In Contention

Category: Daily

  • One-man anti-‘Precious’ campaign

    Mo'Nique in PreciousWow, and I thought I didn’t get on with “Precious.”

    Jeffrey Wells has drawn attention to the concerted efforts of one Anthony Smith, a 29 year-old African-American working in film acquisition, to derail the “Precious” express. Smith has written an open letter decrying the film’s alleged use of racial and social stereotypes as both “dangerous” and “offensive,” which he is sending to assorted industry figures and op-ed pages.

    I quote his letter after the cut not because I particularly agree with or endorse it — as much as I didn’t like the film, I think accusing it of racism is a wild stretch. And as a work of fiction, I don’t think the film has any particular responsibility towards any particular social group, so I find much of Smith’s argument naïve at best.

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  • A chauvinist moment

    Regular readers will know that I’m something of a fan of January Jones. The 31 year-old star of “Mad Men” (which wrapped its third season this week, though me and my fellow Brits haven’t even got started) has essayed the best female character in American film or TV in two years, gives great interview and, well, looks like this.

    Somebody give her a movie already. No, “Pirate Radio” does not count. Anyway there’s nothing edifying, intelligent or movie-related about this video from Jones’s recent GQ cover shoot, but…

  • Through the grapevine

    Matt Damon in Invictus“People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear.” Marvin Gaye’s Motown standard may as well have been written about Oscar punditry.

    Still, it’s hard to resist the allure of hearsay in this game, and even as I douse myself with multiple pinches of salt, I found these two recent tidbits from Steve Pond’s The Odds blog interesting. Interesting, I hasten to add, and little more.

    The first addresses the matter of how “Precious” might play with the older, white, male audience that comprises the Academy majority:

    Among the viewers who saw the film over the weekend, incidentally, were a group of Academy members and guests at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater Sunday evening. I hear that the AMPAS members screening drew a smallish audience (about 300 in the 1,000-seat theater) but played well, with the largest applause going to the film’s lead actresses, Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique. (Director Lee Daniels, in contrast, reportedly didn’t prompt as much enthusiasm.) The size of the crowd suggests to me that the film’s biggest problem will get getting Oscar voters to see it.

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  • Freeman to be feted by Palm Springs fest

    Morgan FreemanI think there are just enough festivals out there where every contender can get his or her special tribute or designation.  What do you think?

    Anyway, the press release, in part:

    The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Morgan Freeman with the Career Achievement Award for Acting. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will kick off the 2010 awards season on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center and will be hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart. The Festival runs January 5-18.

    Festival chairman Harold Matzner said, “The Palm Springs International Film Festival is honored to present Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman with the Career Achievement Award for his large and extraordinary body of work and his many memorable performances throughout the years, including his role as Nelson Mandela in Invictus.”

  • First stab at winner predictions, part 2: Yours and mine

    Christoph Waltz in Inglourious BasterdsSeeing as Kris was (delete as appropriate) brave/stupid/psychic/smart enough to predict who will win the Oscars four months ahead of the ceremony (and three weeks earlier than he did last year), I figured I’d follow up, as I did last year, with my own foolhardy guesses too.

    Last year, Kris kicked my ass at this particular game, correctly guessing 13 out 21 categories, and forecasting “Slumdog” fever while I was still on the “Milk” train. (Ironically, the lone “Slumdog Millionaire” win I predicted — Best Song — was one Kris missed.) For my part, I called wins for Sean Penn and Kate Winslet (for the wrong film, of course) … though that hardly qualifies as visionary, does it?

    This year, however, we are of a like mind in most of the top categories, though we part ways considerably further down the list. If you’re looking to take any of our predictions to the bank, stick with Kris. But, you know, a different perspective never hurt anyone.

    My best (or worst) guesses after the cut, followed by your collective prediction culled from yesterday’s comment thread.

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  • You know what it takes to host the Oscars?

    (from left) Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross

  • ‘Precious’ plans big holiday roll-out

    Gabourey Sidibe in PreciousWith “Precious” becoming a word-of-mouth box office sensation in just four cities this weekend, Lionsgate is making moves to expand the film considerably over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

    According to this Hollywood Reporter story, the studio will move the film into the Washington and San Francisco areas, expanding to a couple hundred screens this weekend, before opening the floodgates for an initial expansion wave of 800-1200 screens on November 20.  The piece quotes Lionsgate’s Joe Drake as saying the kind of word-of-mouth success the film is enjoying isn’t usually seen until the fifth or sixth week of release.  I’ll defer to box office experts on the accuracy of that.

    Gabourey Sidibe, meanwhile, followed up Bill Murray on The Late Show with David Letterman last night, bringing the trademark charm and sweetness you’d expect. It was a slightly awkward exchange, though, mainly because Letterman is no Ellen (no dancing, no “Don’t let this town change you,” etc.).

  • 11/10 Oscarweb Round-up

    Edward Norton in 25th Hour• Deborah Sontag talks “The Messenger” with Oren Moverman, Woody Harrelson, etc. [New York Times]

    • Roger Ebert sits down with the fast-becoming new “it” girl, Gabourey Sidibe. [Chicago Sun-Times]

    • With movies still to be seen in 2009, Noah Forrest pegs “25th Hour” as the decade’s best.  Brave choice.  I’m a fan. [Movie City News]

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  • “I wanna see that movie, Mommy!”

