In Contention Staff – In Contention

WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Twas the week before Oscar

• We made you wait for it this year, but finally: Kris’s Top 10 Shots of 2010, parts one and two.

• This week’s Off the Carpet column surveyed where the season has brought us thus far, and began tying the loose ends…

• …culminating later in Kris’s final Oscar predictions of the 2010 season.

• Guy’s final Long Shot column of the season celebrated the season’s losers, while calling for a return to movie talk away from the subject of awards.

• Our Oscar Guide feature stepped it up, covering Best Director, Actor, Actress, Foreign Language Film and Film Editing.

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February 25, 2011

WEEKLY WRAP: BAFTA ‘Speech’ sweep, ASC upset, Berlinale coverage

• To the surprise of precisely no one, hometown favorite “The King’s Speech” reigned supreme at the BAFTAs.

• Before you go basing your Oscar predictions on the BAFTA outcome, Kris pointed out a crucial caveat.

• “Inception” added another guild award to its mantel, as Wally Pfister beat Roger Deakins to the American Society of Cinematographers’ top prize.

• Guy hobbled off to the Berlinale, where his festival coverage included an early 2011 Oscar prediction for Vanessa Redgrave in Ralph Fiennes’s “Coriolanus.”

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February 18, 2011

WEEKLY WRAP: ‘King’s Speech’ marches on

• “The King’s Speech” continued its cruise through phase two of the season with a widely unexpected Directors’ Guild victory…

• … and scooped top honors at a surprise-free Screen Actors’ Guild Awards ceremony.

• Following this brace of wins, this week’s Off the Carpet column said what we were all thinking: the race is over.

• Meanwhile, in his Long Shot column, Guy concluded that the royal biopic was likely the film to beat all along.

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February 4, 2011

WEEKLY WRAP: Nomination week

• In case you’ve just emerged from a coma, “The King’s Speech” led the Oscar nominations on Tuesday with 12 bids.

• “The King’s Speech” was also the surprise winner at the Producers’ Guild Awards, drastically shaking up the Best Picture race.

• In the wake of these developments, Kris adjusted his winner predictions accordingly.

• In a special mid-week edition of Oscar Talk, Guy and indieWIRE’s Peter Knegt joined Kris and Anne to break down the nominations.

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January 29, 2011

WEEKLY WRAP: Globes chatter, Batman buzz, foreign Oscar surprises

• The Golden Globes did their thing, with Ricky Gervais’s antics drawing more attention than the sweep for “The Social Network.”

• David Fincher’s film continued its dominance at the Broadcast Film Critics’ Association Awards, which Kris reported from first-hand.

• As if to remind us that there’s more than one film in the race, this week’s BAFTA nominations were ruled by “The King’s Speech” and “Black Swan.”

• Sadly, we bade farewell this week to regular columnist Chad, who left us with his idiosyncratic Best of 2010 list.

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January 21, 2011

WEEKLY WRAP: Guilds galore and season fatigue

• The Directors’ Guild of America presented few surprises in their award nominations, though some raised eyebrows at “True Grit”‘s omission. (Their documentary nods didn’t move the needle either.)

• The American Cinema Editors’ nods matched those of the directors; the American Society of Cinematographers didn’t deviate much from the formula either.

• This week’s Off the Carpet column addressed the growing consensus around a “Social Network” win, days before Kris formally made the prediction himself.

• The Long Shot, meanwhile, wondered how the field of contenders this season ever got quite so narrow.

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January 14, 2011

WEEKLY WRAP: Guild onslaught, Postlethwaite passes, more best of 2010

• The Producers’ Guild of America surprised no one with their list of nominees.

• The Writers’ Guild, however, threw a few curveballs (aided by assorted ineligibilities), while the USC Scripter Awards surprised some with one of their selections.

• In sadder news, we said goodbye to esteemed British character actor Pete Postlethwaite.

• After a few weeks of deliberation, Guy picked his best and worst films of 2010.

• Continuing this week’s guild run, both the Cinema Audio Society and the Art Directors’ Guild weighed in with their nominees.

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January 7, 2011

WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Network’ sweep, Globes outrage, best of 2010

• Kris listed his 10 favorite films of 2010 in black-and-white, later adding his dream Oscar ballot and winners list.

• The critics’ award beat turned into a “Social Network” landslide, as New York, Los Angeles, Boston and many, many other groups lined up behind the film.

• Away from the critics’ circuit, Team Fincher didn’t have it all their own way, as “The King’s Speech” led a widely derided list of Golden Globe nominees.

