In Contention

Category: Daily

  • OFF THE CARPET FAIL

    Katie Jarvis in Fish TankThis is weak sauce, and I know that going in, but it looks like back-to-back weeks without an Off the Carpet column.  Two screenings today, suddenly being pulled out of town tomorrow, computer issues, etc. — it tends to get in the way.

    In the meantime, some sporadic thoughts:

    • “An Education,” “Fish Tank” (which I finally saw this morning as we gear up for AFI Fest) and “Up in the Air” would make for a bizarrely appropriate triple feature.

    • With that in mind, I’ve found myself, for better or worse, turning over what the year in film might actually mean this year.  It’s folly, of course, and overly reductive, but I always enjoy turning over the year’s themes.  Maturity seems to be a big constant.  What say you?

    • I think what has shaped up to be a handsome year in indie film was let down today by a dubious slate of Gotham nominees.

    • Ennio Morricone at the Hollywood Bowl is SO going to rock this weekend.  But probably not quite as much as U2 tomorrow night (my first time).

    That’s all I’ve got.  Predictions have been tweaked.  The contenders are here.  The floor is yours.

  • LONDON: A thing of beauty

    Abbie Cornish in Bright StarRegular readers will know that Kris and I frequently disagree as to the merits of certain films — and cheerfully so, since a range of opinion is kind of the point of having multiple contributors to a site like this.

    But I don’t think our opinions have ever been so sharply opposed as they are over Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” — which has its UK premiere tonight as the Mayor of London’s Gala selection, and which thoroughly enthralled me at this morning’s press screening.

    I realize that the film is relatively old news in the States as I write this, but I nonetheless feel compelled to add a rejoinder to Kris’s fair but frosty take from Telluride last month, as for my money, Campion has turned in a rhapsodically beautiful work, a possible four-star effort that sits easily with her finest.

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  • Nominees announced for 19th annual Gotham Awards

    Algenis Perez Soto in SugarAnd here…we…go!

    I’m on my way out the door and so I can’t fully comment on the just announced list of Gotham Award nominees (which, along with the trickling-in list of Hollywood Film Fest winners, really is making this seem like an Oscar season all of a sudden, no?)  But here they are.  A handful of other awards/honors were announced a few weeks back.

    I’m glad “Sugar” got something, even if it is a lone nomination in the ensemble field.  “The Hurt Locker” cleaned up with nominations across the board.  “Big Fan” did really well, too.  Your thoughts?

    Best Feature
    “Amreeka”
    “Big Fan”
    “The Hurt Locker”
    “The Maid”
    “A Serious Man”

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  • Duncan Jones’s grassroots campaign for Sam Rockwell

    MoonDuncan Jones is quite the intrepid fellow.  He has a fairly consistent presence on Twitter, always notifying of the recent ups and downs of his 2009 sci-fi effort “Moon.” (Most recently the film cleaned up at Spain’s Sitges Fantastic Film Festival.)  But mostly the director just seems anxious to get the word out on an expertly crafted film that he’s clearly proud of.

    So of course a grassroots campaign to land Sam Rockwell a Best Actor Oscar nomination is right up his alley, and as you know, I’m all for it.  “Moon” is the kind of film that really needs this kind of dig-your-heels-in effort because, despite working out nicely in Sony Pictures Classics’ conservative (i.e., successful) distribution philosophy, still doesn’t have the reach and blanket exposure that it needs for this kind of thing.

    Of course, grassroots campaigns have fizzled out in the past.  And if we’re being realistic, there’s probably no chance in hell that Rockwell can get the consideration he deserves; it would take a concentrated screening, wining and dining sort of effort that is just not in the cards.  But I like Jonses’s moxie.

    Go over to ManMadeMovies for more and sign the online petition if you like.  Also: #samrockwelloscar.  A fan-made poster for the effort after the jump.

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  • New ‘Amelia’ trailer

    Mira Nair’s latest finally crosses my bow later this evening.  We’ll see.  We’ll see…

  • Waltz, Frechette tapped by Hollywood fest, plus world awards

    Christoph WaltzThe list of Hollywood Film Festival award winners is winding down.  Today’s announcement brings the Hollywood Supporting Actor prize for Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds,” making this officially the widest possible net festival brass could have cast.  But Waltz will be going into the season with two wins under his belt already, here and in Cannes, so it’s safe to say we have a frontrunner in the supporting actor category (until Stanley Tucci comes along in a few months, that is).