  • US ‘Parnassus’ poster

    The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

    (Courtesy: /Film)

  • First stab at winner predictions

    Chris Pine in Star TrekI don’t offer up predictions on a given year’s Oscar winners until November, generally speaking.  And, well, it’s November.  Which is still, of course, too early to be making calls like these, since we don’t even have a nominations slate to go by, but I like to take an early stab, revisit in early December and then one more time in early January before we get the nominees.

    I asked over the weekend what readers thought would take the Best Picture crown this year, and the majority seemed to lean toward Lee Daniels’s “Precious.” It might be too easy to figure on that at this stage, but it’s difficult to argue with the early box office success and overall critical approval.

    But there are certainly other spoilers lurking and the danger of peaking early (yielding more time for competitors to take you down) is always apparent with a film like this.

    Keep reading to have a look at what I’m thinking.  Rattle off your thoughts and predictions in the comments section if you like.

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  • Henry Selick to be honored by CAS

    Henry SelickTwo months ago Randy Thom was announced as this year’s Cinema Audio Society Lifetime Achievement Award winner.  Now comes word that Henry Selick will receive the guild’s Filmmaker Award.  Recent recipients have included Paul Mazursky, Bill Condon and Gil Cates.

    The press release, in part:

    Multi-faceted stop-motion filmmaker Henry Selick will receive the CAS Filmmaker Award at the 46th CAS Awards on February 27, 2010 at the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium-Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles.

    “The Cinema Audio Society is delighted to be honoring one of the vanguards of stop-motion animation as this year’s Filmmaker Recipient and, once again we are thrilled we have synergy between our Career Achievement Recipient Randy Thom and our Filmmaker Honoree through their collaboration on CORALINE. We look forward to another year of honoring the best in the Sound Mixing field at this year’s dinner,” said CAS President Edward L. Moskowitz.

  • Hollywood, Johannesburg

    Sharlto Copley in District 9In January 2005, exactly one week after I left my birth town of Johannesburg to study film in the brighter lights of London, Darrell James Roodt’s earnest AIDS drama “Yesterday” became South Africa’s first Oscar nominee in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

    Only a month later, the rather better “uCarmen eKhayelitsha” took the Golden Bear at the Berlin fest; again, the country’s first production to take top honors at one of the major festivals. And only a year later, Gavid Hood’s “Tsotsi” went one better than “Yesterday” by taking the Oscar.

    By this time, I was beginning to wonder if the movie gods were sending me a sign that I’d picked the wrong country: South Africa’s film industry seemed poised for a crossover explosion. That didn’t quite happen. Hampered by the usual financial constraints of a third-world industry, the country went back to its steady output of provincial lowbrow comedies and not-quite-there dramas, few of them seen beyond its own borders.

    Almost five years later, however, something interesting is starting to bubble there again — but this time, it’s not South Africa’s own industry making waves as much as an international cinematic preoccupation with the country and its stories.

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  • Listen to Andrea Bocelli’s ‘God Bless Us Everyone’ from ‘A Christmas Carol’

    Andrea BocelliWe’re featuring the year’s Best Original Song contenders when we can here at In Contention, and today, we bring Andrea Bocelli’s “God Bless Us Everyone,” the closing credits track from Robert Zemeckis’s “A Christmas Carol.”

    As mentioned in the past, being the first cue on the closing credits can be a bit of a liability with the new voting paradigm.  “God Bless Us Everyone” plays quite traditionally at the end of the film rather than in the context of the piece, so songs like those from “Crazy Heart,” “Precious” and certainly “Nine” and “The Princess and the Frog” have a leg up here.

    But Bocelli’s song is quite robust.  It’s like a power hymn to the holiday season, packing the considerable punch of the tenor’s vocal gifts.  I’m skeptical of its chances, but despite some rather thin lyrics, it nevertheless sends me headlong into the yuletide spirit.  Have a listen below and tell us what you think of the track.

    [display_podcast]

  • 11/9 Oscarweb Round-up

    Max Records in Where the Wild Things Are• Colin Firth and Robert Zemeckis on making a surreal, stylized “A Christmas Carol.” [The Guardian]

    • A.O. Scott on darker thematic rhythms in recent children’s films. [New York Times]

    • Roger Ebert revisits “Hoop Dreams,” considers it “the great American documentary.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

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  • Dude

  • Gabourey Sidibe and Jeremy Renner at Hollywood Fest

    You can head over to the Hollywood Film Festival’s YouTube channel and check out a slew of acceptance speeches from the show.  Here’s Gabourey Sidibe accepting the New Hollywood Award, presented by Taraji P. Henson:

    Jeremy Renner accepting the Hollywood Breakthrough Actor award (presented by Charlize Theron) after the jump.

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  • A bit of context

    Christine Baranski and Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!

    From the moment it was commissioned, this was intended STRICTLY as a “defined the decade” list, regardless of qualitative considerations. Go back and re-read it in that light, recover from the horror of “Saw” and “Mamma Mia!”’s inclusion (Guy’s right to single these out, but they aren’t the only ones: I personally loathe “Slumdog”, for instance) and I hope it then makes a little more sense.

    Though I’d much rather have been allowed to submit a list of personal favourites (and will probably follow up with one, on my blog, which will include all of about ten films from the current list), this Telegraph one was put together purely with an emphasis on importance/cultural impact, not critical preference.

    Regular reader and Telegraph critic Tim Robey clarifies the intent of that surprising ‘Top 100 films of the decade’ list that got some of you fired up earlier this week.