In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Three more highlights

    Philippe Petit at the 81st annual Academy AwardsCollecting all my thoughts last night was bound to leave a few gaps and so while flipping through the DVR recording of this year’s Oscar ceremony, I stumbled across a couple of moments that I had to tip my hat to.

    I already updated the recap post with a few notes about the Judd Apatow short, which was fantastic (especially the stoned giggling at “The Reader.”)  But having Janusz Kaminski in the mix was a stroke of genius.  We crossed paths last year and he cracked me up every time.  Nice to see him take the stage to present, the first time ever for a D.P.

    But also, I have to mention the class that was Danny Boyle thanking the producers of the telecast for putting on such a great show.  It really seemed like the obvious thing to do, yet it took until his Best Director presentation for someone to go there.  I can’t think of the last time the telecast was praised on the air like that, but then again, I can’t think of the last time the telecast deserved to be praised on the air, so there we are.

    And finally, I have to say that Philippe Petit’s appearance on the stage was a moment of levity that brought a huge smile to my face.  I preferred other docs in the category, but it’s difficult to argue with the feat.  And seeing him swiftly run up to the stage and steal the spotlight like he was meant to do so…it was just a great moment.

  • Congrats to our pool winners!

    First, thanks to all involved for participating in our Oscar pool.  The big winners were Mikey Filmmaker and Justin Wolfhope who nailed 22 of 24 categories for a score of 88 points (out of 100).  I weighted the scoring system based on the predictability of the categories.  Mikey and Justin both missed the same two categories: Best Sound Mixing and Best Documentary Short.  They went for “The Dark Knight” on the former and “The Conscience of Nhem En” on the latter.

    Yours truly came in second with 21 of 24 categories for a score of 83.  I went with my heart on Mickey Rourke and my heart failed me.  Let that be a lesson to us all.

    Mikey and Justin, if you’re reading, send me an email when you can.  I think I’ll offer up a prize for such fantastic Oscar prognosticating prowess.

  • This is the best we can do?

    I’d love to see some great, hi-res photography from backstage at last night’s Oscar ceremony.  But somehow, this terrible quality AP photo is the best we can do:

    Hugh Jackman at the 81st annual Academy Awards

  • Ratings were up!

    From Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily:

    News reports this morning say the 81st Academy Awards broadcast delivered increased ratings in the 50 or so biggest U.S. markets, up about 6% over 2008 which registered the lowest ratings in the history of the telecast. New York delivered the largest rating Sunday (34.1/49 share), followed by Chicago (31.2/46) and Los Angeles (28.1/44). For the night, ABC beat the combined household delivery of CBS, NBC and Fox by roughly 30%. If this holds (and a more complete Nielsen report will come out later today), then Oscars producers Larry Mark and Bill Condon, as well as host Hugh Jackman, and director Roger Goodman, and designer David Rockwell, did AMPAS proud by at least reversing the recent downward spiral.

    Here is the AP story she’s sourcing but not linking, mind you.  And lest she stop being herself, let it be known that Nikki hated the show.  I always get an icky feeling when I link to her…

  • 2/23 Oscarweb Round-up

    Kate Winslet at the 81st annual Academy AwardsThe day after. This will be the final installment of the Oscarweb Round-up this year.  I always enjoy scouring the net to find these little gems here and there and I hope you have enjoyed the daily cheat sheet.  Special thanks to all the hard-working journalists and pundits who keep cranking out copy to fill this space…even if I get testy with your words from time to time.

    • Jeff Wells salutes that hilarious James Franco/Seth Rogen/Janusz Kaminski sketch. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • David Carr’s on-the-spot Oscar coverage from last night, well worth a scroll. [The Carpetbagger]

    • The “Slumdog” kids’ neighbors watch the show from India. [The Huffington Post]

    • Anne Thompson wraps up the night and the season with coverage from the red carpet (including the Anne Cam!). [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Mourning the acceptance speech Mickey Rourke would have given. [Vulture]

    • On the hateful protesters that lined the streets outside the Kodak: Sean Penn says ignore the ignorant. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Roger Ebert reports on teh festivities with all of his usual insights. [Chicago Sun-Times]

    • Patrick Goldstein was underwhelmed by the show (I don’t get it). [The Big Picture]

    • Karina Longworth reports that Bennett Miller’s opening short film was cut because it basically sucked. [Spout Blog]

    • Britain’s Press Association already digs into Kate Winslet’s speech. (I literally had a Brit at my Oscar party scream “Fuck off” when she won.) [The Independent]

  • A private function

    When all is said and done, it wasn’t an awards season that deserved a fireworks finish, so perhaps last night’s muted, largely tasteful, faintly insular ceremony was an appropriate summation. It ran smoothly enough, with a handful of novel distractions and a uniformly generous, empathetic spirit running through the night’s speeches –- but I’d be hard pressed to remember many notable ‘moments’ from last night’s proceedings a week from now, let alone years hence.

