In Contention

Category: Daily

  • ‘Help Yourself’ from ‘Up in the Air’ becomes the latest music branch rule book casualty

    Sad Brad SmithThe music branch of the Academy sure hasn’t done the hard-working awards team at Paramount any favors lately. You might recall the 2007 fiasco surrounding Johnny Greenwood’s score for “There Will Be Blood,” which left his immaculate (some would say year’s-best) work ineligible due to arbitrary, overly subjective fine print concerning the dilution of the original music by pre-existing material.

    Well, lightning strikes twice, as musician Sad Brad Smith has opted out of submitting his soulful, thematically potent track “Help Yourself” from Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air.” We featured the song here earlier in the week.

    The reason, I’m told, is that, though unpublished, a portion of the song existed previously in Smith’s repertoire. As such, the track would not qualify due to the fact that it wasn’t rendered, in full, specifically and originally for the film, as the music branch’s rules stipulate.

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  • Academy members weigh in on The Ten

    Jane Campion at the 1993 Academy AwardsIn the four months since the Academy announced its controversial switch from five to 10 Best Picture nominees, you’ve heard a lot of griping (and occasional enthusing) from assorted critics, industry-watchers and schmoes like me.

    What we haven’t heard is too much perspective on the issues from the voters themselves. So USA Today’s Susan Wloszczyna has done some digging, only to find that several prominent Academy members are as unhappy with the idea of The Ten as many pundits are.

    Two-time nominee Willem Dafoe complains that the change “lowers the bar” and “dilutes the exclusivity” of the award, claiming that some years might not have enough deserving contenders to make up a satisfactory list of nominees. Michael Sheen concurs, saying simply, “The more films you have, the less special it becomes.”

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  • What scares Martin Scorsese … and me

    Deborah Kerr in The InnocentsTomorrow, of course, is Hallowe’en — an institution more treasured in the US than it is on my side of the ocean, where it’s principally another excuse to get drunk. (But hey, this year I’ll be getting drunk while wearing a silly hat. Progress!)

    One aspect of the holiday that travels well, at least, is the celebration of horror cinema: Pinewood Studios, for example, is hosting a drive-in double-feature of “The Omen” and “The Shining” on the world’s largest cinema screen.

    Meanwhile, horror DVD marathons will take place in living rooms around the world, so Martin Scorsese (whose own upcoming film looks to have its share of jolts) has helpfully provided his own playlist of the 11 scariest horror films of all time for The Daily Beast:

    1. “The Haunting” (Robert Wise, 1963)
    2. “Isle of the Dead” (Val Lewton, 1945)
    3. “The Uninvited” (1944)
    4. “The Entity” (Sidney J. Furie, 1981)
    5. “Dead of Night” (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1945)
    6. “The Changeling” (Peter Medak, 1980)
    7. “The Shining” (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
    8. “The Exorcist” (William Friedkin, 1973)
    9. “Night of the Demon” (Jacques Tourneur, 1957)
    10. “The Innocents” (Jack Clayton, 1961)
    11. “Psycho” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

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  • Daniel Battsek leaves Miramax

    Daniel BattsekThis seemed to be in the offing for a while, but it’s always disconcerting to hear of major upheaval at a Hollywood institution like Miramax. The studio is folding its New York office, while Daniel Battsek, who has headed the Weinstein brothers’ former empire since 2005, will leave the company in January.

    Battsek announced the news in this rather terse email:

    After further reflection and discussion about the change in direction for Miramax, Rich Ross and I have agreed that I will step down as President of Miramax, effective the end of January, 2010.

    With this decision, we have also agreed that the best chance of success for Miramax is for the company to be located in Los Angeles, and I will work with the group on a transition plan.

    I’m very proud of all the great work we have accomplished here at Miramax and equally proud of my overall career at Disney.

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  • The Great Performances: 1998

    Edward Norton in American History XFor all my bitching about Roberto Benigni winning Best Actor in 1998 for his incessant mugging in “Life is Beautiful,” I was also thrilled the Academy watched enough films and paid enough attention to realize that Edward Norton was deserving for his magnetic turn as a neo-Nazi who sees the light in “American History X.” Norton was electrifying as Derek, the charismatic leader of a group of skinheads, handpicked by the older gentleman, played with menace and sleaze by Stacey Keach, who believes in what Hitler taught and seeks to spread the word to the youth of California.

    Norton gave the best performance by an actor I saw in 1998, but the Academy got caught up in the groundswell of support of Benigni’s movie, a fable set in a death camp. I’m not a fan, either of his overwrought, over the top performance, or the film itself. No rant, you all know what I think there.

