Judging from our last poll, most readers seem to think James Cameron’s “Avatar” will rack up the most Oscar nominations in just under a month’s time. But does it deserve to win the big prize, as a great many prognosticators are currently expecting? The debate is raging elsewhere, but let us know your cut-and-dry answer in the sidebar poll and feel free to explain your position in the comments section below.
Category: Daily
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‘Fish Tank’ trailer
I caught Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank” during last year’s AFI Fest and frankly, wasn’t overly impressed by it. Katie Jarvis is a real find and, of course, Michael Fassbender is and has been going places. I liked the world it evokes feels very authentic and on the whole, it’s nice to have diversity in the marketplace. But I just hated the narrative trajectory of the piece and whatever confused ideas it thought it was putting forth.
But, hey, you know what they say about opinions. Guy (who didn’t base his list on U.S. release dates) thinks it is one of the year’s very best films.
Anyway, the domestic trailer has landed via Apple. Have a look below:
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Bullock to present Betty White with SAG honor
Okay, who is Betty White’s publicist and has he or she slept at all this season?Seriously, first there were some scattered web ads pushing White’s performance in “The Proposal” for Best Supporting Actress, then there was this massive spread in the trades gunning for the same. (That ad was lovingly chided by the cut-ups at Vulture this week.)
It was announced back in September that White would receive the Screen Actors Guild’s lifetime achievement award, but now comes (perhaps totally anticipated) word that Sandra Bullock, “it” girl of the year, will be presenting White with said honor.
By the way, in case you missed it when Chad brought it up Sunday, Bullock made history this weekend when “The Blind Side” became the first female-driven vehicle to cross the $200 million mark.
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Kevin Bacon to receive BFCA’s Joel Siegel Award
The press release, in part:The Broadcast Film Critics Associa tion (BFCA) announced today that renowned actor and philanthropist Kevin Bacon will be presented with the third annual Joel Siegel Award by Meryl Streep at the 15th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. The ceremony, hosted by Kristin Chenoweth, will air live on VH1 Friday, January 15, 2010 at 9:00 PM ET/PT
Given annually, this special award pays homage to beloved “Good Morning America” film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who lost his long struggle with cancer in June, 2007.
Kevin Bacon is one of the foremost actors of his generation and has starred in over 50 films. His talent for balancing starring roles with powerful supporting characters on both film and stage has allowed him to build a varied and critically acclaimed body of work. Kevin has proven his talents in a wide range of film genres from action thrillers to romantic comedies to heavy dramas, and even the occasional musical. Kevin most recently starred in “Taking Chance” for which he received Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations.
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Two know-it-alls debate ‘Avatar’
For your viewing pleasure (and congrats to Poland on welcoming his first child into the world over the weekend):
(Courtesy: G4)
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1/5 Oscarweb Round-up
• Pedro Almodovar tells Pete Hammond that he isn’t down with Spain’s process for deciding its annual Oscar contender. Ya think? [Notes on a Season]• “The Hurt Locker” tops Stephen King’s otherwise singular (and bizarre) top 10 list. [Entertainment Weekly]
• Steve Pond runs down eligibility numbers per category. [The Odds]
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PGA announces nominees, goes sci-fi
The most striking thing about the slate of nominees unveiled this morning by the Producers Guild of America is a heavy genre slant: all three of 2009’s acclaimed science-fiction mega-hits made the cut in the top category.Of course, that’s not all that surprising coming from the producers, whose appreciation of financial success tends to give populist contenders a leg up in their awards. (The first “Harry Potter” film was nommed back in 2001, after all.) I wouldn’t count on the trio of “Avatar,” “District 9” and “Star Trek” all making the Oscar cut, though two is a distinct possibility.
Nobody should be surprised by this point that “Nine” was left off the list; this is merely the first concrete evidence we’ve had that awards hopes for the critically and commercially embattled film are fading fast.
Full list of nominees, including animated and documentary categories (why just four slots for the latter?), after the cut.
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Guy’s top 50 of the decade: #21-30
A little late, but we’re at the halfway mark now, and I must say I couldn’t be more delighted and flattered by your warm response to the list so far.I mentioned in my intro to the first installment that I’d prefer you to view this as a loose playlist than as a rigid ordered assessment, and I’m thrilled that some of you have already taken me at my word, seeking out less-seen titles like “Last Resort” on Netflix and the like. On behalf of the movies, I thank you.
With that said, today’s bracket of ten perhaps offers less buried treasure than yesterday’s, even turning up a pair of Best Picture Oscar winners. Hey, sometimes films get popular for a reason — I’m not such a snob, after all.
That said, I suspect at least one of the following inclusions might prompt some healthy disagreement. The list continues after the cut.
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Quote unquote
In one of yesterday’s comment threads, a bit of a discussion built up concerning the quotability (or otherwise) of “Avatar,” and how this factored into its potential pop-culture significance.It’s a subject that was also brought up a while back by Cinematical’s Erik Davis, who wondered whether the film’s oft-repeated refrain of “I see you” was a calculated attempt to enter popular conversation. I agree with him that the line seems tooled for that specific purpose, which is precisely why I have a hard time seeing it catch on in a lasting way. (That, and the fact that any sensible person know that “I see you” can only be preceded by a cry of “Peekaboo!”)
Cinema’s most quotable quotes are rarely designed to be as such. This is also the conclusion of a handily-timed LA Times article, which details the backstory behind now-classic lines from “Cool Hand Luke,” “Forrest Gump,” “Sudden Impact” and, uh, “A League of Their Own.” (Must be an American thing.)