    Meanwhile, Father Rick Frechette will receive the festival’s Hollywood Humanitarium Award.  From the press release:

    Father Rick Frechette is currently the Director of Medical Services of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos International and a priest who has devoted his life to the medical needs of children in the Caribbean and around the world. He is NPH’s Regional Director of the Caribbean, the Haiti home’s National Director and a member of the NPH International Health Services Team, which oversees the medical needs of the children in nine countries.

    To make a difference, Frechette went to medical school to learn how to minister to the children’s physical needs, which resulted in his medical degree in 1998 from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and his becoming a general practitioner licensed in New York and Florida. “The poor people have scant access to medical care. Even if they are lucky enough to get evaluated at a clinic, both scarcity of medicines and their relatively high prices prevent their getting treatment. Our own working conditions, especially in the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince, are tragic and are deplorable. We have little water, no electricity, few medicines and supplies,” says the doctor-priest.

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  • Spike Jonze’s ‘We Were Once a Fairytale’ with Kanye West

    Rodrigo Perez at The Playlist, amid reporting concerning a delayed release, notes the short film “We Were Once a Fairytale” from director Spike Jonze “attempts to lampoon Kanye West’s arrogance by evincing more self-conceit and self-deprecation with a bizarre, hallucinatory ending that features a small demon-like furry rodent and a form of seppuku.”  This is actually the first I’ve heard about it and, with “Where the Wild Things Are” moving into theaters over the weekend, it’s probably worth passing along.

    Here’s part one.  Part two after the jump:

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  • 10/19 Oscarweb Round-up

    (from left) Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson in The Messenger• Perpetuating the false myth that this is a weak year for leading ladies.  Not everything should be viewed through the prism of Oscar… [Awards Campaign]

    • Following up on our Oscar Talk discussion, Anne Thompson considers the awards prospects of Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger.” [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Amidst his fully-in-the-tank review of “Where the Wild Things Are,” David Poland calls for Oscar to take note of James Gandolfini’s vocal performance. [The Hot Blog]

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  • LONDON: ‘In the Air’ tonight

    George Clooney in Up in the AirTo use the umpteenth bad aviation metaphor in connection with the film, “Up in the Air” landed in London this evening with a gala festival screening — though this time it came unaccompanied by George Clooney, who had skipped off to the Rome fest after doing double-duty at the LFF earlier this week with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Men Who Stare at Goats.”

    (Given that “Up in the Air” is plainly his prime 2009 work, I’d have shuffled things around to ensure he could make it, but never mind.)

    Given the raft of glowing notices from Telluride and Toronto — not least Kris’s own elated take — my expectations for Jason Reitman’s third film couldn’t have been any higher as I settled into the press screening this morning. And as the lights came up 100 minutes later, they’d been satisfyingly met in one sense — and left frustratingly dangling in another.

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  • Hugh Jackman, Oscar host: take two?

    Hugh JackmanUPDATE: Anne Thompson has now posted this story (which she’s been working on a while) in full with — imagine that — sourced information.

    EARLIER: Over at Deadline Hollywood Daily, Nikki Finke conveys what we all know: that AMPAS brass would love a do-over of last year’s Oscarcast and have already approached Bill Condon and Laurence Mark about directing and producing the show once again.  The new news, however, is that, in the wake of the duo’s “thanks but no thanks” (busy, busy), the Academy is going to approach Hugh Jackman to host the show once again.

    This is, as Anne pointed out in last week’s edition of Oscar Talk (wherein we also discussed ideas for hosts and producers), putting the cart before the horse as no producer has been nailed down yet.  Finke floats the idea of Joe Roth again (a confidante of newly tapped Academy president Tom Sherak, also mentioned by Anne last week).  But she also reports murmurs that Hawk Koch and Joel Silver separately offered to produce the show.

    It’s all rumor-mill stuff right now, and Finke says that Jackman’s handlers will suggest he decline the offer if it is extended, so there’s no way of knowing what’s true and what’s not at this point.  But it’s getting to be crunch time.  Let’s get on with it…

  • Patterson Hood’s ‘Depression Era’ from ‘That Evening Sun’

    Patterson HoodI just finished Scott Teems’s “That Evening Sun,” which, much like Tom Ford’s “A Single Man,” is an impressive feature debut that nevertheless has some developmental issues that prevent a powerful narrative of catharsis from being as affecting as it could have been.

    There is, however, a fantastic original song in the film from Patterson Hood of the Georgia-based band Drive-By Truckers called “Depression Era” that bears consideration because, at least in my view, it might be the best original song I’ve heard in a film this year.  The only problem, of course, is that the tune plays over the final credits of the film, which all but guarantees that it won’t cut it for the music branch (which has increasingly show a preference for songs used within the context of a film in recent years).

