In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Mariah Carey on ‘Precious’

    The festival season is gearing up and with it comes a film that I’ve been dying to see ever since it set Sundance alight: Lee Daniels’s “Precious.” The film will play the Toronto, New York and Chicago fests, perhaps Telluride (that typically secretive line-up is begging to be revealed slowly in conversations around town).

    I stumbled onto this interview with Mariah Carey recently talking about her work in the film.  It’s probably old news but I hadn’t seen it yet, so I thought I’d share.  Carey will also be a contender for Best Original Song with her track “100%,” featured yesterday in our tune speculation thread.

  • ‘The Princess and the Frog’ featurette

    (Courtesy: Cartoon Brew)

  • 8/25 Web Round-up

    Charlize Theron in The Burning Plain• Jeff Wells speaks up on the Best Actress race. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • “Black Dynamite” goes to Apparition. [Variety]

    • Behinds the scenes of “The Burning Plain.” [Coming Soon]

    (more…)

  • Did Michelle Monaghan just enter the Best Actress race?

    Michelle Monaghan in TruckerI haven’t seen James Mottern’s “Trucker,” which had a world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and was praised in many quarters, most agreeing that Michelle Monaghan’s lead performance was awards caliber.

    Ironically, the press release (published in part after the jump) quotes The Hollywood Reporter’s Roger Friedman front and center just a few days after he bemoaned what he perceived as a weak year for Best Actress contenders.

    The strongest contenders right now look to be Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia,” Carey Mulligan in “An Education” and, sight unseen, Hilary Swank in “Amelia.”  If enough voters see “The Burning Plain,” Charlize Theron certainly has a shot.  But the bubble is big on this race, I’ll give Friedman that.

    Monterey Media has decided to release the film up for an October 9 release, right in the middle of the awards season.  We all know surprise contenders show up sooner or later.  Maybe we’re looking at our first one right here.

    A snippet of the press release after the jump.

    (more…)

  • Banging the drum for women

    Andrea ArnoldI’ve already mooted the possibility of 2009 being a history-making year for female filmmakers at the Oscars. Whether or not awards season plays along in a few months’ time, however, there’s no denying it’s been a banner year for women behind the camera — both in terms of quantity (for starters, Cannes had more female-helmed films in competition than ever before) and quality (my three favorite films of the year so far all fall under the category).

    The media is clearly sensing the trend, too. In a handy roundup, The Auteurs points to an unusual confluence of assorted female-focused coverage this last weekend alone, from The Observer’s excellent interview with Andrea Arnold, director of the terrific Brit drama “Fish Tank,” to a New York Times piece in which Michael Cieply digs into the numbers supporting the truth that Hollywood is still very much a man’s world:

    What the count shows is that Hollywood directors are pretty much what they have always been: a small brotherhood of highly skilled craftsmen — more than 90 percent this year are men — who could hit or miss with any given film, but who tend to have solid experience.

    (more…)

  • Richard Kind in ‘A Serious Man’

    Richard Kind in A Serious Man

    More photos from upcoming Oscar season contenders, including “Up in the Air,” “The Lovely Bones” and “The Informant!” at MTV.

  • Below-the-line ‘Basterds’

    Brad Pitt in Inglourious BasterdsIt does my heart good to see more and more outlets giving the proper consideration to below-the-line talent when it comes to film publicity.  As you know, we’ve made it a rather concentrated effort to spotlight these individuals in Gerard’s weekly Tech Support columns and have been at it for the last three years.

    A couple of pieces caught my eye today featuring talent associated with Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” a film that, despite my feelings of the narrative, had a rather refreshing visceral sheen to it.  That’s a tribute, no doubt, to folks like Bob Richardson, David Wasco, Anna B. Sheppard, etc.

    First up is a piece at BoxWish.com featuring costume designer Anna B. Sheppard (whose work in the film is on display at LA area theaters this week).  An esteemed costumer twice Oscar-nominated for Holocaust cinema (Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” and Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist”), she certainly brought a lot to the table.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Cove’ claims another small victory

    The Cove

    Broome Shire will sever a sister city relationship with a Japanese town that hosts the killing of more than 2000 dolphins a year after an emotion-charged special council meeting this afternoon.More than 50 people, who packed the council chambers’ public gallery, greeted the decision with a standing ovation.

    Broome Shire president Graeme Campbell said council’s unanimous decision was to “respectfully advise” the town of Taiji that Broome would be unable to fulfil its obligation as a sister town while the dolphin killings continued.

    But he said the shire recognised the role Taiji played in developing Broome’s pearling industry in the 19th century.

    As part of a raft of council resolutions, councillors noted the national and international pressure placed on the shire to end the relationship.

    The council also resolved to it would like to commit to developing alternative economic opportunities with the Japanese town.

    From this piece in The West Australian.  That last bit was, frankly, unexpected.  But welcome nevertheless.

  • New tune contenders from ‘2012,’ ‘Wild Things’ — what else?

    Adam LambertBoy, the “Where the Wild Things Are” items are coming fast and furious this morning.  I didn’t plan it this way, I swear.

    Anyway, generally around late August I begin to start compiling a list of the original song contenders.  It’s generally the last category that begins to fall into place after all, so it’s folly to speculate from too far out (which is why you’re greeted with the “coming soon” note in the sidebar for seven months out of the year).

    A potential nominee could be in our midst with Karen O’s “All is Love” from “Where the Wild Things Are,” which you can listen to over at MySpace.  Any fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is bound to enjoy this bouncing little ditty.

    Meanwhile, Queen guitarist Brian May was apparently “blown away” by Adam Lambert’s original song for Roland Emmerich’s “2012.”  I’m sure that combination is nails on a chalkboard for more than a few people.