    That said, there was a bounty of great male performances in 1998, many of which went unnoticed by the Academy. They did their best to get it right, though.  Joining Norton and Benigni for nominations were Nick Nolte in “Affliction,” Ian McKellen, superb in “Gods and Monsters,” and Tom Hanks as the weary soldier in Steven Spielberg’s magnificent “Saving Private Ryan.”

    Not even nominated, however, were Warren Beatty for his brilliant turn as the truth-talking senator in “Bulworth,” Joseph Fiennes in Best Picture winner “Shakespeare in Love,” Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show,” George Clooney in “Out of Sight,” Brendan Gleason in “The General” and John Travolta in “Primary Colors” or “A Civil Action,” take your pick.  And perhaps the most deserving of all: Jeff Bridges as The Dude in “The Big Lebowski,” the actor’s finest work, in my opinion.

    Each of the aforemenetioned men gave stronger performances than the eventual Oscar winner, yet failed to nab a nomination.  Jeez!

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  • No Oscar Talk today

    I find myself back east for my grandmother’s funeral this afternoon, so Anne and I have postponed this week’s podcast. We hope to have it for you Sunday. FYI.

  • Calling the Best Picture wild cards

    Emily Blunt in The Young VictoriaTom O’Neil has pooled the thoughts of 16 awards-watchers on which 10 films will make the Best Picture cut, and the results make for ominously predictable reading.

    All 16 agree that “The Hurt Locker” and “Invictus” are in (I guess it’s just me holding out on the latter then), while there’s near-consensus on the likes of “Precious,” “Up in the Air,” “Up” … you get the idea. Yawn. At this rate, the switch to 10 nominees looks to sap any excitement from this stage of the race whatsoever.

    More interesting, then, is to venture further down the list to see what the pundits’ more out-on-a-limb picks are. One would like to think at least one of the slots has to be filled with something slightly less expected — otherwise what’s the point? So I turned my attention to the films receiving a solitary vote from one of O’Neil’s posse.

    Those hoping for a foreign-language contender in the mix (no, “Inglourious Basterds” does not count) might want to look away, as not a single punter has one on their list, while things look similarly grim for documentaries.

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  • 10/30 Oscarweb Round-up

    Sotigui Kouyate and Brenda Blethyn in London River• Brian Lowry on how The Ten is an Oscarcast producer’s nightmare. [Variety]

    • With Hugh Jackman out, Jeff Wells thinks the Oscars need to skew younger with their host. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • The producers of “London River” launch a deserved Oscar campaign for Brenda Blethyn, despite still lacking US distribution. [Notes on a Season]

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  • Jackman turns down Oscar gig

    Hugh Jackman at the 81st Annual Academy AwardsAs the annual guessing game of who will host the Academy Awards continues to go in circles, there’s at least one name we can remove from consideration: a certain Mr. Hugh Jackman.

    Variety confirms that the previous Oscar emcee was invited to repeat, but “quietly” turned down the opportunity sometime in the last few weeks, not wanting to do the task in consecutive years. (He may host again in the future, in other words.)

    This largely puts paid to the speculation that the hiring of choreographer Adam Shankman to produce the show meant we were essentially in for a rerun of last year’s show, which is fine by me.

    The previous Oscarcast format was very much the singular vision of Bill Condon and Laurence Mark, while Jackman’s song-and-dance stylings will stay fresher if used on an irregular basis.

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  • Renner, Stuhlbarg, Waltz among Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch

    Jeremy RennerVariety’s annual list of 10 Actors to Watch may occasionally raise questions of what constitutes a career “breakthrough” — particularly in the case of established actors who those in the know have been watching all along.

    Still, it always makes for interesting reading, not least because, in some cases, it highlights names that Variety’s editors expect to show up in the coming awards season. Last year’s list featured four actors (Melissa Leo, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson and Michael Shannon) who ultimately wound up in the Oscar circle. This year’s list looks unlikely to match that number (nor does it match the feminine bent of last year’s crop), but there’s some undeniably worthy talent in there:

    Laz Alonso
    Maggie Grace
    Tom Hardy
    Nicholas Hoult
    Rachelle Lefevre
    Jeremy Renner
    Alia Shawkat
    Emma Stone
    Michael Stuhlbarg
    Christoph Waltz

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  • New ‘Avatar’ trailer and featurette

    Yahoo! Movies has debuted the new “Avatar” trailer. Take a look at it in HD here or via the embed below. After the jump, get a load of a new behind-the-scenes featurette for the film.