    Of course, the film is quite small and will probably end up at the bottom of that screener stack Anne and I were discussing yesterday, but, alas, I feel compelled to mention it.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Foxes, festivals and foreign contenders

    Fantastic Mr. Fox• The 53rd annual London Film Festival kicked off with Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — we reviewed it here.

    • Speaking of festivals, the AFI Fest unveiled its own complete lineup, with “Fox” and “A Single Man” as its bookends.

    • This week’s edition of The Long Shot considered the extensive possibilities for black, gay and female filmmakers in this year’s awards race.

    • With actors like Meryl Streep and Christopher Plummer straddling lead and supporting territory this year, we addressed the awards category shuffling that may lie ahead.

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  • Royal premiere for ‘Lovely Bones’

    Mark Wahlberg in The Lovely BonesSorry for getting to this news a day late, but you may have heard by now that “The Lovely Bones” has been selected as this year’s Royal Film Performance, an annual British charity event that entails a world premiere in London in late November, with the Royal Family in attendance. Peter Jackson states in the press release:

    I am honoured that The Lovely Bones has been selected to be this year’s Royal Gala film, in support of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund. This film has been an extraordinary journey, for myself as a filmmaker and for all of those who worked on it. On behalf of everyone involved, we are thrilled that Their Royal Highnesses and the CTBF audience will be amongst the first people in the world to see it.

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  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’

    Max Records in Where the Wild Things Are

    It’s been a little while since we put it out to the readership for thoughts on a film.  Sorry for that.  I’m already kinda, sorta on the record as regards Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” but this being one of the year’s most anticipated films from movie fans, I’d love to hear your thoughts.  So come on back here and sound off once you get a look this weekend.

  • The Great Performances: 1996

    Robert Carlyle in Trainspotting1996 was an odd year, a year when the independent cinema dominated the weak product emerging out of Hollywood. I am going to confess right off the top of this article (as I have numerous times before) that I was not a fan of “The English Patient,” which for me remains one of the most vastly over-appreciated films ever made.  I couldn’t stand Kristin Scott Thomas’s work, though I did enjoy the Dafoe/Binoche storyline.

    So with that out of the way, and firmly in mind, let’s go…

    The Best Actress race was clouded with the notion that Madonna was hell-bent on being nominated for her performance in “Evita,” which finally made it to the screen after years of starts and stops. Her performance split critics, but for me lacked the depth and edge that it was given on stage by Patti Lupone, and that Meryl Streep or Michelle Pfeiffer would have given the role. Her performance proved that Madonna should stop acting as she has little or no acting talent, and should stop making movies and trying to conquer Hollywood as she did the music industry.

    Honestly, the performance rarely rises above a really good community theater performance. Mercifully she was not nominated, but she did win the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical over the eventual Oscar winner, Frances McDormand in “Fargo.” The nominees for Best Actress included, McDormand, Kristin Scott-Thomas for the aforementionend “The English Patient,” Diane Keaton for “Marvin’s Room,” Brenda Blythyn in “Secrets and Lies,” and best of all, perhaps, Emily Watson in “Breaking the Waves.”

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  • 10/16 Oscarweb Round-up

    Carey Mullian in An Education• Nathaniel Rogers weighs in on Christopher Plummer’s upcoming whirlwind campaigns. [The Film Experience]

    • John Hiscock sits down with 2009’s “it” girl, Carey Mulligan. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Enter a contest to design the actual one-sheet for Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist.” [CHUD]

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  • Animated slate still in limbo

    The Missing LynxEarlier today Tom O’Neil reported that “Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone” will not qualify for the animated feature Oscar race because it was released in Japan in 2007.  That would bring the number of qualifying titles from 16 down to 15.

    However, there seem to be films in play that we hadn’t previously considered.  According to a commenter at the website Cartoon Brew, an Antonio Banderas-produced film called “The Missing Lynx: Paws on the Run” will receive a qualifying run on November 13.  I haven’t verified that info yet but it’s something to keep an eye on.  Here’s a quick profile of the project.  There is also the outside chance of “The Secret of Kells” making it’s way at the last minute.

    Nevertheless, for the moment, without “Evangelion,” we’re looking at a three-nominee race once again, unless something comes along to save the day.  Does Disney have anything else it would like to randomly shuffle from home video to theatrical run?

    More coverage of the category here, here and here.

  • Rat attack

    Sometimes you come across a blog post that pretty much says it with more precision than you ever could.  One of the day’s joys when they come along.