• When it was the Screen Actors’ Guild’s turn to announce their nominees, however, the royal biopic had to settle for sharing the lead with “The Fighter.”

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December 17, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: The circuit takes hold, chatting up DiCaprio and Harris, top 10 lists

• The week started off with “How to Train Your Dragon” predictably dominating the slate of Annie Award nominations.

• Kris sat down with Leonardo DiCaprio and got Martin Scorsese on the phone for a large two–part piece on the actor and his impressive year.

• He also caught up with actor Ed Harris to talk “The Way Back” and director Peter Weir.

• It was good and bad news for The Weinstein Company as “Blue Valentine” won its ratings appeal with the MPAA, while “The King’s Speech”‘s was shot down.

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December 10, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: Precursors begin, ‘Grit’ unveiled and Oscar hosts tapped

• The biggest news of this busy week may well have been the announcement of James Franco and Anne Hathaway as this year’s Oscarcast hosts.

• Unless you count “The Social Network” dominating the National Board of Review as bigger news, that is.

• Or, for that matter, our first look at the Coen brothers’ “True Grit.”

• Speaking of which, Kris reported on the current eligibility status of Carter Burwell’s score (still up in the air).

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December 3, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: Holiday cheer and seasonal grousing

• 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.”

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November 26, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: Weinstein takes the gloves off, Hollywood mourns its own, doc and animated fields shortlisted

• The Academy honored legends Francis Ford Coppola, Eli Wallach, Jean-Luc Godard and Kevin Brownlow at the annual Governors Awards.

• Kris attended a Summit Entertainment holiday party, chatting with the talent in attendance.

• Disney revealed a clever plan geared toward presenting “Toy Story 3” as a legitimate Best Picture contender.

• The Weinstein Company lawyered up on the MPAA rulings on “Blue Valentine” and “The King’s Speech”

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November 20, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Fighter’ bows, Jackman bows out, Best Picture questions

• David O. Russell’s “The Fighter” unspooled at the AFI Fest. Kris was impressed and later reported from a Q&A with the film’s stars.

• This week’s Off the Carpet column pondered the presence of money-spinners in this year’s Best Picture race.

• The Long Shot, meanwhile, wondered if that very race is currently looking a little flimsy.

• News of Hugh Jackman turning down the gig prompted the annual speculation over who should host the Oscar ceremony.

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November 13, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: ‘127 Hours’ dissent, BIFA nods, interviews

• Guy didn’t much care for “127 Hours.” That got you talking.

• Happily, Kris did, and got talking to director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy.

• The British Independent Film Award nominations threw some surprises into the mix, handing scads of noms to “The King’s Speech”… and “Kick-Ass.”

• Chad’s Life Without Oscar column eased into the late 1980s, showcasing one films on either side of the Hollywood border.

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November 6, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: Leading men, Halloween horror, comic contenders

• This week’s Off the Carpet column took a roll call of this year’s Best Actor contenders.

• Meanwhile, we interviewed one of the strongest of those contenders, “127 Hours” star James Franco.

• With “The King’s Speech,” “Another Year” and “Made in Dagenham” all in the hunt, The Long Shot mused on Britain’s back-and-forth relationship with the Oscars.

• In case you’d forgotten what day it is, Chad got into the Halloween spirit by counting down his ten favorite alternative horror movies.

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October 31, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Bone’ boost, category debate, LFF coverage

(A day later than usual — apologies. Friday night got in the way.)

• The Gotham Awards served up the first nominations of the season, with indie darling “Winter’s Bone” sitting pretty.

• With “The Kids Are All Right” and “Another Year” prodding the discussion, this week’s Long Shot column ruminated on a perennial gripe of Oscar pundits: category fraud.

• News of a high-profile Scorsese-DiCaprio retrospective launching an Oscar campaign for the film re-opened the debate over the merits of “Shutter Island.”

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October 23, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: Supporting ladies gather, London opens, Hardy goes to Gotham

• Off the Carpet picked out the likeliest runners in a highly malleable Best Supporting Actress race.

• We checked in on the Best Animated Feature race, where it seems we may be looking at a three-nominee field after all.

• Away from the awards beat, the week’s big news was the casting of Tom Hardy in Christopher Nolan’s next Batman venture.

• The Academy formally revealed the list of 65 contenders for Best Foreign Language Film.

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October 15, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: Fincher reflection, ‘Way Back’ in, ‘Valentine’ blues

• 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.

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October 8, 2010

Author: In Contention Staff