on his plans for Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” [Little White Lies]

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  • Things of beauty: Guy’s best of 2009

    Julianne Moore and Colin Firth in A Single ManThe year of the woman. The year of animation. The year of science-fiction. Depending on who you read (and believe), the final year of the decade has been an awful lot of things.

    If you’re with Kris, it’s also the best cinematic year of the last ten. If you’re with an awful lot of others, it’s quite the opposite. I’ll stop short of rewriting the first page of “A Tale of Two Cities,” but suffice to say it’s been different things to different people.

    What kind of year has it been for me? I think I’ll need another year to figure that out in detail. But as I compiled the list you’re about to read, I happily concluded that it’s been, at the very least, a good one: the 25 titles gathered here were jotted down with minimal brain-racking, with still more fighting from the sidelines.

    None of them are grudging inclusions, either: I sincerely liked most of these titles too much to allow room for popular or critical phenomena that are worthy of respect, but nonetheless didn’t connect with me personally. There was a sufficient range of quality work in 2009 (following a lean 2008) that any film lover could afford to construct his own playlist of future treasures without resorting to consensus.

    Before we begin, a note on the construction of the list. In addition to my Top 10, there are 15 honorable mentions here, five of them singled out for extra consideration. Some of you will quibble that I opt to include international or festival releases that have yet to surface in the U.S.

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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • ‘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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  • OFF THE CARPET: Field of adaptations

    Amy Adams in Julie & JuliaAs always, the year’s adapted screenplay race is much more competitive than the original screenplay race. But what’s intriguing to note is that of the anticipated “big four” still to be widely screened, three of them are right in the thick of this discussion.

    In the case of “Nine,” there is a chance for Anthony Minghella to receive his second posthumous Oscar nomination in as many years, something I don’t think we’ve seen since James Dean. But sometimes the razzle-dazzle of a movie musical can overshadow what craft there might be on the page, so it’s no slam dunk. Michael Tolkin is co-writer on the script, and even though I’ve seen the film, I’m prohibited from offering my thoughts on the work.

    “The Lovely Bones,” meanwhile, is adapted from a beloved novel, looks to feature a more reserved and refined Peter Jackson than we’ve seen in recent years and could see the lovable trio (Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh) back in Oscar’s good graces. We’ll know when we see it.

    The Royals and invited British press get their look on the 24th. Harry Knowles has received his typical peek (as Paramount continues to nurture the relationship as if it’s 2002 and AICN still moves the needle). The rest of the US press corps has to wait until the other side of the holiday on the 27th to judge. Hopefully we’ll still care by then. I heard some scathing criticisms out of an exhibitor screening last week.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Consider this

    John Malkovich and Jessica Haines in DisgraceThere’s nothing like an Oscar season to prove what a small number five (or even ten) is.

    We may only be in November, but already, months of conversation, covering a broad canvas of Oscar sure-shots and long-shots alike, have devolved into a ruthless mathematical elimination process, as previously five-wide categories fill up with safe bets. Before you know it, scores of previously fancied contenders are jostling for a mere one or two supposedly “free” slots on the ballot, and with each week that passes, the pool of possibles is culled further.

    This is, of course, hardest on independent or leftfield contenders. Having fought mightily even to enter the discussion in the first place, they must then rely on a flaky combination of precursors, DVD screeners and prayer to stay afloat.

    Miracles do happen, of course, thanks largely to the Academy’s weighted ballot system, where a number-one vote is all. (Nobody was talking about Tommy Lee Jones to take the last Best Actor slot in 2007, but there he was nonetheless. Ditto the recent likes of Michael Shannon, Samantha Morton and “City of God.”)

    With that in mind, I’d like to spotlight one contender in each major category that deserves a similarly happy outcome. Many of them are names I’ve championed before. Most of them are sitting on the furthest reaches of the sidelines. All of them deserve better.

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  • Henry Selick to be honored by CAS

    Henry SelickTwo months ago Randy Thom was announced as this year’s Cinema Audio Society Lifetime Achievement Award winner.  Now comes word that Henry Selick will receive the guild’s Filmmaker Award.  Recent recipients have included Paul Mazursky, Bill Condon and Gil Cates.

    The press release, in part:

    Multi-faceted stop-motion filmmaker Henry Selick will receive the CAS Filmmaker Award at the 46th CAS Awards on February 27, 2010 at the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium-Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles.

    “The Cinema Audio Society is delighted to be honoring one of the vanguards of stop-motion animation as this year’s Filmmaker Recipient and, once again we are thrilled we have synergy between our Career Achievement Recipient Randy Thom and our Filmmaker Honoree through their collaboration on CORALINE. We look forward to another year of honoring the best in the Sound Mixing field at this year’s dinner,” said CAS President Edward L. Moskowitz.