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‘Bright Star’ screenplay goes adapted
Steve Pond sure is getting a nice bunch of scoops today. Mainly because, I imagine, he’s doing the dilligence of looking over the ballots and accompanying eligibility forms, which so often tend to reveal last minute category shockers, something I’ve been meaning to do for a few days now.Anyway, you might remember a few years ago when Stephen Gaghan’s “Syriana” was lighting up the adapted screenplay circuit. In December of 2005, the Academy convened and determined that the script was original since it strayed so far away from Robert Baer’s non-fiction “See No Evil,” and since it had no real obligation to let its finding be known to the campaign or the participants until the reminder sheets went out, it was over a month before the news broke.
A similar situation has met Jane Campion and her screenplay for “Bright Star.” Pond reports that the screenplay has been ruled adapted, not original, virtually dashing any sliver of hope that the film would pop up in a writing category.
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Vancouver critics nominate
Okay, “A Serious Man” gets a nod for Best Film…and nothing else? Alrighty:Best Film
“The Hurt Locker”
“A Serious Man”
“Up in the Air”Best Actor
George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”
Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”The rest at our Precursor Circuit page. Thanks to Ed Douglas at Coming Soon for the tip.
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Know your limits, get an Oscar
Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri has written a nice piece on the circumstances that have led to Sandra Bullock becoming the year’s unlikeliest Oscar contender, citing Bullock’s 2009 achievements as a “primer” for comic actors seeking serious Oscar consideration. And the key, it seems, is not taking the word “serious” too much to heart.Last month, I wondered why Bullock was gathering Oscar traction this year for a relatively unprestigious film, when a credible dramatic turn in 2005’s Best Picture winner garnered her no awards attention whatsoever.
But while against-type casting can often reap Oscar benefits, Ebiri argues that actors like Bullock fare better when they don’t veer too far from their established screen persona. Her “Blind Side” character, he claims, does just the right level of tweaking:
Leigh Anne Tuohy may be a real person, but she’s not the kind of historical or ripped-from-the-headlines figure that usually attracts awards … After misfires like In Love and War, Bullock learned that maybe she wasn’t cut out to play these kinds of parts. So, in The Blind Side, she takes a character who displays some of the all-American spunk and energy of her own onscreen persona and gives it a more serious twist. She doesn’t try to “lose herself” in the part; moviegoers can recognize the Sandra Bullock they know and love in Leigh Anne.
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‘Wild Things,’ ‘Crazy Heart’ ineligible for score Oscar
Steve Pond reports that Karen O and Carter Burwell’s wonderful, Golden Globe-nominated score for “Where the Wild Things Are” has been disqualified for Best Original Score by the Academy’s music branch. T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton’s “Crazy Heart” score, which has taken several critics’ prizes, will not compete either.It’s hardly a surprise, given that both are largely song-based scores — not that that stopped “Slumdog Millionaire” qualifying last year. But it is disappointing, particularly for the former film, which was campaigning for a nomination in the category. (Fox Searchlight, presumably anticipating a disqualification, didn’t bother listing Original Score in the FYC ads for “Crazy Heart.”)
Also out of the race is “The Lovely Bones,” though that is by composer Brian Eno’s own volition. Pond has the details, as well as a list of the 81 films that did qualify for the category, here.
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The new movie of the moment?
Paramount has shrewdly been playing up the significance of Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” with its “movie of the moment” quotes, and rightly so. The zeitgeist elements in the film have been an inexhaustible talking point since its Telluride debut. And to tap into those elements is to understand the kind of gravitas a Best Picture contender needs to make it into the winner’s circle.However, I can’t help but get the sense that “Avatar” is stealing that zeitgeist thunder somewhat and moving away of the “it’s just about the visuals” thing as of late. There have been some comments from readers who think James Cameron’s film is an octane entertainment that couldn’t possibly generate the proper “watercooler” talk to be a mainstay in the cultural consciousness, but 17 days, a billion dollars and a number of op-eds later, it seems the cultural consciousness begs to differ.
Beginning across the pond (and before the New Year) in the right-leaning Daily Telegraph, Nile Gardiner called the film “the most expensive piece of anti-American propaganda ever made,” while nearly a month ago in The Times, Ben Hoyle pulled some political asides out of Cameron regarding the cost of “several hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives.”
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“Simple” arithmetic?
But in his rollicking new book “Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America” (Simon & Schuster), biographer Peter Biskind hazards a guess about the conquests of Hollywood’s most notorious lothario — based, he says, on “simple arithmetic.”
Biskind estimates “12,775 women, give or take, a figure that does not include daytime quickies, drive-bys, casual gropings, stolen kisses and so on.”
Alright, so, assuming, naively, one per day, 365 days/year, that’s roughly 32 straight years. Daily. Now let’s just assume two per day. That’s 16 straight years. We’re talking every…single…day.
Obviously the math is much more complicated than all of that, because you can bank on any given lost weekends of 10-20 different mates or something, but even then — 12,000? REALLY? Stuff like this just…fascinates me. I’m reminded of similar awe when Wilt Chamberlain’s number was thrown around back in the day. What does the math that would yield that number even LOOK like?
(Courtesy: New York Post, via Roger Ebert.)
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Proof that the Oscar season is an echo-chamber
I Tweeted about this yesterday, so if you read it there, sorry for the redundancy. I just felt like expanding on the thought and offering it up for your comment here.Last year when the Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced, a little film that few outside of the Toronto and Venice film festivals had seen popped up, deservedly, in two acting categories. The film was “The Hurt Locker,” and until a theatrical release in June of 2009, it did not appear to be an awards hog of any sort.
If the tables had been turned and Kathryn Bigelow’s war drama had been eligible for this year’s Spirit slate, you can bet it would have shown up for Best Picture, Best Director, probably even Best First Screenplay. Hell, they may have even attempted to find room for Brian Geraghty, and of course, Barry Akroyd’s cinematography would have been in the mix.