    Part of that stems from the fact that, as has been discussed ad nauseum on these and other pages, we had a less-than-stellar field of contenders to work with. But I’m afraid I must slide into the apparently tiny glass-half-empty minority on the show itself –- as efficiently and enthusiastically as the show unfolded, I simply didn’t find all that much to love about it. As Danny Boyle suggested in the midst of yet another boundless, winning acceptance speech (can we find something for him to win every year, please?), it looked like a blast for those present, but I’m not sure the clubby, “we’re all in this together” vibe really translated to the distance of a TV screen.

    After the cloak-and-dagger secrecy shrouding Bill Condon and Laurence Mark’s revised take on the Oscars, I must say I was expecting a slicker, more dramatic reworking of the format –- and on that front, I must say I was a little disappointed. Hugh Jackman was certainly a game, likeable emcee, but I wasn’t certain who the target audience for his big set pieces was. Equal parts Crystal-esque shtick and endearingly naff “let’s put on a show” razzle-dazzle, both elements seemed to me too dated to court the broader, younger, hipper viewership the Academy wanted. The Baz Luhrmann-staged musical number at the centre was fun in itself, but existed in a similar cultural vacuum, despite the presence of current pop phenomena like Beyonce or Zac Efron. For all the hype, this was familiar content.

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  • POLL: What did you think of the Oscarcast?

    Very easy thumbs up, thumbs down poll this week.  But please, keep your opinions of the winners out of it.  We’re interested in what you thought of the actual show.  Let Bill Condon and Larry Mark know what you thought in the sidebar poll.

  • He’s with them in spirit

    (from left) Kate Winslet, Sean Penn and Penelope Cruz at the 81st annual Academy Awards

  • ‘Slumdog’ takes 8 trophies as Oscar keeps it under 190 minutes

    Danny Boyle at the 81st annual Academy AwardsIn the final analysis, there isn’t much to say other than: What a captivating way to put a bow on the worst and, ultimately, most boring Oscar season of all time.  The 81st annual Academy Awards swiftly went down earlier this evening with few surprise winners and a classy new sheen.  It was captivating and, at times, inspiring.  Here are my thoughts on Hollywood’s biggest night:

    The winners
    I did extremely well with my predictions this year, nailing 21 of the 24 categories and making good with gambles in the foreign language film and short film categories.  I stuck with my heart on Mickey Rourke despite the smart money being on Sean Penn, but regardless of the strong desire to see the former holding an Oscar in his hands and delivering one more barn-burning speech, it is, of course, impossible to argue with Sean Penn’s expert work in “Milk.”  His heartfelt acceptance was a highlight and it all felt somehow more complete than it did five years ago.

    That “Departures” win took the wind out of the sails of one of the year’s most ingenious productions and yes, this is a committee that still needs a major overhaul.  I don’t think I could possibly say it enough.  That should take nothing away from Japan’s victory, mind you, because their submission is a delightful film that won’t deserve most of the ill will coming its way from those who haven’t even seen it.  But “Bashir” seems to have wrongfully faced an uphill battle from the start.

    The sound categories (hotly debated all week) proved once again that the Academy doesn’t understand the impact of mixers and editors on animated films.  “Slumdog Millionaire” took the mixing award (I’m kicking myself for changing that), while “The Dark Knight” took the sound editing trophy.

    Regarding those shorts, by the way, Pixar remains winless in the animated field since 2001’s “For the Birds” (the gorgeous “La Maison en Petits Cubes” rightly won tonight), while “Toyland,” with its ambitious structure (for a short) and obviously baity subject matter reigned supreme in live action.

    The only award I missed kind of irritated me, I have to admit: Best Documentary Short.  “Smile Pinki” took down what I thought to be the best of the field (and being the most cinematic, the most likely winner), Steve Okazaki’s “The Conscience of Nhem En.”  But there was a concerted publicity effort behind the former that maybe I should have paid more attention to.

    (More, plus a full list of tonight’s Oscar winners, after the jump.)

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  • Oscar night open thread

    Oscars

    Alright, the time has come.  I’m signing off here to make some preparations and, eventually, enjoy the show.  I should hope you’ll all do the same, but in case you want some space to chat about the evening’s festivities, from the red carpet to telecast specifics to, of course, the night’s big winners, have at in here in the comments section.  But bear with us if the server starts to buckle under the pressure.  We’re looking into fixing that for next season, but if things start to slow down tonight, give it a minute and come on back to chat.

    In the meantime, be sure to post your predictions in our official thread, and keep your eyes on The Movie Blog, where I’ll soon be participating in a quick pre-show podcast with John Campea and IESB.net webmaster Robert Sanchez.  We’ll also hit it one more time after the show for a postmortem.

    And here…we…go!

  • Bill Maher: “For the love of God can we please give Kate Winslet her Oscar?”

    Around the :30 mark of Friday’s “New Rules” segment:

  • Refreshing

    “My natural reaction was, ‘Aw, s***!’  There’s that one little second when they call your name and you think, ‘Maybe the law of averages is gonna catch this motherf***er now. I’m gonna win this one!’ And I didn’t.  I didn’t forget the camera was there, I just didn’t give a f***. So I went with my natural reaction: ‘Aw, s***!’”

