In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Things I learned from the Globes

    Sandra Bullock at the 2009 Golden Globe AwardsLast January, I wrote an especially effusive review of the previous night’s Golden Globe awards, commending the usually much-derided HFPA for looking beyond star power and box-office grosses. Instead, they assembled an international and rather indie-minded winners slate that included such titles as “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “The Wrestler,” “In Bruges,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and eventual Oscar-sweeper “Slumdog Millionaire.”

    What a difference a year makes.

    Whether stung by matters of ratings and economics, or simply wowed by a very different school of cinema this year, the Foreign Press voters were back to the big-name pandering for which they are famous.

    Everyone present, meanwhile, seemed quite aware of the fact, some — including host Ricky Gervais and, in the night’s best speech, Robert Downey, Jr. — openly teasing them for it. “One thing you can’t buy is a Golden Globe,” the reliably droll Gervais observed, beer in hand. “Officially.”

    So, what did I learn from last night’s proceedings?

    (more…)

  • 1/18 Oscarweb Round-up

    James Cameron at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards• John Horn talks “Avatar” box office with James Cameron and his Best Director competitors. [24 Frames]

    • Dave Karger offers up his perspective on how last night’s Golden Globe awards will affect the Oscar race. [Oscar Watch]

    • Sharon Waxman hits the after-party circuit and discovers the late night talk show drama dominating the conversation. [The Wrap]

    (more…)

  • ‘Avatar’ tops Golden Globe winners

    And here’s your lot. It’s four in the morning here in London and I haven’t the stamina to offer further commentary. That’ll wait until morning — by which time I’ll perhaps have thought of something nice to say. Kris will be tweeting from the parties, so be sure to tune into his feed. I’m out.

    Best Picture (Drama): “Avatar”
    Best Picture (Musical or Comedy): “The Hangover”
    Best Director: James Cameron, “Avatar”
    Best Actor (Drama): Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
    Best Actress (Drama): Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
    Best Actor (Musical or Comedy): Robert Downey, Jr., “Sherlock Holmes”
    Best Actress (Musical or Comedy): Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”
    Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
    Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious”
    Best Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, “Up in the Air”
    Best Foreign Language Film: “The White Ribbon”
    Best Original Score: Michael Giacchino, “Up”
    Best Original Song: Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett, “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”
    Best Animated Film: “Up”

  • Guessing the Globes

    Matt Damon in The Informant!Kris offered a space for Golden Globe speculation, along with his own predictions, a few days ago — but if you still have some guesses to get out of your system before the ceremony tonight, have at it here. My own predictions (along with some wild stabs in the TV races) have been up on Tom O’Neil’s site for over a week now. In case you missed them, however, here they are, along with my personal picks in each category.

    I’m not as confident in these predictions as I was when I made them a fortnight ago. But even if “the buzz” is telling us that “Avatar” has the top prize in the bag, it’s been mistaken before. So I’m sticking with my off-beam prediction that the Globes’ more European sensibilities could come into play in that race, while also tipping the Best Actress balance toward Carey Mulligan rather than the momentum-advantaged Sandra Bullock. Probably wrong on both counts, but we’ll see. Meanwhile, two comedy races pose multiple potential outcomes … what are your hunches?

    Best Picture (Drama)
    Will win: “Inglourious Basterds”
    Should win: “The Hurt Locker”

    Best Picture (Musical or Comedy)
    Will and should win: “It’s Complicated”

    (more…)

  • Paramount and Lionsgate do it up pre-Globes

    Tobey Maguire in BrothersThere will be a number of post-Golden Globes parties tonight — Summit, Warner Bros., Fox, Weinstein, etc. — but a pair of studios did it up Saturday night in honor of their nominees.

    First at the Chateau Marmont, Paramount toasted its stable with a star-studded, paparazzi-snapping affair.  Actually, it wasn’t the least bit comfortable.  Talk about over-invited.  In the inner sanctum, surrounded by Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Benicio Del Toro, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Mike Tyson (who wasn’t on the list, but would you turn him away?), George Clooney, Chris Pine, Tobey Maguire, etc., breathing, let alone moving more than two inches, was a chore.  Jason Reitman was on hand early on but had to take off for the LAFCA gala before long.  Luckily, he missed that fire hazard.

    I got a few seconds with Farmiga, who was excited to say hello to Scorsese again.  Anne Kendrick and her beau Edgar Wright smartly made their way to a secondary room at one point where we had a nice chat.  Wright was, of course, being hit up by “Scott Pilgrim” queries left and right.  From the youngsters, that is.  The crowd was largely, shall we say, octogenarian.  Plenty of HFPA and Academy members scattered throughout.  And Kendrick, bless her heart, didn’t even want to talk about the “O-word.”

    (more…)

  • Bridges performs on Conan

    Jeff Bridges stopped by The Tonight Show yesterday to promote “Crazy Heart” and even stood up to belt out a little of “I Don’t Know,” one of the original tracks from the film.  Take a look (the performance is in part three, after the jump):

    (more…)

  • In perspective

    Fortunately, I saw Inglourious Basterds. I saw The Last Station. I have no illusion that I’m going to win anything at this point. So it’s an easy ride for me!

    –Woody Harrelson discussing life on the 2009-2010 awards circuit.

  • Behind the scenes of ‘Inglourious Basterds’

    [Courtesy: MakingOf]

  • Reminder

    Sigourney Weaver is doing SNL tonight.  Nice PR positioning for a film that obviously doesn’t NEED PR positioning, but hey, should be fun.

