In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Ebert on ‘Avatar’ logic

    Sam Worthington in AvatarRoger Ebert is on fire in Slate’s vastly entertaining The Movie Club feature — it’s all good stuff (as are the contributions from other critics), but his discussion of his plot issues with “Avatar” had me nodding in relieved agreement. I thought I was the only one wondering this:

    Assuming that an avatar can live with no connection to the mother ship, what does it think with? When its human master dies, who is upstairs? Does the mind of Jake Sully transfer? I have an eerie feeling I may once again have missed a crucial plot detail, but if Jake Sully’s mind can be inside his avatar, then that really is Michael Keaton inside the snow man in Jack Frost.

    His statement on the potential “Avatar” vs. “The Hurt Locker” Oscar battle after the cut.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Guilds, lists and disqualifications

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker• In a big week for precursor announcements, the DGA nominations were the biggest — and least surprising.

    • The PGA, meanwhile, found room for all three of the year’s hot sci-fi titles in its nominee slate.

    • “The Hurt Locker” triumphed at the National Society of Film Critics Awards, the first film in 12 years to sweep the three top critics’ prizes.

    • Over five days, I counted down my personal Top 50 films of the decade that was.

    • And we’re not done listing: Chad also gathered his 20 favorites of 2009.

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  • Can ‘Avatar’ do for the Oscars what ‘Dark Knight’ couldn’t?

    Sam Worthington in AvatarPeter Bart decides to call a spade a spade as it pertains to the Oscar race.  James Cameron’s “Avatar” is “the betting favorite to win best picture,” he writes.  But more importantly, he brings up the solid point that the film’s potential AMPAS success could be the ratings shot in the arm the show has been looking for.  (And guess what?  They didn’t need to go to 10 nominees to get it.)

    Writes Bart:

    Since it takes a populist movie to pump life into the Oscar ratings, “Avatar’s” box office largesse will likely translate into another “Titanic”-like bonanza. Back in 1998 some 55 million viewers tuned in, while last year’s “Slumdog” siesta totaled a mere 36.3 million…

    We realize that the Oscar show’s new producing team of Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic is hard at work on plans to enliven the broadcast, but they are also keenly aware of the ratings realities. A movie like “There Will Be Blood” does not mean there will be audiences. The awards process is energized when folks out there have actually seen at least one or two of the movies being honored.

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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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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: January blues

    Sam Worthington in Avatar*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Barring a catastrophe, “Avatar” should spend a comfortable fourth weekend at the top and cross $400 million in the process. That would make 2009 the first year since 2004 to have two films cross that milestone. It would also make “Avatar” the second-fastest film to hit that mark, after “The Dark Knight.”

    It took “Titanic” 36 days to reach $400 million and it only had $265.1 million at this point in its epic run. Still, there’s no way in hell “Avatar” can repeat the four month run at the top that James Cameron’s last film managed, or it’s $943.3 million final gross.

    Competition, if you can call it that, comes from three new releases with the stench of January seeping off their posters and trailers. Lionsgate hops on the vampire gravy train with “Daybreakers” featuring a cast that should know better. “Hostel” and “Rambo” have done well for the studio in Januaries of the past but I don’t see much more than $14 million heading this way.

    Amy Adams is doing her typecast image no favors by appearing in “Leap Year,” with Matthew Goode taking second billing. I follow movies for a living and I barely know who Matthew Goode is, so she shouldn’t expect much help from him in drawing the crowds.

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  • ASC on the way

    Daniel Day-Lewis in NineAlong with the WGA, the American Society of Cinematographers will also be announcing nominees Monday.  Guesses as to which way they’ll go?

    I’d say the safest bet is Robert Richardson and his work on “Inglourious Basterds.” He often gets his due from the guild (eight nominations) even when he doesn’t from the Academy (five nominations).

    After that, it’s likely Barry Ackroyd, the most lauded of the season’s lensers in the critics awards circuit, will be chalked up for “The Hurt Locker.” But I think I have to come clean on something here.

    Due respect to Mr. Ackroyd, who is a considerable talent, his work on the film totally took me out of the narrative.  The slavish devotion to dizzying handheld work lacked the focus of the characters being depicted while attempting to somehow simulate the tension of their profession, and that, I think, was a misstep.

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  • Small victories

    Veeeeery small. And silver medals rather than victories. But hey, kudos to the Central Ohio Film Critics Association for (almost) going where no one else will go:

    Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, “An Education”
    Runner-up: Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Antichrist”

    Best Cinematography: Robert Richardson, “Inglourious Basterds”
    Runner-up: Anthony Dod Mantle, “Antichrist”

  • ‘Red Riding’ trilogy gets a poster

    These films, which I caught in their entirety at this year’s Telluride Film Festival, were not all they were cracked up to be.  (Guy had a different perspective in the spring.)

    The first installment, 1974, was undeniably the best of the lot.  And had the film received a domestic release in 2009, Rebecca Hall would have definitely made my shortlist for Best Supporting Actress.  There are some interesting performances in 1980 and 1983 just fails to bring the thing around in a satisfying manner, in my opinion.

    All of that having been said, the poster rocks:

    Red Riding

    (Source: Vulture)

  • Aaron Katz’s ‘Cold Weather’

    I wasn’t on board with Aaron’s films in school, fell head over heels for “Quiet City,” and I have no idea what “Cold Weather” is about, but I’m interested:

  • Mo’Nique: “The performance is done.”

    Mo'NiqueIt’s interesting that David Carr’s interview with Mo’Nique in today’s New York Times appears on the main page of the paper’s website — there isn’t much more to say about her, shall we say, passive campaign for “Precious,” but it’s clearly become one of the dominant stories of the awards season.