    Samuel L. Jackson spoke those words in this brief interview from six years ago regarding his infamous reaction to losing the 1994 supporting actor trophy to Martin Landau.  I don’t know about you, but there’s something strangely refreshing about that honesty.

    In case you’re wondering why this is coming from out of the blue, well I was checking out this Salon mashup of Oscar-losing reactions (via Awards Daily) and suddenly remembered Jackson’s moment of candidness.

    And yeah, still bored.  I can’t watch red carpet coverage this far in advance.  I just…can’t do it.

  • Print out your ballots

    For the those rocking out an Oscar party this evening, be sure to print out your official ballot for a high stakes pool. (Thanks to Awards Daily for the tip.)

    Oscar ballot

  • The committed…

    The Los Angeles Times wanted Tom O’Neil out and about and live blogging the Oscars as early as 11:45am this morning.  God bless him…

  • Ranking the Oscar-nominated features

    Not long to go here, so I figured in the way of novelty I’d toss up a list of all 36 nominated feature films as I would personally rank them.  Feel free to do the same with what you’ve seen, if you’re as bored as I am, that is:

    1. “Slumdog Millionaire”
    2. “Bolt”
    3. “The Dark Knight”
    4. “The Wrestler”
    5. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    6. “Trouble the Water”
    7. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
    8. “Revolutionary Road”
    9. “Milk”
    10. “Iron Man”

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  • Solid quote

    Scott Hamilton Kennedy

    “We’re an industry town, obviously, but we’re a lot more than trendy clubs and the Hollywood sign and surfers…It’s an enormous community of different cultures and different people, and through that I hope it becomes a universal story. Because when it comes down to it, it’s universal struggles and people trying to do right by themselves, by their community, and struggling with power and greed and all of these things that we’ll struggle with for the rest of our lives.”

    Documentary filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy talking his Oscar-nominated “The Garden” to The Envelope’s Reed Johnson.  I still can’t help but think “Man on Wire” is vulnerable here because this is a strong crop of nominees.  And as noted, “The Garden” is an activist film, VERY much a local story and could be a vote of purpose.  There are some folks out there sticking their necks out for “Trouble the Water,” but not many.

  • Andy Trudeau reviews the Oscar nominated scores for NPR

    Alexandre DesplatOne of my favorite pre-Oscar specials is music critic Andy Trudeau’s analysis of the Oscar nominated original scores on NPR’s weekend edition.  He used to stretch the piece over two weekends and discuss the pieces with the show’s host, but this year he both waited until the last minute and did the piece as a stand-alone by himself.

    Trudeau’s favorite of the nominees (and mine) is Alexandre Desplats beautiful work on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” putting together compositions that can be played both forward and backward.  Last year his pick was Darion Marianelli and “Atonement,” so maybe he’ll be spot on again this year — but I think we all doubt that.

    “Call me old-fashioned, but if I had a ballot, I’d go for a score with strong melodies, crystalline orchestration; one that takes us on an emotional journey,” Trudeau says.  “So I’m casting my one, unofficial vote for ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ by Alexandre Desplat.”

    Listening to the piece I was suddenly taken with how competitive it might actually be.  The A.R. Rahman win has become a foregone conclusion, and for many good reasons.  In addition to the “Slumdog” sweep train, the Academy simply likes music from other cultures.  “Babel,” “Frida and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” are examples.  Maybe the work simply stands out a little more from the rest of the field.  I don’t know, but it’ll be interesting to see how the re-instated allowance for CD mailers made a difference.  “Button” probably has the most beautiful, listenable score, but Thomas Newman’s work on “WALL-E” is also brilliant.

    Anyway, it’s a short piece, well worth the listen this Oscar morning.  Head on over and feed your brain as we wait for the season to come to an end.  And check out Gerard’s Tech Support interview with Desplat here and with Rahman here if you missed them in the last few weeks.

  • Ebert gathers his thoughts

    Ahead of tonight’s ceremony, Roger Ebert has collected some final, scattered musings — among them, a modest semi-boast that he predicted tonight’s probable “Slumdog” victory a mere 60 seconds after seeing the film last summer.

    He also anticipates a successful hosting performance from Hugh Jackman (the combination of being both Australian and a youngest sibling bodes well, apparently), and shares my inkling about Viola Davis:  

    I choose Davis because her performance provided, for me, one of those rare Yes!! moments, when an actor appears on the screen, electrifies you, and makes you intensely happy. A lot of people must have shared that feeling, I reasoned.

    Which performance is objectively better is of course beside the point. You can’t grade art objectively. It is worth reflecting that many best actor winners over the years have likely not scored a simple majority in their categories. We’ll never know who lost by one vote. The secret ballots have been called a rebuke to democracy, but there is nothing democratic about it. If there was, there should be primaries.

    Fair enough. I must admit that if I was using “Yes!!” moments as my criteria, I’d be predicting Marisa Tomei, but I have yet to hear anyone breathe even a word of criticism about Davis’ performance. Almost a pity that one of the night’s most exciting contests will be settled right off the bat.