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  • Best scares in film

    Janet Leigh in PsychoIt’s only hitting me today that we haven’t offered up any Halloween-y content yet.  Strange.  This is my favorite time of year, though season-less Southern California certainly does it no favors.

    Last year we got the contributors together to name the top 20 horror films of all time, an installment of The Lists I’m quite proud of.  This year I’ve been settling in each night to a new perennial favorite.  Last night it was “Beetle Juice.” I took another look at Carpenter’s “Halloween” earlier in the week and I expect Ill be tossing in the “Coraline” Blu-ray once again, maybe a little Romero.  “White Zombie” with Bela Lugosi was a novel distraction the other night.

    I don’t worship at the altar of genre, but I do enjoy getting in the spirit, so to speak.  Rather than cook something up for the holiday, I figured I’d point you to a pair of UK stories spotlighting the best in horror.  The first, in the Daily Telegraph, announces Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho” theme as the scariest horror theme of all time.

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  • 10/29 Oscarweb Round-up

    John Cusack in 2012• John Horn dutifully writes up the pre-release buzz of “2012.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Pete Hammond on how legends Orson Welles and Tennessee Williams could figure into this year’s Oscar race. [Notes on a Season]

    • Years that could have used 10 Best Picture nominees. [Variety]

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  • ‘Nowhere Boy’ trailer

    Sam Taylor-Wood’s debut feature has its world premiere tonight as it closes out the London Film Festival. I’ll have a short take up for you later today, but for now, here’s the trailer. (I’ll say this much: Kristin Scott Thomas’s recent run of form remains unbroken.)

  • “We’re going to be fine.”

    Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious ManThose of you who enjoy it when Kris and I butt heads over one film or another — as on the two occasions this past week alone that I’ve been unceremoniously fired — will be disappointed to hear that an entente cordiale has arrived in the shape of “A Serious Man.” (Ironic, really — since when did the Coen Brothers make movies designed to bring people together?)

    Anyway, while I don’t know yet whether my passion for the film will run quite as deep as Kris’s by the year’s end, I have no qualms whatsoever about echoing his sentiments that “A Serious Man” is an extraordinary feat.

    Novelistic in its reach and rhythms, but intrinsically cinematic in the way Roger Deakins’s calmly predatory camera investigates physical and personal space, it seems a direct (if deliciously perverse) rebuttal to claims made by the duo’s detractors that their films are overly hermetic, unwilling to engage with the world around them.

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  • Tweeting for Oscar

    We Live in PublicThe few of you who do follow my Twitter account will have gathered by now that, compared to some, I’m not the most active correspondent in that medium — limiting my thoughts to 140 characters is a trial more often that not. However, should I ever find myself in the hunt for an Oscar (hey, I have dreams too!), I’ll be sure to step up my tweet count.

    You’ve all heard by now about “Moon” director Duncan Jones’s admirably enthusiastic Twitter campaign for Sam Rockwell’s Best Actor chances, which so far has worked a treat.

    No, not because Rockwell isn’t still the darkest of horses for Oscar consideration, but because the quirky nature of the campaign has proved something of a talking point in an otherwise quiet week — generating a fresh wave of viewer interest in a small, long-gone summer release. As nice as this press is for Rockwell, “Moon” is the real winner here.

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  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Michael Jackson’s This Is It’

    Michael Jackson's This Is It

    I’ve committed some thoughts on “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” to print already, but since this thing is going to be a blockbuster, I figured it would be great to get some reader reaction.  Let us know what you think after you give it a look either this week or over the weekend.

  • Listen to Sad Brad Smith’s ‘Help Yourself’ from ‘Up in the Air’

    Sad Brad SmithIt looks like others are finally coming around to what we reported here over a month ago: Sad Brad Smith’s “Help Yourself” from the film “Up in the Air” is a formidable contender in this year’s Best Original Song race.  EW’s Adam Markovitz does note something we haven’t conveyed yet, however — that director Jason Reitman caught Smith’s act at a Chicago coffee shop on a recommendation and asked him to write something up for the film.  “Help Yourself” is the result, and it’s a fantastic track.

    No, really, I don’t usually dig on this sort of melody.  It seems so dangerously close to being too precious for it’s own good, but pulls back just enough to be a pretty profound piece unto itself.  The tune plays in a marriage sequence that is, really, the emotional heart of the film.  I would love to see Smith nominated and performing on that stage, but you just never can tell with the music branch.

    Anyway, we provided Mary J. Blige’s “I Can See in Color” from “Precious” earlier in the week, so it seemed only right to pass Sad Brad Smith’s track along also.  As always, we’ll continue to keep an eye on this race as it unfolds.

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