    (more…)

  • Obama reads ‘Wild Things’

    Speaking of “Where the Wild Things Are,” I’ve been looking for a reason to post this video of President Barack Obama reading the book to a group of children on the White House lawn for some time, but never really found an opportunity.  Take a look:

  • Dave Eggers talks ‘Wild Things’

    Dave EggersI think it’s pretty safe to say that, with “Avatar” proving to be disappointing in the face of impossible expectations, “Where the Wild Things Are” has moved up as the fanboy Oscar film of choice and a hotly anticipated one at that.  The film could perfectly blend fantasy and profundity, as the trailer suggests.  Then again, it could be waiting to disappoint like so many heavily anticipated projects.  Time will tell.

    One of the elements of the film that has helped to sustain interest is Dave Eggers’s involvement.  The author tried his hand at screenwriting for the first time earlier this year with Sam Mendes’s “Away We Go,” which yielded some troubling results as far as I’m concerned.  But I’m holding out hope that “Wild Things” will be a different beast altogether (no pun intended).

    Eggers recently sat down with Logan Hill at New York Magazine to discuss the project.  Among other things, he talks of sending a fan letter to director Spike Jonze after seeing “Being John Malkovich,” the fact that he adored “Wild Things” author Maurice Sendak from an early age (and even wanted to write children’s books for a time) and the changes that were necessary translating the work from page to screen.

    (more…)

  • Prescient

    (Courtesy: Media Decoder)

  • Alec Baldwin on ‘Taking Woodstock’ and the event itself

    Taking WoodstockI saw Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock” some weeks back and it landed okay for me.  It’s not top tier Lee, it’s not a powerful piece of work.  It features a rather over-the-top supporting performance from Imelda Staunton that, had it been reined in a bit, could have been in the awards discussion.  But on the whole (despite being too long — like most movies these days) I was taken in by its atmosphere.

    I don’t hold Woodstock in any real reverential light, of course.  I wasn’t there.  I don’t know the impact.  And I in fact find myself relieved to read some revisionist reactions to the event that have attempted to shake some of the poignancy out of the thing.

    But still, Lee captured something with the film and I think it was brave to willfully ignore the concert itself and focus on the way a moment affected one guy and his family.  That’s what Lee is best at, after all.

    (more…)

  • ‘Inception’ trailer

    Leonardo DiCaprio in InceptionI steered clear of all bootlegs of this throughout the weekend and I really didn’t want to go see “Inglourious Basterds” again, so this morning I got my first peek at the “Inception” teaser trailer.  I like.

    In fact, it reminds me of a time when trailers did what they were originally supposed to do: pique a viewer’s interest without giving away the plot.  And that’s what this discombobulated series of images and sounds does.  In fact, I almost wish I didn’t know as much about the plot as I do, because the disorienting action sequence at the tail end of the trailer makes a certain kind of sense that it wouldn’t make if I knew nothing, making the “WTF” moment that much more resonant.

    I’m also happy there is excitement around trailer debuts again.  It’s a real art form, I feel.  And it’s come to a point of numbing the populace with the standard paint by numbers, three acts in two minutes structure.  Whatever you had to say of the look of “Avatar” in the recently released trailer, you can’t say it spoils the story.  And that’s certainly true of “Inception.”

    Check out the trailer, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘Avatar’ action figures unveiled

    Avatar toys

    (more…)

  • 8/24 Web Round-up

    Carey Mulligan in An Education• Carey Mulligan praises “An Education” writer Nick Hornby for being objective with her character. [New York Magazine]

    • Gene Simmons tapped to vocalize Del Toro’s “Wolf Man.” [Contact Music]

    • Fear not, there’s hope for more “Beavis and Butt-Head” on the horizon. [Collider]

    (more…)

  • ‘Basterds’ box office owed to Pitt?

    (from left0 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the Los Angeles premiere of Inglourious basterdsBuried at the bottom of this Independent study of the diminishing star factor in Hollywood was a nugget about Weinstein Company honcho Harvey Weinstein’s marketing strategy for “Inglourious Basterds,” which had Brad Pitt front and center (and, in a way, made the actor appear to be a bigger element of the film than he in fact was).

    Defending the star mold to an extent, Weinstein is quoted as saying “Pitt is a super-superstar at the apex of his popularity and he is a large part of why people want to see this movie.”

    So I’ll put it out to the readership.  With films like “Land of the Lost,” “Duplicity,” “Funny People” and “Public Enemies” coming up short at the box office despite starring popular actors and actresses, is it fair to chalk the “Inglourious” take up to star appeal?  Is it a Tarantino attraction?  Is it the subject matter of the film?  Is it a combination of all?  Probably the latter, though I think the perfect storm of Pitt and Tarantino made more than a few people curious.  It’s a powerful pairing after all.

    Your thoughts?

  • ‘Basterds’ threads on display at LA area theaters

    So Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” has opened and made a dent in the box office.  Go team.  The Oscar discussion ranges from “It could get in with 10 nominees” to “Maybe something in the techs,” and you can count me in the latter camp.  In fact, as usual, Tarantino assembled a talented below-the-line team for his latest film, not least of them being costume designer Anna B. Sheppard.

    Here in Los Angeles, Sheppard’s work is getting its day in the sun with a displays at the Arclight Hollywood, Arclight Sherman Oaks and Landmark Theater.  Personally, I see this as the film’s best shot at an Oscar nod, and given that the Hollywood Arclight is a hub of sorts for industry types when they go out and pay with the masses, this set-up could go a long way toward securing a notice this season.  (Two more pics after the jump.)

    Inglourious Basterds costume design display

    (more…)