Category: Daily
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11/25 Oscarweb Round-up
• “The Road” takes desolate journey from page to screen. [Wired]• Andrew O’Hehir talks “Bad Lieutenant” with Werner Herzog. [Beyond the Multiplex]
• Anne Thompson says “Avatar” could debut at AICN’s Butt-Numb-A-Thon, of all places. [Thompson on Hollywood]
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‘District 9’ an adapted screenplay after all
When I surveyed the rather weak field of original screenplay contenders two weeks ago, one of the contenders I mentioned was Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell’s “District 9,” my assumption being that the vast departures from the original short film “Alive in Joburg” would be enough to warrant such a classification.
I guess I was wrong.
Screeners of the film have hit the doorsteps of awards voters this week and one of the categories listed is — yep, Best Adapted Screenplay. Which means not only is the original field even thinner, but the adapted field just got a little tighter. Some have scoffed at the idea of “Star Trek” being a player here, but what about “District 9,” one of the biggest surprise hits of the year?
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‘Lovely Bones’ reviews begin to trickle in
Speaking of Peter Jackson’s latest, the film screened for the Royals tonight across the pond. The Guardian has doused it:The screen version, by contrast, is so infuriatingly coy, and so desperate to preserve the modesty of its soulful victim that it amounts to an ongoing clean-up operation…Jackson turns up with his eyes averted, spraying cloying perfume to the left and right.
The Sun, in a clunky example of “writing,” has raved it:
[Jackson] creates something even more amazing than his Middle-earth fantasy. The effects are breathtaking.
Total Film has a rave up:
It deals with loss, grief, rage, familial breakdown and love, most of all love. But it’s also energetic and entertaining, the camera already moving whenever Jackson cuts into a scene and the horror/thriller elements given just enough fizz to recall the director’s early genre forays (minus the splatter) but not so comic book as to undercut the drama.
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New ‘Lovely Bones’ poster
Why is everything being dumped out there this week? Jeez, space yourself out, folks:
(Courtesy: MySpace)
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EW’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ roundtable
Guy’s coverage from London here, but from Dave Karger’s Oscar Watch:
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‘Avatar’: the interactive trailer experience
You really have to hand it to Fox marketing as it pertains to James Cameron’s highly anticipated “Avatar.” Three weeks out from release and it seems like the film is everywhere.Full blown 90 second TV spots all day is one thing, though. Innovative online marketing is another, and it looks like the studio has chosen Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily to launch the latest interactive ploy.
Essentially it’s an interface that you have to download. While watching the trailer, you can interrupt things and play character profiles throughout, with interviews and perspective from Sam Worthington, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Lang, etc. These are called “hotspots” that you can engage throughout which load the mini-featurettes we’ve seen pop up over the last few days and weeks.
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Latest ‘Nine’ poster puts Daniel Day-Lewis on the couch
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11/24 Oscarweb Round-up
• Pete Hammond, with box office ammunition in hand, keeps banging the gong for Sandra Bullock in a bad movie. And it just might happen. [Notes on a Season]• Speaking of “The Blind Side,” Patrick Goldstein dedicates a great many words to the film’s director, John Lee Hancock. [The Big Picture]
• “Nine,” the film that seduced Hollywood’s stars. [Daily Telegraph]
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‘Nine’ posters
Two more, including Penelope Cruz getting my heart pressure up, after the jump. (I’m told another is on the way tomorrow.)
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‘Avatar’ on ’60 Minutes’
The first screenings of the film are said to happen December 10 (the same day as the London premiere). Maybe some will happen before that, maybe not. But with latter-year contenders underwhelming left and right, all eyes could be aimed toward James Cameron’s latest with something of an exasperated sense of hope. Soon enough…
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Hillcoat on ‘The Road,’ Mortensen from Telluride, featurette
(Courtesy: MakingOf)
And while we’re at it, with the film hitting limited release this weekend, it seems only apt to point you to my interview with Viggo Mortensen out of Telluride in September. Give that a listen here or via the player below. Check out a featurette on the film after the jump.
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Listen to Ryan Bingham’s ‘The Weary Kind’ from ‘Crazy Heart’
One of the first things I mentioned when I stumbled out of that dark theater on the Fox lot a few weeks ago, following a screening of Scott Cooper’s last minute awards entry “Crazy Heart,” was that I couldn’t get the final song, “The Weary Kind,” out of my head. Today I’m happy to offer it up for your listening pleasure.The song is prime material for the Best Original Song category because of its implementation in the film. (MILD SPOILERS) Jeff Bridges’s newly sober Bad Blake character, reflecting on his ups and downs and finally sitting down to pen a new tune, rattles through the chords and comes up with a powerful ditty for his former protege, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell). Finally we get the full number in a concert sequence that leads into the closing credits.
In my opinion, this is the frontrunner of the category. There are a pair of “Nine” songs on its heels, however, and who knows what turf the tracks from “The Princess and the Frog” will claim, but this stand-out from a wonderful soundtrack is sure to prove instantly moving for many. Have a listen below (in an official version performed by Ryan Bingham, who co-wrote the song with T Bone Burnett).
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11/23 Oscarweb Round-up
• Dave Karger cusses with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” star Bill Murray. [Oscar Watch]• Owen Gleiberman whines about the snubbing of inferior documentaries, fails to recognize the solid slate of short-listed films we ended up with. [Entertainment Weekly]
• Nicolas Rapold talks to the principals of “The Last Station.” [New York Times]
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Quartet tapped for Santa Barbara’s Cinema Vanguard honor
This marks the first time four honorees have been chosen for the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s Cinema Vanguard Award. The press release, in part:The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Stanley Tucci and Christoph Waltz with the Cinema Vanguard Award at the 25th edition of the Fest, which runs February 4-February 14, 2010, it was announced today by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. The Tribute will take place on Friday, February 12, 2010.
The Cinema Vanguard Award was created in recognition of an actor who has forged his/her own path – taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film. In previous years, this award was first bestowed on Ryan Gosling and last year to Kristin Scott Thomas.
Comments Durling, “This group of supporting actors encompasses the best of the best; their roles have made us love them as well as hate them, sometimes all at the same time. I am so pleased to have all of them together, in one place to celebrate them and thank them for the cinematic treasures they have created.”