  • An evening at the CCMAs

    Kathryn Bigelow at the 15th annual Critics' Choice Movie AwardsAlright, now that the booze and the hangover have worn off, let’s talk last night’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

    It was a decently produced evening, the venue having shifted from the Santa Monica Civic Center to the Hollywood Palladium, right in the middle of Tinseltown.  The scheme of having 10 tables rounding the stage representing the 10 films nominated for Best Picture was a nice touch.  I was fortunate enough to be at the “Up in the Air” table with Jason Reitman, Vera Farmiga (who I was meeting for the first time) and Anna Kendrick.

    George Clooney was a no-show (working on his upcoming Haiti telethon), though at least that didn’t make for an awkward moment later when Jeff Bridges won the lead actor prize, the first on his way to an eventual Oscar win.

    Anyway, a few notes (since Guy has already given you a thorough rundown of last night’s implications)…

    (more…)

  • WEEKLY WRAP: BFCA awards, Guilds triple, Rohmer passes

    A still from Claire's Knee by Eric Rohmer• As you’ve just heard, “The Hurt Locker” emerged triumphant at the BFCA Critics’ Choice Awards.

    • Earlier this week, Éric Rohmer, sly giant of New Wave intellectualism, passed away at the age of 89.

    • That same day, “Avatar,” “The Hangover” and “Star Trek” were among the films nominated by the WGA.

    • The ASC slate continued the love for “Avatar,” but a semi-surprise nod for “The White Ribbon” got pundits’ attention.

    (more…)

  • ‘Hurt Locker’ takes top honors at Critics’ Choice Awards

    Best Actress winners Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock at the Critics' Choice AwardsThe BFCA are rarely ones to take an individual stand on the awards trail, and such was the case last night, as they mostly stuck with Oscar frontrunners down the line. In the numbers stakes,  “Avatar” (with six awards) and “Inglourious Basterds” (with three) came out on top.

    But it was “The Hurt Locker” that emerged as the night’s real winner, maintaining its tight season-long grip on the Best Picture and Best Director prizes, even with this more mainstream-oriented group. (It should be stressed that, despite the name, this is not a critics’ award.)

    Is this another “Sideways” — which also managed to parlay critical momentum into a top win here — or is something bigger afoot for the film? I’m starting to suspect the latter.

    Kris can obviously offer more first-hand perspective at a later stage. Still, the sense I get from this is that, for all the claims of it being a level three-horse race, “Up in the Air” is actually trailing “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” — if any major precursor was going to swing the way of Jason Reitman’s film, I’d have expected it to be the sometimes safe-playing BFCA.

    (more…)

  • The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards

    I’m out of here, down to the Palladium for tonight’s festivities.  Maybe I’ll Tweet this or that, maybe not.  Use this space to discuss the winners and losers as you see fit (unless Guy happens to wander in with a dedicated thread).  The show starts at 9:00pm EST, 6:00pm EST on VH1.

  • T Bone, Bridges and Bingham on Nashville radio

    Fox Searchlight tweeted a link to this interview earlier today. The usual talking points but with the film expanding a bit more this weekend I thought I’d pass it along:

  • Bring the pretty

    (left to right) Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner and Brian GeraghtyI never thought I’d have to mention Taylor Lautner in two separate posts in one day, but life is full of surprises that way. Still, this tidbit can’t pass without comment. In a NYT piece (spotted via Vulture) on ratings tactics for Sunday’s Golden Globes telecast, Brooks Barnes mines this foot-in-mouth groaner from aptly-named HFPA president Philip Berk:

    “Anybody connected with ‘Nine’ is going to be sitting ringside,” he said … Lining up younger stars has been a priority. Seated with “The Hurt Locker” contingent will be Taylor Lautner, the beefcake star of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” “He will be there to make the table look glamorous,” Mr. Berk said.

    Gee, way to make the talents behind the year’s most celebrated film feel welcome. For the record, I’ve met Kathryn Bigelow in person and can assure you that she doesn’t lack for glamor. And are its male stars really so hard on the eye? Hope no one’s losing their plus-one privileges for this.

  • 1/15 Oscarweb Round-up

    Martin Scorsese• Anne Thompson sits down with “Food, Inc.” director Robert Kenner. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Scott Foundas talks “Public Enemies” with Michael Mann six months post-release. [LA Weekly]

    • Peter DeBrudge on how Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient Martin Scorsese’s career has been shaped by early relationships. [Variety]

    (more…)

  • Call it, friendo

    Sophia Loren and Kate Winslet at the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremonyYesterday, Kris pointed you to Gregory Ellwood’s report on various Oscarcast developments, most of which either elicited a “wait and see” response from me or went over my head completely.

    (As a very old man of 26, I confess to having only a hazy grasp of who Taylor Lautner actually is. But I very much enjoyed her song “You Belong With Me.”)

    Still, one of the tidbits did get a rise out of me, and a slightly concerned one at that. After initially deciding against a repeat of last year’s five-presenter format for the acting awards, producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic have had a change of heart — and have added a slight twist.

    The Best Actor and Best Actress awards will now be presented not necessarily by former winners, but by “friends” of each nominee.

    (more…)

  • Scissor sisters

    Probably the single best film poster I saw last year, Jeremy Saunders’ Australian one-sheet design for “Antichrist” (below left) garnered a fair amount of internet fame. So it’s not surprising that, for the film’s UK DVD release, designers have opted for a coarser knock-off of Saunders’ concept. It says something for a film’s cultural standing when it can be represented in this kind of symbolic shorthand.

    Antichrist Antichrist