    Not that she needs much of a boost, but I think this interview helps her cause: where some industry wags have made a shrill fuss over the actress’s reluctance to play the publicity game, portraying her as egotistical or ungrateful, with Carr she put forth her perspective in very rational, matter-of-fact terms:

    “Anytime I’ve been given an award, it has been because of the performance; what else goes into it?” she said, appearing genuinely mystified. “Look, it makes me appreciative any time someone says they may want to honor your performance. I’m appreciative at any talk in reference to any award, but there’s not much I can do about it now. The performance is done.”

    “I also have this show called ‘The Mo’Nique Show’ where I tape six shows a week. I have twins who are 4, so I have babies, I have an amazing husband and a son who’s 19. What I can participate in I’m more than happy to.”

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  • Art Directors Guild nominees

    Johnny Depp in Public EnemiesI’ve had my eye on these because I’ve always felt that, if “Avatar” could slide in here, it might be able to get over any weird bias against the way it was designed (largely in computer, etc.). But after sitting down with Robert Stromberg yesterday, and with these nominations in mind, I feel better about its prospects for Oscar in the category now.

    I’m happy to see “The Lovely Bones” recognized, though I’m consistently baffled as to where the distinction is between “contemporary” and “period” with this film.  And can I also say, looking out over the slate of nominees, this is a damn fine year for art direction?  The 10 in period and fantasy could easily find their way to nominations.

    The obvious snub here is kind of a big one, I’d say: “Nine.” Despite the quality of the film, the below-the-line elements were exemplary.  I guess it wasn’t enough to overcome the film’s overall critical reception.  Oh, and big ups to Jess Gonchor, who I’ve said since day one was a threat for his and set decorator Nancy Haigh’s meticulous work on “A Serious Man.” Stay tuned next week for a Tech Support interview with the principals from that film

    Nominees after the jump.

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  • WGA on the way

    (from left) Quinton Aaron and Sandra Bullock in The Blind SideWith the DGA, SAG and PGA out of the way, it’s on to the fourth and final of the major guild announcements: the Writers Guild of America, which announces Monday.

    The WGA has seemingly instituted a slash and burn campaign on a number of the year’s hopefuls this season.  Go here, here and here for the details.  Alright, “slash and burn” isn’t really accurate.  If WGA brass wants to play “in the club,” that’s their prerogative.  No sense getting worked up over it.  But suffice it to say, the field is fairly wide open now and, at the end of the day, no one should really bother putting too much prognosticative stock into what we get from the guild next week, seeing as the AMPAS writers branch is likely to go with a number of the fallen.

    Still — it’s fun to guess at the picks, no?

    From where I stand there are still 10 really decent bets, and maybe five or six more that wouldn’t surprise me if they made it through.  Best Picture contenders “The Hurt Locker,” “Precious” and “Up in the Air” are probably the easiest picks of the bunch, but what about the other seven?

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  • Central Ohio critics speak up

    Their top 10:

    1. “Up in the Air”
    2. “Up”
    3. “An Education”
    4. “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
    5. “Inglourious Basterds”
    6. “The Hurt Locker”
    7. “In the Loop”
    8. “(500) Days of Summer”
    9. “A Serious Man”
    10. “A Single Man”

    Superlatives listed at our Circuit page.

  • 1/8 Oscarweb Round-up

    The Princess and the Frog• Faith-based marketing and “The Blind Side.” [Cinematical]

    • Why “The Princess and the Frog” is making history while looking to the past. [The Times]

    • Academy names Sci-Tech honors. [Variety]

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  • How relevant is Kathryn Bigelow’s gender?

    Kathryn BigelowAfter yesterday’s DGA announcement, there was a number of comments (some ecstatic, some more cynical) made about its demographic makeup of the nominees being more diverse than usual.

    Where most years see white men fill every space on the ballot, this year features both a female and a black contender (a gay man, at that) in the lineup — the seventh and first in DGA history, respectively.

    Trivia value notwithstanding, is this important? Does it mean that their artistic achievements should be measured any differently from those of their white, male peers?

    Of course not. “The Hurt Locker” would be as stirring and distinctive a film had it been directed by someone with testicles — and, though some will say otherwise, I think it would still have caught critics’ and awards voters’ fancy. A great movie is a great movie is a great movie, after all.

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  • ‘Fish Tank’ poster

    A few days ago, we posted the new U.S. trailer for Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank,” which opens in New York next week before rolling out later. I didn’t mind it as much as some, though it didn’t capture the film’s unusual rhythmic and sensual qualities. But I do like prefer this simple, declarative poster that was released at the same time.

    You know by now that I adore the film, which I thought not merely one of the best of 2009, but of the entire decade. I’ll be posting my interview with the remarkable Michael Fassbender in the coming week. (Thanks to Stale Popcorn for the image.)

    Fish Tank

  • Nick Nolte, ‘No Exit’

    Hmmmmm…

  • DGA nominees announced

    Directors Guild of AmericaAlright, so, the safe bet wins the day.  The nominees are:

    James Cameron, “Avatar”
    Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
    Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
    Lee Daniels, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
    Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”

    None of my little hunches panned out at the end of the day, and really, this is classic DGA.  Best Picture frontrunners right…down…the…line.  It’s amazing to me that a membership this vast can so consistently have its finger on the pulse of the season (while, of course, consistently ignoring a great many outside-the-box contenders).

    Onward to the WGA, I suppose.  The needle stays frozen in place, for now.